Monday June 18, 2007

- iPhone: Extended Battery Lifetime - Lionel - 17:06:08

Source : Yahoo

According to Newscom the iPhone battery lifetime has been substantially increased.




The iPhone will feature up to 8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback, and last but not least up to 250 hours of standby time.
As for other mobile phones, one will have to ensure that such claimed battery lifetimes will effectively translate into true value when ending up in end-user’s hands. The iPhone performs better than the iPod 5G for video playback, and is as good as the iPod nano for audio playback.
For sure, criticisms about purported short iPhone battery lifetime will have to find another angle to attack Apple-branded mobile phone.

[translation by Linathael]

- Hitachi 1TB 3.5" HD in a Mac Pro - Lionel - 10:23:32

Over the last week-end we have installed a Hitachi 1TB 3.5" HD in a MacPro



Installing this drive is of course not an issue, and once formatted the true storage capacity is 931GB.
we performed some reading and writing test on this drive from a RAD 0 composed of two Raptors 150 in order to ensure a fast and continuous data flaw rate.
The Hitachi 1TB performs well with up to 81MB/s in reading mode and 70MB/s in writing mode for large files.
We have also performed duplication of a large 4GB file, providing a test for sequential reading and writing mode, and the Hitachi 1TB HD scored 29MB/s to be compared to the 37MB/s obtained with the RADI 0 Raptor (so 2 drives).
We have also run xBench a couple of time and keep the best results for each HD:



Hereafter is the result of the same benchmarking obtained with the RAID 0 Raptor, and further below the original Western Digital 250GB HD.




Of course the RAID 0 remains the best, but its storage capacity is also much lower. The Hitachi 1TB confirms other analysis, while offering the largest storage capacity it is also providing top-notch performance level.
Its main problem remains its price, 429€ (VAT included from our partner Macway). Hitachi will have to improve production yield and rate to see the price of this 1TB HD to decrease, having a competitor releasing a similar product will most likely push Hitachi to speed up this process.


[translation by Linathael]

- iPhone Bluetooth Headphone - Lionel - 10:22:57

The FCC unveiled that the Apple-branded iPhone Bluetooth Headphone was registered and certified. Hereafter is a description of the product:



Despite the Apple logo, it resembles many BT headphones currently available from other manufacturers such a Motorola or Sony Ericsson.
It remains unknown if it will be part of the default package of an iPhone or if one will have to purchase it extra as an option. Knowing Apple, the BT headphone will probably be an option...

[translation by Linathael]

- Archos to Compete with the Apple TV - Lionel - 10:22:14

Source : Engadget

After Philips, Archos will launch on the market an Apple TV-like box.


Based on an 80 or 250GB HD, the Archos box will feature HDMI, VGA and RCA outputs; and will be able to record TV stream, a missing feature for the Apple TV.
There is no information available concerning the interface used in this box which should hit the shelves for fall; but looking at its remote control one can imagine that it will not be as user-friendly as the Apple TV GUI.
The Archos box will cost from 200 to 300 Euros, depending on the storage capacity. It seems that Archos does want apple to capture most of the market as it did for the mobile digital media player.

[translation by Linathael]

- Bryce 3D 5.5 for Free - Lionel - 10:20:47

Daz 3D offers to download for free the 3D modeling application Bryce in its version 5.5.
This is not the first time than this company offers the previous version as a free download to the Mac community, as Bryce 5 was also available for free last year.
Unlike the commercially available version 6.0, the previous version 5.5 is not coded in Universal Binaries, and Intel-based Mac will not be really competitive.
Upgrading from version 5.5 to version 6.0 will cost only US$19.95.

[translation by Linathael]

- Samsung and LED backlighted LCD TV - Lionel - 10:20:23

Samsung unveiled its new Full HD 70" LED backlighted LCD TV.



This TV features LED backlighting, providing a higher brightness while releasing less heat (usually a problem for such large LCD). But Samsung decided to push further LED technology to improve the TV performance. The LED can flash or be refreshed really quickly avoiding the ghost effect usually seen on large LCD panel TV when displaying a fast moving or action scene. Thanks to the LED technology, this TV probably set a new record for contrast: 500000:1. To reach such level, the LED located behind a black pixel is simply switched-off providing a deep black rendering, and increasing the contrast scale.
Not all those features can be adapted for notebook LCD panel, especially for improving contrast, as the LED used for backlighting LCD panel are not behind the panel, but on both side.

[translation by Linathael]

- First French Apple Shop: the FNAC Sent Invitation - Lionel - 10:19:29

The FNAC sent invitation to its members for the opening day of the first Apple Shop in France:

$

It confirms our previous information for June 18th.
A similar Apple Shop opened couple of weeks ago in Hamburg (Germany, thanks Mathis), while Munich is still supposed to be the place for the first Apple Store in Germany. It remains unclear if the Apple Shop will be the default concept used by Apple in Europe, or if Apple Stores and Apple Shop will be available in European countries. If you know about Apple Shops, other than the French and German ones, let us know.


[translation by xrissley]

- First Test of a 32GB SSD - Lionel - 10:18:39

Source : PC Inpact

The website Trustedreviews published the first test of a 32GN Samsung SSD, while comparing performance with a 250GB 2.5" HD and a 1TB 3.5" HD from Hitachi.
In summary, a SSD boots faster than a 2.5"HD thanks to its low access time, but can not compete with a 3.5" HD. In all other tests, the SSD can not compete with both plate-based HD models due to its low effective writing and reading speed.
If this is only the beginning of the era of flash memory-based solid state drive, and in the coming months/years, improvements should speed up performance to better compete with plate-based HDs.

[translation by Linathael]