My Digital Life

If Verizon was getting the iPhone; why are They Bashing It?

Via Macworld;

Verizon placed a full page ad in the New York Times this week with the following copy:

"And most importantly, it comes with a double antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make calls."

I agree with Macworld assertion that even though "all's fair in love and advertising", why would Apple provide their device to a company making disparaging public comments about the device they would sell if they could.

AT&T Upload Speed Issue

Users are reporting 100KB upload max on MacRumors in major metropolitan areas. MacRumors link I can attest to that. Here is my Speedtest.net history.


You can see a 1586Kbps on 6/30 and starting 7/2 100Kbps is the max I can get. Is this a cap or a technical problem? I think it has to be the latter given that before iPhone 4, I was getting 150Kbps. If it is a cap that would not be too cool. -- Post From My iPhone

Mobile Apps from the Federal Goverment

This a collection of smartphone apps (mostly iPhone) and mobile websites developed by the Federal Goverment.

APPS

Thoughts on My iPhone 4 a Week Later

Antenna issue: With all of the hubbub this week regarding the antenna issue, I am glad it has not impacted my use. I think you may have to really go out of your way to make it happen. That said, it is clear that this is a black eye for Apple and they need to address it. As I was writing this entry Apple released a statement defining the problem as software related and (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/07/02appleletter.html) they will be issuing an update in the next couple of weeks.

I have used an INCIPIO silicon case with my 3G and 3GS, and plan to do the same with my iPhone 4. I used my 3GS case initially which was loose on the iPhone 4 and was looking at a silicon case from Zagg, the makers of the Invisible Shield. I was in Montgomery Mall on Thursday and saw an Invisible Shield booth right in front of the Apple store, what great marketing. I wanted to stop by but there was a line and I did not have time to wait. Bottom line, with or without a software fix the antenna issue won't be an issue for me. Yesterday, I happened to be at a Radio Shack looking for a weird battery, anyway I saw they had an iPhone 4 INCIPIO silicon case for $14.99 and I purchased it. I think this is a great case, although the included screen protector is so so. I find it very bizarre that Radio Shack is not promoting their cycling team with Lance Armstrong in their stores by selling team stuff. It would help promote cycling as well as their brand.

Battery: In the first couple of days of use, I got concerned about battery life, but that seems to have worked itself out after several full charges. I can now attest that battery life is much better than my 3GS and by 5 PM I am still above 50%. Unless I am using the iPhone 4 heavily during the day it looks like I can forgo my midday charge. Yesterday, I used it pretty heavily with over an hour of Slinging and by 9 PM I still had 25% left.

All in one inbox: I love having access to multiple Exchange mailboxes in one view. I can't even do that with Outlook 2010, or at least have not figured out how to create a view with my two Exchange accounts. Unfortunately, Apple still does not support flags, how do they prioritize email in Cupertino, maybe they don't or they use folders which I think only addresses part of the email organization problem.

And of course no tasks support which fits right into my flag bitch. I use the TaskTask application which works very well, but iOS 4 broke it http://www.tasktaskonline.com/TaskTask/Blog/Entries/2010/6/21_iOS_4.0_Compatibility_Problems.html and there seems to be no fix in sight. For now I am back to Toodledo using the Toodledo Sync Tool for Outlook (it works with Outlook 2010) but you can't set reminder times in the iPhone app which is a very bizarre omission...

iGo ThinkOutside Bluetooth Keyboard on iPhone 4

I knew there was a reason I was keeping my old Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard from my Windows Mobile days. Windows Mobile and for that matter Blackberry and Palm had Bluetooth keyboard profiles in 2005. Apple has finally implemented the keyboard profile for both the iPad and now the iPhone. The Apple keyboard profile is compatible with the Think Outside (acquired by iGo) StoweAway keyboard. Here is a picture of my 5 row Bluetooth keyboard paired to my iPhone 4. The fn + key don't seem to work which makes sense but otherwise it is fully functional. There is also a smaller 4 row keyboard which is available on eBay northwards of $170. It has crossed my mind to sell it but I like the portability.


-- Post From My iPhone

iPhone Day is Here!

The month of June is such a great month for Apple iPhone users. We usually get access to the next hardware model and the latest major release of the iOS.

You have to give credit to Apple for plodding along on a regular basis delivering both hardware and software updates. Which other smartphone maker does that? I had been a long time Windows Phone user, tried Android and one of the most annoying aspects of owning a device using those OS' was the lack of regularity and delivery of updates to your specific device. Not that the iPhone is perfect (there is still room for much improvement, i.e. mail flags and Bluetooth AVCRP next/last track), but knowing that I will get regular updates and will not be forced to buy a new phone on a yearly basis (yes, the original iPhone is no longer supported) to receive those updates goes a long way to making me an Apple iPhone fan.

Android 2.1 Finally Makes It to My Droid Eris (update)

Back in February rumors about the coming Android 2.1 update for the Verizon Droid Eris by HTC were fairly rampant, however after weeks of checking my upgrade status page, I got tired of looking and set my Eris aside. Let's face it Android 1.5 was not very exciting and the responsiveness touch was frustrating and just led me back to my iPhone.

Last week I decided to check once more and I was happy to see that the update was available for my device. The upgrade experience was excellent and fairly seamless. There was no need to connect the Eris to a PC, the process was performed over the air and I used Verizon's 3G network. It took two steps, download, and then confirm reboot/upgrade. I did lose my Exchange ActiveSync settings and icon/page customizations.

I am now using the Verizon Eris again and love the integration between the calendar, Google maps on the PC and Android's Google Maps/Navigation. The navigation works very well. I would say that it is one of the killer out of the box functions in Android. No wonder rumors that Jobs and Ballmer may announce Bing as the default search/map engine for the iPhone at WWDC may actually be true. Update: The rumor that Ballmer would be showing up at WWDC seem to be false, however the switch from Google to Bing still has legs (Gizmodo).

It is too bad that this is probably the end of the road for updates on the Eris.

Will the iPad survive Without Flash?

The answer is more than likely yes, but what I find interesting is that Steve Jobs has been unusually vocal for such a secretive person. It seems that critics are pushing his buttons. Although his responses have been well thought through from the Apple corporate perspective, I think it just gives more ammunition to the critics to answer them. CNN's Money web site had an interesting piece today "What's the bug up Apple's @$$" which describes Apple's behavior towards critics. This fits right into the published email thread between Steve Jobs and Gawker writer Ryan Tate. Are we heading into a soap opera...

During the iPhone's ascendency, Apple's response to critics was very tame and yes Steve Jobs was sick for a big part of that time, however over the last three years I have been impressed how Apple has added key features in the iPhone OS demanded by critics and users. These include Apps, cut and paste, turn by turn GPS, voice control, Bluetooth A2DP stereo streaming (although no AVRCP remote control), MS Exchange ActiveSync, and probably some others that I am forgetting. The Apps and the cut and paste were biggies. I remember Apple's saying Apps were not necessary, since they provided such a rich web browser environment. Apple came to their senses and provided a good development platform, although at the time no multitasking; now we are on the cusp of having that feature implemented. We went through the same pattern with Cut and Paste, first it was we did not need it with the new touch paradigm, then that morphed into we need our time to design correctly (they did).

My hope and point is that the same will be true for Flash. I agree that HTML 5 and H.264 are probably the future. However for a device like the iPad which is supposed to be about consuming content and Steve Jobs touting it as an all-encompassing browsing device, how can you ignore a major part of the web? On the iPhone not having flash can be irritating, but since it is not my primary browsing device I can live without it. If I were to buy an iPad I would want to use as a primary browser and not having Flash is a show stopper. This does not make sense to me, and I think Steve Jobs ego is getting in the way. I am hoping that Apple will go through its no no phase, then will accede to users demands, and go through a thoughtful design and implementation (provide Adobe with the APIs they need to be efficient) as it did with Apps, cut and paste, and multitasking.

If you want to make your voice sort of heard, you can sign a petition at Flash4iPad.com. I say sort of, but the more users and potential customers complain it will start to weigh on Apple's future plans. 500 iPad users were asked by Laura DiDio, principal analyst at ITIC about Flash. According to the CNN article I mentioned previously, "she found that customers are clamoring for Flash support, but said they would continue to buy Apple products even without it". It is a mixed message but we are talking about the initial customer pool and not the average customer who is now buying the iPhone.

Until then my common sense is telling not to purchase an iPad, even though my techy side really wants one. I feel resigned to wait until next March to see what happens with iPad 2.0.

iPhone Backup Quick Fix; Not Really But It Works

iTunes is one of those application I love and hate at the same time.

I don't sync my iPhone with iTunes very often, but in the last month I have tried several times to sync and the process seemed to be stuck during the backup phase. In order to complete the sync, I had to terminate the backup by clicking on the little x on the right of the top middle status window in iTunes. Not having a full backup left me with an uneasy feeling, I would hate to lose most of the application data I have gathered on my iPhone. After some Binging/Googling, I found that this is a fairly common problem but the fixes seemed over complicated and risky.

Finally yesterday I put some time aside where I could work on the issue. My first approach was to let the sync process go for an hour and periodically monitor its progress. Over the course of the hour I could see the status progress albeit slowly (If you don't look closely, you might believe that iTunes is hung). I decided to let it go another 30 minutes. At the end of an hour and half the backup completed. I decided to sync again, and now the backup is back to normal time (less than 1 minute). Who knows what activity iTunes was performing to complete the backup but patience seems to have triumphed.

My Rant of the Day: the Wall Street Journal’s Pricing Model Makes No Sense

I understand the need for newspapers to find ways to fund their reporting and paying for subscriptions is fair way to generate revenue. I pay for an annual Wall Street Journal online subscription. I was happy to see WSJ develop an iPhone application which is top notch, however they are now charging for content I already get via a web browser (IE or Safari). This makes no sense to me, once you purchase an online subscription you should be able use any device to view their content. They are currently discounting the additional feature for $52 per year, but will charge an additional $104 per year for the privilege of using the iPhone app. They are not going to get that from me!

 

Blocked WSJ content using the iPhone app.

 

This is the same article, viewed using my online subscription in Safari.