My Favorite iPhone Games Roundup

In my last post, I described "jailbreaking" the iPhone in order to install native applications. Well, it wouldn't be much fun if some of those programs were not games. Face it, one of the biggest negatives to the iPhone is what can you do with it when in "Airplane Mode" if you don't want to listen to music or watch video? Once in airplane mode, all the advantages of Safari-based Internet applications are left on the ground. The solution? Native games.


So here are my favorites:

1. iSolitaire by Chris Miles satisfies anyone's desire to have a substitute for the Windows Spider Solitaire game. While lacking in features such as statistics and undo, it is surprisingly well-designed and Chris has been very active in updating it. Needless to say, at its present state, it can make a very long trip fly by.







2. FiveDice from Conceited Software is Yahtzee! ported to the iPhone. In doing so, the developers have taken advantage of the iPhone's features to make game-playing really enjoyable. If you get tired of playing Solitaire, FiveDice should get you the remaining distance on that long flight.







3. Block Puzzle by soneso is that rare combination of simplicity and challenge. The objective is to move a large red block to the bottom of the puzzle by moving different-sized around in the limited space. The puzzle provides three difficulty levels and the third level can keep you busy on a very long flight.







4. Tetromino (Mobile Tetromino) by Ste is a nice port of the Tetris game. It is generally well done, but I would like to see the buttons a little larger and the ability to change the background. Other than that, if you like Tetris, you will be happy with Tetromino.







5. Lights Off by Ste is sort of a combination of a chess game merged with a block game. The game board is a 5X5 set of squares. Some of the squares are lit and some are dark. When you touch a lit square, the square turns dark, but all adjacent squares light up. The objective is to manipulate the board to turn off all lit squares on the board so that it is completely dark. Once this is achieved, the game proceeds to the next level. I have been able to make it to level 8 and could probably take a rather long flight before I advance. It eats up time and its fun.

Why Hack the iPhone?

I resisted the urge to hack the iPhone for a few months, but after hearing about all the bricked phones after update 1.1.1, I became very interested in what it was that so many people wanted that they would be willing to brick their phone. My worry was that I did not want to dip into the innards of Mac OS X (even though I am quite at home with UNIX and Linux) and I sure didn't want to brick my phone.

Then I read about the site www.jailbreakme.com. The people at jailbreakme are to be congratulated on their ability to jailbreak the phone. But more importantly, they are to be congratulated on designing a jailbreak approach that is truly user-friendly. First, you don't need to know anything under the hood of Mac OS X. Second, you don't need to remember or follow any complicated directions. Third, you don't need anything but your iPhone and access to the Internet. The result is a jailbreak process that is as simple to perform as the iPhone is simple to use. But it doesn't stop there. The access to applications, the process of installing selected applications, the process of upgrading those applications, and the process of deleting applications are all ... simple. The result is an outstanding process for adding and managing applications on the iPhone that I highly recommend. With such a simple process, why not hack just to see what's available?

I have included a picture of page 1 of my "Springboard" (iPhone home screen). There are two more pages of applications that are not shown. No more complaints about lack of a "Todo" list. There's an application for that. No more complaints about lack of a search facility--there's an application for that. The screenshot is from an installed application. I have games galore. You get the idea, these applications truly extend the capability of the iPhone.

What's missing? I would still like to see a hack that will allow me to copy-and-paste. I figure it is only a matter of time before someone ports a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation package to the device: OpenOffice would do just fine. Finally, file uploading and saving capabilities would bring the device to a true portable computer level.

With that said, I am waiting for a "simple" upgrade that will enable the hack to work on 1.1.2. To date they have provided a package that can be installed on a 1.1.1 phone that will then allow upgrading to 1.1.2, but since it does not have the simplicity of the original 1.1.1 hack, I have not upgraded. I would dare say that until Apple provides something truly valuable, there is no reason to upgrade.

Try out www.jailbreakme.com and let me know what you think.

iPhone Improvements

It has been almost 4 months since the iPhone was introduced. In that time, Apple has had the opportunity to experience the requests, complaints, outrage, and lawsuits of an opinionated, activist--but evidently severely loyal customer base. Across the multitude of papercuts that Apple has managed to inflict by its omissions of feature and function in the iPhone, what are the key ones that could make many of these complaints go away?

Well first, their announcement of an SDK has certainly quieted a mass of customers and hackers alike. By offering the SDK, iPhone now has an avenue for legitimate third-party applications. This capability should address the issues related to push email, alternate email clients, games, chat, and other applications that are already available through the hacker community.

However, my highest priority would be Flash capability. I never realized how pervasive Flash is used on Web sites until I started using the iPhone to cruise the World Wide Web. For sites that embed Flash as part of their site, the lack of Flash represents an inconvenience. However, for a number of sites, the lack of Flash means the site is not accessible. If iPhone is going to be an Internet access device as Steve Jobs described it when the iPhone was introduced, then Apple must provide Flash. It doesn't matter whether Flash is a Web standard, whether it is consistent with Web 2.0, or whether it is something Apple dislikes. The fact is Flash is a de facto standard on the Web. If iPhone is going to truly be an Internet access device, Flash is a requirement.

In the same way, the iPhone needs true Java support. If I am going to be able to use the iPhone on the go, use it as a substitute for a PC to browse and use Web content, then I am going to require access and use of www.TheDailyShow.com (Flash required), Google Docs and Spreadsheets (Java/AJAX required), and the ability to successfully enter text seen in an image to validate I am a legitimate user (never has worked).

Most of the rest will take care of itself (who knows, the third-party providers may provide resolution to these papercuts). The key for Apple is that when competitive products start providing these capabilities, Apple is going to be competitively disadvantaged. When that happens, Apple will find that providing those capabilities will not be enough to regain those customers. The clock is ticking and is now at 4 months. By the end of the year, I would predict that it will be too late. Does this mean iPhone will be a long-term failure? No, but it will mean iPhone will be relegated to a small percentage of the market--as what happened with the Mac. As seen with the Mac, market share can be regained, but it is a very slow, tedious process.

Bug: Dead Earphone & Microphone

I don't intend this blog to be a list of iPhone bugs, but since the 1.1.1. update, there are a number to report. This one involves the iPhone's built-in earphone and microphone. I noticed it for the first time yesterday, but had continuing problems with it all day. Evidently, it was caused when the external earphones (or in my case, the cable to my car's speaker system) was removed when the phone was playing a podcast.

The result was that when I attempted to place a phone call the built-in earphone and microphone were dead. The called person got the call, but they did not hear anyone on the other end and I could not hear anyone on the iPhone. In addition, the built-in speakers were dead when in the iPod an YouTube applications. Turning the phone off and back on did not help. Indeed, the only way I could get any sound out of the phone was when placing a call, I put the phone in speakerphone mode--the external speakers and the microphone both worked. When the speakerphone button was pressed again, the built-in earphone and microphone were both dead.

I think I have resolved the problem. What I did was to insert the Apple earbuds. When I made a call, both the earbuds and the microphone were live. I then removed the earbuds from the phone while the call was live. Both the built-in earphone and microphone were live. Subsequent calls indicate that the phone is now working correctly.

Has anyone else seen this issue?

iPhone Bug: Time Change

Being a "24" type guy and a veteran, I have always preferred to have my time set to a 24-hour clock instead of the traditional 12-hour AM and PM format. The iPhone, like many other cell phones provides a setting that allows the user to switch between these two settings. It is found under "Settings," "General," "Date and Time," and the setting "24-Hour Time." That's the good news.

The bad news is that since the update 1.1.1, I've notice that the time on my iPhone will revert to the 12-hour format after syncing through iTunes. The odd thing is, it doesn't occur every time I sync, but rather intermittently. It seems that I can go two or three syncs, and then it resets. I also only notice it when I turn the phone on in the morning. Therefore it could be a combination of syncing and cycling through a battery charge when the phone is off.

Has anyone else noticed this irritating little bug?

iPhone Hackers -- Stop the Whining

I find it interesting that Apple provides a rather impressive update in upgrade 1.1.1 and one group of users want to file a class-action suit against Apple because of what the update did to their hacked phone. Even more surprising, these individuals are upset even though Apple warned them that applying the update had a high probability of 1) wiping out any hacked applications added to the iPhone; and 2) possibly bricking the iPhone if it has been unlocked for use on other phone carriers' networks.

I cannot think of a single product that you can buy where you can make unauthorized alterations and get the product serviced under the company's original warranty. Why the hacker community thinks this should be possible is unreasonable. In similar fashion, I can think of many products where making unauthorized changes may damage the product, cause the product to not operate properly, or cause the product to stop working all together. For example, when you add a non-factory authorized component to an automobile and it damages the car, the user is responsible, not the auto company. If you buy a PC and overclock the CPU and it ends up damaging the chip, the user is responsible, not the manufacturer. If you make unauthorized changes to software and subsequent updates cause the software to not operate properly or become inoperable, it is the user responsible, not the software vendor.

Why then do iPhone hackers think that Apple has an obligation to protect their iPhones when they have made unauthorized changes to them? Using the same logic, you could argue that had your hacking damaged the phone, Apple should be liable in that case too. Using this flawed logic, the guy that was trying to unlock his iPhone and ended up frying the whole device should be able to get a replacement from Apple, no questions asked. What a ridiculous belief.

If you want your iPhone to operate properly, don't hack it. If you do, you do so at your own risk. Quit blaming Apple. If you don't like how Apple is treating you, go to a phone manufacturer that will cover your phone when you make unauthorized changes to it. Good luck finding one.

iPhone: Two-Month Check-up--Part VIII

This post covers my experiences with the the last of the standard applications included on the iPhone over the past two (now going on three) months: the iPod.

iPod: The iPhone was billed as the best iPod ever. In an absolute sense, I would agree. The touch interface, album flow, and controls all make it so. The iPod application is a multi-function multi-media capability that enables the user to listen to music, podcasts, video podcasts, recorded television programming, and movies--all in a small footprint. The iPod application has dedicated icons for artists, albums, audiobooks, compilations, composers, genres, playlists, podcasts, songs, and videos.

The artists, albums, compilations, composers, and songs selection all use the same "flick" and alphabet slider along the right side of the screen to choose a selection. In contrast, the audiobooks, genres, playlists, podcasts, and videos all use a more traditional menu/sub-menu/item selection scheme. However, both the videos also provide graphic images at the highest menu level, but does not really provide any advantages in selecting content.

The portrait mode provides icons for four of the preceding selection approaches at the bottom of the screen, along with a "more" button. A really nice feature is that which four buttons appear is entirely up to the user. The vertical screen provides an edit button that allows the user to drag icons to the bottom bar and to arrange those button as desired. It seems like a simple capability, but when the user rarely uses a selection mode, it is really nice to be able to relegate those modes to the "more" area.

With the exception of the video selection, when the iPhone is rotated to the landscape mode, the menu, regardless of type, transitions to the album flow interface. All album flow is by album cover (or a generic cover if the cover art is not available). Regardless of the content type selection, when rotated to show album flow, only music is shown. When a specific album is visible, tapping the "i" icon in the lower right corner will cause the album cover to "flip" revealing a list of the songs and related track times on that album along with the artist and album names. When rotated back to portrait mode the screen returns to the original menu listing before album flow was initiated.

When a video podcast has been loaded to the iPhone, it is available as both video and audio only. It shows in both menus. This is a nice feature if you want to "listen" to a video while in the car.

When a song or audio podcast is playing, a button for returning to the previous menus appears on the upper left, the current song/podcast and artist appear in a band across the middle top, and a button to flip between the current screen and a listing of songs (if an album is selected) appears on the upper right. The control buttons for starting, stopping, fast-forward, and fast-reverse appear at the bottom of the screen. The buttons are relatively small, but do not represent a problem in "normal" use. However, if you are driving and attempting to use the controls, it is very hit-or-miss. As a result, the button designs often force the user to take eyes off the road to manipulate. With the amount of real estate on the screen, it should be very easy to make the buttons larger to resolve this problem and improve safe operation of a car when attempting to use the buttons. (One could argue that you shouldn't be manipulating buttons when the car is in motion, but realistically, it is going to occur.)

In portrait mode, a tap on the top of the screen will cause a volume slider control, a button for repeating the same song or podcast, and a button to activate song or podcast shuffle to appear. These buttons are even smaller than the ones at the bottom of the screen and could also easily be enlarged for easier use (or improved mobility use).

When a song or audio podcast is playing and the iPhone is in the landscape mode, the screen shows album flow and if a podcast is playing, an image associated with the podcast shows (this podcast image does not show when flipping through songs). In the lower left is a small button to stop or start the audio. Again, for the screen space, the button is far too small. In the bottom right of the screen is the "i" icon that, when tapped, flips the album flow to the list in the same way the portrait mode upper right button operated. Unfortunately, the volume control, repeat, and shuffle buttons are not available in the landscape mode. Instead, when tapped in the middle of the screen, the image flips to the song/podcast list exactly the same as tapping the "i" icon. For whatever reason, Apple violated their own design mantra of consistency from screen-to-screen. the iPod function would be greatly improved if the flip button was kept in the upper right and the tap in the middle of the screen provided the volume, repeat, and shuffle controls. Why it was not designed this way makes no sense.

For videos, once selected, the controls operate in the same way as the YouTube application. Therefore, they will not be discussed further here.

All-in-all, the iPod application provides best-in-class functionality. The only complaint is that with a few adjustments--such as making the buttons larger--the iPod could be so much better.

In my next post, I'll finish up with my thoughts on features in the Set-up along with some summary impressions and a few additional things that I've noticed since I began the two-month review.

iPhone Sync Problems on Windows

Has anyone had the problem of duplicate calendar items when syncing with Windows? In have noticed the problem several times. It is definitely seen when a new version of iTunes is installed. My guess is the preferences get messed-up somehow. However, even when the preferences are reset correctly, the problem persists.

When I sync, I will get an error message that I have conflicting entries and iTunes then wants to take me through a process to resolve the conflicts. However, regardless of whether I have Outlook overlay iPhone or iPhone overlay Outlook, I end up with "phantom" additional entries on the iPhone Calendar application. The usual situation is when I have changed the title of an appointment by adding "DONE" at the front (so I keep a record of meetings I have actually attended), I will end up with a conflict message. When the message is resolved--overlaying either way--I will end up with the original appointment and the "DONE" appointment. If I then delete the incorrect appointment, the next time I sync, I will get the conflict again and the loop repeats.

I have also turned off syncing with Outlook's calendar and this does not seem to have an effect. I still get the conflicts and the duplicate issue.

I mention this because when you only have a few week's information in Calendar, it is no big deal. Having information dating back to July becomes a very big deal and causes a major drop in productivity.

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part VII

The last post started my two month experience with the bottom row of applications--the bread-and-butter functions upon which the iPhone has based its reputation--and I started with the Phone application. This post will focus on the second application, Mail.

Mail: Much hype was placed on the iPhone mail client, touted as the best available on a smartphone. Coming from the Treo world, I can state that the iPhone has raised the bar in many areas, yet in other areas, it has failed to leave the starting blocks. First, the good.

With the iPhone hardware, Mail has a great platform upon which to display rich HTML messages. The text is clear (even when "pinched" to magnify) with a bright contrast. Quite simply, the difference between the Treo 700p and the iPhone is a quantum leap in quality. Indeed, the improvement is such that Outlook on my PC has become a secondary reader and storage device (refer to my critique later in this post). Mail is displayed in full HTML formatting with embedded graphics, something that can't be matched on a Treo. With the large iPhone screen, one feels they are looking at a computer screen, not through a magnifying glass view seen on a Treo or other phone email client. Forward, reply, and reply-to-all is easy and intuitive, with the phone's contact list being artfully integrated. Where text is too small to read, "pinch" magnifying easily enlarges the text so that it can be read.

Other nice features that I have found useful include multiple mailboxes, the ease of creating messages, the specialized keyboard for quickly entering email addresses, the blue dot indicating unread messages, and the cute, animated trash can. Setting up and controlling email accounts is also easy in the Settings application.

Okay, now for the other shoe falling. First, as with virtually every iPhone application I've discussed, Apple needs to provide the landscape view for Mail. This is critical since HTML formatted messages can get very wide which means that the text can get very small when a full message is read into the application. When "pinch" magnified, it is a pain scrolling left-to-right in a long message. While not completely mitigated, providing mail view in the landscape orientation would reduce the hassle. When messages are too large (not sure how this is determined), only part of the message is shown and a button appears at the bottom of the message to download the remainder. Prior to downloading, the part of the message that is available for viewing is too wide for the portrait orientation. Again, enabling the landscape orientation in the Mail application would help eliminate this problem.

Second, it appears that even with the application downloading a full message, there are times when the message must be downloaded a second time (or third, or fourth) when attempting to subsequently view the message. I could find no clear pattern to when it must be subsequently downloaded, but it reduces the response time performance, increases load on the already marginal EDGE network, and causes problems when it is desired to keep a message on the phone after downloading it to a PC. (Since the message is no longer on the server, if the iPhone Mail application must re-download the message, the message can't be found. Since there are only infrequent messages that are desired to be kept, it is inefficient to keep all messages on the server.) The easiest solution would be for Apple's Mail application to download the message and keep it in memory until the user deletes it. The phone has the storage space. Use it to make the device more practical, save user wait time, save bandwidth, and save battery life.

Third, since getting the iPhone, I can go days without needing to use a PC (most desktop application work is done on my employer's PC). The ability to save documents for future reference would be a plus. This is a limitation that Web 2.0 applications cannot resolve for the iPhone. For example, if I get on a plane, it is the perfect time to review Word, Excel, PowerPoint (and issue discussed later), PDF, or pictures. If the documents are in an email message and they must be re-downloaded (as stated, it's a crap-shoot that they will be available), then they are of no use, otherwise productive time is lost, or the need to carry a laptop defeats the purpose of having a highly portable viewing device (such as the iPhone). In addition, there are times when a series of photos may be emailed and it would be desirable to save them in the Photos application. This would allow reviewing the emailed photos as a slide show or by "flicking" through the series. The current email limitation makes this impossible.

Fourth, develop a PowerPoint viewer. The Treo had one and the screen was not suitable for viewing slides. In contrast, the iPhone with its landscape orientation capability and "pinch" magnifying, is directly suitable for such viewing--but it is not available.

Fifth, there are numerous times when I receive emails with phone numbers and Web addresses. Sometimes they are hypertext and touching the link activates the phone or the Safari browser. That's great. However, sometimes those numbers and links do not show as hyperlinks. This is a perfect example of where a copy-and-paste capability would be advantageous. Alternatively, it would be desired to place the phone number and/or Web link into the phone contacts. Again, copy-and-paste would enable this.

But perhaps the biggest complaint that I have is the inability to "bulk" delete emails. While most of the time this is annoying, I had a spam attack a couple of weeks back where I received 50 to 120 emails at a time (as in every hour) over a period of two days. I don't care how easy the "swipe" and delete feature is or the edit, touch, and delete feature is, I want the ability to select a group of messages and delete them all at once. Come on Apple, even crude non-smartphone email clients have this capability.

While this is a rather long and extensive list of suggestions for improvement (or complaints depending upon how annoying they are), the base Mail application is a good start. It could just be so much better with just a few modifications.

In my next post, I will review the Safari browser application and my experience with it over the last two months. In the meantime, if you have comments or suggestions for Apple, please let me know.

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part VI

In the last post, I finished off the row three applications (with the exception of Settings to be covered at a later date). This post will look at the Phone application--theoretically the main reason for getting an iPhone in the first place.

Phone: First, let me state that historically, I have been a heavy cell phone user. However, as I have progressed through the Treo 600, Treo 650, Treo 700p, and now the iPhone, I find myself actually using the phone less and the email and browser functions more.

With that said, let me state that I have not seen the issues mentioned in the blogosphere and the press regarding shortcomings in the iPhone's phone application. Therefore, let me address the most frequent complaints. First, the earpiece in the iPhone provides clarity and volume comparable to most cell phones I've owned (the iPhone is my 11th across two carriers) and superior to some. At my age, I'm becoming a little hard of hearing and I still have no complaints.

Second, the speakerphone works adequately for most discussions as long as the ambient noise is not too great. Volume can be adjusted as needed with no complaints. In a car, with the phone on the seat and in speakerphone mode the speaker is adequate, if a little low. Based on people I've called, the microphone sound and volume allow the caller to be easily heard. However, my car has an auxiliary input for an iPod- type device and when this is connected, my caller's voice is routed through the car's speakers! With my volume controls on the steering wheel, I can adjust as needed, making this set-up superior to a headset for hands-free use. Kudos Apple. However, speaker volume cannot be too loud or it creates an echo for the called party.

Another nice touch can be found with an incoming call while using the iPod function: The iPod's volume fades while the phone's ring tone increases in volume. When answered, the caller's voice is routed through the speakerphone, earphones, or the car's auxiliary input. When the call is released, the iPod's volume fades back in, continuing at the point where it faded out. Very well done.

Now a quick evaluation of the other phone features. The dial pad is great and I have yet to screw up a dialed number. Perhaps heavy use of the virtual QWERTY keyboard's smaller keys makes it easier to hit the big keys on the dial pad. The Favorites are loaded with my most used numbers, making look-ups in the Contacts list rare. (Indeed, I use the Contacts for email addresses more often than phone numbers.) Once again, Favorites has an edit function that allows the user to reorder the list by tapping and dragging an entry. As stated in previous posts, the ability to order entries is great and is a feature that should be provided in all applications that have list information.

The Recent function is comparable to other phones. However, I like the function's ability to provide a location when you have been called from an unknown number. Again, nice touch Apple. My suggestions for improvement in this feature would be to 1) place some kind of notation on calls to indicate incoming or outgoing; and 2) indicate the length of the individual calls. As currently configured, call information is grouped by phone number giving date(s) and time(s) of call(s), but no call length information.

The Contacts feature is very well done with the ability to "flick," tap a specific starting letter, or scroll through the alphabet using the letters on the right of the screen. All are very easy to use. If I had one complaint on this feature, it would be the tendency to accidentally hit the alpha list because I drag or fail to lift my finger completely, causing the feature to jump to a letter I did not want.

Although I do not use Visual Voicemail that much, its design and ease of use is far superior to any other wireless phone I have seen. I am always getting the first numbers of a phone number and then having to rewind--most often to the beginning--on competitive phones. Not so with the iPhone. I can stop the message, make notes, continue the message, or rewind a little or a lot. It is without a doubt the easiest to use voice messaging system I have seen. However, I did notice that messages kept for long periods of time are automatically deleted. I suspect this is an AT&T feature as most phone companies delete messages that are two weeks old (or some pre-set length of time). It would be preferable that the user have complete control of deleting. Another nice touch would be the ability to sync Visual Voicemail in iTunes which would allow a message to be converted to an audio file. Doing so would allow the message to be deleted from the phone, but allow it to be saved and played on the computer (or even loaded back to the iPhone as a podcast).

I will summarize by stating that other features such as conferencing, moving to another application and back during a phone call, call hold, and phone muting all worked as advertised and I think they have all been well implemented. Apple's first foray into the cell phone business has been an outstanding job.

In my next post, I will review my experience with the iPhone Mail application. In the meantime, if you have comments or suggestions for Apple, please let me know.

Walter W. Casey, Ph.D.
Sent from my iPhone

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part V

In my last post, I finished up the second row applications by giving my impressions of the Maps and Weather capabilities. This post will be concerned with the applications on the third row: Clock, Calculator, and Notes (the Settings will be covered in a separate post).

Clock: The clock application does a good job for which it is intended. I found it easy to add cities as long as the city is one listed in the built-in list. However, a nice to have would be the ability to look up virtually any city (or town) in the world using the Internet (or Maps) and be able to set up a clock for it. That said, there is a robust choice of locations to choose from that are built-in.

Adding a clock is easy. When there are multiple clocks, the user can use the edit button to rearrange the order of cities. Rearranging the order is easy. In the edit mode, simple tap with the finger, drag,and place in the order you want. Apple, why don't you make this capability available in all of your applications? It just doesn't make sense.

The format of the clocks are easy to read with analog on the left and digital on the right. All-in-all a good application. A few tweaks and it could be a great application.

Calculator: There is not a lot to say about this application. It's your basic calculator with a memory function. Since I often have the need to calculate in the billions, it has limited use for me. To make this a must have application, I would like to see a larger display register (say 100 billion?), and at a minimum basic financial functions. To be an appealing application for students, a square root function is a must. If Apple really wants to make this a differentiator, supply a menu where you can choose the type of calculator: basic, financial, scientific, trig, electronics, hex/octal, time, and conversions. Apple, make us want to use it.

With that said, the buttons are large enough and are easy to manipulate. It just doesn't do enough.

Notes: As you will see, I tend to be a little demanding of the Notes application simply because there are no alternatives on the device (I suppose you could use email, but as you will see in a future post, it shares most of the same shortcomings). For capturing brief thoughts, snippets of information, lists, and similar items, Notes is more than adequate. The auto-correction feature improves typing speed and output quality. However, it doesn't catch everything and a separate spell-check function would be a great plus. Similarly, typing with the device vertical almost forces the user to one finger entry as the keyboard is small. Two fingers are possible if you position the iPhone horizontally, but that capability is not available in the Notes application. Apple, enable landscape mode for this application so the user has access to a larger keyboard suitable for true two-finger manipulation.

My list of notes is getting quite large. It would be nice to have some type of organization capability such as folders to categorize, store, and retrieve notes. As the title is too long and the first words are the same (as in the title of these posts), it is difficult to differentiate among Notes without opening them. Again, if the application worked in the horizontal or landscape mode, longer titles would show in the index list.

Hopefully, at some point Apple will provide a simple word processor for the iPhone. Until then, the ability to upload a note to an application such as Google Docs & Spreadsheets or Zoho and then be able to manipulate the document in those Web-based applications would be a giant plus. The problem with Web-based applications is that disconnected from the Internet (such as on an airline flight), the applications do not work. If Notes were beefed-up with basic formatting and spell-check, it could serve as a good draft application if enabled to easily interface with a Web-based application. However, even if Notes had this capability, there is an issue that would still have to be addressed in the Safari browser. That will be discussed in a future post.

In my upcoming posts, I'll start tackling the bottom row applications-- Phone, Mail, Safari, & iPod. In the meantime, if you have additional comments or suggestions for Apple, please let me know.

Walter W. Casey, Ph.D.
Sent from my iPhone

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part IV

This is a continuing series of posts covering my two-month usage and impressions of the iPhone. My last review covered the YouTube and Stocks applications. This installment will review the last two applications on the second row, the Maps and Weather applications.

Maps: All-in-all, Google and Apple have done a great job collaborating on the Maps application. In a short summary, Maps is easy to use and is very good at getting the information you want back to the user in a form that can be useful. That is, enter a name, a city, and a state, and Maps will place a pin at every location that meets the criteria. Does it make mistakes? Yes, on occasion it will get confused. But for the most part, the information is reliable.

Maps will pull up countries, cities, states, roads, addresses, and business names in a general area. For frequent repeat searches, you can bookmark the information. This is useful when there are locations that you frequently use as starting or ending point on a trip.

Particularly nice touches are the routing button and the traffic button. The button in the bottom left of the screen expands the search area allowing the user to use the previous search result as a starting point or a destination (the button to the left of the search entry allows you to switch destination and start--another nice touch). Add to this feature the fact that you can "bookmark" frequently used locations which makes entry much faster. For example, I have bookmarked both my home address and my business address because these are frequent starting points. If I am generating directions and want the reverse route, I can press the button to the left of the entry area again and the application will reverse the start and end locations and the associated turn-by-turn directions. This is stuff I actually use!

The traffic button in the bottom right of the screen toggles an overlay of traffic conditions onto the displayed map. Outside of large metropolitan areas, this information can be sparse, but where it is available, it has proven to be a great help.

The map can be shown in three different views: Maps showing street maps of locations requested; satellite views which honestly I use primarily to impress my friends (but very useful when hiking); and the list view which is great when you need to follow turn-by-turn directions.

Maps is lightening fast using WiFi and provides decent response on EDGE. Again, as mentioned in previous application reviews, Apple needs to enable the ability to rotate the screen for viewing in landscape mode.

Weather: The weather application is a nice, east-to-set up, and easy-to-use feature. By entering a zip code or a city and state, the application will return a 7-day forecast giving general weather conditions (via weather icons such a sunny, partly cloudy, rain, etc.), high and low temperature, and the current temperature. The application allows tracking of multiple locations (how many, I'm not sure, but I currently track six locations.

Once again, my critique is with Yahoo! Not the application. If you would like more weather information, you can touch the "Y!" button in the bottom left corner. The problem is when the Web screen displays, it is once again the crappy mobile Yahoo! site used for the stocks application. The weather information on this site is actually less than that contained in the iPhone application! The remainder of information on the site is location-based, not weather-based. My recommendation to Apple and Yahoo! is to provide detailed weather information when "Y!" is touched. The most obvious missing element is radar. As a result, I have had to search the Internet for weather radar sites and bookmark them in Safari. They are more difficult to get to, but they are much more informative. As a result, I find little use for the "Y!" button.

I will be publishing my thoughts on the third row applications in the near future. In the meantime, if you have comments or suggestions for Apple, please let me know.

Why Do You Buy An iPhone?

This week has been a sobering one for the legions of iPhone early adopters and an object lesson for those considering a purchase of one. The trigger: Apple reduced the price of the 8Gb iPhone by $200. (Lost in the uproar was the announcement that Apple is retiring the 4Gb iPhone.)

However, the real discussion should be, "So, what? Why did I buy a iPhone in the first place?" Of course it is somewhat distressing that your investment of 60-plus days has depreciated $200 (or $100 now that Apple has offered a rebate--something you won't see from other wireless phone companies). But here are some things to consider. First, I bought my iPhone at retail at an Apple store. If I'm upset about the $200 price reduction, imagine how those people feel who paid north of $1,000 on eBay for one! Or what about that lady that was handing out $100 bills to secure a place at the front of the line? I think her iPhone cost around $1,600 when it was all said and done. This is the misery loves company approach.

Second, ask yourself whether you would have paid an additional $50 if Apple had originally priced the iPhone at $649. For many of us, the answer would have been yes. If it was, then you shouldn't be too upset because you just demonstrated that you didn't buy it for the price, but for some other reason. That reason could have been to be first. If so, there is a price for being first in any technology and you just experienced it. It is true being first adopter of a hybrid car, an HD television, or a laptop with a new generation processor.

The reason could have been to get you hands on new technology and a new user interface. If it was and you thought the value of that technology was $599, guess what, Apple just gave you a $100 gift certificate. That's because the technology has not changed (or if loading ringtones or accessing iTunes is considered technology, then the technology value has actually improved). You were getting value out of the technology before the announcement and now Apple has offered you a $100 credit. Once you past the emotion, that is a pretty sweet deal.

Third, I can only assume that Apple has a market that they have targeted with the iPhone. That target does not consist only of early adopters. My guess is that many are price buyers and were waiting for a certain price range to be met. This move was aimed at that part of the market. It may hurt that you paid more for the same technology, but this is a market reality and is not unique to Apple products.

Finally, as mentioned by numerous blogs, Apple is getting ready to introduce another model iPhone--probably a 16Gb version. They had to make room at the top end of their market price range to bring out that phone--most likely $599. My guess is that it will come out before Christmas. And just so you are not surprised, sometime next year, the 8Gb phone will either drop in price further or be taken off the market, and the 16Gb phone will be reduced $100-200 to make way for the next 3G and/or 32Gb model. It is simple market dynamics.

By the way, when the overpriced 3G model does come out, there will be a line at the Apple Store's door.

I've gotten my value out of the iPhone. But thank you, Steve for the noble gesture. I can't think of too many other companies that would have done what Apple did with the credit offer and definitely would not have responded as fast.

My next post will get back to my extended review of the iPhone continuing with Part IV.

Walter W. Casey, Ph.D.
Sent from my iPhone

Apple to give $100 credit to early iPhone buyers

Hey! $100 is better than $0... If you were an early adopter and not eligible for any other rebate/refund, all may not be lost.

Yahoo! Article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070906/tc_nm/apple_iphone_dc_3;_ylt=Au9kvhdh2KedDQZ9h1_stssE1vAI

Steve Jobs' full statement is at: www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/

"Vindu's View from the Valley" blog provides some information on how some of you may be able to get a refund of the $200 extra you just found out today that you paid for the iPhone. Basically, if you bought your iPhone in the last 14 days (8Gb model), you are within the return policy. His post further states that if you bought your iPhone in the last 60 days and used a credit card, you may have price protection that will cover you for the "lost" $200." His post can be found at: http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/vindu/2007/09/05/apple-admits-the-iphone-was-a-ripoff-at-599-and-how-to-get-a-refund/

...And the Beat Goes On...

Needless to say, I think we can all agree that there has been more than enough reporting on the Apple, "The Beat Goes On" event today. Needless to say, most wireless phones don't cost $200, much less depreciate that much over a period of two months. I guess it could be worse, my son bought a 4Gb iPhone and it has been discontinued after two months.

Enough said. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Walter W. Casey, Ph.D.
Sent from my iPhone

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part III

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part III

In my last post, I finished my impression after two month's use of the iPhone's first row applications, specifically the Photos and Camera applications. This post will look at the first two applications on the second row: YouTube and Stocks.

YouTube: Prior to geing the iPhone, I had only been an occasional user of YouTube, but I will have to admit that I have become a much more regular user since getting the iPhone. Part of the reason is it's blocked at work, so the iPhone has given me access. However, YouTube doesn't work that well on EDGE unless you have a very good signal.

With a summer of reruns and only a few really good cable series worth watching, YouTube has stepped in to fill the entertainment void. "Search" works well enough to usually find what I want. "Featured" is always good for viewing although the selection does not seem to change frequently enough. The same seems true of Most Viewed--update the index more often.

The controls for pausing, starting, sliding fast-forward or backwards, and volume are all easily accessible by tapping the screen while a video is playing. This is a very nice touch and I found the "buttons" large enough to easily manipulate.

If there is one critique of the application itself (rather than YouTube content), allow the landscape image to rotate to the left or right. Currently, the iPhone only allows YouTube viewing rotated to the left. While this might seem like a nit, I often view videos without earphones. Actually, I almost always view videos without earphones. Therefore, placement of the phone's speakers can become critical and the speakers facing to the right is not always optimal.

Stocks: For the most part, the Stocks application is simple, effective, and adequate. If I need more information, I can easily go to Yahoo! Finance. This brings me to my first critique: When I press the "Y!" button in the bottom left of the screen, I would much rather go to Yahoo! Finance than wherever the hell I'm linked now. The current link appears to be a general Yahoo! mobile phone site that has information on the stock I'm seeking and a whole bunch of information on goings on in New York City that I have no interest in. If someone is looking at a stock and they press the "Y!" button, there is a high probability that the individual is seeking detail on that stock symbol period. They are most probably not interested in other general headlines or what's going on in the greater New York area. I personally like Yahoo! Finance better than Google Finance. However, at present it is simpler to launch Safari and enter a ticker symbol to get to Google Finance than it is to use the "Y!" button in stocks and not get the information I'm looking for.

The other critique is it would be nice to be able to reorder the sequence of stocks in the listing. You can do it with Safari bookmarks and the Clocks, so I know the code and capability are there. You will see this critique as a recurring theme in other applications as well.

I will be publishing my thoughts on the remaining two applications in the second row in the near future. In the meantime, if you have comments or suggestions for Apple, please let me know.

Walter W. Casey, Ph.D.
Sent from my iPhone

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part II

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part II

In my last post I started my review of the iPhone having two month's use under my belt. The last post covered the first two applications on the top row: SMS and Calendar. This post will finish up the top row with my thoughts on the Photos and Camera applications.

Photos: First, let's look at the good. The photo albums are a great way to keep photos organized and works well on the iPhone. In like manner, the "Camera Roll" is a good way to categorize recent photos taken with the iPhone. After choosing an album, the thumbnails and the ability to "flick" through them makes it extremely easy to find the picture you are looking for. Finally, the presentation capability built into the iPhone is unmatched on any other smartphone.

Other nice features include the ability to "pinch" the image to resize it, the ability to rotate the phone for landscape images, and the ease with which the user can email an image (or upload to .mac if you have that service--which I don't).

All-in-all, the features available make the photos application powerful and easy to use. But there is also a lot missing that would be expected in a smartdevice in this class. First, I keep many photos on my phone. It would be nice to have access to the properties so I can see when a photo was taken and the file's name. Related to the photo's properties, it would be nice to be able to name a photo in the Camera Roll and assign it to an album--including the ability to create a new album. In turn, iTunes should be sophisticated enough to sort all this out and keep your photos in sync on the desktop.

Another feature available on other smartphone such as the Treo is the ability to attach multiple phones to a single email message. While the argument that single attachments are a performance issue with the EDGE network, it isn't on WiFi where I spend a lot of time.

Camera: it is really hard to criticize the iPhone's camera. Sure it could be a higher resolution, but realistically the 2 mega-pixel camera is more than adequate for photo assignments where I wouldn't have a higher resolution camera available. The color, contrast, and low-light capability are better than any camera I've seen on a phone. I even like the fact that the shutter does not close until you lift your finger from the camera button (as opposed to the typical camera which closes the shutter when you depress the button).

The big disadvantage, as mentioned in numerous reviews and blogs is the lack of a camcorder function. Originally, I did not think this was a big deal, but I never realized how often and how many videos I took with my old Treo. The lack of a camcorder is a major feature gap for the camera.

I will be publishing my thoughts on the second row applications in the near future. In the meantime, if you have comments or additional suggestions for Apple, please let me know.

Walter W. Casey, Ph.D.
Sent from my iPhone

iPhone: Two Month Check-up--Part I

I bought my iPhone two months ago today, moving from a Treo 700p on Sprint. While there have been numerous posts describing likes, dislikes, and wanna haves, the majority of these have been from the perspective describing the ultimate portable computing platform. My perspective is somewhat different: I never used the Treo as a true portable computing device. I did use it as a convenient communications and storage device and as an extension of my office. My iPhone is being used as an extension of my home computer, my office computer, and my University teaching computer.

With that background, how has the iPhone stacked up? First, let's look at it by application.

SMS: I'm not a kid and frankly I don't use SMS that much. My main use on the Treo was SMS messaging to Google for directions, area code locations, weather, and similar information. Most if this has been replaced with the built-in Google maps application and the ease of use of Safari. Therefore, in two month's use, I've sent maybe three SMS messages. That is a lot of discussion to enhance this capability (such as adding MMS), but frankly, I probably wouldn't use it that much if it were there.

Calendar: I lived by my calendar on my Treo and this is probably the second most used application on my iPhone. As a general schedule keeper, the iPhone is easily the match of a Treo. I especially like the capability to set two alerts for a single appointment. Setting appointments is as easy as the Treo and the touch interface makes setting up and finding appointments a breeze.

The Treo's Todo list was not integrated with the calendar and therefore I didn't use it. The iPhone doesn't have a Todo capability, and therefore I find myself using the same workaround--my todos are listed as "all day" events. The real problem is moving todos not accomplished to the next day; it must be done manually, the same as with a Treo.

Apple, if I have one recommendation for the calendar application, add a category of appointment called "Todo," allow it to be shown with regular calendar appointments, allow the option of checking a box allowing them to automatically roll forward on the calendar, and provide a check box that will flag them as done (and show them as done on the calendar). A nice to have would be the capability to set and list todos by priority, but this is nowhere near a critical capability.

Add a button for "Year" that will display a rolling 12-month calendar. I find myself looking forward 6 months, a year, or more and moving forward a month at a time is a pain. The Treo had this capability and it was a nice touch.

Make the notes "smart" so that a phone number entered in the notes field is recognized as such and will display as a hyperlink that will dial the number when touched. The same functionality should be provided for email addresses and Web addresses. This would reduce much (not all) of the need for a cut-and-paste capability. When I set an appointment for a phone conference, I put the phone number in the location field or the notes field. Memorizing the number so I can move to the phone application is difficult at best.

I will be publishing my thoughts on the next two applications on the top row in the near future. In the meantime, if you have any comments or additional suggestions for Apple, let me know.

Walter W. Casey, Ph.D.
Sent from my iPhone