Technology Guides

The Apple iPhone 4 has a lot of things going for it. I’ll be the first to say that the App Store is second to none and Apple’s ability to update its software continuously is enough to justify the 30.3 million units sold worldwide. But with everything jolly and good, there is a dark, hidden closet with many bad things hidden inside it. I know all you iPhone users may be disgusted by that last comment but bear with me. By no means is any phone perfect, including the Blackberry (which I own) or the ever popular Android phones, but wouldn’t it be nice to know everything you could about a product before putting all your eggs in one basket?

No Legitimate Keypad

For all you non-texters out there disregard this but I know a lot of people do this. I personally send out 2000 a month and so it is a priority to be able to type fast. As hard Apple tried to mimic the keypad, it can never replicate a real keypad. I own an iPod and I type faster on my Blackberry by leaps and bounds and I had my iPod before my Blackberry.

Battery Drainer

As much as Apple says it improves the battery life, it can never keep up with the power intensive apps that continue to come out. It seems that the battery life gets worse with every generation. The MacBook and from what I’ve heard, the iPad, are the two exceptions in Apple’s portfolio.

No Battery Removal

So, Apple provides you with a bad battery and then says, when it breaks down, you can’t replace it. Now in my opinion that just adds salt to the wound. Like most people though, they reach into their pocket and buy a new iPhone.

Multi-tasking Problems

Apple was laughed at for being really late to the multi-tasking game and then it had the audacity to come out with their version of multi-tasking, or what most of us call it, fake multi-tasking. It’s not real because not all apps can take advantage of it, including a lot of games. Also it drains the battery life considerably and clutters the dock so you may never know it, but you could have up to 20 apps running at a time.

If anyone has any more stories or reasons why not to buy an Apple iPhone please feel free to share.

Popularity: 17% [?]

There has been a lot of talk about tablets and with the Apple iPad 2’s release coming in early 2011. It only seems like yesterday that the 1st generation was released. I do however continue to see contests with the iPad as it’s main prize and I believe that’s happening for one reason. The Apple iPad has yet to establish itself as a household name, a product that you will see constantly, like Apple’s iPhone.

In my opinion, the iPad will only be a luxury. It does not offer something you NEED, yet. Most people need a portable device they can put in their pocket to do tasks that are basic. If they need something more, they pull out their laptop to handle more heavy tasks such as running Adobe CS4 or in my case editing my Google Sketchup model. My belief is it’s just as portable as a laptop and based on its price, I’d rather have a basic laptop that does so much more.

My brothers friend recently said, he would love to just have one for the family in the living room. This is the niche that the Apple iPad fits into. It is solely a luxury item that complements other gadgets and your lifestyle. The cell phone went from a want to a need and so did the laptop. There is a very good chance that the tablet will follow that model as well. It is just a matter of time but there are a few things the product needs to work on.

1. It needs to keep up with processing power to handle intensive software.

More and more people are using software where a tablet doesn’t offer the processing speed it needs which is why those pieces of software are not offered on tablets. If the tablet market can speed up development of microprocessors, they will be serious competitors.

2. Offer at least one USB port.

My friend will not even consider buying one until the iPad comes out with a USB port. Blackberry trumped Apple in this department but it has to be a standard on tablets, especially USB 3.0.

3. A Purpose

As bold as this sounds, tablets will never be huge if they continue to have the app-based OS. Sure it works for smartphones but that is because the apps are secondary to the phone itself. A tablet isn’t a computer and it isn’t a phone, it’s a whole mishmash of things and thus it needs something to define it. It needs a purpose and if it just has random apps cluttered through it, it will never find it.

If it can accomplish those things I believe the market for tablets will skyrocket and push down demand for laptops. It will then take the course that cell phones and computers once did.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Facebook, the premier social network, has become so big because of one premise. That premise taps into the Western culture that is greed. The more friends you have, the cooler you are. Facebook succeeded following that plan to a tee and it overtook MySpace a long time ago and is approaching 600 million users with no signs of slowing down. What comes up, usually comes crashing down and General Motors or Toyota can testify to that. People are getting tired of the constant privacy holes, the new profile page that you MUST have and the fact that most of your friends on Facebook aren’t actually your friends. Facebook’s downfall may also be caused by the slew of new specialized social networks that take advantage of Facebook’s weaknesses. In this article I will take a closer look at these new social networks.

Path

I’ll start off slow because I know it can be hard to believe that there is something else other than Facebook. This site allows you to connect to Facebook to share photos and videos but it limits the amount to 50 friends. It also allows you to find friends on Facebook who use Path.

It is a simple social network meant to be much more private than Facebook. With as little buttons as possible and no notifications it accomplishes that goal.

Instagram

Instagram, also like Path, acts as a compliment to Facebook. Instagram specifically focuses on photos and is only available on the App Store although an Android App is in the works. Once you upload pictures you can add a filter to it such as the soft-colour Toaster which for the most part make the poor quality pictures you take on your phone, somewhat bearable. From there you can post it most of the popular social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and FourSquare.

Diaspora

The problem that plagues Facebook is the privacy issues it constantly has to deal with. It will only get worse as it plans to roll out features that will make it a communications hub. Disapora plans to change that as it makes it impossible for its users personal information to be collected on one server that can be accessed by a lot of people. Diaspora gets the users to host the information on a private server that is so secure that even its own designers can’t access it. The current problem is it is invite-only so there are very few people to share it with.

Popularity: 13% [?]