A lot of people were excited when Verizon announced two weeks ago that it would be getting the iPhone. With AT&T’s less than stellar service (dropped calls, spotty 3G connectivity), we can completely understand why people would want to switch to Verizon.

Before anyone rushes to change their plan to Verizon OR wants to get their first iPhone with Verizon, here are a few things you should all be aware of…

The AT&T iPhone is a UMTS/GSM device, whereas the Verizon iPhone is a CDMA device.

One of the best features of the iPhone is that you can browse the web, send email, etc. while you’re on a phone call — only if you are on the AT&T UMTS/GSM version of the iPhone.  Verizon’s CDMA iPhone is unable to carry voice and data simultaneously.

Although GSM and UMTS is used worldwide and make them ideal for international use, UMTS devices are more susceptible to dropped calls. CDMA devices, like Verizon’s, will in general drop less calls but it can’t use a SIM card which makes it difficult to switch devices.

It seems that most people agree that AT&T has the faster 3G network, so this is a big advantage when you’re trying to upload / download data.

Last week Apple announced that it will discontinue the Xserve, its Intel-based rackmounted server, after January 31, 2011. Although Apple will continue to provide service for Xserves during and after the transition, it will not be developing a future version of the Xserve.

Apple has published a document on its Xserve site entitled the “Xserve Transition Guide,” which outlines the alternative server options that Apple is offering:

• Mac Pro with Snow Leopard Server
• Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server

We know that many people are wondering about the new MacBook Air models. Are they fast enough? How will they handle applications like Photoshop or FileMaker?

Well, according to the benchmark results obtained by Macworld’s tests, the new MacBook Airs are faster than the previous versions — flash storage is fast, the flash storage capacity did not affect overall performance and the processor performance is much improved.

Macworld also tested the build-to-order options — the “ultimate” configurations of the MacBook Airs.  The team at Macworld found that the 13-inch built-to-order MacBook Air 2.13 GHz Core 2 Duo (256 GB FS, 4GB RAM) was 20% faster than the 13-inch MacBook 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo.

Looking forward to seeing more tests on the flash storage of the new Airs…

N.B.  Here’s how the Macworld team tested:

Speedmark 6.5 scores are relative to those of a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini (Mid 2010) with 2GB of RAM, which is assigned a score of 100. All Macs were tested with OS X 10.6.4. All laptops were tested with the standard configuration of RAM except where noted. We duplicated a 1GB file, created a Zip archive in the Finder from the two 1GB files and then unzipped it. We converted 135 minutes of AAC audio files to MP3 using iTunes’ High Quality setting. In iMovie ’09, we imported a camera archive and exported it to iTunes using the Mobile Devices setting. We ran a Timedemo at 1024-by-768 with 4X anti-aliasing on in Call of Duty 4. We imported 200 JPEGs into iPhoto ’09. The Photoshop Suite test is a set of 23 scripted tasks using a 50MB file. Photoshop’s memory was set to 70 percent and History was set to Minimum. For our multitasking test, we timed the Photoshop test again, but with the iTunes MP3 encoding and file compression tests running in the background. We used Handbrake to encode four chapters from a DVD previously ripped to the hard drive to H.264. We recorded how long it took to render a scene with multiprocessors in Cinebench and ran that application’s OpenGL, frames per second test. We ran the Evaluate Notebook test in MathematicaMark 7. We ran the WorldBench 6 multitasking test on a Parallels 6 VM running Windows 7 Professional. We timed the import and processing time for 200 photos in Aperture.

Data Robotics announced the new DroboPro FS this week. The DroboPro FS has eight drive bays (as opposed to the five drive bays that are in the current Drobo FS) and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports.

The eight drive bays make it possible to have as much as 16TB of available storage (depending on how you configure the device).

The dual Gigabit Ethernet ports can be configured to fail over if one link fails. They can also be set up to use one port for data access on the local area network and the other port to sync backups to another DroboPro FS. This capability will be made available through the Drobo Sync application, which is a free update slated to arrive at the end of the month to the included Drobo Dashboard software.

According to Data Robotics site, the DroboPro FS has a leadtime of 6 to 8 weeks.

Apple released the Snow Leopard Graphics Update this past Monday. According to the support notes on Apple’s site, the update provides stability and performance fixes for graphics applications and games in Snow Leopard version 10.6.4.

More info can be found in Apple’s support document here.

The 12-core Mac Pro made its appearance in Apple Stores and other retail outlets around the country this past Monday.

The new Apple 12-core Mac Pro features:

• 2 – 2.66GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” processors
• 6GB of RAM
• 1TB hard drive
• 18x double-layer SuperDrive
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card with 1GB GDDR5

The price for the above basic configuration is $4,999.

Users can choose different configurations, which include upgrading the processor from the Two 2.66GHz model to a Two 2.93GHz model. They can also add up to 32GB of RAM, add a Mac Pro RAID card, and install up to four hard drives. 4 solid-state drives would give the user twice the speed of regular hard drives.

The Mac Pro’s graphics cards can also be upgraded to the Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 card. There’s also an advanced single card option — the ATI Radeon HD 5870.

According to the Apple Store website, orders are being shipped within 7-10 business days.

iPhone 4 owners! Don’t install the new iOS 4.0.1 update yet! We’ve had 2 reports of the update bricking the iPhone! Other users have been reporting similar issues with the new update.

Although we were expecting the announcement of the iPhone 4 during Steve Jobs’ keynote at WWDC 2010 on Monday, we were still blown away by Apple’s latest addition to the iPhone family.

The new iPhone 4 has several amazing new features:

• Video calling.  Apple calls it “FaceTime” and it works iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi. The iPhone 4 has 2 cameras — one on the front that focuses on you, and one on the back that focuses on everything else.
• HD Video Recording and Editing. You no longer need to carry your Flip HD and a phone.  With the iMovie app, you can edit your footage and make movies on your iPhone 4.
• 5-Megapixel Camera with LED Flash. The camera on the back of the iPhone 4 is 5-megapixel, and there’s also a built-in LED flash that automatically fires when needed. The VGA-quality front facing camera is great for self-portraits.
• Multitasking. You can run third-party apps and switch back and forth between them without running down your battery or slowing the performance of the apps.

There are loads more features to the iPhone 4, including the beautiful 960-by-640 resolution Retina display, which looks incredibly sharp and vibrant. You can check out all the new tech specs for the iPhone 4 here.

Current iPhone owners can check out the status of your iPhone 4 upgrade eligibility by dialing *639# on your iPhone. AT&T will text you back to let you know if you are eligible for the full upgrade price ($199 for the 16GB and $299 for the 32GB) or on what date you’ll be eligible in the future.

For those of you who are ready to buy an iPhone for the first time, you can reserve your iPhone 4 starting June 15. More details here.

Our tech James was going to wait for the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G, but he just happened to walk past the Apple Store the day the iPad Wi-Fi debuted…

James bought the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad, which he says is indeed an amazing device, and is easily as much of a paradigm shift as the original iPhone was, if not more.

James is able to functionally leave his laptop at home 90% of the time, and the iPad is small and light enough that he can always have it with him. The iBooks app allows him to get some reading done when he takes to the subway.  James has re-ordered the 3G iPad, which will be much much much more functional for him as he’s constantly out and about.  We’ll give a report on that later this month.

James’ only minor complaint is that some of the apps available for iPhone aren’t quite up to speed for iPad yet:

• Office2 app interfaces with Google Docs pretty well, and Pages and Numbers are pretty sweet.
• Server Admin Remote has been updated for the iPad, but still waiting for iStat to follow suit.
• A couple of different VNC clients are already out — waiting to see who rises to the top.

James says he’s hoping for a Firefox and an Apple Airport Utility for the iPad as well.

You can check out an iPad at your local Apple Store or take the guided tour online here.

A word of caution from James when using your iPad in public — you may not be able to use it without being stared at or talked to.  Yes, it’s that stupendous.

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