I originally bought my first Palm V so I could take some writing with me on the road. I “upgraded” later to a WinMob device in hopes Pocket Office would be a more robust solution, and then again to a Palm Treo, trying a couple high profile “Office” apps out. Confession: none of them really worked. They stripped out style sheets. They converted files to HTML and mangled format, and the feature sets just were never there. I abandoned them shortly after they abandoned me. Mobile editing just isn’t there yet.
While I wait for a next generation document editor to (hope beyond hope) prove me wrong, FileMagnet from Magnatism is proving to me the value of the iPhone’s built in, format-respectful, Quickview and Quicktime viewers, and added the previously missing — and tremendously useful — ability to transfer supported files effortlessly via WiFi, straight from your Mac (with Windows support already in development).
How does this wireless drive-mode, doc viewer hybrid work out? Read on!
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While Apple waits on manpower/priority celestial alignment to someday enable the long requested cut, copy, and paste functionality in the iPhone OS, Proximi’s MagicPad has decided to take multi-touch into their own hands, and provided something far more than what they describe as a proof of concept: a rich text editor which, a few limitations aside, brings Apple’s OS future very much into the App Store present.
Text Selection
Apple provides a user experience for insertion point placement that involves tapping and holding your finger down until a magnifying loupe pops up and lets you more accurately position the curser. To zoom in on a photo or fill the screen with a web element, Apple gives you the double tap. Many have wondered what an interface for text selection (the pre-requisite for Rich Text formatting and cut, copy, and paste) could or would look like — and some have even wondered if getting it “right” was what was delaying the functionality.
MagicPad combined the insertion point placement tap-and-hold with the zoom double-tap, to text select via double-tap-and-hold. And while it may not be what Apple will ultimately term “right”, could it be “right now”?
Read on to find out!
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Are you a frequent international traveler? Are you always confused by international electrical outlets? Have you realized that there are a gazillion different electrical outlets requiring a gazillion different plugs? Well, the Mobi Products World Wall Adapter for S&C Cables for iPhone 3G, iPhone ($34.95) tries to simplify the tangled messy world of cables by giving you almost every solution in a simple adaptor. How does it perform?
Read on for the rest of the review!
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Posted on Monday, Jul 28, 2008 by Casey Chan
File Under:Accessories, Case Reviews, Featured, Reviews; Tags: accessory, arm band, case, marware, review, workout
Need a place to keep your hands free when you hit the gym? Looking for the ideal workout case for your iPhone? The Marware Sportsuit Convertible case for iPhone 3G ($34.95) and original iPhone ($34.95) is a workout case that keeps your iPhone always within reach and your hands free to lift weights, use the yoga ball, run faster etc. It also doubles as a slim-profile sleeve case. And even triples for a clip-on case that is attachable via belt clip. How does it all perform? Does it hold up over time?
Read on for the rest of the review!
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Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, oh how I love thee. Now I can really love thee with Twitterrific for the iPhone! If you are a fan of the very popular microblogging service Twitter, you are in for a rare treat with Twitterrific for iPhone from The Icon Factory! This application comes in two flavors: a free version with a very unobtrusive banner at the top or a paid version for $10 with no banner advertising and an extra theme.
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Could last Friday have been any more massive for Apple? Following on the heels of slew of preparatory updates including OS X 10.5.4 and iTunes 7.7, the transition from .Mac to Mobile Me, and — oh, yeah — the highly anticipated launch of the iPhone 3G hardware (see Dieter’s review), Apple also dropped a little something called the 2.0 firmware. Available pre-baked in the new iPhone 3G, Apple didn’t spare the love for owners of the original iPhone 2G who receive it as well as a FREE downloadable upgrade, as do owners of the iPod Touch (minus the phone, camera, SMS, and GPS functionality, and the FREE part — $10 please).
The 2.0 firmware was first demonstrated back at the Apple iPhone SDK Roadmap event in March 2008 and immediately went through a very long, very public beta process where almost anyone could sign up and download it. In spite of the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), during the 8 different betas released to developers, many new features that weren’t originally demonstrated still leaked out all of the interwebs. But did all of them?
Read on to find out!
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We’ll be bringing your our iPhone 3G review in two parts. Part one (the part you’re reading now) is where we’ll give you a full, in-depth review of the new iPhone 3G Hardware. Here you’ll find details on GPS, 3G speeds, the feel of the actual physical device, etc. If you’re on the fence as to whether or not you should upgrade to the iPhone 3G, we’re here to help and here’s where we are, uh, helping.
Part two will focus on iPhone 2.0 software, where a lot of the real magic this week is happening and it’s available on both versions of the iPhone. That review is coming soon, for now, let’s take a look at the iPhone 3G hardware with (much) more depth than we gave you in our iPhone 3G unboxing video and picture gallery
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If MobileMe is Apple’s “Exchange for the rest of us”, then ActiveSync is Microsoft’s “Exchange for the most of them”. After Windows and Office, it’s arguably the 3rd pillar of Microsoft’s business domination. Blackberry’s can (and almost de facto do) connect to them, Windows Mobiles certainly connect to them. Even the aging Palm OS Treo’s have ActiveSync support. And with the 2.0 software, the iPhone does as well.
Caveat: Microsoft loves them some monopoly power and proprietary solutions (in this case, for example, using their own MAPI rather than the IMAP IDLE standard for “push” email). They may be becoming increasingly open in the face of Web-based competition, but their crown jewels are still closely guarded. So, while Outlook connects directly to Exchange for — according to them — the “richest experience”, and Windows Mobile probably follows a close second, iPhone like other ActiveSync licensees connects via something called Outlook Web Access, the same way a web browser might.
How does this experience stack up in richness? Read on to find out!
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Epic YES! Since the moment the original iPhone came out with its WiFi goodness, I’ve been begging asking for a way to use the iPhone to control the similarly connected iTunes, Front Row, and Apple TV. And now Apple has answered! (Er… except for Front Row, see below). And not only for the iPhone. While I’ll use that term exclusively below, everything here also applies to the iPod Touch.
Remote is FREE, and available either via iTunes (picture above) or right from your iPhone 3G via the App Store. It’s not hard to find, currently dominating the Top Free Apps charts. If you’re not sure how to use App Store yet, check out Brian’s excellent overview to get you started.
I chose to download directly from the iPhone so I could test out the 3G experience. It was fast. (However, when I later synced back with iTunes — my first time post App download — I was asked to re-authenticate my MacBook with the iTunes Store before it would sync the App for backup).
How did it work? Read on!
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The iPhone 3G does not come with a dock, instead you need to buy it separately for $29.99. The bummer of it is that the dock that came with the 1st gen iPhone is incompatible with the 3G dock. The other bummer for some folks could possibly be that the 3G dock also doesn’t work with the original iPhone either.
In any case — it’s a dock. It has the same outputs (USB and Audio) and the same basic shape as the original dock, although it is a bit nicer in spots. Namely: it doesn’t wrap as far around the sides of the iPhone, so it has an overall cleaner look. The phone does sit a bit too vertically for my tastes, but that’s a fairly subjective thing.
Still, for an extra 29 bucks there’s more we’d like to see here. An included USB cable and AC adapter for two. An IR port so it might be able to support an Apple Remote for three.
So all in all: boo-urns on Apple for no longer including it and boo-urns for charging $29 for it, $19 would be much more appropriate. Gallery after the break!
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