My iPhone 4 after 1 week - a review

I've had my iPhone v4 for a week now, so I thought I'd share some brief thoughts here.

Reception

I've had no real issues with reception, in spite of all the news stories on this topic. I think a lot of my good experience is related to my paranoia - I ordered a case for my iPhone before I even received it, because I was worried about it being too slippery, and wanted some protection from scratches & drops. This meant that I avoided the reception drops reported by others, since my fingers don't touch the metal rim directly. The case I chose is Boxwave's Cyclone Crystal Slip (in Azure Blue, pictured at right), and it covers the metal band around the iPhone, as well as the back. I test dropped my phone with this case, and it does an awesome job of protecting the phone.

Form factor

I upgraded from an iPhone 3Gs, and the iPhone 4 is very similar in dimensions, but slightly thinner. This makes it more pocket-friendly, and it feels like a very sturdy little gadget. The glass back makes it very slippery so I definitely recommend some kind of case to help you grip it better (again, the Cyclone case comes to the rescue).

Battery life

As I've posted here in the past, my biggest gripe about the iPhone has been battery life - with the iPhone 3Gs, I had to surround myself with chargers and plan recharge time into my daily routine. With the iPhone 4, the battery life still isn't breathtaking, but it's notably better. With normal use and identical settings, I can get through a whole day without recharging. Might not sound like much (especially compared to my old Blackberry which could go for a couple of days under heavy use), but it's "better enough" for me.

Screen

The screen is awesome. At first I thought "yeah, whatever" but I am really noticing how much better the higher res screen is, even in non-graphically intensive apps.

Camera

The camera is fantastic. The resolution, of course, is about 5x better and the picture quality is great even in low light. In really low light, the flash kicks in and does a nice job of illuminating your subject. There is also a digital zoom, which can occasionally be helpful (but digital zooms sacrifice picture quality).

Facetime

One big change is that Apple's added a front-facing camera (1.3 megapixel) that allows you to take pictures of yourself (whee...) or have a 2-way video chat with another iPhone 4 user. It works pretty well, but the iPhone 4 requirement limits how much you can use it -- and the fact that it currently works only when you're using Wi-Fi limits it even further. I'm looking forward to when they allow you to make these calls over the 3G network, and when they enable Skype or similar video communications apps to use the iPhone 4's camera.

iOS v4 improvements

The new version of the iOS (previously known as iPhone OS) is pretty cool. My favorite improvements:

• You can now create folders of apps to help you organize your apps. It's about time!
• Email is much-improved, allowing you to show all your various email accounts in a single inbox view.
  Bonus: Mail also has a "conversation" view which collapses all the messages into a single entry in the inbox. When you click the message, you "drill down" into a view that shows only the messages relating to that specific subject.
  

The negatives

All in all, I really like the iPhone 4 and am glad I upgraded. But it isn't perfect. Here are my gripes:

• Still no support for Flash content. The religious war between Steve Jobs and Adobe make this unlikely to change.
• The A2DP Bluetooth still doesn't support the [Previous Track]/[Next Track] functions, caller name announce, or really anything beyond [Play]/[Pause].
• I still wish the battery life was better. If the thickness of the iPhone 4 was the same as the 3Gs, but I got longer battery life, that would be no problem at all for me.
• Multitasking is not very impressive. Maybe I just need to be patient for more multi-tasking ready apps, but it's not all I'd hoped. Its really more of a "multi-pause" capability at best - aside from a couple of apps (Pandora, for example) it just pauses your apps in the background so you can restart them faster.

You may notice I didn't mention AT&T. That's because I don't have an issue with AT&T - their coverage in the Portland, Oregon area has been solid for me, I travel internationally where their roaming works fine (though Int'l roaming can be ridonculously expensive), they let me keep my unlimited data plan. Plus, I like having an iPhone.

How I got my iPad for free

As I've mentioned here, I recently got an iPad. And now I want to share how I got it for no additional cash out of my pocket (OK, technically, it wasn't "free" but it didn't make me go over budget, at least). You may be able to use this same method for an iPad or any other discretionary expense you are thinking about

While I'm a "gadget person" for sure, I couldn't justify shelling out a bunch of money for yet another gadget. So, I set out on a quest to figure out how to pay for this wonderful toy.

How'd you pay for that iPad?

If you're not familiar with Gazelle, it is a site that purchases used gadgets and pays you in cash (or cash equivalents, depending on what you choose). You simply go to their site, find the article you're looking to sell, answer a few questions about its condition, and they will make an offer for it (this happens in real-time -- very convenient).I turned to an old familiar site: Gazelle.com. If you're not familiar with Gazelle, it is a site that purchases used gadgets and pays you in cash (or cash equivalents, depending on what you choose). You simply go to their site, find the article you're looking to sell, answer a few questions about its condition, and they will make an offer for it (this happens in real-time -- very convenient).

If you like their offer, follow their process to send your device in (every time I've used them, they send me a free box and shipping label (they pay shipping) to send it in. When they receive your device, they will confirm its condition and either honor the original quote or make you a counter-offer (typically because their opinion of the condition of the item is different than yours - this has happened to me a couple of times). If you agree to the revised offer, they pay you; if you disagree, they will ship the item back to you at their expense.

I pulled together some old gadgets (an Archos portable media player, my Kindle, some old smartphones) and got enough to pay for my iPad. This killed 3 birds with one stone: I got the iPad I wanted, I got rid of the clutter from devices I wasn't using any more, and I got to check off one of the items on my "getting things done list" to get rid of my old devices.

By the way, Gazelle is a "green" recycler, which is another reason I really like them - details are on Gazelle's site, as part of their "recycling promise."

So look around. If you've got old gadgets, check out Gazelle as a fast, easy way to sell them - it's an easy way to get that other new gadget you've been eyeing.

free , Gadgets, iPad, iphone 4

Portable Wi-Fi access for my iPad

In spite of my initial desire to wait for version 2, I caved and decided to get an iPad. I got the Wi-Fi only version, rather than the one with built-in 3G.

The quandary now, is that I sometimes find myself in situations where I don't have access to a Wi-Fi signal (I travel a lot). For my laptop, I have a USB broadband modem which allows me to get on the internet. The iPad, however, doesn't have a USB port, so I couldn't use the USB broadband modem with my iPad.

I have found a great solution, though: the Cradlepoint PHS-300 personal hotspot. This is a small, battery powered device (rechargeable) that I plug my USB broadband modem into. It provides power to the modem, which then connects to my wireless carrier's broadband network. The PHS-300 then acts as a wireless hotspot, enabling me to share my broadband connection among up to 16 devices.

So far, this thing has worked like a charm. I used it for about 3 hours yesterday because I didn't want to pay $14.95 for a daypass on the local Wi-Fi provider. I surfed on my iPad the whole time, and it worked flawlessly.

The device works with just about any 3G or 4G USB modem you can throw at it, worldwide. I happen to have AT&T (as you can see from my picture above, but have verified that it works with my friend's WiMax (4G) modem without problems. The Cradlepoint product page has an extensive list of devices from around the world.

Enjoy your freedom!

Gadgets

Easy parental control and filtering

In the past, I've used lots of different parental controls products to help protect my kids from certain internet content, it always seemed difficult to manage, created compatibility issues, etc.

A while back, I found a much better solution: OpenDNS.

If your not familiar with the term "DNS," it stands for Domain Name System, and it's the service that allows us to use "friendly" URL's on the internet (http://genuinecuriosity.com, for example, instead of a long string of numbers).

Here's the short story on OpenDNS:

• When you use it as your DNS server, OpenDNS becomes your means for looking up names on the internet. Because it intercepts all of your browser's requests, it has the ability to block or filter those requests.
• OpenDNS allows you to configure a list of categories of sites you'd like to block (see example screen shot, below) including adware, phishing sites, adult content, hate speech, and other things.
• OpenDNS also tracks your DNS requests (blocked or not) so you can find out what sites are most popular, most blocked, etc.

How I'm using OpenDNS:

• I've pointed my broadband router at OpenDNS so that any traffic out of my house (wired or wireless) defaults to OpenDNS for address lookups.
• I've selected a number of categories to block using the user-friendly configuration page at OpenDNS's site.
• When one of my kids tries to access one of those sites, they get a "blocked" page that tells them they are trying to access a page that is restricted.
  • They are also given the option to request access to the page if they think it's been mistakenly blocked (this does happen occasionally - one example is that some of my kids' game sites are miscategorized as gambling sites).
  • I get an email if they request an exception. If I agree they should access the site, I can click a link in the email to "whitelist" (allow) that site.

How much does OpenDNS cost?

OpenDNS has a free option that should be enough for most home users. I wanted some additional flexibility, so I recently upgraded to a Family account ($9.95 per year - you can compare the features of the plans, including business plans, on their site).

I've found this to be a cheap, straight-forward method of managing access to inappropriate content at my house - without the compatibility issues I've seen with software-based solutions.

Even if you don't want to block kids from adult content, you can use the free version of OpenDNS to block adware and other annoying things on the internet.

Gadgets

Jabra Cruiser: A Great Bluetooth Car Kit (Updated Review)

[12/30/2009: Product links corrected - sorry about the error!]
[05/31/2010: Updated with pairing instructions - see end of post]

A while back, I broke my Bluetooth car kit (I knocked it out of the car onto the concrete - doh!). I did without a car kit for a while, but my state (Oregon) will begin to require hands-free devices for all cell phone use in cars beginning January 1, 2010. As I was looking for a new device, I discovered the Jabra Cruiser. This is a compact device that clips on your visor, providing an unobtrusive option for handsfree calling.

This device was very easy to set up, and paired with my iPhone automatically - much easier than with any of my previous Bluetooth devices. The controls are very simple to figure out and it is easy to use without creating lots of dangerous distractions while driving.

Hey Listen - I'm on the radio!

But the fun doesn't stop there. One of the other things I really like about the Jabra Cruiser is that it has a built-in FM transmitter. This means:

• I can either use the Cruiser's built-in speaker for calls, or I can pipe the call audio through my car stereo.
• I can use the Jabra Cruiser as a "relay" to stream music, podcasts, etc. to my stereo without any additional cables, adapters, etc. Note that this requires a phone that supports Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP), such as any iPhone with v3 iPhone OS or higher.
• The added advantage of using this device as a relay for my iPhone's audio is that I can listen to podcasts while driving and, when a call comes in, the audio is automatically paused while I take the call and the podcast resumes when I hang up. Way cool.

Nice quality audio

Easy to hear

I've tried other FM transmitters for my iPhone before, but I returned every one of them because their signals were too weak and I got a lot of hissing and static over my car stereo. In contrast, I am very pleased with the Jabra Cruiser's quality over FM.

The Cruiser will automatically find and announce (with its built-in voice) the frequency to which you should tune your stereo. I have been using the FM capabilities for a while now and, while I've heard static occasionally when I'm near large power lines, I haven't been bothered by static or hissing with this device. I think one of the things that makes a huge difference is that the Jabra Cruiser uses its wire visor clip as an antenna, which seems to greatly improve the effectiveness of its FM transmitter.

You can pause and resume audio using the Jabra's buttons which means you can start music on your phone while it's still in your pocket. If your device supports it (alas, the iPhone does not) you can move to the next or previous track with the Jabra's controls, too.

If you would rather use the built-in speaker, it is loud and clear - easily heard in a moving car.

Easy to be heard

Callers have commented that I am easy to hear on the Jabra Cruiser, and that it does a nice job of filtering out background noise and road noise (and this is true whether I use the built-in speaker or the FM stereo audio output during calls).

In case you're wondering how it sounds, I left a short message on my voice mail using the Jabra Cruiser while driving, and you can have a listen by clicking the following link (now updated in MP3 format for broader device support):

Sample Audio from Jabra Cruiser call (Now in MP3)

Other features

There are a number of other useful features provided by the Jabra Cruiser, as well (all subject to your phone supporting the feature over Bluetooth):

• Voice dialing
• Address book support so that incoming callers can be announced by name
• Support for multiple languages (English, French
• Multipoint device support so you can connect to 2 devices at once
• Great battery life (rated at 14 hours talk-time and 13 days standby time)

In short, I really like the Jabra Cruiser - it's far better than any Bluetooth car kit I've ever used. (And I am happy I'll be quite legal when January 1 rolls around!)

By the way - if you order through Amazon, it's elegible for free 2nd Day Air shipping in the US via the Amazon Prime program, so you can get it in time for Christmas if you want to give it as a gift.

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Jabra Pairing Instructions for use with iPhone (similar process for other phones)

Several times a day, someone comes to this page searching for something like "Jabra cruiser pairing mode" so I figured I'd provide the instructions here to make it easier:

• Turn the Jabra Cruiser on.
• Press and hold the answer/end button for approximately 5 seconds until “pairing mode” is announced.
• On the iPhone, go to the Settings icon, then select "General."
• Select "Bluetooth."
• In the Bluetooth screen, make sure Bluetooth is set to "On," and you should see "Jabra CRUISER" appear in the Devices section of the screen.
• Select Jabra Cruiser, and pairing should finish automatically. You shouldn't be prompted for a passphrase but, if you are, use 0000.

I hope you find this helpful!

Gadgets