By Tim Conneally, Betanews

An article published by Macworld's Christoper Breen today said the iPad has the "power to compel change," and that it had "brought welcome changes" to his life.

Sadly, most of the "life changes" Breen spoke of were just new peripherals he added to make his iPad actually useable in his daily regimen.

Well, I too have been testing an iPad. But unlike Breen, I don't change my life according to my gear...I change my gear to suit to my life.

I'm also not in the habit of buying new furniture just so I can comfortably use a new gadget.

So for the last three weeks I've been on vacation touring around Eastern Europe. If you're a faithful Betanews reader, you may have noticed a paucity of articles from me recently...if not, I'll try to not be too offended. Anyway, for this tour, I equipped myself with the latest 2010 Macbook (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB SDRAM) and a 3G iPad to test whether the iPad could actually "cannibalize" Apple's lowest-end notebooks by equaling or surpassing their functionality.

Since I was not spending any significant time planted in a single place, my main tests were for mobile usability: adaptability/versatility, durability/battery life, portability, and ease of use.

To make a very long story very short, The iPad does not threaten to replace the Macbook, and it is specifically because of all those additional "life changes" you make for the device.

1. All you need is ONE USB port

By only having the 30-pin "dock connector" port, the iPad immediately loses tons of functionality that the Macbook has built into it. Both in my work and in my free time, I absolutely need at least one USB port to import product photos and event videos. As Breen said in his article, to transfer your photographs to your iPad, you must add a $29 USB convertor and SD card reader just to be able to get your data on there, and then you're limited to 64GB of storage.

With a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 (16GB SDHC,) my beloved Kodak Zi8, and 21 days, I shot 13,269 photos and 72 video clips. The total weight of all that content was 84.3 GB, and it included not only vacation photos, but also some freelance reporting stuff I captured while over there. With the iPad, an accessory to dump photos and videos is mandatory, and even then, the device has very limited storage. With the Macbook, I could transfer over USB, edit photos and videos, and not have to worry about conserving space.

2. SIM swapping problems

Even with AT&T's 3G connection and the sizable list of international roaming partners, you can't simply walk into a Tchibo or an O2 shop, pick up a pay-as-you-go SIM and pop it into the iPad. That's because the iPad's mobile user ID standard is the much less common MicroSIM module.

Before I left, I bought the no-contract T-Mobile WebConnect Stick pictured above because of its very easily accessible SIM slot, its friendliness with GSM standard connections, and because of the overall prevalence of T-Mobile's network in mainland Europe should I ever want to plug my phone's SIM card into it. Once more, it's a USB device compatible with Snow Leopard, and it makes finding a 3G connection much simpler.

3. The outdoor geek

People in Europe sit outside when the weather is nice, and even though they were evacuating Warsaw because of rising floods when I got there, and much of Slovakia was completely inaccessible for all the water, the weather was clear and sunny almost the whole time I was on vacation.

So I tried to use the iPad at various hotspot-equipped cafes in the region on these clear days. Outside, screen visibility typically vacillated between bad and retina-tearingly bad. At least when using the Macbook outside, I could angle the screen downward and reduce the glare as I typed. It is simply impossible to type on the iPad and not have it facing skyward, and using the iPad folder as a pseudo sun visor is not easy or fun.

Granted, any backlit notebook or smartphone without a specially treated screen is going to perform poorly outdoors, but as I said before, I was testing versatility and the iPad came up very short in this area.

4. Entertainment that doesn't work

Arguably the main point of Apple's IOS ecosystem is that it is highly customizable through its vast selection of user-installable applications. Many of the popular apps that people love to snuggle up to for entertainment in the U.S, such as ABC Viewer and Netflix, simply do not work in other countries. Further, content available in the iTunes store varies seriously from country to country, and in some places it's scarcely even worth trying to connect to it. I talked to an employee at a licensed Apple reseller in Prague, Czech Republic, and he said they don't sell iTunes gift cards because international licensing rules block so much content from their users. While the same holds true for the Macbook, the options for content acquisition and storage on that platform are much more varied.

5. At the end of the day

That's when the iPad was handy for me. At the end of the day after sightseeing, after writing, and after dumping photos and videos, I could kick back in a hotel and surf the Web one browser tab at a time, or play some iPad-formatted games while recharging the Macbook's "10-hour" battery (which typically lasted for a good 7 hours.) The device at least provides a fun and elegant experience when used in such a way.

So if you are torn between getting a top-of-the-line 64 GB 3G+WiFi iPad for $829, or the bottom-rung 2.4GHz, 250GB Macbook for $999. Go with the Macbook.

It does not require a change of life.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

According to datacenter traffic management company Akamai, today has been one of the busiest days on the Internet, with more than 11 million visitor requests to its news network per minute, a dramatic 233% spike in daily traffic. This is thanks to the FIFA World Cup 2010, which officially begins today with matches between South Africa and Mexico, and Uruguay and France. It appears that more people are turning to the Web for their news than ever.

A wealth of information can be found online, but unfortunately, such a popular event is great fodder for malicious websites, so in addition to FIFA.com's Matchcast which features live play-by-play, stats, and information about current matches, we've put together a small list of reliable resources for your World Cup 2010 needs.

Twitter:

• @2010fans -The South African Government's FIFA 2010 feed.
• @championsonfox -Fox Sports World Cup feed.
• @AP_WorldCup -Associated Press World Cup feed.
• @worldcuptele -Telegraph UK World Cup feed.
• @2010OC -FIFA "organizing committee" feed.
• @FIFAWorldCupTM -Unofficial feed of FIFA World Cup events.

Streaming Video:

• ESPN3 streams 54 of the 64 the FIFA 2010 World Cup games live.
• Justin.tv features a number of live soccer channels.
• UStream Live also has a handful of FIFA Channels.
• TV Bunch has a schedule of live FIFA Streams.
• Univision has Spanish-language broadcasting rights to the games in the U.S.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Motorola seriously changed the mobile phone industry in the 2000's with the RAZR. The low-profile flip phone sold more than 110 million units, spawned several successful follow-up models and imitations from competitors, and generally altered how we perceive "sexiness" in mobile phones.

It has had an excellent run, and continues to sell to this day. According to Neilsen Media, the RAZR was the third most popular mobile phone on the market last year with 2.3 percent of mobile subscribers owning one.

Of course, following an executive shakeup and big changes in the consumer market (which included the 2007 introduction of Apple's iPhone,) Motorola had a hard time delivering a follow-up to the RAZR and improving profits. The company made plans for a 2009 spinoff of its handset division which was ultimately reconsidered.

Enter Android. Motorola was one of the earliest supporters of Google's now-famous open mobile operating system Android, and put its weight fully behind it in early 2008.

Instead of a spinoff, Motorola was primed to release a host of new devices running on Android in 2009.

In the ten months since launching the Cliq, Motorola's first Android phone, the company has introduced seven smartphones utilizing the OS. The most popular of them thus far is the Droid/Milestone, which Motorola Chief Executive of Consumer Business and Mobile Devices Sanjay Jha said is selling "extremely well."

Unfortunately, handsets are evolving so rapidly that a single year can turn the most cutting edge device into a dinosaur. Even though the Droid was the talk of the town when it was released, just one month later, Android phones moved into the Gigaherz speed class, and the 500MHz Droid was already outdated. It is a smartphone in the age of the so-called superphone.

With 1GHz phones like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, HTC Incredible and EVO 4G all in the market now, and the 1.5GHz HTC Scorpion rumored to be on the way, Motorola is reportedly prepping its entry into the superphone category.

At a presentation at The Global Leaders Luncheon of the Executives Club of Chicago this week, Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha said the company plans to release a superphone with a 2GHz processor by the end of this year.

Jha, however, did not provide specific details about the device in his speech. Some are reporting that the chip powering the device will be "an evolutionary step above the current 1GHz Snapdragon chip."

With mobile devices that powerful, Jha said it will only be a few years before corporations can issue workers smartphones instead of more traditional workstations.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

On June 9, I asked: "Will you buy an Apple iPhone 4?" The answers are in via e-mail and comments. They are surprising, because they're so polarized. There aren't so many "maybes" among you as I expected. The majority of commenters are saying "No" to iPhone 4. The split is more two-thirds "Yes" among the people who sent e-mail.

I want to point out two differences from this post and others like it. Firstly, the comments are longer; I did less editing for space. Secondly, I only used comments or e-mail responses from people whose full names are clearly identified. However, the comments are still representative of them all.

Something else: There is no balance here. The majority of respondents say they won't buy an iPhone. Balancing out to get an equal number buying and not purchasing would be unfair to the respondents and would mischaracterize their responses. Perhaps a different group of readers, such as one of the Mac blogs, would be more enthusiastic about iPhone. Among Betanews readers choosing to answer the question, the majority aren't planning on buying iPhone 4.

Three trends emerge from this arguably unscientific survey of Betanews readers:

1. AT&T's network will keep away potential iPhone buyers or upgraders.

2. A surprising number of existing iPhone owners won't upgrade. That says something about current satisfaction with currently-owned iPhones and the limited appeal of the new model's features. Apple may already have saturated the market for existing customers, which is a typical phenomenon. It's never a question of if this happens but when.

3. Smartphone buyers have more choices during this iPhone release cycle than any other, and they are making them. Many respondents have recently purchased or soon plan to buy another smartphone.

Now for the responses:

Jerry Morton: "Nope, have an iPhone 3G that won't work at my desk, drops calls all the time. Can't see throwing away $300 for a new battery and new screen."

Justin Morrison:

Yes, and here are my reasons. First, I get a 21% discount at AT&T through my employer and in Birmingham, AL, all of the usual problems with AT&T are nonexistent, signal and speed are always good. Second, my contract is up and my jailbroken [iPhone] 3G will sell for around $300 on eBay so it will pay for iPhone 4. I want a Nexus One because I like Android and customization ( and Google products in general) but I can't get one for less than 529 dollars with AT&T. I'm desperate to upgrade from my old 3G so I might as well take this opportunity.

Robert Ballantyne: "No, not the iPhone 4, but when the cameras show up on the iPad, that may be enough for me to want one of those. Such an iPad, with a Skype landline-calling account and a bluetooth headset, would be all I'd need to travel. Some time ago I decided not to use a laptop when I travel, and now take only flash sticks."

Greg Figotin:

I would definitely buy IPhone 4 by many reasons. First, I'm iPhone user since 2007 and I do have all generations of this remarkable device. Second, it does have many features other phones [are] missing including its design as well -- 2 cameras, flash, etc.. Of course, AT&T is not ready to support all features of such a device, but, c'mon what provider is [that] perfect?!!! Verizon? Sprint? None of them!!! They are all greedy bustards ! At least AT&T supports besides phones IPads and has more towers than any other providers. And the last reason, if IPhone is not that remarkable device worth to buy, why you, Joe, and many other authors wrote numerous articles about it ?!!!!

Andy Gowen:

How to describe the iPhone 4? It is like having Pininfarina quality style added to totalitarian state control. The choice is 'You will buy one and you will enjoy it how we tell you' or not to get one at all. I can't fault people who say 'yes' as they will have the pleasure of owning that design. I just can't get over the idea of my phone owning me and for that reason if nothing else, I can't buy-in to the Apple state. Freedom may not be as pretty but at least it belongs to me.

Shannon Coolican:

I will be buying an iPhone 4 when it comes out in July up here in Canada. I currently have an iPhone 3G that I have been very happy with. I was blown away by the recent Keynote and all the awesome features this phone will have. It really is a no brainer for me. BTW, I also have an HTC MyTouch running Android 1.5. When it comes down to it, I really am an 'app' fiend. My current iPhone 3G is jailbroken and I have much more than than allotted 11 pages of apps. The new folders feature in iOS 4 will be a real blessing for me. It goes without saying that I will be buying the 32GB version. I really wish there was a 64GB version as I would have ponied up for that in an instant.

Robert Johnson:

I want a device that will let me create and edit office documents. Store those docs in the cloud. Wirelessly syncs with my PC. Talks to my XBOX by letting me play some of those games on my phone. That's why I will not be purchasing an iPhone. I will continue to use my Moto Droid (which I got for $20 w/new contract) until Windows Phone 7 comes out. I don't care about 200,000 apps or even 50,000 apps. I want a device that will not only be beautiful to use, but will allow me to stay productive and connected. On another note, I sense the same desire to not be left out. But I suppose there is a stronger part of me that enjoys being different and not 'looking like everyone else'.

Don Gray:

I am tempted by the new features present in Apple's latest and greatest toy, specifically the higher resolution screen and the front facing camera. Also like you [Joe Wilcox] my primary deterrent is AT&T's terrible voice network... Presently I live in Rochester, NY and am employed as a Research Analyst & IT Manager for an educational consulting firm...I've owned an iPhone 3GS for about the 18 months. The device has been great for staying connected to my work email and documents while I'm out of the office. It's also just plain fun to use. The downside, however, is the dropped calls. For the past 18 months I've suffered through several dropped calls a week; sometimes a day. This is in the area around my home where I have 4 bars of coverage. Two weeks ago I was finally fed up and went to Verizon and ordered an HTC Incredible; hopefully next week it will arrive.

Even though the new features to iOS4 and the iPhone 4 are tempting, I don't have confidence in AT&T's network or Apple's ability to design a high quality phone (strictly speaking to voice calls here). Verizon has the stronger network and as I don't have a home phone (who needs one these days) I want to know that I have reliable voice service. So in summary there will be no new iPhone in the Gray household this summer.

Tobias Lind:

I might actually buy one! I have never owned an Apple device ever, and I'm currently using (and in love with) Android. But the new iPhone's screen seems fantastic, and I'm actually quite fed up with lousy cameras as well. It was 5 years ago I had a decent camera in my mobile phone (Sony Ericsson) -- all my newer phones have had really crappy cameras. I'd also love to see the UI flow smoothly like butter without any hiccups ever (Android is getting better and better, but it's really not there yet).

And I'm quite disappointed in the low quality apps on Android Market. Ninety-nine percent of them are sooo ugly and crappy! And what finally made me even consider an iPhone now is multitasking. A smartphone without multitasking is a joke, so with iPhone 4, Apple is back in the game. And I don't live in the US, so I don't have to worry about AT&T. :)

Nicholas Gerstenberger: "Nope, won't buy it, won't switch to AT&T. I wouldn't even buy it if Verizon ever gets it (unless you paid me a big chunk of money, then I'll just cancel, or buy a newer Android phone, sell the iPhone and then pay off my credit cards). ;)"

Stephen Schwartz:

Yes, definitely, 100%. I love my 3GS, I loved my 3G, and I can hardly wait until June 15th to order my 4. I know people are not happy with the data plan from AT&T, I'm fine. I'm grandfathered. And concerns about the screen shattering, Otterbox will be releasing their case for the iPhone 4, so I'm not worried about that. As I said, I can hardly wait. I love the addition of folders, multi-tasking, dual-cameras, HD video. Also the increase in speed, the new A4 processor (I played with the iPad and the response and speed are great), and the extended battery life. It's a choice. Upgrade, buy new, or don't get it at all. It's up to you. Apple doesn't care, but they are wetting your appetites and hope you do buy new or upgrade. Good luck on your decision.

John Crane:

I'm not buying an iPhone 4, but I must admit that the iPhone is getting more tempting with each new model. I like the camera in the iPhone 4, but I don't really need another camera. I've got two digital cameras already and one of these also takes videos. I will probably buy a smartphone sometime this year, but I am waiting to see more of what the competition has to offer on AT&T. I like the Zune HD and would like to see a good phone running Windows Phone 7.0. I personally have never had problems with the AT&T network, except when calling from the road in Western Wyoming, but in the cities where I travel, there is no problem. I live in Texas.

Kevin Baron:

One hundred percent yes. I get to keep my unlimited data plan, not like I use it. But if I should use data alot more the plan is there should I need it. I have a iPhone now and just love the darn thing. I was never much into mobile gaming until the iPhone came along. I've been a iPhone owner for 2 years and could not be happier. I live in a area with very good AT&T service, which helps. iOS or whatever you call it just has always felt more friendly to me then other phone OS's. I've used Android, and while it is nice, it's not iOS...No one phone can make everyone happy. But for me the only phone that does it for me is the iPhone.

Keith Watt:

I won't be paying my annual dues this year to remain in the Apple Fan Club. I bought the 1st Gen iPod Touch back when it was released in late 2007. Now, not even 3 years later, Apple has left it for dead. To be sure, it's a great little device. I rely on it to get through my 3-4 hour a day commute. It's actually perfect, not a single complaint about it, thus I've no desire to get rid of it and go spend another $200. Yet, if you're not buying a new device every year, you're essentially out of the Apple Fan Club and can forget about being able to play new games, or use new software features. Thanks Apple.

Ron Miller:

Absolutely!!! I'm a gadget lover, but have never owned a smartphone. The reason is that I work from home and use so few minutes per month. I paid $100 for a pre-paid T-Mobile plan 3 years ago, and the past two years I paid $10 (for the whole year!) to keep my minutes alive. However, I can't hold out any more and the AT&T cheaper data plans have won me over. I don't care about streaming video, so 200MB per month is more than enough for me. I actually applaud AT&T for the limited plans -- bandwidth is a valuable and finite resource, people should pay for what they use.

The Android phones look great, and there are definitely some apps for Android that I would love to see on the iPhone (maps with turn by turn directions and Google Voice to mention a couple). However, I really like Apple products (I have a Mac Pro, iPad 3G, iPod touch, many other iPods), and I like the Apple polish and the amazing apps in the app store. Killer features for me on the new iPhone include video conferencing, HD video recording, improved motion sensors, new screen, thinness, battery life, processor speed.

Chris Schuchmann:

I have AT&T and I want nothing to do with the iPhone. I love my Nexus One and I love AT&T for the most part. I wish the iPhone owners could switch to other networks, and bring their network congestion problems with them.

What new does the iPhone 4 have to offer? Nothing -- there is not a single new feature on the iPhone 4 that hasn't been done by someone before (mainly Nokia). The only thing Apple has done is convince AT&T to carry the additional features like video calling. I might add Europe has had this for years and in fact Nokia implemented video calling before the first iPhone was even released. Of course while enabling these new features, AT&T has now also enabled this new feature called capped data -- thank you very much Apple.

Instead of capping data AT&T should charge per the minute for video calling. I say this because video calling is a feature that adds no real value and is sure to be abused by teenagers. And I say abused because it...directly affects everyone else who pays for the service. I don't want to be unable to send an important email or text message because little 14yo Sarah is talking to 15yo Julie down the street on video phone, especially when they could just walk and see eachother. What other awesome completely useless data hungry feature will Apple implement next on the iPhone, BitTorrent? I can picture it now kids downloading the latest episode of Lost and So you think you can dance.

Marcos Tos: "No, I'm not. I own an iPhone, and even some things are cool, it's always the same, and I'm tired of the limits of Apple. I will change for an Android or [BlackBerry]."

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Guess what's coming to San Diego in two weeks? If you answered iPhone 4, congratulations for being right but not giving the right answer. Microsoft plans to open a new retail store on the same day (its second in California). The duo launches could be speculator competition and ground zero for fandom, should the "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" crowds choose to rally for their camps. If the measure is the longest line on launch day, who will win?

In a rare lunchtime outing, today I hustled over to Fashion Valley Mall, where I was stunned to see the sign above. By the way, I snapped the photo using the Google Nexus One. What a lousy camera! Is the camera white balance-challenged or what? Nexus One muted the bright green, which I only partially revived through editing. Geez. Back on topic, yes, I was stunned -- by the date and by something else. The Microsoft Store is four shops down from the Apple Store. That's right four stores -- and a walkway between the middle two.

I can't imagine a stranger location because of the adjoining companion shops -- Juicy Couture and Louis Vuitton. Well, there goes the neighborhood, as they say. If I owned either store, I'd cringe about a bunch of geeks dressed in original Star Trek color-like T-Shirts moving in next door. (Why are there red shirts in the Microsoft Store universe? Red shirts were the most likely killed in the original Trek. Bad omen? Over confidence? Neither?) Seriously, Fashion Valley has been undergoing an upscale makeover, and I struggle to see how the Microsoft Store fits in with fashionista central.

Uh-oh, there is a SonyStyle store on the upper level. Nothing quite grates the ears like the sweet gnashing of a Microsoft partner's teeth -- when the company chooses to compete. Microsoft won't just be competing with Apple but loyal Sony (OK, so the company is selling Android phones and, soon, a Google TV-powered big screen).

Back to the Apple Store, the excitement will come June 24. Is it coincidence -- timing of the Microsoft Store San Diego's grand opening and iPhone 4's launch? Oh I don't think so. If someone at one of the companies didn't manipulate the dates, surely some cosmic force did. C`mon, there's polarized competition between these companies, and it's even more heated among the fans. You need go no further than Betanews comments to feel the enmity. Just four stores and a walkway/pavilion will separate Apple and Microsoft shops. Should there be long lines at both stores and mall management accidentally lets them mix -- BOOM! -- matter and antimatter will collide resulting in an enormous explosion. Bye, bye, San Diego.

Suddenly, I'm really looking forward to June 24. If there is any sense of competition in the universe, both CEO Steves would make special trips to San Diego. Imagine the media circus of Steve Ballmer opening the San Diego Microsoft Store and Steve Jobs greeting the first West Coast iPhone 4 buyers. Seriously guys, you should do just that. The news media loves conflict, and the two Steves would provide plenty, if only by their presence.

But my challenge is to the fans. If you love Apple or Microsoft, Fashion Valley should be your destination on June 24. You can be sure plenty of bloggers and journalists will show up just to count the number of people in line. It's a measure of support for one company and its products or the other. Shouldn't you be there?

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Surely no one who regularly reads Betanews is surprised I ask the question. It was inevitable, like death or Whopper Wednesday. As usual, when I ask this kind of question, I'm looking for your responses -- in comments or by e-mail (joewilcox at gmail dot com). In a future post, I'll share your responses as I did with iPad. I asked the "will you buy" iPad question here and here, and offered your answers in separate January and March posts.

Apple and AT&T will start taking iPhone 4 preorders on June 15, and the phone officially goes on sale June 24. Preorders should help keep lines more manageable, as they did with iPad. I plan on hanging out at one of my local Apple Stores, interviewing people waiting in line and shooting video and photos. If you're in San Diego and willing to leave the baseball bat (gun, knife or other injuring tool) at home, look me up on iPhone 4 launch day. Maybe I could interview you.

I won't be buying an iPhone 4 on launch day. Should I decide to get one -- and I am reconsidering because of the camera -- it would be preorder or after June 24. As I explained yesterday, my main problems with iPhone 4 are generally all about AT&T's network. But to my surprise, AT&T is willing to solve all but one of the problems -- dropped calls. On May 23, I cancelled my AT&T account, returned the iPhone 3G and resumed using the Nexus One on T-Mobile. Today, an AT&T rep told me that I could reinstate the account within 59 days of cancellation. Reinstatement would restore account status at time of cancellation, which would mean lower early termination fee, unlimited data plan and iPhone 4 purchasable for the full subsidized price. It's tempting, particularly unlimited data, and, again, my main interest is the camera. I have long favored Nokia phones for their superior mobile cameras -- it's my top feature next to telephony. Perhaps if the Nokia N8 were available now, I wouldn't consider iPhone 4.

That raises another question for you. Why? If you're planning on buying iPhone 4, why? What about the phone appeals to you? If you're not buying iPhone 4, why not? Are you locked into a contract, satisfied with your current handset or simply not interested? Please do tell. My main reason why is the camera and AT&T is the major reason why not. Should AT&T unexpectedly insist on metered data when reinstating the account, iPhone 4 would be an absolute no for me.

I'm surprised how little ruckus there has been on the Web about AT&T's new data plans. I attribute this to bias. Many journalists use iPhones, and they have existing plans for which they can keep unlimited data. I guess that's double bias. I presume ignorance -- that people don't really understand what the 200MB and 2GB capped plans mean -- is main reason for most everyone else. I posted 10 things about the new data plans last week. Today at GigaOM, Stacey Higginbotham explains: "Why the iPhone 4 made AT&T change its pricing." I agree with her reasons -- and I had stated many of them already. She writes:

This means that streaming an hour of Netflix on the 3G network would use up 168MB -- or about 84 percent of the cheaper AT&T data plan. Livestreaming a 5-minute video shot with the back-facing camera requires 64MB, or 32 percent of the cheaper plan. So clearly, anyone wanting to avail themselves of the video technology on the phone better get the 2GB plan or stay on Wi-Fi. But even with the 2GB plan and $10-per-GB overages a video habit over the 3G network is going to cost you, and possibly make you think twice about that download -- or upload.

Multitasking and new HD video features mean more data consumption -- something AT&T wants to deter.

Uh-oh

While writing this post a bad feeling is stirring -- that I'm being dishonest about my reason for reconsidering iPhone 4, which is a long way from my "absolutely not" just three days ago. There is another reason why I would consider iPhone 4. Perhaps it's something TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, or popular tech blogger Robert "wears his heart on his sleeve" Scoble could understand. Like most people, I want to belong -- not to be left out. With so many people excited for iPhone 4 it's hard to be against the device or the communal energy behind it. I have this gnawing sense of being left out, and that feeling is clouding my judgment. Everyone else doing it is a bad reason. Perhaps I'm not alone feeling this way.

Today, TechCrunch's iPhone fanboy MG Siegler writes about Arrington:

According to a source close to the situation, he plans to buy an iPhone 4 when it launches on June 25. How good is the source? Well, it's Arrington himself...This is humorous for a couple of reasons. First, Mike has never actually seen the iPhone 4, nor has he used one. I have and Jason [Kincaid] has, but Mike has not. Even some iPhone fanboys are waiting until they get their hands on one to decide if they should buy it. Not Mike.

Scoble's confession -- and it's not really surprising -- came two days ago. He compared iPhone 4 to Sprint EVO 4G and Verizon's Incredible on 13 criteria before asking and answering the inevitable:

Will I start using an iPhone again? Yes, but I have the luxury of being able to afford two devices and I'm definitely keeping the EVO if just for the tethering. If I could only afford one? I'd go with iPhone 4 over the EVO. Mostly because the OS is nicer to use (hard to explain all the ways this is so in a short post, so you'll have to wait for a longer post after I get mine), the video features, and the battery life is dramatically better. But I totally understand why many of you will ignore those advantages because AT&T sucks so much.

As for me, I'm still 80 percent committed to Android and Nexus One, which, admittedly, is 20 percent less than June 7. It's enough less I called AT&T to assess the aforementioned account reinstatement options. But enough blathering about me. What about you? Will you buy iPhone 4? Please answer in comments with your reasons why or why not.

By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews

With previews of the Windows Phone 7 operating system and the launch of Microsoft Expression Studio 4 at Internet Week New York, Microsoft helped to set the stage for a forthcoming smartphone application store aimed at doing a much better job of rivaling Apple's App Store for iPhones and Google's Android Market.

In a speech at the Expression 4 launch in New York City on Monday, Bill Buxton, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, pointed to a day when Windows applications will run across devices ranging from smartphones to TVs, for example, while being outfitted with a series of user interfaces (UIs) geared to the requirements of the specific device, and even to the preferences of specific users.

Released on Monday, Microsoft Expression Studio 4 will later include tools that designers and developers can use for creating applications for the Windows Phone 7 smartphones slated to ship at the end of this year, officials said during the launch.

First rolled out four years ago, Expression Studio is geared not just to traditional software developers, but also to application developers who are less savvy about the ins and outs of software code, said Dave Mendlen, Microsoft's senior director, develop marketing, for Visual Studio, in an interview at the Expression 4 launch, held along with HP's rollout of its new smartphone-enabled Web printers to kick off Internet Week New York.

Meanwhile, on the show floor at Internet Week, Microsoft showed a prototype phone from LG -- one of its several phone maker partners for Phone 7 -- running an early version of Windows Phone 7 dubbed Phone 7 Preview.

Microsoft gave sneak peeks at features that included GPS with mapping and turn-by-turn voice navigation, along with integration between Microsoft Outlook and Facebook that lets users navigate Facebook pages without leaving Outlook.

Microsoft is already running an app store for Windows Phone 7, but right now it's still in closed beta, said a Microsoft rep during a demo. Noting that Silverlight applications can be ported from other Windows environments through the re-use of Silverlight instruction sets, the rep expressed optimism that Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 store will ultimately be much bigger than Microsoft's existing store for Windows 6.5. "It's looking good," he elaborated. Microsoft had previously acknowledged that Windows Mobile 6.5 apps will not run on Phone 7.

The tools for creating Windows Phone 7 apps in Expression 4 are still in private beta, but Microsoft plans to open up the software tools to public beta over the next few weeks, Mendlen said during the interview.

Microsoft mentioned the upcoming Windows Phone 7 tools during the Expression 4 launch, while also highlighting capabilities such as SketchFlow, SuperPreview, and improvements to Expression's video encoder and search engine optimization (SEO).

First introduced last year in Expression Studio 3, SketchFlow is aimed at letting application designers and developers create applications interactively with customers through "what-if" scenarios. In Expression 4, SketchFlow adds integration with Microsoft's SharePoint portal server.

In one of several customer testimonials to the advantages of Expression Studio, a speaker from software solutions provider Anvil Digital told the crowd that the use of SketchFlow has helped his company to increase its new business win rate from 30 percent to 90 percent over the past year.

SuperPreview, on the other hand, is targeted at letting developers view and correct coding errors in Web pages on multiple browsers -- including Internet Explorer (IE) 6 to 8, Safari, and Firefox -- on the same PC. Like the Windows Phone 7 tools, SuperPreview is still in beta, Betanews was told.

Expression 4 comes in three flavors. The Web Professional edition includes Expression Design, Expression Encoder, and Expression Web (ultimately to come with SuperPreview). Studio 4 Premium adds Expression Blend. Studio 4 Ultimate adds Expression Blend with SketchFlow and replaces Expression Encoder with Express Encoder Pro.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

At TechEd in New Orleans, Microsoft unveiled some new features for Windows Phone 7 aimed at enterprise and developer communities. One of the upcoming additions to the Windows Phone environment will be a sort of "private app store" system that launches in the fall.

"Private distribution for beta-testing represents an important first step for Windows Phone," Partner group program manager Charlie Kindel said. "Our long term strategy is to adopt the public and private cloud model with Marketplace…Initially, we are enabling private distribution of applications for registered developers in a way that is optimized for beta-testers. This will enable developers to more easily distribute test applications in a secure way. We also appreciate that as phones come to market and people begin bringing them into corporate environments, IT will look for a similar private distribution solution."

Developers will be able to pick out who the users of the app will be when they upload their app to the developer portal, and the prospective users will then receive an email which links to the private app listing.

Additionally, the Windows Phone Marketplace will be the first of the major mobile app stores to let developers upload "shareware." A new optional Trial API lets developers publish a version of their app that has limited functionality or a limited shelf life, so that users can download and try the app before they buy it. This means that the Windows Phone Marketplace will support free, paid, "freemium," ad-supported, and trial versions of apps.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

A day after Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4, it's time for a reality check. Lots of people have questions, and we have answers -- even to stuff some readers might not have asked for. The list is more strategic than speeds-and-feeds informational. But first, quick links to yesterday's Betanews stories:

• Is AT&T breaking the law by changing iPhone upgrade eligibility?
• New iPhone 4 is slimmer, faster, super high-resolution, and lasts longer
• This blog post could save you from Steve Jobs' iPhone 4 Reality Distortion Field

Additionally, over at my Oddly Together blog, I consolidated my tweets (and others' responses) during Job's keynote. My tweets -- quick reactions in real time -- are foundation for this post. I hadn't thought of Twitter as a notepad before, but I suddenly see the utility. Others might try using Twitter this way: Punch out quick inspirations as they come and collect them later for other use.

With that introduction, here are 5 things you should know about iPhone 4, presented in no particular order of importance:

1. Jobs' health is back. Apple CEO's Worldwide Developer Conference keynote was tour-de-force marketing -- Jobs like we haven't seen him for two years. Jobs didn't just command the stage, he stayed on it. In the public engagements before his leave of absence, Jobs typically spent limited time on stage, handing off major presentation duties to others. Yes, he shared the stage yesterday, but in fashion as seen before summer 2008 -- when he was healthier.

Jobs' renewed vigor is important to Apple investors and partners, and it's a blow to competitors. The icon is back, and he's badass. In December I asked: "Will 2010 be another year of Apple iteration, not innovation?" So far, I'd say the innovation is back, in part because Jobs is back. Apple innovation is as much about marketing as technology. Looking at iPad and iPhone 4 marketing, it's back to the caliber before Jobs' health declined more than two years ago.

2. Jobs showed developers the money in iOS (formerly iPhone OS). Speaking of marketing, Jobs made the right pitch to developers yesterday: Money. All development platforms share several attributes in common:

1. There are good development tools and APIs for easily making good applications.

2. There is at least one killer application people really want.

3. There is breadth of useful applications.

4. Third parties make lots of money.

5. There is a robust ecosystem.

The fourth of these characteristics is the most important. No matter how good the platform, third parties will only support it if they can make money. Yesterday, Jobs spent nearly as much time showing developers the money -- whether directly made from selling apps or the potential from iAd advertising -- as introducing iPhone 4. Some highlights:

• Slide quoting eBay CEO stating the company's iPhone app did $600 million in volume last year and an expected $1.5 billion this year.
• Jobs telling WWDC attendees that Apple paid iOS app developers $1 billion as part of their 70 percent revenue share.
• Slide with developer quote: "I earned more on sales of The Elements for iPad in the first day than from the past five years of Google ads on periodictable.com."

Jobs showed developers the money, or where they can make it. But marketing is the key here -- how and what Jobs presents. Google and Microsoft have profitable platforms, too. It's time they started being this explicit about how much developers can make and where.

3. FaceTime won't be big time -- at least not anytime soon. Jobs' Reality Distortion Field has lots of people pining about iPhone 4's new video-calling feature -- FaceTime. Say, folks, you need some face time with reality, and not the one spun by Jobs. At Business Insider, Dan Frommer asserts: "Why the iPhone's 'FaceTime' video calling will succeed where others have failed." At Businessweek a Connie Guglielmo story headline leads with "IPhone gets jump on rivals with video." An earlier version of the story attributed the video jump to analysts.

Frommer writes:

Why will Apple's "FaceTime" do better? First and foremost, because it will finally be available on a device that will achieve sufficient saturation among groups. Video calling is a social function and therefore there is a network effect in play. If not enough people have the capacity to make video calls, then even the people with phones that support video calls are out of luck.

But think about all the peer groups -- like mine -- with iPhone penetration above 75%. That sort of saturation generally doesn't exist for other phones. As those groups upgrade to the new iPhone 4, video calling will be a reality for them. (And the requirement that both parties have iPhone 4s and not old iPhones or Macs or iPads could help Apple convert a few more customers.)

Frommer goes on to cite the clarity of WiFi calling and ease of setup as other reasons why FaceTime will succeed. Get a grip, dude. You need some antidote to that Apple Kool-Aid. The important "network effect in play" is AT&T (See #4 more on that). Apple has said that FaceTime will be WiFi-only for 2010. There may be lots of groups that could make video calls but they largely won't because they can't do so anytime, anywhere. They need WiFi, and it's not available everywhere.

It's the major reason why video hasn't taken off in the United States -- there's no carrier support. That FaceTime requires iPhone 4 is another huge limitation. The iPhone install base will be largely front-cameraless for some time. By the way -- do see #4 for more on this one -- AT&T has nixed unlimited data plans for new activations. So if in the future, the carrier does offer 3G video calling, the 200MB or 2GB limits will make it impractical for most people living in the United States -- unless iPhone pops up on another carrier first.

4. AT&T will hurt iPhone 4 in the United States. Last night, at Businessweek, Rich Jaroslovsky asked: "IPhone 4 makes video call, how about voice?" Jaroslovsky writes:

The device has always been miserable at a telephone's most basic function, especially in such critical markets as New York and San Francisco. It's never been entirely clear how much of the blame belongs to AT&T Inc.'s overstretched network, and how much to the fact that the iPhone was engineered by a computer company with no previous cell-phone experience. The Apple representatives who demonstrated the phone for journalists yesterday were primed to say as little as possible on the subject.

The new design may help increase signal strength a bit, they said, but they made no claims for improvement in the ability to complete or maintain a voice connection. Improving the iPhone's performance as a phone may be the most important step Apple could take to sell more of them, short of making it available on the more robust Verizon Wireless network.

Jaroslovsky's post resonates with an IM conversation Betanews founder Nate Mook and I had yesterday about iPhone 4. We both are using Google's Nexus One. Question of the evening: Would you switch to iPhone 4? My answer was an emphatic "No!" But my reasons have little to do with the device. They're all about the network:

• There are too many dropped calls or failed connections.
• On June 1, AT&T raised smartphone early termination fees by 86 percent.
• Yesterday, AT&T replaced unlimited data plans with metered 200MB and 2GB options.
• At T-Mobile, there are few dropped calls and I pay less for unlimited data, text and telephony on four lines than I did for AT&T's 2,100-minute family plan.

A phone should be a phone first and a smartphone should be a data device second. AT&T fumbles both criteria. The metered data plans will soon be as important a foible as calling. Most people I talk to don't seem to understand how those new data fees may limit their data usage. Clicker's June 4 video test post is a must read for every iPhone or iPad user on AT&T's metered plans.

Clicker concludes:

1. If you don't have the unlimited plan, get it before June 7. Run don't walk! (And yes, from experience, the 3G iPad is completely the right call. It's awesomely convenient.)

2. If you don't get the unlimited plan, and plan to stream via apps on your iPad, go WiFi as much as possible. Otherwise it's going to cost you.

Well, June 7 has passed, so you've been warned. Clicker tested on an iPad. I predict that with background applications running on iOS 4, many people will be surprised just how much data they will consume. Again, you've been warned.

5. Apple's approach to rights usage assures the iBookstore will succeed. Yesterday, Jobs announced that iBooks would be available for iPhone and iPod touch later this month. He also made clear that the electronic books would be available and syncable across all three devices (including iPad). There is DRM, but like the early iTunes Store, Apple is making rights limitations largely invisible to users. Most people won't ever know DRM is there, so it won't matter to them.

Last week, I noticed that Amazon replaced its big Kindle device promotion on the home page with "Kindle for iPad." That says something about how Amazon views iPad and iBookstore momentum as a rival e-book platform. That platform can only grow as iOS 4 opens up new devices to Apple's iBooks. The difference: Apple supports its own products, while Kindle is available for many devices. Will the many or the one -- or none -- own your library?

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave one of his better sales pitches during the Worldwide Developer Conference keynote earlier today. He had to. Gizmodo's iPhone 4 prototype series revealed the major details. Other than the gyroscope, iBooks and iMovie for iPhone, Jobs shared little that wasn't already known or reasonably guessed from Gizmodo's reporting about iPhone 4.

That's not to say the knowing spoiled the presentation. Jobs is simply too good a marketer. He has an amazing skill at emphasizing benefits while overlooking or diminishing shortcomings. Today he exerted a remarkably strong Reality Distortion Field, and it caught some tech users. Robert Scoble posted yesterday: "Back to Steve Jobs. If I were him I'd worry that I've lived without my iPhone for seven days so far and I haven't missed having the crappy cell phone service from AT&T, not to mention I like having the extra features of the Android OS that aren't yet available on the iPhone." Three days earlier, Scoble posted about his "experiences without an iPhone for six days so far." Bottom line: "Living without the iPhone has been a lot easier than I expect." But Jobs' WWDC keynote's RDF washed over Scoble, who today tweeted: "Is this enough to get me to give up Android? It has me itching."

Scoble will go back to iPhone, I don't doubt. He won't be the only person caught by Jobs' RDF, which made the iPhone seem like a god among cell phones. Apple's iPhone 4 marketing tagline epitomizes Jobs' sentiments: "This changes everything. Again." No, it doesn't. But iPhone does foreshadow a future without PCs, and that would change everything. But hold further explanation on that topic for a few paragraphs. First: Nuts-and-bolts examination of iPhone 4.

The majority of new iPhone 4 features play catchup to capabilities already available on other handsets. I'll go through some of the major features one by one:

Dimensions: The phone weighs 137 grams and measures 115.2 mm height by 58.6 mm width by 9.3 mm depth. Jobs described the iPhone 4 as the thinnest smartphone. For comparison, my Google Nexus One weighs 130 grams and measures 119 mm by 59.8 mm by 11.5 mm. Jobs is probably right about the size, although I had limited time to look. Next thinnest I could find: The Nokia E71, at 10 mm.

Screen: Apple calls the iPhone 4's 3.5-inch screen a "Retina Display," which is marketing speak for "We've got a high pixel-per-inch panel, but it's not OLED and we don't want to say." Resolution is 960-by-640 pixels, with 326 ppi and 800:1 contrast ratio. Jobs claims the human eye tops out at 300 ppi. Well, yes and no. It's true for print, but not necessarily for digital displays. Jobs did a little marketing magic, making the iPhone's 326 ppi seem more important than it really is.

For comparison, my Nexus One's 3.7-inch display is 800-by-480 pixels, with 252 ppi and 100,000:1 contrast ratio, presumably because of the OLED display. Contrast ratio is often difficult to measure across devices, but other than outdoor viewing I expect my Nexus One display to be as good as or better than iPhone 4. Higher contrast ratio is one reason. For example, black is truly black on Nexus One.

Camera: Steve Jobs really pulled some magician's distractions when talking about iPhone 4's 5-megapixel camera. He asserted that megapixels don't matter, which is just hilarious; pixels don't matter when Apple is playing catchup (the phone's camera) but they do matter when trying to get ahead -- or appearing so (screen ppi). Nokia has shipped 5-megapixel cameraphones with better optics (Carl Zeiss) and better flashes, for years. The forthcoming Nokia N8 will be 12 megapixels, and early samples are amazing. Apple is playing big catchup here.

Megapixels matter, but the sensor matters more. There, Jobs referred to the camera's sensor as using "backside illumination," like he coined the term right on the spot. Attendees could have cooed : "Oooooh. Ahhhh. Backside illumination." I checked the Wikipedia entry a couple minutes later and someone had already updated with: "The iPhone 4 uses this type of sensor in its camera." Geez Louise, does Apple pay people do this stuff? Because all the pertinent information about other backside illumination manufacturers and deployers isn't there, but Apple gets a mention. Son of a bitch!

Backside illumination is a nice feature, but it's not Apple innovation. OmniVision and Toshiba are among the manufacturers producing backside illumination sensors. Backside illumination is self-describing, by the way. The light is in the back rather than the front of the CMOS sensor. Frontside means the light must pass through transistors and other obstacles.

HD video: The iPhone 4 will shoot 720p HD video at 30-frames per second. That would have been innovation a year ago. It's more catch-up today. That said, iMovie for iPhone is trendsetting for the features (It's not the first on-phone video-editing application). The new iMovie software could eliminate the need for desktop software -- meaning no PC required. I've been beating the "smartphone will replace the PC" drum for sometime now. Apple's iMovie for iPhone foreshadows the future, as do several hundred thousand mobile applications, when the smartphone will be good enough for most functions the PC does today.

Something else: In 2000, Jobs pitched Macintosh as a "digital hub." I see Apple pushing in the same direction with iPhone. Perhaps as soon as the next generation device, camera, video, battery life and supporting services will be good enough for Apple to position iPhone and iPad as digital lifestyle hubs. No Mac or Windows PC required.

Front-facing camera: Jobs ended his keynote by touting the iPhone's new front-facing camera, like the future had come at last. Nokia has shipped handsets with secondary front cameras for years. But US carriers don't support video calls, although AT&T has a video-messaging service. There's nothing new about video calling, except that a bazillion bloggers and reporters will make it seem so by day's end. Last week, Qik jumped ahead of Apple, announcing video chat for the just-launched Sprint HTC EVO 4G. Over at ReadWriteWeb, Sarah Perez declared: "Future, we are here."

For today, the future is what Jobs' Reality Distortion Field makes it out to be. Are you susceptible to the effects? Were you sucked in? By the way, if not for AT&T's new metered data plans, I would recommend iPhone 4 to anyone considering an iPad.

By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews

After dropping wide hints over the past few weeks about "Web printer" plans, HP started to get a lot more specific today with the launch of three new smartphone-enabled printers. Some questions still remain unanswered, though, including exactly when the WebOS mobile operating system of HP's newly acquired Palm will come into play.

HP actually rolled out its first Internet-enabled printer about a year ago, noted Vyomesh Joshi, speaking at an HP launch event today that also kicked off New York Internet Week.

"The new world is all about Web printing," Joshi contended. "You don't need to worry about the driver. You don't need to be in the same room."

Going forward, HP will now provide capabilities for remote and local Web-based printing to all of its new printers for consumers and businesses priced at $99 or higher, Joshi said today, as the company rolled out its three latest models.

The Photosmart e-All-in-One inkjet printer, priced at $99, will ship later this month, and a new ePrint application for the printer will become available at around the same time.

Supporting on demand printouts from iPhones, Droids, and virtually all smartphones available for sale in 2010, the new app will also work on the new Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One, priced at $149 and the new Photosmart Premium Fax, priced at $199, both slated for release in September.

Users will e-mail the printers from their mobile phones to request printouts. The new ePrint app will also let users pre-schedule printouts, automatically printing out reading materials at breakfast time to be brought along on the morning train ride, for instance.

In a widely publicized conference call a little over two weeks ago, HP CEO and Chairman Mark Hurd told financial analysts that HP is planning an entire series of Web-connected printers, and that these printers will sport WebOS, a mobile OS developed by Palm for use on Pre and its other phones.

However, although Vyomesh and other HP officials today filled in the details about which HP printers will be Web-enabled, Palm's WebOS wasn't even mentioned by HP, except in a question raised by Betanews during the Q&A.

Meanwhile, HP did bring a bunch of printer partners to the stage, including Sundar Pichai, VP of product management at Google.

Pichai told reporters that he regards HP's Web printing initiative to be mutually complementary with Google's CloudPrint project to enable Google Chrome OS-based Web printing from all printers and other devices, including legacy printers.

HP is also eyeing Web-based printing across multiple types of devices, Joshi said, adding that HP foresees working with many other partners beyond Google.

Initially, HP won't use WebOS in its Web-based printers, said Louis Kim, director of product management, Worldwide Inkject Consumer Solutions, speaking with Betanews during the event. But, he predicted, some time over the next few months, HP might start moving toward replacing its existing printer operating systems with WebOS.

Kim told Betanews that HP could start to achieve this kind of convergence by some time this fall, with the introduction of new two-way Web-based printing capabilities which let users upload and download documents for printout through HP's Web cloud.

By the Betanews Staff, Betanews

As anticipated, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 4, at WWDC on Monday, and although we knew most of the details, there were some surprises. Here's what you need to know:

1. Design

• 9.3mm thick; 24% thinner than 3GS
• Stainless steel exterior band is an integrated antenna
• Glass front AND rear

2. "Retina Display"

• 325 "ppi" (apparently they are above "dots" now)
• 3.5-inch; same as before
• 800:1 contrast ratio; 4x better than 3GS
• Not OLED; claimed that you can't make an OLED with high enough resolution

3. Apple A4 Chip + Bigger Battery

• Claiming 40% more talk time, 300 hours of standby
• Quadband HSDPA/HSUPA

4. Gyroscope

• Adds three axis for pitch roll and yaw, giving a total of 6 axis with existing accelerometer
• New "CoreMotion" API's for making use of motion tracking

5. Camera -- Backside

• 5 Megapixel
• LED Flash
• HD Video; 720p, 30fps
• Built in video editing with iMovie

6. Front Camera and Video Conferencing

• For use with new "FaceTime" video conferencing tools
• WiFi only (said that is "for now" -- Apple will work with carriers)
• iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 only

7. iOS4 -- new name for the OS

• Free upgrade for existing devices on June 21
• Multi-tasking
• Folders
• iBooks for the iPhone

8. Green Cred

• Recyclable
• Produced without most of the nastier materials

What do you think, will you upgrade or switch to the new iPhone?