For the last few years we have got a new iPhone model each year and this year we got the iPhone 4. I have been using this model for almost a month now and I won’t spend several pages going through all the details since you most probably read a few iPhone 4 reviews already but I’ll go through the most important updates and share my personal view of the phone.

The antenna problem
The steel frame surrounding the phone does serve as an antenna for WiFi and cellular connection and there was a lot of buzz around the antenna problem a few weeks ago. I have done quite many phone calls during this month, sometimes deliberatly using the ‘death grip‘, but during these four weeks my phone haven’t dropped a single call. The reception has always been excellent – and this might be because of the fact that we have a very good GSM network in Sweden but the antenna problem is a non issue to me – at least with the phone I have.

The display
The iPhone 4 features a new kind of display called ‘Retina Display’. It has an ultra high resolution of 960 by 640 pixels which basically means that it’s impossible to see the pixels. It’s very close to looking at printed paper. It also has a very good contrast ratio (800:1) and you can also see the display from a wider viewing angle than previous models. The iPhone 4 features by far the best display on any mobile devicce I have come across. The only problem with the display is that it’s still kind of hard to use it in conditions with direct sunlight but it’s no worse (or better) than any other model out on the market. Overall, the display is shockingly amazing.

Call quality
The iPhone 4 features two microphones. When you’re shooting video it’s utilizing the top one and when you’re talking with someone it’s using the bottom one. But the top one is still active. It’s used for noise cancellation and it actually works quite good. Even though you’re in the middle of some noisy traffic the person in the other end can hear you perfectly.

The camera
A few months ago I was about to buy a small pocket camera that I always could bring with me. I wasn’t satisfied with the camera quality of the current iPhone model I had (the 3Gs) but now I’m happy that I didn’t. The iPhone 4 can snap some really good photos! Even if it’s darkish thanks to the LED flash. And it also shoots HD video (720p) at 30 frames per second. Just check out the photos uploaded at Flickr shot with an iPhone 4 to get an idea of the quality you can expect. Oh, and all photos in this review are shot with the iPhone 4. It’s good enough for shooting the stuff you might want to snap here and there – and there’s of course a bunch of really neat photo apps that help you shoot even better photos. Check out iMovie for instance, it’s absolutely awesome. But when it’s time for some serious shooting I’ll bring my Canon EOS 550.

Facetime
Even though my girlfriend also has an iPhone 4, we haven’t used facetime that much. I think it’s more of a gimmick than a really useable feature but it’s a nice way to call for free if you’re abroad and have access to a WiFi connection and the person you’re about to call also has an iPhone 4 and access to WiFi.

Speed
The iPhone 4 features the new A4 processor. It’s the same processor that you can find in the iPad and along with the 512MB of RAM it’s a really fast device! The new phone also got 802.11/n capable WiFi and you can access data a whole lot quicker as well (according to my test at home I can download at around 25Mbit and upload at 10Mbit connected to an Airport Extreme on a 100/100 fiber).

Battery life?
My iPhone 3Gs could hardly last a whole day without charging, and that was painful especially when you were out travelling. The iPhone 4 has an increased battery life and Apple says it lasts about 40% longer and that sounds reasonable. I would love to have even longer battery life of course but it’s now at least on an acceptable level.

Other cool stuff?
Yeah. The 3-axis Gyro is really cool. Some of the games are similar to the Nintendo Wii style of gaming and you can really impress your friends if they haven’t seen an iPhone 4 before with this feature.

Summary
The last few years I have been using the following phones as my main phone: Sony Ericsson k800i, Sony Ericsson K810i, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3Gs and now the iPhone 4. The first iPhone I had was really a revolution. When I broke the display on my iPhone 3G and had to go back to my K810i for a few weeks – I hated it. The 3Gs was even better and the iPhone 4 is absolutely lovely. It’s fast, features an amazing display, so many apps that it’s impossible to try them all, has a great camera and it also looks extremely nice. I give the iPhone 4 my warmest and heartiest recommendations, and it’s the best phone I’ve tried so far, all categories.

Yesterday it was unboxing time and today we will see a bunch of reviews all over the place. It’s a nice review where they go through all of the new important updates along with a set of photo samples & video samples. And they sure like it:

We’re not going to beat around the bush — in our approximation, the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone on the market right now. The combination of gorgeous new hardware, that amazing display, upgraded cameras, and major improvements to the operating system make this an extremely formidable package.

iPhone 4 review [Engadget]

iPad reviews are popping up everywhere and most of them are very positive of the device. Most of the reviews has pricing as the biggest issue, and even though you can get the cheapest model for $499, most of you guys probably want the 3G version with more storage and then you’ll end up close to the $1000 mark. Here’s a roundup of some of the best reviews, including a video review from IGN:

“So the verdict? The buyer of an iPad is one of two people, the first is someone who sees not just the present, but the potential of a product like the iPad… and believes in and is excited about that potential. This is also a person who can afford what amounts to a luxury item. The second is an individual who simply doesn’t need to get that much work done, and would prefer their computing experience to be easier, faster, and simpler. Does that sound like anyone you know?”

Apple iPad review [Engadget]

“Right now, it is an entertainment device that could make one’s computing life a little better if you find the right apps. It has a lot of great qualities: Über-portable, pretty, responsive, tons of apps, great display, excellent battery life… But it also costs $499 in its simplest form, and this is not pocket change (people are buying the 16GB for $700+ on eBay). If you can afford it, and if your usage model is compatible with its design, the iPad is a great device. Love it or hate it, but let’s all live in peace.”

iPad review [Ubergizmo]

“If money’s not a factor for you, yes, get it. For millions of Americans right now, the unemployed, the hurting, and for those paying back college loans such as myself and people struggling to make ends meet — it’s a tease. You’re better off waiting. But make no mistake about it: the iPad will be around for a while. Its impact on the future of personal computing, gaming and books will be significant. This device is revolutionary, and it will shake up a few more industries just as the iPhone, iPod, and iTunes store did before it.”

iPad review [Huffington Post]

“The iPad is a lovely device that gadget fans will lust after, but I’m yet to be entirely convinced that it offers enough of an advantage over my smartphone or laptop. I do think it has the potential to be a game-changing device, but it will be the second- and third-generation versions that really drive the agenda, and introduce a new and innovative way of computing.Ultimately, the iPad is a large iPod touch: a great device to draw your inspiration from, but perhaps not the seismic shift in technology that we were expecting. But watch this space… “

Apple iPad review [Telegraph UK]

“Should I get an iPad?” asks a friend.

“That depends,” I say, “It doesn’t do anything you can’t do with you phone or laptop, and it’s not really great at work or outside the home.”

“So I shouldn’t? Should I get something else?” she asks.

I interrupt, “But there is nothing else quite like it. And it does a few things, in a few places, better than anything.”

Continuing, I say, “Tell you what—Before even thinking about buying one, go poke around iTunes, and find some apps you might like. Figure out where you’ll use this thing in your daily life, and what you’ll do with it. It’s different for everyone. And try it. Then you’ll know.”

Apple iPad review [Gizmodo]

Here is IGN’s video review of the iPad:

The HTC Desire is one of the most interesting phones this spring, and even iPhone addicts seem to be interested in this phone. Here’s one of the best reviews I’ve stumbled across so far – 13 pages with lots and lots of information. And they really like it. Here’s a snap from their final verdict:

In short, this is a phenomenal phone – one of the best we’ve ever had on TechRadar. Usually when we like a phone on the first use, we end up horribly disappointed after a little time with it, but the HTC Desire kept on performing and achieving when we thought it wouldn’t.

HTC Desire [techradar.com]

Over at PhotographyBlog you can read a nice review of the brand new $175 Canon PowerShot A3100 IS and it looks like it’s a great first digital camera. Here’s a snap from their conclusion: “So while this camera won’t set the world on fire, it is a great introduction to the world of digital photography.“. Check out the full review:

Canon PowerShot A3100 IS Review [photographyblog.com]

I’ve been using the HP Photosmart Premium All-in-One for almost two weeks now, and I’d like to share my impressions of this $200 printer.

The Photosmart Premium All-in-One is a clever printer. It features a big touchscreen display that you can use to print directly from a memory card, do photo copies, print some built-in forms (even Sudoku games), set up the wireless functionality (802.11b/g/n), bluetooth etc. Everything is easy to understand and if you use HP’s online services like ’Snapfish’ you can print photos directly from your online collection. For the last few years I’ve been using a couple of Canon printers so it was an interesting experience trying HP for a change.

The setup is quite fast, and you get an excellent tutorial through the touchscreen display of the printer. The only problem I had was that one of my Mac computers had a hard time finding the printer on the wireless network.

What about printing speed? On the feature list you can read that the printer can do up to 32 color papers per minute. I must admit that I was never close to that but a 10 page Keynote presentation, with a fair amount of grapics on it, printed in around 2 minutes. A full page, high quality A4 photo also took around 2 minutes to print – and the result was really good.

And how is the quality? When you have a brand new printer with fresh cartridges, the quality is always excellent. The Photosmart Premium can do really nice looking prints, especially if you give it some nice quality photo paper to work on. But as soon as I started running low on ink the prints started to show stripes and other minor deficiencies. When I exchanged the cartridge that was running low, everything was back to normal again. But, I actually liked that my Canon Pixma printer refused to print when it was low on ink and never delivered a bad print.

Specifications: Resolution 9600×2400 (600x600dpi Black); optical scan resolution 4800dpi; quoted print speed Black: 33 pages per minute, Color: 32 pages per minute; actual print speed, black around 9 pages per minute and color around 5 pages per minute; USB 2.0, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet; Size: 452x473x199mm; Weight: 7.5kg

The bad: It’s quite noisy and when it printed documents it actually made the whole table shake a bit. I also had some trouble using the wireless printing with one of my Mac computers. Even though you are running low on ink, the printer keeps on giving you prints which might result in discolored prints (if you’re low on the Magenta ink for example).

The good: Lots of nice software. The iPhone app is a lovely example. Separate cartridge. Very good quality prints. Clear screen with clever menus and a bunch of built-in extras.

HP Photosmart Premium All-in-One is a printer that will deliver high quality prints, at the same time it’s really easy to get going with and manage. It’s a bit more pricey than an equal printer from Canon, and it’s also a bit louder, but it’s a competent printer.

Toon Paint is a really cool application for iPhone that can make any photo look like something from a Marvel comic book. As an example, I created the sketch above in a few seconds using the app. More information inside.

I snapped a photo of a friend of mine and loaded in the application. Here’s how the original photo looked like:

When you have loaded a photo (or snapped one using the camera mode), you get thrown into an editing mode that looks like this:

Here’s where you fine tune the edges, the grey and black levels and when you have something that looks good, just press the soften button and you’ll get a smoothed out version of the image. Save it and you’re done. A great application that produces really good and cool images. The only thing that I’m missing is some kind of vectorized output, but that can be done on your Mac or PC. The application can be bought in iTunes for $1.99.

ToonFX Paint [toon-fx.com]

I have been looking for a nice rotatable screen a while, and I finally went for a Dell 2209WA. It’s a 22 inch screen featuring a resolution of 1680×1050 that is supposed to deliver excellent image quality along with the feature that I really was looking for – the ability to rotate the screen 90 degrees. It also helped that you wouldn’t need to run a credit report to see if you could afford such a cool monitor as it very affordable. Here’s my mini review of the Dell 2209WA.

The Dell 2209WA measures 461.91 x 511.77 x 184.12 mm and weighs 7.93 kg which is similar to all bunch of other 22 inch widescreen monitors on the markets. Other specifications are a brightness level of 300 cd/m2, claimed viewing angle (horizontal) 178 degrees, claimed viewing angle (vertical) 178 degrees, a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a pixel response time of 6ms. Nothing really special here. I compared it side-by-side with a 22 inch Samsung screen and they looked very similar in all aspects. The image quality is great! Since it’s an LCD screen you won’t get any deep black colors but overall the colors are represented very good and it’s crisp.

The screen features a built-in USB hub which will give you 4 USB ports on the back of your screen. Since you loose one when you connect the hub you only get 3 extras though.

The power and menu buttons are located in the bottom right corner (or bottom left if the screen is rotated 90 degrees). It’s very easy to flip through the settings and personalize your settings.

On the back of the screen you can find a standard RGB port and a DVI port. No display port, but adaptors are cheap nowadays.

And here’s the main reason I went for the Dell 2209WA screen – you can easily rotate the screen 90 degrees and if you work a lot with non-landscape layouts this is really helpful.

As I mentioned earlier, the display is really crisp and I rate it really high if I compare it to other 22 inch monitors on the market. I really like the non-glossy coating as well.

Conclusion: The Dell 2209WA is a quite chep screen (around $270) – with excellent image quality and the ability to tilt and rotate the screen. A great catch!

I have been using the lightweight v-JAYS headphones for two weeks now and they turned out to be a really great pair of headphones. Come inside for our review of the v-JAYS.

The v-JAYS come in a package that is just a bit bigger than the headphones itself and there isn’t anything more than an extra pair of earpads, the headphones, a 70 cm extension chord, and short paper instructions in several languages inside the box. But that is exactly what you need so there’s nothing negative about that.

The build quality is quite sturdy and it feels like these headphones easily will last a couple of years without breaking. The cable is also quite thick and all cable extensions is gold plated. So even though they might look like the earphones you get on an airplane to wath the in-air flick the v-JAYS feel more robust and durable than the cheaper counterparts.

When you aren’t using the headphones, you can fold them up as in the photo above. They aren’t ultra compact but at least they feel somewhat protected when you fold them.

I have been listening to lots of different types of music with the v-JAYS and even though I think they are best used for modern music with lots of bass, you still can enjoy Beethoven and Bach with these headphones. I used the equalizer quite a lot though to get the exact sound that I wanted.

The v-JAYS deliver rich and open sound, with lots of punchy bass and smooth sound all over the frequency range. You can turn up the volume really loud and it still delivers a great sound experience. A lot more than you probably expect by just looking at them, as they look a bit like cheap airplane headphones.

Everything with the v-JAYS ain’t positive though, one of the problems with the headphones is that the sound doesn’t only reach the person who wears the headphones. A lot of sound leaks away and that might annoy your colleagues if you are using them in an open landscape. This is of course a problem with most open headphones and apart from that I can really recommend the v-JAYS. They are a great catch, and I don’t say that just because I’m a Swede (Jays is a Swedish brand you know). Highly recommended. You can get them in a shop near you for around $100.

More info over at Jays.se.

Philips SBA1500 is the name of this set of portable speakers that can be plugged into any audio source featuring a 3.5 mm stereo connector. The speaker system gives you a quite nice sound experience while on the road. Here’s our verdict of this portable speaker system.

As you can see the speakers are quite small and made out of plastic and measures 50 mm. The frequency response is 100 – 18 000 Hz and the RMS power rating is 2 x 1 watt. They feature an acoustically-tuned air channel that will give you some bass as well.

The speaker cone is protected by perforated black metal and the cables are 1.2 meters long.

If your audio source has a high voltage output you don’t need to amplify the sound with the built-in receiver, but it will give you stronger and louder sound.

The amp is powered by 3 AAA (R6) batteries and will give you around 20 hours of operating time.

The amp section is a bit wider than the speakers and you fit them easily together into a small lightweight package.

Here’s how a typical setup looks like, in the photo above we use a standard iPhone. And how is the sound quality? I was impressed by the sound quality from this small $24.99 speaker system. It’s really clear and you even get a bit of bass thanks to the clever bass pipe construction. It’s a bargain and a keeper.