When the MacBook Air was first released in January of 2008, of course I was completely fascinated by it. It was so slim and light-weight, and would have been perfect for ultra-portability for the basic tasks I tend to use a laptop for, such as writing, email and web surfing. But it was insanely expensive and I definitely couldn’t justify the cost. Despite its design appeal, it simply wasn’t worth it to me.

Fast forward to October 14th, and the second generation of MacBook Air was announced. This time, the specs were bumped up a little, and so was the price. If it was expensive then, well, now it was just completely unattainable. However, in this consumerist society we live in, many people discard the old to purchase the new, so I found quite a few people selling up their old MacBook Airs for rather attractive prices.

After a couple of days of thinking, I decided ‘why not!’ and found myself a bargain. I’d been using a vanilla white MacBook for the past year, and while it was a great machine, I never found myself using the optical drive, and was constantly frustrated with the narrow viewing angle of the display.

Sure, I had some concerns with moving ‘backwards’ as it were; going from a 2.2GHz processor and a 5400rpm hard drive to a 1.6GHz and 4200rpm. But then I reminded myself just what I’m using a laptop for in the first place. My laptop is not my primary machine. It doesn’t need to complete tasks in uber fast record time, and it doesn’t need a lot of power since I’m not editing video or playing games on it. It’s just for the basics. The MacBook Air would suit my needs, and I should stop being so picky about not having the highest specs if I don’t need them. After all, the main attraction of the Air was its form factor; that was the big selling point for me.

So I sold up my vanilla MacBook (it went to a very loving home and has brought joy to a family of new Mac users), and purchased the Air, and I can say with honesty that I haven’t once looked back.

The MacBook Air is the laptop for me.

I’ve been using it almost a week now, and I actually haven’t noticed any slowdowns with the tasks that I perform on it. It doesn’t feel any slower than the MacBook at all. I downloaded the World of Goo demo last night and installed it on the MacBook Air (just to try it and satisfy my own curiosity). To my surprise, it played flawlessly. Obviously, it’s not a graphics intensive game, but it performed better than I thought it would, giving me the option to play simple, casual games on the Air if I so choose (I probably won’t, but options are always nice).

The improvements to the screen are quite mind blowing. It’s the first time I’ve used a laptop with an LED screen, and it’s simply fantastic. Everything is sharp and crisp and bright, and there’s much more difference between the ‘low’ and ‘high’ screen brightness settings on the Air than there was on the MacBook. The viewing angles are noticeably wider, too, so I can watch a video in bed without getting that annoying negative effect when not viewing the screen directly front-on.

I still find the backlit keyboard a bit of a gimmick. I know some people swear by it, but even when I had my PowerBook G4, I didn’t find it particularly useful. The screen shines brightly enough onto the keyboard most of the time, and when the backlighting is off, it’s much, much harder to see the letters on the keys since they’re see-through, rather than a solid colour like on the keyboards without backlighting. That said, I suppose it’s nice to have the option. But it wasn’t something that influenced my purchasing decision.

The 80GB hard drive is definitely a non-issue for me. My white MacBook had 250GB but I ended up not even using 100GB. Most of my data is stored in the cloud, and media content such as music, movies and photos are stored on an external drive connected to my iMac. However, maybe in the future when the prices of solid state drives have considerably decreased, I will find a nice 1.8″ 128GB SSD to put in there. I’m definitely not paying AU$1000 for one right now, though!

Overall, the switch from the MacBook to the MacBook Air has been fantastic. It’s the perfect laptop for my needs, and the portability factor alone still has me amazed (I can pretty much take it anywhere). If it were my primary computer, obviously it wouldn’t have had nearly the amount of appeal, but as a secondary computer for light-weight tasks, it can’t be beat.

Now, let me just explain something here. Many Mac users take it upon themselves to spread the Mac love around whenever and wherever possible. It’s just one of those things that comes with the territory of using a computer that isn’t the standard or the generic, but in our eyes is vastly superior in a number of ways. Most PC users don’t get this concept, which doesn’t surprise me. It is a little strange having someone harp on about a computer brand; even stranger when that harping becomes cult-like in the sheer amount of people doing it and the amount of passion they seem to have for one specific company - Apple.

I won’t deny that I’m one of these people who likes to spread the Mac love. I think the Mac experience is something that should be shared with as many people as possible who are willing to listen and to learn. Then, and only then, can a person decide whether or not they like Mac computers and, specifically, OSX; they’ve then made an informed decision, and if afterwards they say they don’t like it, that’s absolutely fine. But, more often than not, showing someone OSX for the first time is a joyous experience in itself because it’s usually very positive.

So yesterday, I had the absolute time of my life showing this person the sheer beauty, efficiency and simplicity of OSX. What made the experience so rewarding was the way this person just ‘got it’, understood it, was able to grasp the concepts of how the operating system works without having any prior computing knowledge whatsoever. This in itself is proof of Apple’s success with creating a beautiful and transparent user experience. That, and the fact that it’s almost contagious in the way it works; showing OSX to this one person made another, who was also watching, decide to go out and buy a Mac of their own.

To think that no amount of marketing or advertising, or even any suggestions or advice, was needed for this person to make the decision to buy a Mac - it was 100% based on demonstration of actual use of the product - Well, I think that’s a pretty powerful thing.

The Glossy vs Matte Arguement

Yes, Apple’s entire notebook line (excluding the 17″ so far) now has glossy screens, including the MacBook Pro. No, we no longer have the option for matte screens. For all those who have just outright assumed that glossy equals consumer and matte equals pro…

You’ve all been very sadly mislead.

A matte display does not automatically make it a colour accurate display. The matte displays on the previous generation of MacBook Pros are definitely not colour accurate. Hell, the Apple Cinema Displays with matte screens aren’t even 100% color accurate. Any professional photo editor or designer worth their salt will be using an external display such as an Eizo or NEC with their MacBook Pro to do all of their work that requires total colour accuracy. And by professionals, I’m talking about the people who do this kinda stuff for a living and actually rely on colour accuracy to earn their daily bread.

The whole glossy vs matte display debate on notebook computers is absolutely and totally irrelevant. In fact, the only reason professionals would be using a notebook rather than a desktop for their work is if they were out in the field regularly, in which case, a glossy display would be the better choice. In direct sunlight, a glossy display is far easier to see. Matte displays tend to disperse the sunlight and make the screen appear very dim and hard to see. At least if you get reflections on your glossy screen, you can just move elsewhere. On a matte screen, you have to raise your brightness and just grin and bear it.

Say goodbye to FireWire

The new MacBooks no longer have a FireWire connection. This is something I don’t necessarily agree with, either. I’m an avid user of FireWire. My external hard drive uses FireWire 400. It’s a great connection option for transferring lots of data back and forth, and USB will never compete with its speeds. Not to mention, it’s a popular connectivity method for many DV camcorders. However, here’s my logic behind why Apple may have chosen to ditch FireWire on the MacBooks.

MacBooks are a consumer model of notebook. It’s Apple’s best selling Mac. Ever. (The words of the famous Mr Steve Jobs himself). The MacBook was never intended as a desktop replacement notebook. That’s what the MacBook Pro is for. The MacBooks are for the folks just wanting a portable Mac to do stuff with like surf the web, check email, play some tunes, add photos to their library, and now play games (since the new graphics chip is powerful enough). It’s also a popular Mac for the recent Windows switchers. Or the people wanting a notebook as a secondary computer. The majority of MacBook purchasers in the past probably never used their MacBook’s FireWire port. Probably not even once.

So, based on these assumptions (yes, they’re assumptions, they’re not facts set in stone), we can also assume that the majority of MacBook users won’t have a DV camera; they’re more likely to use something with a flash card, or something with internal flash memory like the Flip Video cameras, both of which can connect via USB. The majority of MacBook users are more likely to purchase a USB external drive than a FireWire drive; they’re more affordable, just like the MacBook itself, and USB is more well known to the masses. The majority of MacBook users are less likely to use their MacBooks strictly at a desk; folks like the option for mobility nowadays. Mobility means less chance for having stuff constantly plugged into your MacBook.

Does that make it okay to ditch FireWire completely? Of course not, but it at least it makes more sense as to why. The people who are really bitten by the lack of FireWire are those wanting a smaller version of the MacBook Pro. For these people, it’s one or the other, I’m afraid. There are likely other reasons that involve cost and profit and design choices, but it’s only Apple who knows those ones.

The New Prices are Through the Roof!

Well, if you live in Australia, they sure are. The strength of our dollar is obviously not so great right now, and it shows. It most certainly sucks for you if you were holding off for an upgrade until the announcement. But, really, it comes down to this…

Those of you who understand the simplicity, design and feature set of Apple’s products will probably still buy them if they were twice the price. Apple don’t make affordable products. Apple make quality products. This isn’t anything new (unless perhaps you’re a recent switcher, in which case, get used to your wallet being slightly thinner). So while the prices for the new notebooks in Australia really sting, they’re still very much worth the price to most of us. Especially the new design methods and construction of the new notebooks; that’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Thing is, I’ve heard many US people complaining about the prices, too. I’m not quite sure why. Yes, the mid-range MacBook is now up a couple hundred bucks. But they’ve also lowered the base MacBook (the white plastic one, it got updated too and it’s not going anywhere) a hundred bucks to US$999. So now there’s an affordable option, a mid-range option, and a high-end option, just like before but now with more choice. So why all the complaints? For the increased graphics processing power and new aluminium design, I’d gladly pay $200. Wouldn’t you?

So What’s the Real Problem?

I think all this recent negativity stems from the realisation that Apple have very specific markets for their products. Those of us who fall between the lines, perhaps users of pro apps who want a small and portable notebook, or just general consumers who want something slightly more beefy… it’s us who feel that Apple’s possibly made mistakes with the recent changes. But Apple are just doing what they usually do; making the products that they think would work best for the target market they’re designed for. They’re a business, afterall. They exist to make a profit.

I’m still waiting for Apple to create a sub-notebook to compete with the EeePC, MSI Wind, Acer Aspire One, and all the rest of them. I’ve a feeling I’ll be waiting for a loooong time. But that’s okay. I use Apple products because I like them. They work for me. But I understand that the way Apple works does not include making lots of products to suit every single person. They make a few, they make them well, and try to make them fit each market the best they can.

But rarely do I use it for gaming.

It’s not that I don’t like gaming on the iPhone. Far from it. Despite what some people say, I think the iPhone is a fantastic platform for developing and playing games. But it’s the types of games that are of concern to me. So far, we have a multitude of racing games, puzzle games, music games, card games, board games, and games that are developed to create hype (and generate revenue) for their big brother games on other platforms such as PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 (iTunes links: Spore and The Force Unleashed, anyone?).

These are all well and good, but the iPhone has so much more potential. The platform just isn’t mature enough yet and developers are probably still pooling ideas (at least I hope that’s what it is rather than lack of interest). Compared to other handheld gaming devices (the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP have been around for almost four years now) the iPhone is still brand spanking new, barely out for more than two months in most countries (not taking into account the iPhone and iPod Touch before software 2.0 and the App Store, since developers could not distribute games before that time).

What I’d love to see and am waiting in hope for are all the RPG and ‘point-and-click’ graphic adventure games that would work so well on the iPhone. Games that would utilise the iPhone’s touch screen and, to a lesser extent the accelerometer, but without relying so much on quick reflexes and precision. Games like the famous LucasArts’ Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. Games like Nintendo’s Hotel Dusk: Room 215 for the DS which I absolutely adored. Games that are story driven and more or less pieces of visual and interactive fiction. All of those mystery and ‘who dunnit?’ style games would go down well. The upcoming Myst port to the iPhone is a step in the right direction, but I want to see some original games of this genre developed natively and specifically for the iPhone. It’s the perfect platform for these types of games, and has the potential to rake in the dollars, BIG time.

What kinds of games do you hope to see on the App Store in the near future?

So, I was playing catch with Molly, with one of her favourite gardening gloves (yes, she has both of them), and thought I’d take out the camera to see what I could capture, just for some fun. Despite her clumsiness, she’s actually very agile and fast. I didn’t even see this one happen, but she must have missed completely and got bitchslapped in the face by the glove. Ahh, she loves it. :)

I think most of us agree that Aussie telecommunications companies tend to screw their customers around quite a bit. I think it’s something that the general public now expects and has even grown to accept. How many people do you know who have complained about an incident with their mobile phone and/or contract? How about problems with their bill? Overcharging or undercharging? Experiencing bad customer service? Being told contradicting information?

Well, I hear you loud and clear, and here’s a little story I have to add to the growing list.

As most people now know (because I’ve hardly shut up about it), I signed up with Optus for a 24-month contract for the Apple iPhone last month. Whilst everything seemed pretty peachy, I did expect some issues to crop up at some stage. I’d heard it all before; people getting screwed around after signing a contract, bitten on the arse with hidden fees and charges, being quoted wrong amounts on their bills, the list goes on. So, I went into it fully armed with knowledge, doing as much research as possible about the plan I was signing up for, and making sure I wouldn’t be hit with a nasty surprise when my first bill showed up. This is, afterall, the first post-paid phone plan I’ve ever had. It’s been fully pre-paid up until now. I was hoping for a good experience, but realistically I didn’t expect one that was problem-free.

I’m definitely glad that my expectations weren’t set too high because I sure didn’t get an experience that was problem-free.

So the time comes when I should be receiving my first bill. I already know my billing cycle’s beginning and end dates, and I also know I’ll be getting an electronic bill online rather than by snail mail, something I had to sign up myself for since I was never given the option for this when I signed my contract.

A few more days go by. Still nothing. I figure I’d rather be safe than sorry, so I give Optus a call and get to talk to a rather interruptive American guy who tells me he’s having trouble hearing me and that my phone must be broken. I can hardly hear him either. He’s the one with the phone problem, but if he insists on it being me, then fine, I’ll go with it.

I talk a bit louder. He fiddles in the background a bit, and finally tells me he can hear me well enough. Good news. I proceed to tell him my problem, that I signed up for electronic billing and still have not received my first bill (though I can access it if I choose to ‘request a previous bill’ by finding it in the online system, so by this stage I know how much I need to pay, I just haven’t received the bill so that I can pay it).

Captain America pokes around on his computer for a bit, I hear him pressing buttons, playing a bit of solitaire, then he tells me to “hold one moment”. Yeah, sure, fine, whatever. He’s gone long enough to play a couple of rounds of Counter Strike, then comes back to tell me that he has no idea why I haven’t received a bill, but that he will send me a paper bill through the mail by the 18th of August (which is D-Day for my bill payment). He’s also nice enough the waive the usual fee for the paper bill. How thoughtful!

Good enough. At least I’ll get my bill, even though it’s paper and not online. So a few more days go by. Then the 18th comes around and guess what….. Still no bill! I’m a little angry at this point, but I don’t let it get to me. I calmly call Optus again, and this time I get to talk to a fellow Australian. I explain the situation once more, this time adding the fact that I’ve already phoned them once and was supposed to receive my bill in the mail, but never did. The Aussie guy pokes around on his computer, tapping here and there. Lo and behold! he comes up with the same response as Captain America; he has absolutely no idea why I haven’t received my bill.

At this point, I’m finding it very hard to think of anything other than how incompetant or just plain stupid the Optus people must be. But I don’t say anything like that, and just get him to explain the process from this point. He says there’s nothing more he can do other than send another bill to me by mail, this time it should take no more than three days. He also said there would be no late fees until my next bill is issued, even though I’ve gone past D-Day. Well, that was some relief at least, but here I am trying to give them my money, and they just don’t seem to be wanting it.

So I wait a few days until the Thursday when I should be receiving my bill for the third time. The postman shoves something in my letterbox; there’s a letter from Optus for me! I’m so close to celebrating… but, hang on a minute. It’s not a bill. No, it’s a leaflet telling me what Optus iPhone plan I’m on, all wrapped in pretty cardboard with pictures of iPhones on it.

I can’t hold it anymore…

YES, I KNOW WHAT PLAN I’M ON! I’M TRYING TO GIVE YOU MY MONEY! I JUST WANT MY FRIGGIN’ BILL!

I give up trying to call Optus again. They obviously don’t know how to print out a bill, address it to someone and send it in the mail. So I decide to go to my local Optus World store instead.

When I say local, I really mean it’s a 15 minute drive, so the convenience factor is still an issue (for something I shouldn’t have to be doing in the first place). I get into the store and calmly explain my situation to one of the staff who seems to be listening very intently (or perhaps she’s just putting it on beause she’s heard the same story before). It’s not a short story, either. I don’t want to leave anything out that may be important. So I finish explaining, and what answer do I get?

“Sorry, there’s not much we can do here at the store.”

SAY WHAT?!

Apparently, the staff don’t have access to most of the information in customers’ accounts. They can’t even find out how much I’m supposed to owe them, and said I’d get more help calling customer support like I had already done - twice. But if they were no help, and the store staff are no help, what the heck am I supposed to do?

After much talking and explaining and listening and acknowledging and understanding things, I simply paid the total amount that was written on the bill (the one that I was able to access online when clicking on ‘request a previous bill’). At least they could take my money, even if they couldn’t help me to get my actual bill. It still feels slightly wrong to pay the amount on a bill that I haven’t actually received. But I think I came to the realisation that if I were to fight this any longer, it would be a long, slow, ongoing battle and I’d probably be slapped with late fees on top of the issues I already had, and it would have cascaded into something more problematic and harder to deal with.

That’s not to say I’m going to back down from this. I think that a lot of people are too passive when it comes to this sort of thing, they just let things happen and deal with it as it comes, but don’t chase it up or stand up for themselves or fight battles that they know they can’t win. To me, it’s not really about winning, it’s just about big companies acknowledging their mistakes (it isn’t just me who has had this issue, there are many others), and raising awareness for others who may be in the same position either now or in the future.

Needless to say I’ll be filing a complaint and letting them know exactly what I think of their screw-ups, disorganisation and bad service. It probably won’t do a whole lot of good, but I feel it’s something I should do anyway because I am not a mindless consumer, because I want to stop this happening to others, because if it were my business I wouldn’t let it drop to such a low point. But mostly because big companies just shouldn’t get away with this sort of thing, even though they do every single day because we let them.

Have you had a negative Optus experience? Maybe you’ve had a positive Optus experience and would like to to help us put some faith in them again? Let us know!

Edit (22/08/2008): The day after writing this, my bill showed up in the mail. I now know Optus are actually capable of printing out a bill, addressing it to a customer and mailing it successfully. Still, I was quoted Thursday at the latest to receive it. It’s now Friday. I wasn’t going to wait around any longer and wait for the shit to hit the fan. So, thank you Optus, but you’re a bit late ;)

Some people like to use a case to protect their expensive digital devices. Others prefer to keep their devices completely naked, either because they want to keep the aesthetics and form-factor, or they simply just don’t care whether they drop or scratch it all that much. I fall into the former category when it comes to the iPhone 3G; as much as I like the aesthetics, the plastic back makes it really slippery with absolutely no grip, and I just couldn’t live with myself if I dropped and broke it. Afterall, I’m stuck with my iPhone for the next 24 months on a contract.

Finding a case that I liked was a bit of a pain. Not many cases were available at launch, and only a small percentage of those were any good. The one that stood out to me was the Capsule Rebel, made by SwitchEasy. It has a unique visual style and plenty of colour options, and the website claims that it uses a “special new material called ADSP (Adaptive Dynamic Soft Polymer)” as well as a hard plastic shell to protect the iPhone. It retails at about AU$29.95 which is somewhat average for an iPhone 3G case at the current time.

What also attracted me to this particular case was the sheer amount of accessories that are included. Bundled with the case comes an adapter for Apple’s Universal Dock, 2x static screen protectors, a squeegee to use with the screen protectors, a little plastic stand for viewing your iPhone in landscape mode while it’s on your desk, a ‘connector protector’ which covers the port where you connect your iPhone to the USB cable, and a microfiber cleaning cloth. Phew! That’s a lot of added extras. When was the last time you saw a case that came with that many extras, even the expensive ones?

Installation of the Capsule Rebel took about two minutes. It’s actually two separate pieces; the soft ADSP skin that you have to pull over your iPhone first and get a snug fit, and the plastic shell part that looks a bit like a skeleton, which fits along the back and corners of the soft part of the case. You clip the hard shell’s edges onto the recessed parts of the soft case to get a really snug fit. And I really do mean snug - the iPhone is pretty secure in there. You can pull at the edges to expose the iPhone’s chrome bezel when the case is on, but it’s not loose in any way and won’t be coming off by itself. The soft part of the case covers the ringer volume up/down buttons as well as the sleep button, but doesn’t affect the buttons usage at all. This is good as it minimizes the amount of dust and dirt that gets in there. The silent switch is still exposed, as is the camera lens, speaker, microphone, dock connector and headphone jack.

Regarding the headphone jack, they seem to have left enough room to be able to use headphones that have a thick connector, but I haven’t tried any (my headphones have only thin plastic around the connector) so you might want to check that out before you buy, just in case.

I also haven’t tried the static screen protectors that came with the case since I’ve already got a Power Support Anti-Glare film on my iPhone (which does a superb job by the way), but they seem quite decent and will likely be fine for most people. Whether a screen protector is even necessary for the iPhone’s optical-grade glass screen is up for debate, anyway.

The Capsule Rebel makes the iPhone slightly bulkier and heavier; not by much but its definitely noticeable. Whether this bothers you or not is a personal thing. For me, I don’t mind one bit as it actually makes the iPhone more comfortable to hold, gives it a fair bit more grip, and above all, makes it feel VERY protected.

Overall, I think this case is exceptionally high quality, very protective and visually unique. A lot of thought has obviously gone into the design and materials used. If you’re looking for an always-on hardshell style case (well, technically it’s a hardshell/softshell hybrid), then I definitely recommend this one. It gets a well-deserved score of 9/10 from me.

You can see more photos of the Capsule Rebel in my Flickr set.

It’s been about nine months since I purchased the 16GB iPod Touch. It was always intended to be a stopgap solution until the iPhone made its appearance in Australia. That time came on July 11th when the iPhone 3G was officially released here. But I said I wasn’t going to buy one straight away. Maybe on the next major update, but not yet.

“The iPod Touch is an awesome device,” I told everyone who asked if I was getting the iPhone. “It would be nice, but I don’t need one.”

It took less than 24 hours after its release to change my mind.

Don’t get me wrong. The iPod Touch is an awesome device, and it almost does everything the iPhone does. But for a few different reasons I felt a bit limited when the App Store was released and the 2.0 software was available, even though I had bought and installed it on the iPod Touch.

For instance, entering a person’s contact information on the iPod Touch feels perfectly natural, intuitive and easy. Having to enter the same information into my Motorola Maxx V6 phone is clumsy and frustrating in comparison. But entering a set of details twice, one in each device, is inevitable.

The iPod Touch doesn’t have a camera, microphone or speakers, which many useful apps in the App Store utilise. Granted, the camera on the iPhone is far from great, but at least having it included gives you options; quickly snapping a pic to send over Twitter in real time is a prime example. Using the microphone to record a quick voice note or to determine what song is playing using Shazam is also very handy. On the iPod Touch, I felt like I was missing out.

And apart from the little things, there was also the big reason why I felt limited with the iPod Touch; lack of mobile internet, something I had never before experienced. It never appealed to me prior to the iPhone’s release since I had to use the clumsy interfaces of existing phones on the market to browse the web and check my mail. But this ‘always on’ digital life is starting to spread, and I wanted to be a part of it.

So, the morning after the July 11th launch, I did much phoning around to see which Optus stores had the 16GB iPhone left, to which I found that zero of them did. What a surprise. So off I went to raincheck my iPhone and enter the waiting game. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. Four days later, I had a shiny new 16GB black iPhone 3G in my hot little hands, completely functional and extremely awesome.

The first thing I noticed was how comfortable the iPhone felt in my hand compared to the iPod Touch. Obviously, you sacrifice the thinness of the iPod Touch to get the ergonomic comfort of the iPhone, but it’s well worth it.

The second thing I noticed was how smudgy and full of fingerprints the black plastic casing on the back of the iPhone gets. It looks like you’ve eaten KFC and wiped your greasy mitts all over it! Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but it’s definitely visible in most lighting. Do I regret getting the black and wish I’d bought the white version? Not at all! A quick wipe on your jeans and it looks good as new. Plus, black is such a classic look, has better resale value, and I’ll probably be shoving a case on it anyway at some point.

So how about functionality, then? In the real world, carrying the iPhone with me has been much more useful than the iPod Touch. The GPS is very handy and also very fun to just mess around with. Phone calls and text messages are a beautiful thing on the iPhone. The entire user experience has been everything I thought it would be. It’s definitely more than “just a phone” (famous last words, by the way, for anyone who ever says that to me!)

Downsides? Battery life, for one. I’ve gotten used to carrying two separate devices around with me, phone and iPod, and now that they’re both in the same device I’m going to have to learn some power management. As per others’ reports, 3G sucks down battery life like a thirsty camel, so it stays set to ‘off’ unless I really need the speed. GPRS is decent enough for me for simple text stuff like email and Twitter.  When I’m at home, it’s always using WiFi.

Another downside is the speed it takes to switch between different network services, ie: from 3G to GPRS. I can see this being a small problem when out and about where the 3G signal is low, but I’ll just have to remember where these areas are, and turn 3G on or off accordingly.

The camera is a lot more clunky and slow than I thought it would be, being an Apple product and all. But then, camera phones are never great, and I didn’t buy the iPhone for the camera anyway. It’s just a nice little bonus for those times when I’m not lugging around my DSLR camera with me.

Do I miss my iPod Touch? Yeah, I do, a little bit. I’d grown quite attached to it. I still feel that no matter how popular the iPhone becomes, the iPod Touch will always have a market. But I’m satisfied with the decision I made, and overall I’m very happy with my new iPhone (and didn’t even have to queue up in the wee hours of the morning to get it). No doubt Apple will release a new version of the iPhone 3G in a year or so, and minor updates to the existing iPhone 3G along the way. But what’s the point in waiting? During that time, the internet will be in my pocket everywhere I go. It’s a geek’s life!

I’ve been following the progress of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures for a good couple of years. When it was finally released, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play it or not. Sure, it looked appealing, but I’ve had a somewhat patchy history with MMORPGs as of late, and after jumping head first into Tabula Rasa and quickly becoming bored with it, I didn’t want the same thing to happen with Age of Conan. Playing MMORPGs can become a ridiculously expensive hobby.

A good friend of mine was generous enough to let me try out his copy of the game so I could see if I liked it well enough, and also to make sure it ran decently on my system. The game requires a pretty high-end rig, so I didn’t want to throw $80 into the game, and then have to fork out another $300 for a better video card just to be able to play it.

I’ve been playing Age of Conan for a good fifteen or so hours now, and have tried out a few different classes and races (early levels only), so I figured I’d post my initial impressions of the game. Keep in mind, this is not a review, just the opinion of someone who’s played a few MMOs in her day (I’m still not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing).

First things first, the installation and patching took ages. I was prepared for this, however. Good things come to those who wait, right?

I was very interested to know how character customisation worked. I’d seen screenshots and videos of it, which made it look pretty epic in the amount of customisation you could do to make your character truly your own. I was a little surprised to find that character customisation is somewhat limited. Don’t get me wrong, there’s many more options than World of Warcraft, but it’s still not as great as I thought i would be. There are preset faces, hairstyles and face and body markings to choose from, and while you can go to the advanced options to customise each feature, such as eye angle, jaw width and even breast size, I don’t feel that Funcom were totally correct in saying that you can recognise each player just by looking at them. To a point, you can, but many characters still look alike. Perhaps I was expecting too much. It’s not bad at all, just not quite what I wanted it to be.

When I finally jumped into the actual gameplay, the first thing I thought was that the game didn’t look anywhere near as pretty as it was supposed to be. Into the video settings I went and turned the preset to ‘high’. Wow. The game is actually very, very pretty (just not at all on lower video settings, unfortunately). And not only that, but it has its own art style. It’s not cartoonish like World of Warcraft, yet it’s not trying to look uber realistic like Everquest 2. I actually really like the art style. It reminds me a lot of Star Wars Galaxies, just more high-end and new.

The next major thing that impressed me was how well it ran on my system. For the record, my gaming PC’s glory days have been and gone. It’s a Core 2 Duo E6600, with 2GB of RAM and a 7900GT video card with 128MB of video memory. While my system passes the ‘minimum’ system requirements, the video card doesn’t pass the ‘recommended’ requirements. I was concerned that Age of Conan was going to run so choppy that I’d have to turn off all the eye candy. I was pretty amazed to discover that on ‘high’ settings I was getting an average of 20FPS. With lots of stuff happening on screen, this would probably drop a bit, but it was much better than I expected. On ‘low’ settings, I got about 40FPS on average. I like my eye candy though, so I kept it on ‘high’ and went to the advanced settings for a bit of tweaking. I now get about 25FPS and it still looks very pretty. I’m comforted in the thought that I may not need to upgrade my video card for a little while yet (though, if I get addicted to the game, it may just warrant a purchase).

One thing to note is that for the first 10 or so levels, I wasn’t really enjoying the game. I can’t really put my finger on why this is, but it may have something to do with the fact that it seemed like ‘just another MMO’ and nothing in it really grabbed me. Other than the voice acting (which is pretty good for the most part), and the blood and gore that makes it distinctly Conan, I didn’t see anything that really stood out. The combat system isn’t particularly unique, despite everyones’ claims. You still press keys or click on icons to perform different moves, the only difference is that for regular combat and combo attacks, you need to press the 1, 2, and 3 keys to attack in different directions. This is still button pressing/mouse clicking to me though. I suppose I didn’t find it very different or interesting because I’d come from Tabula Rasa which really does have a unique combat system for an MMO.

There came a point though where my initial opinions of the game changed and I started to really enjoy it. Maybe it was the story becoming more dynamic and interesting, or possibly my realisation that the game has a lot to offer. Where Tabula Rasa felt small and confined, Age of Conan seems very big and wonderous. And I haven’t even left the first area yet; the island of Tortage. Star Wars Galaxies players will know what I’m talking about when I say the game world seems larger than life. No, Age of Conan doesn’t exceed Galaxies in that regard, but I get the feeling that it comes very close. There’s something about Age of Conan that really draws you in and engages you in the world, which - of course - is a vital ingredient in any MMO.

Having said all of the above, it only took me a day of playing the game to decide whether I wanted to continue. The following day, I went out and bought my own copy. Time will tell whether I continue with it, and for how long. But for now I’m enjoying it immensely. There’s much I look forward to, including exploration of new lands, player-made cities, and combat on horseback (or even on a rhino or mammoth for that matter).

Age of Conan shares many similarities with other popular MMOs, but I honestly think it holds its own. The mature content and design of the world makes it feel like a Conan game, so I applaud Funcom for that. I think a lot of veteran MMO players will find that it isn’t unique enough in actual gameplay for them to switch away from whatever MMO they’re currently playing. But it does depend on what you want out of an MMO and the type of setting you prefer. I’m hoping that the more mature content of the game will mean that there’s less annoying kiddies running around trying to fight everyone and more story-drive roleplaying possibilities. Whether that is the case remains to be seen, but I live in hope.