AllTheseThingsIveDone.com

By the time that this is posted I’ll have had Apple’s flagship iPod/PDA/mobile phone for just over two weeks. That’s plenty of time to form a few opinions.

And what exactly are my opinions? If we look back to when the device first launched I wasn’t completely impressed (click here). And now? Well, I believe Apple hit the nail on the head.

I should expand that statement so that it has some fact behind. Over some time I’ve owned Palm devices, Windows Mobile devices and Symbian OS devices. All of them have provided varying degrees of specification and synchronization with Macs.

Palm devices, for example work with Mac but the OS is a little sluggish. Windows Mobile devices can be made to work with Mac but you have to get another piece of software and the OS is incredibly buggy. Symbian OS is open source so lots of people write for it which means you need a virus checker to make sure you don’t get any nasty bugs.

So, that brings us nicely onto the iPhone. Obviously Apple’s own OS X users are the best supported. iPhone’s Contacts and Calenders are bi-directionally synchronized with their OS X counterparts Address Book and iCal. Though from within iTunes you can configure the device to sync from Microsoft’s Outlook equivalent, Entourage. If you’re an PC you’ll need either Outlook or Address Book.

The first two weeks of my iPhones existence haven’t been the easiest. I’ve tested it’s GPRS/EDGE.Wi-Fi data in both the UK and EU. It’s been relied upon to provide music for my car. It had to entertain me on the way to and from Germany. It’s had to deal with organizing my work, to be there ready to take pictures when I don’t have a full digital camera. And finally help me discover new music. In short I want it to be able to do everything it says it can do.

And, without telling a lie, it has. Normally when you buy a device like this you find flaws. If I look at the Sky HD box in front of me it’s a great device with the one flaw that the Sky Guide isn’t in HD meaning that it looks rubbish. And with the iPhone? Well, there are a couple of annoyances that are more down to me than it.

Put alongside the Nokia N95 or the Sony Ericsson K850i it may not be as good on paper. 2MP is nothing compared to either the Nokia or Sony’s 5MP. GPRS/EDGE isn’t as good as 3G or HSDPA. With the iPhone it’s all about touch, you feel connected to the phone at all times.

If Apple/o2 want people to switch to the iPhone they need to offer a 24 or 48 trial. After that amount of time they’ll be queuing up to buy one.

Well, technically its 5 days with Leopard but it didn’t sound so good. I of course don’t mean I’ve jumped into a cage with a Leopard but actually I’ve been using Apple’s latest big cat. The nice people at TNT delivered it while I was at work so once I made it home I was ready to crack on.

Installation was fairly quick and painless. Pop the DVD in click install, watch the computer restart, select a couple of options, click install and go make a cup of tea. 45 minutes later one upgraded OS X. Log on and well time to play spot the difference.

The things you can’t fail to notice are the new dock which has gone all 3D and, if your computer supports it, the translucent menu bar. Other than that it appears all the changes are superficial. System Preferences has a new icon and iCal now shows todays current date.

However once you dig under the surface the power of Leopard really shines through. Everything has the iTunes 7 look and feel which creates a lovely consistency running throughout the OS. Apples inclusion of Cover Flow directly into the OS has made for a revelation - hit space and Quick Preview opens. So far I’ve not found a file that it won’t deal with.

What else is good? Well, I’m really liking the revised iCal. It is both deceptively simple and astonishingly powerful. Networking is improved; computers and servers you can connect to now show up in Finder and I particularly like the icon that Cover Flow shows if its Windows computer - It’s the Windows blue screen of death. Ahh…Irony, it tastes good.

Most pre-Leopard programs run fine though there will be updates. Already Elgato’s EyeTV has been taken to version 2.5.1 to fix some reported bugs. My biggest problem is address book syncing utility Plaxo which will not work with Leopard.

I was concerned about it’s performance with only 1Gb of RAM but, so far, I’ve been impressed with performance. Shut down takes a little longer than previous cat Tiger. I get the occasional graphics glitch on my Macbook but I suspect that this is more down to the Intel GMA950 chip set than Leopard.

Is it necessary to upgrade? Well, not at the minute. It’s a more finished product than Vista was when that was released but there are a few issues still to be ironed out. Wait till it reaches it’s 1st or 2nd revision (10.5.1 or 10.5.2). Tiger is about to be updated it’s 11th revision (10.4.11), this will be the last release but you can guarantee it will be stable and secure. Something that Leopard has a little way to go.