Category: iPhone

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Weekend Update

I thought I would share some late breaking updates with you that came out on Friday:

psmobile

Adobe Releases the Photoshop.com Mobile App

This app makes it easy for you to do basic editing of your photos including standard cropping, apply effects (including the Sketch effect I used below) and  upload to your galleries on Photoshop.com or send your photos via email. It also allows you to see all of your photos on your Photoshop.com account including the ability to run slideshows. When you’re editing the Exposure, Saturation or Tint, just drag your finger left or right across your photo to make the adjustment! Cool!

 psmobile    .psmobile2

Get the Photoshop.com App here from the App Store. It’s FREE Photoshop.com Mobile

 

tweetie2icon

Tweetie 2

Tweetie 2 is a complete rewrite of the popular Tweetie app and Tweetie was my app of choice for doing Twitter. So of course I was interested in upgrading to Tweetie 2. There’s a lot to like here with lots of new options including access to ALL of Twitter’s features and great multiple account support.

 tweetie2tweet          .tweetie2

Follow me on Twitter

Get Tweetie 2 here from the App Store for $2.99 Tweetie 2

 Expect more complete reviews of these apps in the not to distant future via my iPhone App of the Week feature each Friday.

  Continue reading “Weekend Update”

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NewerTech 3 in 1 Audio/Sync/Charging Cable + PowerJolt

NT3in1

A couple of weeks back I did a 3 part series on Travel Tips including some of my favorite gear to travel with. Of course I’m always on the look out for ways to travel with less and travel smarter. One of the tips involved traveling with both a car charger for your phone and an audio cable to take advantage of your rental car’s Audio In port. Now instead of carrying two different cables I’ve been able to consolidate down to one.

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TomTom, $120 for your car kit? REALLY!!?

 

It wasn’t long ago that I reviewed the TomTom Navigation App for the iPhone. At the time the only other app that I had to compare it with was the Navigon app, which came out first. When the TomTom app came out it really wasn’t any better than the Navigon app. Sure there are some things that were nicer like more POIs, but overall the app had basically the same major limitations as the Navigon app. Well Navigon has released two updates since then and in the latest update they gave us TTS (Text to Speech) so that when you’re approaching a turn it says the name of the street that you’re about to turn on. This plus integrated iPod controls an automatic day/night mode and a few other fixes plus a cheaper retail price makes Navigon my app of choice. Check out the Navigon app here on the App Store: 

MobileNavigator North America

Continue reading “TomTom, $120 for your car kit? REALLY!!?”

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So why MMS?

 MMS-picture 

As you know AT&T finally enabled MMS (Multimedia Messaging) on the iPhone last Friday after Apple introduced the feature back in July with the iPhone OS 3.0 update. Although the iPhone officially had this capability when 3.0 was introduced earlier this summer, AT&T iPhone customers had to wait until the end of summer before being able to use it. Now that it’s on and working for most of us (some are still having issues. If you are having issues, you may want to check out this troubleshooting document), the big question that I’ve been getting from a few friends is:

 

Why MMS? Why not just use email?

After all if you’re an iPhone user, you’ve been able to send pictures via email on your iPhone since day one right? In an iPhone only world, sending emails is a good way to go. However, most non-iPhones, especially non-smartphones, something as simple as email can be a real pain. Many (probably most) non-smartphone users don’t even have email setup on their phones. So the email would go to their computers and they would see what you sent then. OK, what’s wrong with that? Actually nothing at all. Desktop email is a rich experience and once the picture is received it can be printed, added to albums and managed in a photo management program. It can even be edited. So then why MMS? I don’t think that it’s one or the other (MMS or email), I think it’s a matter of using the right one for the right situation. Think of why you send SMS (text messages) vs. email today? Usually if you send someone an SMS message it’s because you want them to read it right then and there and usually you want a response. "Where are you?", "Bring home dinner." "What time does the movie start." "I’m running late." etc. etc. You could easily send each of these via email, but the problem is they may not get it in time. So you send an SMS message instead because you want immediate attention. 

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iPhone MMS is here for AT&T customers! Sigh…

carrierupdate

As promised (late!) AT&T/Apple released the necessary Carrier update to allow MMS (Multimedia Messaging) on the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

When you plug your iPhone 3G or 3GS (not compatible with the original iPhone) into iTunes,  and check for updates you should now see the update for Carrier Settings is available. I downloaded and installed the update which only took literally about 10 seconds to download and install.

updated

I didn’t notice any change at all until I powered the iPhone off and back on again. Once the iPhone came back up the preferences were there for MMS as well as the Camera icon in the Messages window.

 

It’s not soup yet

MMSprefs

As I expected everyone must be doing this all at once and of course testing it all at once and the servers are slammed!  From my iPhone 3GS I get an error each time I try to send an MMS message although regular SMS messages go through. AT&T warned some customers (via an SMS message yesterday) that it may take time for the feature to actually work and it wouldn’t affect sending SMS. Well I’m seeing that "not working" that they mentioned. I tested another iPhone here and tried using it to send my iPhone an MMS and while it did send, I still haven’t received it yet on my iPhone 3GS (10 minutes has past).  So once again we/I wait….

   MMSsending       .MMSerror

 

UPDATE! Turns out my initial sending problem was AT&T account related (old data on the account). Called them and they corrected everything. All set now.

 

What’s your experience been with this update/feature?

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iPhone OS 3.1 Update – A Deep Dive

iphoneapprearrange

 

Although iTunes and the iPod updates took center stage at Apple’s Rock and Roll event, the iPhone update 3.1 offers a little more bang that I originally thought. 

Here’s what 3.1 brings to the table (my favorites in bold):

  • Genius Recommendations for Applications (more on this below)
  • iTunes 9 support:
    • Genius Mixes
    • Organize your Apps directly in iTunes – Much Needed!
    • Improved syncing options for music, movies, TV shows, podcasts and photos
    • iTunes U organization
  • Redeem iTunes Gift Cards, codes, certificates in the App Store
  • Display available iTunes account credits in the App Store and iTunes Store
  • Browse and Download ringtones wirelessly from the iTunes store (more on this below)
  • Save video from Mail and MMS into the Camera Roll
  • Option to "Save as new clip" when trimming a video on the iPhone 3GS (the non-destructive editing that we heard about)
  • Better iPhone 3G Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on
  • Remotely lock iPhone with a Passcode via MobileMe
  • Use Voice Control on iPhone 3GS with Bluetooth headsets (a BIGGIE!)
  • Paste phone numbers into the Keypad
  • Option to use the Home button to turn on Accessibility features on the 3GS
  • Warn when visiting fraudulent websites in Safari (anti-phising)
  • Improved Exchange calendar syncing and invitation handling
  • Fixed issues that caused some app icons to display incorrectly

  Continue reading “iPhone OS 3.1 Update – A Deep Dive”

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iPhone OS 3.1, iTunes 9, New iPods Today

As expected, Apple rolled out several updates and new iPods today. So here’s a quick recap:

 

iPhone OS 3.1

iphone3.1

The iPhone OS 3.1 update was rumored to be in the works shortly after 3.0 was released. This new version adds Genius App Store recommendations. I’ll be interested to try this feature. The idea is that now that there are over 75,000 apps available on the App Store that you can’t possibly find them all or see them all. So like Genius playlists, this feature will recommend Apps to you. Should be fun. 

Free update, available today via iTunes

  Continue reading “iPhone OS 3.1, iTunes 9, New iPods Today”

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New iPods today!

iPodEvent9909

Today is Apple’s annual iPod event

 

It’s highly likely that we’ll see a complete new line of iPods introduced today and possibly a new version of iTunes too. An Apple TV update would be sweet too.

 

I don’t like to deal in rumors, but here is the running list of rumors about what’s on tap for today:

  • New iPod nano with camera
  • New iPod touch (16GB, 32GB & 64GB) with camera, microphone and maybe video recording
  • New iTunes 9 with social networking features
  • Either a New iPod Classic with a camera/wi-fi or the iPod classic will be discontinued completely
  • New shuffle??? Maybe?
  • Beatles catalog coming to iTunes
  • Beatles Special Edition iPod that includes the entire collection
  • iPhone OS 3.1 Update (non-destructive video editing, 3GS voice control over bluetooth, bug fixes)
  • New Apple TV update (the 40GB model seems to be out of stock at the Apple Store online)

I’ll give you my run down of the event and my thoughts after the introductions are made. Check back here later today.

 

 

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What do you want in iPhone OS 4.0?

iphone4.0

 

Disclaimer – I know that for many of you the first "feature" you would like to see is the iPhone on another carrier besides AT&T. In all honesty that day probably isn’t too far away. The Apple AT&T Exclusive Contract ends in the 2010-2011 timeframe and I’d bet money that we’ll see a 4G Verizon iPhone. So my focus here is not going to be on carrier support.

 

While iPhone OS 3.0 certainly brought a lot to the table and went a long way towards bringing some long awaited features and capabilities to the iPhone. The over 60,000 available 3rd party apps have also filled in many gaps. Although the 3.0 update makes a great phone even better, the iPhone is not perfect and there is still room for improvement. Also yes I know that there are apps and workarounds for some of the items I’m listing below, but I feel that these features should be BUILT-IN!

 

So I thought I would start a NEW list of the features and enhancements that I would like to see come in the next major update. 

 

Flash support

This is now my number one feature request. Safari on the iPhone was definitely a breakthrough in web browsing on a smart phone. However, without an Adobe Flash plug-in there are still way too many sites that are inaccessible on the iPhone. Why doesn’t Adobe just do it? The problem is that although 3rd party apps can be written, Safari on the iPhone doesn’t have support of plug-ins. So the ONLY way that the iPhone can get Flash support is with Apple’s help. There, I said it.

 

Now in no particular order, the rest of my list….

 

Mail Needs an Overhaul

Unified Inbox

In both Calendar and Contacts, I can either look at a single calendar or a single group of contacts. However, in Mail I can still only look at one inbox at a time. While I can live with that, the back back back method of switching between different email accounts is a pain. If we can’t have a unitifed inbox (like there is in the desktop version of Mail) we should at least have popup menu to easily switch between accounts.

Spam Filter

It would be great to either have a built-in Spam filter or at least allow 3rd parties to create one. My favorite one on Mac OS X is SpamSieve. I’d love to see it as an iPhone app.

Mail to a Group

I have groups of contacts, yet I have no easy way to email to a group other than having to key the names in each time.

Multiple Signatures

It would be great to have multiple email signatures or at least one per account. I do both work and personal email on my iPhone. As it stands now I have to have one generic one.

Mail Rules

All of your mail comes into the Inbox whether you want it to or not. In the desktop version of Mail or Outlook you can set up Rules to automatically file messages, respond to them, mark them as read, etc. I’d like to see Mail Rules in Mail on the iPhone too.

  Continue reading “What do you want in iPhone OS 4.0?”

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Hey AT&T! Summer is almost over! Where is my MMS?

MMS-sendingErikBernskiold

For the Northern Hemisphere, as in the United States, Canada and most of Europe, Fall begins on September 22, 2009 at 5:18 pm EDT.

AT&T promised us that we would have MMS messaging for the iPhone this "Summer".  Although AT&T did recently announce that MMS is coming on September 25th (3 days after summer officially ends), there is still no word on Tethering support (which was given no timeline at all except for "in the Future").

I’m not a fan of AT&T nor do I hate them. I’ve had AT&T service for years before the iPhone. However, I’m starting to see WHY so many people complain about their service. The mere mention of AT&T in a public setting will usually get you a few glares and eye rolls.

We can speculate and take AT&T at their word that in order to allow for iPhones to do MMS, they had to do some network upgrades. However, the odd thing is that MMS is hardly new technology. All other AT&T phones can do this and have been doing this for years. Tethering is also not a new thing. Again, other AT&T smart phones can do this. What this really says is that although AT&T allows both MMS and Tethering on other phones, these features must either be rarely used by non-iPhone users or that they are so hard to do on other phones that most people don’t ever use these features. So it was OK to offer these features with the existing network to non-iPhone users because they couldn’t handle the traffic. Studies have shown that because the iPhone is so easy to use that 80% or more iPhone users do web browsing and email REGULARLY on their iPhones. So it’s a sure bet that iPhone users will also be using MMS too!

Note to AT&T: Advertising that you have the biggest, fastest 3G network doesn’t really mean much if you can’t actually do anything on it!

We all know that the minute Apple announces iPhone availability on another US carrier such as Verizon, that they will see an immediate increase in market share especially from those hold outs that have refused to go on AT&T’s service. Now what will really be interesting is how many people will LEAVE AT&T to go to Verizon for their iPhone service?

 

 

 
 
 

UPDATE: Seth, the AT&T Blogger responds!