The Brooks Review

Author: Ben Brooks

  • Kindle for Android

    This is how Amazon is going to compete – being platform agnostic.

  • What Apple needs to do now

    Adam Greenfield on Apple’s skeuomorphic design choices:

    One of the deepest principles of interaction design I observe is that, except in special cases, the articulation of a user interface should suggest something of a device, service or application’s capabilities and affordances. This is clearly, thoroughly and intentionally undermined in Apple’s current suite of iOS offerings.

    Very interesting, I like the Calendar app, but most of the others he mentions I don’t care for. It is clear that Apple uses this design metric to make things familiar, what is unclear is whether they actually like designing this way. [via Daring Fireball]

  • Windows 8 leaks show Microsoft’s eyes on Apple

    Take a quick spin through the slides. This whole thing gives me hope that Microsoft may just turn it around – competition is good, for Apple, mostly though for consumers. If Microsoft was able to create a “Windows Store” or even showcase where they could show off some of the beautiful apps that people create for the platform then I think they would start to see more loyalty and less criticism.

  • Amazon Adds Audio and Video to iOS Kindle Apps

    So now Apple’s hardware offers a better reading experience for Kindle books than Amazon’s own Kindle offers. Odd.

  • iPhone 4: the Ars Technica review

    Jacqui Cheng:

    During our time testing the device, numerous peers of ours who had no intention of getting an iPhone 4 began reconsidering it after seeing the screen — this was definitely the main reason why people started changing their minds.

  • Eye Opening Look at the ‘Open’ Android App Store

    This is the reason that Apple curates the App Store for the iPhone – trademark infringements and illegal downloading look to run rampant in the Android Marketplace. Not to mention the fact that it sounds difficult to purchased paid apps outside of the U.S..

  • An iPhone Calendar App for the Design-Oriented

    If it synced with MobileMe it would be perfect. What a great way to display your day.

  • An Apple a Day

    Great shot.

  • iPhone 4 Sales Top 1.7 Million

    Apple:

    Apple® today announced that it has sold over 1.7 million of its iPhone® 4 through Saturday, June 26, just three days after its launch on June 24.

    That is a lot of phones, I was expecting about 2 million – a bit high. This is a lot of phones, wow.

  • Decoding Microsoft’s Fantastic Passive-Agressive Numbers Post

    Great translation of Microsoft’s numbers blog post.

  • OWC Data Doubler Optical Bay Hard Drive/SSD

    Macsales.com:

    Configuration flexibility is yours when you replace your MacBook or MacBook Pro’s internal SuperDrive with the OWC Data Doubler. This custom engineered black anodized aluminum bracket with attached PCB circuit
    board comes ready to mount any 9.5mm tall 2.5″ SATA hard disk drive and even Solid State Drives.

    This is on my to-do list.

  • iPhone Halo Effect

    When the iPod came out with a version that allowed Windows syncing there was a lot said about the ‘iPod Halo effect’ ((See Wikipedia for a definition.)) – essentially because the iPod is so popular Apple would sell more Macs to people. The same thought has come about with the iPhone. Essentially pundits are arguing that people will like their iPod/iPhone so much that they will want to give Apple their computer business.

    The Halo Effect I Saw

    Standing in line on Thursday I witnessed a very pronounced halo effect from the iPhone. The first part was from those in line. While standing in line a lot of people came by asking why we were in line and if it was ‘worth’ it for a phone. Every person who answered these questions extolled how awesome the phone was (though they had never used it) and talked it up quit a bit. People walked away stunned and you could see that their interest had been piqued. This alone is not a halo effect but it takes us right to the most pertinent part of the halo effect.

    A lot of the first time buyers that I talked to had never been inside an Apple store, which is a shame as it is probably the best retail experience you will get. From what I could see inside the store is that the people who already purchased their iPhones really did not want to leave the store. No they wanted to stay and look around – leading to a lot of frustrating delays outside the store. Apple employees were using Macs to activate phones – with very little trouble. They were using an iPod touch to sell you the phone and so forth.

    The halo effect I saw was not from people loving their iPhones so much that they wanted to try a Mac – it was people loving the store and immersion in the products so much that they wanted to try more stuff.

    This is not to say that people there is not the traditional iPhone halo effect (where people love the phone so much they buy other Apple products) – I am simply saying that there is another component that is often ignored. The Apple Store is such a great retail experience that it makes people want to come back, and want to stay for quite a while. Even – especially – on the stores’ busiest day.

  • 5 Ways iPhone 4 Will Influence Future Smartphones

    Hard to argue with any of those points.

  • My Life Without Facebook

    I have not missed it one bit.

    Believe it.

  • iPhone 3GS versus 4

    Bare Feats:

    We ran SunSpider on the Sprint EVO 4G. The iPhone 4 is 27% faster overall.

    The iPhone 4 as expected was faster than the 3G S in all tests, most likely due to the new A4 processor.

  • iPhone 4’s first-day sales may top 1.5 million

    Electronista:

    An early estimate by Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner suggests Apple may have sold as many as 1.5 million iPhone 4s on just its first day of sales. Assuming that Apple sold about 750,000 phones in the US, including 600,000 pre-orders, 100,000 walk-in purchases, and 50,000 Best Buy units, he believes that the number roughly doubled when including international sales in the few countries that also had the iPhone 4 in its first-wave launch

    It was funny standing in line yesterday there was a huge consensus with the people I was standing next to (I was not in agreement) that Apple was purposely making the sales process slow so that they could create an illusion of demand. This of course I knew to be absurd, but people kept pointing out that it would be great free advertising as the news outlets were sure to be covering the lines. While I can’t disagree that any PR is good PR, I think Apple was doing the best job they could do yesterday.

    For starters Apple had tons of employees on hand, along with AT&T reps to solve any AT&T related problems. They had food/water/coffee free for all people in line. The slow down was the activation process. When the original iPhone launched they verified you could get the upgrade price and sold you the phone. You went home and activated (this of course caused AT&T servers to crash). This time around you bought the phone (after they checked your eligibility) and then you had them open it, plug it into a Mac and activate it. This is what was taking so damn long (about 2 minutes to do this).

    So no this was not an evil ploy. If you still don’t buy it – think of it this way: If Apple was able to sell 1.5 million phones on day one, and had kept the line waits to an hour or less – imagine how much better that would be for Apple and AT&T from a PR stand point. Now do you get why it is in everyones best interests to keep lines short?

  • iPhone 4 Reception Issues

    As many of you may know already iPhone 4 users are reporting reception issues when the phone is held in the left hand with the hand bridging two of the antennas. I have had my iPhone for two days know, my wife has one as well, and I have tried to replicate this issue on my phone.

    It might be my iPhone, or my hands – but I have yet to be able to replicate the problem. I have no doubt that it exists and is a real problem. It would seem however that it does not effect everyone – perhaps just those with sweaty hands. Drop me a note if you are not able to replicate it as well.

  • Right of Passage (iPhone 4 Launch Day)

    Today I went through and Apple right of passage – I stood in line for 9.5 hours to get my wife her iPhone 4. I was in the non-reserved line at the Bellevue, WA Apple store from 5:30a to 3:00p. A lot of people wondered why I did this for my Wife, given that I already had mine.

    The bottom line is that a lot of screw ups led to me getting an iPhone a day before it launched and my wife not getting hers at all. I decided that since I had never stood in line for one of these launches, and that I am a diehard Apple fanboy, and I love my wife – that I would go stand in line for her.

    I honestly thought that I would be done by 10-10:30a at the latest. When noon came and went I was really hungry, but at no point was I on the verge of leaving. I think I set a record for the number of tweets I have ever made in any 9-hour period, so if you follow me I am sorry.

    The Experience

    What an experience this was, interestingly there were quite a few people in line next to me that were first time iPhone buyers. Nobody that I was next to really knew a lot about the iPhone – all they knew is that it was the best phone you could get. There were a couple of people that I talked who were finally getting one because they were tired of waiting for a Verizon model.

    Starbucks and Specialty’s Bakery were handing out drinks and snacks to everyone the entire time I was there – courtesy of Apple. This was absolutely great, had they not been there I probably would not have made it past hour 5. Apple employees also came around with water (Smart Water) and there were two employees just circulating to answer questions. The most common question I heard was: “Will there be enough?”, to which the response was a very cheery “We think we are doing really well and you are looking really good where you are in line!”. Yep.

    In the end I would gladly do it again – only this time I would bring a chair and wear tennis shoes. 9.5 hours in dress shoes, and standing was not all that great.

    Thanks to all those around me in line for being awesome.

    Here is a shot of the line just before the Mall opened (sales had started about 2.5 hours before I snapped this).

  • Google uses remote kill switch to uninstall Android apps

    Andrew Kameka:

    Google has announced that the company has used its little-known remote kill function that allows it to uninstall apps from Android devices. On the Google developer blog, Rich Cannings explained that Google has removed two applications by a research team that “intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads.” The app was not malicious and did not have access to private user data.

    This was great for them to do, but you better believe that if Apple did this they would be slaughtered by bloggers.

  • Apple Bellevue Update 12:37p

    I have been in line since 5:30a looks like we are getting close probably another hour or two. Oh god.