We have a range of new content on the way, from a brand new team (apart from Me. Sam.) who are more passionate and involved in technology and gaming than ever. And what a time to come back, with less than 6 weeks till christmas, and massive products such as Windows Phone 7, Kinect, PlayStation Move, 3DS, etc; hitting the headlines, and giving us tonnes (literally) to talk about.

We hope you’re happy to see us back, and we’re gonna try and stay here a bit longer this time.

The original cover featured a diving-suited giant, the Big Daddy, one of the toughest opponents to face. So too does two, only this time the cover character is you. Subject Delta, an alpha series big Daddy. Overuse of the Greek alphabet aside, you are one of the first successful models and were assigned to protect a Little Sister. A genetically-modified little girl who sings about angels while harvesting genetic materiel from corpses. Waking up after years of inactivity, you begin hunting for your lost Little Sister.

There are several new features from the original. Subject Delta’s enormous strength and size enable him to wield the rivet gun, drill-arm and many other heavy weapons that in the previous game you were on the receiving end of. Each one has a very different feel, and unlike many other shooters, each continues to be useful right until the end. The biggest improvement however is the research camera, which has been upgraded from a snapshot to a film reel, and gained unlimited ‘ammo’. Rather than trying to line up a shot of an enemy for maximum points, you simply start the film running and try to get in as many different attacks as you can before it dies.

You also have access to new plasmids, genetic tonics granting the ability to throw fire and lightning, or more unusual things like bees or mind-control tomatoes. All the originals are present, with a handful of new ones and a much better upgrade system. Previously, an upgraded power would deal more damage but now an upgrade lets you charge the power for new effects. Upgrade the Incinerate! Power, and your fires become explosions or flamethrowers, lightning bolts chain between targets, frozen enemies shatter into deadly shards and many more deadly effects await. Another nice touch is that each upgrade requires the previous level, so you don’t feel punished for upgrading early.

We also see some new enemies, along with the original cast of splicers. Special attention should be drawn to the Big Sisters, a new model of protector for the Little Sisters, they actively hunt you and other than a few scripted sections could show up almost any time. A shriek in the distance warns you when one is after you, giving you a short time to prepare before the fight starts. As she leaps around you, firing the same plasmid-powered attacks you have access to, you feel much more like a Big Daddy lumbering in it’s diving suit than at any other time.

The diving suit itself is a point of interest. Trailers promised us the ability to leave the underwater city of Rapture and explore outside, the sea-bed. This does indeed happen, but it is something of a disappointment. Delta puts away his guns and fistful of lightning, the diving helmet becomes more pronounced, restricting your vision, and water rises in an airlock. Then the door opens, and you step out into the ocean. You wander through a threatless valley of coral to another airlock, and reverse the process. Sometimes a small cliff prevents you from turning back, and later on you can loot drowned opponents or sunken crates for supplies, but the sections feel pointless.

Exploring the indoor areas feels much the same. Any game with a story to tell has a linear plot, but Bioshock 2 doesn’t even try to hide it. You take a train from one location to the next, solving the problem preventing you from driving further. Railroad plot has never been more literal, and for all that Delta’s allies call him a freed slave, you never seem to have an agenda of our own. You feel less in control than in the previous game, which is something of an irony. To say more would spoil it though.

Overall, this is a great sequel. It has it’s flaws, but they are minor in comparison. The combat is challenging, the story captivating and the atmosphere just as perfect as before.

• Improved syncing for music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and photos
• Redeem iTunes Gift Cards, codes, and certificates in the App Store
• Display available iTunes account credits in the App Store and iTunes Store
• Save video from Mail and MMS into Camera Roll
• Option to “Save as new clip” when trimming a video on iPhone 3GS
• Better iPhone 3G Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on
• Remotely lock iPhone with a passcode using MobileMe
• Use iPhone 3GS Voice Control with Bluetooth headsets
• Paste phone numbers into the keypad
• Anti-phishing features in Safari
• Fixes issues that caused some app icons to display incorrectly

Buy ringtones directly from iTunes, on your iPhone

iPhone OS 3.1 is available now and is a free download for iPhone customers and iPod touch users already running iPhone OS 3.0.

Expect a review from us in the very near future, where we will cover all the new features as well as the competitors to Spotify.

Some of you may think, well there is no reason to change that. But we think differently, and it is with this post that I publicise the change that will be happening at bitcolumns over the coming months.

We are changing our focus completely, moving from a student based general technology site, to a more general audience site that focuses on Mobile and Gaming technology as our main areas. And you will see this change reflected in our new content over the next few weeks.

We also have a complete team change. Almost all of the old team are gone, and new people are now on board. You will meet them in their upcoming posts on the site, as well as learn a bit about them as time goes by.

So what else?

Well, the bitcast is suspended until further notice, we may have a new site design and code base coming out in the next few months, as well as other changes that are still in the idea phase of their life.

I am working hard to make bitcolumns a success, and a good resource for those who read it. And this passion will be reflected as soon as time allows. Keep tuned to see what happens.

Sam Hutchings

Head Editor, Owner

I will be one of the first to admit that in terms of raw hardware and out of the box features the iPhone is lacking. That camera could be 5 or 8 Megapixel, it could have a memory expansion slot, it could have a QWERTY keyboard, etc, etc. But it doesn’t….

So why all the commotion?

At least once a day one of us will see an advert or article about the iPhone (this article included), or hear someone talking about how awesome it is. And on the other side of that you will also see an anti-iphone advert or article, and someone arguing how it is worse than their Blackberry, or Nokia Smart phone, or similar. The reasons for both of these are quite clear: Business, and personal opinion. But the problem comes in that with the iPhone, the traditional way of comparing phones and gadgets has gone out of the window.

The beauty of the iPhone is not in the hardware (unless you count the design) but instead, it is in the software that runs the device. No phone software out at the moment (at least here in the UK) has been successful in getting people to use more and more of the features on their phones than ever before. The reason for this: Simplicity.

The problem with buttons

The iPhone’s operating system is very easy to use, and brings something slightly revolutionary to the phone market: the lack of a menu button!!!

Sound’s silly doesn’t it, but it is not. Every other phone I have ever owned (even other touch screen phones) had still had a menu button putting an extra button press between you and your features. The iPhone removes this completely. Whereas on some phone I may need to go to Menu > Programs > Web Browser, on the iPhone it is merely the tap of of a finger on the Safari icon (which I can place on the dock to make it available on any home screen). Too lazy to search through the screens, use Spotlight to search for it… The number of clicks has been reduced from 3 or more, to 1. Saving over a 3rd of the time in launching an application.

The App Store

One of the major loves people have of the iPhone is the applications, and there are loads. In fact, there are over 50,000 Apps in the App store, many of which are free.

Their charm is in the fact that you can do pretty much anything if you find the right App, hence Apple’s “There’s an App for that” campaign. Mix this with the ease of installation and purchasing that comes from Apple’s experience with iTunes and it becomes a dead cert. But there are still major problems:

The approval system. Apple has a very enigmatic approval system, in fact I doubt they even know how it works. Whilst one app may be approved, one very similar app may be rejected. Apps that people think should be approved, sometimes aren’t, etc.

In Conclusion

Mix these two ingredients with an iPod, Dictaphone, GPS, Calculator, YouTube device, Calendar, Notebook, Email, Calendar, etc; and keep the simplicity in all these parts and you have a phone that many people are able to, and enjoy to, use.Yes it is not the best hardware in the world, and it is not the best value for money on the hardware front. But that is not the point.

The beauty of this device is in it’s ease of use, it’s looks, and the systems that support it. And until other phone manufacturers are able to get this mix right they will still see an increasing number of sales going to the iPhone range.

Now, if you access http://mobile.bitcolumns.com on a mobile phone (apart from an iPhone, which will access our normal site) you will be sent to our new text-based mobile phone site. Although not quite so pretty, it will bring you all the same information in a faster loading format.

The iPhone 3GS sees no cosmetic change from the iPhone 3G, but does bring some cool new features to the party:

• An upgraded 3 megapixel, auto-focus, video recording camera to replace the current 2 megapixel camera
• A digital compass, with its own app. You can instantly see which direction you are facing, orient Google Maps to the way you are facing; or jsut get bored, spin around, and see if you can stop at 0.
• Basic video editing features (select start and end of clip), which you cna then use to upload directly toYouTube.
• Voice Control: Phone a contact, select a song, or find out what song is playing just using your voice. Hold the Home button to talk to the iPhone, and the iPhone talks back.

The iPhone 3G's faster, more flashy, identical younger cousin

All of these features should run very smoothly, with the 3GS performing up to twice as fast as its 3G cousin. And the best bit? All of this, with improved battery power (All values aproximate, and sourced from www.apple.com):

• Talk time:
  • Up to 12 hours on 2G
  • Up to 5 hours on 3G
• Standby time: Up to 300 hours
• Internet Use
  • Up to 5 hours on 3G
  • Up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi
• Video playback: Up to 10 hours
• Audio playback: Up to 30 hours

iPhone 3G

So what about us iPhone 3G owners? On June 17th we can upgrade to iPhone OS 3.0, for free. Yup, completely free! But what does this get us?

• Cut, Copy and Paste
  • in all applications and websites
• Landscape Keyboard
  • now available in Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari
• MMS
  • Send MMS messages and include photos, audio, and contact info. You can take a photo from inside the new Messages App
• Spotlight Search
  • Flick the Home screen to the right to find a new Spotlight screen, where you can search all of your contacts, calendars, and notes, as well as everythig in your iPod.
• Voice Memos
  • If you have an important lecture or meeting you can now use your iPhone to record the audio, out of the box. Only time will tell if this app can live up to the ones already available in the App Store.
• Improved Calendar
  • The calendar now works with Microsoft Exchange, as well as CalDAV (the protocol used by Google Calendar, and others).
• Buy Movies, TV Shows, and Audiobooks
  • You can now buy all of the above in the iTunes app directly on the phone, but downloads over 10MB still require a Wi-Fi connection.
• A faster, better Safari with autofill usernames and passwords
• Internet Tethering (requires bolt-on in the UK) so that you can use your iPhone as a modem
• Stereo Bluetooth
  • Connect your iPhone to compatible stereo headphones, car kits or other accessories to blast people with music.
• Automatic Wi-Fi Login
  • Do you often use wireless hotspots in cafes, etc? The iPhone can now automatically log you in to these hotspots to save you time and typing.
• YouTube Login
  • You can now use your YouTube account on your phone, to save and sync bookmarks as well as rate your favourite movies.
• Sync Notes
  • Sync notes between your iPhone and Mac/PC so that you never lose them again
• Shake to Shuffle (but not too hard)
  • You can now shake the iPhone to shuffle to a different song in your iPod list. Just don’t shake it too hard or it may go the same way as your Wii Remote.
• Run the Latest Apps
  • iPhone 3G users will still be able to run the latest apps, including peer-to-peer games (multiplayer to you and me), as well as using accessories through the dock connector and bluetooth.

For those of you looking to upgrade to the new iPhone, or buy one for the first time, prices can be found at the O2 Website.

The reason is this, tomorrow sees the beginning of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, or WWDC (Don’t ask us where the extra W came from). This conference brings some of the top developers in the world, as well as those just starting out, into one place for a few days of workshops, seminars, lunches, and I assume parties. But of recent years it has become a very important event for all Apple fans over the world. As the keynote that it opens with, normally pesented by Steve Jobs but opened this year by Phil Schiller, is the couple of hours where we get a first look at the ew Mac OS and… the brand new iPhone.

Now unless you have been hidden under a rock, inside a faraday cage, in the amazon rainforst; you will have probably heard one or two or 20 rumours about what people are expecting in the new iPhone. Video recording, front facing camera, magnometer (compass), repositioned speaker and headphone socket, camera button, video calling, matte/rubberised back, no more chrome frame, and coffee dispenser (I admit I made that one up myself); are all just a taster of what rumours are flying round the internet at this moment in time. There is even a rumoured name floating around: the iPhone Video.

As an iPhone fan, and owner, I am currently counting the hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds until the keynote starts (6pm GMT, Monday 8th June) so I can watch it online and drool over the iPhone if it is announced.

Now some of you are problably thinking “How can you be sure there will even be a new announcement?”, well there are a few clues:

1. Apple are very predictable when it comes to when they announce product refreshes, with Phil Schiller himself saying at Macworld in January that the iPhone’s refresh cycle is June/July each year
2. O2 has started to withdraw current iPhone 3G avertising here in the UK. Stores are replacing iPhone POS with adverts for the new O2 Joggler, where iPhone adverts have been for almost a year, national newspapers are no longer carrying the iPhone 3G ‘There’s an app for that’ advertising on the backs of some of their supplements, again replaced with the O2 Joggler.

This second point is the biggest hint. O2 have actively advertised the iPhone 3G since before it’s July 11th launch last year. With adverts in stores, newspapers, television, the internet. For them to start to retract some of these means that something must be happening in the world of the iPhone.