Apple Expo 2010, iPhone 4 developments and HTC Legend shines

Canadian Reviewer was a media partner at the recently concluded Apple Expo 2010 which is the biggest yearly show for Apple resellers, distributors and Mac users in Toronto. Aside from a number of workshops and seminars focusing on Macs in business and industry, there were a number of interesting product and solution exhibits.

This year's show, which took place at the Metro Convention Centre, Toronto, attracted hundreds of visitors throughout the afternoon. The show itself wasn't any larger in scale than  the one in the Distillery District last year but the new venue seemed more appropriate. Sadly, Apple itself wasn't represented either as an advertiser or as an exhibitor.

Some of the more outstanding exhibits included  accessory maker Moshi who featured some stylish cases, screen protectors, USB hubs and cleaning products for Macbooks, iPads and iPhones. Their approach to low-profile protection (almost invisible) for keyboards, wristpads and screens is unique because it doesn't get in the way of Apple's design for these products. We can't wait see these in stores come September.

Crumpler, purveryor of stylish camera and notebook bags, also had a good presence in the Apple Expo and was showcasing some of their upcoming iPad cases. These aren't cheap but they're well made solutions. We also saw some compelling multimedia solutions from ElGato which makes some of the best TV tuners for Macs and PCs. Their tiny EyeTV hybrid USB tuners that receives basic cable and digital TV over the air.

MacSpeech   which makes voice control and dictation software for the Mac showed their MacSpeech scribe which takes any clear digital voice recording and transcribes it into text as accurately as possible. This is a great and time-saving solution for reporters, students and anyone who has to transcribe tons of recordings into editable text.

So, overall, Apple Expo 2010 gave visitors a good preview of available solutions for Canadian users. Its a necessary show that we hope will continue and get bigger while attracting more exhibitors.

More on iPhone 4

We were hoping to catch a glimpse of the iPhone 4 during Apple Expo 2010 but no such luck. We did see a range of cases, rubber protectors and headphones but no one produced an actual device which, come to think of it, would have likely detracted from the items on exhibit.

There's still no word on when the iPhone 4 will be released in Canada. By this time last year, the iPhone 3GS had already been released and quite successfully so. What's going on?

Consumer Reports cited that while the iPhone 4 ranked highest in its recently tested smartphones, they could not recommend it to consumers until Apple rectified the antenna problems with the device which they claim is a hardware problem and which will not be fixed by an upcoming software update. Apple reportedly scratched out mention of the Consumer Reports issue on their discussion groups. Not the best move to make when your credibility is already under the microscope.

With all this drama, we wouldn't be surprised if Apple steps on the brakes of upcoming International launches and sadly this includes Canada. Our guess is that any launch will be pushed back to around mid-August once Apple has been able to respond to the  iPhone 4 complaints. Canadian carriers haven't mentioned anything although all of them (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Virgin Mobile) have a sign up page on their websites for interested users. There's also no word on the white iPhone 4 which is has still not made it to stores in the US.

HTC Legend Shines

We just received our Virgin Mobile HTC Legend review unit and we have to say that it is an impressively designed and capable smartphone. It is a lightweight unibody aluminum smartphone with a stunning AMOLED screen and Android OS 2.1 with HTC Sense. This is probably the best designed HTC smartphone we've seen and while smaller and less powerful  than the Nexus One, seems to be a good all-around connected device. Look out for our full review in the coming days.

Comments

[laptop accessories]

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[Tom]

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