For day three I decided the battery would be the first think I tested. Before I went to bed I set up the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4. Both started with full batteries and Wifi was on for both. Data was turned off on the older 3GS, but not for the iPhone 4. I thought by doing this would balance the scale since the new iPhone has a better battery. I hypothesized that I would find both phones with similar battery levels by morning. Also, I left the same 3 apps open on both phones, and after a refreshing 8 hour sleep I woke to find the iPhone 3GS’s battery was down to 72% and the iPhone 4 was at 84%. Through the night I did get 10 emails and a lot of “tweets” which both phones displayed in the morning. I knew the iPhone 4 had a bigger battery, but I suppose I didn’t realize how weak the older 3GS’s battery was.
I moved on to the HD Video next. On the phone the video looks sharp and is very clear. I was able to do basic edits directly on the phone as well iMovie is an Apple app. that allows for more rich features so if you want to edit and add titles, music, etc. it would be a great app. to get. I found myself wondering what it would look like once I looked at it on the computer screen. One of the nice parts of the iPhone is how it seamlessly integrates with social media. With the ability to upload to YouTube from the camera app. and how simple it is to post a video to Facebook or Twitter. The downside is that HD video can not be uploaded directly from the phone. You’ll need to use a computer to upload the HD footage. Below I have posted a short video I took from the phone and uploaded directly to YouTube.
As mentioned yesterday the software bug that I have noticed, it is not the much spoken about antenna or the proximity sensor, but the ambient light sensor. This sensor dims the screen when you are in a dark space (like a movie theater or outside at night). From what I can see, the sensor does not work well when compared to the older 3GS version. On the iPhone 3GS the sensor would dim the screen within seconds, on the iPhone 4 it does not dim at all. A small issue for me, but still a pain in the butt when sitting at the movies and checking my email.
Tomorrow I look at some of my favorite apps. on the iPhone, as well highlighting a few popular accessories that can help enhance your iPhone experience. After all you’ll want the iPhone to fit in with your lifestyle and accessories are a great way to do that.
As the United States plans on lifting the embargo on Cuba, we see a move by Facebook to allow a democratic vote to set the “Terms of Service – the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and Facebook Principles”. A move that is quite in contrast to the move that Facebook made about two months ago when they told all users that they own all the users content on the site. But why make such a huge 180-degree turn? Why let people vote? Can it really be democratic? These are only answers that time will tell, and the actions of Facebook in the next few months will really show the users and the world if they believe in democracy or if this is just a big hoax.
Some interesting points to keep in mind are the following;
1. Will Facebook users even read the proposed changes document? It is to be assumed that most users of Facebook are not aware of the right that they have given to Facebook originally and further more don’t have the patients to read the suggested changes.
2. Will Facebook China be allowed to vote in a democratic election? Since China has not had a democratic vote politically for years, it can be assumed that the governing rulers will not want to allow such freedoms. As well all other non-democratic countries, will they have a chance to vote?
3. Will Facebook be opening themselves up to a world of unexpected user expectations by suggesting that they are now democratic? It would be assumed that by letting the users vote on this topic that Facebook users may now expect and want to vote on all other future changes since this precedent is being set.
It is a good move in my opinion to let users vote and get involved, I am not sure if I would say it is the best idea because once pandora’s box is opened it will be very difficult to close and now Facebook users will expect to vote all further changes. This might cause even greater push back against Facebook in years to come; as it can me assumed that Facebook will not want to release control.
By now you must have seen the changes that have taken place on your home page on Facebook. I have heard the uproar from the community about how ugly it is and how hard it is to use. So let’s set aside all the complaints, sit back and look at why this change was needed and what will be the long term gain to the Facebook user lover.
It should be noted that every 6 to 9 months the good people at Facebook have felt the need to change the look and feel of this amazingly popular website. The last change we saw only affected the design and the look. This time in addition to the look and feel, Facebook has cleverly changed some of the functionalities, including the change to the home landing page and to the user’s personal page. You may ask why they would make the change besides wanting to piss off more than two million users. Well my smart-ass answer can be summed up in one word, “Darwinism.”Yes that’s right, these changes are meant as a form of evolution. Remember only the strong survive and when the owners of Facebook were not able to purchase their biggest competitor they needed to adjust the Facebook site to compete with and offer similar functions.
I assume you have heard of Twitter but just in case it is a social networking site that features “micro-blogging.” Twitter has really tipped in the last few months and with celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Jimmy Fallon, and Britney Spears it is no surprise that more and more of mainstream web users are really giving it a go. As a result, Facebook needed to make some major changes to its systems. Granted, Twitter only has 300,000 users which is a small user base when compared to Facebook. The truth of the matter is that Twitter is a real threat to Facebook. Twitter’s 140 character “Tweets” can easily be compared to Facebook’s status update section and so it was an easy choice for the Facebook team to change that status update to “what’s on your mind?” Now with these basic functionality changes and a redesigned home page (that looks a lot like the Twitter home page) Facebook can start to roll out some of the same functions that Twitter currently offers. Let’s face it, Twitter is where the web is going so if Facebook can grab the audience then it will insure a long life as a social networking website. Therefore in the long run, users will actually gain functionality by these changes. We will still see some minor changes to Facebook in the months to come. One change to look for is the removal of the “Friends” cap, which is currently sitting at a maximum of 5000 friends. Going forward users will be able to have over 100,000 friends on Facebook.
I leave you with this final thought, if printers and scanners can join to become an all-in-one printer, why not try to use the new Facebook and empower yourself to see all that social networking and “micro-blogging” have to offer. You may be surprised by the outcome. Feel free to follow me on Twitter, CLICK HERE