Tomorrow Apple will be making an announcement regarding the iPhone 4.0 OS. There are many rumors running around the internet regarding what 4.0 will bring. I have to say, that I have been pretty happy with the 3.0 OS, so I am not too worried about that, but I am hoping that Apple will be announcing the new iPhone tomorrow. My iPhone is now 2 years old. It is the 3G model, and I bought it the day the 3G came out, but it is feeling old. A few weeks ago I upgraded my wife’s phone from a Motorola Razr to the newest iPhone 3GS. Playing around with that a little bit, I love the camera on it, and it just feels faster. I am hoping the new iPhone brings camera upgrades and speed improvements. Beyond that, I really don’t know what to expect. I know that they probably won’t release it until summer, but I really hope it is sooner than later. Tonight’s image is in honor of tomorrow’s announcement. It is actually a composite of two images. I made one image of the iPhone it self, and then one image of the screen. I couldn’t get both at the same time, so I had to combine them in Photoshop. I think the image tuned out kind of interesting.

Tags: 365, announcement, Apple, iPhone

Today I went for a little walk and came accross this kind if cool liking stand of reeds. The sky was pretty blue and the wind was blowing. I decided to grab a quick picture with my iPhone and process it using Chase Jarvis’s Best Camera App. I like the motion in the reeds because it was kind of windy, and I think it gives the image some movement and energy.

Tags: 365, Best Camera, iPhone, reeds

This is my first attempt to use my iPhone 3G as a camera. I have taken a few shots here and there, but nothing like this. I made this image this morning because the sunrise was beautiful, but I did not have my DSLR with me. I also have not gotten a good compact yet, but I have my iPhone. I edited the photo using Photoshop Mobile on my phone. I think it turned out decent, but there is a lot of room for improvement! Another interesting part of this is that I am blogging right from my iPhone as well using the WordPress App. We’ll see how this goes…

Tags: 365, iPhone, Photoshop Mobile, sunrise

My son was born this morning at 7:36! We are very excited and happy! Here are a couple of pics from my iPhone.

Tags: baby, iPhone, son

Today, while I was doing some scouting for a wedding that I am shooting next weekend, I thought I would really give the GPS Tracker App for my iPhone a test. The app works along side a web site called InstaMapper. What it does is set the iPhone to track your position using the same satellites that a “normal” GPS unit would use. The iPhone 3G has a GPS receiver built into it. This allows you to upload in real-time your exact position (well within the accuracy of the GPS unit, usually with in 50 to 200 feet) to the InstaMapper website. You may be asking yourself why in the heck anyone would want to do this. Well, the answer is this: I drove all over Green Bay today to try and find some cool places to shoot the couple next weekend. How in the heck can I expect to remember where I was? Well, one of the features of this solution is to be able to download all this data in a format that can then be added to the EXIF data in the photos I took today. Using this technology, I can open a link right in Lightroom that will bring me to a Google Map showing me pretty close to where I was when I took the picture. Then I can simply look back through my location phots and easily get the GPS coordinates and a map right back to that spot. The picture in this post was taken at a location I knew about, but if it had been some place new to me, I feel confident that I would be able to find it again to take more pictures.

There are some down falls to this app however. First, it can be the only application running, so I couldn’t listen to Pandroa and have this going at the same time. you could start the iPod and then turn this on. You also can get calls, but when you do, you have to turn it back on and you don’t get any data tracked while you are on the phone. Also, having the GPS running and the data being constantly uploaded eats the battery pretty quick. I kept mine charging in the car while driving, and took it out with me while walking and I had no problems with battery life though.

For what this app does, it is an amazing addition to the photographers tool bag! Best of all, it is FREE so it doesn’t hurt to try it out!

Tags: GPS, InstaMapper, iPhone, Photography

I have finally gotten my new 3G iPhone and have been using it for a few days now. It is an amazing little gadget. Quite honestly it is like having a little computer in my pocket, that I can use to call people. Let me tell you the things I like about it so far.

I love the interface. It is very intuitive to use and easy to navigate. Having a new MacBook Pro with the gesture enabled touch pad, I was somewhat used to the interface already. Not having an iPhone previously may have hindered me in accomplishing some tasks more quickly, but all in all, I really think most people could pick this phone up and use it with little problem.

The design of the phone itself is great. It is sleek, sexy, and slim. Again, I didn’t have the first generation of the iPhone, so I can’t really compare it, but I wouldn’t say that the back feels plastic. The phone feels very comfortable in my hand while talking or using the applications. I know some people have complained about how wide it is to hold and use as a phone, but I have no issue, and my hands are relatively small.

The Wi-Fi is very nice. Surfing is very fast when connected to my wireless router. Again, like having a small computer in my hand.

The App Store is outstanding! The app store is a native application right on the phone, also. You can install applications right from the phone. No need to download into iTunes and then sync the phone to get the app. This is a great feature for those that want to get new apps, but may not sync their phone to iTunes too often. The variety of applications for the iPhone is astounding, and so far it seems like most of them are well thought out and fit a need. In fact, I find myself hardly using the Safari browser on the phone, just because there is an app to do most things I would do within the browser. This is a great feature, since it is almost like bookmarking a website without having to go there.

The GPS that was added seems useful. Many of the apps have a location facet to them that allow you to either broadcast your location or find things near your location, including other iPhone users. The best part of this is that they do ask you before acquiring and using your location. This is great for people that would prefer not to let the world know where they live. While there are no turn by turn directions like some other phones, I find I don’t really need it. I have a GPS unit in my car, and the Google Maps application is good enough for me.

I really like the keyboard. While everyone else I hear says that they hate it, I find it works well for me. I have already gotten pretty used to it. While I probably won’t be writing blog posts of this length on it, I find that is is more than enough for a short email or Twitter post. Since that is all I really need to type, it works fine for me.

Now lets talk about the things I don’t like about the new iPhone.

While the phone does support 3G, it is not available where I live, and doesn’t appear to be coming any time soon. Because of this I have turned off the 3G radio, which does improve my battery life.

While we are on the subject of battery life, it isn’t great. I do have the 3G radio off, as well as bluetooth, and wi-fi unless I am near a wi-fi hotspot. This has given me a good full days worth of charge while using it moderately during the day, but if I used it more, I don’t think it would last all day. I have not really used it as an iPod since I have an 80gb video iPod also. I do need to charge the phone every night to maintain use each day. I can see where people that use it more than I would need to charge half way through the day to get a full days use out of it.

There is no cut and paste. I know everyone complains about that, so I had to add it here.

Overall, I can easily say that this is the best cell phone/smartphone/pda/mini-computer that I have owned. I stepped up from a Palm Treo 650 on Sprint to get the iPhone, and I must say that I am happy that I have. It is a great device, and does exactly what I wanted it to do.

Look for future posts to talk about the applications that I have tried out and to find out which ones I love and which I hate!

Tags: iPhone, review

So there is a new app for the iPhone that allows you to blog to WordPress. I am using it right now! I wanted to let you know that I will be doing a full review of the iPhone very soon as well as reviewing the apps. Stay tuned for more.

Tags: iPhone

Yesterday, July 11th was the release of the iPhone 3G. I had decided that we were going to switch from Sprint to AT&T, not just for the iPhone, but because I loath Sprint. The cell coverage for sprint is OK, it is the customer service is just terrible. Everytime I have to deal with them (which is monthly thanks to them adding phantom charges to my account), it results in big headaches for me and nothing gets fixed. So the new iPhone was a great excuse to dump Sprint and head back to AT&T.

I wasn’t so sure that there would be a whole lot of people that wanted the iPhone. I was listening to Leo Laporte on TwitLive doing his around the world internet coverage. In countries like the UK, where I thought the iPhone would be big, there were only 6 to 10 people in line. So, I went around 8:30 to my AT&T store. I was shocked that there were a LOT fo people in line waiting. I didn’t want to deal with that, so I turned around and went home. I went back about 1:30 and there were no lines left. There were also no iPhones left. AT&T was taking orders for them so I order the 8gb iPhone. I wanted the 16gb version, but my wife wanted to save some money. So they tell me it will be 7 to 10 days before they get the phones, but last year they only took a couple of days, so they are hoping phones will start showing up on Tuesday.

Tags: AT&T, iPhone, Sprint