Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011) – “Think Different”

Sad – but not unexpected – news when I woke up this morning: Steve Jobs has died at the age of 56. A month after leaving Apple permanently, one day after the iPhone 4S was announced and just a few weeks before his (authorized) autobiography will come out. Regardless what you think you know about the man: he changed the industry and the world. Yes, I can say that without sounding dramatic. Just take a look around next time you commute from home to work. How many Apple products do you see around you? How many brands you know that […]

In a Galaxy far, far away…

This June I wrote about getting a new smartphone.  I was about to buy an HTC Desire, when I (fortunately) decided to wait and see what Steve Jobs had to present on the Apple event that was taking place later that week (June 2010) . It happened to be the launch of the infamous new iPhone 4. I really got stoked about the iPhone 4 and so I decided to wait for it before I would buy an Android phone: I wanted an iPhone 4 badly! However: a few days after the official launch of the phone, reports started to […]

Jobs addresses ‘Antennagate’: “Smartphones have issues”

As announced Thursday, Apple addressed their problems biggest public relation issue in a long time: the new iPhone 4, in a special press conference that took place Friday at 7pm (CET), 10am pacific time. Steve Jobs himself took the stage and addressed, what he dubbed ‘Antennagate’. You can watch his whole speech at the Apple site and I encourage you to do so and then read on. So what did Jobs do? Well, after throwing some data at the press (“3 million iPhone 4’s sold in 3 weeks”) Jobs first demonstrated how other (popular) smartphones have antenna issues as well. Jobs continued […]

Don’t buy an iPhone 4 – yet

The soap surrounding “the best iPhone ever”, is nearing it’s climax. Apple is holding a press conference later today to address the problems with the iPhone 4. Rumour has it that Apple might appease customers by offering the “bumper case” (a flimsy plastic cover) to disgruntled buyers for free. Analysts do not expect Apple to announce a recall as that would probably be more damaging to the company even though a poll at the Wall Street Journal Online shows that about 60% of the readers think Apple should issue a recall. Analysts estimate that such a recall would cost Apple around […]

Apple’s response to Grip of Death: you’re holding your iPhone wrong

My initial enthousiasm for the iPhone 4 has faded within a week. Yes, once again Apple has lived up to it’s reputation of delivering bad crappy 1.0 products. No kidding: as long as I have been following Apple (basically since 2002) they have been delivering their new products  with some sort of problem. So it’s no surprise that the beautiful iPhone 4 has problems as well. For starters the special glass casing (advertised as “…20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, the glass is ultradurable…”) seems to not nearly as scratch resistant as Steve Jobs wants us to […]

Damn, I’m converted

Ok, <insert confession mode here> this is a big step for me, but I confess that I have been converted. I just saw the new iPhone 4 revealed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs as only he can do. It’s gorgeous – and – I want one. There, I said it. I want an iPhone. Finally iPhone is  up to par – and now even trend setting – feature-wise – with other phones. They finally added multitasking (my phones did that 4 years ago already) and a front cam (both my Nokia E71 and HTC Diamond Pro have that already). But also a gyroscope, dual-mic […]

Motorola Droid and Google Maps: a cool combo

I have about a year to go before my current mobile subscription ends and I will be able to pick out a new phone. People that know me (or read my blog), know that I am a big gadget lover. Many have asked why I do not own an Apple iPhone. I currently own a T-Mobile MDA Vario IV  (HTC Touch Pro) running Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro. Well, quite simply: Apple is just too trendy, too expensive and too closed-source to me. But mostly the first part: everyone already owns an iPhone or iPod. And most of their owners have […]