Stupid I know but aren’t you just about sick of all these sites coming up with their entirely predictable “predictions” like it’s some competition to come up with the most patently obvious? Basically, none of them has a clue but on the other hand it’s not exactly difficult to have a decent stab at what iPad 2 and so on will be like yet they plaster these “exclusives” across their pages on a pretty repetitive basis.

Of course what made it even worse was that a few hours later I had to sit through a dodgy Spurs win at Sunderland which makes a big dent on City’s chances of even finishing in the top four. I can’t understand it, for the last few weeks City and their staff have been talking about continuing to challenge for the league title, a feat I believe to be well out of their reach, certainly this season anyway, whilst they’ve only ever been a couple of poor results away from slipping out of the Champions League places. Now, if Spurs win at Blackpool in their game in hand and Chelsea win both their games in hand we’ll be fifth. A not exactly improbable scenario. City’s form of late has been mediocre and hardly that of aspiring champs….losing 1-0 to Villa when they were in the bottom 3, drawing 2-2 with Birmingham when they were in the bottom 3 and scraping a draw with that acknowledged super power of European footie, Notts County.

A large part of the show revolves around them reading aloud pompous emails from adoring “wittertainment” ( a word you’ll hear a lot of in a typical show) fans (aka sycophants) whose sole purpose appears to be to bolster even further the already bursting egos of the two hosts. This pair are so far up each others areses they could lick each others tonsils.

If anybody can recommend a decent film review podcast without the sickening smugness please let me know.

What’s quite annoying is if you head over to the HP site or read the advertising blurb…”now available in S M L”. Now, I don’t know about you but my interpretation of the definition of the word “now” is that it means now, as in today, as in available to buy straight away. Right? Well, not according to HP as to them “now” means in the summer…..which if you go by the dictionary definition, is at least 4 months away. It’s another risky gamble.

Have they learned anything from the previous Pre fiasco? Remember the launch of the original Pre, or the announcement rather of it in January 2009, and the fact that by the time it finally arrived here in the UK in October (9 months later) it was virtually dead in the water. I’d have thought they’d have been better off delaying the formal announcement until the darn things were actually available to purchase, you know, inspire a few “spur of the moment” impulse buys on the back of the launch excitement.

Anyway, the specs for the Pre 3 look good, the screen looks lovely, if the new Web OS version on it keeps the improvements over version 1 going then it will be a lovely device, assuming of course the notorious early hardware issues, or lack of it, are sorted. I’ve still got my original Pre and fire it up now and again, for old times sake, but boy is it slow. Compared to the iPhone 4 it feels super sluggish. It always was a bit slow in launching apps and stuff but I can’t remember it being that slow. Hopefully, HP can pull in some favours, or whatever it takes, and get some of the bigger developers to get a better range of top quality software ready in time.

Check out what former Palm boss John Rubenstein told reporters …..the handset was targeted at “professionals”, adding: “Finally a phone you can use for business that you don’t want to leave at work.” That’s a bit of a change then. Obviously HP has a lot of clout in a few important areas and they could wangle things so that this new range of Web OS stuff fares well, long enough for them to get a foothold back in the market and then hopefully build on that. Mind you, why should I care anymore, it’s not like they’re Palm products anymore is it?

My previous protector was the Power Support one and I have reviewed it previously on here. It was a cinch to apply, the easiest of any protector, and it would have stayed but for one irritating incident whereby overnight, this scratch like thing appeared on the back of the phone, about an inch in length. Ouch I thought, it can’t be on the actual phone because the back was unblemished when the film was applied. Must be just a mark on the protector was my next thought but try as I might I could not wipe it off. So again I thought, hmmmm, must be on the phone then….damn it. Anyways, I was then left with that unpleasant feeling of having a possible scratch on the phone, visible as an unpleasant reminder 100% of the time.

That is when I decided to go for one of these SGP back covers, my reasoning being that I can pull off the Power Support protector to finally find out once and for all if there is a scratch on the phone and if so, at least I can hide it with the carbon fibre back cover for good and even if there is not a scratch then I will still apply it as it will stop me worrying about in the scratch situation in the future. I don’t know, I just don’t particularly like the glass back of the iPhone, it makes me nervous and now I don’t have to concern myself at all with it.

I think I paid about £19 for this, off eBay although you can get cheaper versions. I did in fact order a cheapo version, for under a £5 but the quality, when it arrived, was not nearly as good as the SGP one which is thicker and has more of a textured feel too. It was easy to apply, having the cut out for the Apple logo helps when lining it up and you can apply and re-apply it many times (as I did) until you are happy with the positioning. To be honest, I’d prefer there to be no Apple logo there as it leaves a bit of the back exposed to possible scratching although the carbon fibre effect does raise it a bit clear of the logo when on a desk. There’s no problem with the flash when taking pictures either and the iPhone still fits in my Brodit iPhone car holder and Herbert Richter windscreen mount too.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with it and reckon it will stay on for a good while. I’d replace it though if there such a thing as a matte type back stick on protector, like the material used in the Incipio Feather case.

A couple of things about Cydia. Firstly, the Cydia app, rather oddly, does not appear to support multi-tasking on the iPhone 4. No doubt there is a good reason for this but it means that if you download something and then try it out, when you go back into Cydia to look at other stuff you need to go back to the start. Secondly, Cydia is chock full of irritating and large advert and navigating through it is cumbersome. This app is so un-iPhone like it is almost funny….I am complaining which is of course grossly unfair bearing in mind the huge advantages it potentially bestows upon the user and I’d pay to get an ad-free version of it.

A couple of apps /settings that I tried out caused my phone to crash so I swiftly deleted them but I have kept, and paid for, some bits of software. SB Settings is a must and is free. This gives you an Android like pull down top menu from the status bar, actually the app gives you a whole host of ways of activating it but I have chosen the “swipe across the top status bar” method as the latter is visible in all screens thus giving quick access. The app itself gives you quick access to many useful settings that are normally only found in the “Settings” icon on your iPhone. You can also add in many “add-ins” available in Cydia store, many of which are free. I personally have added in a setting to close all running apps at the touch of one button. This add-in also allows you to specify exclusions to which apps should be shut down.

Next up is Infinidock which is almost invaluable to me now. This allows you to add as many items to the dock as you wish and you can either have loads showing at the same time (in which case they get all jammed together) or you can just swipe left and right to see the next batch of docked items,,,which is the way I have set it up. Really useful. Under a £1 too…

Overboard allows you to show all screens on the one page by either pressing the icon or setting up a touch orientated gesture or by pressing buttons of your choice. If you have loads of screens filled with apps then just one button press or gesture lets you access them all and one further press takes you to that screen.

I’ve also replaced the stock SMS application with iRealsSMS which is like a turbocharged (lazy simile) version of SMS. It adds many useful features to your texting software such as contact pics in the message view, folder support, the ability to reply from the text preview on your lock screen or springboard without having to open the app itself, loads of “privacy” settings and a whole lot more.  You can also call someone from within a message received. It cost about £9 I think, which is kind of expensive for an iPhone app but I think it is worth it.

The iPhone 4 is a bit thinner so I though I’d revisit the Noreve case line and purchased their “mobile tradition leather” case from an online UK seller. The case costs about £30, which is about £10 more expensive than the likes of these silicon and soft touch cases, amongst others, that you can buy in the High Street and also online yet the difference in quality is large and far outweighs the additional cost. The packaging has changed slightly, you still get the Noreve box but the whole thing now comes in one of those blister style packs. It also comes with the kit to let you attach a permanent belt clip, if you are that way inclined or you can remove the stud from the back so that the case lies flat on a desktop.

This case is so nice, feels so well made and has a lovely feel and smell. The iPhone 3g case was styled so that you slid the phone in to the case whereas the iPhone 4 version is different, you just sort of press it in and the slightly raised corners act as holding clips. It’s easy to get it in and not too hard to get it out either. Once in though, the iPhone feels very secure, there is no way it is going to slip out. Another difference to the 3g case pertains to the closing flap. On the older iPhone the closing flap wrapped around the bottom of the case and up onto the back and was secured with a stud type arrangement. This case dispenses with that and instead the flap is incorporated into the top case design, is rigid and clips onto the top of your phone, inbetween the on/off switch and headphone socket. With the case “locked”, it looks very compact and I’m sure it would offer good protection in the event of a drop.

All the ports, such as dock and volume buttons, are fully covered and unusable with the case on….actually they’re not but I thought I’d mention that because everyone else seems to feel the need to record that detail in reviews when really, it should be taken for granted…no?

It’s a lovely case but the big drawback for me is the flip style, I just can’t get used to it and it doesn’t feel right having that dangly bit flapping away. As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve now got a preference for pouch style cases, just for transportation purposes as I basically prefer to use the iPhone as is, unencumbered by a case so I have returned the case and asked for another by Noreve as a replacement, this time their Tradition Pouch case. Still, if you are a flappy case type of guy or gal then it’s a case that should be considered alongside the likes of other flip cases from Senna, Vaja and Piel Frama.

You can buy it off the shelf in black from here, or if you go onto the Noreve site then there is a choice of colours and materials.

On paper the specs for the new model, especially the 11 inch version, don’t look promising with a 1.4ghz processor and a fairly measly 64gb of  storage whereas the 13 incher…oohhh errrr….would also appear to struggle with its 1.8ghz. These are the sort of processor speeds that were on MacBook Pros 4/5 years ago. However, I’ve read a few reviews of the new models in the past few days and the praise for both models has been positive. This review is for the 1.4ghz model and is almost quite gushing.

Apple’s new 11-inch MacBook Air is astonishing. It’s unbelievable. It’s the most exciting consumer PC that’s come out for years. It’s a netbook, but it’s not a PoS. It’s blazing fast. It’s unbelievably light and thin. It’s beautifully made. Really beautifully made

This one too goes on about how quick it seems in ordinary operation which is surprising given the rather paltry, on paper, processor speed.

Overall, I love it so far. Having a machine this small, with a keyboard and screen this good, decent battery life and good performance is great. Now when it tags along with my work machine, I’ll be wondering if I even put it in my bag.

The cheapest version is the 1.4 with 64gb of storage and that costs £849, which is about £250 more than an iPad with similar capacity and for that you get more of a laptop experience with a keyboard, full size too. Before, I was thinking I might finally get an iPad but now I’m not so sure. Steve Jobs, who has been right on a few occasions recently with regard to making predictions, seems to think that the Air is the future of portable (mac) computing and if he says so then the days of the MacBook and MacBook Pro must be numbered. Sounds like the Air will come out of the shadows and become a serious proposition after a spell when it just looked liked an expensive toy.  When flash storage becomes cheaper then surely we will see the likes of the Air, specced up with 500gb “hard drives”, being Apple’s “pro” laptop solution. I don’t know, I might hang on, get an iPad and then when I replace the MacBook Pro in a year or two, look at the Air instead of another Pro.

So, I have sort of determined, for a time anyway, to go with pouch style cases as they are great for protecting your phone in transit (which is when I want the protection anyway), you can get the phone out quickly and easily and thus you can continue to use the phone with your add on stuff. I’ve already got a decent pouch case, the Proporta Maya case, which I’ve had for a year or so. It’s a universal style case which was originally bought for an iPhone 3G but which also fits the iPhone 4 and the HTC Legend which I also had for a bit. It’s quite reasonably priced too and comes in several colours, as you can see from the picture on the left. It’s a soft case mind so will offer little protection in the event of a nasty drop.

I actually had a good look around for a good quality leather case online, one that you could customise a bit but all I could find was the Vaja “Retro Pouch” for the iPhone. There are loads of different colour options and I had a heck of a time deciding what to go for. My initial preference was to go for the black with a bright orange stripe but my wife dissuaded me from that, as she did with the black and baby blue stripe so I ended up going for the black with nautical blue. I kind of wish I had gone for the orange stripe, sometimes it’s best not to ask for a 2nd opinion….Not to worry, delivery time is 25 days plus, or so it says on their website.

I won’t bother or bore you with all the gory details about the process because firstly, it wasn’t that difficult at all and secondly, the full instructions can be found here….the tool that I used is only for macs at present. I did initially balls up the bit where you have to enter DFU mode but the application is forgiving and gives you as many tries as you need to get it right. I also did not bother adding in any software from the available packages as the Cydia app on your iPhone, post jailbreaking, gives access to the same stuff.

From start to finish it was under an hour. The first thing I did after restoring the phone with the new firmware was to fire up Cydia and download SBSettings as this was the software I’d read about in advance and knew I wanted because it gives you fast access to toggling on the wifi setting, amongst others. You just need to swipe across the top status bar and this brings up the menu, then tap the wifi icon and that is it. You can also change bluetooth, 3G on/off, power on/off, brightness and other stuff which is really very handy.

My iPhone, apart from one early odd sort of crash thing, has been stable. It’s always a concern when you do something like this in case everything goes to pot but I remembered that I used a previous Pwnage tool on my old 2G and it worked just fine for 2 years after without a concern. In addition, it is seemingly very simple to restore back to factory settings should the need arise, a factor that is important to me for peace of mind.

I’m going to have a peek at a few others apps and possible tweaks to see if there is anything else I should be doing. The WiFi sync app looks tempting but previous wifi syncings on other smartphones via Missing Sync were painfully slow so that deters me.

It cost me £1.79 and for me, the big advantage of it is that it presents your Facebook news feed like a Twitter feed which I find easier to read and follow links. This allows more items to be shown. I also like the way the main features are tabbed along the bottom, again a la Twitter style for easy access. Replying to comments and posting updates is also quite simple. Probably a not very necessary application but the native Facebook app tends to hinder how often I actually use Facebook and so far I have found myself using the Echofon application, to check friends postings, more.

Steve Jobs is head of a company tanking most others in many areas…his company makes one of the best selling phones in the history of errrr…phones, head of a business that dominates the mp3 player market, in charge of a company dominating software sales for their smartphone, numero uno of a business where they are bucking the tend and increasing market share in both desktop and laptop sales & establishing a lead in the fledgling tablet department too.

You’d think he’d be a happy chap, well perhaps he is but he doesn’t come across as being happy but instead, rather snide and a tad bitter? Why else make these somewhat derogatory comments about the opposition?

The problem when you are numero uno and when you are a media darling and apparently can do little wrong in the gadget market is that there is basically nowhere else to go except in the other direction. He should remember where Apple was in the mid 1990′s because it could all go horribly wrong again and if so, he’ll need all the friends he can get in the tech world. Taking cheap pot shots at others who are not quite so dominant is both cheap and totally unnecessary and is not going to endear him to those whom he is currently in competition with. A little dignity would not go amiss here. There’s no need to make comments about RIM because in 3 years time RIM could be Apple. So what if Android is “fragmented”? It doesn’t seem to bother the millions who are currently using Android phones. No, it’s all about choice and sometimes you get the impression that Jobs doesn’t want there to be any choice and that he sees the Apple way as being the only way and he looks down on others who don’t see it the same way as he does. I’ve bought into the Apple thing, the whole eco-system of MacBook Pro/iTunes/iPhone/App Store/iPod because it suits me and what I need from my gadgets, that being mainly simplicity and having all that stuff under the one convenience roof but I just wish that Jobs would be a little more respectful of others.

I’ve been using Apple products since 1997, back in the days when they were a relatively small player, when there was no iPhone and no iPod and sometimes I wish it was the same Apple that it was back then instead of this whopping great juggernaut that currently roams and tramples over this gadget earth, at times in a rather arrogant fashion.

Oddly, previously I hadn’t liked the sound of these cases with the silicon/rubbery type construction on the sides and had studiously avoided them but the Pro-Tec one made me think again and when I saw that the Griffin case was a similar style I just decided to go for it.

There are various reviews of this case on you-tube, this one for example. so you can see for yourself what it looks like. As I said before, it is a similar style to the Pro-Tec case with a hard back and rubbery sides that again come out and over the screen. The volume buttons and on/off button are covered too but are easy enough to operate with firmish presses, not as smooth as on the Pro-Tec case but still okay. They may loosen up with use perhaps?

The major difference is that the Griffin case has a carbon fibre look to the back plate and the back plate is sort of recessed slightly in that the side lips are higher, in addition there is no Apple logo cut out which I prefer to have covered anyway. This case is also quite slim and feels pretty sturdy. With this case on I can’t use my iPhone 2G dock but that is not a huge problem, I believe that some 3rd party docks have a design that enables cases like this to be used in a dock so if that’s important to you then jolly good. Taking a few photos with the flash showed no problem either.

It also doesn’t let me use it with the Brodit iPhone 4 car holder either but then again, it is not hard to remove the case from the phone. Overall, this is another nice case and I now kind of like these designs as they are less bulky than many other options I’ve tried, are simple to get on and off and I like the fact they enable you to place the iPhone face down on a table/surface without the screen coming into direct contact with the surface. The only thing that concerns me, and this applies to the Pro-Tec case too, is that the rubber bit at the bottom, the bit that sits above the dock connector, is quite thin…in fact make that very thin.

This case retails for £19.95 in CPW and much the same price online (actually on Amazon UK they claim to be selling it for under £9) and again comes recommended. I prefer the carbon fibre back of the Griffin case over the Pro-Tec frosty style but that of course is a personal thing.

Anyway, to befit their slightly downmarket image they have a range of competitively priced iPhone 4 cases and being the snob that I am, I wasn’t expecting much from them. I picked up the Pro-Tec Covert case for £14.95 but have just noticed you can get it online for £8.95 and it is good. It has a hard back, with a cut out for the Apple logo & camera, the back is almost frosty looking and slightly grippy whilst the sides are rubbery and very grippy. The sides come out and over the screen so it offers “table protection” as they call it and it is a nice, snug fit. The volume up and down buttons on the side have no cut outs but instead have very slightly raised circles which make adjusting the buttons very easy. The power button on the top is also covered but again works very well with only a slight press needed. I did notice however after a day that my screen protector was starting to lift slightly in the top right hand corner.

Overall the case is very slim and adds very little size wise to the iPhone 4, it is very trim looking. This case puts more expensive competitors, often more than double the price, into the shade. I’m quite impressed by this case indeed…hopefully it won’t fall apart within a few weeks and leave me feeling rather silly but it feels quite sturdy and is easy to get on and off, unlike my Incase Slider, but more on that one later.

The least attractive looking to me is the Dell slab. That keyboard looks handy but at the same time looks a little bit too close to the bottom of the device and this may result in a cramped typing experience. Palm Pre anyone?

Not so sure about the surround sound on the HTC7  device either, can’t really see the point in that. It’s a nice idea I suppose in the sense that it is ground breaking but if you are going to be listening to music or a film then surely you would do so with your headphones in? Not sure when you would use it propped up like in the pics without headphones?

Still, it is good to see another competitor entering the fray and it can only benefit us all in the longer term. Not sure how well this “new’ platform will do though as the other major players have already established eco-systems in place, with many users who have already splashed out a heck of a lot, well I have anyway, on software.  Will these people be prepared to start out again and open their wallets again?

This OS may look super flashy and score very high on the eye-candy factor scale but it doesn’t multi-task and the UI may not be that customisable, according to reports. Some previous WM6 people may find these factors and limitations hard to stomach.