With a possible 10″ display and multi-touch gestures, I would love to have this device be on my coffee table. I already have a laptop there most of the time and this would be so much better. This brings me back to the problem of print. If the device is basically a $600 glorified e-reader which doesn’t even do the job right because it doesn’t have an e-ink display, then I don’t want it. I don’t read newspapers, I don’t read magazines. I am subscribed to Wired Magazine, but I mainly read it online through their RSS feed. It needs to do more, it needs to blow me away and not just show me how much I can read. Print needs to understand that while I am ok paying for access to information, eventually it will make its way out. The gatekeepers are gone and any artificial ones they put up just prove that they don’t understand and that they deserve to be irrelevant.

With this said, I am more excited about what might be included in the new iPhone OS (4.0 maybe?) and on the new iPhone model they might announce tomorrow.

If its $600 and amazing, I have the money. If it’s more or just a glorified e-reader, I’ll pass. If its subsidized and needs a mobile contract, then you can just forget I even spent any time thinking about the thing. I don’t need more bills.

I am a few days late on this one but i have a very good excuse. Testing the headphones has been harder than originally anticipated. The guilty party here? Apple iPhone 3G.

However I do have some comments about the headphones and I would like to share them with all of you even though I think that it is a bit sad that my review didn’t go as well.

The Good

The headphones have a bit of weight to them in the earbuds but not too much and if you use the correct headphone plug they will fit very tightly and not fall off easily. The box also brought a clip so you can clip the cable to the back of your shirt just in case it does fall. The clip is a bit weak though so consider it a precaution more than a true solution.

The cable between the earbuds is quite sturdy and the jewel case is quite stylish.

Jogging with the headphones is very possible and I have not had any problems at all. Running should not be much of a problem but Im honestly not that much of a runner.

The battery life is adequate for its size but I have managed to get the low battery warning at least once every 2-3 days, and they have died on me once. I have a 1 hour commute to and from work, which makes for 2.5 hours of use guaranteed use every day and whatever else is during lunch or something. This is not exactly a problem but going a weekend without charging the device, is impossible.

The Possibly Bad

I have been having intermittent connection problems with the headphones. Also I have been having problems with the video/sound sync when watching podcasts. I say this is possibly bad because I am thinking that it might not be the complete fault of the headphones. Let me explain myself.

The breaking up normally happens when my phone is in my pocket and I am walking. It happens every few seconds but it is not a regular interval. Picking up the phone and just holding it in my hand fixes this as long as I am not swinging my hands that much. After searching around I found this which is exactly what I thought was happening :

My thinking is the CPU can barely handle the iPod and Bluetooth at the same time, so when you start moving the iPhone around it has to track the accelerometer movements and puts it over the top. (link)

I decided to take this and run with it. Since I have a jailbroken iPhone 3G I downloaded the Rotation Inhibitor. This has really made a significant impact on the breaking up problem. I have been using it for 2 days with it so I will most likely update this article when I get a bit more data.

The Audio/Video sync problem I have found that if i disconnect the headphones (turn them off) and then turn them back on they normally sync up well. They lose sync if they switch between stereo-bluetooth and normal headset bluetooth for phonecalls. It is kind of random and odd, I honestly think this is something that can be fixed through software soon. The sync has so far not happened when using the headphones with my MacBook Pro, so again I am blaming the iPhone 3G for this.

The Bad

Sony, in their infinite wisdom, decided that instead of using a standard Mini-USB plug so that you could charge through your computer and be able to charge them at any moment, people would enjoy a proprietary new plug. The plug is actually the standard Sony Ericsson phone plug cut in half. When I went to ask for this plug at the Sony Style at the local mall, the guy said were a small store we cant carry everything. So they make a proprietary plug and they dont even sell it. I am currently considering getting the full plug off of ebay for the office.

There is no way to plug the headphones in to charge while you are using them. This is not really much of a problem… but its just kind of lame.

The Bottom Line

I am not going to lie and say that I was not disappointed when the sound started breaking up or when the movies audio was not in sync. But honestly the liberty of not having to deal with large headphones make these the best form factor ever. They are light and small and they can be just stowed away in a pocket at a moments notice.

Considering I paid $110 for the V-Moda Vibe Duos and those lasted for about a year because of my very tough use of headphones I think that these will really last for a while just for the fact that I do not have to plug/unplug them and they wont be jerked around by the iPhone on my pocket. Im quite certain Ill get quite the mileage out of these.

I am happy with my purchase and I have been showing them off to everybody since not only are they awesome, they also dont look silly by having large pieces for no apparent reason or not being a large DJ style headset either. Both of these things are very important to me and the HBH-IS800Z delivers… Now if only I could get the iPhone to work nicely with them!

Where To Buy

If you go to the Sony Style store (sonystyle.com) you will end up paying $179.99. This is better than going to the Sony Style store at your local mall where they are asking for $199.99 for them. Amazon.com still wins though, they are currently listing them for $121.99 (link). I purchased them at Amazon.

Here are five things I believe Google needs to do if it is going to survive

1. Get Mozilla intrested in the platform
   Have Songbird, Thunderbird and Firefox have plugins that make syncing with Android a breeze. It is the only way to take on the iTunes stronghold.
2. Hulu, Amazon and e-Music should all jump on the opportunity
   Build services that you can use straight from the device just like the Mobile iTunes store. If not, Open Source developers should build such an application, a media service that does everything. Hmm maybe the Netflix integration and movie/preview intergration that some iPhone apps have now.
3. GRAND CENTRAL
   I have no idea what Google is doing with Grand Central but they are really missing the biggest of opportunities. VoIP on a phone right out of the box would force competition and really start a new wave of devices and ideas flowing through this saturated, bloated market.
4. Google Push service
   Just like the Palm Pre joins all the information you need in one simple page from around the web. Google needs to jump on this same idea and do it better. Setup push services for all its services and make it only available to Android devices. Push Calendar, Push Email, Push Contacts, for free. Add online storage/streaming in a Amazon S3 fashion where you pay as you go, or are able to pay up front for a set cap.
5. Software and Hardware are not mutually exclusive
   The Google Android team should have some visibility into the devices and they should have a design standard. I am not saying to police the OS, that would be impossible. Make a ‘Google Certified’ badge and every phone that has the Google logo on it should have gone rigurous testing so that it is a polished product. The G1 could have been great but the hardware and the software didn’t seem to agree with each other at many points. If HTC wants to launch that, they can, they just don’t get to print Google in the back. The Palm Pre, the Apple iPhone and the Blackberry Storm are all systems where one team was in charge of both sides of the device, and it shows. Google needs this, NOW.

   -=BONUS=-

6. Make the OS available: All Networks, Set-Top Boxes, Phones, Netbooks, Refrigerators, Toasters
   The more Google pushes the OS outside the ‘Open Handset Alliance’ the more closer the connected home will become. The closer that becomes the more information Google and its partners can organize, sort and monetize. Forget the whole network lock, don’t promise exclusivity to any of the carriers. Sell unlocked phones even if they cost more. The availability of the OS is the most important thing. If my refrigerator knows I’m missing milk and it texts my phone when it knows im close to a supermarket. If my phone can manage my set-top box to record a movie tonight, and edit my Netflix Watch Now queue. If all this works with other OSes like OS X and Windows. Wouldn’t that be a killer app?

What I am proposing is not a platform to replace any other platform. I am proposing a platform that interfaces between them all and becomes the way devices communicate with one another. Hell, thats what Sony promised my PS3 was going to do years ago… Google has a shot at making it so.

John Gruber from DaringFireball got it 100% right. My predictions were not too bad either, but he was just spot on.

The main thing here is the change in manufacturing process. They are leaving a lot of things open for the future. I personally like the choice of the Mini Display Port instead of an HDMI slot. HDMI is a secured architecture that requires you to pay royalties and is basically created just so that applications have permission from the MPAA to play your content. I am not a fan of this. Apple is basically marking a line in the sand, saying computers are here, media centers are there.

Like always leave it to Apple to not try and do a all-in-wonder product. That is why I like them. My new MacBook Pro will be here next week and I can’t be any more excited. I recommend you step by Daring Fireball and read Gruber’s post on why Apple didn’t release a $899 laptop, its worth the read.

HTC and Research In Motion have been hard at work creating devices that will compete head to head with it. RIM even deciding that ‘html email’ is something that should come standard, and HTC jumping on the open handset run before anyone else and being the first one with an actual product to show for it, the T-Mobile G1. Too bad Blackberries are still mainly business devices and the G1 is not as open as it should be. They actually had a chance otherwise.

For all I talk about the iPhone I want to really point out that the second a better device comes out, I will most likely upgrade to it. Maybe next year, maybe in two years. I am not biased towards the iPhone, Apple is just doing it better than anybody else. I want a device that frees me from my laptop and allows me to do whatever it is that I want to do on the road.

If I have to log onto my work server and run a job to check the output when I get home I can SSH in no problem. If I have to check the status of my fantasy team (no matter what fantasy sports service I am using), or if I want to buy tickets to the baseball game on my way there. I can do that all from my iPhone. I can stream music from Pandora or Last.fm. I can twitter with people around me with Twinkle. I can leave notes for myself that sync with all my computers and the internet through Evernote. I don’t need to worry about not having 3G because it defaults to EDGE, and it has Wi-Fi for faster transfers and network recognition through Air Sharing. The connectivity possibilities are endless because it uses bluetooth, a 3.5mm headphone jack and the incredibly common iPod universal connector jack.

The touch screen is nice, but as I’ve said before. Its all about connectivity and the applications. I really can’t say I feel too confident right now about where the T-Mobile G1 is going. The application store for the G1 is still not ready and whenever it is ready it will not be as robust as the iTunes App Store is now. Plus it seems like Google has dropped the ball when it comes to advertising the thing. What they’ve shown in the tech demos is amazing. Why are people not talking about this phone?

Why is the device ‘expandable to 8GB’ ?. If there is something Apple learned early, the more storage you put in the device, the more people will want. I think I’m the only one of my friends who has a 8GB iPhone 3G, and thats just because I know I’ll be right out that line next year for the third gen iPhone if nothing changes. With a pricetag of $180 for the phone with 1GB, if I wanted to get a 8GB microSD card for it to be comparable to the bottom end iPhone I’d have to spend $23.03 more, just charge me $199 and include the 8GB card? jeez.

Why does it not use a normal 3.5mm headphone jack? So if I break my headphones, I have to go to a T-Mobile store to find their special headphones or I need to get a little adapter that I have to carry around. Why?! There is no need for this.

I am however, excited that Android finally has a hardware incarnation. Apple desperately needs some competition, maybe they’ll stop banning apps because of their “don’t compete against Apple” clause in their T&Cs. The full keyboard on the device is also very interesting and I love that it features a 3.1mp camera, the iPhone’s camera sucks.

I am watching this develop quite rapidly and I am really interested, but somehow, underwhelmed. Somebody at Google has dropped a ball and T-Mobile seems to be tripping on it. God I hope I’m wrong…

Here’s Wired’s comparison of the two devices.

It started with Steve joking about the rumors about his demise a few weeks ago, and that seemed to be the highlight of the morning.

He first talked about iTunes, iTMS has overtaken Best Buy and Wal*Mart as the biggest retailer of music anywhere. With iTunes 8.0 they introduce the Genious Playlist and Sidebar. The idea being that based on your music library and a selected song iTunes will automatically create a playlist for you that makes sense. The sidebar replaces the mini-store with recommendations based on your current selection.

He continued with the iPod Nano, and introduced the 4th generetion of these devices. Long LCD, and a interface that is very reminicent of the iPhone/iPod Touch. It’s the “thinnest iPod ever” and has the Genious Playlist built in.

Then moved on to the iPod Touch. With a sleek metal redesign it now looks better than the 3G plastic iPhone, it also got a pricing point of $229 and gets built in Genious Playlist and Nike+ support.

He mentioned a few iPhone/iPod touch games like Spore, FIFA and Need For Speed: Undercover, then they showed a new ad that places the iPod Touch as a portable gaming device, just like Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS.

Wrapping up he announced update 2.1 for iPhone wich includes none of the new features it’s lesser sibblings got. Not even Genious Playlist (this might be included, no official word we’ll have to see on friday). In fact it’s just bugfixes.

Here is where the dissapointment begins.

I’ll start with the one that bothers me the most. iPhone is not getting Nike+. Apparently the iPhone is no longer an iPod. Back in January 2007 Steve Jobs called the iPhone the “Best iPod Ever”, this led me to believe that the iPhone is the top of the line iPod, and everything that works with iPod will work with iPhone because thats what top of the line means. I was obviously wrong. They are saying that there is some extra reciever that the 2G iPod Touch has that enables this to happen without the dongle. Whatever. It’s been about two months since the release of the iPhone 3G, they knew about this well in advance and they decided to not include this functionality on the iPhone 3G. I guess they expected people to buy new iPod Nanos or get themselves an iPod Touch now… but that makes no sense. The iPhone is the most expensive iPod, and within Apple’s plans, the iPhone is to take over the universe (projected 12M units sold this year). Adding features like Nike+, GPS and Genious Playlist to the iPhone further sets it appart from the rest of the “iPhone Killers” that are coming out this year. Splitting the market like this is really… well… dumb.

I was still kind of hoping that its because of the 3 leg system that Jobs setup back in WWDC, iTunes, iPhone, Mac. So there will be a later event that will add Nike+ functionality, and it’ll be worth the wait because it’ll include map support for running those trails around town, and maybe over the air sync. It just looks more and more like this won’t be the case. Theres already a discussion going on at the Apple Support forums about this and how Apple hasn’t even commented on updating the iPhone for dongle support. The whole reason why the Nike+ worked on the Nanos and not on the iPod/Classics was because of the Nano’s solid state drive, which the iPod Touch and iPhone have. This is really quite ridiculous. Which brings me up to…

Genious Playlist is really quite a half-baked idea and they are not jumping on the opportunity that an ailing Pandora is presenting. The Genious Sidebar kind of does this, it allows you to see what music you are missing and other music you might like, but really, iTunes Genious Radio would be awesome. Just imagine a service like Last.fm straight from iTunes. With server-saved playcounts and unlimited music streaming. This could be a monthly subscription service and will also boost their sales since you could one-click-buy any music you really enjoy. I, for instance, no longer travel around with my music collection, and depend solely on Last.fm’s radio for my music both old and new discoveries. It’s really wonderful, and it works over the air with my iPhone and it’s Last.fm application.

I have nothing to say about the new Nanos, I didn’t like the fatty, these look way better.

Another thing that I really don’t like, is how there just has not been a ‘One More Thing’ on any of the last keynotes. It just really kind of falls dead at the end since you would always wait for that one last thing where he would completely re-arrange paradigms and blow minds. This could be something as simple as starting a streaming service similar to Netflix’s on the AppleTV or as complicated as the AppleTV 3.0 rumors that are floating around.

I really also expected the announcement of the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. That was my fault. I still think they will be released sometime soon, before the holidays, but my 2 year old MacBook Pro has seen better days, mainly because I am an extreme power user and carry it everywhere I go. My old Toshiba didn’t last through 8 months of that, so imagine how happy I am with my 15″ MBP. I am really looking forward to a new 17″ MBP as soon as the redesign is set loose.

All in all, if you have an old iPod or if you just haven’t spent any money on the iPhone (and 3G)/iPod Touch 1G yet, this keynote opened lots of doors for you. But if you are already invested in a iPhone/iPod Touch, specially those with new iPhone 3Gs, this keynote was just sad. It was a wakeup call that tells you that the days of iPhone/iPod Touch parity are over, and theyre marketting them as separate things, not just “a poor mans iPhone” and the iPhone is no longer the one device to rule them all, since Apple now decided that there were things it can’t do.

It has taken AT&T well over a year to finally bring any version of the device to the island. The same prices that apply in the United States apply in the island as expected. As of right now I have not noticed any differences that will make the plan any different than just getting the phone in the United States right now and moving your AT&T number to the new phone.

Another piece of news that broke last week is that by the time the iPhone is available in Puerto Rico it will also be able to be purchased through Best Buy. This being a big change from Apple’s current sales model which is only through AT&T Retail stores and Apple Retail stores.

There you have it, even more confirmation, of the worst kept secret since Area 51. AT&T wants your money this christmas season.

I’ll update this post as soon as they make a press release.

Today’s procedure went without a hitch. I gave them my information, told them my phone number, and even told them my current billing address (in Colorado). The interesting thing about this is AT&T did not complain about my number having a Colorado billing address. But that is just a different kind of issue that I am so glad they finally got over.

So there you have it. iPhone 3G, legally activated with a Puerto Rico number. If you are visiting the United States and decide to stop by an Apple Store, you can upgrade your AT&T account with confidence before heading back to Puerto Rico. As a quick note, AT&T did confirm by email that they have plans to offer the iPhone in Puerto Rico in the near future but there are no dates set yet.