Tag Archive | iphone

My last word on Android

Dec17

Well, probably not my last word ever, but at least the last on this chapter.

I now have an iPhone 4S and my Infuse is being used by a family member who will better appreciate it. It’s a long story, but I managed to do some switcheroo’ing with the phones on my family plan in such a way that I was able to upgrade. Lesson learned. Won’t let it happen again.

I miss the larger screen on the Infuse. I miss having my Google accounts baked in so logging in with my Google account to certain apps/pages was as easy as selecting my Gmail account from a list (I have 2-step authentication turned on so logging in with my Google account is often a series of hoop jumps). Feature for feature, Android may even be a better operating system. Right now, it’s such a fragmented mess I can’t tell. iOS is mostly stable. And when it’s not, it gets fixed. That’s good enough for me for the foreseeable future. I’m done being Google’s forgotten beta tester.

Yes, it sucks that Apple has such a closed system in iOS. But the Android model replaces an undesirable system with a broken one. Agile software development (release what you got and fix it as you go) and 2 year phone contracts don’t mix when the software developers have absolutely no control over the carrier and manufacturer.

This wasn’t something I learned recently. I knew this. What I didn’t anticipate before I owned a phone running an outdated version of Android was just how much the little things would matter. Stuff that’s hard to put in to words. ZDNet’s James Kendrick probably comes as close as anyone to summing it up and he’s talking about the latest release, no less:

Ice Cream Sandwich is the best version of Android yet in my experience, but it still annoys in a lot of little ways that add up to a frustrating user experience. Google has made Android an open platform, a good thing, but there’s such a thing as being too open. Android is too open for the user’s own good. It’s as if Google set out to make sure Android app developers could have a good time by doing things however they wish. In all that touchy-feely openness, me the user is not having a good time. And the user is the only one in the ecosystem that ultimately matters.

And he’s talking about Ice Cream Sandwich…can he imagine how I felt running a brand new phone with Froyo?!?

For a model that is so open, I never felt so trapped and closed in by technology as when I owned an Android phone.

It’s not Google’s fault that the carriers and manufacturers are screwed up, but I certainly hold Google accountable. This is the world they created. If Google & Friends want to break Apple’s control and dominance over the smartphone space, then they need to come up with something that’s better, not just different.

Yesterday, something glitched on my iPhone and I couldn’t use the Messages app. It would either lock up or crash. Restarts didn’t help. So I restored the phone. 30 minutes or so, start to finish. When done, my phone was working perfectly and everything was exactly where it should be. If I still had problems, I knew I could visit a Genius. I thought about what restoring my Infuse would have been like. Since I was a good girl and didn’t root the phone, my backup program only kept data, no apps or settings. I would have had to reinstall every app. It would have taken hours and hours, with no guarantee that it would fix the problem or that I’d get everything back. Then hours of frustrating runaround as I looked for someone at AT&T or Samsung who could help. No thanks.

Why is this okay with Google? Why isn’t a fantastic user experience a priority? Enough with the features and bells and whistles. Fix. It. And then do whatever it takes to show that you care about the community you already have by making those fixes available to them.

But that’s not the way it works. When I bought an iPhone, I became Apple’s customer. When I bought a Samsung Infuse, I wasn’t Google’s customer. Any more than I’m Google’s customer when I use Gmail. On the web, the advertiser is Google’s customer but at least when Gmail innovates, I’m not left out in the cold. My experience using a phone running a version of the operating system that Google no longer cares about was of no consequence to them, even though it was on a brand new phone. And that’s kinda sad.

Goodbye iPhone – First 24 hours of Android

Aug1

That didn’t take long. I posted yesterday that I was thinking of making the switch from iPhone to Android. I did my research and that’s exactly the direction I went a few hours later.

After reading reviews and getting opinions from friends on social media, as well as time spent just playing with different phones in the AT&T store, I decided on the Samsung Infuse 4G.

The screen is beautiful and large. It’s incredible how light and thin this phone is. You have to pick it up to believe it. The pictures don’t do it justice.

After 3 years on the iPhone and its locked down app store, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the options and new choices. But in a fun way that only someone who finds these things fun can appreciate.

Continue reading →

Help me decide: Is it time for this iPhone user to go Android?

Jul31

My 2 year-old iPhone 3GS has about had it. It’s painfully slow despite a few full restores and I’ve been having a lot of volume/speaker issues. The speaker will just stop working at random times. And when listening with headphones, any headphones, the left side is clearly much louder than the right.

I’m eligible for an AT&T upgrade. No, I won’t consider changing carriers. AT&T coverage is fine where I live. Furthermore, there are 5 lines in our family plan all with varying upgrade dates. Just not feasible to switch.

I’ve been holding out for the mythical iPhone 5. But should I go Android?

Continue reading →

Why I’m not interested in an Android phone. Yet.

Jan2

On Tuesday, Google is expected to publicly announce their Nexus One phone running Android. This is addition to a smattering of other Android OS phones out there, like the Droid, with many many more to come if you believe the techie sites.

Considering how much I love Google Voice (just wish there was a way to use it with two different Google Voice numbers and the same cell phone), and that all my email, contacts and calendar entries run through Google servers, you would think I'd be one of the first to jump on Android.

Not so fast.

For starters, every carrier has or will have an Android phone available except AT&T. No, I'm not an AT&T fangirl. They suck. But so does Verizon and Sprint and every other wireless carrier. For every good thing anyone has to say about any carrier, there are at least 50 horror stories. Even Verizon. When all is said and done, I have a family plan on AT&T of 5 lines and I don't want to think about how much it would cost to switch to any other carrier. With rollover, we're never worried about running out of minutes (about 7,000 rollover minutes available on our account last I checked) and we have unlimited data and SMS on the phones that use it. I've had my issues with AT&T over the years, but I've always been able to get them worked out eventually. The hell you know.

And second, it's the apps. My iPhone is more than just a phone and web-enabled device. I literally live on it. I manage my diet (recently went back to Weight Watchers), pay bills and manage my finances, handle all my logins and passwords, read books, measure my knitting and so much more. At this point, I can't imagine rebuilding all that functionality on another platform.

And unless I'm missing something, none of these phones are a bargain even in a "if it's Google it's cheaper or free" world. Rumor has it that the Nexus One would be over $500 unlocked. Ouch. Using a subsidized plan makes the phone much cheaper, but locks you into a single user $80/month plan for 500 minutes. Ouch again. I'm paying much less than that for my iPhone because it's sharing features with the other phones on our family plan.

The iPhone isn't perfect, but it's getting better. Calls aren't dropping nearly as much as they used to. And if I forget to plug my phone in at night it's still quite usable the next morning. It took me over a year to jump on the iPhone bandwagon from my beloved Blackberry. Let's see if Android ever draws me in, but for now I'm staying put.

Use the Push wisely, my son

Jun28

One of the most heralded new features of iPhone 3.0 is Push notifications. That means that even though an application is still not allowed to run in the background, it can periodically call home for information and display a message and/or badge to let you know of changes.

This can be incredibly useful or incredibly annoying. I can’t stand applications that display a badge I already read. When I’ve ready the alert, take the badge away unless you have something new to tell me. And I certainly will never, ever authorize a game to notify me of anything (I’m talking to you, Tap Tap Revenge). Just because a feature is there doesn’t mean you have to use it.

This morning, I was thrilled to see that my favorite task manager, Remember the Milk, now has push notifications. This makes sense. Pop up alerts for due tasks! Finally!

ss_push2.png

iPhone owners: Anyone solved the multi-Mac dilemma?

Nov2

When I’m home, I sync my iPhone with my iMac, and life is good.

But when I’m traveling, I only have my MacBook Pro with me. I use Spanning Sync to keep iCal and Address Book on the laptop in sync with iCal and Address Book on the Mac (and in sync with Google Calendar and Gmail). I use DropBox to make sure I have important files with me (and to hold my 1Password keychain file so my login passwords are automatically synced). LogMeIn (free) if I really do need to “call home.” Foxmarks to sync bookmarks, and now ReadItLater to sync my reading list. Not to mention all the Google, Salesforce and Box I can eat in the cloud.

The one problem I haven’t been able to solve in my dual-Mac life is my iPhone. When I travel, I can’t sync. Sure, I can charge my phone, but I have to be careful not to let iTunes sync, because it insists on only syncing to one iTunes Library at a time. I’m not looking to sync the whole Library. I want to sync address book/calendar from the MBP when I’m traveling, and then go back to the iMac when I’m home. Maybe update podcasts for the flight home if it’s not too much trouble? The parts I choose not to sync from the road (Music, Movies, Photos, etc.) should be left alone.

I see 3 possible solutions here:

  1. Wait for Apple to come up with a new version of iPhone/iTunes that allows for multi-iTunes syncing. I don’t really see this happening, although rumor has it that there will be some over-the-air syncing of podcasts which will solve some of the problem.
  2. Use one of those hacks that let you sync to multiple Macs. Maybe, but not ideal. There’s nothing I want to exclusively sync to the MBP as Jason Snell describes, because I’m not on the MBP every day.
  3. Find over-the-air solutions for syncing address book and calendar. This is something I still miss about the BlackBerry. Google provided an OTA solution for calendar syncing that I’m dying for them to provide for iPhone. On the other hand, I really like Spanning Sync and don’t want to give it up simply because it’s not ideal when I travel, which isn’t all that often.

So for now, I’m heading out this morning for 4 days in San Francisco and this last sync has to hold me for a while. On November 17, I leave for 3 days in Austin, TX followed by 2 days in DC. While I’m gone, no new podcasts. I’ll meet folks on my trip, enter their contact info into my phone and have no way of transferring that info to my laptop until I get home. I’ll read email on my laptop, enter appointments in Google Calendar and have no way of transferring that info to my phone until I get home. Annoying.

Salesforce for the iPhone: Not ready for prime time

Jul13

iphone_search.jpgI was thrilled when I saw a Salesforce application in the new Apple iPhone app store. It was one of the first applications I downloaded.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t nearly live up to expectation. In fact, it’s a disappointment.

First, you have to understand that Salesforce Mobile is a separate license. Once you pay the extra fee, per user, you can access Salesforce data from BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and now iPhone. So whether you use the iPhone client or the BlackBerry client, it’s the same price.

When you purchase the Mobile version, it’s not a web app duplication of the regular interface. It’s a stand alone mobile application that keeps object records on the device in an interface that shows just what you need when you’re on the go.

The Administrator sets up profiles depending on how the business operates which keeps data small and manageable. Since we’re a contact-centered organization, we don’t keep donations records remotely (although the object is available if needed). Instead, for us, the mobile interface is for looking up people and keeping track of tasks and events. For our Director of Patient Information Services who handles our Answer Line, she can also get information on Cases from her BlackBerry. Like the desktop version of Salesforce, it’s a different experience for whatever organization/business that uses it depending on how the Administrator has chosen to configure the service.

The BlackBerry client allows you to edit as well as view records. The BlackBerry client allows you to add new records to an object. The BlackBerry client allows you to log emails to records/objects from within the BlackBerry email application.

Would you believe the iPhone application does none of that? No, you can’t edit anything. No, you can’t read an email on the iPhone and link it to a record in Salesforce. No, you can’t create anything in the Salesforce application. All you can do is view records. As far as I can tell, all communication between Salesforce and the iPhone application is one-way only. Sad.

It’s got some very basic features: If you click on a phone number you can call it, but no record of the call is recorded in the record’s activity log. You can map an address. You can send an iPhone email from an email address, but once again there is no activity log. It’s essentially a read-only address book, nothing more.

I certainly hope version 2 is coming soon. The BlackBerry application just hit version 10, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. If the iPhone wants to be taken seriously in the business world, folks that develop applications for it are going to have to do better than this.

Update: Salesforce has published a post on their blog where they promise that changes are coming:

Is it going to be read-only forever?

In just two word: absolutely not! This is the very first release of the client, developed in a short time on an exciting new, SDK. Salesforce is excited about having released a client upon the App Store launch and looks forward to future releases.

Moving forward, we aim to provide users with the features they need on the road and will be watching the blogs and gathering customer feedback.  Additionally, we are very excited about the opportunity to integrate with the iPhone powerful browser capabilities.

That’s good, I guess. Great, actually. But a mobile license isn’t cheap. Frankly, with such a wide gap between the iPhone version and the BlackBerry version, Salesforce should either offer a discount for iPhone users or a free trial until at least basic functionality is introduced. As a nonprofit we get our mobile licenses for 80% off so I’m not really complaining for us, but if we were paying full ride I wouldn’t be as patient.

Maybe the Blackberry 9000 doesn't want to be an iPhone killer

Mar30

I’m beginning to drool over the upcoming Blackberry 9000, now that it seems to be a reality.

It has everything I already love about my Blackberry 8800, plus wifi, a faster network and a camera. I know that rumors also say iPhone is due for an upgrade later this year to AT&T’s faster 3G network.

Some of the Mac press refuse to see what’s attractive about the Blackberry over the iPhone, like this tidbit from MacDailyNews:

“Uh oh, RIM shareholders. If this is all RIM’s got, you guys and gals might want to quickly add “former” ahead of that suddenly scary description of one of your portfolio positions, as it’s now painfully obvious that RIM has learned nothing in the past 15 or so months since Apple unveiled the iPhone,” SteveJack writes.

“It’s the same old, same old in an iPhone-inspired wrapper. And that should fail to inspire much confidence in RIM,” SteveJack writes.

MDN is an extreme example because it’s a site where Steve Jobs can rob a bank at gunpoint and they’ll turn it around into a positive message for humanity, but it’s become typical to measure the Blackberry by an iPhone standard.

Some of us genuinely enjoy our Blackberrys for what they are, not as some sort of second fiddle to the iPhone. If I wanted an iPhone, I would have bought one. Sleek design can only take you so far.

I’m relieved that RIM is staying true to its focus on functionality first and foremost. Given a choice, I think I may still choose Blackberry when both companies roll out their new devices in a few months. When I want to use my phone to update Twitter or send an email, I’m thinking of the message, not the tool. I think the iPhone’s awkward keyboard will always be a barrier for me. We’ll see what happens when I have the opportunity to walk into an AT&T store later in the spring and (hopefully) hold both devices.

When it comes to technology, in my opinion, the best design quickly gets out of the way and doesn’t have to try too hard. This is why I still feel that the MacBook Air is an interesting proof-of-concept but will fail long term unless there is more thinking towards functionality than just being “impossibly thin.” Maybe it was impossible for a reason.

Frankly, If RIM can adapt the browser on a Blackberry to work better with “iPhone enhanced” sites, that may be all it takes for me to stick with their devices and never look back.