Tag Archives: opinion
Opinion: TradeMe’s iPhone usage stats are encouraging, but it’s time for more features
Chris Keall over at the National Business Review has posted some stats today that were given to him by TradeMe and reveal just how popular the iPhone is in New Zealand and how it continues to grow and grow. The stats show that traffic via mobile devices now accounts for just over 1% of all TradeMe sessions and while that may not sound like a lot on the face of it, the iPhone app alone accounts for over a million sessions per month and has been downloaded from the App Store in excess of 100,000 times. But how can Fairfax leverage the platform to push mobile usage even further? We think we know.…
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Posted in All, iPhone, iPod touch, Other News
Was the New Zealand iPad 2 launch a success? A spectator’s point of view.
You’ve already heard from Dan and his iPad 2 launch-day experience, so now I thought I’d give you my opinion as an iPad 2-abstainer who got to observe the whole thing from the comfort of iPhonewzealand Towers.
iOS device launches in New Zealand are always far more cloak-and-dagger, and usually far more disappointing than they really need to be. In other countries, launch retailers are usually well publicised, have good amounts of stock, and queuing fans are made to feel welcome and assured that they’re not wasting their time. So why is it so different here, and how did the iPad 2 launch compare to past experiences?…
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Posted in All, iPad, Other News
iPad as sole means of mobile communication: is it possible?
A question I get asked a lot and I’m sure some of you will have been asked, too, is “why do you need an iPhone and an iPad?” The honest answer (although rarely admitted) is you don’t need both… you just want them both.
Recently I have been considering saying goodbye to my iPhone 4 and once released later this year using a 64gb WiFi 3G iPad 2 as my sole means of communication. No this is not an early April fools’ and yes, you did read that correctly: goodbye, iPhone 4.
I realise the stage I have chosen to propose ditching the iPhone 4 on could have been better. Proposing this to iPhone enthusiasts on an iPhone blog isn’t going to be an easy sell but before you judge me and shout blasphemy carry on reading to find out why.
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Do you really need a voice plan? Answer: no
If you’re using an iPhone in New Zealand, you probably have a voice plan that you pay your carrier a pretty sum for every month. Despite the ‘free’ minute allocation they include, the average price per minute still makes voice calling a costly exercise. The iPhone, however, with it’s fast data speeds and ability to install third party apps, opens up options that can dramatically reduce the price of calling. If you’ve not looked into this, read on and your next phone call might well be to your carrier to have your voice plan cancelled. …
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Posted in 2degrees, All, Digital Island, iPad, iPhone, Telecom XT, Vodafone
iOS needs cloud storage support at OS level
The iPhone has come a long way since iPhone OS 1.0. It has developed from a bare-bones clean slate of a ‘feature phone’ to the sophisticated smart-phone market leader that we know and love in iOS 4.2.1. In terms of everyday usage, there is actually very little that you might have once done on a desktop or laptop PC that you can’t now do on an iPhone or iPad in a just-as-capable but far more enjoyable way. But the one thing that has felt like an unaddressed, gaping hole in the whole eco-system is a file system. The answer lies in cloud storage, and here’s how it should work.…
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Posted in All, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Other News
iPhone 4′s finally arrive: Now we want your thoughts!
So the first wave of iPhone 4′s are finally safely where they belong: in kiwi pockets! You’ve read what we think of the latest version of Apple’s game-changer in our early first-look and in our in-depth hands-on, but this site isn’t all about us and now we want to know what you think of your new purchases! Hit the comments and give us your first impressions, or if you’ve had yours for a while give us your seasoned opinions. Insert or link-to pics and use links to videos you’ve made on YouTube if you like — we really want to know what you think.
And now that your phones are here, we hope you’ll all stick around and carry on reading our news, reviews and tips, so we’d really like to know what you want to see on the site from here on in. What rocks your world: app reviews? News? Rumours? Everything?! Don’t be shy — hit the comments!…
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Posted in All, iPhone, Other News
Doing the maths: Calculating the price of the iPhone 4 for New Zealand
There’s been a lot of speculation about how much the iPhone 4 might cost in New Zealand: will it be the more, the same, or less than previous models? Well, we’ve been doing some maths and we reckon we know where the iPhone 4 is going to sit.…
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Posted in All, iPhone, Other News
Opinion: Multitasking…. Love it or hate it?
Now that iOS 4 is out and public, apps that have been re-coded to enable multitasking are becoming available. But what do we think of the the implementation after using a couple of the apps? Hit the read more to see my thoughts and give us yours in the comments.…
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Posted in All, iPhone, iPod touch, Other News
Hands on with iOS 4: Thoughts, one week on
So it’s been a week since I installed the iOS 4 GM (‘Gold Master’) on my iPhone 3GS and I thought I’d share some of the highlights and lowlights that the next major update to the iPhone software brings to the plate. There’s a lot to like, but there’s also a lot to get used to. Read on!…
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Posted in All, iPhone, Other News
Opinion: What do iPad apps mean for the future of ‘traditional’ computing?
Looking through the first wave of iPad app screenshots that have been hitting the likes of TUAW and Gizmodo over the last few days got me to thinking: is the way we connect to and view online information on the verge of a paradigm shift? Is the very concept of viewing the internet through a web browser an outdated idea that is about to go the way of the dinosaur? Maybe the signs are not blindingly obvious at this point in time, but make no mistake: it is happening and it’s happening before our very eyes. Perhaps unwittingly, Apple has sparked a revolution in the way that we view and consume online media with the launch and success of the iPhone OS and the respective devices it encompasses, and the iPad could be the protagonist of even bigger change.…
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Posted in All, Other News
