Apple TV

When digital entertainment came to computers in the form of the moving image, I kept wishing there was a way to watch it all in the lounge and on my TV. Whilst it was novel sitting on an office chair and staring at a 19" monitor, the lounge is where the experience belonged, but with the ability of having the media to hand and in one library.

Whilst the Apple TV isn't the first media streamer on the market, in my opinion its by far the most elegant. I've tried streaming movies and music from my iMac to my Sony PS3 and have looked into other manufacturer's systems, but for me, the Apple TV wins hands down.

One of its biggest strengths, also an initial weakness, is iTunes. Its a weakness because any media which you want to be streamed, or stored on the unit has to be iTunes friendly. This means that for both music and video, you need to make sure that you're using the correct file types and also correct codecs and settings.

This initial limitation actually works to your favour though when you realise how smooth, simple, elegant and solid the experience becomes. Everything just works.

The iTunes store, whilst in my opinion generally over-priced for films, is very easy and swift in use. Browsing the huge library is a piece of cake and renting or buying films is extremely straight forward. Hooked up to a 20Mb VirginMedia cable broadband, I can begin watching films in no time.

I went for the 160Gb version as I wanted to store a lot of content on the unit itself. This became invaluable when following an operation I spent a couple of weeks recuperating at my parents. I had my music and videos with me and to hand. The unit itself is so small (under 20cm x 20cm x 3cm) that transporting it is not an issue and with just an HDMI cable and a mains cable, its simple and quick to hook up.

A quick word on the remote control; its tiny! The designers definitely followed the "less is more" approach. However, even with its petite size and few buttons, it gives you full control over the Apple TV.

I have it hooked up to a Sony SDR 2400ES AV amplifier and it pumps out beautiful crisp  Dolby 5.1 digital audio. Married to its crystal clear 1080p full HD output, its a stunning performer. Viewing films on a 46" plasma is an absolute joy. I definitely recommend you give it a try. Genius.

iPhone 3G

Well, it was inevitable. After my appreciation for the way the iPod Touch works, it was only a matter of time before I gave in and got myself an iPhone 3G. After around a 30 minute process, I left the Apple Store with my shiny white 16Gb iPhone 3G.

I don't want to go over matters already explored in the iPod Touch articles here and here, but all of these naturally apply to the iPhone 3G.

With the roll out of MobileMe (daft name, great service), any individual can now have a fully synced range of computers and iPhones (and iPod Touches) where all your contacts and calendar entries, Safari bookmarks, along with email accounts are all identical, on all machines. Those working in corporate environments have had this for a while; the necessary thing being an Exchange server (with which the iPhone 3G is compatible). Now, with nothing more than an annual subscription to MobileMe, this service is open to individuals. There are other benefits too like an email address, web space and a virtual 20Gb hard drive (for backing up important documents, off-site).

In use, the iPhone is pure elegance. Everything's intuitive and like most things Apple, just works. After syncing with iTunes, all my email settings were copied over, contacts, calendars and bookmarks also followed suit. The only thing that I had to do manually was choose which music and presentation slideshows I wanted copied over, as the space on the unit is limited to 16Gb.

I'm still getting used to the keyboard, but its not too bad. The way the phone works in perfect harmony with its other apps is very neat. If you see a number on a web page, just hit it and the phone will ring it.

The GPS is quick, and very quick if WiFi is also turned on. It found my position accurately within 15 seconds of starting from cold. The inclusion of Google Maps is very handy and will serve navigating tiny streets in The City well, when away from my car and its Sat Nav.

I also really like the way it stores texts between you and individuals as conversations. No more trying to figure out what one word answers were about.

Safari works perfectly and having a 3G phone now means I'm not in search of hotspots.

With O2, all tariffs include unlimited UK data. Email and surf to your hearts content; you won't be paying a penny extra. You also get use of The Cloud and BT OpenZone hotspots thrown in the deal.

Call quality on the handset is superb. Even with around 3 bars reception, all the calls I made were crystal clear, both for me and the recipient.

Its early days, so I can't comment on how good O2's service is going to be. I just wish that the iPhone 3G was available on Vodafone. Now that Apple's mobile works more like traditional mobile manufacturers business models, I do hope that these exclusive deals will stop and the phone will be rolled out on other networks.

My only other wish at present is that battery technology catches up with the demand the phone makes. Hammering the phone with 3G and WiFi switched on, whilst playing music, games and other apps, making calls and sending texts, the battery got down to a quarter power in half a day. I realise this isn't typical day to day usage, but I would advise always having a car charger handy and never travelling without a charger (or at least the USB charging cable for attaching to a laptop).

Since last writing, I've found a few more apps which are keepers:

AP Mobile News Network - bit US based, but a good source of international news.

Fizz Weather - very accurate.

Wiki Me - Finds articles to do with your location.

Chopper - great little game!

Apple has produced an amazing product. Married to MobileMe, its untouched in the market place. This is even more astonishing when you realise that this is only the company's second phone!

UPDATE: Now that I've had the phone for a few days, I can comment properly on battery use. After the initial couple of days of constantly fiddling with the phone, things have settled down to me using the phone as I would normally. I've kept the 3G and WiFi on constantly and used it day to day to keep up with emails, surf the web, play music now and again and play the occasional game. I'm actually surprised that by the end of the day (around 11pm) I still have around a quarter power left in the battery. As I mentioned, part of this is the device being used as the tool it is, as novelty wears off and also because the battery's had a few charge cycles and begins to bed in.

My second comment is to do with MobileMe syncing. At one point my iCal entries (there were two) weren't being synced. The way I got this to work was switching off syncing on the iPhone itself (Settings/Mail, Contacts and Calendars/My .Mac Account and then slid the Calendars switch to off. Then press the home button). After a minute, I switched it back on and in a few seconds it synced everything up fully. This same trick should work with Mail, Contacts and Bookmarks.

Music To The Ears

I've always enjoyed music. I have a smallish vinyl collection, a respectable CD collection and a relatively descent music system. Over the years though, I now find myself listening to MP3s, either ripped from my CDs or bought from iTunes. I do this in the car, on my iPod or on the computer when editing.

I found that I rarely switched on my music system as it just seemed too much hassle to have to change records or CDs!

Things have changed though! Apple released a free bit of software for the iPhone and iPod Touch on their App Store called Remote. In a nutshell it lets your iPod Touch or iPhone connect to your iTunes music library and controls it fully. Its as if you were sat in front of your computer. This sounded great for anyone with Apple TV, but it wasn't until a good friend of mine (cheers Rene!) made the suggestion that I get an Airport Express that I began to realise how revolutionary this set up was.

I can now sit in the lounge where my music system is and using my iPod Touch, running Remote, fully control my iTunes music library which is on my iMac (and in the office), and have the music wirelessly streamed to my amplifier. No more getting up to change CDs!

Setting up is simplicity in itself. You basically plug a lead (3.5mm jack to x2 phono) into the Express and plug the unit into the mains. The other end of the lead plugs into an input on the amplifier. Then using Apple's Airport Utility software, you set up a connection with the Airport Express (from your Mac or PC). Lastly, you choose on iTunes where you want the music sent to (in this case, the Airport Express).

After a couple of minutes of setting up, get a photography book or some wine, sit on your couch and using Remote on your iPhone or iPod Touch, listen to anything you like! Absolutely superb!!