So the annual Mac fan camp is over for another year so what were the highs and the lows?

Well personally I think this is going to be slightly heavy on one side and most of the highs have low points…

Time Capsule – This was a kick in the backside for anyone who recently purchased an AirPort Extreme because this is basically an AirPort Extreme with a hard disk included. The idea being that you can simply backup automatically over the airwaves. The problem with it is you can’t add any drives to it so you either stick with the 500GB or pay for the 1TB but even then for true, proper backup you should still have something offsite and on rotation. This basically means that every so often you swap a backup out and hold it somewhere else so should something happen you will still have a backup available.

iPhone updates – These were good and useful but not outstanding and seemed like a bridge to stem people unlocking phones by saying we are doing things but at least it was free.

  • Maps with location is by far the best app that has been added in this bundle being able to find where you are with one touch and then getting directions for a restaurant you just searched for, very cool.
  • Webclips, I don’t really think this is the best name but certainly a useful feature, saving bookmarks on the home screen to your favourite web apps is brilliant especially when it is still the only way to get more out of the iPhone at the moment.
  • Customizing the home screen/s is again a great feature as I won’t ever use the stock app and getting that as well as a few others off a cluttered home screen is a god send.
  • Sending multiple SMS messages is one of those things you don’t do very often but when you do, you really miss it so another useful add-on.
  • Chapters, subtitles, languages and lyrics are all just fluff and not something I can really see anyone using.

iPod Touch updates – Yep the Touch got an update too as well, getting pretty much what you see above (less the multiple SMS option) and a few extra apps including mail, maps, weather, notes and stocks. However the update to the iPod Touch came with a sting… That’s right Apple does it again for those early adopters and is going to charge you $20 (£12.99/ £12.66) for the privilege of getting what the iPhone holders get for free. Will people still do it, hell yeah, I already have!

iTunes movie rentals – This is a biggie. I buy movies but not many, as once I have seen it I very rarely go back and watch them again for quite some time so for me renting is better than purchasing. With rental from Apple we can now watch them anywhere on TV, computer or iPhone, the only downside at the moment is the time constraints. Once you select it to rent you have 29 days to start watching it but once you have started it you only have 24 hours to finish it. Now I don’t know about most but it isn’t often I get chance to watch a film all the way through in one sitting. Hopefully Apple will fix this.

Apple TV – following on from movies, Apple have made some changes to Apple TV. So Apple TV is the platform for watching the movies you rent on your TV and this includes HD movies, you can also now pick up podcasts to watch or listen to and photos from Flickr.

MacBook Air – Well there is no doubting that this was the highlight of the event and what Apple have managed to achieve is phenomenal in cramming so much in but was it worth it? I don’t know anyone who I have spoken to who would buy one, not because it is missing an ethernet port, not because it is missing a optical drive, partly because it has such a small hard disk of only 80Gb which in this day and age isn’t good for much. But mainly because they just don’t need one in their lives and the price… Well if it had just been a little less maybe it would have been something to think about and not just dismiss out of hand.

All in all it seems as though something was missing from this year’s expo – some nice things did get announced but more importantly it sets the stall out nicely for the coming year and the future so in the usual Apple way they leave more questions unanswered than answered but then maybe we are still dealing with the hangover of an iPhone last year.