Posted on the August 19th, 2008 under iPhone by Al
It arrived yesterday.
The packaging was awesome:
Not only did it continue the “skeleton look” into the packaging but it wasn’t the standard hermetically sealed plastic that requires sharp instruments to open. The cardboard outer packaging is easily removed and the inner plactic packaging pops open with your figures. Nice.
My white iPhone before:
and then transformed:
It fits perfectly, the buttons are easily accesses and it looks cool. I have to admit that the white isn’t as white as the iPhone itself but then again Steve Jobs probably spent millions getting the formula for the ultimate white.
I had a hard time deciding between a few of the CapsuleRebel covers. I almost bought two. I may even pick up a second (or third) one for use in different occasions. Maybe.
I’ve been one of the lucky ones. I’ve had pratically no problems with the 3G iPhone and only minor issues with a couple of apps since Day 1. Then I installed the iTunes 7.7.1 update when it came out. That’s when the troubles started. Luckily, the iPhone itself hasn’t been affected but the iPhone with iTunes experience has degraded.
It started with a constant and reproducible crash of the MDCrashReportTool. The following sequence causes the crash:
One of the great features of Twitter is that you can access and post it in various ways: from the website, from a dedicated client on Mac or PC, from a cell phone via SMS or mobile app, etc. Maybe someday we’ll see digital cameras with built-in Twitter access. With all of these different access methods, which is the best? Below is my limited evaluation of a few of the apps I’ve used.
But first, I want to mention a feature that no app appears to provide, but I’d really like to see. When a tweet (i.e. a Twitter update or message) is directed to another person using the @reply (where reply is the user’s twitter account name) at the beginning of the message, that message is only displayed to the person it was directed and not display to others, even if you follow the sender. For example, if you follow me (frumpa) and I send a message to @ev none of the applications below will show you that message. The only way you’ll be able to see those messages is if you go the that person’s Twitter page via a browser (e.g. twitter.com/ev). This only occurs if the message starts with @reply. If the @reply is somewhere else in the message everyone sees it. Maybe I’m the minority here but if I’m following someone I want to see all of their messages. Why? Sometimes a message directed to someone else may also be of interest to me, or others.
I started using Twinkle, an iPhone app, on Thursday night (July 17th) and wrote this post about it. Here are my impressions and what I’ve learned about it after using it for few days.
Twinkle has it’s own network which it uses for its Nearby service. The Nearby service, also a section in the app, manages messages sent through the service. When you send a message from Twinkle, which they call “pings”, it goes to the Twinkle network (i.e. Tapulous servers) where they are stored and then forwarded to Twitter. This requires you to configure Twinkle with a Tapulous user account and, optionally, a Twitter account. You could easily just use the Tapulous account, but not just a Twitter account at this time. This has caused some confusion for people as to where messages are going and why messages are not showing up on Twitter. Although in some cases people didn’t add their Twitter account or don’t have one. In fact, it can cause more confusion if a person has a Twitter account but creates a Tapulous account with a different user name. Confusion in the sense that you can’t follow the user via the Twitter website, or traditional Twitter client since you don’t know their Twitter account name.
The other day Robert Scoble had a Qik video in which he interviewed on of the developers of Twinkle (web link, iTune link) a Twitter client for the iPhone. Yes, yet another Twitter client and yes for the iPhone. Twinkle caught my eye because it’s location-aware.
Unlike Twitterrific and Twittelator which can add a link to your tweet to show your location, Twinkle can show you a feed of tweets by people within a certain radius of you. When it launches it requests the use of the GPS to find your current location.
The default distance to search for “local” tweets is 50 miles but that can be changed.
Like my previous post on this topic, here’s another batch of apps that caught my eye, but this time only focusing on free apps. (Note - links below are iTunes links, not web browser links)
Flashlight (a free version), FlatLux and MyLite - all free
Both are trying to steal market share away from the $1.99 Flashlight app mentioned in the previous post.
Probably not, especially if you’re not a tech-head or willing to bounce around to difference screens to enable and/or disable difference services (e.g. 3G, GPS, WiFi, etc) to manage the battery life on a regular basis.
Who is the iPhone for?
Answer the following questions:
Do you use social services like Twitter, FriendFeed, Brightkite, etc.?
Do you like to quickly and easily send photos to an online photo sharing account such as Flickr?
Do you crave the freedom to check e-mail and surface the web at any time?
Do you want e-mail and webpages to be readable in the small form-factor of a phone?
Do you want a device that can install a plethora of mobile applications and games?
If you answered “yes” to at least half of the above questions then the iPhone, either the original iPhone, the 3G version (again be aware of its hungry power consumption) or the iPod Touch are devices you should consider. The original (non-3G) iPhone is would the bes choice for the average consumer.
When Steve Jobs announced the original iPhone in January 2007, I said that it would probably be the first Apple product I’d own. That’s right, I don’t own an iPod even though my wife and kids do. A couple months later I purchased a 24″ iMac. When the iPhone came out, I just couldn’t pay those high prices. I still wasn’t swayed to buy one even after the price reduction two months later in September. Steve Jobs’ spell couldn’t keep me in its grasp. Although my family will point out that I had a difficult time not talking about it. Mostly because my cell phones were frustrating me.
In February of this year I purchased my second Apple product, a 15″ Macbook Pro. At this point I was content to wait for the next generation iPhone. In the months that followed, rumor after rumor surfaced. June approached and I looked forward to Steve Jobs’ keynote at the World Wide Developer’s Conference. I expected, hoped actually, that he’d announce the phone and it would be available within two weeks. Unfortunately, he announced that it would be available on July 11, 2008, one month after the keynote. I was disappointed but I waited 18 months, so what’s one more.
Yesterday (as of this writing) was the big day: July 11th. My co-worker was on vacation this week so waiting in line before the store opened wasn’t an option. My plan was to monitor things via Twitter and the Internet news outlets and try to get one at lunchtime. I knew I’d probably have to take a longer lunch.
Only an hour after the iPhone went on sale in the Chicagoland area, I started to see reports of problems. Initial reports blamed the AT&T servers for activation delays. Reports followed stating that the iTunes activation portion (the unbricking) was failing. Regardless of who was to blame it became pretty obvious that the 10 minute activation process per phone was not a reality. I continued to monitor the online feeds and they were filled with complaints of activation woes. Word started to spread that at some stores people were being sold iPhones and told to take them home and activate them there, completely opposite of the procedure that was put into place by Apple and AT&T. While not a good thing, I saw a potential opportunity: this may speed up the process at the Apple store. I’d be content (not happy) to get the phone on Friday and activate it later, even if it meant a day or two. A trip to and from the Apple store over the weekend would have meant a two hour drive. Plus, I was concerned about supplies running out.
At lunchtime, as planned, I headed over to the Woodfield Apple Store in Schaumburg, IL. I was disappointed to see a long line of people that I estimated to be 400 initially, but realistically was more like 300. The demand coupled with the activation issues created a deep queue of customers. There was no way I was going to wait in line during lunch. So I opted for Plan B: return at 3pm and wait it out.
As the afternoon progressed, I monitored the term “activation” via Summize. About 1:30pm I noticed that more and more tweets (i.e. Twitter updates) about successful activations were coming through. By 2:30pm, the majority of activation tweets were about successful attempts. It appeared that Apple and AT&T finally got things under control. I called the Apple store and asked if they still had phones in stock and how many. I was informed that they had many but “could not comment on quantities.” When 3pm rolled around, I was ready to head over to get my first iPhone.
When I arrived at the Apple store, the line was shorter. There were only about 200 people in line. After 10 minutes the line moved to fill the gap of the ten people at the front that entered the store. They were letting in about 8 to 10 people at a time. The end of the line continued to fill with new people keeping it the same length.
I struck up a conversation with some people in front of and behind me in line. The young man in front of me had a time crunch. He had to catch a plane back to Jersy and had to leave before 5pm. I told him he’d probably get an iPhone if he could stretch it out to 5:30pm.
One woman I spoke with was getting a third iPhone, she bought two in early May having no clue that a new version would be coming out so soon. She was going to keep the new iPhone for herself and give her current one to her son. In fact, she was going to leave on the 7 hour drive to see her son right after she got the phone.Some of the people I spoke with were not very familiar with the new phone’s features so I shared what I knew, as well as filling everyone in on the activation issues being reported online.
The line kept moving forward every 10 minutes or so. After a half an hour, we all expected to be inside the store in another hour. Soon 4pm turned to 4:40 and the line wasn’t progress as quickly any longer. By 4:45pm the young man from Jersey quietly slipped out of line and headed out. By 5pm, we all started to get tired of standing for 2 hours and realized that we were still another 30+ minutes away from getting into the store.
We got closer and closer but it was still very slow going. When we finally reached the point where we’d be the next group to enter the store, things stalled. We stood there for 20 minutes. It was frustrating to be so close and yet be stuck. At this point were were approaching the 3 hour mark. One of the women had been sitting for most of the last hour. Since we were right by the store’s doors, an Apple employee was asking if everyone was okay. I requested that he get the woman some water and she added that she needed something to eat. He returned with a bottle of water and a few slices of pizza for her. Afterwards, she explained that she was hypoglycemic and that the food really helped.
We finally made it into the store only to find ourselves in a smaller line of 10 people. More waiting. It was in here that we finally found out why progressed had slowed from 4pm on.
We were joined in this short internal line by a newcomer. He wasn’t in line outside and he carried the iPhone bag. I asked him if he had just purchased the phone and was waiting for someone that was purchasing theirs. “No” he said and explained that he purchased his iPhone first thing this morning after waiting in line since 4am. Because of the activation problems encountered in the morning, they were told to come back after 4pm, at which time they’d be allowed into the internal line to activate their phones.
After about 20 minutes, I was finally next in line to be helped. I gave up my spot, allowing the woman with hypoglycema and the other with the 7 hour drive to go ahead of me. My turn came 5 minutes later. Rick, the Apple employee helping me, had only been there an hour and was still getting his barrings. The transaction went smoothly and I was out of there in about 15 minutes with my new white 16 GB 3G iPhone.
My total wait time was 3 1/2 hours. I can’t help but wonder if I got there at 2pm or even 1pm, if it would have been quicker.
Opportunities lost
While standing in line for over 3 hours I kept thinking of opportunities that could have been taken advantage of by Apple or any of the retailers in the mall. Here are just a few.
Apple t-shirts - Apple gives their employees simple, yet cool t-shirts. As I saw people coming out of the store with their iPhone bag, I thought that Apple could have included a commemorative iPhone event t-shirt with each phone purchase. I’d be happy with a simple white t-shirt with a black Apple logo. The challenge here, of course, is the need for different sizes.
Apple cInema displays outside the store - there were some good spots where the Apple store could have set up some of their 30″ cinema displays and run all of their movie trailers on them. Hell, they could have also been playing the iReady video from AT&T as a number of people in line weren’t familiar with the details. With all of the security guards around I don’t think having the displays outside the store would have been a problem. It would have helped break up the monotony of waiting in line. Plus, throw in an occasional Apple product ad; just don’t run constant ads.
Food and drink for people in line - They may have been doing this in the morning, but with the lines in the afternoon just as long it would have been nice to provide some basics such as cookies and water. This doesn’t have to fall on the shoulders of Apple. There are a number of coffee shops and snack shops that could have either brought around food and drink, or taken orders for people. In my opinion there was “money left on the table” as the saying goes.
Flashlight - ExactMagic $0.99
Flashlight is a simple tool to turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a simple flashlight to help you find your way in a dark room or to see what that thing on the floor of the movie theater is that you keep stepping on.
Ummm, I already use my Treo, and various other cell phones, as a flashlight to navigate in the dark “simply” by activating the screen.
Hold On! - IMAK Creations - Free
Compete to see how long you can hold the button! The timer shows your progress down to the millisecond and stores your personal all-time record. Develop your perseverance and improve your concentration skills to make you more productive!
SeattleBus - Deallus Software - $14.99
SeattleBuss provides real-time arrival and departure times for bus stops across the greater Seattle Metro area. In short, SeattleBus is intended to answer the question: “Where is the *!&^!*# bus?”
Is the Seattle transit system so bad that I need to spend $15 for realtime info?
Alarm Free - Masayuki Akamatsu - Free
Alarm is a self-defense/emergency alarm with a freefall detector.How is this used for self-defense? Again, just like Flashlight my Treo could be used for self-defense (do not try this with an iPhone, just keep an old Treo or Windows Mobile phone handy)
CowToss - Digital Thought Software - $0.99
Cow Tossing. Pull the cow down, release, and watch it fly!
This would never get old. Right.
Morse-It - Francis Bonnin - $0.99 Morse-It is an easy to use application that allows {you} to translate and interpret Morse code. Type some text and it will be automatically translated into some fullscreen flashing effect of the associated Morse code. Some sound will also play accordingly. Your “SOS” message will be seen quite far away!Not sure what to think about this one. It could come in handy if you’re shipwrecked, otherwise you better hope other people have this app so they can consult its “full Morse alphabet.”
Zen Garden - Peerium, Inc. - $0.99 Take a few moments and relax with your pocket Zen garden. Draw designs in the sand with a single finger. Or, use multiple fingers for a nice rake design. Shake your garden to smooth out the sand and start anew.
I’ve never gotten into the whole Zen garden thing. It did make me wonder if there were any Feng Shui apps, so I searched but there are none yet.
iAstronomica - Astistic Techworks - $19.99
iAstronomica is an astronomy program that generates sky charts at any time, from anywhere on Earth. The planetarium shows all the planets and stars visible to the naked eye, as well as meteor showers, the Milky Way, the ecliptic and the current moon phase.
What can I say? I had to include this one since I’m an amateur astronomer.
While I poke fun at many of the apps above, I have to give the developers credit. I couldn’t write an iPhone app… or could i?
