As great as the iPad is it is not without it’s limitations. We know apple limits some of it’s products purposefully so that the next iteration is lusted over. The camera for FaceTime is god-awful and from now on FaceTime calls will be done from my iPhone 4. Why not take advantage of a larger screen from this device and add two hd cameras? One in the front and another on the back. Would it hurt that much they are practically the same size, so that’s not an issue. VGA looks grainy and in dark settings is just horrible. Oatmeal has less grain than the iPad’s camera does. Those iPad ads are very misleading as they make the images look incredibly clear. Perhaps the lighting conditions are perfect or they are keeping the hd camera version for themselves. In addition to this this iPad woulds have benefitted from a high resolution screen a retina display or some equivalent high-resolution screen. But that would just exaggerate how bad FaceTime would look on such a screen, hmmm makes you wonder why they did not add a retina display. Other than these small gripes I still love my iPad as this is my first iPad. Those who previously owned one please don’t rush out and get the new one. Wait for the iPad 3 because FaceTime is not worth it plus it makes your hands tired after a while from holding it. If you have an iPhone 4 and the original iPad just use that because it’s like you already have an iPad 2.

As a student I love having my eBooks on here they looks absolutely amazing. Browsing is fast and finding chapters even on a PDF is a smooth process, way better than my nook no rooting necessary. I reiterate the distinction would be more clear between the i-devices from the software standpoint. Make iPad only apps which are so useful to an iPad that it would become silly to use them on a phone. Oh well can’t I just do that on my phone? No. The line must be drawn somewhere and it should be at the software level. Reduce the level of redundancy or “fragmentation”. If this is so the iPad will have achieved a home that is on par with a desktop like experience.

Some developers rush to get their apps out to the market that they don’t even fully test it fully. I mean the program only reads the first line from my contacts and skips the other numbers completely. If they have other numbers like home or office numbers they are not read. There also appears to be number formatting issue where it is not read at all if the format is different (xxx)xxx-xxx if there is a 1 in front or a +1 or another country formatting. I am also concerned with how this program accesses my contacts list for phone numbers? Is it uploading it or merely matching it. Why would they need a copy of my friends emails and phone numbers. It should only check to see if that number is on my phone and if it isn’t then it wont add it. Sounds like a simple if statement to me. What a terrible introduction to a product and if apple was in charge it would have just worked. I shouldn’t have to rename all my contacts on my phone to match just for one program it should go the other way around. Now when you are able to chat it does what its suppose to well and video calling over 3G and cross platform is enjoyable bridges the communities together. But good lord why doesn’t it work right.

Update:
It’s confirmed that removing the country code does affect how the contacts are matched. I’ve added and removed the 1 before the area code from a contact which directly reflected in the tango app. (xxx)xxx-xxxx this seems to work. But still does not pick up my droid friends.

Update:
Case has arrived.

From doing this test last night I have come to the conclusion that it is not easy to reproduce a dropped call scenario ever time you hold the phone in what I like to call the “NO-NO Zone”. When the phone is held in this area it is clear that there is some type of effect on the signal bar indicator when touched with a bare hand. Whether or not this has an actual impact on call and data quality will have to be tested by a third party which is not Apple. I have had issues while on a call and using 3G data at the same time where the call is dropped. In addition I have also noticed while attempting to send a text message the progress bar will not complete until I let go of the NO-NO Zone.

Apple has been very nonchalant about this whole matter, limiting it to a miscalculation in the way that the bars are being displayed as opposed to a more serious confession that there is a hardware issue that needs to be corrected. Apple also states that they will release a software upgrade which will correct this miscalculation and hopefully improve the signal degradation “illusion”. Ironically Apple’s own stylish cases do nothing for actual protection of the phone but rather only hides that when the phone is held the signal bars lessen. If you cover the antenna then that is the solution, either that or replace my hands (The latter I am not inclined to do).

If this was a known issue and Apple willingly created a cover/bumper which specifically addresses the issue and then charges the customer $29.99 + Tax is extortion and should not be allowed to happen. What should happen is that all customers who purchased a bumper should be given a credit, and all iPhone 4 bumpers should be given away for new iPhone 4 customers for free (Until corrected). This is a better solution then allowing everyone to replace their iPhone 4 units for a new model, that will be too much cost for Apple to eat.

This thread will be updated.

With this latest action they are saying the iPhone is indeed everything the iPad is in a smaller form factor. Everything you can do I can do but on a smaller screen. Apple should have added unique features to the iPad, instead it created a ubiquitous apple product. Why create something new when you have something that’s a gold mine already. All of my arguments for getting an iPad are even less clear then the day before. The iPad wont augment the things I do on a daily basis. Neither will it augment the things the iPhone can do. The best thing about the iPad is the luxurious 9.7 inch screen. Which is ideal for reading. But what is the iPad a productivity device, an e-book reader, entertainment center. In fact it is all of the above. But because of its size [all of the above] is limited to only use on certain occasions. As opposed to the iPhone that I have on me at all times.

The line between these devices have now been blurred. Apple has created something that is so great they cant even top it. The iPhone literally is a computer in my pocket. The netbook replacement that can make phone calls in addition to having a camera (Which iPad is missing). It is no wonder why they have sold 50 million of these units to date. Did Apple inadvertently kill its own product. After the magical, mystical experience fades away what are you left with when the magic trick is over.

Multitasking.
Backgrounder has been doing this job for a long time now. Now with more battery to play with you can have applications running in the background for longer than before. But less than 10 hours.

Camera.
I’m certain that a camera add on can be made. This can attach to the docking port to allow video conferencing capabilities. We know that Fring was waiting on apple to make a front facing camera. There latest update makes use of the iphone camera. So we know its definitely possible.

Hulu?
The Lack of flash makes this option not possible. Hulu would make this a killer device. Perhaps they do not want the network to be clogged with people streaming video. But face it this is the time we are living in. The demand is needed therefore the business should adjust to it. Not the other way around. What ever happened to supply vs demand. If Hulu re-encodes there video much like youtube has done then im sure this will sell more device. It could be that apple only wishes for people to use their store to buy tv shows. But why buy them when I can just see them for free on my TV or Computer.

BTStack.
This hack made it possible to use a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. Why not use that instead of an ugly docking station. Keep selling us things that we already own or we can re purpose things we already own in a more useful manner.

What do you think?

I have encountered a few issues trying to get OSX 10.6 installed on my Dell Vostro but mainly because of the ICH9 chipset causing a panic on start up. This is why most tutorials find it best to use a thumb drive or flash drive to get past any errors in installation. Unfortunately once you get past installation you will still need to be able to boot from that drive without it going into panic.

I grabbed a 250GB drive and installed it into HDD enclosure. I created the partitions I needed in the mac Disk Utility for each partition I wanted to have an install for. The size of which is just enough to hold the image. The remaining space is free for utilities or other files.

To start I did a restore of both my 10.5.6 and my 10.6 images to their respective partitions. Then I patched the drive with EP45UD3P.dmg so I can pick and choose the partition to load on startup. There is an excellent lifehacker guide that you should use as a frame for this guide. After your restore is completed run the file you downloaded and pick the leopard install partition. This will be recognized as a USB Mass storage device instead of a SATA HDD which will allow you to boot with no panic. Boot into your 10.6 partition on the external drive and install Snow Leopard to the same external HDD. Make sure you make space for the OS to intall. Please note that some Dell Vostro users reported success switching from IDE to RAID when their drives are not detected. Some cases not all.

What you will need
1. Hard Drive (Space will vary based on your needs)
2. Copies of each OS you will use
3. Partitions (Based on how many OS you want)
4. HDD enclosure. (For booting HDD when you want to do installs)
5. Time to spare.

UPDATE
This is only partially working. It will boot fine but then it will freeze after a few minutes and shutoff. I dont know if this is happening to others. I will see if I can work around this.

UPDATE 2
Ok I have it fully functional now from the USB Drive as I am posting this update from snow leopard. What I did differently this time was I installed it directly on top of an existing OS X install opposed to a fresh install. Next I will take this out of the enclosure an put it back in the dell to see if it will boot with out usb.

UPDATE 3
Ok none of my SATA drives are being detected. Causes Panic when connected without usb enclosure.

Why should tmobile care what phone I use on their services. Tmobile is a service provider and I paid for service that I can no longer use. Tmobile never has and from my knowledge never will begin to manufacture phones. So they should continue to be just that, a service provider. It’s interesting that when I call they always ask what phone are you using, when they already know.

Update:
It appears that when you remove the data settings from the iPhone and reenter them without guest as username and password it works again. Strange very strange.

iPhone 3G S Unlocked out of box from Encript on Vimeo.