iPhone Water Damage Repair for White iPhone 4

iPhone iOS 4.0.1 - Fixed Nothing

Like many of you may already know, I own an iphone 4. I'm very happy with it mostly, however fundamentally, it is a phone, and it does not work. Yesterday, Apple released iPhone 4.0.1 which seemed to only fix how the bars are represented. Before the download I had 4-5 bars, after the download, I have 3 bars. WHOOP-te-do.

• I still can drop a call by holding the phone like most people hold a phone.
• The proximity sensor still is buggy. It is still easy to cheek dial with the phone.
• The camera app still takes 20 seconds to load.

In short, Apple claims their stuff 'just works'. But in reality, they dropped the ball. Hopefully they will soon be fixing it, and going back to making stuff work. As for now... Apple just doesn't work.

Apple Pre-Order Glitch

Apple, the company who's motto is, "It just works" is having very non-working websites today. With the mad rush to pre-order iphones, everyone seems to have overwhelmed Apple's servers.

- On one hand this is a good thing for Apple... People want their products.
- On the other hand, it sends a bad message that they can't handle a simple website. Not a very good marketing move by any stretch of the imagination.
- On another hand (errr... never mind where I got that hand) It does generate news, and will probably be short lived, with folks ordering like normal this evening. Is any press, good press?

Let's hope some Apple engineers are plugging in a few more servers and getting this resolved.

iPad? iDon't

Well the big hype this weekend is the release of Apple's new iPad (insert your joke regarding name here). Yet I'm not in the market for one. Why? Well several reasons.

First I can't really see how I can integrate this into my life. You see, I have a desktop and a laptop computer.... and an iPhone. So whether I'm at a client (laptop), home (desktop), or on the road (iphone) I already have a connection to my mail, news, apps, and internet.

Second, it still does not multi task. I could see myself taking this to meetings and taking notes, however I would need it to also record the audio of the meeting, run a timer clock, have skype running for conference calls and have a internet window open for quick research. Yet... the iPad can only do one thing at a time. Shame really. Apple is marketing to basic consumers, not business people.... yet it's the business folks who have the big bucks and would pay more.

Third, limited communication. If it had a forward facing camera then I could see using it as a way to skype with others anywhere. It also does not make conference calls (skype is not even an app in Apples store), it does not even have a microphone for voice input. Major missed opportunity for once again integrating it into the business world.

Over time the iPad will become more powerful and will eventually feature multitasking and voice, however until then, I will pass on the device. So I'm sticking with my iPhone. Maybe next year.

What will you do? leave your comments below.

Plants vs Zombies for the iPhone!!!

Plants vs Zombies for the iPhone is a fantastic new game by Pop Caps. I have to say that I've spent hours playing the game... which makes it a great value for the money.

Though the game starts off easy, it slowly becomes more difficult, and soon a strategy is needed to survive the levels. Casual Gameplay has put together a very nice walkthrough article to assist folks with forming a strategy.

If you have an iPhone and want a low cost game with good graphics and great playability, then download Plants vs Zombies. If you need a strategy to win, check out Casual Gameplay.

iPhone Designer Jony Ive

There IS an app for that.

iPhone Review - Shazam

Shazam has the ability to identify music by listening for 12 seconds of the music and then comparing that music with its database of music... and it does it in about 5 seconds flat! Once Shazam has identified the music, it will provide you with the artist, song title, record label, album title and art, as well as the song’s music video on YouTube, if one exists. Through Shazam, you can tag any music you find and save it for later and buy the music through iTunes.

Wickedly fast and accurate it is, however if your musical taste rests outside the mainstream then it won't be much use to you. My thinking is that in order to return results so fast, Shazam limits its database to the most popular songs... about 6 million alsaid. Now stop reading and go get it... its free.

Poll - Will You Buy the New iPhone?

Will you buy the next iphone? Vote over at CrunchGear.

iPhone: The Music Video

Yes, the video is 2 years old, but so is the iPhone... and to celebrate today's launch of the new 3GS, here is a funny video created and sung by David Pogue of The New York Times. Now join me in song... 'I Want an iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiPhone!"

What the iPhone did not get upgraded

Rumors about the iPhone were going crazy before yesterday. Some of the things we wanted were in this new little box, however some were left out... waiting for iPhone 4.0

• Story via The iPhone Blog.
• You can also read my wish list here. I got some, but not all.

New Book Smell for your Kindle or iPhone

Like the digital lifestyle but miss the smell of a new (or old) book? Well Smell of Books has the cure for that.... the smell of books in a can. Just mist the spray around the room (or heck, even over your device) and enjoy clicking ... er... flipping through your digital book.

"Does your Kindle leave you feeling like there’s something missing from your reading experience?

Have you been avoiding e-books because they just don’t smell right?

If you’ve been hesitant to jump on the e-book bandwagon, you’re not alone. Book lovers everywhere have resisted digital books because they still don’t compare to the experience of reading a good old fashioned paper book.

But all of that is changing thanks to Smell of Books™, a revolutionary new aerosol e-book enhancer.

Now you can finally enjoy reading e-books without giving up the smell you love so much. With Smell of Books™ you can have the best of both worlds, the convenience of an e-book and the smell of your favorite paper book.

Smell of Books™ is compatible with a wide range of e-reading devices and e-book formats and is 100% DRM-compatible. Whether you read your e-books on a Kindle or an iPhone using Stanza, Smell of Books™ will bring back that real book smell you miss so much."

ToDo iPhone App Review

I use Appigo's ToDo task management application daily. I find it to be a fantastically easy app with a greainterface. I've found the following features make it a strong list management software:

• Quickly adding tasks. You don't need to enter any extra info if you don't need to (due date, priority, catagory, etc.) however if you want to you can take the extra time.
• Syncing beyond the device. ToDo can sync with several 'cloud' based todo web services.
• Tasks can multiple caracteristics. The task can just be that, a dumb to do task, however a task can be set to launch a webpage, make a telephone call, launch email or sms, and can even bring up a location on a map. For example, a task to call the client can be linked to their telelphone number so you don't need to look them up, just click and call.
• Easy to review all the tasks of the day.

For a deaper review of the app, click over to The iPhone Blog and read their review.

Documents to Go for the iPhone

I just received an email that Documents to Go (software to put Excel, Word and PowerPoint files onto the iPhone) will be released in May. I've very excited for this release as keeping these files on the phone will be a great business benefit.

Here is a copy of the email:

Thanks to all who have been waiting patiently for the arrival of Documents To Go for iPhone. The next time you hear from us, it'll be to tell you that Documents To Go is available for your iPhone and iPod touch in the App Store!

When will that be, you ask? Early to mid May. And trust us, there are some very exciting things about this app that we haven't let out of the bag yet. We hope you'll agree it's worth the wait!

If you haven't seen them, there are some great screenshots for you on our Facebook page (while you're there, become a fan!). And as always, you can stay up to date on our iPhone plans and all the other goings-on at DataViz with our Office Mobility Blog!

Sincerely,
The Documents To Go Development Team

iPhone 3.0 Wish List

Apple will be introducing the next iPhone durring the WWDC conference held on June 8-12. Yaaaah!

I hope that there are major improvements to the phone. If Steve Jobs called me and asked my opinion, then I would pass on my list of things I would like the next phone to have. Here is my wish-list:

HARDWARE

• Higher resolution screen
• 32G of Memory
• SD card slot
• Tethering
• Wireless sync via wifi
• faster data speeds (4G)
• 2 speakers (not just the one)
  
• Higher quality camera (5mp), maybe with auto-focus & night mode
  
• bright led/flash for camera
• video capability
• video conferencing capability
• AM/FM radio
• Linking to external keyboard

SOFTWARE

• voice dialing
• application icon management (moving apps from screen to screen)
• Find iPhone or Kid/Friend location
• Remote deactivation if phone is stolen (go back to Apple store to turn back on)
  
• GPS image tagging
• Adobe Flash
  
• Better memory management to reduce phone crashes
• Turn off landscape mode for just ipod or globally
• More access to modify the different sounds on the phone.
• Call log with time length
• Missed call sound notification
• haptic feedback by just activating the phone vibrator very very quickly.

Steve, if you need clarification on any of these items, please call. I'm in the book.

Newton vs iPhone

Nice photographic comparison of the Newton Message Pad vs the iPhone. Amazingly, the Newton came out in '94 and the iPhone in '07, almost a dozen year difference in time, yet a quantum difference in technology.

Roughly Drafted did a nice comparison article last year just before the iPhone 2.0 release. They outlined some of the successes and failures of not just Apple, but Palm and Microsoft (which came out with competing products about the time the Newton was retired).

So... some comparisons are way too easy, size, specifications, etc. Others still point out how advanced the Newton is over the existing iphone; Expansion ports (iphone doesn't even have an SD cardslot), peripheral support (keyboards, etc.) and a removable battery.

Still what made the phone a sucess is 1) pocket size & slim form, 2) connection to the web, 3) seamless integration with the apps store, 4) easy of use, and 5) the combination of a PDA, Web, Phone, and iPod all into one device.

This article is written a few months before the iPhone 3.0 release and I'm betting that Apple will unvail a tablet style computer... an iTablet. I'm sure everyone will then compare the iTablet with the Newton Message Pad. Will it have hand writing regognition? We will see.

New features for iPhone OS 3.0

The good people over at The iPhone Blog noted the major improvements to the iPhone OS. Here are some of them:

• System-wide Copy and Paste (text and photos)
• MMS for photos, vcards, audio
• SMS forwarding
• Landscape keyboard in major apps
• System-wide Spotlight Search
• App Store subscriptions (i.e. subscribe to magazine apps)
• In App purchases (i.e. buy a weapon in a FPS)
• Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation in App Store (bring your own maps!)
• Push Notification Service for badges, alerts messages, sounds
• Peer-2-peer service using Bonjour and Bluetooth for interaction and data exchange
• Access to Dock port for Apps to work with accessories
• Voice memos
• CalDAV support for on-device calendar subscriptions
• Improved Stocks widget, landscape mode for details
• Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
• iTunes account creation
• Encrypted profiles
• Call log
• Shake to shuffle music (like iPod nano)
• VPN on-demand
• Proxy Support
• Notes sync

iPhone OS 3 Preview

So we just learned that the new iPhone OS will be previewed on March 17th (St. Patties Day) and the rumors are flying! Some of the Rumors are MMS, tethering the phone to your laptop, better app management, background task capabilities, and possibly copy & paste.

This timetable seems to fit with last years time-line. Last year Apple introduced the App Store in March, and the phone in June/July. I'm guessing this would be the same schedule for 2009.

Apple must stay on top of the schedule to combat other manufactures release of good smartphones. YET it is very important to remember the great divide between Apple and other companies. Apple does not listen to the market! Yep, they decide what they want on the phone and only implement it when it works... and works well. People have asked for basic features for the last two years (and phones) and have not got core functionality (quality camera, copy/paste, voice dialing, replaceable battery, etc.). Other venders would hear the outcry and introduce these demands in the next phone.... Apple on the other hand goes at its own pace, and knows what is good for the people.... kind of sounds like the USSR.

Don't get me wrong. I love my iPhone and wouldn't want to give it up, however I would like more versitility, capability, and quality in the phone. We will find out on the 17th what the OS will offer, and sometime in June what the hardware will offer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Make you own Ringtones for iPhone

Mac users have it easy, they can fire up garage band and make ringtones anytime they want. Unfortunately for us PC users it is more work.... until now. Upload your music to this website, edit it down to 30ish seconds and then download the ringtone. Sweet!

http://www.makeownringtone.com/

The iPhone Effect

Why other cell phone venders don't really understand why the iPhone is taking people by storm....

Many thought marketing on mobile phones would be more robust by now. However, the lack of a mass market user-friendly phone like the iPhone was just one of many hurdles.

While Apple-inspired cell phones from LG, Samsung and others mimic iPhone attributes like the touch screen and user interaction, they are missing the point, said Iain Gillott, president of iGR, a mobile communication consultant in Austin, Texas. "The value of the iPhone to me is that I get software updates from Apple," "You just plug it in and it works, and that is what everyone is missing."

LINK