July 16th, 2008

MobileMe push is limited and subscribers get a 30-day extension

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 8:58 am

Categories: Apple, iPhone, mobile services

Tags: Apple iPhone, MobileMe, E-mail, Online Communications, Matthew Miller

Apple’s MobileMe service has been advertised as “Exchange for the rest of us” with support for push email and data. However, if you have MobileMe/.Mac account then you may have received an email this morning detailing a rocky transition from .Mac to MobileMe that clarifies not everything is pushed. Joel put together a post on Geek.com that has a copy of the email you may have received.

Email, contact, and calendar changes made on the iPhone or iPod touch are immediately synced, but changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync. You still can force an immediate sync manually. The word “push” will no longer be used unless the MobileMe team gets it working as originally planned. Many people are having issues getting things to sync completely so there are still some glaring growing pains and maybe Apple shouldn’t have tried to launch so much (MobileMe, iPhone 2.0 software, and iPhone 3G) at one time.

The email also states that MobileMe subscriber’s will get a 30-day extension to their service. Mine actually expires in about 20 days so I wonder if I’ll get another 30 days to try it out since I haven’t yet decided if I want to use it or continue with my hosted Exchange solution. I am leaning towards sticking with hosted Exchange since I use so many different mobile operating systems and the MobileMe service only works with my iPhone.

July 14th, 2008

iPhone how to: Take screenshots on your 2.0 iPhone

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 1:09 pm

Categories: Apple, Mobile software, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, 3G, Tools & Techniques, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Management, Matthew Miller

I have been playing around with my upgraded original iPhone since last Thursday and after recently syncing my iPhone I saw that there were a few screen captures showing up in iPhoto. I was a bit confused about how they got there and rechecked my iPhone to see if I had downloaded an application that took screenshots. However, there was nothing there on my iPhone. After a bit more research, I read in the ZDNet iPhone 3G review that Apple added this functionality right into the 2.0 software update.

When you are on a screen that you want to capture, you simply press and hold the Home button and then press the the power/sleep button. Your screenshot will then appear in your photo gallery on your iPhone where you can send it or sync it as you desire. I plan to use this functionality when writing software reviews and am pleased it was included in the update. I now need to test it out while playing games and using applications where pressing in on the Home button may affect the program.

July 14th, 2008

MobileTechRoundup show #139, the iPhone App Store is the big news of the week

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 10:00 am

Categories: Apple, MoTR podcast, Palm, Review, iPhone

Tags: MobileTechRoundup, Apple iPhone, iPhone App Store, Podcasts, 3G, Internet, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Matthew Miller

Listen here (MP3, 33.2 MB, 36:10 minutes)

Subscribe to the show with this link (RSS)

It is tough in the summer months to get three people together who are in three different time zones and then Audacity failed me on my MBP last week, but James, Kevin, and I were finally able to get MobileTechRoundup show #139 put together for your listening pleasure. We couldn’t help but talk about the iPhone 3G and the 2.0 software that is the real story with the iPhone. We chatted about some hardware differences since James is the guy with the 3G model, while Kevin and I have updated original iPhone devices. The iPhone App Store is amazing and we offer some thoughts on applications we enjoy. We also started talking a bit about Exchange vs. MobileMe and I have some experimenting to do to figure out what is best for me. We did close the show with a quick shoutout to the new Palm Treo 800w that was just announced for release today.

If you enjoy listening to the MobileTechRoundup podcast, please vote for us at Podcast Alley. Also, please let me know if you have anything you would like us to cover and discuss on the show and I’ll try to work it into a future podcast.

July 14th, 2008

Mobile software Monday: My top 10 iPhone applications

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 8:00 am

Categories: Apple, Mobile software, Mobile software Monday, iPhone, mobile services

Tags: Software, Apple iPhone, Application, Mobile, eReader, Twitterific, E-books, Advertising & Promotion, Personal Technology, Marketing

I have now been trying out 3rd party applications on my upgraded original iPhone for just over 3 days and even though there are something over 550 applications in the iPhone App Store, there are a few select applications that stand out above the rest and I have several that now occupy a place on my main display. In today’s Mobile software Monday, I am presenting thoughts on my top 10 and a few others that are close to cracking my top 10 with a bit more refinement.

#1: eReader FREE - I am an ebook fan and have a Sony Reader that I think now may see a bit less usage with actual support for offline reading on the iPhone. I have been a Mobipocket user for years due to its ability to work across all mobile platforms, but eReader also has this support and it looks like I am now making the transition. This was made possible mostly by the fact that Fictionwise purchased eReader and now I can access all the books I have purchased over the years in eReader format at Fictionwise and any books I have purchased through eReader. You simply login on your iPhone with your username and password from either website to view your bookshelf and download the titles you want on your iPhone. Unfortunately, you can only download one title at a time so if you have a large library this may take a while.

To read a book you simply tap on the title in your Bookshelf and then flick across the page from right to left to turn the page or the other way to turn it back. You can also tap on the display to bring up four bottom icons for the Table of Contents, search function (two icons for this?), and font settings (3 fonts and 4 sizes). I hope to see more functionality brought to the iPhone such as bookmarks and auto scrolling. If you have a dictionary loaded you can also tap and hold on a word to look it up. Landscape mode is also supported by simply rotating your iPhone.

Unfortunately, you cannot yet access the eReader or Fictionwise store with the application, but you should be able to purchase books using Safari and then sign in on eReader to download the books. I would also like to figure out how to get free books I downloaded in eReader format elsewhere onto my iPhone and I can’t wait to see how this application evolves as more people start using it.

#2: Super Monkey Ball US$9.95 - Gaming is not a huge part of what I do on my mobile devices, but then again I enjoy a good game as much as the next person. Super Monkey Ball is probably one of the most talked about games for the iPhone and it is simply stunning. The graphics, accelerometer-controlled gameplay, and number of levels available is incredible and I think the $10 price tag is definitely worth it. If you buy a game for your DS or PSP you will usually pay US$30 or more. The ability to have a game like this always available on my phone can be very convenient when you or your kids need to pass the time waiting somewhere.

#3: Evernote FREE and subscription available - Evernote is an incredible application that I have written about a few times. It lets you capture text, photo, and audio notes on the iPhone that are synced to the server. The real power is in the recognition engine they use that can even find text in photos you capture so you will never forget anything again (thus the elephant icon). A free account will let you upload 40MB of data a month while a premium account (US$45/year or US$5/month) Read the rest of this entry »

July 11th, 2008

iPhone App store; why do we need 10 tip calculators?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 9:23 am

Categories: Apple, Mobile software, Palm, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Application, E-books, Games, Personal Technology, Matthew Miller

As I posted yesterday, I updated my first generation iPhone to the 2.0 firmware and started trying out 3rd party applications from the App Store. Since there are no trials available I had to pull the trigger on a couple applications I really wanted to try out and bought Super Monkey Ball and SplashMoney so far. Browsing through the iPhone App Store was fun, interesting, and a bit frustrating and I came away with a few impressions.

First, it felt like I was browsing the PalmGear site where 50+ Palm OS calculators were available to download as I saw several different versions of the same type of application, some for free and some commercial. For examply, there are at least 9 Blackjack games, 9 task/to-do list apps, 11 Bible apps, 5 games with Bubble in the title, 8 weather apps, and 10 tip calculator apps (how many of these do we really need?). I encourage variety and development of applications, but I personally expected Apple to keep a bit of a lid on the number of repetitive applications. With over 550 applications currently in the store I think having so many may lead to a bit of frustration on the part of the consumer trying to find the best application in a certain category.

Second, after downloading the applications and then testing them out I noticed that just about everyone I downloaded required an internet connection. If this is going to be the case, then maybe an iPhone 3G is recommended to make the application experience better. For now, I’ll stick with the slower connection or a WiFi connection with these apps. I was thinking there would be more stand alone applications and think this is where the games really shine on the iPhone.

Third, I also noticed there were a lot of applications I previously used on my jailbroken iPhone and that was good to see since those developers have been testing and improving their applications for some time. I actually went to check out some of these first.

Lastly, I think there are about 15-25 really great 3rd party applications available right now, but am surprised to see some big name applications missing that I think could really show off the power of the iPhone. For example, where is SlingPlayer Mobile, Skype, Mobipocket, Google Talk, Qik or Flixwagon, QuickOffice or other Office product, or a podcatcher application? I know many of these are coming, but wish that these major players would have been in the game at launch time.

So far I have 22 applications loaded on my iPhone, including Evernote, Facebook, Jott, Pandora Radio (awesome application), Super Monkey Ball, ShoZu, SplashMoney, eReader, PhoneSaber, Twitterific, Weatherbug, and Truphone. As I said earlier, it is a bit overwhelming going through page after page of iPhone applications. Each individual ebook is available for 99 cents and is shown as an individual application. Why doesn’t Apple just have an ebook category to make things easier to find? There appear to be a ton of rather useless utilities (IMHO) that I wish weren’t even shown in the store, but maybe they will appeal to one or two people. I know the same thing can be said for S60 and Windows Mobile where there are also a ton of the same rather useless utilities, but I guess I expected Apple to only have the best stuff in their App Store and am a bit surprised at the applications I am seeing in the store. Then again, I suppose they need to offer a huge choice and let the buyers decide which is the best.

July 10th, 2008

Hey Apple, where are the free trials for iPhone applications?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 2:25 pm

Categories: Apple, Mobile software, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., 3G, Cellular Phones, Wireless, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Matthew Miller

I know a few of us here on ZDNet are hard at work on iPhone 3G and iPhone application articles and one aspect of the new Apple iPhone Application store that struck me immediately was that there are no trial versions of the commercial software. One of the major benefits for me that gets me using and eventually buying mobile software applications is the ability to try a full, or even limited, version for 14 to 30 days on my devices to see if the application truly fits my needs and is worth the cost. There are NO trial applications that I can find on the iPhone Application store.

Granted, the applications mostly range from something like US$3 to US$9.99, but if you want to buy a lot of applications like Jason plans to do then you will have to fork over some substantial cash. This is another reason I am not going to be so quick to jump on the iPhone 3G. Then again, out of the 15 or so applications I have already downloaded and played with nearly all of them require an internet connection so the iPhone 3G may actually make the 3rd party application experience even better.

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July 10th, 2008

Updated my iPhone to firmware 2.0 and setup hosted Exchange account

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 7:57 am

Categories: Apple, Mobile software, Smartphone, iPhone, mobile services

Tags: Apple iPhone, Firmware, 3G, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Matthew Miller

Thanks to Adrian’s post I was able to download the iPhone 2.0 firmware update and immediately updated my iPhone. As Adrian said there is a risk since the official update is not yet available, but I already had my iPhone unlocked and jailbroken so I am willing to take risks with it. My iPhone has seen little use since I haven’t been able to use my hosted Exchange service so I couldn’t wait for the iPhone 2.0 update and was more than happy to wipe it clean and then start trying the applications available at the Apple Application store.

I simply connected my iPhone and waited for it to appear in the 7.7 version of iTunes. I then pressed the Shift key on my Windows PC and clicked the Check for Update box to find the .ipsw file I just downloaded. The iPhone update then ran on my PC and my iPhone and after about 18 minutes (the preparing iPhone for software update part took about 8 minutes itself and may have had to do with my iPhone unlocked state) my iPhone was updated to the latest and greatest iPhone 2.0 software. As I said, my iPhone was unlocked and jailbroken so others with stock iPhones may have an even faster process.

The first thing I did was setup my hosted Exchange account (I use 4Smartphone and sync my data to my iPhone via the AT&T EDGE network. I kept getting hung up on my settings until I saw I had to enter the Domanuser name and then I was off to the races. I was allowed to sync mail, contacts, and calendar with my hosted Exchange client.

I am very pleased with the functionality and performance of the Exchange support so far and now I am off to download and install 3rd party applications (there is now an Applications tab when my iPhone is connected). This test with my current iPhone will give me a great idea about whether or not I should pick up the iPhone 3G, but with this firmware on my existing iPhone I doubt I will immediately (if ever) pick one up.

July 8th, 2008

MSM Apple iPhone reviews are up and may just have saved me some cash

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 10:12 pm

Categories: Apple, Wireless carriers, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., MSM Apple iPhone Review, 3G, Cellular Phones, Wireless, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Matthew Miller

I was 90% sure I was going to buy an iPhone 3G on Friday, but a couple of things changed my mind tonight and I decided I will not be buying the device on Friday. One of my main motivations for buying the iPhone was to be able to write about it here on my blog, but I will be able to upgrade my current iPhone to the latest firmware and test most all of the available applications and write about them. The Apple fanboy main stream media reviews were posted tonight from Walt Mossberg, David Pogue, and Edward Baig (USA Today) and they helped make my decision much easier by confirming that Bluetooth is still limited, the camera is the same, battery life is less when using 3G all the time, and pretty much everything about the hardware is the same as what I already have, with the exception of 3G and GPS. We all knew most of this already, but there was some doubt about functionality not specifically addressed.

In addition to the reviews confirming the hardware limits, I also received news that a North American E71 will be delivered to my house tomorrow and IMHO that device is much more compelling from a productivity and power user perspective. Stay tuned for my unboxing and first impressions that should go up late tomorrow night.

I will be upgrading my current iPhone as soon as the firmware is available because I rarely use it now since it does not support my hosted Exchange account. I never connect and sync my devices with a cable so this is a “killer” feature IMHO and something I can’t wait to try on my iPhone.

I am quite excited about the iPhone Application Store and it will be interesting seeing when it goes live since people in New Zealand will be getting iPhone 3G units when those of us in the U.S. are still working on Thursday.

I may change my mind about the iPhone 3G in the future, but I think the smartest thing for me (and maybe for many current iPhone owners) is to see if Jobs announces the 3rd generation device at MacWorld in January since this iteration was just an evolutionary upgrade.

July 7th, 2008

What are the alternatives to the iPhone 3G?

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 12:34 pm

Categories: Apple, BlackBerry, Feature phones, HTC, MP3 players, Nokia, Nseries, On the road, Palm, S60, Windows Mobile, Wireless carriers, Zune, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Phone, Device, Mobile, T-Mobile, Samsung Instinct, Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, 3G, Cellular Phones, Wireless

Last year I created a post talking about the available iPhone alternatives that you could pick up if you didn’t want to buy the Apple iPhone, but wanted a new and functional mobile device. With the iPhone 3G launching later this week, I thought it would be appropriate to provide readers with an updated alternatives post since the alternatives to the iPhone have improved significantly since last year and IMHO even more so than the minor updates (3G and GPS) to the iPhone itself.

I am personally having an internal battle in my head over whether or not to buy the new iPhone 3G because I am not sure the additional monthly cost (US$15/month) and additional year obligation (I still have 1 year left of my 2-year iPhone obligation) are worth the addition of 3G and GPS. If I was a single device kind of person, then yes I would most likely buy the iPhone 3G without much hesitation. However, I am the kind of power user who likes to try different devices and has needs/desires that the iPhone itself cannot satisfy (cut/copy/paste, DUN tethering, Bluetooth keyboard support, etc.). With the iPhone 2.0 software update coming to my original iPhone, my desire to use 3rd party applications is satisfied. I also find the current version of Google Maps adequate for my basic needs and if not, then I use other devices with integrated GPS (HTC Advantage and Nokia N95-3) to get me where I want to go.

So, as I try to figure out whether or not to get the new iPhone 3G, let’s take a look at what other alternatives are available or coming soon.

T-Mobile: The main alternatives available on T-Mobile are the various versions of Sidekick devices, BlackBerry Pearl or Curve devices (with @Home UMA support too), T-Mobile Shadow, T-Mobile Wing (nice hardware for the most part, but processor challenged) and T-Mobile Dash (still one of my all-time favorite devices). T-Mobile also has Read the rest of this entry »

July 3rd, 2008

Google Talk isn't the only iPhone optimized IM client

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 7:52 am

Categories: Apple, iPhone, mobile services

Tags: Apple iPhone, Google Inc., Google Talk, IM, Web Browser, IM Client, Instant Messaging, Web Browsers, Internet, Online Communications

The news that Google Talk has now been optimized for the Apple iPhone web browser (simply go to www.google.com/talk on your iPhone) is all over the internet this morning. I also wanted to let IM users know there are other web browser based options for clients other than Google Talk. There are clients for jailbroken iPhones too, but today I am just writing about browser-based solutions.

I think Meebo was one of the first to launch an iPhone-optimized interface and it works very well. Simply go to Meebo.com on your iPhone or iPod Touch to get started. Meebo supports Google Talk, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, and Jabber. You can select and sign into one client at a time with Meebo and each client is optimized for the iPhone browser.

If you want to chat with your buddies via AIM, MSN, Yahoo IM, MySpaceIM, ICQ, or Jabbber and sign in with multiple IM clients on a single interface then simply go to Giz5.com to get started. If you don’t yet have a Gizmo account you will need to sign up for free. The interface is decent, but could still use some improvements (larger default fonts and layout) to work even better with the iPhone.

There are other mobile clients available too and I recommend you check out Robin Good’s Mini-Guide to see all that are available with a comparison chart.