Apple iPhone

Reviewed by: Kent German and Jasmine France
Reviewed on 1/9/07 Release date: 6/29/07 -----> link

Heads exploded around the tech world today after Apple CEO Steve Jobs finally announced the long-awaited Apple iPhone during his Macworld 2007 keynote in San Francisco.

The iPhone, as Jobs proudly dubbed the device to thunderous applause (take that Linksys), will be three devices in one: a cell phone, a wide-screen iPod with touch controls, and an Internet communications device. AT&T (formerly Cingular Wireless) is the lucky carrier (apparently the companies have patched up their relationship following the Motorola Rokr bust).

We haven't gotten to hold an iPhone yet, but we're just as excited as the next person to finally write down our first thoughts, and we won't sleep until we get our hands on one. Check back near the product's June 29 release date for our full review.

Availability
Both Apple and AT&T stores will sell the phone starting on the release date, and the handset will also be available on Apple's Web site. It will not be sold on AT&T's site for the initial release.. Europe will get it in the fourth quarter, and Asia will have to wait until next year. Finally, the U.S. gets something first!

The 4GB model will cost $499 with a two-year contract ,and the 8GB version will cost $599. That's a steep price to begin with, particularly since you're locked into a two-year contract with one carrier. And keep in mind that the iPhone will not be sold with the rebates or discounts that normally are offered by carriers for signing a contract.

New AT&T customers will have to choose a special iPhone service plan as well. For $60 a month, you'll get 450 minutes of anytime minutes and 5,000 night-and-weekend minutes. For $80 a month, you'll get 900 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends. And for $100 a month, you'll get 1,350 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends. All plans will include visual voice mail access, unlimited e-mail and mobile Web surfing, free mobile-to-mobile minutes, and 200 text messages a month. And don't forget the $36 activation fee.

Current AT&T customers can add an iPhone data plan to their existing contract for $20 per month, which will give them unlimited data and 200 text messages. More expensive plans are available as well, and families will have their own options to choose from.

Design
To be successful, an Apple phone has to sport an iconic Apple design--the Rokr's dull design did it no favors. Fortunately, Apple fulfilled our expectations this time with a smooth design and an innovative interface. Say goodbye to traditional cell phone buttons--this phone is all touch screen, all the time.

With only one hardware control (a "home" key), iPhone's real estate is dominated by a huge, 3.5-inch display. From what we call tell, the device looks beautiful with a resolution of 320x480x160 pixels per inch (the highest iPod resolution yet, according to Jobs). The videos and photos look great, and we love that the "smart" screen shifts automatically to a landscape orientation when you start to play a video. One giant touch screen controls the phone, and no stylus is needed ("Yuck," Jobs said). Use your fingers to type messages and e-mails on an onscreen keyboard--Jobs promises onscreen typing will be faster than on a standard smart-phone keypad, but we'll believe that theory when we actually get a device in our hands. (And speaking of yuck, what about all that finger grease?) But we admit the scrolling feature looks especially promising as Jobs had only to slide his finger across the display.

Of course, such a large display makes for a large phone: the iPhone measures 4.5x2.4x0.46 inches. No, it won't slide into smaller pockets, but it joins the similarly sized Palm Treo 750, and its weight (4.8 ounces) is mostly standard for a handset of this size. Of course, the slim profile is noteworthy as well. We're a tad surprised Apple has jumped on the thin phone bandwagon, but trim design, after all, is the cell phone trend of the day. As Jobs made clear, iPhone is thinner than both the Motorola Q and the Samsung BlackJack.

Features
Though we're pleased Apple made it a quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone, we're disappointed the iPhone's data support tops out at 2.5G EDGE networks. Considering the multimedia-friendly feature set, the omission of any 3G compatibility is a bit bizarre, particularly since Cingular now offers UMTS and HSDPA.

We wouldn't normally spend much time on voice mail, but Apple pulled a new trick out of its hat with Visual Voicemail. Rather than forcing you to call your voice mail and waiting to browse through multiple messages to hear the one you want, Visual Voicemail displays all the messages you have in a list, similar to an e-mail in-box. All you have to do is select the message you want and listen away.

It's tough to truly evaluate the iPhone's capability as a music and video player without some hands-on experience, but a cursory look at the product shots and details gives us some idea; that, and the fact it's closely related to the highly rated iPod music player iPod. In short, the iPhone is sure to offer an easy-to-use media playback interface, and the breadth of content offered by iTunes (its compatible service) ensures you'll never be wanting for music or video files. Of course, the touch screen interface will take some getting used to for users who are accustomed to the iPod's Click Wheel.

The iPhone, which will be offered in 4GB and 8GB capacities (flash memory), doesn't have any restrictions on how much of that memory you choose to fill up with media content--no 100-track limit, as is the case with the Motorola Rokr. The convergence device also takes a step away from its iPod brethren by offering a built-in mic for audio recordings. And unlike most cell phones, the iPhone offers a standard 3.5mm audio jack, which will work with all mainstream stereo headphones. There's no FM radio but that's nothing new from Apple.

One thing is for certain: the 3.5-inch wide-screen display is much better for full-length movie viewing than the 5G iPod's comparatively paltry 2.5-inch screen. And Apple's new partnership with Paramount really helps to fill out the movie category in iTunes. If there's anything we have to complain about, it's that the video player isn't offered as a standalone device, sans the phone capability, (which is sure to mark up the premium on the price). Of course, if that happens, we'd like to see something above the max 8GB of memory. iTunes content and video load on the phone via a USB computer connection--unfortunately, as far as we know there are no wireless downloads--and the iPhone comes with an iPod connector.

Beyond the music player, the iPhone runs on Mac OS X and promises a 2-megapixel camera, a photo-management tool that rotates the display for landscape photos (like with videos), support for Google Maps, conference calling, a speakerphone, and text messaging. We imagine there will be personal organizer applications as well, but Jobs kept mum on such fine details. Connectivity options also look promising with Bluetooth (though no stereo profile), Wi-Fi (a huge plus), POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail, and a Safari Web browser. The free push Yahoo e-mail app looks especially cool since we won't have to wait for syncing with a PC.

The iPhone also comes with some unique sensors that detect how you're using the phone and change the display accordingly. A proximity sensor knows when you bring the phone to your ear and then dims the screen and shuts off the touch screen. The ambient light sensor adjusts brightness and saves power, and the accelerometer knows when to switch between landscape and portrait orientation.

Outlook
After months of iPhone speculation, we were sick of the device even before it came out. But now, well, we have to admit it's quite lovely. The vivid display is especially attractive, and we like the sleek, minimalist design. The touch screen may involve a learning curve, but we're excited to try it out. The iPod functionality will no doubt draw many, and in particular, we're glad to see world phone support, the Yahoo e-mail app, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.

On the downside, we were hoping for wireless iTunes music downloads. And it's too bad Apple stopped short of 3G support. Also, we're hoping that Apple introduces a standalone touch screen iPod without the phone element as not everyone will want a convergence device. And here's the biggest caveat: Phones are only as good as the calls they make, so we'll have to wait for our final assessment once we get a review product. As for battery life, Apple is promising five hours for calling or video and 16 hours in music mode.

Overall, however, and despite the high price, we predict an iPhone success. The iPhone will garner interest simply because it exists and, as such, has great potential to move music phones into the mainstream. Nokia's Xpress music phones and Sony Ericsson's Walkman handsets present a strong challenge on some level, but Samsung's new Ultra Music probably stands to take the biggest hit if the two devices go head to head.

AMD Announce new Quad Core Processors Opertron / Barcelona

AMD relesed a new Opertron processor today and announced that the new Barcelona processors will outperform Intels Clovertown products at any given clock speed by about 50 percent.


The release of the upgraded models marks the 4th anniversary of the first AMD Opteron processors, products that have been seen as key to the company’s competition against the much-larger rival.Apparently, one of the causes of AMD’s recent troubles has been its inability to match production with the ferocious demand for its products.

http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~117115,00.html

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 review: Quad Core is here!

Since the release of Intel’s Conroe micro-architecture, the company has been making waves, massive waves. In terms of performance, Intel washed away main competitor AMD, and they have continued to do so during the past three months with the success of their Core 2 Duo and Extreme processor series.

The only counter AMD has been able to come up with so far is to completely slash prices for all their existing processors, making them extremely tempting as well. Nevertheless, the performance of the Core 2 Duo processor range is so compelling, that even die-hard AMD fans have been taking notice.

The Conroe, or as it is better known, the Core 2 Duo, is a Pentium replacement, meaning we will now longer see any new Pentium branded processors. The Pentium 5xx, 6xx and D series are already becoming a thing of the past. So with Intel now focusing all their attention on the Core 2 series, you can expect it to expand quite rapidly.

Currently, there are four Core 2 Duo processors which were released at the initial launch (E6300, E6400, E6600 and E6700). There is also the Core 2 Extreme processor dubbed the X6800, though it offers very little in the way of performance over the E6700. There is said to be four new Core 2 Duo processors on the way that will run on a 1333MHz FSB and will all feature the larger 4MB L2 Cache. They are the E6650, E6750, E6800 and E6850, though we are not here to discuss these processors today. Rather, we are here to examine the new Kentsfield micro-architecture which is based on a quad-core 65nm design.



Step aside dual-core, it is now the time of the quad-core and you better believe it. The new quad-core series consists of the Core 2 Quad Q6600 and the Core 2 Extreme QX6700. Both feature a dual 4MB L2 cache, operate on a 1066MHz FSB, and have a thermal output of 130 watts. However, the Core 2 Quad Q6600 is not scheduled for release until early next year, and so today we will be looking at the more powerful Core 2 Extreme QX6700 version, which Intel had promised to make available this month, humming along to the tune of just 2.66GHz using a cool 1.34 volts of power.



Easily the biggest downfall of the dieing breed of Pentium processors was its thermal output, which was getting quite ridiculous. Therefore the new Kentsfield and Conroe cores were designed not only with performance in mind, but also power consumption and heat output.

Probably the biggest question on the mind of those that have recently upgraded to Intel Core 2 processors is compatibility, will the new Kentsfield processors work with your existing platform? Well the good news is yes, they will. Worst case scenario a BIOS update may be required to support these new desktop processors, according to Intel. These are great news for current Intel users, and it is good to see the continued use of the LGA775 platform, which is still relatively new anyway. The downside in the other hand, and a quite expected one, is that quad-core processors will start selling at well over $800 each, with today's review item, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 going for a cool $1000 per processor.



The Core 2 processors quickly became the fastest in Intel's camp once released, and there were a number of good reasons for this, such as the Smart Cache and Wide Dynamic Execution technologies. Then there is the virtualization technology which is designed to maximize the processors' multi-tasking performance. This is done by splitting the computer into numerous virtual systems, all of which can run different applications. This technology is so powerful that in theory it could be possible to play a game on one, watch a movie on the other, host a web server on a third, run a database from a fourth, and surf the Internet on another.

The very same technologies that made the Conroe so powerful are all included in the new Kentsfield architecture. In fact, there are no new additions, so it is merely a quad-core version of the Conroe, but of course this is hardly a bad thing. Given the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 shares the same specifications as the Core 2 Duo E6700 minus the extra two cores, you should not expect it to offer dramatically better gaming performance than the E6700, as the current line up of PC games have shown are not too susceptible to the number of processor cores as they are perhaps to increases in clock frequencies.