first look at the iPhone 4

I now have an iPhone 4.

It has just been one and a half day since I got hold of it, and already I'm trying to write a review about it.

To summarize: Apple’s iPhone 4 is the best smart phone available in Japan, at least during writing, but it is far from perfect.

Moving from iPhone 3G to iPhone 4.

The Softbank dude said that I could transfer all of my iPhone 3G contents easily with iTunes.

Well, like every piece of new technology, even the things that you expect to be simple is going to be difficult and confusing.

Although I consider myself a techie, I found no solution on how to correctly transfer my iPhone 3G data to the new phone. The iTunes has been giving all sort of errors, and after various methods of problem solving failed, I decided to give up, and start fresh.

Sadly, starting fresh is the best solution for a headache-free experience.

After getting this small hiccup out of the way, I started to realize that I now own a device with a lot of potential to it. I started to like it.

The retina display.

The new glass display is absolutely gorgeous, with almost no pixelation at all.

Images appear sharp, colors brilliant, and the touch sensitivity has been improved to lessen miss-selection of digital buttons and cut time to get thing done faster.

Apple has truly made a beautiful display, and I like it a lot. Pictures look better on my iPhone 4 than on my Benq computer display; no exaggeration at all.

The improved camera.

I am very impressed with the new camera; focus and exposure is selected by touching at the spot you want the camera to meter exposure on, and it is as simple as that.

New 5 megapixel main camera with LED light ( surprisingly helpful and very useful ) plus a VGA front camera makes the deal sweet.

This might sound naïve to some, but the new photographic opportunities that the new camera and imaging sensors the iPhone 4 brings is the feature that I found most exciting, and I could see myself taking more pictures using my iPhone 4 than my Nikon D90 from now on.

Don’t worry Nikon D90, you’re still my main camera, but the iPhone 4 fits into my pocket, closer to my penis; meaning I cannot avoid from using it for simple, daily photography.

Always remember this oh my dear D90; I can never get enough of your long, big lens and how good it feels when I grip your body hard while I play with your rigid focus ring and all those perky buttons on your chest.

Mmmmmm…

The new camera takes pictures with decent enough quality, even during low light. The ability to take HD videos on the phone is HUGE, and I look forward to learn more about photography and video with this new gadget.

The iPhone 4 is fast.

The iPhone 4 is fast compared to other smart phones on the market right now, and I could see it go faster with software updates. I look forward for apps that make full use of this additional processing power.

The flaws are true.

The new antenna for the iPhone 4 has problems, and I could easily drop the signal bars by gripping the lower side of the antenna. That is why I bought a cheap 980 yen Elecom silicon case. Problems solved.

In the end, all I could say is that the iPhone 4 is worth the upgrade (it’s free in Japan if you agree with a 2 years contract), and I could see myself being very productive with the new HD video-capable 5 megapixel camera.

Great phone, Apple, but could you fix the always buggy iTunes?

Please!

Fuckers.

Summer Holiday '09 Day 2

The second day of my summer holiday is all about testing the new D90.

I’ve never been so giddy since I last bought my PS3.

The inner otaku/nerd/gadget-mania in me was unleashed!

To test my D90 for the first time, I decided to go to Harajyuku because that place is packed with the most interesting young people (fashion wise) in Tokyo.

> Taking pictures of random people without their permission: Newbie in photography.

It is just a 50 minutes train ride from Hashimoto (city where I live) to Harajyuku, and I arrived at the station in awe; I have forgotten how crazy Harajyuku is.

The place was packed with people, and tourists with their big cameras.

Quickly I realized how hard it is to take photos at such crowded places.

Everything was moving so fast, I can’t really concentrate of using different configuration to check out and compare the different results… I was really overwhelmed by the many functions and manual settings that the D90 offers.

Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed, White Balance, Composition, Bracketing… I’m lost! It felt too much, and I guess I’m doing this all too fast. I should learn to learn slowly.

I quickly crossed the road from the station to get to Takeshita Road (竹下通り), snapped some photos of the road entrance, and then a heavy pour of rain came, forcing me to get back to the station to find shelter.

And everybody else did the same thing.

The train station is packed full of gothic lolitas, gyarus, hime-keis, homies and huge fat American tourists; all wet and hot.

I can’t stand it any longer, so I decided to go home, after just arrived 15 minutes there LOL.

The train back home felt longer as the bad weather seems to slows down time and I’m a bit blue… but that’s ok because a girl passenger sitting right in front of me on the train wore a shirt so short, I’ve gained little happiness.

You perverts, I can’t take photos! Might get charged with chikan/perversion in public places!

I arrived in Hashimoto, and the Hanabata Matsuri is still going on.

The last time I went, it was during the night, and this time it is during the day, so I take out my D90 and shoot away.

One last thing, did you know that the D90 was the first dSLR that could shoot HD videos?

Although it is a bummer that the D90 will not Auto-Focus when taking videos, the video quality produced was not bad at all.

Here’s a video of a dance performance that I took during the Hashimoto’s Tanabata Matsuri:

Lastly, here's some of the pictures that I took during my first day with my new girlfriend…ok the D90 does not have a vagina but it’s cute anyways.

Festival Ornaments at the Hashimoto Tanabata Festival

The entrace to the famous Takeshite Road in Harajyuku

A broken entrance-ticket machine in Shinjuku Station

Trains coming to Hashimoto Station's Keio Line

Rabbit guy performing in front of Hashimoto Station

Crazy but cool 3rd year high school kid doing street performance

Kakikoori with various flavors

Chicken steaks sold at the Hashimoto Shrine

Cute windmill thingy

REVEAL SPOILER

And of course, hot gyaru chicks with short-hot-pants

D90 is HERE!

At last, my first dSLR has arrived.

I welcomed the NIKON D90 with 18-200mm lens kit with much excitement, as I’ve always been a fan of photography for a long time. It just took me this long to decide to step up and give more dedication towards this hobby of mine.

At a price tag of about 140000yen, this is also the most expensive thing that I have ever bought with my own money.

Wait a minute, actually in the past, I had bought something more expensive than this dSLR some 5 years ago (my Dell Dimension), but that’s using scholarship money, so that did not count as my own money lah!

I am writing this as I waited without patience for the battery to be fully charged.

Can’t wait to take my new baby out for a test drive!

My new main camera with the sidekick Nikon Coolpix P5100.