The iPod Touch is already an awesome product, so how do you top? Apple has done with the release of several versions, and this time, the third generation models. As with other iPod models, this one lacks an integrated video camera. Instead, it centers firmly on the music and exploited in portable gaming. There are so many welcome additions to this version that competitors are just delayed.

The third-generation iPod Touch looks like all the other versions that are already in the market before it. Has the same size and as usual, his mouth watering 3.5 inch screen is one of its most attractive features. With a screen resolution of 480-by-320, has one of the best portable media player screens out there. Included in the package are a sync cable, dock adapter, and the not-so-famous Apple earphones.

This version of the iPod Touch still bears the old system of support for files which means you can only play a few standard sizes. The iPod Touch product range is known for its impressive user interface and a large number of applications that other media players could only hope. One of the main attractions of the third generation version is perhaps his speed. The manufacturer claims is 50% faster than its classical counterparts.

The storage capacity of 64GB iPod Touch that supports OpenGL ES 2.0. This means more games and applications with really cool graphics. No news could have been better for surfers and players alike. The touch screen allows for easier navigation and easier web experience. If the main reason for the purchase of a media player is the music, then you tickle Genius applications. This extra allows you to create play lists and applications based on what you’ve heard and used.

Incoming search terms:

• ipod touch 3rd generation
• ipod touch 3rd gen
• 3rd generation ipod touch
• ipod touch 3th generation
• ipod touch
• ipod touch 3
• ipod 3rd generation
• ipod touch gen 3
• itouch 3rd gen
• 3rd gen ipod touch
• ipod touch generation 3
• ipod touch 3rd generation home screen
• ipod touch 3nd generation
• ipod touch 3rd
• third generation ipod touch
• ipod 3
• www nicomovil com
• ipod
• ipod 2 generation
• ipod versions

We really need more capacity?

The cynics among us can say that it is just another way for computer and electronics industry to sell us all something new. While there is an element of truth in this, as not everyone needs the additional capacity but computers, software and applications do not continue to be increasingly data hungry.

Many users will welcome the additional amount of storage that have both formats, as they are always at full speed with DVD. The new formats will be the equivalent of five and ten times the size of a DVD. Besides this, the fastest speed of broadband are allowing users to download more and more data.

The fast transfer rate of blue laser disc – coupled with the greater capacity of a disc – also makes it ideal for storing applications, medical records and activities in high resolution that need instant access or retrieval.

First of all, let’s take a quick look at the differences between the two formats that both use a blue laser disc recording:

Blu-ray

Blu-ray is supported by over 100 companies that are members of the Blu-ray Disc Association (http://www.blu-raydisc.com). Key members include: Sony, Pioneer, HP, Dell, Philips, Mitsubishi Chemical, Walt Disney, TDK, Hitachi, 20th Century Fox and Apple.

initial storage capacity of a Blu-ray will be 25 GB (or 135 minutes of high definition film and two hours of bonus standard definition quality) for a single layer and 50GB double layer (or three hours of film and nine hours of bonus materials). The prototypes have been developed by TDK that will take this to 100GB on a single side. The Blu-ray group estimate the technology will be viable as a format standard for 10-15 years.

Similar to CD and DVD, Blu-ray will be available as recordable once (BD-R), rewritable (BD-E) and a pre-recorded disc format (BD-ROM). There are also two other types of Blu-ray discs that are contained in cartridges for use in the transmission and data storage industries. These are called PD and PDD, respectively.

Blu-ray disc products will be launched to cover three main areas of application:

1. Use of computer desktop applications and home video.

2. Professional broadcasting.

3. Professional data backup applications.

Blu-ray discs are manufactured using a single substrate disc with the recording layer very near the surface of the disc. This should result in less potential distortion, higher precision and shorter production times and costs.

In terms of compatibility, it is likely that the Blu-ray disc products will play both DVD and CD formats. It is also expected that the PC Blu-ray recorders and Mac will also be able to record onto CD and DVD. Sony recently announced that their next generation console PlayStation 3 will have capacity of Blu-ray.

High Density DVD

There are fewer companies in the HD-DVD Promotion Group (http://www.hddvdprg.com), but still no less significant ones. The companies include NEC, Toshiba, Sanyo, Thomson and Universal Pictures. The format is also supported by the DVD Forum.

Initial storage capacity is about 15/20GB, 30/32GB and more than 45 GB dual layer. In its current form, the capacity can go beyond that because of the position of the recording level, which is farther from the disc surface.

Disc manufacturers will be able to transition to HD-DVD more easily as it is a disc similar to DVD. However, the limited capacity could see it ending up as a temporary solution and manufacturers will inevitably need to invest in production lines Blu-ray.

Like DVD, HD-DVD is produced by bonding two surfaces (substrates) together. E ‘likely that the HD-DVD devices will also be able to play your DVDs and CDs. The discs will be available in a DVD (HD-DVD-R), rewritable version (HD-DVD-RW) and pre-recorded (HD-DVD-ROM).

Because you can expand the capacity blue laser?

With the same size as the surface of the disc is a CD and DVD blue laser disc can record and store more information using a laser beam with a much smaller focus of CD or DVD. This laser can record smaller and higher density pits, allowing more room for data storage.

A closer look at Blu-ray

Within the family there are three Blu-ray discs available that are optimized for specific applications. The main question and its use will be produced for the standard Blu-ray, but there are also two other types of Blu-ray discs available that have been specifically developed for the transmission and storage of market data:

Professional Disc (PD)

PD has been developed specifically for the markets on news gathering and broadcast.
The products are already introduced by Sony. These include: a recording and editing system – ENG (Electronic News Gathering) – as well as the XDCAM series of professional camcorders.

PD has a faster data transfer rate, 72 Mbps compared to 36Mbps, compared to the standard Blu-ray and is seen as a substitute for traditional tape loaded broadcast cameras.
The disc is rewritable and contained in a cartridge for greater protection in field use. PD disk media is manufactured by both Sony and TDK.

Professional Disc for Data (PDD)

PDD was developed as a substitute for traditional magneto-optical (MO) applications, such as juke boxes for online access or data archive and storage. PDD is physically almost identical to the Professional Disc (PD) and is available as recordable and rewritable. The disc is contained in a cartridge for protection and ease of use by the robot at any juke box or library system. Typical users are doctors, banks, government and telecommunications companies who need fast Internet access to large amounts of data or information.

Standard Blu-ray

Standard Blu-ray will be the main Blu-ray product for mass use in consumer recorders and players, drives for PCs and game consoles such as PlayStation 3. The support of the disc can be provided “naked” and is not contained in a cartridge as a result of manufacturing a hard layer protective layer. The first manufacturer to introduce this is TDK with their technology ‘Durabis’ coating.

Blu-ray discs are equipped with encryption and copy protection within the hardware and media production level to minimize piracy and illegal copying.

Why the need for a protective layer?

An immediate reason for the protective layer that is packing more data on the surface of the disc format of the recorded data can be more sensitive to reproductive problems caused by damage from handling, scratches and static. Furthermore, in order to obtain the maximum capacity of Blu-ray Disc and ensure accuracy, the level of registration of a Blu-ray is produced closer to the surface of the disc is DVD and HD-DVD. This means that the Blu-ray has a much higher capacity than other blue laser discs such as HD-DVD, but this does not mean that the disk needs to be encased in a caddy like PD and PDD or protected by a additional layer of coating. Being able to produce a disc that can be used in its ‘naked’, without a caddy it will ensure a wider use and adoption of the Blu-ray. This is because the disk is used in a number of different drives and consumer electronic products. Disposing of the caddy also drastically reduce the production cost per unit and the end users.

Structure comparison disk

With the need to have a protective coating on a disc ‘naked’ Blu-ray Disc, TDK were the first manufacturer to introduce an average finish of ‘scratch’. This has been available for some time as an option on their DVD product range, but recently have taken this technology even further with the latest coating technology called ‘Urbis’. The advantages of the lining of the ‘Urbis’ means that the discs can be used without a caddy and are much less likely to be damaged by scratches, UV rays, fingerprints and dust attracted by static electricity.

And finally …. When everything becomes available?

Toshiba Corp. has announced a 2006 commercial launch date of March for the first HD DVD player in the United States.

Blu-ray disc recorders were launched in Japan in 2003. Blu-ray is available in Japan in caddy format and should be available in the U.S. by 2006 summer.

Professional Disc (PD) for the transmission has limited availability. E ‘especially during testing and experience in high-definition TV projects from large TV production companies and authorities.

Professional Disc for Data (PDD), which is used for archiving and backup has limited availability.

Both the Blu-ray group and HD-DVD group are talking together on a single format to avoid a collision format. However, as the proposal for each of the parties seems to be that the other down to their size, it seems unlikely that it will lead to ‘peace in our time’.

Incoming search terms:

• blu ray
• hd dvd
• blu ray disc
• Blu-Ray
• dvd blu ray
• blu ray vs hd dvd 2011
• blu ray vs hd dvd
• Blu-ray Disc
• dvd bluray
• dvd-r vs dvd r
• DVD/BluRay

One has to really say that the Apple iPhone 4 has really one of the best displays ever seen. This is because the 3.5 inch touch screen display uses the retina display technology that has recently been developed by Apple and it now uses very less power than before and most important of all, it is very visible in direct sunlight as well and it is something that not even the AMOLED display technology can boast of. The touch screen display can also display images at very high resolutions and Apple claim that it is very difficult spot pixels with the naked eye and it is something that has been proved time and time again by owners of the Apple iPhone 4. While most other manufacturers are now making touch screen displays that are scratched instant, Apple has made the iPhone 4 not only scratch resistant in the display area, but also in the entire phone as well. This is made possible by the use of an aluminosilicate material, which is the first for a phone.

And it is among one of the first features that you can note when you take a look at this phone. Aside from that, you can notice that there is the stainless steel strip that runs alongside the whole body and Apple has revealed that this is the strip that functions as the antenna and GPS receiver amongst many others. This brilliant new invention has meant that Apple has pushed the all the unnecessary connectivity features from the middle of phone to the side and it has made an incredible effect on the size of the phone. It is now one of the slimmest and lightest phones available in the market today. The phone has HD video recording capabilities and this is thanks to the five megapixel camera that it now employs. This is a huge improvement over the previous camera in the iPhone 3GS model. Apart from recording HD videos, you can also do a lot of functions with the HD videos like editing them and share them on many areas like social networking sites and so on.

The iPhone like the iPad is available in various versions. The cheapest available iPhone sells for around £ 499 and the costliest iPhone sells for around £ 599 in the United Kingdom. The above prices are those at the Apple Store and you can get a lot of deals elsewhere.

On paper at least, the Samsung Galaxy Tab seems to have all the right ingredients to take on the iPad. Featuring a 7-inch display, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is much smaller than the iPad. Samsung believe that this could be the area where the iPad could be taken on. The smaller size makes the Galaxy Tab much easier to carry around or just holding in your hand. The smaller size does not compromise on the quality however. The display produces rich and vivid pictures with great quality.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab comes with two cameras on either side. The back camera is a 3-megapixel one and the front camera is 1.3-megapixel. These cameras allow the user to take pictures of a memorable moment or use them for video conferencing, features that are unavailable on the iPad currently. Running on the Android 2.2 operating system, Samsung have fitted this device with a powerful 1 GHZ processor and the end result is breath-taking. The tablet is powerful enough to play Full HD videos or play high-end games. A 4000 mAh battery offers nearly 7 hours of movie play.

There are two versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the 16GB or 32GB version. Memory can also be expanded through microSD cards to a maximum of 32GB. The prices for these tablets have been dropping and Amazon has given a huge discount and the price for the 16GB version is £600. You can find the latest Galaxy Tab deals at best-mobile-contracts.co.uk.

iOS 4.0 was unveiled to the world in April by Steve Jobs, with a launch expected sometime in June. Immediately after the announcement of this new version, it was released to registered iPhone developers to begin testing their applications ahead of the launch.

I have been using iOS 4.0 on my iPhone 3GS on a daily basis now, and I am pleased at what it has to offer. Here is a glimpse at the new features you can expect.

Note: As this review is based on a beta version, some features may be added / removed before iOS 4.0 is released.

Multi-tasking
At the unveiling of iOS 4.0, Steve Jobs said, “[Apple] wasn’t the first to this party [multi-tasking], but we’re going to be the best.” It took Apple quite a length of time to include this feature – 2 or 3 years depending on how you look at it — and the company tried a Push Notification service to cover over previous versions of this operating system not having the ability to keep more than one third-party app active at once. Even though Push Notifications are good for some things, Apple’s new multi-tasking feature is much, much better.

When you hit the Home button twice, the current page you are looking at shifts upward, and up from the bottom rises icons for four applications that are already running. From here you can just tap one of those applications and be taken to it, while the apps you were just using will remain in the state you left them.

There is a nice transitioning effect when you switch between applications which has given the whole user interface a more streamlined feeling.

To close apps, you bring up the multi-tasking dock and then tap and hold an icon for a few seconds, which will give all the currently-running applications a red circle and a minus sign. Tap on the one you want to close, or you can swipe to the left or right to quit all applications.

Let’s look at an example: say you are using the Skype application to make a phone call. What happens if you get a text message while still on a Skype call? Before, you would have to close the Skype application, go to the messaging app, read the message, leave the app, return to the Skype app, and start the phone call again. Now, Skype can simply be running in the background while you respond to a text message, check baseball scores, or even while taking a picture. This feature really allows you to get more done at once, and is extremely easy to use.

If you swipe the multi-tasking dock all the way to the left, you will get some basic iPod controls.

Say the music streaming application Pandora is being used to play songs in the background. Let’s say you leave your iPhone in your pocket for a few minutes, and a new song starts playing and you want to skip to the next song. You can double tap the home button from the clock screen, and change the song like you would with the standard iPod controls.

Developers will need to build their applications to work with the multi-tasking system and the other new built-in iPhone controls Apple is adding.

The pop-up windows also gives you the ability to lock the screen orientation. As of now it will only let you lock the screen in portrait mode. This software feature seems to be the answer to the iPad’s physical lock screen orientation switch.

Keep in mind, though, that this will not be “true” multi-tasking, in which all apps continue to run in the background. If it was, all the apps would use way too many resources and eventually will bog down the phone. Apple’s multi-tasking method is a little different. The applications is essentially paused, and only some special service tasks will be truly running in the background.

According to Apple, these services are: Background audio, Voice over IP, Background location, Push notifications, Local notifications, Task completion, and Fast app switching.

Although iOS 4.0 doesn’t offer true multi-tasking, it’s pretty effective, I must say.

Email

The email application in this operating system hasn’t really been touched since the first iPhone’s introduction back in 2007. This is about to change. The upcoming version features a unified inbox, which means that all your messages from your various email accounts will be displayed on the same screen.

This is a great feature for anyone that has multiple email accounts, and they want to see all their new messages at once, rather than going into each account looking for new mail, which can take quite a bit of extra time for someone that emails frequently.

Other new features in the email app include support  for multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts, threaded messages, resizing photos embedded in emails, and the ability to have contact pictures in emails if you are sending/receiving an email from a contact in your phone.

These features are not ground-breaking in any way; they are just nice little improvements to make the iPhone faster and easier to use.

App Folders
With iPhone OS 3.1 and earlier, the application launcher can display only 148 applications in total. Besides the limitations in how many apps you could have installed, there was no real organization. If you want organization, you can rearrange the icons onto different screens based on how you wanted them, and that is it.

The upcoming iOS 4.0 brings the ability to create folders by simply dragging one app icon on top of another. Apple automatically names the folder based on the category of apps that are in it, but you can re-name it to whatever you want.

Instead of only having enough room for 148 applications, you can now have 2160. That’s quite a big increase, but that should dissolve some of the complaints on the limitation of space. You can also have folders in the dock, which is kind of nifty.

iBooks
The iPhone version of Apple iBooks app is pretty much the same as the one that debuted with the iPad.

You’re able to download and read e-books on your iPhone just like you could on Apple’s tablet computer. You can also sync the same book on both devices if they are on the same iTunes account.

Game Center
Those who are familiar with Microsoft’s mobile gaming center will probably call the iPhone version “Apple Live”.

This feature is going to be used as a social gaming network. Since the demand for playing games on the iPhone/iPod Touch is ever increasing, this was a brilliant part on Apple’s behalf.

You will have the ability to invite friends, be matched up with someone and play against them, leader boards, and achievements. Right now it’s still a work in progress, and no one’s sure if this will be ready for the launch of OS 4 and the new iPhone.

Other New Features

The new version of this operating system is going to include some smaller improvements:

• Custom Home Screen Background
• Spell Check
• Bluetooth Keyboard Support
• Alternate Keyboard Layouts (QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ)
• Alpha-Numeric Passcodes

App Improvements
Apple’s iOS 4.0 also brings a number of enhancements to the standard software:

Messaging: You can now search text messages. There is also a character count feature so you know when you exceed 160 characters. In addition, when a text message fails to send, there will be an exclamation point where it would normally tell you how many new texts you have.

Calendar: There is a new option to view birthdays on the calendar — these birthdays are compiled from all your contacts stored in your phone.

Photos: Apple is adding the ability to organize your photos from iPhoto by Albums, Events, and Faces

Camera: A 5X optical zoom is included, as well as auto-focusing in video mode now. The next-generation iPhone is supposed to have a higher-resolution camera, but there’s no way to confirm this on my iPhone 3GS.

YouTube: Videos can now be played in vertical orientation.

Calculator: Just a new icon.

Notes: You can now sync notes to Apple’s Mobile Me online service.

Safari: The web browser lets you play videos straight in Safari without going to the Quicktime video player.

iPod: There is now the ability to create and edit playlists right on the iPhone. As  someone that listens to a lot of music while I’m on the go, this is a feature that should have been present a while ago (like most of these improvements). There is also now an art in album view which resembles the one in the iTunes store.

What’s Missing from iOS 4.0?
The main thing that is still missing is an Adobe Flash Player. I’m sad to say but I don’t think we will ever see flash for the iPhone or iPad. Everything on the iPhone in Steve Jobs’ eyes has to be perfect, or close to it. Flash on mobile devices just aren’t that stage yet. Plus, how would you interact with flash on a small touch screen phone? I for one can do without all the annoying flash advertisements in Safari for now.

Availability
The next-generation iPhone model expected next month will almost certainly launch with iPhone OS 4.0. In addition, Apple has promised free upgrades for the iPhone 3GS and 3G models this summer, while second and third-generation iPod Touch owners will get an upgrade at about the same time for $10.

Not all features in iOS 4 will be available on the iPhone 3G/iPod Touch (2nd Gen), though, while Apple’s first generation smartphone and handheld will not get an upgrade at all.

Expect the new version of this operating system to hit the iPad some time this fall.