Posts Tagged ‘apple’

It’s not too often that I review a product, and this will be short and sweet, but after plunking down a wad of dough for our iPad, I promptly began puttering around for some iPad protection. One thing you’ll discover quickly is that most of the cases that Best Buy and retail stores sell are, well, sorry. And expensive.

When I found the CrazyOnDigital Folio on Amazon for only $20, I was pretty skeptical. “That’s cheaper than most iPhone cases! How can it be any good?”

I’m a review reader, though, and after skimming the reviews of the case, I opted to get one. Amazon has a great returns policy, and I took advantage of our Amazon Prime membership for free 2-day shipping.

Short story: We love it!

It’s truly a quality, attractive case. I also love that it has utility pockets. The fold-over design allows you to set it up on your lap, or do give it just the right tilt angle on your desk to type on your iPad effectively.

What are you waiting on? Go get it.

It’s been about three weeks since we got our iPad, and I thought I’d share what we’re continuing to learn from it and our use of it. It really is in the process of revolutionizing how/when/where I digest information and media.

1. It’s all about the apps. Even more so than the iPhone. Yes, one can argue all you want that “it’s just a big iPhone/iPod Touch,” but that’s not a valid argument. For starters, there are apps for the iPad that are not available for those devices. Second, many apps that are available for both have been rewritten and redesigned for the iPad. And yes, they are ultimately better.
2. The screen is gorgeous. Yes, I know my Macbook Pro screen is similar or better. But I don’t hold my Macbook Pro screen at the same viewing distance as my iPad. Watching movies via Netflix or iTunes with an iPad is stunning. You feel immersed in the story. The screen also makes working on the iPad completely enjoyable.
3. Reading books on the iPad is truly doable. I’ve been a skeptic of eBooks for a long time. I don’t know that I’ll ever get over my love affair with a bound volume. Plus, I doubt I’ll take my iPad into the bath tub with me. (sorry for the mental picture) There are several eBook apps that are simply brilliant, and many give you the option of adjusting the screen tint so that you feel like you’re actually viewing a printed page.
4. The iOS is pretty stinking amazing. I wrote in my journal the other day that it’s actually liberating for me. I’m a huge multitasker, and too often I’m guilty of bouncing through screen real estate from one program to another, one project to another and losing myself in the day. The way the iOS is structured has compelled me to think linearly, and it has been refreshing. I don’t have dozens of windows open in the background. I can’t see what’s going on behind the scenes while I’m in an app without exiting. No Growl notices. Etc. I hope that the upcoming iOS 4 update for the iPad doesn’t ruin that wonderful simplicity of focus for me.
5. Perfect for communication. Skype works flawlessly, and thus far, we haven’t used the 3G capabilities of the iPad. From email to Twitter, the iPad is wonderful for connecting.
6. MobileMe. It just keeps getting better. But with Apple’s cloud service, our phones, our computers and the iPad are all simultaneously synced with our contacts, calendars, web bookmarks, etc. Sigh.

A complaint about apps

One complaint I have is that apps that are available on both iPhone and iPad platforms generally require two different purchases. I can’t gripe too much because the iPad apps are better (see #1 above). However, with the App Stores not allowing you to preview software, it’s like shooting in the dark as to whether an app will be good or not. Since apps are more expensive for the iPad in general than the iPhone, that’s not a risk I take. Rather, I opted to immediately jailbreak our iPad, and I use Installous to preview apps before I buy them. Those apps that are good, I buy; those that aren’t, I delete. There needs to be an app store process like renting movies from iTunes which gives you 1-3 days with an app before it “times out.”

Apps to “check out”

The eBook apps continue to turn heads (and pages). In addition to Apple’s own iBooks, there are stellar apps from Barnes & Noble, Amazon Kindle, and Borders. My favorite (and the one that is consistently cheaper) is the Kindle app. It’s truly a work of art, and it makes buying an actual Kindle moot. Why buy a Kindle which only does eBooks when you can buy an iPad with a wonderful Kindle app? (or the Nook for that matter)

Twapps

The following apps are ones that I’m currently comparing for the ultimate honor of being my official Twitter app on the iPad:

• Echofon Pro
• Osfooro
• Twittelator

Each have pros and cons, but I like how Echofon syncs my read/unread tweets with Echofon for the iPhone and for the desktop. Osfoora is probably the most well-designed and graphically appealing, but I wish it had another theme option besides the dark one.

Big Facebook Fail

I could not believe Facebook didn’t have an iPad app. I guess they’re trying to push you to simply using the Facebook site in Safari? However, I’ve loved the simplicity and distractionlessness of the iPhone Facebook app. It’s a definite niche and a plus. At this point, there’s an absolutely gorgeous app called Sobees Lite that renders Facebook like a magazine. I heartily recommend it, but it lacks many of the iPhone apps functionality. The Facebook hole on the iPad at present is just begging to be filled by someone.

Another iPhone-iPad transition fail is Fox News’ app. Cmon, guys!

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

I prefer Accuweather over the Weather Channel Max. Accuweather may look too simple, but everything is clickable, and it has a nice graphic interface to get to maps, video reports, etc. The free WC app is that way because it supports annoying popup ads.

Feed Me

If you’re still surfing to your favorite blogs one at a time, you are so… late 90s. Get a feed reader and use it today. I’ve chosen Google Reader simply because Google owns our birthright, and I wanted to be sure I was in their will. It also syncs with everything but your kitchen, uh, nevermind. You get the picture.

I’ve used Reeder on my iPhone for quite a while, and its iPad app has the best rating. However, I hate – with a passion – its start screen. It’s essentially little stacks of paper representing the different folders that I’ve sorted my blog reads into. I much prefer how the iPhone app lists them in the left column. I was pleased to discover that MobileRSS Feed Reader has a much better layout initially.

However… Reeder just seems to have a smoother feel to it functionally and aesthetics-wise than does MobileRSS. I’m torn between the two. Everytime I fire up Reeder and get those obnoxious and unhelpful little stacks, I get fired up. But when I attempt to use the other exclusively I feel like I’m missing a long lost friend.

Other Apps I Like & Use

• Words with Friends HD (was there really a need to say this?)
• Taska – the best productivity app I’ve found on the iPad. Beats Things, ToDo and others. Like that it syncs with ToodleDo. I wish 2Do had an iPad app because that’s what I was using on the iPhone.
• Chronicle – for journaling, notetaking
• News apps: Fox News (iPhone version), NYT Editor’s Choice (I can’t help it for now; it’s beautiful), Early Edition, USA Today
• Camerabag – wonderful photo editor
• Bible apps: ESV Bible (great!), YouVersion Bible (super!), OliveTree Bible Reader (it has some great free resources, among which are a downloadable, searchable and indexed archive of all of John Piper’s sermons)
• ContactsJournal – a pretty cool way of keeping notes for those who have a large contact list; great for organizational leaders who need to remember conversations and news about members or volunteers
• Netflix and ABC Player
• DC Comics and Marvel Comics - I was a comic book collector nerd forever. In reading a few stunningly gorgeous issues on these apps, the inner nerd is clawing to get back out.
• Calendar – yes, the stock iCal app for the iPad is just, well, perfect. Thank you, Apple.
• TwentyThree – a way cool geo social network consolidator. Great for digital stalking. And beautiful. Check out the pic below.

Recommendations to Steve

Here’s what I would do to improve upon the iPad:

1. Multiple users. With OS X, the ability to create user accounts is wonderful and allows families to share one computer without messing up the settings, emails, and creative personalizations. Currently, the iPad is a little hard to use between multiple folks. It’s not like an iPhone that is mine. The iPad, I would imagine in many settings and households, is shared.
2. A camera. Yes, I’m an early adopter, and no, I don’t mind that the first iPad didn’t have one. But bring it on!
3. Sortable options in the App Store. When I do a search for “Twitter” to check out Twitter apps, I want to be able to sort the results by price, by rating and by release date. Having to scroll through windows by clicking on arrows seems very Windowish. Give us a list view or something.
4. Quit fighting jailbreakers. They improve your product significantly. Or if you just fight with them for the free media attention, then you’re still a genius.
5. Put a little gap in the case somewhere so that if you cover it with your finger, the person to the right of you will lose all cellphone signal.

Apps We Need

• A texting app that allows you to receive texts sent to your cell phone and then allows you to send through that account… over WIFI. There are numerous texting apps that require you to create a new virtual number, and those are nice, but I’d really like to get my texts on my iPad – without 3G.
• eBook Low Price. An app that consolidates the prices among all the big eBook apps and shows you which app/vendor has the cheapest price for that eBook. I would imagine that clicking on that low price automagically launches the corresponding eBook app and brings you to the purchase page for that book.

What about you? What’s been your iPad experience? How has it changed or is it changing how you relate with news, media and communication? Apps you like or want to see?

We’re almost ready to pull the trigger on an iPad at our house. Carolyn and I are going to “share” one as our 18th anniversary present. But we’re selling stuff first.

Here’s where we need help… With the new data plans from AT&T announced this week for iPhones and iPads, should we:
1. Get rid of one iPhone and get iPad 3G data plan
2. Keep both iPhones and get iPad WIFI with no 3G
3. Get iPad 3G AND get a Verizon mifi which would give us Internet for up to 5 devices (we could also discoonect an iPhone)
4. Jump down, turn wound, pick a bale of cotton.
5. Other

Go.

OK, yes, I’d take one. No, I won’t pay for one until I’m eligible for a full upgrade. But this guy is my hero.

I used to write reviews for iPhone apps for the website appropriately titled appleiphoneapps.com (now appadvice.com). It’s a fantastic site to keep up with the good and terrible of apps for the iPhone. For every $.99 jewel, there are about 50 bombs. It’s always good to read reviews before hastily purchasing – unless you just love throwing dollar bills in the digital gutter.

I stumbled across someone’s recommendation of the app called Groups: Drag and Drop Contact Management a while back, and after doing some research, I pulled the trigger. Even though it’s a bit pricey at $2.99, I’ve found it to be a stellar addition to my iPhone.

If you don’t use the Address Book on your Mac all that much – and especially if you don’t use the Groups feature of AB, it won’t be that appealing. But perhaps it will inspire you to organize that messy contacts database you have.

Groups allows you to add contacts to specific groups by dragging and dropping them on the iPhone. This is a feature that Apple did not build into its Contacts app. You can also create Groups with the Groups app. There are are host of other inspired features as well – such as being able to email an entire group.

In addition to working with groups, the app also has a beautiful graphical interface. It’s really a pleasure to use. You’ll discover new features consistently that are well thought-out. For instance, a number will appear beside the name of your contact, indicating how many groups that contact is in. By tapping the number, an interface is brought up which allows you to edit the groups that contact is currently in.

Also, the ability to interact with individual contacts in your database is extremely well-done. Simply tap on a contact, and a dialog interface opens up that allows you to:

• Call any of the numbers assigned to that contact
• Send a text message
• Email
• Go to that contact’s website
• Map that contacts address
• Identify the groups that contact is in
• Send a contact card (in .vcf format) of that contact
• Edit the contact

There is also an attractive dial pad integrated into the app. The app really could become a replacement for Apple’s stock Contacts and Phone apps. It’s that impressive. The ability to scroll down the group list on the left by dragging your finger down the list is also very impressive.

Cons

The only significant caveat to this app is its load time. It takes too long to load. That in itself isn’t a deal killer, but it’s lengthy enough that you could be in the Phone app and Contacts app of the iPhone by the time it loads. That prevents me from replacing the former two apps with this one.

Of course, with the release of the iPhone 3G S, processor speeds are significantly increased, and this problem may go away. For the rest of us with 1G and 3G iPhones, however, this precludes us from using this app for anything other than groups and contact management.

Overall

If you have an extensive contact database, this is a must-have app. It’s smooth appearance and graphic design are excellent. Even though it tops out at $2.99, don’t let this discourage you. In addition, if you have a lot of contacts, this app will help you beat that database into great, manageable shape.

A piece of paper… and perhaps a damp Q-Tip. It works.

Ever since Mobile Me’s inception, there have been significant burps and hiccups of Apple’s revolutionary syncing service. When it works, it’s beautiful. When it doesn’t, it’s a bear. My experience over the past year has included more bear than beauty. Granted, Apple acknowledged its stumble out of the gate by extending members’ expiration dates beyond their 12-month paid subscription. That was a caveat. 

However, the amount of times I’ve had to reset iPhones, my sync history, and generally yell at my calendars for not syncing correctly between our three computers and two iPhones has been excessive. Apple should be paying me for bug discovery of this service, not the other way around. Since it’s a $99 annual fee, Google’s recent end-around may sound the death nell for Apple’s stumbling. 

Disclaimer: Before you think I’m being hard on Apple, just remember you always tend to be hard on those you love. I am a diehard Apple fan, and therefore my criticisms, I think, are fair. I have a hard stomaching those who take pot shots and make snide remarks without any familiarity with Apple’s stellar and amazing products and customer service.

Let me make a long story short: If you own an iPhone and do NOT use Mobile Me but WOULD love to have your contacts and calendars sync wirelessly with your Google account, (what’s on your iPhone appears magically on your Google calendar and vice versa) then go here and set up your iPhone to work with Google’s new Activesync.

At the very least, you’ll want to use it if you don’t already use another service. For Mobile Me users, you may be tempted to demand a refund or pro-rated credit. Certainly for users of the super-expensive BusySync (see my review of it here), you’ll sigh and regret paying their astronomical fees.

I would think most folks will be switching to Google’s services soon. It’s free, and it works.

Like Mobile Me should be, on both counts.

Also, you can watch the video for an explanation of what exactly it does:

Sometime ago I wrote about Facebooksync for the Mac which will make sure your friends’ contact information and profile pics are synced with the Mac Address Book. It’s been very buggy of late, and in searching for a fix or solution, I stumbled across another app: AddressBook Sync which promises to do two things:

1. Sync your Facebook friends’ profile pics with the Mac Address Book.
2. Sync your Facebook friends’ birthdays.

It will not, unfortunately, sync contact information. Apparently, this is not allowed by Facebook at this time. (A crying shame, but I certainly understand).

After a quick download from the app’s site, I am happy to say it works flawlessly and quickly. You’ll need to give it permission to access your Facebook account, but after that, you’ll get a lovely window popup showing you the current profile pics and the ones that it will be updating. You’re also given the option of keeping whichever profile pics you have. This is very useful if you have a humiliating shot of a friend that you want to pop up on your iPhone every time they call for a good laugh. Ahem. Not that I would do that to anyone I know… (but if I’m chuckling when I answer your phone call, you know why now.)

For functionality, ease of use and general all-around helpfulness, I give this app an A. For the features I’d really like (contact information syncing) but which Facebook prevents, I guess we’ll have to wait.

With $300 million and counting invested in the “I’m a PC” campaign that began with hiring Jerry Seinfeld, the new Mac commercials point out a painfully obvious truth. Love em. See the others here.

With a nice little message of “Thanks for waiting,” the iPhone Dev Team posted the new tool that will unlock, jailbreak and activate iPhone firmware 2.0 this afternoon!

The website iphoneunlockstatus.com provided this handy-dandy overview to know what you’re getting into with the new tool:

I am downloading it as we speak…

Update (7-19-08, 9:13 p.m.): I downloaded it, and tried to run it. It spun for almost 20 minutes looking for the firmware (which was on my desktop). I was not willing to run the “Expert Mode” until they publish better instructions. There was also a note over at iClarified.com that says that Installer app does not work. That’s crazy. How would one install jailbroken apps? Think I’ll wait for the morrow.

The Morrow (7-20-08, 6:00 a.m.): iClarified has posted a tutorial for the jailbreaking method. I have still have lots of questions about it and wish there was a FAQ.

Update (4:15 p.m.): Bummer. I can’t recommend or endorse this tool for anyone yet. After much anticipation, its use is unreliable. Even after following the tutorial the Pwnage 2.0 tool won’t find the firmware (I have to select it manually) or bootloaders (It offers to search the internet for them, but I already have them in the specified folder). Too bad ziphone didn’t get in on this project. His tool is so much easier to use for the average user. Unless you’re an advanced user, I would advise you to wait for either a better tutorial, better version of this tool, or another tool altogether. At least we know that the first jailbreak salvo has been fired. 

Others will hopefully rush in and clean up what the Dev Team have worked so hard to get out.

Update (7-21-08, 9:15 p.m.): I have successfully jailbroken my iPhone using the new tool (2.01) the Dev Team released yesterday! My error, I think, was not actually putting the iPhone in DFU mode. I didn’t know there was a difference until I found this article that described what to do.

But not this weekend, their blog says. In the meantime, watch this video of just how easy it is to jailbreak your iPhone with the pwnage tool that will soon be released. 

Many many hours have gone into this and now it should be as easy enough for your grandmother to use.

 

You can also watch the video in high quality here.

Just hours after I downloaded the iPhone 2.0 update from Apple’s site (and a day earlier than it was going to be released!), the iPhone Dev Team had already announced a jailbreak! Gizmodo was one of the first to release the news, although the truth is that just about every incremental release of the 2.0 beta has been jailbroken by them over the past several months.

Here are some questions I don’t know the answer to:

• Can those of us who updated to 2.0 hastily jailbreak our phones?
• Or does the jailbreak apply to the pwnage method prior to updating to 2.0?

After six hours with the update, I am still extremely impressed with the App Store. However, I’m growing less and less impressed with the range of free apps that are offered. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve installed some really cool ones, but I just doubt that most of them will have lasting use. There is a certain “cool” factor to some of them, but I can already tell that I won’t use them very much.

On the other hand, I had dozens of free games and other nice apps on my jailbroken iPhone that I used regularly that aren’t available on the App Store. There’s just nothing to compare with the jailbreak community and their spirit of open source. Developers for the App Store are wanting $.99 to $19.99 for programs – and there’s no way to try them out before buying. Who does that anymore? If anyone is going to spend money on software, you generally want to know if it will do what you need/want. I know it’s all about the money. It’s just that I don’t have any. ;)

This evening as I play around with the new apps and peruse the features of 2.0, I honestly don’t know which direction I’ll head in the days to come. I can say that Apple has hit a home run with this firmware. Many folks are going to LOVE it. There will be cartwheels turned all over tomorrow when folks get the official release.

For those of us who have grown to love the open source feeling of a jailbroken phone, however, I would imagine that there are many folks like me with somewhat mixed feelings. I wrote a post last October that expressed my frustration with Apple’s inability to understand what tech folks really want from them: freedom.

A good example of what was left out is the app Intelliscreen. It is one of the most powerful, helpful and innovative apps that I loved on my jailbroken iPhone. Yet, they do not develop it for the App Store. A quote from their website says:

Couldn’t Apple have had a more open mind to open source? There’s some amazing geniuses that aren’t at Apple. For Pete’s sake, a 15 year-old developed iJailbreak last year.

And maybe that’s what bums me out. I want my free Yahtzee game back on my iPhone. I can’t have it without a jailbreak. That’s just the beginning of apps that I no longer have. Others include iPhone Video Recorder, MobileScrobber, Intelliscreen, Twinkle, Solitaire, Super Nintendo and 100s of games for it… and the list goes on.

From a link over at iClarified this a.m., I was able to download the much-anticipated iPhone 2.0 firmware – one day early. I have no idea how this is possible, only that I got the download before Apple took the link down. By updating to the new iTunes 7.7, I was able to option-click on “Restore” and upgrade my iPhone to 2.0.

The experience was flawless – except for my first attempt with iTunes 7.6. You cannot update to 2.0 using older iTunes software.

Many of you know I’ve been using a jailbroken phone for months now and been extremely pleased with it. I was expecting 2.0 to blow me away. 

It didn’t.

After an initial “wow factor” with the App Store that’s now available in 2.0, (and it IS very impressive) my enthusiasm began to fade. There was no Yahtzee game, no free cards games… in fact, there were only 15 games listed and only ONE of those was FREE. After further looking, there are many more games under “Entertainment,” but the free ones are few and far between, to say the least. (Why in the world would anyone pay $1.99 for Hangman?!) The Facebook application rocks, but the mobile Facebook website is so impressive, I wonder about the need for the app? I am still exploring, but my 15-20 minute first impression leaves me waiting for a jailbreak. 

One disappointment is that with ALL THE TIME that Apple and developers had with this rollout, where are the apps that matter? The App Store is just that – a store. It’s designed to make money. There just aren’t that many freebies available, like I was led to believe there might be. And as far as sheer silly fun, programs like iFartz and iGiggle just aren’t there.

On top of that, when my phone rang a few minutes after the update, I groaned. Back to Apple’s stock ringtones. Thank goodness that iToner is ready their 1.08 update. 

Conclusion: I have a 1st gen iPhone and most likely will be holding off on getting a new iPhone – we don’t have 3G networks in our area. My jailbroken iPhone has been wonderful! I never cease to be amazed at software coming out for it.

As far as 2.0, those purists who never jailbroke their iPhones, waiting eagerly for the 2.0 update will probably be pleased. Any new icon on their screen will cause them to jump for joy. Jailbreakers will likely be disappointed and watching the Dev Team for the ensuing race to JB 2.0. I can imagine that a JB’ed 2.0 with an App Store would be the best of both worlds.

However, Zibri, the author of the amazing Ziphone utility which jailbreaks the iPhone had this to say on his blog today:

…I strongly suggest not to upgrade iTunes nor the iPhone.

David Alison has a great post detailing some commonly-heard excuses for not buying Macs or not thinking that a Mac would be the solution for you and your family. Let me know which one you’ve heard the most or your own “myth.”

I think I hear the “Macs are more expensive myth” most often. Remember, you get what you pay for.

I had a little problem over the weekend. Somewhere between Monticello and Stephenville, my iPhone stopped ringing. It wouldn’t vibrate or make a noise when someone was calling. Unless I happened to be looking at the screen (which is pretty hard to do when it’s in your pocket), I had no idea people were calling.

To confuse the matter further, I noticed that the phrase “AT&T -Ringtones Enabled!” showed up and scrolled across the small portion of the screen (top left) where the “AT&T” phrase used to be.

I was pretty frustrated when the problem continued today. I endured some needless heckling and abuse from some Apple-haters at the coffee shop, including Dean, Jeff, Jimmy, and a little friendly sarcasm from Justin.

I entered the problem on the Apple support page as this:

I cannot get the phone to ring at all now. It shows that someone is calling, but no ringtone, no sound, until it chimes notifying me of a new voicemail. I’ve missed numerous calls. 

It will also chime on text messages.

Help! 

However, I received a friendly question there about whether my phone was jailbroken. I responded, “It’s a possibility,” thinking to myself, “Who in their right mind wouldn’t jailbreak their phone to take advantage of the world of amazing enhancements, productivity tools, games, features, and customizations that have been available for almost a year now (no thanks to Apple).” Then I remembered I know of at least one person who insists on nothing but factory purity in everything he works with. ;)

However, when I got home, I’d received a formal email from Apple stating that my post on the support page had violated their policies. In reviewing them, I guess they were referring to this one:

Do not submit software or descriptions of processes that break or otherwise ‘work around’ digital rights management software or hardware. This includes conversations about ‘ripping’ DVDs or working around FairPlay software used on the iTunes Store.

However, I also solved my problem this afternoon while waiting for Caro at the post office. I remembered that Installer had notified me over the weekend of an update to “Ringtones” – a nifty application that can convert any song in your library to a ringtone or text alert. I had updated it but had not thought anything else about it.

After a prompt uninstall, my ringtones (including all those installed with iToner) began working again immediately.

Maybe my discovery will help someone else out. The Ringtones application version was 2.85, but I can no longer find the app in Installer. Weird. Anyone know of the link for others’ benefit? Found it.. Here’s the link.