Palm-Mac

AppStore slowing down?

Okay, there was seemingly over 500 apps on at launch date but things seem to have stalled somewhat over the past week. I have about 9 apps installed to date and I feel more or less apped up in the sense that I don't feel I need a whole host more. I just need eWallet to finally appear and then a DocsToGo type application and that will probably be it for me. Unless of course some wonderful stuff that I didn't think I needed but actually do appears but at the moment I can't think of anything....actually, now that I think about it I can...ListPro..and that will be coming in the next couple of months. When it does, bingo.

Still, it is a little disappointing that things have been so quiet of late. Possibly something to do with Apple's supposed backlog of apps waiting for approval? If so, then they need to get the finger out.

Am I an Apple fanboy? I don't think so. I use their products, well just a laptop, desktop and iPhone but that is it....oh and I also have an iPod I suppose. I don't use these products because I think they are miles better than anything else but more because I just like them and they seem the best option for me. I've tried other platforms on the mobile front and have liked them but just not as much as the iPhone. I wouldn't go on forums and brag about the iPhone's superiority but I would defend it against others slagging it off if I felt they were unjustified. I'd only say it was superior in the sense that it is superior for MY needs. Likewise, I use a PC at work and it is fine for that albeit a bit slow but that is probably down to all the IT interference. When I am at home I just prefer to use macs as they are better, for me, for the things that I use them for or perhaps it is just because I am more used to them and familiarity breeds contempt and all that.

There's undoubtedly a snob thing going on with a lot of mac users that puts people off and creates a bad impression, I'd hate to think I was part of all that as I dislike it myself. Just talking to myself.

iPhone stuff again...sort of

Okay, I will not be posting much on windows mobile stuff from now on as I don't have a win mob device anymore and I can't see myself getting another one in the near future. The thought depresses me actually, I hated all that memory management and all round slowness in comparison to the iPhone. Sorry. Even the latest high end devices do not appeal anymore, it's just all round too much hassle for me and the lack of mac compabability, in comparison to the iPhone, is the final nail in the coffin. If I never use another Missing Sync application again I will not be that disappointed.

I'm still waiting for eWallet to appear on the AppStore. It must be very frustrating for Ilium not to have it showing when there has been some real pap showing up recently and as expected, about 298 different tip calculators to date. SplashID is out there and I have used this and it is good but it is just not as good as eWallet.

I see that you can filter your searches on iTunes to have the latest released apps at the top, this is handy but it does lend itself to some skullduggery as developers issue tiny updates to existing apps to get them listed at the top again using this search criteria. It is annoying too to see so many eBooks clogging up certain categories...most of them are ones that are free anyway but are being charged for...naughty.

I downloaded Twitter and installed it but removed some "friends" as they were hogging bandwith, so to speak, with fairly unimportant "twittering" or should that be "wittering"? One thing about Twitter and Facebook that makes me laugh is this...you know how women go on about men being vain? Probably to deflect attention away from their own 24 hours a day vain-ness but I digress. Anyway, if men are vainer how come just about every single female on FaceBook or Twitter has a very obviously and carefully stage managed posed picture (often black and white, slightly washed out a la Dynasty 1980's Joan Collins style) whereas the guys have obviously just chosen the first photo that came to hand that doesn't make them look like a complete idiot? Hey c'mon girls, just saying...

I still don't have a 3g iPhone yet. I did pop into town today in the vain hope of finding one but o2 have none. Talking of o2, the store in Princess Street Edinburgh has possibly the surliest, snootiest and least helpful phone staff in the UK. After my less than enjoyable visit there I tried CPW and at least they were civil there. The guy said they were expecting some in on Thursday, he took my number and said he would call if they did. He probably won't but at least he made some effort.

File Magnet for iPhone

This application is only £2.99 at the AppStore but adds a lot of functionality and represents good value. It comes in two parts. Firstly, you need to install the free desktop mac app which can be obtained here. Then, you need to buy the FileMagnet app and install it on the iPhone. Then you can start sending files to the iPhone just by dropping them on the desktop icon. Here is what it is supposed to be able to send, file type wise:

"FileMagnet makes it easy to copy files from your Mac and view them on your iPhone and iPod touch. It supports all the common file types, including PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, images, movies, sounds and even folders. By running the FileMagnet Uploader on your Mac, you can wirelessly copy files over your wi-fi network".

I tried a few excel files but they refused to open. This is apparantly a known issue which they are currently working on. I have also sent rtf files, created in TextEdit, and they opened no problem. The Microsoft Office docs aspect is obviously attractive although they can only be viewed and not edited but the appeal may wane once we get formal editing later on via a proper Office style application...assuming of course that happens.

AppStore policy and other similar things...

Interesting post at pda247 regarding Apple's policy for approving new applications and lack of available demos . It is doubly interesting when you look at another post on the same page where a windows mobile developer laments that he finds himself having to develop per device nowadays in much the same way that things got for the palm o/s.

The first post is a bit surprising as I thought non-Apple believer, yes such people do exist, Shaun was going to have a real pop at Apple for not putting up demo versions of apps yet about half way through the post he sort of, but not completely, defends the policy on the basis that most are either cheap or free and that at least it maintains a degree of uniformity having all apps on the one store. I can see where he is coming from and I half agree but I am still a little surprised and disappointed that there are not demos available for apps costing £10 plus.

If you read the posts in the first link, very few are coming out and saying it is good that so much stuff is free or relatively cheap or that it is good to have a central repository for other apps or that the onboard AppStore automatically provides updates of your apps. Nope, in typical anti-apple fashion some folk automatically look for downsides. All a bit depressing really that petty inter-platform rivalries prevent folk from acknowledging good things about other platforms.

My own view is that apps costing under £5, of which there are plenty, are liable to be pretty simple and should be viewed very much as what you see is what you get. Demos shouldn't be needed. Look at the screens on the AppStore and then if further research is needed read any reviews and then check out the developers website for further info on features. I would think that would suffice in most cases to see whether it will offer you what you need. After all, spending £2.99 on a task style app is not quite the same as splashing out £15 or so for a lot of similar Windows Mobile apps. The apps I have bought so far, 4 in total, have cost a grand total of £10 yet have added a whole heap of extra functionality. Add in another 5 free apps already downloaded and I think this is proving to be a very cost effective platform.

I see that Ilium have announced that eWallet will be available on the iPhone for $9.99, half the price of the palm and windows mobile mobile application. That is excellent value. Instead of having a cheap pop at Apple for no demos or only making apps available via iTunes, why not be pleased that the vast majority of software is very reasonably priced in comparison to similar stuff on other platforms?

bad siders

Check out this weirdo...this is one of those eco guys who camped out for one of the first iPhones last week. Someone really needs to have a word with him about those siders, he looks like he should be in Emmerdale Farm.

Well, it looks like that not only Dan's friends who is "glued" to him. Because Dan managed to attract a cute Apple Store employee while he's getting his iPhone 3Gs, asked her out and getting a date for next Tuesday. I bet he'll bring his new iPhone 3G along ;-p Here's the rest of the story

best 3g iPhone launch coverage...

I'm going to give this to the iPhone Blog for their posts covering the launch day and subsequent ahem..."issues". No screaming blue murder or the world is going to end style reporting there, just factual updates of what was happening (or not happening) and useful reviews of stuff like mobile.me and, if you were having some problems getting activated or updating or whatever, then some useful tips to try and get things sorted.

I was hoping I would have got the updated software last night some time but to no avail. I can browse through all the apps on AppStore in iTunes and have already 'queued up" some to try out when I do get my hands on it. Perhaps it will be up and running today at some pount.

iPhone cock-up

It's now half five here in the UK and I have been perusing the web gleaning further info about the great iPhone activation balls up. Luckily, my phone is working again but I now can't do a backup and my phone is as if it were brand new. I can't be arsed re-entering all my email stuff and will just have to wait until iTunes gets itself sorted out.

Really Apple...what a balls up. They should have launched the AppStore a few days ago to avoid all the rush of people trying to get their hands on version 2 and others trying to activate the 3g iPhone. From what I have read on the  web it seems to be even worse than first time around which is quite an achievement bearing in mind they knew about the possible rush for July 11the activations and new software months ago.

Oh dear.

Update - at 5.45pm I was finally able to restore via a back up so I am now good to go. I feel sorry though for the poor folk getting their hands on a new 3g version and not being able to do anything.

no new iPhone for me yet...and no current one either

I managed to get down to Ocean Terminal shopping Centre in Edinburgh this afternoon in between  going to see Journey To The Centre of The Earth with my son, but that's another story. At about 1.30pm I was queuing in o2, 4th in line with about 3 folk behind me when one of the guys who was serving came out and said that all the 16gb iPhones were gone. I could have waited for a 8gb one but I was determined, prior to arriving, that it was going to be 16gb or nowt and I stuck to my guns and left. I did have a wee play with one though and it feels chunkier, in a nice sense, than the original version. I also prefer the black back which is less bling like.

After the film had finished we headed for the CarPhoneWarehouse shop and they too were out of the bigger capacity model so again I resisted temptation to just go for the 8gb. Thing is, I knew that the minute I walked out of the door I would regret it. But for a few minutes bad Murray was perched on my shoulder whispering "just get the 8gb model, go for it" and when I hear the gadget voice it is hard to resist but resist I did and I will be glad I did later on.

Interestingly, both shops said they expected further stick of the 16gb model next week so hopefully I can pick one up then. In the meantime I will just have to try out the AppStore and new programmes on my current iPhone. I tried in fact to access the iTunes store when I got back home but there is no sign of the version 2 software and no "update" option. Does anyone know what is happening? In preparation for the new software I attempted a "restore" back to factory settings and it started off okay but then an error message appeared and I have now been left in complete limbo with no working iPhone. Oooops.

exciting times for iPhone users

The iTunes application store has opened for business and there is a decent selection of stuff now available. What is surprising so far is how reasonably priced a lot of the stuff is. Quite a few of the things are completely free and a lot are under a fiver. No sign yet though of the things I am really after but I am hopeful they will appear soonish. What is super cool for me is that some apps have appeared that I have on my MacBook Pro that are free and allow you to sync your desktop info to the iPhone...wow. Perhaps now people will see the attraction of the iPhone to mac users.

This is a very exciting period for iPhone people and is something we have waited for a long time...3rd party applications that are going to enhance the iPhone useage experience and take things to the next level. Will this mean the end of jailbreaking as opposed to unlocking? The guy who set up ZiPhone certainly hopes not and you can't blame him as he has garnered a whole heap of fame/notoriety and praise for his past efforts. He is currently exhorting the masses to remain in free land and not to upgrade to version 2.0. Good luck to you Sir.

I've got to be honest here, I'd love to get my hands on a 3g iPhone as soon as possible but I'm not so confident as I was a few weeks ago of getting one quickly. O2 has employed some fairly underhand tactics so far and understandably given priority to new customers as that is far better business for them that existing customers. Nonetheless, the way they pretended to give a stuff about looking after existing iPhone users was nothing short of shabby when it came to the online ordering fiasco and it is sure to rebound on them at some point in the future....hopefully. I am going to try an o2 store in Edinburgh tomorrow afternoon purely because it will be nearby the cinema that I'm going to with my son. I fully expect to be lied to when asking about an upgrade and told they have none left but if not I will be delighted. At least if I do not get one I can console myself with the knowledge that I can still run v2 and the new apps on the current model.

I'd especially like to see some of the gaps plugged that have drawn some ongoing ridicule from the geek brigade although no doubt they would find something else to have a pop at. I shouldn't care really but what annoys me is that a lot of them are missing the point with the iPhone. It falls into the Apple "rest of us" approach to gadgets, an easy to use device with a lot of the fluff that 97% of the population won't ever use stripped out and the things that 97% of the population will or might use at some point done to a very high standard. These people need to understand one thing. They are geeks and fortunately they only form a very small part of the buying universe. There are devices out there for them so stick to them and leave everyone else to what suits their more limited needs best without the cheap shots and smug mocking.

 

iPhone minor backlash

Things have now settled down after the relative excitement of the 3g iPhone announcement and we're into the post announcement "look what's missing" phase which is fair enough. It doesn't bother me as I have more or less decided that I will be moving full time to it when it is available as I'm sure it will be able to do exactly what I am looking for in a mobile device. I'm hoping, nay praying in fact, that reception will be better. In the black hole that is my work desk the current iPhone has, to say the least, patchy reception and often the dreaded "no service" message appears. Bearing in mind that 3g reception is typically worse to get in Edinburgh then I am not too hopeful and it is a concern for me...what's the point of a fancy dan smartphone with dodgy reception skills?

In preparation for the 3g iPhone arrival, I have therefore disposed of all devices except my treo 680 and Centro so things are quite final on that front. My gadget drawer looks rather sparse but as the devices I sold were barely used it is no great loss. Even the treo 750 went and I haven't missed it at all.

Anyway, back to the relative nit-picking about what is missing or what should be there. Some of the recent fuss revolves around possible pricing on A&T which is the major US carrier sporting the iPhone. It would be strange if the biggest iPhone seller in the world, most likely, was not able to offer the same cheap deals that will be available everywhere else as regards initial handset cost especially after such a large part of Steve Job's sales spiel revolved around this.

So what if the iPhone doesn't have this or that feature is what I say. I don't think Apple ever intended to compete directly with feature/spec laden win mob devices as they seem to be going for a different sales sector, one they have spotted as missing a trick and that is those who are non-geeky and just want their phone to be easier to use but more fully featured than the likes of Moto Razr & base model Sony's. After all it will have 3g and GPS, almost full exchange capability, a top class browser, all the usual iPod music and video strengths plus good IMAP email and soon a whole host of good 3rd party apps. All in all not too shabby plus it feels rock solid and it is aimed as a device for playing not working like most win mob smartphones. There a heck of a lot of people out there looking for a device like that too, including myself, and it's almost paired down purposeful simplicity is what I am looking for these days.

I look at all the competing soon to arrive devices. Some, like the Nokia E71 looks the business with great specs and an ideal form factor but then I think, well I have had 2 Nokia devices before and they were both difficult to use, so difficult in fact that it outweighed their obvious advantages. Why would this one be any different? It's running virtually the same o/s and is again touchscreen-less.....the HTC Diamond semi appeals but there's something trying-too-hard-to-be-cool and failing miserably about it for my tastes but kudos to HTC for trying to do something very positive with the basic win mob interface. And of course, neither Nokia nor HTC do anything to try and make them inherently mac friendly which makes living with them and a mac less than pleasurable experience. If you are a mac user then that is the sort of thing that also needs to be factored into the whole experience.