5 Reasons to not buy the iPhone 3G

With iPhone 3G parties going on everywhere in the world (word has it that in Japan, more than 1,000 people are lining up for the iPhone as I write this), it’s surely difficult to resist the temptation. For those sitting out on the party this time, to make you feel better, TUAW posted an article a few days ago on why you shouldn’t by the iPhone 3G on Friday.

I also have an entry a few weeks ago on my decision to not buy.

So to convince myself and prevent myself from going to an Apple Store to buy one, here are my top five reasons to not get an iPhone:

1. It’s locked! I travel frequently between the States and Japan, and not being able to swap SIM cards is not going to cut it for me. The iPhone will most likely be hacked, so I’m going to see how that comes out.
   
   
2. Not so great camera and lack of front camera – The 2 megapixel camera is lackluster, but more importantly, the iPhone 3G lacks a front camera, a pretty standard cell phone feature these days.
   
   The front camera opens up the possibilities of using iChat to make video calls to other iChat users on their Macs. If you buy your iPhone now, just imagine when the next version, which will probably have a front camera, comes out. Your friends will all be making video calls, and you’ll be left out. 
   
   
3. You can’t use your iPhone as a modem. There are probably a slew of reasons why they don’t let you do it. But from a user’s perspective, why can’t I use my iPhone as a modem when other smart phones can?
   
   
4. The pricing plans – Compare iPhone’s pricing plan to your current plan. If you’re going to pay more, is it really worth it? 
   
   
5. Lack of Bluetooth features – You can’t send or receive files via Bluetooth, and you can’t listen in stereo with Bluetooth headphones. Though this can be fixed through a software update, we don’t really know when. 
   

So there you go, my 5 reasons for not buying the iPhone 3G now. I have a iPod Touch, so that could be another reason for me.

For those not getting the iPhone 3G, there is still plenty of exciting Apple news such as:

• the upcoming iPhone 2.0 software, which will be available for older iPhones and iPod Touch
  
• a bunch of new iPhone / iPod Touch applications with the launch of the App Store
  
• MobileMe.
  

Stay tuned for impressions.

Wall Mounted CD Player from Muji

Although CDs are becoming a thing of the past, this wall mounted CD player has always been on my wish list. The controls are located on the top and hidden from view. To switch the CD player on and off, simply pull the attached chain as if you’re turning a lamp on or off.

In Japan the CD player will cost you 10,500 yen (around 100 dollars). If you are outside Japan, you can also buy it online for 79 pounds (around 155 dollars).

Link:

Wall Mounted CD Player @ Muji Online Japan

Gadget Ad: Tepra Pro SR600

Here is an ad of King Jim’s stylish label printer. You can find out more about the Tepra Pro SR600 at Slash Gear. 

Tip: How to Ping on a Mac

Last week someone asked me how do you ping on a Mac. I've done it on Windows computers quite frequently before I switched to Mac, and I realized I never pinged on a Mac. So I googled, and found this wonderful article on eHow.

In short, instead of having to go to the not-so-pretty command prompt like in Windows, Mac has a utility to let you ping.   The utility is called the Network Utility, which can be found in the Utilities folder in the Application folder. (Or you can always spotlight it.)

In the Network Utility, there is a Ping tab. Click on the tab, and you can enter a web address to ping.

Source:

eHow

Unboxing of Gutar Hero III Legend of Rock for Wii (Japanese version)

Guitar Hero for Wii is finally released in Japan two months ago. I finally got my hands on a copy, and here are some pictures:

Front of the box.

Back of the box. 

The inner box.  (a Wii Remote is placed as reference for the size)

Inside the box.

The guitar controller (unassembled yet).

The guitar controller assembled.

Backside of the guitar controller.

Stickers, instructions, and the game itself.  

I’ll try to get some impressions for the game soon. In the meantime, you can check out IGN and Nintendo World Report for their reviews.

Kururimo – A wireless home security camera you can remotely control with a cell phone

Flet’s, an ISP in Japan, is offering a home camera called Kururimo. The Kururimo hooks up to an Internet connection, and you can dial a number with a Docomo’s FOMA cell phone to access it.

What’s cool:

• You can control the camera remotely with FOMA cell phone. You can move the camera left and right, up and down, and zoom in and out as well.
  
  
• Kururimo comes with a mic and speaker so you can have a conversation with whoever is at home. Or you can scare off any home invaders. 
  
• It’s wireless, so you can place it anywhere.
  
• And it's white!

Kururimo is available in Japan for 29,400 yen (around 280 dollars).


Link:
Flet’s Kururimo (Japanese)

Hands on with Nintendo Spot for DS (pictures and video included)

I finally got a chance to test out the Nintendo Spot trial service at a participating McDonald's. (Previous entry about Nintendo Spot is here.)

Getting Started
To use the service, first you go to DS Download Play in your DS. You can then download the Nintendo Spot Viewer. The download was rather quick, it took less than one minute.

What's inside
Once you load the viewer, you are given two button links.

1. Downloads for trial versions of selected DS game. The games available for download that day were:

• Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (more info here and unboxing pics here)
  
• Bokura ha kaseki horida
  
• DS Bimoji Training
  
• Ganbaru Watashi No Kakei Diary
  

2. McDonald’s News
Here you can find information about McDonald's such as promotional menu items. Here's a list of contents:

• Happy Meal toys
  
  
  
• Pokemon’s upcoming movie
  
• Nutrition information about hamburgers
  
  
  
• Info about a show called Zenryoku! Tunes that McDonald’s is sponsoring
  
• Current promotions and features items such as ice coffee and milk tea Oreo McFlurry
  
  

Over all the loading was pretty fast. Each item probably took 1 to 3 seconds to load.

The browser / viewer - built for both right handed people and lefties
What really surprised me was the browser to view the contents. The cool thing is that you can switch the vertical scroll bar from the default right side to the left side. To switch, you simply press a button on the top of the scroll bar (see video below). I'm a lefty, and this is a very great feature (one of those “how come I never thought of that” feature). I hope other companies would adopt this feature. Previous PDAs I tried all had their vertical scroll bar fixed on the right. Using this viewer made me realize the amount of usability a left scroll bar offers to lefties. A neat little feature, but brilliant. Impressive, when you consider this is coming from Nintendo, a game maker.

Look closely, the scroll bar is on the left!

You can also see it in action in the video below.