Posted: March 16th, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, iPad, iPad 3, iPad Features, iPad HD, New iPad | No Comments »
Apple releases, in recent years, tend to grab the attention of the tech world and get every one pretty excited. So unless you have lived under a rock you have most likely heard about today’s iPad launch.
Yep, at this very moment as you read this article, thousands of Apple enthusiasts across 10 different countries are eagerly standing in line waiting for the latest Apple sensation. Pre orders were so successful in fact, Apple were forced to push back the delivery date as they struggled with the high demand.
In the build up to this release date we have heard the names iPad 3 and iPad HD, however, it seems that Apple’s latest product will simply be called iPad. This shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise, although to some it has. The iPod has always been the iPod, the MacBook has always been the MacBook, and the iMac has always been the iMac. The products new name reflects the company’s simplistic philosophy.
The iPad features, a 5-mega-pixel camera with 1080p video recording, 1GB of ram and A5X CPU with quad-core graphics. Without doubt, the thing that seems to be getting every one exited is the new 3.1 million-pixel screen.
Apple has called this new screen the ‘retina’ screen. This is because there are so many pixels per inch that the human eye, at viewing distance, can’t pick them out individually.
When testing the iPad Walt Mossberg from allthingsd.com said “when I placed my iPad 2 next to the new model, with the same text on the screen. Letters and words that had seemed sharp on the older model five minutes earlier suddenly looked fuzzier”.
So what about Siri? After the excitement around the voice-activated personal assistant on the iPhone 4S, would it be correct to assume that the natural evolution of the iPad would include Siri? No, it wouldn’t. Siri doesn’t feature on the iPad, however, there is a dictation option when typing. It seems though that this voice-annotating device isn’t all that great.
Charles Arthur from The Guardian described it as the following, “Short sentences it’s good with – so “yeah that’s great I’ll see you later” came out perfectly three times in a row. But “I don’t think you’ve ever seen one of those ever before” came out as “I don’t did you see monomers and before”. Conclusion: don’t throw away the touch keypad. (Well, you can’t.)”.
This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, Siri on the iPhone is great to use as a hands free device when, excuse the pun, your hands are tied. But the iPad is different, you are given a 9.7 inch screen for a reason, it is something to hold, touch and explore.
It has been said time and time again that the new iPad is more of an evolution than a revolution, which seems to be a fair assessment. It is important to remember though that this new instalment will help the iPad keep its place at the top of the tablet leader board. As mentioned before, Apple have a knack for getting people excited over a new launch and it seems they have done it again, for very good reasons.
Do you fancy popping down to your nearest Apple store and joining the crowds? We’re excited, but we think we might wait a few weeks!
Posted: March 1st, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: App Store, Apple, Evernote, Flipboard, Foursquare, Frequency, Instagram, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Whadda Media | No Comments »
Here at Whadda Media we love our Apple products, however with over 500,000 apps to choose from in the app store, it can sometimes be a challenge to find the best ones.
‘What apps are the best?’ is a common question, however is it not one that is easy to answer. However, here are 5 apps that we couldn’t do without!
1. Flipboard
Flipboard has to be our favourite and most used app. Founded in 2010 the social magazine application pulls together a collection of your social networks most relevant tweets & posts, and presents them in a magazine format on your mobile device.
This application is great for when you’re travelling to and from work, simply flick your way through articles posted by the people you follow on Twitter or Facebook. or select from articles in different sectors such as Technology, Lifestyle or News.
The application stops you scrolling through your timeline seeking relevant tweets and articles, instead, Flipboard brings all your relevant news stories into a stunning, engaging, digital magazine, for you to peruse at your leisure, allowing you to retweet, favourite or email through the app.
Check it out on… www.flipboard.com
2. Frequency
Frequency is one of the best video applications around. Unfortunately this app is only available on the iPad, frustrating this may be, however, this app is so nicely integrated and so engaging, it may well force you out to Apple to buy an iPad.
The Frequency app acts as personalised video service, allowing you to sit back and ‘watch’ the Internet. The application integrates several social networks and curates them into channels of your highlights, Facebook videos, Twitter videos, YouTube videos etc, as well as featuring videos in ‘Frequency top 25’ and ‘trending’ sections.
You can also filter and search for videos by topic. When selecting a category, the app will show you the biggest influencers in that particular field, allowing you in follow them on Twitter and browse the videos they have posted online.
Frequency is a great advert for the iPad – we would definitely recommend it!
Get it here… www.frequency.com
3. Instagram
Everyone loves a good photograph and now with the iPhones powerful camera, more and more people are able to capture great shots on the move.
Instagram is an iPhone only application for sharing images, whether you’re a pro or an amateur, the app is a great forum for uploading images and hearing what people have to say about them.
Instagram inspiration attempts to recreate the instant and magical feeling that once surrounded Polaroid pictures. The application has an extremely large community around taking photographs, adding a cool little filter, and then posting them for all to see.
A simple but effective application and one that will quickly grow on you. Instead of tweeting or posting your image on Facebook, often you will find yourself wanting to add an original effect to the image, and share it with the Instragram community.
What we’ve found is that is grows your interest in photography and lures you into wanting to capture better photos to prove your ability and your eye for a great pic.
You can also access your Instagram profile & images on the web at Gramfeed! Check it out here… www.gramfeed.com
Get the app today at… www.instagr.am
4. Foursquare
Foursquare is a great app that turns ‘eating out’ into a fun interactive game that allows you to compete against friends. Since launching in 2009 the leisure application has gathered a huge response with over 15 million users worldwide and over 2 million check-ins a day.
The application implements a similar check in concept that’s used on Facebook, however, Foursquare has incorporated the concept into a game, where users can compete for badges, accrue points, leave tips, unlock specials or earn the mayor title at venues all over the world.
The application is also great for companies, who can use the forum to analyse customer reviews as well as generate reward schemes and campaigns that surround the application.
This app is great fun and highly addictive, it’s awesome for competing against friends, building lists of place you love or want to visit, researching the best dishes to eat at a particular venue or for finding nice restaurants in your area!
Check out the application here… www.foursquare.com
5. Evernote
Evernote is an awesome app that helps you organise and plan your busy lifestyle. It works across Mac, iPad, iPhone and more importantly you can sync your account so you can access it on any of these platforms at any one time.
The app allows you to create notes, capture images, record voice memos and write to do lists. Also, a number of the features work together; for example: you could take a picture and record a voice memo to go with it; you can also install the Evernote web clipper, this lets you clip images straight from a webpage and annotate before you save them to your account.
Evernote has so many different features it is hard to give one exact answer to why you should use it. We find it great to use to help us remember and separate ideas. Simply add a relevant tag and then when you need to find information, you can quickly search for it.
Although it isn’t exactly a ‘fun’ app, we are still huge fans. Since we’ve had it, we have been able to categorise all different ideas or notes on all different projects, as well as having separate tags for any personal interests.
Get Evernote here… www.evernote.com
