As you may know, I initially resisted buying the original iPhone because it did not have a physical keyboard, and I jumped on-board the Palm Pre because of the keyboard.

However, when the iPhone 4 was about to come out, I had a change of mind regarding the keyboard limitations because of the apps that were available for the iPhone iOS, which were not available on WebOS for Palm.

Now that I’ve had the iPhone 4 for several months, here are my comparisons of the iPhone 4 vs. the Palm Pre, in both hardware and OS/apps.

First, the hardware:

Palm Pre (left), iPhone 4 (right)

To start, as you can see below, there is a big difference in size between the two devices. I personally like the smaller footprint of the Palm Pre. It fits nicely in my pocket and the rounder design feels better in your hand. The new iPhone 4 is very industrial in design and does not feel comfortable in my hand when making calls. Even the older iPhone design felt better when holding. Here my vote goes to the Palm Pre for better feel and smaller footprint.

Palm Pre (left), iPhone 4 (right)

As you can see from the photo above, the keyboard makes the Palm Pre thicker. However, the thickness actually feels better in your hand when you are calling. The iPhone is actually too thin and doesn’t feel natural in your hand. It’s also perfectly flat (unlike the older iPhones) and is actually hard to pickup from a flat surface.

Otherwise, the iPhone does feel like it’s better in quality, whereas the Palm Pre feels a little bit more cheap plastic-like and somewhat more fragile like parts are going to fall off. Both phones have a power button around the same top area and easy to access, and both have a “home” button which are both easy to press. The other buttons (volume, ringer off) work the same way but the iPhone buttons feel more solid.

The speaker on the Palm Pre is on the back, while the speaker on the iPhone is on the bottom. The iPhone speaker seems to work better. Because of the overall design, solid feel, and the better speaker, I’ll give the overall hardware quality to the iPhone.

Palm Pre (left), iPhone 4 (right)

Separate from the rest of the hardware, the iPhone 4 screen image cannot be beaten by any other mobile phone. It’s amazingly sharp and bright. It’s simply beautiful to look at. If you click on the photo above, you’ll see a larger version but it’s still hard to see the big difference that you can see in real life. Hands down, the iPhone display is superior.

Next, the camera.

Palm Pre - Building in shade

Both the Palm Pre and the iPhone 4 have decent cameras with an LED flash. Here are comparison pictures in daylight conditions from both cameras. Click on each of the pictures to see the full resolution versions. All of these pictures are untouched original versions straight from the devices.

iPhone 4 - Building in shade

Upon close inspection, you can see that the iPhone does have better resolution. Take a close look at the thin phone lines and you can see a slight difference. Also, note the big difference in color saturation of the sky and the color of the brick building.

Palm Pre - Building in sunlight

The iPhone lens seems to be wider because I had to get closer to the building to get a picture that was similar to the Palm Pre.

iPhone 4 - Building in sunlight

Although not entirely scientific, my subjective determination is that the iPhone camera is better, not just in resolution but in quality. I like that the lens is wider so that I don’t have to go as far away to get my shots. Another big difference is the LED light will come on during video recording on the iPhone, whereas that option is not available on the Palm Pre.

At this point, you’re wondering about the front facing camera on the iPhone that allows you to do FaceTime video chat. Well, I used it once when I first got the phone, then never since then. For me, I don’t want anybody seeing me when I’m making calls in my underwear or picking my nose. But if this is important to you because your parents want to see your kids, this could be a killer app for you.

For recharging, of course the Palm as Touchstone, which is a wireless charging dock, which sounds great but sometimes your phone isn’t placed correctly and it doesn’t charge and you find your phone dead in the morning. The iPhone has a physical dock which works just fine for me. This is a wash in my mind.

Finally, comparing battery life, the Palm Pre’s battery life is sub-par and it often will not last me the entire day without needing a charge. The iPhone 4 on the other hand, has a really long battery life and with moderate use, will easily last the entire day with plenty of juice to spare. The iPhone 4 wins this contest hands down.

It’s really not completely fair to compare the older Palm Pre to the brand new iPhone 4, but clearly, the iPhone hardware is superior. Even though I like the feel of the Palm Pre in my hand, I’m going to have to give the hardware fight to the iPhone 4.

Next time: Software – WebOS vs. iOS

Segway website message

This is the message that pops up on the Segway website stating that the new owner of Segway (as of this year) has died in an accident.

What the message does not confirm is that the accident involved the owner riding a Segway. However, there are reports that a Segway was found near the body and it would seem that Jimi did indeed die from his own product.

Irony at it’s best. Also bad for sales.

After getting my new Alienware laptop with the backlit keyboard, my desktop keyboard started looking… well… dark. I really started wishing that my desktop keyboard was backlit like my new laptop.

There’s a bunch of gamer backlit keyboards available but they are expensive and not what I need. After looking around a bit, I came across the Logitech Illuminated Keyboard (model 920-000914) for $79.99. It was on sale for $59.99 at Best Buy.

Entire keyboard

The specs:

• Adjustable backlit keys (4 levels of brightness)
• PerfectStroke key system (eliminating slippage and delivering fluid and natural strokes)
• Music and volume controls
• Ultra-thin
• Soft-touch integrated palm rest

Ultra-thin design

This keyboard only works for PCs (sorry Mac users) and connects to your computer via USB cable that’s coming out of the keyboard. Although the keyboard comes with drivers on a CD, I just plugged the keyboard into the USB port and everything worked fine.

As you can see from the picture above, there’s clear plastic all around it and the keys are very low profile, along with the entire ultra-thin keyboard. Basically, they used the same technology that is used in laptops to make thin keyboards for this desktop keyboard. And as with laptop low profile keyboards, it is very quiet compared to the old school PC keyboards that make a lot of noise.

This post is being written from this keyboard and I can report that if you are used to using laptop keyboards with low profiles, you will quickly adjust to this keyboard. However, if you are used to using high profile keys that travel a long distance, you might need some time to adjust to this keyboard.

Backlit keyboard

There are also a few subtle difference with this keyboard compared to the standard PC keyboard. Normally, the backspace and backslash keys are slightly longer. On this keyboard, they are not as long as you might be used to. The entire top row is about 5mm to the right of regular keyboards. I’m not exactly sure why they decided to do that.

Also, the delete key in the middle area is vertically larger and takes up the space that normally would be the insert key. The insert key is above the delete where the “Print Screen” key would normally be. The “Windows” key on the right side is replaced with a “FN” function key which can be used in conjunction with the regular function keys as shown below.

Function keys

If you’re looking for a backlit keyboard for your PC, and don’t mind the thin laptop like profile keyboards, this one is for you. No more having to turn on my light to see where the keys are.

People are pretty used to a lot of vending machines, including the Redbox that rents out DVDs.  A new one I saw at the Las Vegas airport was a Best Buy vending machine chock full of nice gadgets, including iPhones, iTouch, digital cameras, chargers, headphones and other goodies. The day will come when the vending machine is all we’ll see and retail stores will no longer exist.

Best Buy Vending Machine

After getting a new Samsung monitor for my computer recently, I decided it was time to get a new TV for my bedroom. Since I’ve already ranted at length about the problems I had getting this new TV from Best Buy, I’ll just move on.

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 except the remote is a little different.

Remote

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.

Once you have your Palm Pre setup, you realize that there’s no obvious way to export all your contact list to your computer. Yes, the data is backed up in the clouds, but what if I want to export the data to a spreadsheet or another app?

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.

Finally, after all the leaks and rumors, the new iPhone 4 is out and in my hands. Just about now, you’re asking: “After going to the Palm Pre and avoiding the previous iPhones, why did you get one?”

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

So after hatching complicated plans for obtaining the iPhone 4, it all comes down to an enormous line at the Century City mall. As you can see, the line goes out of the mall, to the side of the next building, over the bridge, and even past the bridge.

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.