Snow Leopard Review

The hotly anticipated Operating System dubbed Snow Leopard has finally hit shelves for Mac consumers across the globe. With it’s competitor Windows 7 sitting right behind it, how does the new OS X hold up?

First of all let’s layout the specs of the two machines we have tested Snow Leopard with.

Machine 1
Macbook – Aluminium Model
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 RAM
Nvidia GeForce 9400m

Machine 2
iMac
2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR2 RAM
Standard Intel Graphics

Installation is a breeze, simply pop in the disc, hit the install and away you go. No need to launch direct from the disc, Snow Leopard installs like an update rather than a clean installation. This is good in one respect, bad in others. For those who aren’t into the nitty gritty of their technology it’s a welcome prospect, feeling more like a system update than the daunting task of changing over to a new operating system. For the technology savvy the lack of ability to start a fresh is disappointing. When getting a new OS it’s always nice to start clean and fresh so you can put the new beast to the test. Snow Leopard simply doesn’t offer this feature, and while it’s not a deal breaker, it certainly is a feature that many will be sorely miss.

Installation time on the Macbook clocked in at a smooth 48 minutes, add an extra 5 minutes for the machine to index. For the record the Macbook had recently been formatted and didn’t have any photos, music or movies, just a bunch of documents and some work applications. The iMac on the other hand has been running for twelve months without a format. The iMac also has 85gb of music, thousands of photos, documents and a number of applications. The installation on this machine took 1 Hour and 25 minutes, with a further 15 minutes for indexing. Whether this was to do with the amount of data on the machine, or it’s inferior CPU is yet to be determined. Regardless the install time is rather standard and isn’t excruciatingly long. There in no user input after the installer starts so you can set it off and go out of the room and do something else which is a bonus.
Immediately after the indexing completed you can really notice a great speed boost in browsing your Mac. The dock is a lot smoother, stacks don’t take long to open up and are now scrollable, and launching applications is a lot quicker. This is due to Snow Leopard running everything in 64bit Architecture. It is simply amazing that a new operating system offers a speed boost, regardless of your machine specs.

Browsing through Finder is now more refined, and now viewing documents in the Cover Flow view is more stable, reliable and useful. Scrolling through documents but not sure the one you have selected is the one you are searching for? Simply hit the space bar key and you will be able to scroll through a real time preview of the document. It’s a handy feature for those who have their documents folder chocker-block full.

You may be surprised to see your hard-drive space suddenly increase. Apple claim that installing Snow Leopard will give you back approximately 7GB of hard drive space due to it’s smaller footprint. On the Macbook system we were give back 10GB and the iMac gave us back a whopping 12GB. For those of you running low on space, those seven or so gigabytes might help you out just that little bit.
Another huge feature set of the Snow Leopard OS is the complete make over of the Quicktime system. With a new intuitive interface, and the ability to import movies directly into Quicktime and export to Youtube, Quicktime has come a long way. The interface is clean, easy to use, and for many will now replace the freeware VLC player used by many.

So just how much of a difference will 64Bit Architecture make to your Mac experience? Going from the Apple website you are looking at 1.3x faster performance on Quicktime Player Launch, 1.5x for Safari JavaScript and 1.2x for opening a large PDF Document. From all out tests, applications certainly open faster, scrolling through finder is smooth, fast and responsive, and everything just feels to be so much faster.

The big selling point for corporate users is now Apple’s Mail will completely interface with Microsoft Exchange 2007 environments. Office users in a Microsoft Environment will now have no trouble whatsoever accessing their mail, contacts or calendar appointments.

All these features aside Leopard users aren’t going to notice a huge upgrade in the way of cosmetics or functionality when upgrading to Snow Leopard. Many of the conventions introduced in Leopard back in 2007 have just been more refined this time around.

In that respect this really feels like more of an update rather than a new Operating System. Cosmetically it’s no different to Leopard, but for those of you who get down under the hood of you mac experience, you will notice a quantum leap with the 64bit architecture, Open CL and many of the new features.

The Final Verdict
Simply put Snow Leopard is a fantastic package that takes the technical side of OS X to the next level. Unless you are down with the mechanics of you Mac though, the lack of cosmetic upgrades will make you feel like this was more of a system update rather than a new Operating System. It may not be as revolutionary as Leopard was in 2007, or the upcoming Windows 7 for PC, but it certainly will keep Mac users happy for the next few years.

Overall
9/10

iPhone 3Gs: Worth The Upgrade?

For those of you who don’t already have an iPhone 3G the choice is simple, go for the 3Gs. You will be signing up to a 24 month contact, so it’s worth getting the best that is available at the time. Yet for so many early adopters across Australia (or the globe for that matter) many are wondering whether to pay out their contract and upgrade to the 3Gs.

WAKE UP!First of all you will be left to pay out 12 months worth of phone contract and then turn around and sign back up for another 24 months for a phone that is marginally better. Let’s get the run-down on the features….

Better Camera – Now includes video
A compass
Up to 2 x Better Performance in some Apps
Voice Dialing features
Longer Battery Life

Wow such compelling reasons to upgrade! How often do you sit with your current 3G iPhone and think to yourself “fuck, I wish I could read my mail NOW not two seconds from now”. While the video features and autofocus camera would be nice, it’s not as if you should be using your iPhone for pivotal family snaps, and voice dialing is nice but not a feature that is necessary.

Extended battery life is a bonus, but it’s not going to warrant shelling out all that cash.

Just hold your horses for another 12 months, then we should see another new iPhone hit the market, one that feels like a brand new device, not just iPhone 3G 1.5

iPhone App Round-Up

Well I’ve had my iPhone 3G since launch day here in Australia and in those few months the app store has really picked up with some useful applications. Problem is with so many bogus apps out there it’s hard to know what’s worth the cash and what isn’t, so here I’ve listed some apps that are functional and worth checking out!

First up is productive app called “Air Sharing” by Avatron Software. This app allows you to share documents of all kinds, word, excel, pages, PDF an many more from your PC, Mac or Linux machine to your iPhone. You can take your important docs with you and access them when you need them. Get in quick as Avatron are offering it as a Free Download for the first 2 weeks!

Facebook is the new social networking giant, and with an all new iPhone app it’s easy to stay in touch with friends on the go. Change profile details, post photos directly from your iPhone and write on walls with this free, easy to use app

While Myspace isn’t the cool thing anymore enough people still use it to make the team create a first class iPhone app. In my opinion a nicer app than Facebook and it’s free!

Tap Tap Revenge is my favourite iPhone game. Basically it’s like guitar hero for the iPhone, online leaderboards, downloadable tracks and a classy interface makes this a must have app, and it’s free!

Palringo is hands down the best iPhone IM client out there, supporting nearly all providers, and sporting great interface and features this is a must have app for messengers on the go, and it’s free!

And last but not least my favourite app Remote. This app allows you to control you iTunes on your computer by using your iPhone, eating dinner in one room and a song comes on that you simply cannot stand? Just change it using remote without even leaving the table!

So my friends start downloading and if you know of any other good apps please let me know so I can check them out!

**Blog posted using WordPress blogging tool for iPhone**

TiVo Lands in Aus

11 years ago a little device was launched in the US called TiVo. It apparently revolutionised Television viewing for the whole country. I had often heard of the device as it is constantly mentioned in TV shows and the like, and when it was announced last year that TiVo was coming to Australia is was skeptical.

Unlike the USA where they have a large number of competitive networks, we are fairly limited here in Australia. The TiVo unit does NOT hook up to an Austar/Foxtel service to clarify that straight off the bat. I’ve been using my TiVo for the past three weeks, and I must say all my fears have been thrown out the window, and the device has opened my eyes to a wide selection of great viewing.

For those who aren’t familiar with WHAT TiVo is all about let me fill you in. Basically it’s a VCR for the new ages. Featuring 160gb of storage, through the use of an Electronic Program Guide that is accurate, you can tell the device to record shows for you. The TiVo has 2 HD Tuners, so this means you can record 2 shows, and you can be watching a third recording while this is happening! 

A simple and intuitive user interface, I had my partner up and running in minutes, and soon I found my hard drive filled with “So you think you can dance” and “Australia’s Next Top Model”. With a simple rating system of Thumbs up or Thumbs Down the TiVo adapts to your viewing. If you for instance give three thumbs up to Oprah, the TiVo will record shows for you that based on your ratings, it thinks you might like. This is a nifty feature as it recorded a bunch of shows I never would normally watch, and I enjoyed most of them.

Another cool feature is the “Season Pass” which allows you to tell the unit to record every episode of a TV series for instance. When in this mode you can also setup the unit to record based on inputs, I have told my TiVo to record anything to do with Soccer, so whenever something Soccer related comes on TV it will record it for me.

TiVo is out now, priced at $699 and available at Harvey Norman stores. It is great value for money, a simple and easy to use interface, allowing you to record you favourite shows, pause live TV, and when the update comes out next year we could be seeing a TV revolution in Australia

More Touchscreen Madness

These are two new handests that were showcased at the CTIA Tradeshow from LG and Samsung, and they continue to add to the large number of touchscreen devices that seem to be coming left right and centre after the release of the successful Iphone.

Samsung’s device, Instinct, is a 3g phone, 12mm  thin and sports some of the features that made the Iphone so successful, touchscreen interface, visual voicemail and throws in TWO batteries, each lasting for 5.75 hours of talk time. The Instinct also has on-board GPS, stereo Bluetooth and a 2 megapixel caemra.

LG are talking up their newest device the Vu, which follows on from the large success of the Viewty and Prada releases. The Vu is one of the first phones to support the live mobile TV service from AT&T and mobile TV technology MediaFlo

The Vu also features a 2 megapixel camera, 3G network support and has similar features as it’s previous touchscreen devices

No news on release dates

Garmin Nuvifone Anyone?

Well it seems that the Iphone has set a trend with a number of touch screen devices beeing displayed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this last week.

Garmin have displayed their Nuvifone at the event, which was first showcased in New York a couple of weeks ago, and due to the touch screen nature has fans buzzing and making comparisons with the Apple Iphone.

While not as asthetically appealing as the Iphone, and it’s touch interface lacking that flash that has become so loved already with the Iphone, it will be interesting to see how this little beast performs when it comes out later this year.

Leopard 10.5.2

The latest update for Apple’s newest Operating System Leopard has hit the web today, upgrading it to 10.5.2

A combo update that includes some security patches is 343MBs and can be downloaded immediately. The first update to Leopard, version 10.5.1, was released in November 2007

Apple has fixed some issues with Time Machine, a handy backup tool that is available in the new OS, and apparently has increased stabillity in Finder. Time Machine now supports a much broader spectrum of external hard drives, although still is not available to backup over the network UNLESS you are using an Apple Time Capsual. 

Sony Ericsson Break Into Touch Market?

Reports from the GSMA World Congress have been touting that Sony Ericsson are releasing a new line, the G series which will be Symbian Based, Touch Screen phones.

Two models have been announced, the G700 which is entry level and the G900 which is geared towards a photo happy crowd. The G900 is reported to have a 5 mega-pixel camera, with red eye reduction and a flash. One cool feature is that when using the touch screen in camera mode, you can actually manipulate the camera’s focal point, which does sound promising if you are into mobile photography

Both are candy bar phones, but one would have to think is this all because of the Iphone?

Blu-Ray To Win The War? Part 3

Seems to be that all my posts of late have been to do with the HD Format war, and yet again another blow to the HD-DVD camp with rumours that Paramount are also leaving the format, right after Warner Bros jumped off the now sinking ship and got on the Blu-Ray wagon

But it seems these could be much more than just forum speculative rumours, word has it that Paramount actually had a clause to get out of the exclusive format contract, which involved if major studios (like Warner Bros) jumped ship, that they could have the chance to do the same. 

If this is true, surely New Line would follow leaving the HD-DVD format officially dead

IF you got a HD-DVD player for Christmas, I’d be trying to take it back…….now 

Blu-Ray To Win The War? Part 2

Quite hillarious how a few days after I write my piece on Blu-Ray winning the HD War, that Warner Bros announce moving across to Blu Ray exclusive, and HD-DVD cancelling their CES Conference! This is definately a HUGE blow to the format, and sure signals the end of HD-DVD in 2008

With only two studios backing HD-DVD exclusively (Universal and Paramount) I think we will see them jump from this sinking ship early this year

So perhaps a Blu-Ray Xbox in the future is not such an impossible dream after all