flop ya mac out

Saw this on the train today. Nice to know our trains are running state of the art 1990’s chipsets.

So let me just start by saying shit! I just discovered that NVidia (leader in the industry for graphics processors) is about to enter the world of mobile technology.

You may be thinking, well laptops have been around for ages, but no, they’re putting their world class graphics processors into a mobile phone… This phone doesn’t have a name as yet, but that will all come later.

The phone has been described as “iPhone busting” and yeah, we’ve all heard that before, only this time I’m a little scared. Here’s some specs courtesy of mobilementalism.com:

• ARM11 MPCore
• HD AVP (High Definition Audio Video Processor) 720p H.264, MPEG-4, and VC-1/WMV9 Decoder
• 720p H.264 and MPEG-4 Encoder
• Supports multi-standard audio formats including AAC, AMR, WMA, and MP3
• JPEG encode and decode acceleration
• ULP (Ultra Low Power) GeForce GPU
• OpenGL ES 2.0
• D3D Mobile
• Programmable pixel shader
• Programmable vertex and lighting
• CSAA support
• Advanced 2D graphics
• Up to 12Mpixel camera sensor support
• Advanced imaging features
• True dual display support
• 720p (1280×720) HDMI 1.2 support
• SXGA (1280×1024) LCD and CRT support
• Composite and S-Video TV output

That’s just the hardware. The bit that really made me shudder was when I saw a few videos of it’s User Interface. This one from YouTube shows the phones user interface and some of the Apps the phone may have. Runs as smooth as the iPhone would but it just incorporates a bit more 3D animation and rendering in it as well.

The other one that caught my eye was the one where the phone is being outputted to a high definition LCD TV. Check it out, the ability to morph videos and move them around while they play simultaneously, is pretty impressive.

So if there was ever anything that could rival the iPhone’s ‘yet to be seriously challenged’ form, this could be it. It has the specs, but what else can it offer us? And what does Apple have in store for us on June 9th?

All we can do is wait and see… I’m sure that fellow iPhone lovers are really hoping that Apple can pull out a can of whoop ass and do something incredible as some of this hardware is rivalling an entry level laptop… And that’s why we can’t breath until June 9th.

The Google Van, or a subcontractor for Google (similar as Skyhook in the U.S.) has been trawling the streets of Melbourne and beyond in preparation for a looming Australian iPhone launch.

Choosing ‘Locate Me’ in the iPhone Maps app now reads location settings from Wifi hotspots in and around the city, in addition to using Cell Tower Triangulation, giving yet another ominous sign that the iPhone is just that little bit closer to launch here.

Locate Me data is becoming increasingly more accurate right across the state, with readers reporting being located to their nearest street corner, as far out of Melbourne as Croydon.

Using Locate Me with Wifi turned off.

Using Locate Me with Wifi enabled.

Although iPhone firmware 1.1.4 unlocked does not automatically support the Map app’s Locate Me feature, it can be enabled by loading a 3rd party app Triangulation app first, which somehow tricks the iPhone into enabling the Triangulation service on the device.

How far out have you found Wifi Triangulation in Melbourne?

In this week’s podcast, Dan & Jase look at Apple crash reports, 3G iPhone rumours in Australia, and other businesses using Macs to promote their non-Mac products! Click here to listen with iTunes.

Just a quick thing that i found while i was cruising around the web recently. Samsung has just released a new phone which somewhat closely resembles that of our beloved iPhone - the Samsung F480.

Although the name is not as catchy, it does boast some features that Steve’s slaves are yet to plug into their shiny black box.

Some of the major points are that this handset is not only 3G capable but it also supports HSDPA. Now for those of you who don’t know, 3G can achieve speeds of around 2 Mbps - which is pretty fast. However HSDPA has a theoretical maximum speed of 14.4 Mbps! That’s a lot of porn.

Now one of the problems that Apple had with 3G chipboards was that they were power hungry (like their Government) hence one of the major reasons why they didn’t build them into the iPhone initially. But the F480 still manages to get around 300 hours of standby time, with all of its firepower going at its fullest! Where as the iPhone will only last around 250 hours.

Some other features include a 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and face detection, FM radio with RDS, expandable memory and also the ability to order a pizza when you’re hungry.

The thing that caught me the most was how closely it resembled the iPhone physically. The only difference being that there are three buttons at the bottom of the screen instead of just one.

Personally I have always taken a liking to Apple’s simplistic approach to design: if there’s more than one button, Steve will get John Mayer to play at Macworld again - OH SHIT! But i think that Apple has always excelled both in the design of the actual handset itself but also their user interfaces. Scroll down to the bottom of this GSM Arena review to view the video demonstrating the graphical interface of the phone and make up your own mind.

One figures that Apple do such a great job in their software design that they may not need lightspeed data transfer speeds (boom!) or a camera that can take pictures the size of a small truck. I personally think that all other mobile phone companies are trying to make up for lack of a good looking, easy to use UI in hardware specs. But when it comes down to it, i think that more people will be interested in how they can use their phone rather than what they can use it for. But hey, some of those features may be nice?

So will Apple do their usual thing and get a few leaps and bounds in front of everyone else by supporting things such as HSDPA and a bazillion megapixel cameras? Or will they do the smart thing and improve on what they are already great at?

Only time will tell…WWDC June 9-13. Be there… In front of your computer… watching the Keynote.

Indeed. Flop Ya Mac Out is growing so fast it doesn’t know what to do with itself. Dan and I are both very excited to introduce to you our latest blogging phenomenon, Julian.

Jules has a fine interest in mobile phones, owns a beautiful white MacBook, and also has a taste for hacking apart/together old PC’s. He doesn’t have an iPhone, we hope you can forgive him for that. Give him a month and 3 weeks of savings, and we’re sure this may be different.

Please give Jules an arousing standing ovation as he brings to you some fine quality FYMO dosh. Dan and I would also like to take this opportunity to say that we are also going to be blogging more, too. Word-o.

Daniel gets a shock reading an old fashioned news paper. John Mayer gets in on the crash report action. Once again, an Apple product has evil spore laid a top of its screen to plug another product. And the boys compare email with carrier pigeons.

Channel 9 - laugh out loud. Another f.y.m.o. iPhone patent is divulged, on this Australian, yet international podcast. And Daniel reveals a raunchy time had with a Government funded television network.

After tonight’s podcast, we turned out attention to waveform of our voices on Dan’s screen, and before too long we were attempting phallic-shaped pictures by manipulating our voices.

Dan’s is the more slender and less satisfying first piece, while mine is the larger, more manly effort below.

Better still, we kept the corresponding audio files, which sound almost more titillating than the resulting waveforms!

In this week’s episode we give the low down on Vodafone and Optus taking on the iPhone in Australia, as well as Channel Nine’s ‘Windows on the iPhone’ gaff.

This episode begins with some experimental art from Daniel. They then try and decide what sea-food dish they should consume at the Sydney Apple Store opening. And this little Jason went twitter twitter Twinkle, all the way home.

Channel Nine this evening ran a story on its 6:00 bulletin claiming that a “leading IT website” has announced that it is “Optus who won the battle to bring Apple’s iPhone to Australia.”

To add insult to injury, the image used by the Microsoft-affiliated Network Nine to compliment the story, depicted an iPhone running Windows XP. This was complete with Bliss background, windows taskbar, and Internet Explorer displaying the Ninemsn.com.au website. Apple’s Mail icon interestingly was been replaced by Parallels, a program used on the Mac to run Windows via a process called virtualisation. Nice.

Investigation shows that Cnet.com.au is the “leading IT website” that Nine is alluding to. Yet the article in question is no more conclusive than any of the other plentiful rumour websites. Cnet claims that “Optus is confirmed to be one of several Australian mobile service providers to be selling Apple’s iPhone.” This certainly isn’t what one might describe as ‘winning the battle’ for the iPhone.

The Sydney Morning Herald and later, SBS World News also jumped at the Optus story, providing little more details than Cnet, and just like Network Nine, failed to directly link to their source at Cnet.

For your fix of Australian iPhone and Mac news and opinions, subscribe to Flop Ya Mac Out with iTunes!