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Smaller MacBook for this year?

Mike Evans
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By Michael Evans

RENEWED Apple Tablet rumours continue to circulate. The latest is a story in the German Focus Magazin which suggests Apple will be introducing a "netbook type device" in the autumn. Other commentators maintain that we will not see such a device until "the next decade" (which could mean the WWDC in January next year). Many months ago we were hearing from the Far East that Apple had purchased quantities of 10-in touch screens, but this could well be so many red herrings. What does seem certain, though, is that something is being brewed at Cupertino, whether it comes this year or next. Overview_hero4_20090527

My theory is that the company is clearing the way for the new device by the renaming of the 13.4-in laptop as a MacBook Pro. While it is totally logical and will certainly increase sales of the computer at the expense of the 15-in MBP, there could be other reasons for the name change. If you look at the white MacBook it seems pretty clear that this is the end of a line that is not destined for continued improvement. Instead, I believe it will soon be dropped in favour of the new, rumoured machine. This could be called simply the MacBook.

I see a smaller form factor, perhaps with a 12-in or, even, 10-in screen. The keyboard will be not be compromised to the same degree as it is on most current netbooks, and overall the feel will be Mac rather than netbook. I think the operating system will be Snow Leopard and not a version of the iPhone OS. The price will be higher than most current netbooks but up to 15% lower than the current MacBook. At that price it will walk off the shelves.

All this sounds very logical to me and I look forward to the resulting machine, whether it comes this autumn  or next year. 

 

Review of Piel Frama iPhone case

Mike Evans
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by Michael Evans

AFTER A FEW days' use of my new Piel Frama iPhone case I remain extremely impressed with its quality and functionality. I'm reminded how much I used to love Piel Frama's leather Treo cases in a past iLife. This is a top-quality product and it complements perfectly the quality feel of the iPhone. It will appeal to the most fastidious of iPhonistas, and I should know.

DSCN0458 The iPhone slides into the soft-leather-lined interior remarkably easily, without being too tight but with complete security. Although the phone cannot be docked while in the case, it is a moment's job to slide it out into nakedness. You can, of course, attach the sync cable to the phone while in the case; it's just that the leather prevents seating in the iPhone dock. The leather frame around the screen is pretty unobtrusive (unlike in the case of some cheaper designs I've seen in the Apple Store) and doesn't hinder the fingers when typing. Just occasionally I have found a little difficulty in selecting text to the far left, but you soon get the knack. 

Unlike similar Sena cases I looked at in the Apple Store last week, the Piel Frama protects the corners of the phone. With the Sena and other designs I could imagine damaged corners if the phone fell on a hard surface. What's the point of having a case if the corners, the most vulnerable bits, are exposed?

An unexpected bonus (not by design, I feel sure) is that the phone in the case stands upright on a table—either in portrait or landscape mode. In both modes the case flap acts as a hinge to keep the phone level without slipping over (as shown in the photograph above). It is thus ideal for watching videos (something that I am doing more and more often). You can even adjust the viewing angle easily in portrait mode or, in landscape, by putting a piece of folded paper under the edge of the flap.

The flap on my model uses magnets for closure. There is an alternative design with a press-stud flap, but this adds bulk and needs an extra action to close. The magnets (two of them) work well and I would recommend this configuration for general use. Incidentally, the flap folds back neatly so it doesn't get in the way of typing or phone answering. 

Inside the case are three compartments for credit cards or other odds and ends, plus a small cleaning cloth in a leather enclosure. A hole on the back of the case allows the supplied belt clip to be attached. I don't like this arrangement and prefer to keep the phone in my pocket. If you don't want to fix the clip there is a small plastic plug to fill the hole.

I forgot to mention in my earlier piece that these cases come in a variety of very attractive colours–including red, lime green, powder blue and tan. There are also customised designs to special order. My feminine side loves these colours but the remaining dregs of testosterone forced me to tick the black box. 

If you are hooked on the colours, do bear one factor in mind. The leather frame on the black case blends into the colour of the iPhone screen so it isn't very noticeable. If you have a contrasting colour the frame will be emphasised. You might like this or you might hate it. It's a small point, but worth mentioning. 

All the Piel Frama cases come in a sturdy box which makes them ideal gift material. And there's an extra goodie in the form of a small, pocketable spray for cleaning the screen. This did not work for me and I was about to fire off an angry email to the long-suffering Estefania Lopez when I read the small print: "Fill it with tap water, it's the best cleaning agent for screens". Previously I've bought special sprays at eye-watering prices and I now wonder if they were all filled with water. Sure enough, Eau de Thames in London does a sterling job. If you are super fastidious, fill the thing with Perrier.

The Piel Frama iPhone case costs €70 (£60 or $99) but this includes international next-day shipping. On my bill the case was listed as €49.34 plus €11 shipping and €9.65 value added tax. This doesn't look unreasonable to me. Lesser leather cases in the Apple Store in Regent's Street sell for £45 (€53).

[Note: the mini speaker sitting next to my iPhone in the picture is called an X-Mini and I purchased it recently from duty-free on a Lufthansa flight. No doubt it is available in the shops for less than the €30 I paid, but it is so cute I couldn't resist (update: loads available on Amazon for well under €30). Want-want took over from wait-wait.  It opens out on bellows and compresses back into a little plastic ball. It has USB charging and an iPhone plug. The sound quality is good for listening to podcasts and videos but clearly isn't going to rival B&W's Zeppelin. You do forego both the 50-in LCD and the Bose Surround Sound, but what the heck, it's a portable solution]

Bloomberg: Why there is no backup

Mike Evans
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By Michael Evans

RESTORING my 3G to factory settings the other day, I was again struck by the lack of backup for the popular Bloomberg app. This is an excellent news and information application for the investor and it effectively tracks an investment portfolio with lots of available data. However, when disaster strikes and you have to restore (or buy a new phone) there is no way of recovering all the painstakingly entered portfolio details. Re-entering means searching for company names, entering quantity of holding and purchase price. Having learned by previous mistakes, I now keep all this information in a Numbers spreadsheet so I can enter it again with relative ease. 

I wrote to Bloomberg with my comments on this performance (and also asked why portfolio totals are not provided) and I got the following very reasonable response by return:

"We also agree with both of your points and the solution to both problems are planned and are somewhat related. The first issue regarding the portfolio total returns is somewhat complicated because our applicaiton supports equity securities from all of the world's major exchanges, denominated in a wide range of securities. As a result, a straight sum of the values is not sufficient to provide an accurate result. To perform return calculations, it is necessary to know the user's base currency and the dates on which the securities were purchased and the exchange rates in effect on those dates. It is vastly simpler if all of the securities are denominated in the same currency. This may be the most common case and we may show the total if it is true, we just have not done that yet.

One solution that we have planned that would solve the problem above as well as the storage issue, is to link the list of securities on the MyStocks, to the securities in the Portfolio Tracker on our Bloomberg website. The portfolio tracker is a free widget which performs many of the calculations described above and it could serve as a central repository for the securities which would then be stored so that they would be backed up in the event that your device fails and is initialized.
Hope this helps."


Bloomberg is an excellent application and is highly recommended; it will be perfect if they can implement these changes in the near future.

MMS update from O2 trashes Messages app?

Mike Evans
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By Michael Evans

I BLAME O2's update to MMS messages for causing my Messages application to stop running. After upgrading the OS of my phone to version 3.0 I received a text message to say that the phone was being updated to handle MMS messages. Good. Some minutes later I received a regular text message and when I touched the Messages icon a blank screen (but with top bar) appeared for a few seconds and then closed, returning me to the home screen. 

I called O2 and the general operator told me that, yes, many people had had this problem and he would transfer me to the iPhone team who would know what to do. Eventually I was put through to Miss Nocando in the said iPhone department. She denied categorically that this problem had been reported or that any other subscribers had been effected. I'm a trusting soul, so of course I believed her. No solution was offered, but she did give me the number for Apple support. Full marks to O2 for keeping details of Apple support numbers on a convenient Post-It note.

Here was the usual genial, patient help you expect from Apple. They hadn't heard of this problem, but I was guided through several steps to try to reset the device. In the end we agreed that a full restore to factory settings would be necessary. This I did, followed by re-entering of passwords and some lost data. A curse on those application developers who encourage you to use their spreadsheets, note takers and the like without providing any means of backup.

Thanks to Mobile Me and web or wifi synchronisation, most updates went smoothly. In particular I'd single out OmniFocus, Evernote, Netnewswire, Skype and 1Password for praise. No fear of losing any data with these programs. 

All this isn't for the faint hearted, so I would recommend all iPhonistas to make sure that they use only applications that provide a recovery strategy in case of disaster (or, more aptly, in case of a need to upgrade from a 3G to a 3GS).

Palm Pre and iPhone under one roof?

Mike Evans
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THIS MORNING'S news in the British press that the GSM version of the Palm Pre is likely to be carried exclusively by O2 is unlikely to be received well in Cupertino. While the Pre has apparently not been the iPhone killer device is was stoked up to be (after all, the 3GS sold a million units in a few days), the Pre is perhaps Apple's most direct competitor. How, I wonder, are O2 retail staff going to tread the line between the iPhone and the Pre? This could be bad news for O2 if the decision rings the warning bells on the Apple campus.

I still do not understand (other than the remote possibility of pure avarice) why Apple had to choose different carriers in every country. They have relationships in Europe with O2, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile, to name but four, and this cannot make for an easy life. Of course playing one off against another could bump up margins. I have a feeling that next time around, Apple will stick with one major player such as Vodafone, for all European sales.

Piel Frama: Ideal case for iPhone?

Mike Evans
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Iphone3gs

By Michael Evans

THERE ARE almost as many different cases for the iPhone as there are phones out there on the market. I've tried a number and all have their pros and cons. Important for me, though, is protection of the screen. I don't want to rely on the applied screen protectors (excellent though they are) because they are not man enough for direct glass-breaking knocks. In my opinion you need something solid to keep the screen safe. I also like something that is tactile and pleasing to the eye, something that complements the intrinsic quality of the phone itself. 

Up to now I hadn't considered a wallet-style leather case, although I was a devotee of this configuration in my Palm Treo days. I still have several old ones sitting in a drawer. The best of these, in my view, are the very high-quality leather cases from Piel Frama in Spain. I was never disappointed with them and now that I see they have an iPhone version I thought I'd try one. 

They're not cheap: €70 for an iPhone case is steep by any standards. But the quality matches, and that price does include international shipping. The service isn't bad, either. On June 30 I placed an order for a black case after corresponding with the factory in Spain. Estafania Lopez emailed to say that the model is so successful that it was out of stock; delivery was estimated as July 10.  However, it seems that stocks arrived as soon as she pressed the send button. On July 1, the following day, TNT delivered my case. The 3G is all snuggled up inside as I write and I am delighted with the quality and appearance. 

As usual with Piel Frama cases, the inside is lined in a soft tan leather and the magnetic closure is neat and effective (they also do a flap press-stud closure if you don't want the magnetic). There are three inside pockets for credit cards and notes, but I don't like to add to the bulk of the phone so will probably not make use of them. 

Have I now found the perfect iPhone case? Watch this space. 

Complaint to EU on iPhone locking

Mike Evans
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This is the text of my letter to Vivian Reding, email: viviane.reding@ec.europa.eu


1 July 2009

Mme Viviane Reding
Member of the European Commission
BE-1049 Brussels
Belgium.

Dear Commissioner,

I must congratulate you on the implementation of the new mobile roaming charges which come into effect throughout the Union today. This is a very important step in the right direction and will benefit all consumers. 

In a connected issue, I should like to lodge a complaint against Apple Incorporated because of their monopolistic and consumer-penalising policy on the sale of the popular iPhone. Alone among mobile phone manufacturers, Apple is the one company that refuses to sell phones unlocked at any price. Only in some European countries, such as Greece, are they forced by law to offer phones unlocked.

In other countries, notably the United Kingdom where carrier-locking is the norm, the iPhone cannot be bought unlocked at any price. Even paying full price for the phone on a pay-as-you-go arrangement with O2 does not entitle the consumer to an unlocked phone. 

Instead of locking phones, carriers should be encouraged to offer discounts at various rates for commitment to contracts of various lengths. What does it matter if a consumer signs a two-year contract and then changes carrier? He is still liable to pay the original carrier who gets full benefit for offering the original discount. 

As a resident of both the UK and Greece, I have iPhone contracts with O2 in London and Vodafone in Athens. On the UK contract I get a locked phone which I cannot use in Greece. On the Greek contract I get an unlocked phone which I can then use with my O2 SIM card in the UK. Neither O2 nor Vodafone are losing out on this arrangement and I have the convenience of having just one phone.

Many European citizens (not to mention MEPs) now reside in at least two countries and many thousands more take advantage of local SIM cards to reduce costs while travelling. iPhone users, in general, are denied this benefit

I believe it should be illegal for companies such as Apple to refuse to supply unlocked phones and to deny support to such devices. In no other consumer sector is one company able to flout the conventions of free-trading in this manner and I believe that the company should be ordered by the Union to come into line with other phone manufacturers.

Apple: Shame on you for locked iPhones

Mike Evans
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By Michael Evans

LOCKING phones to one carrier is an anachronism and shame on Apple for trying to squeeze the last cent out of partners by making it impossible, legally, to unlock the iPhone. Almost every other phone on the market can be unlocked for a few dollars and there are no warranty or service implications. And almost every other phone on the market can be bought unlocked (or SIM-free) at a price. 

Already, in several European countries it is illegal to lock phones. In these countries Apple quite happily supply open phones than can be used on any network (surprise, surprise!). Locking phones to one network has only one benefit: it allows the consumer to get a cheap phone if he commits to a contract. And, having committed to 12, 18 or 24 months, there is absolutely no reason why the phone should remain locked. After all, the carrier is getting a guaranteed return for the contract period which compensates for the discount. 

In those countries where locking is illegal, the phones do cost more. In Greece, for instance, the discount for taking a contract is little more than €100, so the phones cost between €300 and €600 depending on the contract or lack of contract. Many people buy iPhones from Vodafone in Greece and then use their SIM cards from OTE, Wind, T-Mobile or whichever. 

If I am prepared to pay a reasonable price for an unlocked phone that I can use on different carriers throughout Europe, I do not see what objection Apple should raise. Roaming costs, even with the new European reductions, are exorbitant and many people spending chunks of time in other countries prefer to get a local SIM card. I have contracts with O2 in the UK and Vodafone in Greece, so no one is losing out.

Shame on Apple for continuing this idiotic and monopolistic practice which, I believe, cannot last long. To start the ball rolling, I have today written to the Blessed Vivian Reding in Brussels to ask her to insist that all manufacturers should offer unlocked phones in every country of the Union. I am not in favour of banning locking completely because it can benefit those who want a phone at a discount. For the rest of us, the opportunity to get an unlocked phone, even at €500 or €600, should be a right. Local carriers could well offer a small discount on these prices in return for a contract, but at least the phone could be used with other SIM cards while abroad.

America: Land of the mobile rip-off

Mike Evans
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By Michael Evans

IN WASHINGTON last week, I couldn't resist visiting the Apple Store in Bethesda, Maryland, for the launch of the iPhone 3GS. Lines were modest and everyone seemed to be getting their phones after relatively little waiting. I could only watch, of course, because I don't have an AT&T contract (and wouldn't want one anyway). I will have to wait until I return to Greece later this month to claim my unlocked 3GS from Vodafone Greece. Yes, as in several European countries, it's illegal to lock phones to one carrier in Greece.

This was my first return visit to the USA since becoming an iPhonista and I was aware that I would have an expensive time if I wished to continue using my phone as normal. Roaming data with O2 in the USA costs a whopping £6,000 a gigabyte. Admittedly, you can buy an international bolt-on which gives you 50 MB a month for £50. In the end I decided to rely on the frequent free wifi opportunities and buy an AT&T pay-as-you-go SIM card for voice calls (bearing in mind I do have an unlocked phone).

What a rip-off! I was astounded to find that, while inland calls are relatively cheap at 20 cents (free to other AT&T mobiles), there is a ridiculous $1 a day fee added to the first call of the day. Alternatively, I believe, you can forego the fee and pay 50 cents a minute for calls. And AT&T aren't alone in this nonsense. T-Mobile have a similar US tarrif. Sprint and Verizon were out because they don't use standard GSM SIM cards.

When you bear in mind the high monthly contract prices in the USA, there is no doubt that consumers there get a rough deal. Here in Europe things are so much better. PAYG cards in most European countries are cheap and call costs are relatively low. Above all, there are no daily charges so it is possible for a light user to go for a whole year on a £10 credit.

Things are also getting better in Europe. As from today, thanks to the munificent European Union, roaming charges for both voice and data are capped. According to this morning's news, inter-carrier data charges are capped at €1 per Megabyte (around €1,000 per GB, again ouch but still a big improvement!) and the price of making an inter-Europe call is capped at 43 cents a minute and receiving a call at 19 cents (there are no charges for receiving calls on a home network in Europe, only when roaming). Roaming texts are capped at 11 cents. All these prices attract local VAT of course (between 15 and 20% on average). 

"The roaming rip-off is now coming to an end", said EU Telecoms Commissioner, Viviane Reding. Amen! Maybe they should offer her a job at the Capitol in Washington. 

Choosing a new printer without fax

Mike Evans
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LAST WEEK our elderly (at least three years old) HP fax/scan/copy all-in-one gave up the ghost and we went on the hunt for a replacement. Now choosing a printer is one of the most difficult things in the computer world. Even seasoned buffs get confused when looking at the hundreds of different machines, print qualities and options. And then there is laser versus inkjet. Because of low use (this is a paperless office, after all) and the need for occasional good-quality colour printing, a cheap mono laser was ruled out early on.

Eventually we homed in on an HP Photosmart Premium which mirrored the facilities on the old machine. But then we wondered why to bother with fax? Sending and receiving faxes is such a rare occasion these days that a dedicated fax machine isn't really worth it.

So we settled for a good-quality HP Photosmart C6380 which copies, scans and prints and has five separate ink cartridges to reduce wastage. And to see out the last days of faxing, we bought the wonderful Page Sender software from Smile On My Mac. We're already converts to the company's Text Expander and PDF Pen applications and it was no surprise to find that Page Sender is easy to set up and works like a charm. Of course, a £34 Apple USB modem had to be purchased for the iMac. 

Now faxes can be sent and received from the computer–which is actually much more convenient since it avoids the need to print the document before faxing. Page Sender also prints the fax on the new faxless HP Photosmart (if required) and, for good measure, fires off a warning email with a copy of the fax attached. So faxes can now be received by email even when you are away from home. Wonderful, and we wonder why we hadn't done this before. 

Convergence means iPhone

Mike Evans
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Tomtom-iphone-app TOMTOM'S announcement of an iPhone navigation app and an in-car kit is proof if it were needed that convergence is alive and well. And everything seems to be converging on the iPhone, the world in your pocket. Manufacturers of gadgets of all descriptions, from pocket calculators to in-car navigators will be examining their marketing plans and asking themselves if people really want a dozen and one different bits of kit, every one with its own charger and accessories, when the iPhone can do everything just as well. 

In the past couple of years we've seen convergence come to television and video. More and more people are using computers such as the Mac Mini as a media server and the television is likely to become nothing more than a big monitor. There is a general tendency for fewer devices to do more things and to combine all these different facilities in one easy-to-use interface. 

So TomTom's iPhone plans will send a shiver through the boardrooms of rival navigator hardware companies; and we doubt it will do much to improve the sale of TomTom's own hardware. For occasional use, the iPhone makes eminent sense as a navigator.

Where’s the built-in cellular modem?

Mike Evans
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ONE OF THE new features we had expected to be added to the MacBook Pros is a built-in cellular modem so that we don't have to carry around USB dongles wherever we go. Maybe Apple reason that the new iPhone tethering will avoid the need to add a modem and the cost of modifying the aluminium cases to accept a SIM-card slot. Tethering, though, isn't a complete answer and is unlikely to work out cheaper than having a separate USB modem. At the moment, in the UK, you can get a monthly 3GB of data on a cellular contract for between £10 and £15. First indications are that O2 will be charging iPhone contracted users an extra £15 for tethering. 

On this basis, we would sooner have a separate contract for data because tethering does bring some disadvantages. It drains the phone's battery if used via bluetooth, so most users will opt to connect the phone to the laptop by cable. And we know from past tethering experiences (with Windows Mobile) that using data and making phone calls at the same time can be awkward and prone to difficulties. Maybe the iPhone implementation will have no such problems, but there is certainly no financial incentive for the owner of a current data contract to close it down and use tethering instead.

So, despite the advent of tethering, we think a built-in cellular modem for MacBook Pros will arrive within the next year.

iPhone users who choose the tethering bolt-on will need to be super aware of the costs when travelling abroad. It's bad enough to roam with an iPhone, but the data clocks up relatively slowly and only becomes a real problem if you're downloading uTube or other video material. With a tethered PC, though, it is quite easy to rack up a gigabyte of download in a very short time. And that can bring a bill of at least £3,000 if travelling in Europe or £6,000 in the USA. Some cellular networks will charge up to £10,000 per gigabyte even within Europe. Bad news. 

Marcial: Apple shines, no matter who’s in charge

Mike Evans
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INTERESTING analysis of Apple with or without Steve Jobs on Yahoo Business today. The article, by Gene Marcial, argues that Apple now has a very strong presence, spearheaded by the MacBook, iPhone and iPod, and a solid management team that could withstand even the departure of Steve Jobs. The confirmation that he will return to work before the end of June is seen as icing on the cake. Analysts are now bullish on the prospects for Apple Inc and, of course, the continuation of the old 3G iPhone model at bargain prices will do nothing to dent sales. 

Apple tablet to be new MacBook

Mike Evans
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by Michael Evans

RENAMING the unibody aluminium MacBook as the MacBook Pro 13 is a logical and welcome step. Since the launch of the unibody machines it has been obvious that the 13-in model had more in common with the Pro range than with the old polycarbonate white or black MacBook. 

But I believe there is more to this can meets the eye and I am surprised none of the other industry watchers have made the connection. The current white MacBook is clearly coming to the end of its life and I believe it will be pensioned off some time in the next twelve months. 

This leaves the coast clear for the re-cycling of the MacBook name. What better moniker for the 10-in touch-screen not-a-netbook tablet that everyone agrees Apple are working on? 

iPhone therefore I am

Mike Evans
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ALL iBORES will love this article by Nick Curtis in today's London Evening Standard.  While there are still a few technophobes and naysayers out there, there can be little doubt that the iPhone has become a phenomenon and the new Carrera S, sorry, iPhone 3GS can only stoke the fires. Last night, as we mentioned, we were at the monthly meeting of the London Mac Users Group and the iPhonistas were out in force. Still, there's a significant proportion of LMUG members who resist newer technology and swear by OS 9 (even OS 8 gets an honourable mention). Not for them the iPhone in all its glory; not for them the latest Snow Leopard which, as everyone now knows, runs only on the new-fangled Intel processor. We've often wondered at what point even the die-est die-hard has to be led kicking and screaming to the latest Macs and the latest OS.

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