Apple fanboys worldwide were glued to the Apple Event 2023 live stream last night and with good reason. Every year in September, the global tech giant showcases their latest products at this exhibition which is streamed world over, it's an optimal time as it gives the consumer enough time to save up for them as Christmas gifts. That is how well thought out these events are by Apple and probably why they remain not only in the forefront of sales globally but also innovation and marketing. Last nights event saw the the official unveiling of multiple products including the new all new Apple Watch Series 9 which features a new CPU and other good features, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the introduction of the iPhone 15 series which has two models, the normal iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus. The last devices two be released were the iPhone Pro series which we will take a closer look at in today's post. After purchasing my first Pro Max device last year, I can see what makes these phones so special and while there isn't a significant shift in user experience from Android to iOS, at the end of the day the consumer wants phones to work when they need it to work and that is what Apple does so well.
So lets talk about build quality, Apple states the new Pro Series is the toughest and lightest ones yet, made from grade 5 titanium enclosure, it has a higher tensile strength than regular titanium, the same stuff they make spacecraft with, it is machined to its size and shape with a special PVD coating for the colours, which are Black, White, Blue and Natural Titanium. The overall dimensions of the iPhone Pro and Pro Max have been reduced thanks to this new titanium shell but the screen sizes remain the same, making the iPhone 15 Pro Series having the thinnest borders for an iPhone. The Pro screen measures in at 6.1-inch with the Pro Max having a 6.7-inch display. Both XDR touch screen display feature a toughened glass with an added layer of protection coming from the Ceramic coating which is only available on iPhone devices.
A key design feature on the iPhone 15 Pro sees a change in the ring/ silent switch which is now and action button that can be customizable by the user that can trigger just about anything, from voice recorder, camera or your favourite application. It still remains a ring/ silent switch by means of pressing and holding the button which will give you a haptic feedback when each mode is engaged. It's designed to give the user more convenience and enhance the iPhone usability. Any action will give you visual alerts via the dynamic island which proved to be a hit on the previous model. The dynamic island now offers the user more than before, with added information by expanding the island when required. The iPhone 15 Pro now has an always one display with the screen going into a standby mode when placed horizontally, displaying the date, time like an alarm clock display or customize it with other widgets.
iPhone 15 Pro features a brand new A17 Pro chip which is new from the ground up, its made by a new generation silicon development by Apple, with changes to the entire chip including a breakthrough new GPU. Apple have developed new transistor technology making the A17 Pro the first 3 nanometer chip. With the chip featuring 19 Billion of these transistors, this all results in an improved performance, efficiency and features on the iPhone 15 Pro. This chip also enhances viewing experiences on streaming services, pro motion on video mode and transfer speeds on the new USB C port, yes, Apple has finally done away with their lighting cable port and have adapted the USB C port. With the A17 Pro chip it has a special coding that allows transfers up to 10GB per second, using a USB 3 cable which makes it 20x faster transfer speeds.
The iPhone 15 Pro series retains the triple lens ecosystem, with the primary camera being new improved 48MP main camera with 24mm focal length. This makes for more breathtaking pictures that captures more detail at a higher resolution, the new light sensor means more bespoke bokeh pictures with with even more detail than before. The 12MP Telephoto lens available on the 15 Pro Max has a focal length of up to 120mm by a tetra prism design with new focus stablizer that gives you 5x Optical zoom which allows you to capture objects far away with much more precision and a lot more detail. The 12MP Ultra Wide camera is improved with new anti reflector coating, better night mode and better Macro mode. The video mode on the iPhone 15 Pro will appeal to videographers as it can record Pro raw in 4K at 60 fps and save directly to an external drive via the USB C port. The iPhone 15 Pro series is looking the deal with these new dynamic changes and improvements with the pricing released for pre-orders in the USA being almost identical to that of the 14 Pro Series, added to that Apples trade-in policies, it looks like a bargain for those in the US. Us in South Africa have to wait a bit to find out what sort of loan we have to take out to pre-order one of these but if they keep the pricing aligned to the US market, it shouldn't be too far off from what we were paying for the iPhone 14.
Update: iStore has announced that pre-orders for the iPhone 15 can be placed from the 22nd of September with orders availability from the 29th of September.
If you're a fanboy of the tech giants based in Cupertino, California, last nights Apple Event did not disappoint with the company launching a host of new devices, one of which was the highly anticipated iPhone 13. So lets jump straight into what the 13 has to offer, just like the previous model the 12, the iPhone 13 comes in four models:
iPhone 13 mini - $699
iPhone 13 - $799
iPhone 13 Pro - $999
iPhone 13 Pro Max - $1099
Some of the standard out characteristics and features on the 13 mini and normal 13 include five new colours to suit the users style and personality, of which include New Pink, New Blue, New Midnight, New Starlight and New Red which is the show stopper. The device has a ceramic shield, which makes it tougher than any smartphone glass at the moment. Screen sizes on the 13 and 13 mini measure in a 6.1" and 5.4" respectively and are Super Retina XDR display. The new flat-edge design of the devices make it more durable and robust than previous generation phones from the brand and also they are water resistant. Apple redesigned the camera lens architecture on these devices to make the housing of the lens at a similar size to the previous generation but adding a larger lens, this was achieved by arranging the lens in a 45 degree to fin in. This camera system with its biggest Wide camera sensor also includes a sensor-shift optical image stabilization. The Ultra Wide camera also features a faster sensor helping you focus on the subject more quicker than ever. On the video side of things, the camera has a cinematic model which automatically creator beautiful depth effects and focus transitions.
Taking a quick look at the big boys, the Pro and Pro Max, Apply have gone all out with these two, in keeping with the design from the smaller two 13's, the Pro and Pro Max come in four colour variants, namely Sierra Blue, Silver, Gold and Graphite. The Pro and Pro Max are both manufacturer from Surgical-grade stainless steel which can be seen on the side profile of the device, giving it that more elegant and modern feel to it. Both devices also get the Ceramic Shield Apple claim is tougher than any smartphone glass on the market this protects a custom OLED screen that is 25% brighter outdoors. . The Pro and Pro Max are also both IP68 rated, which makes it dust and water resistant. The camera system on the devices have received the biggest upgrade ever, with next-level hardware that captures so much more detail. With this in mind, the Macro photography has been enhanced thanks to its redesigned lens and powerful autofocus system, with the new Ultra Wide camera focusing on a subject at just 2 cm, making even the smallest details seem epic. With the new camera ,they've also highly focused a lot on low light, with the wider aperture and the large sensor, it leverages the LiDAR Scanner for Night mode portraits, additionally the Telephoto camera now benefits from night mode as well, it features a 77mm focal length and 3x optical zoom which Apple say is great for classic portraiture or shooting clearer photos and videos from far away. It also has the Cinematic video feature which can be recorded with the Wide, Telephoto or TruDepth camera. Cinematic mode in the Pro and Pro Max supports Dolby Vision HDR. There's a lot more features to the camera with multiple photographic styles on hand to try and master. They also made it much more easier to edit photos and videos using their own built-in apps and don't worry about storage limitations and as the iPhon3 Pro is the first iPhone with 1TB or storage!
All devices are powered by Apples new A15 chipset which is a 5-core GPU which delivers up to 50% faster graphics performance than any other smartphone chip. The new CPU performance and efficient cores powe through complex tasks and preserve battery life. Overall the GPU is 30% faster than anything else on the market and is capable of running 15.8 trillion operations per second. All iPhone 13 models will be run on iOS 15 which will be available as a free software update from Monday, September 20th for all iOS users. Devices will be available locally from 8th October, local pricing yet to be announced.
The lead up to this week's Apple Event was all about the new iPhone, with the current available model on the market being the 7, in natural Apple progression, the next model to be released would be the 7s but with the 10 year anniversary of the iPhone being this year many in the know said that Apple would skip the S model and unveil the 8. They were bang on the money with that prediction but in true Steve Jobs fashion, Tim Cook and Apple had "One More Thing" up his sleeve for the night... the iPhone X.
Now I know many, when I say many I mean people other than fans of Apple, might be thinking what is this all about? Well, essentially the iPhone X is the iPhone 10, it pays tribute to 10 years of iPhone and it is the baddest one they've made to date. I mean I normally am a bit skeptical of the products they make, sure they're built well, work well but it's more often over hyped and more likely to cost you an arm and both legs. I'm pretty sure the same could be said about the X but the technology being showcased in this phone is great. Fair enough most Android phones have had these features for a while now and when the iPhone 7 was launched I spoke about how we were so used to Apple coming up with these great features but now it's time for them to play catch and that isn't always a bad thing. Sure the technology is out there but with anything, there will be problems, so if someone has invented it, you can borrow and perfect it. I'm pretty sure that is what Tim and his staff did. Lets take a look at some of the key features into this ultimate iPhone.
First thing that strikes you is the display, in previous generations of the iPhone, the displays always have had borders around them and the standard home key which doubled as a finger print reader. Well with the iPhone X, that got tossed out. The entire front of the device is a screen, yip, with a minimalistic frame which houses the 5.8inch super retina display, only a small portion at the top houses some sophisticated tech which includes sensors, a front facing camera and face ID technology. I know what you're thinking, what does it need face ID recognition for? Well remember how I said they phased out the home button, that button also served as a finger print reader for the phone, now with this gone, the iPhone X uses face recognition software to unlock your phone! Now while there have been many memes that's done the rounds making fun of this feature, you got to admit, that is pretty cool.
Lets talk about the build quality now, I think we can all agree that the iPhones are made pretty well. Can't say the same about the screens but overall when you hold an iPhone is feels like a well made device, not some cheap tacky mobile you bought from a dodgy corner shop. The iPhone X will be manufactured with surgical stainless steel, yes normal steel just wasn't good enough, that they using a high grade class steel to made this device. Here's the kicker though, both the front and the back of the phone will have "durable" glass on the front and the back. Not sure they're going to be using Corningware Gorilla Glass for this or they've developed their own but for the sake of prospective buyers, I hope it's pretty strong stuff. The glass front and back does give the device a super premium look if I could say so oh and the iPhone X will be dust and splash proof, just in case you spill some Apple juice on it.
Now the most important feature on an iPhone, the camera! The iPhone X like the 7 and 8 will have a dual lens camera configuration but Apple wanted to make it different and rotated the lens, how this helps, I don't really know but long as it takes awesome pictures of food, sunsets and craft beer right? The camera is a larger and faster 12MP sensor. A new colour filter with deeper pixels and new telephoto camera with OIS. It has depth-sensing cameras and precise facial mapping creating striking studio quality lighting effects. Both rear cameras have optical image stabilization and fast lenses for outstanding photos and videos even in low light. With the wide angle and telephoto cameras on the device, this enables optical zoom as well as digital zoom of up to 10 x for photos and 6 x for videos.
Overall this phone looks the business and really outshone the iPhone 8 which was also launched on the same night, was that a stupid move from Apple though? Killing off their own product with another one of theirs? Well yes and no, the iPhone X is a special device, so it will have a special price tag. It also has the fastest chipset and CPU than any other of their devices so it really depends on what the consumer needs and how much they can afford. Pricing has only been made available in dollars which is pretty useless to us because simply converting it won't give us a true indication of how much the phone will cost us. We will just have to wait and see along with when it will reach our shores.
Technology is a marvelous thing, I mean at this very instant I'm writing this post aboard a flight to Cape Town. Rewind to 10 years ago and no one would believe this is possible. The great thing with the quick evolution of technology is that it makes things it more affordable to many as features that are new become the norm in many devices within a space of a year. Before having a camera on your mobile phone seemed sort of a luxury but now-a-days we look at how many megapixels it has on both front and back facing cameras and if it records in HD. Also with the host of competitors to the mobile industry just makes things better for the consumer with many striving for excellence in their products in terms of quality and userbility, Huawei is one of these manufacturers. A while back they sent me their latest smart phone to hit the market, the P8 to test.
Huawei isn't shy when it comes to comparing Apples with Apples....well Apples with Hauwei as they see the US giant their direct competition. The P8 is seen as a direct competitor to the iPhone 6S and Samsung S6 and after using it for little under a month, I can tell you it's better than both of them. Why? Simply because it offers everything that those two phones offer and more in a slim, styish, little package that will get people second guessing at what phone you're using.
Dimensions & Accessibility
Dimensions of the phone are pretty similar to the rest of them, measuring 144.9 x 72.1 x 6.4mm which fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. With a 5.2" screen it is bigger than the P7 so some with smaller hands might find it a bit difficult to access full screens capabilities with just one hand, hence Huawei were clever enough to help with this, witth a simple swip of the back key on the screen, it reduces the screen size to about 4.5" and this can be swopped to left or right side of the phone depending if you're left or right handed. Unlocking the device is standard as well with an unlock button on the side and depending on the security level you chose, you can either have a pin, matrix or simple swipe to complete the unlock.
Display
As mentioned above, the P8 has a 5.2" screen, its IPS-NEO LCD capactive with 16 million colours, not quite 4K but with 1080 x 1920 pixels, its not that far off. It has multitouch capabilities as well as Hauwei's famed knock control. Many asked how this works and if its such a big deal as they make it out to be, well yes. For one, it makes taking screen shots dead simple, just knock your screen twice with your knuckle to take a snapshot of the current screen, beats holding down the power and centre button! Also make screen selections to share is also as simple, make a selection with your knuckle in any shape making sure you complete the shape and it will be able to share it in whichever way you want to. Dont worry about knocking the phone too hard and cracking the screen as its covered in Corining Gorrilla Glass 3, so its pretty strong.
Camera
The most important feature for many is the camera, for capturing those special moments, or taking pictures of your food to instagram. The primary camera on the P8 is a 13 megapixel with autofocus, optical image stabilization and dual LED flash. It's the norm for cameras in this class of phone but what sets this one apart from the competitors is the features it has built in, from real time filters for both still and video capturing as well as taking long exposure shooting to the next level with letting the user take light trail photographs, provided you have a tripod or a really steady hand! Time lapse video is also another aawesome feature and one that I had fun with a lot but bare in mind it reduces the time a lot so a 30 minute lapse is about 30 seconds. The front facing camera is an 8 megapixel camera with 1080 video recording, good quality for taking those selfies! Speaking of which, it has the smile detection trigger so all you have to do is smile to take a picture, no need for timers or funny hand movements.
Performance
It comes with HiSilicon Kirin 93-/935 chipset and a Quad-core 2GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU. Like many others they've opted for the two Quad Core CPU system which just ensures a smooth running OS. It uses Androids latest version 5.0.2 Lollipop and with the simplified user interface it makes using it a breeze. It offers the the simplicity of an iPhone but with the robust and expandable Android software. In terms of memory, it has an internal hard drive of 16 gigs up to 64 gigs and a microSD slot capable of taking a 128gig card, which inserts into the second SIM slot. Yes all Huawei phones are dual SIM but depending on network, and software, they limit it to just one if not advertising.
Battery
First thing I do when getting a phone to test is load every single social media app that I use on the phone, that way I can get all my notifications and messages to test the real performance of the device battery and I've been seriously impressed with the P8. It's given me more than 2 days standby on a full charge if I use the phone, just a little over 26 hours. Thats all thanks to the Li-Po 2680 mAh battery, since the phone is fully concealed in a well finished aluminum case, the battery is non removable.
Overall
This phone has really impressed me and costing about a 3rd to that of the iPhone 6S on contract, it is well worth the money. I've told numerous people to give it a chance and those who did are not regretting it. One of them being my own brother, I'm actually a little jealous that he has one for himself and I have to return mine tomorrow. The thing is with mobile phones, the techonoly is improving at such a drastic rate, it seems pointless to get a phone that will last you longer than a 2 year life span as by then a device thats 3 generations ahead of your current one will be on the market and you would want that one, so why waste your money on someting that you're paying for just the name? Rather opt for a device that does everything those ones do but at a fraction of the cost.
While most of the techno geeks eyes and ears were cast on Apple Event last night, be it Apple fanboys or Android defenders, everyone attention was focused on what Tim Cook and his merry men had to say and show the world technology that others have already come up with but they only figured out now. Yes, Apple is undoubtedly one of the worlds largest technology company and responsible for most of the innovative devices that we use today on a daily basis but I think another event that happened last week should have warranted at least half the coverage that this got. Obviously marketing has a big role to play in this aspect and of course building up hype around it but the company that launched their new flagship model phone last week wants their product to speak for it self.
When we mention things that are made in China, our initial reaction would be, cheap, generic and of inferior quality. While Huawei's devices might be cheap, it's definitely not of inferior quality. In fact, some of the best quality phones I've had to test over the past year were Huawei's, I'm testing the P8 at this moment of which the review will be up soon, but even that, for the price it's offered is a steal if you take into account the specifications of the device. The build quality is excellent, their adoption of Android is probably the best I've seen on a manufacturer and usability is easy as they come. Huawei is attacking the market, and attacking it hard. Their eyes are firmly set to knocking off top competition which is Apple and Samsung.
They're so blunt in this regard, that at the launch they compared their product with the competition, that is the iPhone 6 Plus, I mean at the end of the day, that's what the consumer is going to do so why beat around the bush? In almost every aspect the CEO took the crowd through, why and how the Hauwei device is better. The MateS is has a number of key characteristics that makes it not only the flagship device for Huawei but also for all manufacturers to try and catch up or to better. While it isn't miles ahead in terms of innovations but it's the small things that they're doing that makes the device great.
Force touch was a big talking point, where by the more pressure you apply on the screen will trigger a different command on the phone. The screen is pressure sensitive, the developers were so bold with it that the phone also comes with a scale to measure the weight of small items. Don't try to stand on the phone though and I'm sure it will be a costly price to pay to replace this screen! That wasn't the deal breaker for me though, what I like about them is that they do the simple things right. Like the actual phone for example, it has a 5.5" AMOLED so naturally the phone would be large but they managed to keep the size to a minimum. The phone is housed in a full metal body but with a coarse finish that doesn't make it slippery. The phone also has a curved back that makes it sit comfortably in the palm of your hand.
They've improved on the finger scanner, not only is it faster but just requires a single touch to activate. They've also expanded on the use of the scanner, before it was just used for unlocking the device, now it can be used to scroll through pictures, take photos and many other things. Then theres the knuckle touch which the P8 also has but again, for the Mate S it has been improved. On the P8 you can only make square selections but on the Mate S you can do any shape that you like.
There's a whole lot more this phone can do than just a few party tricks and I can't wait to have one in my hands to test but for now I'll enjoy the P8 I've been given to play around with. Like I said earlier, Hauwei are coming to dominate and it you're not aware already, they slowly are, their products are reasonable priced, great quality and actually better than what the competitors have to offer. In my opinion its only a matter of time for them to succeed in their mission.
Disclaimer: I do not belong to any affiliation of mobile device type or make, I own a god damn Blackberry, yes, its 2014 and I still have one, deal with it. I don't hold preference to any brand or OS, I'm just a tech observer, not a guru but I know enough to know what makes a device good or shit.
So if you are on Twitter or follow tech updates on various other channels, you would have known that Apple have launched their new mobile device, the iPhone6, along with an iPhone6 Plus which has a larger screen display. Like most of their other mobile phones, they are available in various memory size, being 16, 64 and 128gig. Whilst most Apple fanboys were, lets us a Netflorist expression here, "creaming their pants" while watching the live stream reveal, most other onlookers didn't seem to phased. Most of the stuff Apple have added to their new flagship device has been on other competitors devices for over the past year and in some cases more than 2 generations of phones!
The phone to me didn't surprise me, there was no "wow factor" and instead of giving specifications of the phone, they kept comparing it to the original iPhone, why?! We don't give a shit about how much better it was to your mp3 player that could make a phone call, we want to compare it to the other market leading devices! Then some of the features of the phone didn't make sense, they still opted to go for an 8 megapixel rear camera which has optical image stabilizer. That's nice, Sony and LG have 13 megapixel rear cameras with that and laser focus. Health App? That trick is old now. Apple Pay, which allows you to make purchases with your phone? Really? Even beep bank invented that before you! Steve must be thrilled... not Jobs. #JustSaying
Don't get me wrong, its not a crappy phone, it seems pretty much on par with the others that are available on the market, its just not mind blowing like what we've come to expect from Apple. What I do like about Apple is their build qualtity, many of the new Android devices are good but feel like cheap toys from the Chinese bazar. Apple's devices feel like they're worth the money you paid for them and while my only gripe would be the non-removable battery, my hope is that they have improved on the life of it. iOS8 seems promising and will be released to iPhone5S devices later on this month, sadly there will be no Android crossplatform usage interms of applications.
Now the phones were not the only devices being launched on the night, as predicted, Apple Watch made its debut. They had to launch such a device seeing that Samsung and now recently LG have one on the market but for me this was the show stopper. Compared to their competitors, the watch kicks ass, besides it looking cooler and available in various styles and wrist bands, the functionality is so much more than seeing who is calling or previewing incoming messages and emails. It makes use of a digital crown which uses technology simlar to that of the track wheel from the original iPod to navigate around and select apps. It makes use of a force touch command to enable user preferences and theres a host of other things that it does all this and tell you the time.
You got to give it to them though, even though they've lost the creative guru that was Steve Jobs, their brand still holds great value and the hype around any of their events is nothing short of news stopping. So I honestly don't think they are in a state of demise as other people might be saying but of course when it comes to things Apple, it would be different and expensive... very expensive. It's almost like they want to have this false sense of exclusivity.
Which brings me to my next point, they still remain in their own "clique", which allows intergration with only their devices with the help of blody iTunes, down the line this would end up being a pain in the ass. In this day and age with various mobile ecosystems, it will be hard for every user to have a preference. In a basic house hold everyone would have their own taste when it comes to these things but streamless sharing and connectivity may prove to be a problem if companies like Apple continue this way in the future. Sure, their brand was once highly regarding as the forefront of innovations but what they must come to realise now that others are beating them in that race now so its time, not to concede defeat but rather join the party.
The secret is out! Durban has just got a whole lot cooler with the launch of the multi national luxury taxi service Uber! After taking Joburg and Cape Town by storm, the brand decided to spread its wings to the East Coast, good move to seeing that we are South Africa's play ground.
The service revolves around an app which is downloadable from the app store for iPhones and Adroid phones. With this app you are able to request a cab for the route you are wanting to travel, a quote will be given and also additional info such as the name of your driver. With the app you can also track the drivers location by means of your GPS so you will know exactly where is so you can be on time when he arrives. How cool is that?
All of Uber's vehicles are state of the art luxury cars, so whatever the occasion or venue you are always going to arrive in style. Today's launch in Durban was a highlight as their first customer was none other than the legendary DJ Tira who needed a ride home from the airport. Those who have already registered with the service could track the car via the app.
Now being Durban, we're generally more laid back than the other cities and more importantly things aren't that expensive as it is in the sister cities hence you will be glad to know that the Uber pricing for Durban is lower than Jhb and Cpt with the prices being rather competitive relative to the market. This is excellent news for us Durban folk seeing that places here aren't that far off.
Now many must be asking, why should I use the service? Well with December round the corner, thousands will descend to the the city to enjoy the warm waters of the Indian Ocean during the summer holidays. With tourists comes the parties and with the parties comes the drinking, like many other provinces, KZN also has adapted a zero tolerance on drinking and driving so why risk it? You have an awesome service like Uber at your disposal, use it! its simple, its easy to use and it worth it. It's not only to prevent sober driver, in some instances places you go, there is a headache to find parking, if you take a cab, that pain is alleviated and you don't have to worry about tipping the pesky car guard!
For more info on Uber Durban, you can visit the website, otherwise follow them on twitter and instagram.
Stay tuned as we at the Bucket will be bringing you some specials from Uber Durban
So on Saturday I bit the bullet, I got the new BlackBerry Z10 smart phone. My cellphone contract was due for upgrade since December and I delayed my renewal, pondering which mobile device I should get. Studying the various deals and devices, seeing which fitted my profile the most and I made my decision. Now one would think after having a BlackBerry for little over 2 years, I would not make the same mistake again but I beg to differ. I had the BlackBerry Bold 9700, which in my honest opinion is one of the best devices made by the company. It was the perfect size, it looked stunning, its features were great but it lacked processing speed big time! The first year I had it, it was fine and worked perfectly, then the dreaded clock started showing up and the general crap followed, phone freezing, restarts on its own and eventually the battery gave in. By the end I was so frustrated with it, I wanted to throw it far away from me.
Now after hearing that you'd think I'd never go for a BlackBerry again right? Well, I'm that guy who decided to give them a second chance, you see like I said in my post a few years ago, I'm not taking sides. To me there is no "Team BlackBerry" or "Team Apple", I like good devices irrespective of whom makes them. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is one of the best devices on the market but apart from is bulky design, I know alot of people who have it and it just seems too delicate for my line of work. The last thing I want is for me to drop the phone and the screen stops working, then having to send it in for 2 weeks to repair. Yes that happened to someone at work. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is probably the best phone out at the moment but have you seen the size of that thing?! it will never fit into your pocket!
So realistically I only had 2 options, the iPhone 5 or the BlackBerry Z10. Just a quick look up at the specs and you'll see that the BB edges the iPhone in most departments but there is a risk involved. Over the years there have been hardly any complaints from iPhone users but BB's have had endless, so it hasn't got the best of reputations but it has a chance to prove us wrong. When I got the phone, the first thing I noticed there was no home button, in fact there are no buttons on the screen. Apart from the power button and volume controls, there isn't anything else. Everything is touch orientated, so that did take a while to get used to (when I say a while, I mean about an hour). Different way of swiping the screen triggers different things. The screen itself is a beauty, boasting 768 x 1280 resolution and clarity to rival the Samsung S3 it really is a joy to look at. The touch screen is very responsive and quite a pleasure to use, even typing can be done with ease. Once you master the hub and the menu's the phone is a breeze to use.
Z10's interface is very user friendly, its the layout is very similar to the iPhone but has its own uniqueness with the BlackBerry Hub. The App Store, or "BlackBerry World" is being populated on a daily basis with new and exciting applications. I've downloaded about 15 so far which are great. The phone came preloaded with a few which included your key social media ones such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare. All apps work well but I have picked up a few glitches on the Twitter App which Im sure will be rectified.
The disappointing thing for now is that I have to wait till March for WhatsApp as their developers haven't released a version for the Z10 as yet. Also just like iTunes you can now purchase music from BB World, the prices are very similar to iTunes, with a single costing R8.99 and an album R94.99. The Camera, finally a decent one for BlackBerry! I'll be honest I haven't played around with it alot but the quality is brilliant, the features are great and 1080 recording! yes please!
Now with the new BlackBerry 10 range it was announced that BIS will fall away seeing that the OS needed a faster network to operate on, thus making you buy data for it. The package I took was the TopUp 200 from MTN which costs R409 per month for 24 months. It includes R200 airtime and 250mb data. I'm new to this data thing so I have no idea if 250mb will be sufficient for me, I will however be making use of Wifi where ever possible as I don't want to take the risk. BIS in general is rumoured to be being shut down permanently in June after BlackBerry purchased RIM and made the decision, this will affect ALL BlackBerry users. Now I'm not quite sure whats going to happen to all those who have taken out contracts which included BIS but I know MTN will be releasing custom BlackBerry deals for their customers. Its yet to be seen if BBM will remain as unlimited data since hardly much gets used by the service. To end off, BlackBerry has an certain future going forward, they were slack in the past but with the 10 series its looking bright but will it be enough to convince everyone else?
If you're in the market for a new cellular phone, the most talked about devices are undoubtedly the Apple iPhone or a Blackberry smart phones. Sure theres 100's of others to choose from, like the Sony Ericssons, Nokia's , HTC's & Samsung's but the top 2 best sellers are the ones that share their names with fruit. Now if you're like me, the most important features to the phone must be:
Fast internet
Good camera
Processing speed
Good screen resolution
Easy to use but not too childish
Oh and make phone calls of course!
Now if you have to go through all of those key facts, one can easily find any other phone on the market that fits for what I need. It get mores technical as choice varies and so does price, plus with call rates differing from various networks it makes things even more complicated! I had the Nokia 5800 express music, and it served its purpose. The 3 megapixel camera was a major down grade from my previous 5 megapixel I had on my N95 but I learnt to live with it. The build quality is what got to me on the 5800, within a week I already started experiencing problems with the slide keylock function on the side, it worked at times, and didnt. That and the back cover clips are more flimsy than light bulb glass, the first of those broke off within the first 2 months. It did how ever hold on with the 3rd clip being more solid. The touch screen interface was simple and easy to use, it did how ever lack good app's and struggled when you installed a lot of them.
Apple iPhone4
Seeing that I already was used to touch screen one would have thought the iPhone4 would have been the obvious choice. Yes it is pricey but at the time Vodacom offered a pretty good bundle at R250 per month with 110mb data, while it had all the quialities I needed I just found it pointless as I am in the market to get the 4th Gen iTouch iPod, which is basically the same thing as the iPhone but without the phone. When I travel I like to listen to music instead of the boring crap certain airlines choose to show. So by me having this one, I couldnt make use of the mp3 player since South Africa Airline Safety regulations require all cell phones to be switched off despite what ever mode it is in. So I'd be wasting a good mp3 player. There were other factors too that weighed in, like is 110mb enough for uploads, downloads, and app use? Then there was the usual worry of my clumsiness and the durability of the LCD screen, I tend to drop things a lot. I was extra careful with my Nokia but some how that stopped but the phone it self still lives on.
Blackberry 9800 Torch
The Blackberry on the other hand meant going back to buttons, and not the kind I was used to, tiny flippin things that when first gazed upon you feel like you might smash 10 at once. There were 2 options I was looking at, firstly the Torch which is both touch screen and has a keypad. The new OS6 it comes with is pretty good so I've heard, and it comes with a 5 megapixel camera so I could take decent pictures again. The other option was the 9700 bold, which is a fairly old model on the market but still has features that would make some of the latest androids look like a toy. The downside for this model was the size of the screen and camera being 3 megapixel. Cost wise getting the a Blackberry worked out the best in terms of internet use. With BIS I have unlimited internet, so I can tweet all day long with out wondering how much my bill is going to be, plus there major plus is BBM. Yes its a glorified instant message chat service and the iPhone has whatsapp but by my god it is brilliant! I now know why most of my friends forced me to get this phone, just for BBM.
Blackberry 9700
Well as per that last sentence you would have made out I have settled for a Blackberry, the 9700, like I said its practical and I love how the internet integrates with most things on the phone. The tiny buttons look daunting but believe me you really have to try to press more than 1 button. The design of the keypad is brilliant with each button at a certain angle so that when pressing it, you press that one alone. The build quality is pretty good and it looks great, there is the cheaper 8520, which some say is the modern day Nokia 3310, but there is a major difference between the 2 phones besides having 3G and Edge, the 9700 has the new OS and a 3 megapixel camera. The screen resolution is much sharper as well. The camera doesnt take the best pictures, even when compared to my old Nokia but I've gotten used to carrying my cybershot around for proper pictures so it doesnt bother me that much. The internet services are quick and the trackball is very responsive. So far the phone seems like a winner in my books, there are certain bugs I've picked up like certain app's freezing from time to time but no major problems to report of as yet.
People who get these phones do tend to take sides, so you're either an Apple or a Blackberry person, I on the other had seem to be partial to the both. They both are remarkable phones and if I had the finances I would have gotten both but for now the Blackberry will have to do.
