Sunday, June 27, 2010

iPhone 4

Apple has decided to surprise us all with an early delivery of iPhone. A lot of people got their pre-orders delivered on the 22nd instead of 24th and I think the majority got their pre-orders delivered on 23rd. Maruk and I were among the latter group.

I was fearing from the start that even if I get mine on 24th the activation tools would be plagued by the huge lines in all the stores and I wouldn’t be able to get it going on the same day. And that was in addition to the fact that I would be in the office on Thursday (24th) and would probably miss FedEx. Wednesdays I work from home office.

Last year I got FedEx delivery at 10am. Also FedEx tried to make a delivery to us a day before and that was at 3pm. So when by 4pm there was no sign of them and my tracking page started showing delivery exception saying that shipper requested to delay the delivery until a future date I was starting to get really upset. But luckily I was wrong and FedEx guy simply ignored the exception. I had my iPhone ten minutes to 5.

The activation went through in 3 or so minutes. I had the phone up and running, fully synced at 5:15. The screen is amazing. To really see how great it is one should put an older iPhone next to it. Then the difference become very dramatic. I was actually surprised how I never noticed all the blur on the old phone before.

The phone feels good in hand although it is more of a finger print magnet than the older ones — maybe because I used to use white iPhones. I’m waiting for Vaja to come out with a case¹ — I’ll get one as soon as they become available. FaceTime works great — you just make a call. No software to install, nothing to configure. Although this is a feature I don’t see myself using very often if at all.

I’m very happy with camera upgrades. If before I was considering of maybe getting a point and shoot for the situation when I don’t want to lug my dSLR along now there is no need. And I do always have the phone with me. 5 mega-pixel photos, 720p video and a flash — what more could I need?

Overall I’m very happy with my purchase. Although it’s subjective, I strongly believe that iPhone is still the reigning king of smartphones.

I can replicate the widely publicized antenna issues in certain situations as well. It doesn’t really seem to affect me much as I don’t generally hold the phone that way, but in case I happen to — the case will help. [↩]

In: Gadgets & Gear Tags: Apple, camera, iPhone, iPhone 4, screen
Time: 14:33 Comments: 3 Comments Post a Comment

Monday, June 21, 2010

iOS 4

Apple has released iOS 4 at 1pm EST today and I’ve had it on my phone 15 minutes after. This year I decided not to install developer GM version¹, but just be patient and get it via iTunes as everyone else. Upgrade was absolutely painless.

After having it on my phone for several hours I can say that some things are certainly nice. I have yet to see how useful the “multitasking” is going to be and I do have to update my app to stay in the background if user wishes it to — not an automatic thing that I thought it would be.

Folders are nice. Although it will take me quite some time before I sort out all the app mess that I’ve accumulated over the past 2 years. I also like the ability to have home screen backgrounds — that’s how shallow I really am.

However not being to double tap the home button to pull up a phone application is going to be missed. What I really need now is my iPhone 4 itself. Only 3 more days left.

It turned out to be the same thing as the final release, just like last year. [↩]

In: Life In General Tags: Apple, folders, iOS 4, iPhone, update
Time: 16:32 Comments: No Comments Post a Comment

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Chicken Caesar Salad

I think I’ve noticed this particular application while watching some TV commercial, but I am not 100% sure about this (memory could be tricky, you know).

It does not really matter how or when, but the fact is that this weekend Danya finally installed Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals on my iPone. I love the design of the application, and there are some recipes which seem to be worth trying (although I wish there were more recipes altogether — the selection on his site is quite a bit more impressive).

Anyhow, I’ve decided to put the app to good use on Monday, and made Chicken Caesar Salad. The recipe closely resembles this one, even though he simplified the process a bit for a better time management. It did not take me quite 20 minutes though, but not too much longer than that. I liked the end result, and so did Danya!

In: Food & Dining Tags: chicken, iPhone, salad
Time: 09:46 Comments: No Comments Post a Comment

A good comparison of iPhone and Android from a long time iPhone user’s point of view.

Android is certainly a capable smartphone operating system. [...] Where Android fails is the little things. Apple is notorious for sweating the small stuff so when another device doesn’t, it sticks out. Despite its lack of polish in key areas, I really do like Android and really hope that Apple steals some of its best features. [...]

Even though I’m sticking with iPhone for now, I sure am glad that there is a viable alternative out there. (via DaringFireball) 0

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Vaja ivolution Top SP Case

Never posted a note about the 2nd Vaja¹ case that we ordered — ivolution Top SP. Alena uses this case on her phone.

This is my own personal opinion of the case and since I’ve never extensively used it myself treat it as such.

I think it offers superior phone protection when compared to my case at least with regards to having all corners covered.

The leather itself is soft and very pleasant to the touch, much nicer that the shiny plastic on iPhone itself.

The screen is protected really well, but as you can see it doesn’t cover the bezels on the sides of the screen itself, which is a good thing — no issues using the screen near the edges.

Originally I thought that it would be hard or impossible to open the case with one hand, but by now I have no issue with that — just takes a little bit of practice.

Screen is fully covered when closed, yet easy to use when open.

The phone in the case can not be docked, if that’s your thing.

As you can see the wear shows after about 7 months of use, but Alena keeps it in her purse along with all other stuff. The wear however is purely cosmetic.

Cosmetic wear on the sides. Access to the side buttons.

The cost was $85. There are a lot of color choices for the case itself and for the central stripe. This case gets thumbs up from me. A very good, functional and stylish case by Vaja.

I can’t link directly to the case because Vaja uses Flash on their site. [↩]

In: Gadgets & Gear Tags: Apple, case, custom, iPhone, ivolution Top SP, leather, review, Vaja
Time: 11:28 Comments: 1 Comment Post a Comment

Alena says: Subscribed

March 3, 2010 @ 13:44

I like the case a lot — it is so nice to touch, and it makes it easier to find the phone in my huge purse (which is filled with stuff like tissues, lunch boxes, books, lipsticks, pens, keys, wallet, etc. The main bonus of course is that I am not afraid that Shublik will destroy the phone if I left unattended.

Oh, and I think it looks very cool and quite unique too! I did not see a single iPhone case like mine so far — that’s considering that I ride NY Subway and Path train twice a day, and there are plenty of iPhone owners around.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Чучля Weight

I’ve been keeping a record of Shublik’s weight progress since his arrival at our house. I really just wanted to use an iPhone application called WeightBot, but since my weight stays constant it wasn’t fun.

So here we have the results for the first year. He went from 3 pounds at the end of March to 9 pounds at the end of December, thus tripling his size in these 9 months. We think he’s about done growing by now, but who knows?

In: Life In General Tags: cat, iPhone, Shublik, weight
Time: 12:47 Comments: No Comments Post a Comment

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Gowalla

Home screen shows me some basic stats about my account.

It seems Alena and I have developed a bit of obsession with an iPhone app I stumbled upon a couple of days ago. I don’t think that most people will understand, but I’m sure Ignat and Mike will.

You see, Gowalla is an iPhone based geocaching app on steroids. Throw my passion for National Park stamp collecting into that and you got a killer app, at least as far as I go.

Ignat and Mike have been into geocaching a while ago and it didn’t really appeal to me as there was no record of your discoveries or check-ins left.

Stamps that I have collected, or the places that I've checked-in into once or more.

With Gowalla you have a list of spots located close to you. If there are places you go to often and they are not on the map you can commission a spot yourself. Then you can become a founder by leaving one of the items behind. And each of your check-ins is logged in your stamp list.

A list of spots near by. The closest one shows up first in the list and as you move the distances changes. Check mark denotes that fact that I've been there before.

A screen showing a specific spot. In this case JFK is a featured location which is denoted by a custom icon assigned to it.

Each user is given 5 items at the start. As you check-in into more places you have a chance of discovering more items. If a place already has founder(s) you can pick up the item left by other people on the condition that you leave one behind too.

Each item has a history attached to it and you can see where it has been from the start to the point that you got it and then after you left it somewhere. But you can read more about items on Gowalla blog.

List of people who have checked into this location recently.

Then there are special stamps and pins. There are goals like visiting 5 pre-set locations in Central Park and you’ll earn a pin. Or commission 10 places. And so on. Also if you check-in into any location inside New York state you’ll get an NY stamp and the same happens for any other state.

And you can also see the activity of your friends and what kind of achievements they have.

Overall the feel and the design of the application and their web-site (where you can check for spots and multiple other stats) are pretty amazing. I usually like to nitpick on the smallest details and here everything just looks great. So if you have an iPhone or any other phone with location aware browser do join in with us.

In: Software Tags: geocaching, Gowalla, GPS, iPhone
Time: 20:09 Comments: 14 Comments Post a Comment

Friday, November 6, 2009

Twitter Integration

Here’s a small Twitter integration showcase. The idea behind it is that it’s much easier to leave a simple note or observation through one of the numerous Twitter applications available than to make a blog post. And I tend to leave such simple notes during vacations, when we’re away from any computers, through iPhone.

Single Post

I used a slightly modified¹ version of Alex King’s Twitter Tools. Now this plug-in is actually a bit of an overkill for what I needed it to do, but nobody is forced to use more than needed. I also put together an ugly hack to force this thing to import tweets from both myself and Alena. It runs every 10 minutes and imports all the new stuff it finds.

Multiple Posts

I’ve modified Rubinary template and devised a new way to display this type of posts. One special thing about it is that it groups consecutive tweets into a single post. The time “sticker” on my posts shows up in blue and on Alena’s in green — as all other things on the blog.

Tweet Reply

If you mouse-over over a “sticker” you will see a reply option. By clicking it, you indeed, can reply. But there is a catch — you need to have a Twitter account to do so.

That’s pretty much it. For those who care — I personally use a free version of Twitterrific on the iPhone. And of course no post of this kind would be complete without a mandatory “I hate IE” conclusion.

Modification allowed me to pull and import our older tweets. [↩]

In: Software Tags: blog, design, import, integration, iPhone, template, Twitter, Twitter Tools, Twitterrific, WordPress
Time: 17:57 Comments: No Comments Post a Comment

B-Bot is a cool little app that lets you create avatars of your friends by selecting body, shoes, pants, shirts, hair and so on. It’s well done and can be used in your address book if you don’t have an actual photo. (via iPhones.ru) 2

Friday, August 14, 2009

Fabulous AT&T

Yesterday on my way home Alena and I experienced the real quality of AT&T network. It usually does drop a lot of calls, but yesterday was just ridiculous. I literally could not finish a single thought without getting interrupted. Haven’t been quite so frustrated with anything in a long while.

I think Apple should really end this exclusive relationship. I can’t stand the service. At the same time I’m not yet willing to give up the best phone I’ve ever had.

In: Gadgets & Gear Tags: Apple, AT&T, dropped calls, iPhone
Time: 15:23 Comments: No Comments Post a Comment

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

CheckSpit 1.2

Apple has just approved my first update to CheckSplit. It should be popping up in your App Store Updates tab very soon if you one are of the proud owners of CheckSplit.

The update carries a number of a small updates and one major new feature:

You can now tap on the tax or tip fields to get to the tip & tax adjustment screen.
You can now label parties with text initials, in addition to colors. Just tap any colored icon while entering the check and you will be presented with a screen to enter the initials for that person or group. To clear it out simply drag the letters off the icon. These will be saved for future use as well, so you do not have to re-enter them every time.
Splash screen while loading.

Please rate CheckSplit in App Store, or update your review if you like it.

In: Software Tags: Apple, AppStore, CheckSplit, iPhone, update
Time: 18:28 Comments: No Comments Post a Comment

Friday, August 7, 2009

Vaja Classic Retro Case

Front side of a case with iPhone inside.

It’s been 2 weeks since we have received our custom cases from Vaja. I’ve been using classic Retro Dockable case daily and I’m at a point where I’m ready to write a form of a review for it.

Here is exactly what I ordered — Plain Vitelino leather¹, “Passion” body color, “Sabbia” stripe color, kickstand², ultra clip³. The total came out to $111⁴. You can also have them engrave the case with some custom text, but I didn’t get that.

I will start by saying that I’m practically in love with it and this is the best case that I have personally used, seen, or touched. If with other cases I was trying to have “as little” case as possible, this one evokes an opposite emotion. I enjoy it’s bold look and feel.

The craftsmanship is superb with perfect stitching and perfect tight fit. Leather is very pleasant to the touch. Vaja has a multitude of colors available to choose from, although their Flash “case builder” does not give a true representation of actual colors.

Functionality-wise it has its pluses and minuses. I feel that the phone is well protected, yet the switches, the speakers, microphone and dock connector are easily accessible. Camera is unobstructed. The screen cover is held down with magnets, but it can easily be flipped open with a thumb, so one hand operation is still possible.

The kickstand on the back allows the phone to be placed on the table with a screen facing you either in vertical or horizontal position, even though it does add some bulk to the case.

I’m still not 100% sold on the belt clip idea, even though I find the implementation great. I used to always wear a phone on a belt clip before the Treo. And I got used to carrying my iPhone in the pocket. The size of the phone doesn’t seem to place itself on the belt. Otherwise the connection between the case and the belt clip is very secure, yet it is possible to unlock and remove the phone with just one hand.

Inside, the case has a small plastic protector covering the area around the speaker (all sensors work without any issues), but the the area for the screen itself is just an opening, which is great — there is no reason to have additional screen protectors when there is a leather cover on top of it.

This brings me to a couple of problems. When placed in the case the screen ends up being recessed and not flush with the case face. As a result some actions that have anything to do with touching the edge of the screen became harder than they used to be. A good example of this would be moving icons from one screen to another. Although soon you learn that you can drag your finger over the edge of the case itself, but still, not as easy as without the case.

Top with, with connector, speaker and microphone on the bottom.

Also since the home button is covered it’s not as easy to click and you don’t really get any tactile feedback from it. There is something glued to the back of it, but it doesn’t seem to be big enough. It’s a minor issue as well.

In conclusion I want to say that this is a great case and if I had a choice, I would order it again without any hesitation. You get what you pay for and it certainly is true in this case. Get it?

Update: There is a very thorough video review available by a guy named Omar C.

$6 option. [↩]
Kickstand is a $20 option. [↩]
Belt clip mount, $5 option. [↩]
You can find coupons online to get a decent discount. [↩]

In: Gadgets & Gear Tags: Apple, case, Classic Retro, custom, dockable, iPhone, leather, review, Vaja
Time: 17:24 Comments: 3 Comments Post a Comment

Jon L H says: Subscribed

December 26, 2009 @ 17:29

Just received ours (2 of them). They are extremely tight, making it very difficult to remove iPhone 3Gs. Also the flap doesn’t seem to have much magnet strength making it flip partially open just by brushing it while walking etc. Not as sold as I was at first after reading this article. Looks like the the old Piel Frama has not been bested yet. I have had 3-4 of those from treo 650, 750, and all 3 iPhone versions, and was seeking same function with just a little bit more pizzaz. Also all four corners are exposed making them susceptible to damage. I have no affiliation with either brand, just stating my opinions.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

First Week Sales

For those who are interested — here are the results of sales for the first week. I’ve included the first day in the chart, but it should be noted that the app was released somewhere late in the evening.

Overall it’s a pretty interesting experiment. While the app was showing up in new released, the sales very relatively strong. As the app moved off the first screen the “volume” went down. It’s also interesting to note that all other countries combined have got nothing on U.S. market alone.

Beside that I’ve been contacted by some buyers saying that they really like the simplicity and streamlined interface. There also have been some good feature suggestions that I’m going to try to implement.