I like updates.  This one is another killer update.  While it downloads, let me share some details… 

iPhone 2.2 Features
Google Maps Upgrade
   Google Street View (Catching up to the G1)
   Public Transit + Walking Directions
   Display Address of Dropped Pins (ookay)
   Share Location Via Email (maybe useful, maybe)
Podcast Downloading on iPhone
   Wifi AND Cell Network, FTW
Turn Auto-Spelling Correct On/Off
   Finally!
Safari Stability Improvements
   Google Search Bar?  We Had that.  1 Tap Away.
Email Enhancements
   Improved HTML support (landscape mode)
   Improved POP + Exchange Support
   NO SEARCH YET.  Damn the Man.
Call Stability
   Decrease in dropped and failed calls
Visual Voice Mail
   Improvement in Quality (Audio wise or connectivity?)
Home Screen Button
   Now returns you to first page of home screen

Wow.  Now thats a lot of decent updates.  

I’m 2/3 of the way done downloading this monster (weighs in at 246.4 MB).  I’ll update (of course) as soon as i get it installed and get to play around with some of the new features.  

Its almost time for my walk around (Street View) London.   

For more Info see….. 

Apple’s iPhone Software Update Site

Check back here later today for a hands on first look.
 

Oh man Oh Man Oh Man Oh Man.  

Tomorrow.  

Blackberry Storm?  

Yea.  Thats Right.  

Now, I’m an iPhone user.  I will not be getting the Storm (tear).  But heres what I’ve gathered so far.  

Blackberry Storm: The Facts

Verizon Only (Boooooooo)

On Screen Keyboard with 3 Choices
   Phone is Vertical – SureType (2 Keys Per Virtual Button, Predictive)
   Phone is Horizontal – Full QUERTY
   Also, Multi Touch?  T9 Maybe? (stated on Blackberry’s website w/ no example)

SurePress (“”) Touch Screen 
   Spring Loaded Touch Screen.  Not Haptic.  Not Capacitive.

Quad Band (FTW)
   Quad Band phone and also, TAKES A SIM!  first for Verizon.

Why It Won’t De-Throne The iPhone

While there is a Leaked App Store, no SDK is out yet.  Leaving RIM as the only publisher of apps for the phone.  No Offense, but outside of Brick Breaker, RIM Fails at Apps.

Its on Verizon only at the moment.  Enough Said.  (One to many bad experiences here)

A Not so Sexy as the iPhone Complex.  Just as thick as a bold.  Looks like a brick.  No one likes a brick.

While i am excited to see competition to drive forward the marketplace of Mobile Computing (not mobile phones), I’m not sure how readily accepted the Storm will be.  

Die hard Crackberry-ites will definately jump on ship.

Corps. will hold off.  Its not just for email, it does so much more.  Which may equal less productivity.  

SureType Keyboard in Vertical Mode?  Are you Kidding ME!?!?

And…. most of all… don’t forget.

 It looks like a Brick.  (I had to say it again).

There may be a valid reason for Obama has been asked to put down the Blackberry (by his advisors).  Everything he does is in the public domain.  Must be available.  To everyone (a few Ministry songs come to mind).  

The minor details that people seem to be missing are…

a) its not only outgoing messages, we’ll also have access to incomming
b) in response to a)… do i really want to see all that spam?  i guarantee even our federal government doesn’t have a perfect spam filter
c) is there anything really to hide?  have his aide’s filter out anything “questionable” that one wouldn’t want in the records (ex’s emails, mehaps?).  

Obama is permantently attached to his blackberry.  This has been seen all through his campaign.  This is AWSOME.  A president that knows not only what the internet IS, but how to USE IT!  

Why take it away?  Can’t our government give him a nice government filtered email address that is unknown by his old college drinking buddies/exs and filter any purposly embarassing/alienating emails? 

I Vote NO on hanging up the blackberry.

Denon now sells a $499 Dollar Ethernet Cable… for Audio!?!?!?!?!?!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  First person who buys this should also get a complimentary *insert random demeaning sexual act here* from the salesman…

So in the mail yesterday came something… fabulous. The Netflix player made by Roku….

for anyone who doesn’t know what this nifty little things is, the Roku Netflix Player lets you watch anything netflix has in their “instant” catalogs, on your TV!  In “HD”.  And use it like a DVR to pick what from your que you want to watch!

its officially out of the box and hooked up… working… had a few little issues, but roku’s tech support sorted it (almost by pure luck).

Complete personal setup walkthrough/review beyond…

Physical Setup: Setting up the Roku Netflix Player was pretty much as easy as any other dvd/blueray/game system. pick your video ports… plug them in. pick your preferred audio… plug in. plug in power. it boots up.

Player Setup: Once the Roku Netflix Player goes through its book sequence you come to a pretty simple set of menus… the not so simple part is issues with routers, ect…

Connected the player to my wireless network (i know, i know, faster connection/better image quality w/ wired… i did indeed make a long enough ethernet cable to reach the player shortly after setting it up). I have a brand spaking new (as in 3 days new) Airport. 802.11b/g/n. Apple is notorious for blocking everything non-apple from their routers… so i had to go in and open up some mac addresses….

Opening up the mac addresses was easy enough. The player even told me on the screen what addresses to open up. Did that. Still did not connect!

After some time on the phone w/ Roku’s support, the technician only had one idea… and it was a long shot. To unplug the Roku Netflix Player and plug it back in, letting it boot fully. Then, unplug the device and let it boot up again… Then try connecting to my wi-fi. Oddly enough, it worked. Connected, wham, bam, done.

Usage: If you’ve heard anything about the Roku Netflix Player, its probably that you have to set up your Netflix “instant que” via a web browser… then watch the content on the player. As an idea, it sounds quite annoying… in reality, its really not that bad.

You set up your instant que, but can add as many whatevers as you like… i’ve had up to 20 dvds que’d so far, and all has been good.

You then walk over to your Roku Netflix Player and all of your que’d items are there. You can watch any of them, leave them there or remove them after viewing! Not to shabby… if i have an instant urge to watch something thats not in my que, its kind of annoying… but otherwise, as you can begin to see, the Roku Netflix Player winds up working just like a DVR! nice.

Quality: Now, i live in the middle of nowhere. Almost literally. Mile long driveway, newish construction… DSL :-/ Even with DSL i’m getting what they call “Basic” quality video… about on par with online streaming… and/or VHS. I imagine with even the most basic Cable internet, you’d get DVD quality. Hell, i can’t get a download over 70kbps here. Ever.

Okay, well that raps up my first impressions of the Roku Netflix Player… all things considered, i’d have to give the Roku Netflix Player a rating of…… KIck Ass. Hell, its a DVR except i don’t have to record anything!

Given, netflix has a limited instant selection as of now… but i have a feeling it’ll grow quite quickly with this new device on the shelves.

For more info see: The Netflix Player by Roku