Yaayy… Kind Of… Update: Yaayy!
The day the new Macbook Pros were released, by the time I woke up, the shipping time for the 15“ Retina Pro had already expanded to 2-3 weeks for new orders. I ordered on June 12, so today was the...
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iPhone 4: Apple’s Vista?
Exactly two years ago, a Microsoft executive claimed that Apple’s problems with the iPhone 4′s antenna issues would sink the iPhone, making it into “Apple’s Vista.” “It looks like the iPhone 4 might be...
View ArticleNFC and the iPhone 5 in General
Apple VP Phil Schiller on why the iPhone 5 doesn’t have NFC built in: It’s not clear that NFC is the solution to any current problem, Schiller said. “Passbook does the kinds of things customers need...
View ArticleThe Difference Between K1 and K2
The iPhone is being criticized for not being mind-blowing; Timothy Lee of Forbes gives the rundown: It has a faster processor, a bigger and brighter screen, supports LTE networking, and is thinner than...
View ArticleSoftBank and the iPhone 5
So, I reserved an iPhone 5, but I may pull back at the last moment. One issue: they are upping the data plan fees for the LTE network, from about 4500 yen a month to about 5500 yen a month. Another...
View ArticleSoftBank Slowly Releases Details
One detail: they will (finally) allow tethering. Not immediately, but from Jan. 15 of next year. And it’ll cost an extra $6 per month, or thereabouts. And there will be a 7 GB limit. The first two...
View ArticleApple Maps
Apple is getting very bad press for its new Maps app, which is understandable due to a transition from an old technology to a new one, and from a mature database to an untested one. It was probably not...
View ArticleiPhone 5
I got the iPhone 5 yesterday. The deal with SoftBank worked out; they had a plan where Sachi could actually keep her data plan at a bit less than half price. It involved her using my old iPhone 4 and...
View ArticleApple Maps, Ctd.
I tried Apple Maps a few times for turn-by-turn directions. Didn’t work out too well. When I tried it in my car, it suggested a route I knew was not the best one. My car’s GPS makes the same...
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Samsung Galaxy S III and the iPhone 5
The Samsung Galaxy S III is currently at the #2 spot in smartphone sales in Japan, with the new iPhone 5 in the #1 spot. Admittedly, the iPhone 5 just came out, while the S III has been out since May....
View ArticleThe iPhone and Japan
A few days before Apple officially announced the first release of the iPhone in Japan, I wrote on whether or not it would be popular here. The popular belief was that the iPhone would flop, because of...
View ArticleNew Cell Phone
Got a giggle from reading a 10-year-old blog post about how I got a new cell phone. I wrote about the “feature-rich” phones back then (relative to U.S. phones at least), and mentioned someone taking...
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iPhone Sales in Japan
Wow. In the week before the new iPhones come out (9/9 to 9/15), the iPhone 5 still dominates, taking the #1 and #2 positions (Softbank and Au 16 GB versions), as well as the 7th and 10th spots (32 GB...
View ArticleiPhone Fingerprint ID Uselessly Hacked
A German site is claiming they have successfully defeated Apple’s Touch ID technology with “materials that can be found in almost every household.” OK, let’s see what they require: A clean original...
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Har
As I predicted, BCN’s practice of fragmenting iPhone models to diminish their top-rank standing has, as I predicted, rather spectacularly backfired. As you can see from the graphic at right, the iPhone...
View ArticleiPhone in Japan
This is kind of crazy. After two months, the iPhone still dominates the top 9 rankings in smartphone sales in Japan. Consistently. That’s something like 9 weeks in a row. And not just because DoCoMo is...
View ArticleiPhone 6
There has been an unprecedented amount of leakage concerning Apple’s iPhone 6, due to be released in 3 or so months. It seems all but certain that there will be two versions, both bigger than the...
View ArticleApple Watch, iPhone: First Impressions
I still am a little in the dark; I stayed up until 4 a.m. watching the live stream (or trying to), and just woke up a little while ago. I probably missed a lot about the iPhone 6 because of Apple’s...
View ArticleThe iPhone 6 and Carriers in Japan
So Sachi and I have been with Softbank since the iPhone first came out in Japan—me because Softbank was the only carrier with the iPhone at that time, and Sachi because she wanted to be on the same...
View ArticleiPhone 6 Sales in Japan
When I went to the SoftBank and Au shops last week, I was surprised that there were very few people there, and thought perhaps the iPhone 6 was not doing all that well here… until I learned that most...
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