The Inconvenient Mule

Okay, so I’m about three weeks behind everyone else on the iPhone 4 front. However, the phone that is taking 2010 by storm is now mine and from only 24 hours of ownership I can confidently say that it’s already making its mark.

A substantial upgrade

Some context is necessary, however, to explain just why I’m finding this new handset to be just as revolutionary as it is. I’ve made the upgrade to the iPhone 4 from the iPhone 3G. The 3G was, and is, a fine phone, and has served me well. However for a number of weeks it’s been running iOS4, which as many users have realised does the iPhone 3G no favours at all. It seems that iOS4 is trying to fit too many features across too great a range of handsets and it’s simply too demanding of the iPhone 3G’s hardware. I found that simple tasks such as texting became extremely slow and would often crash the app. Running apps while listening to a podcast – a task causing no problems at all under OS 3.1.3 – suddenly led to stuttering, apps crashing, and on occasion the iPhone crashing entirely. I stuck with iOS4 as I wanted to easily set-up the iPhone 4 using the existing restore, however the weeks of waiting did severely test me.

The delivery of my iPhone 4 yesterday finally saw end to this torment. Setting it up was simplicity itself, using the last restore point from the iPhone 3G and O2’s astoundingly straight-forward SIM swapping website. The hardest part of it all was getting the micro-SIM snapped out of the card it came in.

Using the restore point meant that the iPhone 4 was immediately familiar, with all the apps in their usual places, yet the speed increase was instantly noticeable. The iPhone 3G has always struggled with Twittelator Pro; my Twitter client of choice. As a result I’d always switched between it and the quicker Twitter for iPhone (formerly Tweetie) app. Now, Twittelator offers all the speed you’d want. It’s universally quick and responsive, and a joy to use, overcoming all of my bugbears with it on the 3G.

I quickly realised that the performance limitations of the 3G had actually greatly influenced the way I’d been using the phone and apps on it. iOS4 had caused such instability and performance issues that I’d avoided using certain apps and generally taken a cautious approach to using the phone’s functions as a whole. Essentially I’d not been using the phone to its full potential; shackles now broken with iPhone 4.

(more…)

PetrolPrices

Great app that compares the petrol prices from nearby petrol station

Comparing local fuel prices on 'Petrolprices' app

(more…)

This is an interesting little app for anyone who’s ever wondered about the planes flying overhead. Tapping into a network of home based receivers, the app places the location of commercial aircraft across the UK and parts of Europe on a map. As shown in the screenshots the app allows aircraft to be selected, displaying a range of information, most interestingly the route, airline, height and speed, and there’s even the option to look up some stock photos of the aircraft.

While researching this app, I also came across a website that offers similar information through a web interface: http://www.radarvirtuel.com

Of limited practical use, perhaps, but I find this app a bit of fun when I see a plane passing over and like to imagine it full of holidaymakers or interesting folk bound for somewhere far flung or exotic. Simple things…

I’ve had my iPhone for over a year now and over that time I’ve fairly packed it full of apps. The start of a New Year is as good a time as any to take stock what I’ve got and – with a bit of effort – thin out the chaff from the wheat. Here than is a look at some of the apps I’ve been using recently, and in some cases apps which seemed like a good idea at the time but which have forever languished, unused and forgotten.

Twitter & social media

Tweetie 2 – although I’ve a number of Twitter apps installed, I always automatically use Tweetie 2. It’s slick, quick and intuitive. The only negatives are its use of the new retweet system and that it can lose tweets when closed down which have to be reloaded. However the sheer pleasure of use and its support of lists for follower management makes this a winner.

Twitterlator Pro – I do keep trying to use this app for Twitter as it does offer good functionality, however I simply find it slower and clunkier than Tweetie 2. TP seldom loses tweets in the timeline and offers nice characters to use in Tweets, however the usability just doesn’t make me want to instinctively use it.

Tweetdeck – Undoubtedly the king of desktop Twitter clients, however as an iPhone app it’s never really worked for me. I found it slow, crashed too often and when it lost messages in the timeline(s) it seemed incapable of detecting those missing and reloading them. Overall this unfortunately made it a pain to use. No other app makes it as easy to view tweets from multiple accounts and groups, however the speed of Tweetie 2 makes it a closely run thing.

Facebook – Although I’m not sure a heavy Facebook users these days, the app offers a decent interface for keeping in touch with friends, viewing their latest photos and managing chat & messages.

Foursquare – The new social media site that allows users to tag the cafe/pub/restaurant where they are. This is one of a number of promising geo-location social media services, although it’s too early to tell if this will reach critical user mass to reach the big time or whether it will keep a more niche following. (more…)

Tracking down truly useful iPhone apps can be a tricky business. My iPhone is all but full with apps but when I think of it there’s relatively few I use on a regular basis; most falling into the category of ‘handy to have, just in case’. The App Store highlights the most popular and featured, which encompasses a good deal of the quality, yet some truly mediocre yet talked about apps can make their way into the top listings while niche apps may also fall into the relatively obscurity of the lower listings pages.

There follows three apps throughly worth investigating: Twittelator – perhaps the ultimate Twitter client for iPhone; Train Search – a newly released, free and excellent train timetable & live running app; RedLaser - scan the bar code of products you see in a shop and compare the prices online. For me each of these marks new heights in the function, quality and/or value of iPhone apps.

(more…)

I recently rediscovered Transport for London’s live departure boards for tube stations. I find this a useful feature as it allows me to plan my departure from home allowing me to arrive just in time to catch the train to work rather than just watch it leave as I do normally. It then struck me that there might be an iPhone app that incorporates it. Clearly the developers are way ahead of me on this and there indeed several that make available the departure boards in a handy interface.

To date I’ve been using London Tube Status which simply provides the status of the various London Underground lines. It does the job, looks nice and it’s free, however it seems I’ve been missing a trick. From the same author is TubeDeluxe, an app for just 59p which integrates the departure boards, journey planner, tube map and nearest station finder with the line status report. I browsed a number of London travel apps before going with TubeDeluxe and I have to say it’s proven a sound choice.

Let’s start with the departure boards. The Mule resides on the Met line; many miles outside of central London and with trains sufficiently far apart that you don’t really want to extend the commute even longer through having just missed one train and having to wait 10 mins or so for the next. Choose your line, your station and see when the train is due and plan your departure from home accordingly. Excellent. It’s effectively designed and on a line such as the Met where many station don’t show much if any live train information you can be keep a step ahead. Handily, for stations where the line is shared with Chiltern Railways, the departure boards show their departures too.

(more…)

Tweetdeck has long been one of the most highly regarded Twitter management applications, offering the ability to break down your Tweets of your followers by groups.

Although a single Twitter timeline can be manageable initially, an increase in users you follow can quickly lead to many posts being missed. Twitter users also typically contact users with a variety of shared interests and before long the a need develops to group users by theme enabling more efficient tracking of conversations and highlighting the posts of users of most interest. This is where Tweetdeck steps in; offering the best grouping and management of Twitter timelines currently available.

Naturally Tweetdeck developed as an application for desktop computers but has now, at last, made the jump to iPhone, allowing the same level of timeline management on the go. Best of all, the desktop and mobile versions sync with each other, ensuring the same groups are available on both devices.

(more…)

The fragmentation of audiences due to modern multichannel and multiplatform media has lead to a decline in shared experiences. In times past, much of the population would have watched the Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special. This created common cultural experiences for a nation; reference points, shared feeling and identity.

These days, the population has grown but most programmes struggle to manage a few million viewers. Viewing habits are diffused; it’s more difficult to share experiences and feel a common identity as a result. Yet while technology may fragment audiences, it also holds the potential to rekindle these shared experiences once more.

Yesterday was Eurovision day; not a high-point of musical talent perhaps but it still draws significant audiences. It’s the first Eurovision contest since Twitter really hit the mainstream and a huge number of users simultaneously commenting on the event was clearly in evidence. A sizeable chunk of my Twitter followers were commenting with celebrity Tweeters such as @wossy creating a lot of activity.

(more…)

One of the most useful app functions on my iPhone has been the ability to check train departure and running times. Until the end of March this was offered free of charge by MyRail Lite and it did a fine job. However National Rail refused to renew their license to distribute real-time train information and do this app was discontinued. Replacing it now is an app from National Rail itself. The cost is £4.99 which has led to no shortage of anger with users of MyRail Lite, feeling that National Rail is crushing competition and charging top dollar for a previously free. The National Rail app does offer more features than its predecessor, however, so let’s have a look at these now:

Live Departures & Arrival

The main feature of the app is to check upcoming departures from a chosen station. You can choose your station from a searchable A-Z list; nearest, which using the GPS function of the iPhone lists the nearest 50 stations and handily also displays the distance from you to the station; recently viewed stations and; favourite stations.

Live arrivals screenshot

(more…)

The iPhone offers up to 9 pages of 16 apps. Sounds like a lot but with the number of apps out there offering an immense wealth and variety of functions, combined with the trial and error required to find truly useful apps, these can quickly fill up.

As iPhone app pages fill it becomes all the more important to organise the pages, making the most useful close to hand; those apps that are called upon daily to organise, plan, inform or entertain. Below is a guide to the iPhone apps I regard as essential and hold pride of place on my iPhone’s home screen. Now naturally the prominence of apps is something of a personal choice; each person probably places a different amount of weight on different tasks and their respective apps. These simply are mine. I don’t profess they’re the life-changing for everyone but I would certainly feel poorer without them. Non-default apps in bold.

Home page iPhone apps

1. SMS – Yes there’s e-mail and Twitter but many tasks still require the simplicity, immediacy and obtrusiveness of the text message. The iPhone’s SMS display is the best I’ve ever accounted, displaying messages to/from each contact in the style of a conversation.

2. Clock – Yes other, more attractive clock apps are available and I’ve got a couple installed but when it comes to setting the alarm for work I still call upon the default clock.

3. Calendar – To be fair I don’t use the default Calendar a great deal but it has its uses, such as the alert. For tasks to-do I use Things, below.

4. Weatherpro – A fine improvement over the default weather app. I’ve reviewed Weatherpro in detail separately but its highlights include detailed weather forecasts for throughout the day, animated satellite and rain radar maps and favourite cities, all combined with the best weather information for Europe available on iPhone.

5. Maps – The default Google Maps and still the best, utilised by many of my favourite apps. Simply superb and indispensible.

6. Settings – Default iPhone apps, always useful to have handy.

7. Contacts – Again, necessary to have at hand.

8. Night Camera – An improvement on the default camera app, Night Camera’s most useful feature is the movement detection, whereby it takes a photo only when it detects the camera is still. This makes it superb for clear, unblurred photos in all manner of conditions and I have it on this setting by default. Also offers timer and normal camera modes.

9. TubeStatus – This free app tells me the status of each of the London Underground lines. Clear, nicely laid out at-a-glance guide to how my commute will be.

10. Pro RSS – All the newspapers and other news sources you want easily at hand with what’s widely regarded as one of the best RSS readers for iPhone. I check the news and tech news websites each morning on the way into work.

11. WunderRadio – This glorious app turns your iPhone into an Internet Radio. It seems to be regarded as best in class and certainly offers the best selection of stations of any such app that I’ve found, including, crucially, all of the BBC radio stations, often with multiple bit-rate options.

12. Facebook – Does what it says on the tin, the Facebook site optimised for iPhone through this app. I like it a lot of quickly and easily checking what everyone has been up to. I find the chat element of it doesn’t work so well but on the whole it does the job. Allows you to update your status and post images, so it’s a good on-the-go option too.

13. MyDiary – Simply a replacement for a written diary. I use Things to remind me what I need to do, however MyDiary is a fine app for logging the progress of the passing year.

14. Things – An excellent to-do app which does have a desktop Mac equivalent that I haven’t yet used. I find this app does a fine job of managing my to-do requirements as it is and I know I don’t use it half as much as I could (and probably should) do.

15. YouNote – While Things reminds me what I need to do and MyDiary logs what I have done, if I come across something in my travels I need to quickly note down, be in in text, as an image or in audio then YouNote is the eminently flexible way of doing it.

16. Tweetie – Last but certainly not least – as I find the bottom-right location really quite handy – is this very well regarded Twitter app. It does pretty much everything I’d call upon a mobile Twitter app to do with its location-based features adding an impressive extra dynamic to Twittering. Not only can you search for Twitterers nearby (my favourite option) but you can also use the GPS to update your profile location and post your location in a map link.