iPhone 4 - I Caved In

So I've finally upgraded to the iPhone 4. I was very hesitant to make the change for several reasons. One is the negative PR the iPhone 4 received. Another is the fact that ATT service is known to have reception/coverage issues. And the final reason is the fact that I wasn't convinced that the phone is any better than some of the recently popular Android phones.

I did some research and realize that most of my concerns weren't that accurate. By now if Apple needed to make any changes to the iPhone 4 they would have done so by now. ATT service isn't the best, but neither is Sprint's which I've had before. And regardless of how far the Android phones have come to date, I am yet to find one that seems better. I know there are tons of specs and data that could probably prove that there is an Android phone out there that beat the iPhone 4 in certain areas. But overall, I genuinely like the iPhone OS, and everything that comes with it.

There is one aspect of the iPhone that no other phone has. IT'S AN IPOD WITH ITUNES. For anyone who has an iTunes library, this should be a major factor. I have tons of music on iTunes, and I really like how easily it all integrates.

Another feature worth noting would have to be the camera. It's just about good enough for me not to need to bring a real digital camera on vacation. The iPhone 4 has a great camera with some very useful features. I'm convinced that with the next edition of the iPhone, my digital camera will not be necessary to bring on trips anymore.

With all that being said, you still should make your own decision. I'm happy I made the decision to upgrade.

Let's golf! iPhone App

My new favorite app would have to be Let's golf! by Gameloft. This iPhone or iTouch app is free, works great, has great graphics, and is a lot of fun. You can choose from several characters, courses, tournaments, and number of players. I typically stick with the simple games on my iPhone, but Let's Golf has changed the type of games I look at now. You'll probably want to connected via Wi-Fi since the download is pretty large in comparison to some other apps I've looked at.

Anyway, if you want to give Let's Golf a try, check out the Top 25 Free apps on iTunes.

Nike Plus on iPhone 3gs

The iPhone 3gs is comes equipped to work with the Nike Plus iPod feature on most Nike running shoes. This is great for those Nike Plus users who were having to lug around their old iPod Nano in addition to their iPhone. I'd be interested to see if this feature is any more advanced than it's previous application.

iPhone 3g Goes International

Today, all iPhone 3g users received a text message from ATT letting them know their iPhones are now enabled to operate internationally. Special rates do apply, and the speed and reliability are unknown at this point. Hopefully we'll have some test results soon.

Top iPhone Apps: Online Dating

As Online Dating grows in popularity, it's no surprise that Online Dating applications are growing in popularity as well. Dating websites are slowly but surely releasing their apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The top Social Networking apps category is now heavily concentrated with dating apps. Below are the most popular dating applications available on the App Store today. I'm sure these numbers will change rapidly on a daily basis.

Speeddate (Free or $19.99)

Top 25 Social Networking App

Stars: 2.5/5

Reviews: 26,677

Full Review




Hot or Not (free)

Top 25 Social Networking App

Stars: 3/5

Reviews: 2,714

Full Review




Match.com (free)

Top 25 Social Networking App

Stars: 2.5/5

Reviews: 3,365

Full Review

Dating DNA (Free or $4.99)

Top 25 Social Networking App

Stars: 2.5/5

Reviews: 3,637

Full Review

iPhone 3G Service Issues/Resolution

I've previously written about the poor service of the new iPhone 3G. I've experienced many dropped calls, technology failures, and frustrations over the past 8 months since I've had my iPhone. I'm happy to say that the majority of the problems were due to having a LEMON. Now I do wish the problem would have been recognized sooner, as I've made several trips to the Genius Bar.

The Genius Bar recently ran diagnostics on my iPhone and found out that it was dropping more calls than it should, and the ipod feature was failing frequently. They recommended a "restore" which fixed the ipod failure. Shortly after that visit, the iphone completely quit making or receiving phone calls. Now I could send/receive text messages and emails. I took the iphone back up to the Genius Bar and they finally gave me a brand new iPhone. This clearly fixed the problems.

The reason I feel this is important is that I've heard plenty of iPhone 3G users complain about dropped calls and technology failures, and Apple/ATT is willing to fix it. If you call ATT and complain about the service, they have the authority to credit your account $25 which they did do for me. If your iPhone is "failing" to function correctly, you should take it into the Genius Bar and they'll do what's necessary to fix it, even if that means giving you a whole new iPhone.

Now I do believe that after owning the iPhone for over 1 year, you might not be given a new phone so easily.

Any other service stories or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks

iShoot Lite iPhone App

iSHOOT Lite is the top free iPhone app right now. I never like game apps and I think this one is very good! It reminds me of a classic Atari game with beefed up graphics.

The whole object of the game is to blow up the tanks. You're on a hill with as many other tanks as you choose. You choose your weapon, cannon angle, and shot strength and Fire away!

You trade turns with all the other tanks of the screen until there's only one tank left. If you're that tank, you win. iShoot Lite is the free version of the top paid app, iShoot. I've only tested the free version of iShoot and think it's great. I hope that for $2.99 they are able to add some value.

There are some other features of the game that make it a lot of fun for a free iphone app. You have $5,000 to start and win more money as you complete levels. With the money you can buy much cooler weapons/missles. You can add as many opponents as you'd like. You can also choose how many rounds per game in increments of 5, difficulty level, and you can even use multiple players.

If you like to play intuitive, fun games on your iPhone or iTouch, I would consider giving this application a try. If you don't like it, you can always delete it.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time

I saw this iPhone Application on the top 10 free list and had to take a look. I remember seeing this , Peanut Butter Jelly Time dancing banana several times on CNBC on Friday's and thought it was weird, but also funny. CNBC would play Its Peanut Butter Jelly Time during the middle of a show and never acknoledge the fact that they just played it. I know it was featured on the Family Guy also.

This dancing banana doesn't do much but sing, "It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time" over and over again. The songs lasts for about 1 minute and there aren't a whole lot of words to it, but it is incredibly catchy.

The iPhone app is free and very small so it won't slow your iPhone down like some others I've downloaded. Peanut Butter Jelly Time is turning into a very popular song/video clip and really for no apparent reason. But, I love it and think it's pretty entertaining.

Crazy Penguin Catapult Lite : Iphone App

Crazy Penguin Catapult is the top Free App for iPhones currently, so I decided to check it out. I rarely consider downloading games to my iPhone, but it's so popular I went ahead. Here's what I found.....

The download takes a lot longer than any other iPhone App I've tested, but it's the most complex also. The whole object of the game is just like in the title. Penguin Catapult. As Penguins swing, you hit them with a catapult to the next stage of the level. After you've catapulted all of your penguins over, they are now kamikazee penguins. The goal is to have the penguins dive-bomb the bears and take them out.

Each level is pretty much the same. You always start by catapulting a group of penguins. The number of them changes, and the way they swing also changes. As the levels progress, there are also more bears to dive-bomb and becomes more difficult to get to them.

I played several levels and feel I get the gist of the whole Crazy Penguin Catapult game. Keep in mind, this application is free, or the "Lite" verson, so the paid might be much more complex (although I doubt it).

For all of you iPhone gamers out there. I would recommend this game if you want something graphically pleasing, very easy to pickup, and doesn't require much thought at all. I personally don't see myself playing Crazy Penguin Catapult very often, but definitely see why its become so popular recently.

iPhone App: Night Stand

The Night Stand application for the iPhone has been getting quite a bit of attention lately. Night Stand is one of the most popular and most simple of all the applications I've seen so far.

The whole basis of Night Stand is to function as a typical alarm clock with a green/blue analog display. This way, you can grab your phone and see what time it is just like looking at you clock by your bed.

I've used this a couple times and doesn't make the most sense for me since I have an alarm clock on my night stand but if I ended up spending the night somewhere I can see where it'd be a nice application to have. As long as the battery doesn't run out.

Night Stand doesn't have any settings to mess with or options. You install it, click it, and its up. To turn it off, you hit the main button. That's pretty much all there is too it. Very simple, very easy.

iPhone Application: Say Who

The iPhone 3g application, Say Who is available for anyone interested in a voice recognition application for making phone calls. This application installs very quickly, and is free. To use, you simply open the app, press the button while saying the name of the contact you wish to call, the next screen shows who it will call in 3 seconds, and if you don't press any other options, it makes the call.

This application is a good alternative to dialing the phone when driving. It comes in handy when you are calling people you don't very regularly. I have my favorites setup so for those people, it's not any faster to use the Say Who application. But for those other 140 people not on my favorites list, this application is very helpful.

You will need to familiarize yourself with how you entered your friends names in your phone. I know for some of my contacts I use first and last names, just first names, just last names, or nicknames. Once you use Say Who you start to remember how your contacts are stored in your iPhone.

Shortly after installing Say Who my iPhone applications wouldn't open correctly. I have about 10 on my iPhone and not one would open. This isn't the first time this has happened, but I did have to delete all my apps and reistall them. They all work fine now. Just something to be aware of.

iPhone Application: Loopt

For all you iPhone users, there is a pretty cool app called Loopt available for free!

This iPhone application Loopt tracks your location and shares it with your friends who have the application on their iPhone. I really like the idea and have a 10 friends who also use it so far. It's very accurate and will show each friend on a map or in a list displaying what streets they're on and how far they are from you. Each user can customize their profile with a picture as well.

From each friends profile page on Loopt, you can call, text, ping, comment, and my favorite, get directions to their location. This is where I see this being the most useful. Essentially, you'd never need to call and have someone give you directions again. You would simply look them up on your Loopt application, find their location, and have Loopt map the directions to your friend.

You can change your "What's Up?" message to let friends know what you're up to similar to a "status" update on Facebook which you can set to link up with each other. Under the settings tab, you can set your location settings to one of 3 choices:

1. Share with all of my friends
2. Share with some friends
3. Hide from everybody

One feature that I don't use on Loopt is Loopt Mix. This feature lets you create a custom profile to connect with Loopt users who aren't in your address book(stranger), who may share similar interests. Loopt doesn't share your phone number or your exact location. You have to click on "I Accept, Turn ON Loopt Mix" to enable this feature.

iPhone Update Finally Here!!!!!

So it looks like Apple has come through and provided some fixes to frequent iPhone problems. Update 2.2 is now available and I recommend everyone download and install it ASAP. I'll review this update in more detail soon. But for now, enjoy these features!

• Street View now available on Google Maps
• Fixed dropped and failed call issues
• Safari updates
• Podcasts
• Etc.

There is already information on the updates still to come so be on the lookout for more updates.

ATT 3G Network Review Part 2

In a previous post I went through some of the noticeable problems with ATT's 3G service for the new iPhones. My initial review wasn't very good and unfortunately, this one is going to be worse.

Since the first review, I've gotten feedback from more users in more cities that are experiencing the same problems. During peak usage hours (5-10pm) users are experiencing "Failed Calls" which is what is displayed on the iPhone when a call is dropped, over 10% of the time within the first 2 minutes of a conversation. The updated cities list which I've tested and gotten feedback from are as follows: St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, New York, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Richmond, and Austin. That's 10 cities in 9 states.

The iPhone users love all the applications, ipod, GPS, and internet features. BUT IT IS TERRIBLE AT MAKING AND ACCEPTING PHONE CALLS, which is arguable the most simple, but most important feature of a cell phone. I continue to check the web and company website to look for updates on their network. I've gotten my phone looked at twice to make sure I didn't have a defective phone before I bashed the company, and it checked out perfectly fine. I encourage all feedback and testimonials on this problem. Hopefully as time goes by, ATT can straighten out these issues.

Urbanspoon iPhone Application

The newest application I've tried for the iPhone 3G is Urbanspoon. Urbanspoon is designed to find restaurants near you. It uses a graphic interface similar to a slot machine. Based on your location, it will find nearby cities, and a diverse pool of restaurants to choose from. The search fields are city, type, and price range. You simply enter your location, shake your phone to start the "slot machine" style search, and it will find you a restaurant. The 3 criteria spin until they land on something. You can make one constant by "locking" that field and the other 2 will spin until they find something.

It actually has been very useful this last weekend as I was looking to find some restaurants that I hadn't been to before. I was able to find a lot of restaurants I hadn't heard of that had great reviews. Urbanspoon also lists recent reviews to the restaurants it finds. The best part I think, is that you can search by price range. I personally like to have a good idea of what things cost before entering the restaurant.

Google Maps on iPhone 3G

Google maps comes with all new iPhone's. I really got to use it this last time I was out of town and was very impressed. Especially with the GPS feature. I was traveling with by business partner who has a Blackberry and was comparing the GPS features. Now from the beginning the Blackberry seemed to be much better. But after a couple tries, we started to notice that Google Maps was sending us on a better route most of the time. Now, the Blackberry might have been sending us on a shorter route, but for the most part, the iPhone sent us on streets that made a whole lot more sense. Blackberry's GPS was constantly sending us down streets with a speed limit of 20 MPH and lots of stop signs. The iPhone or Google Maps, was sending us on routes that were much quicker and driver friendly. I can't speak for all users of both GPS systems, but during my last trip, the iPhone consistently outperformed the Blackberry.

Not So Hot 3G Network

The 3G network that ATT and Apple have been boasting about is not stacking up to the hype. Any user of the new 3G iPhone can tell you that they are experiencing more than just dropped calls. Often, iPhone users are unable to place calls, along with having their current conversations “fail.” The current speculation is that there are not enough satellites to hold the larger than anticipated 3G network of users. At times, it can be so bad that iPhone 3G users are not able to place calls for periods of up to 30 minutes. At first I thought it might be a regional issue. However, I experienced the problems initially in St. Louis, my friends in Chicago are having the same problems, and during my trip to the San Francisco Bay area and Phoenix, the issues were still present. I’ve had my phone looked at by the Genius Bar, and completed all necessary updates. Hopefully this problem will be addressed soon. Otherwise, I would expect ATT and Apple to get a lot of angry customers most likely resulting in discounted monthly statements. I was unable to find any sources discussing ATT’s plans to beef-up the 3G network. Hopefully they have a plan to address the recent problems. I’ll continue to look for reliable information about the current issues and hopefully get some insight as to when the problems will be fixed and we can continue to use our 3G iPhones without major service interruption.

If any readers feel these statements are false, or exaggerated, please comment on your experience.

iPhone Application Ads

For those of you iPhone users, I'm sure you've noticed your applications are being updated rapidly. That's because they are incorporating advertisements to your favorite iPhone apps like Bloomberg and Pandora internet radio. Sportacular is the only iPhone app that I have which hasn't been updated to display unwanted advertisements. Now all of these apps are free so we can't be too picky. However, if they start to make the iPhone run slowly, or have any sort of problems, they'll need to remove the unwanted application ads.

Spotacular's most recent update made the application better without the advertisments. You can now make a list of your favorite teams which displays their scores on the front page of the app. Sportacular is definitely one of the better apps and I appreciate them not following the new trend of iPhone apps putting banner ads on my phone.

iPhone Application: Bloomberg

This is the first application I put on my iPhone 3G. Bloomberg provides financial information and is a great resource for investors, financial professionals, and anyone interested in the capital markets, or related news. The Bloomberg App lets you pick stocks you want to watch and gives you current quote information, related news, and performance charts. You also have access to international equity, bond, currency, bond, and commodity markets/indices.

The Bloomberg app would not make much sense for someone who didn't have a strong need or desire to be informed of current market conditions on more than a daily basis. This is where the iPhone can really compete with the Blackberry's that business people have been set on since their creation. As far as I know, no other phone has anything close to this informative for financial information, and therefore, would make the iPhone 3G a great option. The Bloomberg application for the iPhone is free as well.

iPhone Application: Shazam

I have been using the iPhone Shazam application for about 2 months now and thought I would write a bit about it.

The Shazam application for the iPhone "listens" to music playing and then sends you the artist, title, and album of the song! Its absolutely awesome. I cannot believe how much I use. The application takes about 15-30 seconds to listen to the music playing, and about another 15 seconds to send you the song information. It works incredibly well also. I've used it in bars, in the car, during a commercial playing a song I like, during the credits of a movie, and more. I can honestly say, there were only 2 times it hasn't been able to identify the song I was requesting and I've probably used it over 100 times.

Once you have "tagged" a song, meaning you've identified it with Shazam, you can quickly preview the song on youtube, send the tag to your friends, or buy the song directly to your iPhone from iTunes. Its truely amazing how streamlined the who process is and the best part is the Shazam application is completely free!