After looking at the new LED backlit LCD HDTVs, I decided they were still too expensive for me to justify for my bedroom since I don’t watch too much TV in there.

Since I was pretty happy with my Samsung monitor, I decided to stay with them, but get a larger 40′ LCD HDTV (model LN40C530F1F) from Best Buy. It also happened to be on sale for $674.99 (MSRP $749.99).

Samsung 40'

Basically, this is just a bigger version of the monitor I got for my computer.

The specs are:

• 1080p
• 40″ screen with light sensor
• Only 3-1/8″ thick for wall mounting (mounting kit optional)
• Screen refresh: 60Hz
• Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 80,000:1
• Wide Color Enhancer
• Two 10W speakers with Dolby Digital and DTS decoders
• Inputs: 3 HDMI with Anynet+ and 1 PC video (rear)
• USB 2.0 port with ConnectShare Movie
• Game Mode which enhances dark areas, and sharpens the picture

The screen refresh is only 60Hz but that’s why it’s on sale. Don’t expect any theater type Dolby sound coming out of these speakers. It’s good enough for just watching the news or playing some non-serious games. The screen is small enough that you would not be that far away to need sound that good anyway.

Side

There is one HDMI input on the side, S-video and the USB port. If you plug a thumb drive with pictures or video, you can use the remote to go through them like you do on a computer. You can also update the TV firmware using the USB. The side HDMI is a nice touch for people who want to put this thing on their wall.

Back

The back is where most of the inputs are located, including 2 HDMIs, DVI, PC, S-video and Antenna inputs. Pretty much, all the usual inputs are available here. Some people might want 4 HDMI inputs but for a small TV that you’ll probably just use for gaming or your bedroom, 3 is plenty.

Since I never tested the TV feature on the computer monitor, this was the first time I used the TV functions and the remote control. It took me a little while to get used to the menus on the Samsung but it’s easy to figure out without reading the manual. The only thing that was not simple was setting the favorite channels, which requires going into a sub-menu to do.

All in all, the price is right if you don’t need the best and latest technology available. For your den, office or bedroom, this unit is more than adequate.

As it turns out, there’s a “cheat” code for doing this. First bring up the Dialer (the same way you dial numbers to make a call).

Next, dial the number “##66623#”, without the quotes. When you dial the last #, an app called “Monad” will automatically launch and you will see something like this:

Help screen

The screen above is actually the main screen with the Help screen dialog box over it. All you will see is the “CelleBrite Export” button. CelleBrite is a company that makes a black box that exports contacts from any phone to any other phone. I found out this secret feature when I was at the Apple store buying an iPhone 4.

When you click on the export button, you will get the following screen:

Exporting

Depending on how many contacts you have, this can take a while to export the file. Just wait and don’t close the app. Once the app is done, it will tell you to connect with the USB cable. At this point, the export file is ready. Connect to your Palm Pre using your USB cable and choose “USB” from the options.

Look in the folder named “.temp” and inside the folder, there should be a file named PmMigration.vcf. This file contains your entire contact list in VCF format (vCard).

Where to find your exported information

Copy this file to your computer and manipulate it or import it to another app on your computer using the vCard format.

Good question my friend. My answer: It’s sexy.

Yes, gadgets can be sexy. The older iPhones were sexy but this one has the x-factor. I think this version is not just sexy, but macho industrial sexy. So will my new iPhone get me laid? Only time will tell.

iPhone 4: Very sexy

Apple Store:
One of the first things I encountered was the Apple employees at the store. I’ve dealt with them once before when I was there with a friend, and they are very knowledgeable about their products, unlike the Best Buy workers.

Once I entered after the long line, an Apple salesperson is assigned to you and they walked me through everything from up-selling accessories, turning on my AT&T account, and eventually getting a technical person to transfer all my contacts over to the iPhone.

On a side note, I found out that California charges sales tax on the full price of the iPhone, instead of the discounted price. This really jacks up the tax, but I guess California is broke and they need the money.

AT&T:
The first thing to consider are the AT&T plans. Since I mostly text and don’t make a lot of calls, I picked the least expensive plan for 450 minutes ($39.99), 200 MB of data ($15) and unlimited text ($20). Although the calling minutes roll over, the data (and texting) do not rollover.  So the total on AT&T is about $75. My current plan on Sprint is $69.99 (450 minutes) has unlimited data and texting. I’ll have to use my AT&T for a month to see if I go over the 200MB limit or not.

iPhone:
After getting my iPhone home, the first thing I did was check to see how much memory was available from the 32G. Without downloading anything, the capacity is 29.06G. As long as you don’t go crazy with video, that should be enough for most users, even with a lot of music.

There is a new version of iTunes available (9.2.061) and of course, that is one of the perks of having an iPhone. It’s a snap to download music from your computer to the iPhone with just a few clicks of the mouse.

What is not so easy to do is to download ringtones. Let me clearify. It’s easy to buy ringtones for 99 cents to $1.29 from the iTunes store and download it to your phone. But I’ve never paid for ringtones that are shorter, low quality versions of the songs that I already have in my collection. In fact, some of them, I’ve bought 2 or more times in my life.

It took me hours to search and read through a bunch of crap but I finally found a video that explains everything for the cheap bastards that do not want to pay for ringtones. Yes, the guy in the video seems a little creep-geeky, but the information is correct and works.

Now with my ringtones setup, it was time to download the apps I already had on my Palm Pre. As you can imagine, with a catalog of 200,000+ (compared to 2000+ on the Palm) there was no trouble locating everything and the work was trying to figure out which version is better from the hundreds (some even thousands) of reviews that these apps have.

Next, music. Of course, since the iPhone has a built in iPod, it’s a snap to play music, and with the new iOS4, you can actually listen to the music while you run other apps. The multi-tasking is not completely there (more on that later) but at least you can do that. With iTunes, it’s a snap to bring all your music onto the iPhone. This was indeed a no-brainer.

As for sound quality, there are 2 speakers at the bottom of the phone and they do sound pretty good for a cell phone. My old LG enV2 actually had louder speakers but that’s because the LG has the speakers pointing toward you.

As a test, I watched a Youtube video for 30 minutes and the sound was fine in a quiet room but holding the phone in my hand got to be tiring. My old LG was more like a laptop so you didn’t have to hold it when you watched videos. There’s no kickstand and the back of the iPhone is super slippery so I was not able to stand it up against anything.

Bottom: Speakers and connector

The volume is controlled by 2 separate buttons on the side. There’s also a switch to turn of the ringer which is very easy to operate and important these days when people stare at you like you just killed somebody if your phone rings at the wrong time. The headset that comes with the phone seems kind of cheap but it works nicely and fits well. The only thing was,  it was very hard to unplug from the phone. Perhaps because it’s new and things are still a little tight. Or maybe I’m just a weakling.

Side: Volume up/down and ringer on/off

After downloading a bunch of free games (I like Angry Birds), next I downloaded the turn-by-turn navigation app. Unfortunately, unlike Sprint, you have to pay $6.99 a month for this service. Of course, in my case, it doesn’t even work, so free or not, that’s irrelevant. On Verizon, you also have to pay but I don’t remember how much it was. The $6.99 is a special iPhone price and it’s normally $9.99 so make sure you get the correct lower price when you get it.

AT&T Navigator by Telenav

One feature I liked was that the Navigator operated in landscape mode, unlike the one on my Palm Pre. If you click on the picture above, you will see the full sized version of the screen and you will see that the app is not in the high resolution mode. You can’t really notice it on the iPhone unless you look really close.

Speaking of the screen, it is bright and gorgeous and is not matched by anything else I’ve seen on a phone. Apple calls it the Retina display, but basically it just high resolution 640 x 960 in the same space as before. New iPhone 4 compatible apps have been upgraded with higher resolution icons and images.

You can see the difference below with the Apple apps’ icons, versus the icons for the AT&T Navigator and Qik. Those older apps clearly have the older lower resolution icons. In time, most of the apps in the catalog will be updated to the new resolution. As you can see, it’s a big difference when you look at it this close.

Amazing 640 x 960 resolution

As for the switch from physical keyboard to on-screen keyboard, I’m having a hard time. Everybody that has an iPhone has told me to keep using it and I will get used to it. So I’m going to try. But so far, it’s not working out for me.

FaceTime:
Yes, I did try FaceTime (the video calling) and it’s fun but the fact that you have to use WiFi limits it’s use. Your WiFi does need to be strong too. If not, you’ll see a lot of frozen screens. I’m not sure I’m sold on having people watch me when I’m talking to them. I kinda like that I can be in my underwear when I’m talking to my boss.

Camera:
As for the 5M pixel camera with flash (and HD video), that will be reviewed in my next iPhone post, so stay tuned.

So at the end of the day, will this new iPhone get me laid? I don’t think so. So far, only men have asked me about it. No ladies have said anything to me. But of course, that could just be me c-blocking myself with my looks.

Next: Camera and HD Video

The people at the very front of the line have been there since about 8pm from the day before. Some had sleeping bags, folding chairs, laptops, iPads, and other distractions. Some just sat on the ground. Although there was originally a list of names, it turned out that was done by the mall security and had nothing to do with Apple. I think Apple needs to come up with a better system before they have a riot next time from people trying to cut in line.

The long line goes over the bridge and beyond

The people in the reserved iPhone line were moved anywhere from 10-30 people per group to the mall. Each group would be moved every 30-40 minutes or so. The people in the non-reserved line were given tickets that confirmed that they would get an iPhone, assuming they stayed in line and waited. This line moved in groups of one person to 10, every 40-50 minutes or so. The reserved line started moving at 7am, and the non-reserved line started moving at 10am. Apple handed out

Once moved into the mall, you stood in a second short line across from the Apple store. Then you were moved again to a 3rd tiny line (of just 7 people) right in front of the store. There was another line for people who were not getting iPhones. I don’t know why people would stand in a line to NOT get an iPhone today, but some people like the action.

Now, from the 3rd line, you are moved to your 4th line inside the store where somebody asks for your information and types it into their computer. And finally, from there, an Apple employee was assigned to get you everything you needed.

Although the waiting and standing in the lines in the hot sun was excruciating, I have to say the Apple people are well trained and very helpful. Once you have made your purchase (with any software or accessories), you can optionally have your old phone contacts moved over to your iPhone. They are using a CelleBrite box which is basically a black box that connects any phone to any other phone and transfers the contact list. Very interesting stuff but must be a nightmare for the CellBrite company to keep up with all the new phones that come out everyday.

iPhone 4 with no AT&T service

Unfortunately, everything seemed okay at the store but when I got home, I realized the AT&T service was not properly connected and I was not able to make calls.

Next time: First impressions.

The Countdown To iPhone 4

Since I wasn’t able to have my iPhone mailed to me, I have to wait in line at the Apple store tomorrow. From reading about past experiences with people waiting for 7 hours in line, I decided to go to the Apple store and ask some questions.

After finding a helpful employee at the Apple store, this is what I learned. It turns out that at the Century City store, the mall will not allow people into the mall until 5am. The store opens at 7am and the line will be in a larger area in the mall, not in front of Apple. Apple employees will bring in 10 people at a time into the store. This is the same way they did it for the iPad recently, according to my source.

At this point, I have no idea if I have to wait in line from 5am to secure my iPhone or not. I started to look around Craigslist and found a few people willing to stand in line for money. After contacting a few, I picked 2 of them, and hedged my bet by employing both in case one flaked or got arrested for loitering.

One guy had several “employees” (mostly family I’m guessing) doing it at several stores and I paid him a deposit by Paypal. This guy will send his guy at 4am.

The other guy was a kid and I met with him and gave him a deposit in cash. Actually, the deposit was my idea with him. I don’t think he’s done this before. He seems like a real nice guy and I’m hoping he’ll come through for me. He says he’s going to go to the mall at 9pm and linger there all night. I hope he doesn’t get arrested.

I’ll call him Matt (not his real name). Matt told me that for the iPad, there was about 40 people in line. I’m pretty sure there will be a bunch more for the iPhone. One thing was clear. This guy loves Apple. He says he bought every single version of the iPhone. Matt also told me some AT&T cheats that he uses. Obviously, he doesn’t want this info made public, which I completely understand.

Now I wait.

Update 11pm:
My line guy says there are about 20 people ahead of him in line already. It’s going to be a long night for him.

Update 2am:
Now he says there are about 50 people in line.

Hyundai Equus

According to Autoblog.com, the new 2011 Hyundai Equus will come with a free iPad (16g, WiFi) with the owner’s manual pre-loaded. Apparently, the manual is an app (not just an iBook) and will allow the owner to schedule maintenance on the car and make contact with your dealer.

There will also be video in this app to show the owner how to use the car. Maybe there will be a video showing what will happen to your car if you use the iPad while driving.

Hyundai will update the owners manual app via iTunes so that owners can keep up-to-date on anything new with their car (like recalls). That’s assuming Apple accepts this app to be in the App Catalog.

Manuals are becoming scarce, especially for gadgets, and are going more to online versions. If Hyundai is the future of what’s to come, Apple will have to have a special app section just for interactive manuals. This is good for trees and people who are running out of space for all their manuals. I think I still have my manual for my Atari 2600 somewhere.

The day is coming when printers and the Postal Service are gone.

Starting at midnight, I started refreshing the Apple website on the iPhone page once every 10-15 minutes and got nothing very interesting. After many attempts, I finally got this screen.

Ready for pre-order?

When I tried to start the pre-order process, I kept getting this message below:

Apple server confused or busy

Inactivity!? I’m typing my address in as fast as I can. After a while, I figured out that the website was not really ready to take my pre-order so I waited. When I tried again later, I kept getting this message below:

Apple website probably being updated

When I got the “Oops!” message, there was no way to return back to the normal part of the Apple website except just to re-start from scratch. On one of my tries, I got this crazy screen:

Whoa! WTF!?

I have no idea what this error means but I’m sure my pre-order didn’t go through. Then around 3am, I finally got this message.

Apple website getting ready for pre-orders

This is what happened last time when they were pre-order selling the iPad so I already knew that I would have to wait until about 5-5:30am until the website was back up. While doing other work on my computer, I kept periodically refreshing the browser.

At about 5:30-ish, I was able to get back on but still kept getting errors. I was not able to get the online store to ship to me, maybe because I’m not a current AT&T customer, or because the AT&T servers were overtaxed, so I decided to try picking it up at the Apple store.

By the way, the white iPhone is not available for pre-order. If that’s what you want, you’ll just have to wait. Personally, I like the black one better. It looks more Vader-ish.

But I digress.

After several attempts at trying to do the pickup at the Apple store, I finally got to this:

Booyah!! Jackpot!

According to their email, I have to the end of business day on June 24 to pick up my iPhone at the Apple store. Nice.

In hindsight, I probably should have just waited a few hours and let everybody use the servers, then did my pre-ordering. But what would be the fun in that?

At last year’s E3, Sony showed a demo of their motion control device, to compete with the Wii and Microsoft’s rumored motion control device (also shown at E3 last year).

Well, a whole year has gone by and at this year’s E3, both Sony and Microsoft are now showing off their motion control devices and the games that will use them.

Sony decided to go one step further and demo the devices at the local Best Buy. They will be showing it today at both Culver City Best Buys and the Burbank Best Buy.

It’s so funny that both Sony and Microsoft are playing catch-up to Nintendo after calling the Nintendo motion controller a “fad.”

Yes, it’s just a fad. A fad that allowed a “kids” game console that doesn’t even have HD to kick your respective asses.

Since the Palm Pre has many features that the iPhone didn’t have, like cut/paste, multi-tasking, sending pictures via MMS, combined multiple email accounts, flash, no-plug recharge, I felt justified in my decision. Not to mention that they are on AT&T, which nobody seems to like.

Over the last year, the iPhone has been steadily upping the ante and correcting and adding many of the missing features.

On June 24th, the new iPhone 4 will be coming out. It adds multi-tasking, a 5MP camera with flash, HD video recording (with LED light) and editing, front facing camera for video chatting, 326 PPI LED backlit screen, and a few other goodies. They already have voice control, visual voice mail, and of course 200,000 apps online.

Virtually every techie friend that I have has an iPhone already. But I’m not one to break down to peer pressure.  However, it’s getting harder and harder to justify NOT getting an iPhone. Now with the new iPhone 4 with it’s new features, I think I’m going to have to break down and drink the Koolaid.

At this point, the only thing even remotely slowing my decision is AT&T. If the iPhone was on Verizon or even Sprint (since that’s who I’m with now), the iPhone 4 decision would be trivial.

When I’m going out on a fun outing, I have to bring my Palm Pre, my Sony digital camera and my JVC camcorder. It’s ridiculous. With this new iPhone, that’s all I would have to bring.

The straw that broke the screen in half was the fact that Bank of America finally came out with their app for the Palm WebOS today. That’s great news, except WebOS still doesn’t have one for eBay, Paypal, Chase, or any of the other big ones that I would actually be using. How much longer do I have to wait? The HP buyout of Palm was also good news, but who cares if I can multi-task and browse websites on my printer?

That’s it. I’m getting it on day one.

Now the only question is… can I actually get one?

One trend that I’ve noticed is that many of the computer “monitors” are now really just LCD TVs that can also be used as computer monitors. In terms of pricing, that’s good. But in terms of some typical monitor features, not so good.

Since I needed a replacement monitor the same day, ordering online was not an option. So off to Fry’s Electronics.

When it comes to electronics, Fry’s is the place. I hate their long lines for customer service, and some of the sales people are clueless, but nobody else has the selection and inventory in a retail environment. But I digress.

After examining all the available monitors for sale, I came across the Samsung SyncMaster P2570HD, which is a computer monitor slash 24.6′ wide screen (16:9) HDTV. One thing that I was concerned about was the lack of vertical height adjustment available in the stand.

My old SyncMaster was able to be adjusted vertically, tilt, and even switch to portrait mode. Although Samsung does have a line of “business” monitors with these features, the consumer monitors available at Fry’s did not have these feateures. Unfortunately, when compared to other factors, like screen size, price, and features, I had to compromise on height adjustment.

The MSRP is $548, but Fry’s had this Samsung for $349.99. It’s been about 9 months since this came out to the market so the price has come down. You can get it for $319 on Amazon and maybe cheaper at other online places.

There’s a little assembling required for the stand but everything comes together very easily. It turned out that the height was just right with the stand. The base does allow the unit to swivel around but not tilt.

On the back of the unit, there’s just about every possible input available: DVI, PC, component, HDMI, and cable/antenna input (digital tuner included). Sorry for the glare in the picture but the non-flash version was too blurry to use.

Since I’m using this unit as a computer monitor, I cannot comment on the picture quality as a TV. As a monitor, I am very satisfied with it. I have it running at maximum resolution at 1920 x 1080 and it’s great to have the wide space on screen. The 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio really makes things look sharp and bright.

For those planning on using this as a TV, it comes with a remote control. You can use this to change the options and settings, as well as the regular TV related functions. Also, the speakers seem to output the sound towards the bottom, so this might not be the best “sound” if you’re using this as your primary TV or game monitor. I’m using an external speaker system so this does not affect my situation.

Although the box comes with batteries for the remote and an HDMI cable (nice touch), it does not come with a DVI cable. So if you are planning on using it for a monitor, you might have to pick one up. Since my old monitor was using analog input, I have to get a DVI cable to connect the monitor. I’ll have a post on that later.

All in all, I’m very happy with the quality and size of this monitor.