Takumi's Blog

Well, the whole world has already heard about Apple’s new iPhone (the name they are keeping, even though Cisco owns the trademark) and Apple TV.

The iPhone is, well, much more than I expected, and I’m sure much more then anyone else expected. 200 new patents, an iPod built into it, super thin, and has 5 hrs of talk time or 16 hrs of music time… I mean, that just blows you away. On top of that, it has the multi-touch screen, and runs on OS X.

I think Apple really hit it this time. Even at the steep prices, it’s cheaper than getting a separate smart phone (ie. Palm) and then getting an iPod nano 8GB. They’ve partnered with the largest cellular service provider in the States, and have integrated Google into the phone nicely too. (As for yahoo mail, well, I was hoping they would integrate .Mac instead….)

Apple’s take on how the phone should work is great too, I think they really did “reinvent the phone.”

AppleTV also hit the sweet spot. The form factor is small, it has 802.11n wireless (which theoretically has 600mbs throughput!), and an unexpected hard drive.

I’ve been reading on the AppleInsider forums about how the HDD should be bigger, but I disagree. It is a streaming device, that’s what it does, streams. The HDD was a nice addition so people can have their latest unwatched/listened content streamed to the device, but I was more thinking along the lines of… well, I was thinking you could load it up with some of your fav. content, then when you go over to your friends house you just bring that and the cables and there you have it, content to go.

It’s got a USB 2.0 slot in the back, which could be used to connect to an external drive, though I’m not so sure. (BTW, the new AirPort Extreme has nearly the same look as the AppleTV, and it also has a USB 2.0 plug to connect to an external HDD). The best part, it’s $299.
To summarize, I think I’ll get a AppleTV first, then get a iPhone when I move back to America (or if they come out with a Japan-network-compatible version )

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