Archive for the ‘iPhone’ Category


Why Apple is in Trouble

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Let me start by saying that I love my iPhone. I can barely function without it any longer. Seriously, I went to a wedding last weekend in northern Michigan and had no reception for 4 days! It was brutal. Your sympathies are much appreciated. For all of you planning weddings out there, try to consider the mental health of your electronic addict friends before scheduling. Enough about me and the daily crosses I must bear. Back to the iPhone’s demise.

Apple's First Heyday

Repeat of the PC wars?

Before we proceed, a little history lesson (don’t worry, it’s short). Back in the early 1980’s, Apple dominated the PC market. They were titans. Controlling, with an iron fist, the hardware and software for their beautiful machines. Then along came Microsoft. They didn’t really care too much about the hardware. They allowed everyone to go ahead and build their own machines: IBM, HP, Dell, Gateway, Joe & Mary PC Nuts, and anyone else with access to computer hardware. These computers were ugly, grotesque, gargantuan, and, above all, cheap. The result: Microsoft came to dominate the world while Apple, for 20 years, languished on the brink of destruction.

Of course, the last 7 or 8 years have seen a great resurgence for Apple. It started with OS X and some good new laptop computers, was greatly advanced by the iPod, and has absolutely exploded with the iPhone. So much so, that in the past few weeks Apple has passed Microsoft in market cap. That’s right, on paper, Apple is now a bigger company than Microsoft. So much for Apple being the underdog.

But I fear that Apple is gearing up to make the same mistake they did 30 years ago with the PC. They control both the hardware and software – including a dictatorial rule over the apps that are allowed to run on it. Contrast this to Google that is basically just writing software and allowing HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and any other hardware manufacturer create their own devices. You can also bet your bottom dollar that Microsoft will take the same tact. In fact, when they announced the release of Windows Phone 7 they announced they’d be partnering with Dell, HTC, LG, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson, and more for hardware; and Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint for carriers.

So what does all this “software for any hardware” mean? It means that non-Apple phones are going to get cheaper and cheaper and the data/voice/text plans for them are also going to plummet in price. Apple has a huge head start and a great product. They are not going to die any time soon. But the question is, even with this great product, can Apple count on a huge customer base that will be willing to pay a lot more for their devices?

If the PC wars of the past are any indication, the answer is, “No,” and Apple is in trouble.

Tags: ,
Posted in Android Phones, Windows Mobile, iPhone | 2 Comments »

Ready. Set. iPhone OS 4

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

I’m not one to get too excited for release dates, other than the Beatles Rockband. But after I watched Apple’s Keynote speech, I felt like a little girl waiting for my birthday. Of course the majority of the buzz is generated by multitasking. What? Yes. Just double click and switch between your apps. So go ahead and listen to Pandora, check your email, and play Pocket God.

Unfortunately for Apple’s once beloved middle child, the 3G, multitasking will not be an option. But to my fellow jail-breaking brothers and sisters, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel: the iPhone Dev team has already told us that the multitasking feature will be “switched on” for us.

You can also gift apps, so go ahead pay the .99 so your friend can play along with you, since they don’t want to link a credit card to their iTunes account.

And finally, non jail-broken iPhones can have a home screen, I don’t know why there was such a wait on that. Cameras will now have a 5X zoom, and for those who like to text like an adult there’s spellcheck.

Other than that, the iPhone 4 was somewhat disappointing to me. First its going to use a micro SIM, which hasn’t really been used before. Probably to stop jail-breaking and then using another carriers SIM card. The video chat is nice – it finally feels like we’re in the future. Unfortunately, at least this point, it only seems that it will work with other iPhone 4 users. Can anybody else say Skype?

So nonetheless, I’m crazy excited when OS 4 comes out, then I just have to wait for the Dev team to hurry up.

Tags:
Posted in iPhone | 2 Comments »

Apple vs. Google vs. Uhm..

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

The battle of open source software vs. Apple is one that has been going on for what seems like ages. Check out this article.

Posted in iPhone | 1 Comment »

If I Were In Charge: iPhone Shortcuts

Friday, April 16th, 2010

The other day I decided to pretend I was Steve Jobs and figure out all the stuff missing or not working properly in the iPhone. After 30 minutes of brainstorming, I had a list of about 15 things to add/fix. My original plan was to list each of these things in a single post. However, I was so impressed with myself for one item on the list that I decided to dedicate this entire post to that one brilliant idea:

If I were in charge, we'd backpack.

The iPhone (and any other touchscreen phone) should offer users a custom, programmable set of shortcut gestures on their phone.

Here’s the situation: I’m on my iPhone and want to check my mail. Like most everyone I know, I don’t just have a single email account. I have several. But to check all my mail I have to click mail, click the account I want, pick inbox, read my messages, and then hit the back button several times to get to my list of accounts and then repeat the process to read messages in a different inbox. Basically, it’s a pain in the neck. Wouldn’t it be much better if I could just put my finger down, make two circles and jump straight to inbox one? Make three circles and go to inbox two?

How about shutting off your wifi by just tapping the screen two times in the top right corner? Or swipe left-to-right across the top of the screen and go to my podcasts; right-to-left takes me to my music playlists? I’d love to launch Scramble 2 by just making  a ‘Z’ on the screen. Sure, I could swipe my finger through my 5 different home screens to find the one that has the app and then tap it, but I’d prefer to just make a ‘Z’ on any screen.

You get the picture, right? I love keyboard shortcuts on my computer and I want them on my phone. However, I’d prefer that Apple engineers don’t decide for me what shortcuts I need nor how to activate them. Here’s the interface I would create:

  1. You go to settings and select “Shortcuts”.
  2. You then select an option called “Record Taps”.
  3. You are thrown back to the home page and you click through the desired series of actions you’re looking for. For example, you click iPod and then navigate to your favorite playlist.
  4. Once you’re on the final destination, you hit the home button and the iPhone records your series of clicks.
  5. You are then prompted for the shortcut action.
  6. You put your finger(s) on the screen and make your custom gesture.
  7. Once you lift your fingers up, the gesture is saved and associated with the recorded actions.

That’s it. You can now record all of your most common actions and associate them with one quick and simple screen gesture. Sure, there are some little details to deal with (like double tapping on a letter while doing a text should not jump you to some shortcut), but those are manageable. The point is, this type of interface would be a big improvement over the current method of navigation.

So there you have it, one of my many brilliant ideas. I also have another idea about location based settings on your iPhone but we’ll save that for the next installment.

Tags:
Posted in If I Were In Charge, iPhone | 1 Comment »

iPhone App Review: Mint

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Do you suck at budgeting your money? Want to make it easier? Do you not mind sharing your online banking and credit card passwords with a third party? Then this app is for you.

Mint.com

Budgeting App: Mint.com

WOH! Hold on! Did I just say that you’ll have to share your online financial passwords with a 3rd party? Yes I did. And if you’re not okay with that, then stop reading now because you will not want to use this app. To get the full benefits out of it, you’ll have give Mint.com your passwords so that they can download your expenses and balances. If that’s okay with you, read on because this app is the best budgeting software you’ll ever use.

Mint.com is the self described: “…best free way to manage you’re money.” I agree with this. Once you set it up (by giving them the passwords to your bank and credit card accounts), Mint will automatically download all of your expenses, withdrawals, deposits, transfers, fees, and everything else that affects your accounts. In addition, it will email you about upcoming payments due (like your upcoming credit card bill), tell you when the devil (aka: Chase Bank) hits you with some kind of bogus fee, and will alert you when you’ve gone over budget for specific kind of expenses. This last little bit brings out the real power of Mint.com.

Before we talk about these alerts, we need to examine the basics of how Mint.com tracks your expenses. For optimal results, you’ll want to use your debit or credit card for all purchases. If you do that, Mint can track where you spent your money. On top of that, Mint has a lot of information about various places so about 90% of the time it can correctly categorize your expense. For example, if I stop at a BP or go to the grocery store, Mint knows that I bought gas or groceries, respectively. If they do miscatagorize an expense (or don’t have the store in their database), you can manually enter what the expense was for.

Now that you have Mint tracking your expenses, you can log in to Mint and set thresholds for different expenses and Mint will alert you when you go over an expense. Time for another example: If you set your eating out threshold at $200 for the month, Mint will let you know the instant you go over that amount. The same goes for groceries, gas, clothes, coffee, or anything else you spend your money on. In this way, you don’t really have to spend a lot of time on your budget. You simply spend a couple of hours up front telling Mint what you want your thresholds to be, another couple of hours a month double checking Mint’s categorizing, and you will have a much easier time keeping to a budget.

Setting your budgets can only be done online but everything else can be done online or through the iPhone app. However, updating expense categories is a bit tedious using the app. In all honesty, the best thing about the app is viewing your expenses, incomes, and the alerts. It’s good for letting you know that you’ve over spent on things or just to review how much money you have in your accounts when you’re on the go. Great for impressing the girls at the bar, or, as I find to be more often the case, letting you know that it’s worth hunting down a cash machine for that last $20 dollars you have in your account.

iPhone App Notes

  • Name: Mint
  • Cost: Free
  • Time to Learn: A couple of hours
  • Addictiveness: Low
  • Overall Rating: 4/5

Tags: ,
Posted in iPhone Apps | No Comments »

Opening Weekend Sale

Friday, March 5th, 2010

To celebrate our new Orland Square Mall location and get things started, we’re having a sale on all iPhone screen repairs this coming weekend (March 6 & 7). You’ll get $10 off all iPhone 3G & 3GS screen repairs this Saturday and Sunday only.

Opening Weekend iPhone Screen Repair Sale

If you say that last sentence in your best monster truck promoter voice, you’ll get the feeling I was going for. Of course, you might want to do it when no one is around or you will get the kind of strange looks I just got for saying it out loud.

Anyway, back to the details. Just mention this promotion and we’ll give you the deal. That means you’ll get iPhone 3G glass repairs for $75 and iPhone 3GS repairs for $85. That’s a pretty good deal and one you, your friends, and random strangers you see on the street should try to take advantage of. Remember, monster truck voice now, the sale is only good March 6 & 7 and is only available at our Orland Square Mall location in Orland Park, IL. (You can see our Chicago repair page for an address and a map.)

Tags:
Posted in JCD News, iPhone | No Comments »

New iPhone Repair Offerings

Friday, March 5th, 2010

For the past year we have primarily been repairing the cracked screens on iPhones. It turns out a lot of people have slippery fingers and this has been a big business for us. Lately, though, we’ve been getting a lot of requests for other repairs that we here at Jet City Devices are perfectly capable of doing and we’ve decided to start offering them.

New iPhone Repairs

Here’s a quick list and brief description of each of these fabulous new repairs we have available:

  • iPhone 3G Battery Replacement. This is pretty much what it sounds like. If you find yourself re-charging your iPhone 3G after a few hours or less, it might be time to swap out the battery for one with a little more juice in it.
  • iPhone 3G & 3GS Home Button Repair. That little round home button on the bottom of your iPhone seems so simple. But when it doesn’t work, it’s infuriating. So if you have to restart your iPhone every time you want to get back to the home screen, give us a call and we can help reduce the stress in your life.
  • iPhone 3G & 3GS Charging Port Repair. This should actually be titled: Charging port, computer connection, microphone, and loud speaker repair. That’s because this repair replaces all 4 of those elements.

Like all the rest of our iPhone repairs, each of these takes about 15-20 minutes so we can either do it for you while you wait or, if you don’t live in Seattle or Chicago, you can mail it to us and we’ll have it fixed and mailed back out to you within 24 hours of receiving it.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in iPhone | No Comments »

iPhone App Review: Pandora

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Pandora is my second favorite iPhone app. It’s like having your own radio station programmed right into your iPhone. I can listen to my two favorite types of music whenever I want: Country and Western. For those not familiar with Pandora, we’ll do a quick lesson here.

Pandora Internet Radio

First, it has nothing to do with a visually stunning yet trite story about an alien race being decimated by a big, bad evil American corporation (if you can’t tell, I found the movie to be dishonest, simplistic, and disingenuous – but that’s a story for another time). Rather, Pandora is a cool free website where you can pick your favorite musicians and/or songs and then Pandora will play you that music and similar music all day long. It’s fantastic!

The iPhone Pandora app takes that great website and makes it mobile. Wherever you have a cell connection, you can be streaming your favorite music. What do you think you’d pay for this app? $9.99? Nope, lower. $5.99? Nope, still lower. $0.99? Wrong again. This incredible app is completely free!

Like all things man made, this app is still not perfect. It suffers from 3 basic flaws – two of which are iPhone related:

  1. Because it’s an app and because the iPhone doesn’t multi-task, you can’t listen to Pandora and do anything else. If you try to text, surf the web, check an email, or anything else; the “radio” stops playing. This is a problem that I hope Apple fixes soon. We really need multi-tasking.
  2. It drains your iPhone battery in a hurry. Again, this is not Pandora’s fault but it is something to be aware of. If you listen a lot, you’ll need to charge your phone about every 12 hours.
  3. The music selection can be a little repetitive. This one is Pandora’s fault. I have a rather eclectic station setup for myself. It has country, classic rock, indie music, alt-country, and a little headbanging music. Instead of getting a nice blend, I’ll hear 5 slow, gut wrenching country songs in a row, then 5 Metallica type songs, and then 5 whiney, male, indie “rockers”… You get the picture. I wish they’d do a better job of blending the music.

All-in-all, though, if you’re a music fan and you own an iPhone, this is an app for you. Download it today and start sucking up that AT&T bandwidth!

iPhone App Notes

  • Name: Pandora
  • Cost: Free
  • Time to Learn: 10 minutes
  • Addictiveness: High
  • Overall Rating: 5/5

Tags: ,
Posted in iPhone Apps | No Comments »

The iPhone’s Big Advantage

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

With the proliferation of so many new smartphones on the market, I’ve been thinking about why the iPhone is such an amazing success. Sure, when the iPhone was initially released, it was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. With it’s multi-touch feature, ease of use, wi-fi, visual voicemail, and cool apps, it was, as I’ve read in other places, much more than an evolution. It was a revolution in cellular phone technology.

The App Store Rules

Since that initial release, the subsequent releases of the iPhone have been improvements over the original, but nothing extraordinary. Today there are dozens of other smartphones on the market that, while not as good as the iPhone, are getting pretty close. I think this is especially the case once you factor AT&T into the equation. With exclusive rights to the iPhone, AT&T’s contracts are expensive and, as everyone with an iPhone knows, their service is not great. This last bit is probably not AT&T’s fault – I don’t know that any network could handle the kind of traffic that the iPhone generates – but it’s still a big problem.

So why, with AT&T as the only carrier and other smartphones catching up or even surpasing in hardware and software, is the iPhone still the best smartphone on the market?

The answer is it’s app store.

No other phone can even come close to competing with Apple in this arena. With over 100,000 apps of all sorts of variety – games, business, social media, etc – the iPhone App store is leaps and bounds ahead of all the other competitors combined! And this advantage is only going to continue.

Think about it. Google, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and every other provider with some kind of app store of their own have two major problems. First, if I’m a developer with limited time, why would I develop for any other platform when the iPhone App store is so much more profitable? It’s like expecting entrepreneurial developers of the late 90’s to develop programs for something other than Windows. It just doesn’t make sense from an effort vs. reward standpoint.

Secondly, the iPhone is only one platform. They all have the same screen size, multi-touch, touchscreen keyboard only layout. Compare this to Blackberry which has the large touchscreen Storm and then the non-touchscreen/qwerty keyboard/scroll wheel interface. How does a developer write an app that works seamlessly on both of those platforms? Google and Windows Mobile devices have just as much or even more variation.

In other words, the plethora of different phone formats that all the other providers are throwing out there are making it very difficult for app developers to play along with them. As such, Apple keeps getting more and more apps and keeps distancing itself farther and farther from the rest of the pack. Once again, the analogy to Windows in the 90’s should be clear to people. Once Microsoft reached a certain threshold, it just became silly for developers to spend any serious time (outside of research) developing for any other platform.

The only advantage the other players have left right now, is that little fact that the iPhone is stuck exclusively on the AT&T network. That’s not going to last for long, though. So if the other players don’t want to get absolutely shutout of the smartphone market within the next 3-4 years, they better figure out a way to start attracting more developers soon.

Tags:
Posted in iPhone | No Comments »

iPhone App Review: Scramble 2

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

I love iPhone apps. They’re the one thing that really sets the iPhone apart from all other phones. So I figured what better way to introduce the world to our blog than a writeup of my favorite iPhone App: Scramble. (By the way, this is going to be a regular feature on this blog – not Scramble 2 reviews but iPhone App reviews in general.)

Scramble 2 Screenshot

Sample Scramble 2 Board

Okay, technically it’s Scramble 2 but that’s just getting picky. Before I dive in to this app, let me clarify one point: I am complete word game freak. I love Boggle, Scrabble, Bananagrams, Balderdash, and I think that puns are the height of comedic genius. So take my love for this app with a grain of salt.

Scramble is a pretty simple game to understand since it’s pretty much just an electronic version of Boggle. Here’s how it works: You drag your finger across a 4×4 board of letters to make as many words as you can. The longer the word, the more points you get. After a few seconds you’ll have it figured out and after 2 hours and cramped up hand you’ll be wondering where the time went.

After about 5 or 6 hours of intense solo play, you can use the various multi-player options to take on friends or family. I found it particular gratify to use the “Play-and-Pass” option to humiliate my brothers with my word genius. Of course, they thought it was more of a testament to my lack of a social life than anything innately brilliant, but I’m pretty sure they’re just jealous of my grand intellect. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself as I pass my nights alone with my iPhone and my word games.

iPhone App Notes

  • Name: Scramble 2 by Zynga
  • Cost: Free
  • Time To Learn: Less than 5 minutes.
  • Addictiveness: High
  • Overall Rating: 5/5

Tags: ,
Posted in iPhone Apps | No Comments »