iPhone 4 Review
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 | Reviews | No Comments
I have had the iPhone 4 for about six weeks now. My verdict? I absolutely love it. Its the best phone I ever owned, as well as the best iPhone ever (that sounds familiar). I want to cover my favorite features, but first, let’s talk about that elephant.
Antenna
Unfortunately, the one of the best parts of the iPhone has gotten a heavy amount of bad coverage: the dreaded signal drop. I will admit I can make my bars drop, but not as much now with iOS 4.0.1 out. And just yesterday I accidentally held it the wrong way (I had my thumb on the bad spot) and a call almost dropped. But then I realized it, and moved my hand to how I normally hold my phone. That is the only time in six weeks I ever had an issue. I also do not use the bumper, mainly because my car has a dock, but also because I just don’t feel like I need it.
I find this just a small problem. In fact, I believe its better on the iPhone, because I know exactly were the problem is. On other phones, who knows where the antenna is, and I have had problems with other phones dropping calls depending on where I hold the phone.
I also find the benefits outweigh that small problem. I get much better reception in more places now. There are buildings I travel to that I never had a signal before, and now I do- and its usable. Plus, by making the antenna external, the phone is thinner, but with a bigger battery.
Battery
This is a huge benefit to external antenna. The battery lasts forever compared to my 3G (even when new). I can use 3G internet for much longer. I have noticed I can surf for about 3 hours straight, and only lose about 50% of my battery. My 3G would be down to 20% at that point.
Camera
The camera on the phone is wonderful. Its faster for one. I can keep pressing the button and it will take pictures as fast as I can tap it. The pictures look better, and have a much better quality to them (of course I was coming from a 3G too). The video is spectacular as well. Having HD video on a device this small is awesome. Its not perfect- the colors are always exactly right, night shooting is tough, and there is some tearing in video shots. But for a cameraphone? Its amazing.
Screen
The Retina Display is absolutely stunning. Just looking at text blows me away. It almost is as good as high quality printed magazine pages! Looking a pictures, especially from the built in camera, shows so much clarity. I just cannot believe the quality of this screen. Games looks beautiful on it. Watching videos on this thing is amazing.
Speed
Wow is this thing fast. Apps open up in the blink of an eye. I never have to wait for my phone anymore- when I tell it to do something, it does it. The biggest slowness, of course, were games loading. And they load so quick now. I’m eagerly awaiting more apps that can take advantage of the speed.
Other
The GPS is much more accurate now, as well as quicker to identify my location. iOS itself is very cool- I love unified mailboxes. Going back to my iPad without it is a pain in the butt.
The way multitasking on the phone works is just about perfect for me. There still are a lot of apps that need updated for it, but the implementation is great. I love being able to switch back and forth quickly, as well as have a recent items list. One thing I think can be improved is some way of differentiating between running apps and just recent apps. That way I can tell if an app is actually sucking down battery. But other than that, I love it. Its so nice to be able to run MLB At Bat in the background now.
Verdict
Like I said before, this phone is awesome. It gets my 100% buy rating. I’ve played with other Android phones, and the still do not compare. And where I live, ATT has awesome service, so no complaints there. Apple did a great job with the phone.
iPad Review
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 | Opinion | No Comments
I’ve had the iPad for almost a month now, and I’m still loving it. Its not any one thing it does that makes it so great, its a million little thing. The big screen makes everything easier to use. Browsing the web is so much better. Reading email is wonderful- especially in landscape mode with emails on the left and a message on the right. Using apps that were made for the iPad helps make the apps better: Twitteriffic, IMDB, MLB At Bat (AMAZING for a baseball fan like me), NetNewsWire, and Flight Control, among others. And everything is really fast- on top of everything else that makes the device.
But of course its not perfect. Even though its running iOS 3.2, its really a 1.0 version for the platform. I expect 4.1 to be much better. One thing I hope they improve is file sharing between devices. Its very clunky to transfer files and keep them up to day. I’d love to see better integration with at least MobileMe for transferring files. MacObserver has a good article about the less than stellar iPad file sharing.
I think that will be fixed in time though.
In Defense of Comments
Monday, June 28th, 2010 | Opinion | No Comments
About two weeks ago, part of the online tech community erupted in a debate about comments. The most well known site that does not have them is Daring Fireball. There was a site back in January called DaringFireballWithComments.net, but that was taken down since it stole all of John Gruber’s writing. Others joined in the hate against comments. I’m here to defend them.
In this defense, I’m going to reference three articles:
- John’s “I’ll Tell You What’s Fair” (scroll to the end)
- Derek Powazek’s “Your right to comment ends at my front door”
- Marco Arment’s “Comments”
First off, I must address Derek’s title as a baseline for my argument (John makes similar statements in his article). Of course anybody who hosts their own website can decide whether or not they want to allow comments, and if so how much commenting they allow. I am not assuming I have a “right” to comment on anybody’s articles on their website. That’s a stupid argument, and its a strawman from those arguing against comments. I am not arguing that anybody must allow comments, I’m arguing that as a good internet citizen, they should allow comments.
Now with that out of the way, let’s get into the meat of the debate. John writes
You write on your site; I write on mine. That’s a response. I don’t use comments on Wilcox’s site to respond publicly to his pieces, but somehow it’s unfair that he can’t use comments on my site to respond to mine? What kind of sense is that even supposed to make? And if there aren’t any comments on DF, how are DF readers “adding to the noise”?
This is one of the main arguments those who hate comments trot out. “I’ll write here, you write there.” Okay, but then he describes Daring Fireball as a “conversationalist” website. Well, conversations have two sides. In this case, one is the writer, the other is the reader. The best part of the internet, is that with comments, the reader can have a voice. They can offer feedback- and that feedback can be seen.
That last part is the key. Emailing the writer makes the counter-argument hidden. Writing a response on another blog makes it near hidden, because most readers don’t have the notoriety of John. None of the other readers is likely to see that response. And while there are many bad commenters out there, there are also many commenters who can make coherent arguments against a position. Shutting them out kills the conversation, and the community loses in the end.
Marco disagrees:
I also disagree with the widespread notion that comments are “discussion”, or that they form a “community”. Discussion and communities require mechanics such as listening and following up that are rarely present in comments.
As does John:
Comments, at least on popular websites, aren’t conversations. They’re cacophonous shouting matches. DF is a curated conversation, to be sure, but that’s the whole premise.
Sure sometimes they aren’t conversation. I’m not arguing there aren’t bad commenters. But those commenters can be handled. Methods such as no anonymous posting, verified email addresses, and yes, banning bad commenters. The thing is when people see what others are getting away with, they push the bounds further. And further. But when they see others getting punished for bad comments, they stop. And they behave.
I think Derek has it right here:
I may enable comments again someday. But what I really want to do is fundamentally redesign the commenting experience. Most comment systems are practically designed to create stupidity. I know there’s a better way. But that’s another post.
Certainly there are systems that are horrible at maintain the level of discourse internet society should expect. And he is right, its not an on or off question. But I think there shouldn’t be an off. Especially when he says things like this:
But I’ve seen incredible communities form in the confines of comment forms. I’ve seen funny, helpful, informative, intimate, amazing conversations. I’ve seen groups of people come together using the crudest of tools to form intense personal bonds. I’ve seen it literally change lives for the better.
And as John Siracusa as remarked
Not a day goes by where I don’t read a comment that’s at least as interesting, entertaining, or insightful as the text it’s attached to.”
And I find the same thing. I skip over the rif-raf and find interesting points and arguments. I find back and forth debate and see both sides. The idea of allowing comments is not about shouting a point, its about expressing it, and possible convincing somebody to see a different point of view. That’s the beauty of debate. If hones arguments and builds better ones.
Finally, I’ll end with this: those who do not allow comments make it appear they do not want that debate. They want their experience free of people questioning them. John has said it doesn’t fit in with his experience. I think that says a lot about his arguments. Of course, even if they don’t mind the debate, not having comments proves they would rather not deal with it. And that’s not good for the internet.
Excellent Argument to Open Up the iPhone
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 | Opinion | No Comments
Jason Snell has an excellent article called “Time for Apple to open up the iPhone” where he makes a good case to for Apple to allow unapproved apps on the iPhone. He argues quite well that Apple’s reputation is being harmed without any good benefits.
He thinks Apple should do what Andriod does, and have a deep hidden setting to allow unsigned apps, with a giant warning. Most customers would never know, but they ones who did would be aware of the (very small) risks.
Read the whole thing, its good.
iPad
Monday, May 17th, 2010 | Company News | No Comments
Its here. And I love it. I’ll have a more detailed review later. But for now I’ll have say I’ll have some interesting ideas for apps.
SMART Utility 2.2.2 is Out!
Sunday, May 9th, 2010 | SMART Utility | No Comments
I’m pleased to announce the release of version 2.2.2 of SMART Utility. This version fixes numerous bugs.
Full release notes:
- Fixed a bug that would prevent scanning on first launch
- Fixed a bug that would randomly cause problems and errors opening up a drive report (10.4 build only)
- Fixed a bug that would cause registration information to not be saved properly in all cases
- Fixed a bug that would cause a crash if the error log could not be read
- Fixed a formatting issue that would cause log text view and “Clear Log” button to be mis-aligned when resizing the log window
- Improved handling of bad or corrupt drive report files
SMART Utility 2.2.1 is Out!
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I’m please to release version 2.2.1 of SMART Utility. The biggest features are progress bar for opening files, a 64 bit build, and a new feedback system.
Note that there are now 2 builds. Because of how Apple’s development tools work, the 64bit build can only be compiled with the 10.5 SDK. There are also some bug fixes and changes that allow for newer features. So if you are running 10.5 or 10.6, run the 10.5+ build. Only use the 10.4 build on 10.4 (though it will run on 10.5 and 10.6). If you don’t know which to use, download the 10.4 build.
Full Release Notes:
- Added support for 64 bit build (10.5+ build only)
- Added progress bar for opening drive reports (10.5+ build only)
- Added Clear Log button in log window
- Fixed a crash on 10.4 systems
- Fixed bug reading in drive attributes where extra line would appear
- Fixed spacing of log output
- Fixed two spelling mistakes in preferences
- Now ignores errors from attribute 190 by default
- Improved error handling in certain conditions
- Removed deprecated API calls and replaced with modern ones
- Removed Smart Crash Reports and replaced with UKCrashReporter for 10.6 support
- Removed built in feedback system and replaced with UKFeedbackProvider, also now sends all logs automatically
Google Picasa – Failure of Design and Support
Monday, April 12th, 2010 | Opinion | No Comments
As part of my day job, I investigate applications for faculty to use. Some were interested in Google Picasa. It seems like a nice alternative to iPhoto, especially as it links nicely to Google’s Web Albums.
However, that last part we could not get to work. The application would not sign in to Google’s services. As with anything internet related, I suspected our proxy/firewall. As required by law, we implement a filtering package here to prevent inappropriate content from being viewed.
I first used an IP to bypass the filter- used to check out blocked sites for whitelisting and verifying problems with the proxy. Picasa worked fine without the proxy in between. I used Wireshark to run a packet capture, and verified that Picasa was attempted to connect directly to Google’s servers instead of going through the proxy.
So I proceeded to see if I could find out way. I located a post on their help forums talking about the issue: from January 2009! I could not believe that this has been around for over a year. And their help is a joke. They have forums and a few FAQs for helps. But no way to report bugs or even contact their support.
This is why I am really souring on Google. Their services and applications are pretty cool, but if anybody has a problem, good lucky getting it solved. This happened with the Nexus One earlier this year too- there was no way to call or get help for the phone.
I am still amazed that an application can be written in 2010 without using the proper APIs to use the system proxy settings. Especially from a web centric company like Google. To me that speaks of bad planning and design. And the set up of the support website just further hurts the whole experience.
FINALLY! Multitasking comes to the iPhone!
Thursday, April 8th, 2010 | Opinion | No Comments
Apple has finally added multitasking, and so much more, to the iPhone OS. Ars Technica reports all the details. The highlights:
- Multitasking using the home button. While I was wrong about only one app being allowed, I was right about the home button being the primary interface. This sounds fantastic. Audio apps can even use the previously iPod only pop up controls. There are only ways for apps to “run” in the background. For location based apps, they can be woken up when positions change. For games, they can “pause” and be idle.
- Folders on the home screen. Another welcome addition. Instead of managing pages upon pages of unorganized apps, they can be put inside a folder. I can already see this for less used apps and games.
- Unified inbox in Mail. Yet another FINALLY. It will make it so much easier to manage more than one account.
Some of the other things are interesting too. Game Center will be great for game developers- a kid of XBox Live system. iAd will be wonderful as adding advertising can be a pain. And the enterprise features are awesome- especially the remote installing of apps.
A good update. I was hoping for some sort of printing option though. Maybe that will come later.
One final note- if you install the 4.0 release on an iPhone, MobileMe’s tracking system will not work. I don’t know why, but it won’t. Hopefully that will be fixed for beta 2.