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What You Need to Know: iPhone 2.2 and Jailbreaking

Ok, so here we have yet another update on the Dev Team’s blog. This time they tell us everything we want to know about the 2.2 firmware and jailbreaking.

So, as anticipated our friends the misfits have recently released the long awaited 2.2 update. We can confirm that this update SHOULD NOT be applied using iTunes if you want the chance of a soft-unlock in the near future. If you want to keep that option of a ‘soft-unlock in the near future’ available but you want the new features of 2.2, you will be able to update to 2.2 using a PwnageTool created custom ipsw file that disables the baseband update. You will be able to do this using an updated version of PwnageTool that will be released sometime soon.

Notice the “to be released soon” part? Yeah, so did we. For a full list of facts regarding the firmware and jailbreaking please proceed to the Dev Team post. The most important fact to be aware of is if do update to 2.2 right now and are jailbroken you will not only lose the jailbreak but you will not be able to jailbreak 2.2 until they release their new PWNage tool. So, proceed with caution out there.

Of course, when they do release said 2.2 PWNage, you know we’ll be all over it.

[Via blog.iphone-dev.org]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

What You Need to Know: iPhone 2.2 and Jailbreaking

Round Robin: TiPb vs Android G1 Final Review

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! More below!]

Google’s Android is the future of smartphones. At least, it’s one of the possible futures. Alongside the iPhone, it’s the OS I’m most intrigued by, and that the two companies have chosen such different strategies in tackling the future only makes it ever so much more exciting.

The iPhone is an ordered, iconic device made entirely by Apple, with all the integration and fit and finish — and frustratingly capricious omissions — that only a single guiding mind can achieve. Android, by contrast, is chaotic and communal, designed by Google to free developers and fit a multitude of tastes and form-factors — with all the possible confusion and derivation open source has to offer.

Which one is “better” is a ridiculously impossible question to answer — each platform has its strengths and weaknesses and each user their own unique needs and preferences. Frankly, we’re fortunate to live in a time where there are so many truly awesome devices from which to choose. (Even a few years ago — and yes, I’ll say it, pre-iPhone shockwave — things were far, far more bleak.)

For my part, all I can really do is tell you how I use a smartphone, and how well the Android G1 fits that usage bill.

I really need to point out, up front, that the G1 is a beta device. There, I said it. Unlike Windows Mobile or Blackberry OS, which have been on the market for years and years, and the iPhone OS which is already on 2.x, Android has just hit the market with all the promise and problems that inevitably go with that. The Android device I experienced this week will absolutely and without question be blown away by whatever Android device(s) hit the market next year. So, it’s not a fair comparison for Android from the get go, and I beg everyone to remember that when I lay… er… get into it below the fold.

Getting Started

After far too few hours of sleep, I count on the alarm to make sure I’m out of bed early enough to delay my getting fired for at least another day. Good news. Easy to set. Easy to turn off.

Roughly the same as the iPhone Clock alarm, it’s more utilitarian (a theme we’ll be seeing often) and while that will appeal to some, I miss the eye-candy and pure fun of the iPhone flick-wheels.

Form Factor

Picking up the hardware, it feels good in the hand. It’s heavy but in a solid sort of way, narrower but thicker than the iPhone. The soft-touch plastic is definitely easier to hold onto. The design, however, is… well… less than attractive, and certainly nowhere near as sexy as the iPhone.

Dieter has made a good point that the G1 hardware had to be like this. If it was wrapped inside an iPhone or Blackberry class package, people wouldn’t be as forgiving of the beta software. This way, the outside matches the in. Clunky is as clunky does. It’s the Google stripped down interface and perpetual “beta” tag made manifest.

And that manifestation? While each part of the two-part keyboard and screen slider is good in and of itself, the mere fact that it’s two parts makes it feel creakier and squeakier when you grip it. It’s not the solid slab of the iPhone, but then the iPhone only achieves its form by completely throwing away the keyboard function. The G1 is all about function over form.

Notifications

(Note: I couldn’t find an elegant way to take screenshots absent downloading a dev kit, so I opted for photography. Apologies for the lousy quality, the screens are really bright and beautiful.)

First thing I do is hit a button to wake the phone, and menu to unlock. Then there’s the awesome puzzle-game unlock. Not sure why I have to hit Menu first and then the puzzle though. One unlock would be enough.

As with the iPhone, I’d like for there to be a today screen. (Marketplace, which I’ll get to later, will likely fill that void at some point if it hasn’t already.)

I heard alerts go off during the night, and the notification bar shows calendar and email waiting. I love this feature. Sure, I’d rather just tap or swipe to reveal it, rather than have to pull it all the way down, but the feature itself it great.

(Actually, I’d really like a pop up to be right there when I turn the G1 on, even before I hit “menu”. When I get an alert on the iPhone, if I look right away it’s already popped up on the screen. If I miss it, it pops up as soon as I wake the phone. I need that! If a future version combined the best of both, it would be notification bliss!)

User Experience

Here comes my major rant, and I’ll get it out of the way early so I can hopefully redeem myself to the Androidikas later: Android as it stands right now has a terrible, borderline-incompetent lack of consistent and user-friendliness to its interface/experience. (Which is something the iPhone absolutely kills at, making this all the more frustrating to me).

Navigation is completely non-intuitive and you are continuously left to guess which of the myriad (too many!) input methods is needed at any given time. Keyboard, touchscreen, scroll wheel, and hard buttons are all good, all fine, really. But all at once?

First example, I turn on the phone and a beautiful home screen greets me. I swipe the touch screen and super-sweet parallax scrolling takes me to a Google search box. I tap the box and it lights up and I get a cursor, suggesting input can be made. But I can’t make it. It is utterly unmakable!

I can tap away and nothing will happen unless it occurs to me to open the slider keyboard, at which point the screen will rotate and I can enter text. (Would it have been so much work to either add a virtual keyboard — don’t tell me it’s coming later, or the text box should come later too! — or just make a popup tell me to open the keyboard to enter?)

Second, there are two (2!) mail apps (more on that later) and while the regular mail app has nice, persistent controls like “reply” at the bottom of the screen, the Gmail app tosses them in-line at the bottom of page — which is often quite a lot of scrolling away (yes, I know there are keyboard shortcuts and menu options — exactly the point of this rant!)

Third, when there are those menu options sometimes needful controls are hidden — tragically — behind the “more” touchscreen button. No effort has been made to elegantly or intuitively direct a user to the right control at the right time, nor to keep controls consistent within input methods or between apps. For shame. That needs to be overhauled completely in the next major rev.

Okay, rant over. I shan’t mention it again. (At least I’ll try very, very hard not to).

Email

Yup, I check it as soon as I get up. My job entails supporting offices in different time zones, and TiPb never sleeps, so there’s usually a ton of stuff piled up in my inbox. One of my biggest gripes about the iPhone is how many clicks it takes to move between email accounts. If you drill down, you must drill back up. Will Android help me out there?

A bit, as we’ll see. Of course, there shouldn’t be two email apps to begin with, just one GUI, and Android should handle everything else transparently. Since both apps have their good and bad points, combine all the good into one would be killer.

Gmail App

I’ll just say it — push Gmail is awesome. I want it on the iPhone right now. Forget Street-view or Location Sharing in iPhone OS 2.2, Google — give me push Gmail!

I use Gmail for both my personal and TiPb mail. Unfortunately, Gmail app only supports one (1) Gmail account (the iPhone only supports one ActiveSync account, but I seem to be able to set up more than one Mobile Me Account.) My personal account won the coin toss.

Setup was easy. Actually, you have to set up Gmail in order to activate the G1, the same way you need iTunes to activate the iPhone, so it needs to be easy.

Once I plugged in my credentials — skidoosh! — all my personal mail “just worked” with instant Google goodness.

Confession: I did find the controls a little confusing (and both trashed and spammed Crackberry Kevin — sorry Kevin!), but luckily Dieter posted the aforementioned excellent keyboard shortcuts. In any case, stars are right there. Labels are right there. Everything anyone who has ever used Gmail via the web interface has ever wanted in a client is right there. If the next rev cleans up the controls, this could be the killer app.

Mail App

Absent built in Exchange support, which the iPhone OS 2.x enjoys via ActiveSync, I set up my work email, and my TiPB Gmail both in IMAP. I’d used IMAP for iPhone OS 1.x, so while it’s nowhere near as robust as ActiveSync, it got the job done. Gmail, due to Google’s “unique” implementation of mapping Labels to IMAP folders, has never been enjoyable to me, not on the iPhone, and not here, but it also gets the job done well enough for now.

I should point out that Gmail IMAP generates regular invalid certificate, simultaneous connection, and other errors to the point of being utterly useless at times for me on both the desktop and iPhone (and Twitter shows I’m not alone), but I had no problem with either of those things on the G1. Either I got lucky, or Google’s got some extra special mojo at work here.

Like the Gmail App, navigation is more challenging than it ought to be. Also, I ended up keeping it on manual as far as when to check mail, since anything automatic thrashed the battery life something fierce. This meant I had to wait each time I opened the app for it to download new messages, and even on WiFi this seemed to take longer than the iPhone does.

The Four Pillars of PIM

Once mail is triaged, it’s time for me to figure out the day. Now, I don’t use tasks/to do or memo/notes (don’t tell Dieter!). This may be because the iPhone just totally FAILS by not providing sync features for them. So, to be honest, I don’t know if Android does this or does it well. It’s simply outside my current usage pattern.

Calendar

iCal synced via MobileMe is my main modus operundi. I don’t use gCal on Google’s server, but I did manage to export my main calendars as ICS files and import them into gCal for instant syncing to Android. Sweet!

I’m still looking for a direct (i.e. non-3rd party) way to simply subscribe to my iCal calendars in gCal using CalDAV, but while Android Central forum members pointed me to great directions for doing the opposite (subscribing to gCal in iCal), I’m still looking for my holy grail. (Anyone seen it?)

It’s a great calendar app. Not as good as Gmail, not as bad as Contacts (wait for it). As Casey will tell you, Week View merely being present is a big plus over the iPhone.

Contacts

I’m going to rant again. I don’t understand how the same company that makes Gmail can put out what they laughingly call Google Contacts. This, above all, made my life with Android miserable.

First, I turned on Google Sync in Address Book and immediately my contacts were beamed to the cloud. Then they were condensed and rained back down on me in tiny, droplet-y fragments. See, Google seems to just randomly add contacts almost always without any sort of container or relationship. Suddenly I had 3 to 10 contacts per person, some just email addresses, some just phone numbers, almost none linked in any useful way.

I did my best to clean it up, but searching for contacts by name seldom if ever turned up their numbers, and when people called me, I almost never got the name of the caller even if it should have been in there.

[Note: Dieter in contacts above, but no numbers, no email, no nothing. FAIL!]

Since I’ve long since lost the ability to actually remember numbers, this made the phone all but unusable for me at times. To be clear, however, this is not Android’s problem, it’s Google Contacts and Android inherited it. And this is not just my opinion, it’s an opinion I’ve seen echoed by many otherwise extremely happy Gmail users.

Please fix this, Google. Pretty please?

On the super epic plus side, however, this did mean I got all my data onto the G1 over the air. No tether. No cable. Totally leash free. MobileMe and ActiveSync users know this freedom. Android users know it as well.

Web

We browsing is huge on the iPhone. It’s inarguably the best mobile browser implementation yet. How does the Google Browser stack up? Pretty well. The lack of multi-touch is a huge hit, no way around that, but the rendering (based on the same open source WebKit foundation as the iPhone’s Safari) is snappy and it’s much, much, (much!) more stable than the iPhone was under 2.1 (let’s hope 2.2 has fixed that).

I had nary a crash all week.

I do wish, however, that it would auto-scale pages and fit text the way MobileSafari does. Having to manually adjust each page with the magnifying buttons got old fast. On the UI massive FAIL front, not being able to tap the touch screen to activate a URL chooser was stupefying. You can start typing on the keyboard to do that, of course, or hit the menu button and then touch “Go to URL” but — again — forcing a user to open a keyboard or switch between input methods is just way, way broken.

Android’s browser doesn’t currently support flash, though it looks like it may soon. When you get to a YouTube video, you’re prompted to launch it in the YouTube app (like on the iPhone) or to view it in the browser. The former works just like you’d expect (hey, Google owns YouTube!), the latter, however, then asks you to download Java and Flash. Er… Howsabout we remove that until after Flash is made into a plugin, b’okay guys?

Phone

I like the phone app quite a bit. I liked it when I used it on the Treo. I say that because it’s almost identical. Same tabbed approach to the same basic usage choices. They worked then, they work now, and as Steve Jobs so rightly said, phone is the killer app.

The only problem I had is that when I had to enter extra digits, opening up the keyboard while keeping the handset to my ear was tricky to say the least. Sure, they’ve invented speakers and headsets for that stuff, but I should have an onscreen keypad as well. Or is it there and I just missed it?

Pairing with my Blue Tooth was a synch. Once and a while it wouldn’t work, and I would find the BT radio turned off, but turning it back on would again enable flawless use. Android really nailed this.

In general, however, I could use a little more visual differentiation in the settings between buttons that simply toggle on/off radios like WiFi and BT, and buttons that take you to those radios settings. Identical slices of a single vertical list with only check marks vs. arrow circles isn’t really enough.

Media

The iPhone, with its iPod pedigree, is a media powerhouse. It’s the media powerhouse! How does Android stack up?

Video

The lack of a built-in video player ranks up there with the lack of MMS on the iPhone. Both are inexplicable. To Android’s credit, however, a video player is just one short trip to the Market away. (Want MMS on your iPhone and jailbreaking is your only current option).

Audio

Music is built in, both the player and the Amazon MP3 store. And they’re fine. Since Amazon hasn’t seen fit to offer the service in Canada yet, I was shut out of fully testing it. Come on, Amazon!

I’m not much of a music listener (the irony is not lost, believe me), so fine was good enough. What I am, though, is a voracious podcast listener. My feed is clogged with every Smartphone Experts cast, most of TWiT and Pixel Corp, GDGT, and many more. (I save video podcasts for the big screen).

Again, this meant a trip back to the Market to get a podcatcher… something (also ironically) Apple refuses to allow into the iPhone App Store.

I’ll be honest here — it worked but nowhere near as well as iTunes, which while still tether-bound until iPhone OS 2.2 (which may well hit today!), is just buttery smooth. Time-outs and failed downloads plagued me (which may also be the case in 2.2, who knows at this point?).

When I don’t have time to tether the iPhone, I’ve tried streaming via web links and the Quicktime plugin, which is hit and miss as sometimes the connection stalls and unlike a downloaded podcast, it never remembers your location if it you come back to it later.

Android was very similar, though perplexingly after I typed in a URL with the keyboard and clicked to begin the stream, closing the keyboard would stop the stream. This is most likely a bug and will hopefully be fixed.

Photos

Photos on the iPhone is one of those apps you do demos with. Multi-touch just kills it. So, while Android can handle photos just fine, it doesn’t have anywhere near the fun factor of the iPhone.

Strangely, cover art for the podcasts I downloaded somehow flooded my photos app, so the top level looked more like an iTunes tab than a set of albums!

Android Market

This is the area where Android has the potential to really decimate the iPhone. Given all of Apple’s restrictions on the App Store and the iPhone SDK, including no multi-tasking, no access to the iPod, no turn-by-turn, etc. etc. ad naseum infinitum, the freedom of the Android Market (even though it too has a kill switch) should release the true power of developer innovation.

One day.

Today, it’s still a little on the far side of slim pickings. This may simply be due to the lack of a commercial option on the built-in app — serious developers who make great software need to be paid enough to support their making great software. Hopefully this will shake out rapidly.

Since the default Android IM client wouldn’t work for me (it was upset I wasn’t using a T-Mobile SIM — apparently it ties into SMS), I went in search of a 3rd party client from the Market.

Android Market works pretty much the same as the App Store, with a few little differences in the UI. Some of them are useful, but the polish wasn’t there, so I’m calling it even at this point.

It was easy enough to find an IM app, and dead simple to install and use it. Strangely, it kept logging me out, defeating the purpose of multi-tasking, but I eventually found a preference setting to keep me logged in and receiving IMs in the background. That was awesome! … until my battery very rapidly ran dry.

Push has its price. Maybe this is what’s (still!) delaying Apple’s Push Notification Service?

I also downloaded a game. I game very little, and very casually — often just to wind down before going to sleep. As anyone who’s seen my video know, it was frustrating. Not the download, that was easy. The game, however, told me to “push up to start”. Touch screen up did nothing. Keyboard had no up key. Finally I hit the trackball and voila. This is the double edge to the Android Market Store: absent a unified hardware platform like the iPhone, you never know what input methods will be available on any given piece of equipment, and which ones will be in use on multiple input devices. This developer clearly should have allowed upward swipes on the touch screen, when a touch screen is present.

The game itself, aside from being the most popular at the time of my download, was fine for freeware, but nothing like what we’ve seen on the iPhone.

But it was enough to put me to sleep.

Another plus: on app update notification. I find having to go to the App Store on the iPhone inefficient at times, and really liked how Android alerted me to updates right from the app.

Conclusion

Again, this is a beta OS on mundane hardware and is ultimately and absolutely fine. It’s fine. Really.

I was expecting more. I was expecting what I have every ounce of confidence Android 2.0 will be.

Problems vs. promise was the theme of my entire week with the G1. It’s not an iPhone killer, not by any stretch of that overused drip of marketing hyperbole… but it could easily become one if Apple isn’t very careful.

Unlike Apple, Google isn’t secretly building devices to slip out of their jean pockets at trade shows and shock and delight the world first time at bat. They’re taking a decidedly Microsoft-ian approach of releasing concept pieces and using the early adopters to test and refine. Microsoft typically does horrible first revs, poor second revs, and then starts to nail things third time at bat. Hopefully Google will hit their home run faster.

I know I’m desperately rooting for them.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Round Robin: TiPb vs Android G1 Final Review

iPhone Dev Team: Users who want to Unlock iPhone 3G should NOT Update their iPhones with Firmware 2.2

Review: BodyGuardz Protective Skin for iPhone 3G

The BodyGuardz Protective Skin for iPhone 3G is available now in the TiPb Store for $24.95. It is a thin, clear, protective film that covers almost the entire body of your iPhone 3G - screen, back, top, bottom, and sides, yet still gives your iPhone the “naked” look and adds virtually no bulk while offering protection against scratches and scuffing. Read on for the full review and see if it’s right for YOUR iPhone 3G.

 

What’s In The Box?

Upon opening the BodyGuardz package, the inside cover contains detailed instructions and hints for installation of the scratch-proof transparent film. There is also a helpful tip referring you to their web site (bodyguardz.com) for How to install instruction videos. A pocket on the inside of the front jacket contains two (2) complete BodyGuardz transparent film sets and installation diagram.

On the right side of the package is a spray “tube” of application solution (harmless water and baby shampoo) and a credit card-like “squeegee” applicator. You definitely want all of these tools to do the job right.

Installation and Performance

Installing the BodyGuardz transparent film may look very intimidating at first. I’ve used similar products on other devices and had them “professionally” installed at mall kiosks. For purposes of this review, I did this installation all by my lonesome, and I have to say, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. The instructions are pretty straight-forward and the videos on the BodyGuardz web site are helpful.

The secret is using enough of the solution to make your job easy. Make sure you have solution on your fingers at all times - it’s a safeguard against your fingers sticking to the film. You also want to be sure to handle the outside of the film to avoid leaving fingerprints on the tacky side that will apply to your iPhone. Just slowly remove the film from it’s backing, spraying the sticky side with solution as you go, and then apply the pieces of film to the appropriate locations on your iPhone. The screen protector is the easiest, then it gets a little more tricky as you apply the film to the rounded corners of your iPhone.

If you use enough solution, I found that installation was much easier because the film will “float” a little on the surface areas of your iPhone and allow you to move them more easily into position. As the water starts to dry, the film gets more tacky and sticks in place better. This is particularly helpful to know when installing around the corners. As the film gets more tacky as it dries, just press and hold the corners in place until they stick on their own.

Once the film is applied, there will likely be tons of bubbles where moisture is trapped between the film and your iPhone. Don’t let this be a big worry. Just use the squeegee to smooth out the bubbles, carefully pushing them to the edges where most of the moisture can escape. It’s recommended that you allow your iPhone to sit overnight without being placed in a case or pocket - you need to allow the film enough time to “cure” so it adheres to your iPhone. Once in place and dry, the film will stay put and won’t come off. You can peel it off later without leaving any residue if you want, but until that time, the BodyGuardz will stay on your iPhone and protect it from scratches and scrapes.

The nice thing about using the BodyGuardz transparent film to protect your iPhone is that it adds minimal bulk, it shows off the sleek design and color of your iPhone, and it does a fantastic job of protecting against scratches and scrapes. It is also a good idea to apply BodyGuardz before using another kind of case. I’ve learned through sad experience that some cases, although designed to protect your iPhone, can cause scratches over time as dirt and dust get trapped between the case and your iPhone. There are some downsides to using BodyGuardz. First, it adds just enough bulk to your iPhone that some form-fitting cases, particularly the hard cases, may not fit properly. Second, over time the film can get dirty and start to peel around the edges if you aren’t careful. Sometimes this can be remedied if you keep it clean and reapply the corners with a little moisture and curing. Finally, it offers no protection from harmful impacts. Also, it may be a little bit on the pricey side at $24.95. But, that price does include two (2) sets of BodyGuardz.

Conclusion

The BodyGuardz scratch-proof transparent film is an excellent way to protect your iPhone and still give it that “naked” look. It’s moderately easy to apply and stays put once everything dries. It does a fabulous job protecting your iPhone from scratches and scrapes, but is not recommended for protection in the event of accidental (or intentional) drops to the ground. It may create a problem if you want to use a hard form-fitting case. Personally, I like it enough that it’s still on my iPhone and will stay there as long as I have the phone. You can get BodyGuardz here in the TiPb Store for $24.95.

Pros

• Adds minimal bulk
• Clear film to show off your iPhone
• Moderately easy at-home installation
• Protects against scratches and scrapes

Cons

• Adds enough bulk that hard form-fitting cases may not fit properly
• Offers no protection for damaging impacts
• Can start peeling off on the corners over time; wear and tear
• A little pricey at $24.95

TiPb Rating:

 

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Review: BodyGuardz Protective Skin for iPhone 3G

Quick App: Movie Challenge for the iPhone

Conor sent us a note about the new game from Redwind Software. They’re coming from a .Net background, and this is their first attempt at Cocoa Touch and the iPhone, and it seems from the video they’re embracing the differences whole heartedly!

Movie Challenge is a trivia/quiz style game at its core, but so much more when examined in detail. Rather than the simple question after question after question, leveling up to meaningless levels that seems to be the norm in most trivia games on the platform we have strived to provide more. There are multiple categories, multiple game types, accelerometer action, touch screen drag and drops, power ups and the list goes on.

If you’re a movie trivia buff and you decide to meet this challenge, let us know how you do!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: Movie Challenge for the iPhone

Patent Watch: Always-on iPhone Status Indicators

In similar fashion to the patent for a today screen, Apple Insider is reporting Apple’s new filing shows a way of displaying icon-like status indicators on the iPhone’s display even though the phone is locked with the backlight not turned on. Apple seems to be paying attention lately to alerts/notifications and that is great news!

Apple proposes the implementation of a dual backlight system, where a secondary, low-power backlight system would be positioned behind the primary backlight system. The always-on light provided by the secondary backlight system could then be projected through one or more transparent or semitransparent regions of the primary backlight system to reach the display even when the primary backlight is turned off.

The lack of a feature similar to this is one of the current iPhone’s biggest complaints. You leave your iPhone on a table and you walk out of the room for 5 minutes… during that time you get a email or missed call… you get sidetracked and don’t turn your phone on… you never know that a message is waiting for you. No blinking LED, no second audible alerts (unless it’s a SMS message), nothing. That is a major gripe that I hear over and over regarding the iPhone.

So as soon as this is actually a reality, it will give the haters one less reason to complain. It’s just too bad we will all have to wait until a future iPhone to see this feature.

[Via Apple Insider]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Patent Watch: Always-on iPhone Status Indicators

Ziibii floats updates to your iPhone

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Do you like keeping up with friends on social networks? Do you have an iPhone? If so, you might be interested in a new social networking application for the iPhone called Ziibii. Ziibii [iTunes link] brings an innovative approach to viewing your social networking sites and RSS feeds -- without ever leaving this one app. Ziibii allows you to see friend updates, videos, and photos from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

Ziibii's killer feature is its "River" feature, which depicts friend updates, photos, videos, and RSS feed headlines "floating" down a river on tiny rafts. You can interact with the river and rafts with gestures. Moving too fast? Move your finger left or right on the screen. You can even make the river flow in the opposite direction by swiping your finger against flow.

Rafts too close together? Pick it up and move it. If you tap on a raft, you will be presented with a full screen view of the update and get the option to share that update via email or Twitter. If you get sea sick with River view, you can also give list view a try, which stacks updates on top of each other; swiping right to left loads more updates.

Ziibii comes pre-loaded with some good blogs (TUAW is listed under the "iPhone Stuff" section), and you can also add your own RSS feeds via the "My Feeds" setting.

Ziibii has a very nice user interface, and allows you to quickly see all of your friend updates in a unique fashion. However, we would like to see an option to post updates and photos to Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. We would also like to see support for Pownce and Digg, among others. With the price of free, Ziibii is a must-have application for anyone that uses social networks. You can download Ziibii from the iTunes App Store.

Ziibii floats updates to your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ziibii floats updates to your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Concert Vault for iPhone

User review: 3 Marware iPhone cases

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Reviews, iPhone

My buddy Gavin Baker, CEO of Abunga, took three iPhone cases from Marware for a spin. He took a look at the SportGrip ($14.99), C.E.O. Glide ($24.99) and the C.E.O. Premiere ($34.99). Which best suited this CEO on the go? Read his take below for the answer...

I first tried out the Marware SportGrip, the silicone case that has a rubberized feel and covers the back and sides of the phone leaving the touch screen open. This was my go-to case for about 2 weeks. It easily protected the back and sides of my phone from scratches and the material deadened any type of accidental drop of the phone, reducing the damage inflicted. I had no fear about tossing my phone around onto tables, chairs or in my Jeep. The downside is that the protection afforded by the cover also creates a much bulkier pocket profile. This made it more difficult to slide into pockets. One major downside was that I took the cover off after about 1 week and noticed it had collected a lot of dust, dirt, lint, etc. on the inside of the cover, creating some smaller scratches on the backside of my phone. I'm sure had I taken the cover off more frequently this wouldn't have been an issue.

The Marware C.E.O Glide was next on my list and it didn't make it long; partially because of the red snakeskin cover, but it is essentially a vertical sleeve with a Velcro clasp to keep the phone inside. It's not functional for me since I prefer my phone to be in my pocket and easily accessed or on my belt. This was a mix of the two and a cover that doesn't work in that circle isn't the best for me.

The Marware C.E.O Premiere is the last case I tried out. It is a horizontal belt case and allows easy access to the phone while providing a secure environment. As soon as I put the case on I was very confident with it. I wasn't worried about the case falling off my belt, and the case has a Velcro enclosure to ensure the phone stays in the case. The interior of the case is soft but not microfiber so I have no fear of putting my phone into the case and it coming out in worse shape. I've used the case daily for about 2 weeks and the exterior of the case shows minimal wear. My only complaint about the case is the Velcro closure. In the weeks I've used it the Velcro has started to loosen and is not as tight as it once was. Other than that the case has been phenomenal and it is the one I've settled on for everyday use.

All of the Marware products come with a cleaning cloth and protective film.

Thanks Gavin!

User review: 3 Marware iPhone cases originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

User review: 3 Marware iPhone cases originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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