Iphone 4 Arrives!

After months of leaked pictures, videos, and the alleged story of how it came about, the myth of the next-gen Iphone has finally been confirmed.  Apple has set the date to receive the new Iphone 4 on Thursday, June 24th, 2010, with pre-orders already taken place the previous week on June 15th.  Apple reported the Iphone 4 pre-orders exceeding 600,000  in just 24 hours.  With the anticipation building to receive this incredible device, let’s take a look at what separates it from the previous Iphone 3GS and other smartphones.

The Appearance

• Glass on the front and back of the Iphone 4- making it lighter than its predecessors and 24% thinner.  According to Apple, it will be the thinnest smartphone out.

• Front facing camera and an additional 5 mega pixel camera with LED flash on the back. (wondering why there are 2 cameras? Keep reading……..)

Features

• Multi-Tasking- Now Iphone 4 users can finally have multiple applications open at the same time, including Skype, Itunes, and any other application that utitlizes the phone’s GPS.

• HD recording- The Iphone 4 video camera now records HD video at 720p.

• Video Chat- (Remember the front facing camera?) With the new camera in front, it gives users the ability to actually video chat with others, either over Wifi or Iphone 4 user to Iphone 4 user.  (Great feature, but be careful who you decide to video chat with, you might see your girlfriend doing something you would not think!) lol

• Retina Display-meaning 4 TIMES as many pixels as the previous models. 960×640 display.

• More Time for Use- 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of Wifi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music and 300 hours of standby.

Pricing and Data Plans
If you are a current AT&T user and you are eligible to receive an upgrade in 2010, you are able to receive the discount pricing for the new Iphone 4, available in White and Black.  The 16GB version will run at $199, and the 32GB version will be $299.  Unfortunately, AT&T has now eliminated the Unlimited Data Plan (however, you are able to be grandfathered in if you currently have that plan) and now is offering two Data Plan options-DataPlus and DataPro.  DataPlus gives you 200MB of data/mo for $15 per month.  DataPro gives you 2GB’s of data/mo for $25 per month.
If you are not part of that 600,000 pre-orders to receive their Iphone 4 on June 24th, chances are, YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK…….for now.  AT&T has suspended all pre-orders until further notice due to the high demand, and if you are feeling very brave, your best chance to cop one is by camping out at your nearest AT&T retail store, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart.  For those that have better things to do, don’t worry, Apple is now taking pre-orders for the next shipment of Iphone 4’s that will hit stores July 14th.

*Apparently Apple has decided to ship them out early and most will receive theirs Wednesday, June 23rd!*

A helpful guide to shopping for HDTV

So you’re in the market for a new Tv? With all the advances in today’s home entertainment toys you’re probably pretty excited to make the jump from standard to Hi Definition if you haven’t already done so right? Well there’s a few things you should know before heading out to your nearest retailer and forking over that hard earned cash. We, here at urbancandyshop, thought we’d shed some light on the situation to those of you who might not be so “TECH SAVVY”.

( PROVIDER,PROVIDER, PROVIDER) just as they say in real estate, LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION the biggest factor in getting the most bang for your buck with a HD television is probably going to be based on your network TV provider. No matter what type of HD Television you decide to go with the first thing you’ll want to do is check with your cable network provider to find out just how much and just how good Hi def programming is in your area. It may come as a shock to you, but many cable providers HD signals are Average at best! What does this mean to you? Well no matter how much you spend on a top of the line high definition Television, if your HD signal sucks then so will the quality of the picture in most cases.Talk to your cable or satellite provider about what HD services and equiptment they have to offer.

(The connection) What kind of cables will you be connecting to your Hi Definition television? Believe it or not, when it comes to cables and components you get what you pay for! You’ll want to spend money on high quality HDMI cables to get the best possible picture quality. No cheap cables! Expect to spend at least fifty bucks or more on a set of good cables; trust me it’s very worth the investment for a great viewing experience!

(The Big Debate) LCD or Plasma.

Ok so without getting too technical lets look at some pro’s and cons of each:

Lcd

Pros: Cons:

Power Conservation Pale blacks

Lighter weight washed colors

Larger selection brands Usually more exspensive than plasma

Longer display life diminished viewing angles

Plasma

Pros: Cons:

Lower cost Less energy efficient

Deep blacks More prone to burn in

Rich vivid colors Gives off lots of heat

wide viewing angles shorter Display life

Ok. Those are just a few Pros and Cons of each type of TV. Without getting very techy I will say this to sum it all up, Plasma screens produce very high contrast and rich pictures with little to no motion blur and excellent picture in dim light settings. Another thing to take into consideration is that when displays are left out for extended periods of time they give off a lot of heat. Although Plasma Tvs are more prone to have “burn in”, that should not be a major concern. These days, manufactures have taken the proper steps to eliminate burn in from today’s plasma displays. On the other hand, LCD displays are lighter, have no burn-in susceptibility, great picture in bright settings, as where plasma lacks, and also they give off a lot less heat when on for extended periods of time. With an LCD you can expect slight motion blur and in most cases, less vivid color contrast than plasma displays. I know this is a lot to take in, but these are just the basics of what I feel every consumer should know before taking the step into this HD world out here. So weigh your options carefully and decide for yourself before you take the HD plunge!

here is  the run down
Xbox 360 250GB Console includes:

* Xbox 360 250GB S Console
* Xbox 360 250GB S Removable Hard Drive
* Xbox 360 Black Wireless Controller
* Xbox 360 Black Headset
* Xbox 360 Composite A/V cable (standard definition)
* One Month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership
* 1 year limited console warranty

Steve Jobs announced Apple’s highly anticipated tablet PC, the iPad, at an Apple special event held in San Francisco today.   The much rumored about gadget all Apple fanboys and girls alike have been raving about since last year will be released in March. The first batch of IPads will release as WiFi models and start @ just $499 and will be higher in price depending on storage space sizes. The next batch of iPads released will be the 3g version which will start at $629 and have data plans available from AT&T starting at 29.99 for unlimited usage and $14.99 a month for 250mb of data. Neither will require a contract which is a bonus for anyone who’s already locked in an iPhone data plan. Some disappointments are in the air and online about the much rumored gadget, with the lack of camera being one of the biggest upsets. Why would they overlook such an in-demand component of today’s technology? Even the iPod Nano has a camera!! As a technology geek myself,  I was hoping that this iPad would re-revolutionize multi touch UI. But once again, Apple failed to deliver and is offering the same multi touch UI that’s run on pre-existing iPhones. Another bummer for iFans is that we were hoping the device would run its own OS, or at the least Leopard, but again, Jobs and Apple failed to deliver! And the iPad will simply run Iphone OS. All in all, I can’t say that the device doesn’t offer some cool features in a touch tablet at an amazingly low price for such technology. But the big question is, does this device have what it takes to change the tablet PC world like the iPod changed the mp3 market, and the way iPhone changed the smart phone market? My guess would be that Apple is going to have to offer much more than an iPhone on steroids to catch the general public’s attention.
What do you think?

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