IPhone 3G, Appstore & Shure 530 earphones

Like every Apple fan boy, I was eager to lay my hands on the new toy, but I didn’t buy it the first day, like i did last year. I sold my old phone for roughly 350$ in exchange for a new 16gig IPhone 3G. It was the 6th day, still not bad for all that waiting.

After two weeks, here are my impressions: -

- The rock star of the new IPhone is not the phone but the software update and the *App Store*. The IPhone 2.0. It ’s a revolutionary model which other companies will take years to build on. I’m hooked to Pandora at my work.  Imagine something like this, you hear a song in a coffee shop or the radio, anywhere in the world, you hold the iPhone facing the sound and in seconds, you get youtube links, itunes links for the song, artist and album. Yes, of *that* actual song. That’s Shazam for you. Games built on accelerometer is so much fun, it’s like bringing the Wii on your mobile. I can’t tell you how incredible this platform has become since the invention of the original Tring Tring phone.

- As for the phone itself, 3G is ok, not something I’d rave about. Twice the speed is not really that fast. GPS is very very basic and I’m disappointed. 16Gig still feels so small, When will we see a 64 gig? The Phone feels almost the same.

- The biggest disappointment is the performance of the phone. It’s become SLOW. Apps don’t close properly. Keyboard delays, call drops, sometimes the phone freezes too. Things become normal when restarted but *that* is not a good sign.

I’m sure Apple is working on it.

On the other hand, yesterday I purchased what they say as “the best earplugs in the world.” Cnet gave a 9.1, Amazon reviewers rave about it, Stereophile and almost every audiophile reviewer say, it is a “wow”.

Sound Isolating. Triple TruAcoustic MicroSpeakers. A dedicated Bass Woofer. It’s Aural nirvana.

It “shure” costs a whopping 550$ retail. ( I got it for 325$ on ebay, as usual). I’ve had four different earplugs before, including the ones from Etymotic Research, V-moda Vibe but the bass was never enough. It took a while to hook it into my ears and adjust the several sleeves that it comes with, but when I first listened to my buddha bar collection on the IPhone. It was like water flowing through a creek, a voice penetrating from a sound stage so vast, rich bass hugging my body. I wondered how it would sound from an audio source, like my Home theater. It was much better. In two words — MIND BLOWING.

If you are really passionate about the sound of your music, try one of the Shure earplugs — they have a wide range starting from 100$.

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