Blurry iPhone 4

By Alesha Miller

With as great as everyone thinks the iPhone 4 is, and for as great as it should be, you would think Apple would have upgraded the camera on the phone as well when updating the phone from a 3gs to a 4. People expect things from Apple to be high tech and awesome.

Recently, I’ve noticed that I like to take photographs with my iPhone 4 rather than with my camera. It’s got better quality than most phone cameras, or so I thought. It takes great pictures when one is outside, but when a picture is taken from the camera phone indoors, it turns out very grainy and it’s not very good. So the advantage on the iPhone 4 is to have two camera phones on the phone. There’s one on the front, and one on the back. I thought I was the only one having this issue with the iPhone 4 camera, but I am not, which actually makes me feel a little bit better.

One person said the following on www.mac-forums.com: “So … here’s the scoop … my iPhone 4, with the latest version of iOS installed, everything upgraded, etc., and not jailbroken, takes rotten pictures about 99.44% of the time … very blurry. when I activate the camera, the view is extremely sharp for half a second, then it gets blurry. If I futz with the zoom, same thing happens — it’s sharp for a half-second, then goes blurry again. Same thing happens when I toggle between video and still modes. The results I found with Google say that if the factory reset doesn’t fix the camera, it’s a hardware problem.”

This is very similar to what happens to my phone! I usually think my photos come out fine until I upload them to my computer or Facebook, then they are a grainy, blurry disaster.

The main thing I have learned about this is, if I am going to take good pictures, I should plan to use my actual camera. It just really stinks that I can’t use the one on this expensive phone without maybe taking it back to the store and replacing it. Especially when my parents bought for me this nice item for Christmas. I’ll be happy with what I have.

Facetime on the iPhone

By Jordan Dolbin

So, about a month ago I joined the world of the iPhone. After a few weeks I had figured out all the different things the phone could do from apps to the camera. I immediately loved the phone but little did I know that I hadn’t used the best feature on the phone yet.

Two days ago, I used Facetime for the first time. It was quite possibly one of the coolest things ever. I was sitting in the middle of campus, video chatting my best friend who goes to UTEP in El Paso, Texas. I hadn’t been able to see him since Christmas break and we could never seem to find a time where we would both have access to a computer and have time for a good skype chat. Facetime made it so whenever both of us had free time, we could video chat where ever we were regardless if there was a computer or not.

A phone call is always nice, but there is just something more meaningful to a conversation when you  can see the other person’s face. Facetime allowed me to have that face to face conversation that I haven’t been able to have for quite some time now.

Online Dating

Megan Perry

In recent weeks the topic of online dating has appeared to pop up more and more. Not this is a new concept or anything, but I think with age comes an increase seriousness about dating. A nameless friend of mine started a profile on plentyoffish.com as a suggestion from some older woman who found success. Within twenty four hours she already was chatting away with potential suitors. Now I stop and wonder if this has become my generation’s crutch? Will those cutesy love stories of first meetings disappear?

To answer my questions about generation, my teacher observing hours today dismissed this notion. During grade level plan period, the topic of dating came up. To my own surprise, multiple teachers begin talking about experiences with online dating. One excursion in the virtual dating world resulted in a happy marriage, and another is still dabbling. When noticing my surprise, they tell me how much easier it is  to have a database find matches and sort through the bad apples. Life gets busy, and sometime a person has to call on those resources available. Personally, I think I will take a pass. The concept is still an intriguing one, though.

A Penny Saved…

Megan Perry

Want a deal, but do not know where to look? Who in college is not pinching every penny, while trying not to sacrifice the fun? Talking from experience, this can become a difficult balancing act. A person can only cut so many coupons and participate in dollar bowling. For those looking for an easy way to find those discounts, Google is offering a new mobile application that will allow users to do just this.

Called Latitude, this new money saving app shows nationwide deals. For those interested, it will be offered for Android Google Maps and iPhones.

The app will allow users an opportunity to find discounts at various locations such as: Arby’s, Macy’s, RadioShack, Finish Line, Famous Footwear, Great Clips, Naturalizer, Quiznos, and American Eagle Outfitters.

How Google is proposing to make its program different from similar ones already being offered is through the addition of a status system updates.

Basically, it is the same concept as frequent shopping points. The more a person goes to a particular place to search for specials, the better the deals are down the line.

Sign me up!