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Monday, 26 May 2008

I did something for the first time the other day. I bought a Mac.

"Wow!"

That's the response Microsoft would rather you have about Vista, but if the recent calls to extend XP are anything to go by they shouldn't hold their breath.

I can safely say I'm in the wow-zone with Apple though -- shock and awe guaranteed

It began with an impulse purchase last Thursday -- I'd been eyeing up an iPhone and decided to sign myself up. It turns out you buy the phone (in a rather diddy box) and take it home to complete the activation. No normal in-store sign-ups.

Activation requires downloading iTunes (which requires downloading Quicktime). I'm not a big Quicktime fan as it installs into the sidebar and the browser plugin is extremely slow to load.

Nevertheless I plodded ahead and a little while later I had installed iTunes and activated the iPhone.

What a beast. Truly the Internet in your pocket! One of my favourite features is the Safari browser, it does an excellent job of rendering web pages.

They're too small to read zoomed out but the multi-touch screen does an excellent job of allowing the user to zoom into areas of interest. Its possible to navigate a web-page just as it appears rendered on the PC. Using the Internet on any other mobile device is like having one hand tied behind your back. Using the Internet on the iPhone is like having a Mac in your pocket.

There are many other neat features inside the iPhone's curvy exterior. Too many too list here. But one of my other favourites is the ability to write 3rd party applications.

Apple have released an iPhone SDK allowing 3rd party developers to release iPhone applications. Unfortunately it only runs on the Mac. I was so impressed with the iPhone I decided to take the plunge and bought a MacBook too. Wow.

I'm hoping with the laptop at my side I can blog a little more. Bye for now. I'm off to investigate iSith.