I Wish The iPhone Did This
- Image via Wikipedia
When you download it to your Android phone, it integrates AddThis sharing right into the phone’s native user experience. Simply long press any link on your device, touch “Share page” and AddThis will help you share to any of the ~300 social networks, online tools, and services that we support.
via AddThis Blog » Blog Archive » AddThis Android App Makes Mobile Sharing Easy.
The fact the Android_(operating_system) allows developers this sort of integration into the OS is what tempts me away from the iPhone. Developers simply can't provide this on iOS. This isn't me speaking as a developer but rather as an end-user. And in terms of being able to easily share, it doesn't help that it's a pain in the arse to create a bookmarklet too.
MobileRSS: Feature Request
- Image via Wikipedia
As I've stated a couple times, I use MobileRSS for my Google Reader client on the iPhone.
One of the features I like is the ability to add a page to Read it Later. However, to do this I have to open the page before I can mark it to read later.
This doesn't sound like much, but when you're on the train and signal is tweak, it can take up much of the journey opening the page. And if I'm reading a good post with lots of interesting links out (Nat Torkinson's Four Short Links series is an excellent example) then I can kiss goodbye to that journey. Not only that, but it interrupts your flow of reading the article.
What would be much better is to have the option of pressing and holding a link, and along with the option to 'Open' and 'Copy', you could also have the option to 'Read it Later'. It should be a simple feature to add, but a very useful one at that.
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- SafariMobile, Reloading and Google Reader (greg.gannicott.co.uk)
- Recommended iPhone Apps (greg.gannicott.co.uk)
- MobileRSS HD: Google Reader on iPad (bloggingot.com)
- Google Reader + Instapaper = Killer Combo for Productivity - I'm getting software (gettingsoftware.posterous.com)
Recommended iPhone Apps
- Image via CrunchBase
I've just added a new page called Recommended iPhone Apps. Like the Recommended Podcasts page, I aim to try and keep it up to date.
To save you the click, I've included the page's content here:
HippoRemote
HippoRemote is an excellent app that allows you to control either your Windows, Mac or Linux PC with your iPhone. These apps are quite common already, but HippoRemote offers a couple features that make it more useful than most.
First off, it has profiles. Profiles are screen layouts created especially for certain apps. So the XBMC profile has buttons specifically created with XBMC in mind (eg. play, pause, volume, OSD etc) and the Firefox profile has buttons specifically created with Firefox in mind (eg. New Tab, Search, Find, New URL etc). This essentially creates a keyboard that adapts to the app you're using. This works well on the small screen of the iPhone, but I'd imagine it would work really well with an iPad.
The other feature I like is that when you switch profiles, it also switches the app on-screen. So I can easily switch between Boxee and XBMC with a couple taps.
It's not quite as convenient as actually having a mouse and keyboard (especially on an iPhone 3G where it takes a while to open) but if you already own an iOS device it's considerably cheaper and in some ways is better than a physical keyboard and mouse.
I use to it control the media PCs in the house. Both were created on a near enough £0 budget, so this £2.99 app was ideal.
MobileRSS
More than anything else, I use my iPhone to read my Google Reader RSS feeds. So trust me when I say I've tried a fair few. And of all those I've tried, MobileRSS is my personal favourite.
There are two things in particular that I like about MobileRSS:
- Compared to others (with the exception of the buggy Byline), it syncs with Google Reader very quickly (ie. the content is there to read within a minute). When you've only got a 10 minute train ride to read your feeds, you don't want to be waiting 3-5 minutes for it sync and download the content you want to read.
- It's got all the methods of sharing I need. And by that, I mean that I can easily share an article on Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader and via Email. I can also easily add the article to Read it Later.
I appreciate most RSS apps on the iPhone can do number 2, although the last time I checked only MobileRSS and Byline can sync so quickly as well.
TuneIn Radio
TuneIn Radio allows me to listen to BBC 6 Music when I'm out and about. As well as 6 Music, it has tons of other radio stations.
Read It Later
Read It Later is a bookmarking service for articles you don't have time to read, but you would like to read later. A similar service is InstaPaper.
Using a combination of bookmarklets (in Google Chrome, MobileSafari), a Firefox add-on and iPhone apps (eg. MobileRSS, Twitter for iPhone) whenever I see an article I'd like to read later, I can add it to Read It Later. I can then view that article at a later time using either the Read It Later iPhone app, or a web browser.
One of the things I like about Read It Later is that it tracks how far into the article you are. So if I get halfway through an article in Firefox, when I come to read it on my iPhone I can continue from where I left off.
National Rail
National Rail is a well designed app that among other things, allows me to see the status of my train. I especially like the 'Next Train Home' function when I'm out in Taunton for a drink after work.
Foursquare
Foursquare is a location-based social networking site. When you visit a location, you open up Foursquare and 'check-in'. It then notes your location and assuming you have friends on Foursquare, they can see where you are.
I don't use the social aspects of this app (solely down to the fact I have no friends on there. Bridgwater, Som, UK isn't exactly "Silicon Valley", CA, USA), but I do use it just to keep a record of where I've been. I don't know why, but I like having a record of things I've done. That's why I use last.fm.
On a recent trip to London I made a point of checking in everywhere I went. I now have a reference of what I did in London. This might prove useful next time I'm up there and want to go into the same restaurant as last time.
I only use it for irregular places I visit though. So for example I don't 'check-in' to work every day.
IMDB
If I don't end up using IMDB whilst watching a film ("where have I seen that actor before?!"), I certainly use it at the end in order to view the film's trivia. Now I get to do it on the sofa, straight away.
iReddit
Reddit's Official iPhone App to view Reddit. A way for me to get a fix of geek content when I'm done with RSS and Twitter.
Hacker News
An unofficial Hacker News iPhone app to view Hacker News. A way for me to get a fix of geek content when I'm done with RSS, Twitter and Reddit.
To tell you the truth, I don't know which Hacker News app I downloaded. There are several out there. The fact it's simply called Hacker News on the iPhone homescreen doesn't help much either.
Football SC
Football SC offers up football scores provided by Sky Sports. Badly designed, but I get to view the scores at least.
Shazam
Let Shazam hear a track, and it tells you what it is. Sounds gimmicky but I use it a surprisingly often.
Amazon UK
The Amazon iPhone app provides a nice interface to make those impulse purchases on Amazon.
XBMC
XBMC Remote acts as a remote control for XBMC. Much like the Apple app Remote, which allows you to view and select from your iTunes Media Library on your iPhone and have it play on your PC, this does the same with XBMC. I find it to be an excellent way to choose and listen to music in the living room. It also has a remote profile similar to HippoRemote, allowing me to navigate the on-screen menu systems using my iPhone.
London Tube
I don't get to use this London Tube app much, but when I do I find it very useful.
The general routine is as follows:
- We're up London and decide we want to go somewhere.
- We find out where that 'somewhere' is using Google Maps for iPhone.
- Once we've found it, we find the nearest Tube station to it using the map and also the nearest tube station to us.
- Using this app (London Tube) I enter those two stations and it gives us the best route to get there.
I think it's possible to leave out the Google Maps step if you purchase an add-on. I've not looked into that though.
FindMeTV
FindMeTV is an app for TV listings. Other than to view listings without brining up the TV's on-screen display (and so avoiding annoying the wife), it's also useful for instructing our Sky+ box to record a show whilst we're out of the house - or if I'm feeling really lazy, just upstairs. Being able to record a show when you think of doing it rather than waiting until you get home and forget to do it is a great benefit.
The fact you can keyword search listings is also a great advantage over the TV's on-screen guide.
SafariMobile, Reloading and Google Reader
The increase in RAM from 256 to 512 MB is, no surprise, welcome. More web pages remain in memory in MobileSafari, and more apps remain resident in memory for fast app switching.
via Daring Fireball: 4.
A pet hate of mine regarding the iPhone is that when you open a new tab in MobileSafari, if you then go back to view the previously loaded tab (ie. the one you were on) it often reloads the content.
This is a particular pain when you’re using Google Reader via MobileSafari. You go to view the web site of the RSS article and when you return to Reader you have to wait for the page to reload before finding and viewing the next article. This isn’t so bad on WiFi, but when you have a poor connection on a train, it can take up the remainder of the train journey loading the content.
To get around this I started using dedicated Google Reader applications (My current fav being MobileRSS). When it syncs, it affectively stores your articles offline so when you go to view them with a bad signal, it doesn’t make much difference (unless it’s a partial feed – in which case you go online to view the whole article).
Now I always assumed that the reloading of a web page when you return to a tab was a feature. You know, Apple trying to do you a favour by making sure you have the latest version of the page. It’s the sort of thing I’d expect from Microsoft, but not Apple. And so the quote above by John Gruber from his comprehensive iPhone 4 review makes much more sense: The page gets reloaded because there isn’t enough memory to store the old version.
How to improve iOS 4 performance on iPhone 3G
Turn off Spotlight. Go to Settings, General, Home Button, Spotlight Search and just turn it all off. iPhone 3G is so resource constrained Apple wouldn’t even enable wallpaper. Indexing Spotlight in the background seems to be the straw that breaks the performance’s back. With Spotlight off, it’s a usable device again.
via How to improve iOS 4 performance on iPhone 3G | TiPb.
Ever since upgrading my iPhone 3G to iOS4 it's run like a dog. I've found the advice above has helped a little though. Considering I never use Spotlight I've lost nothing by doing it.
Update (29/07/2010): It seems Apple are starting to pay some attention to this issue:
Readability – Better Than I Expected
Readability recently got some press for being included in Apple's desktop browser: Safari
As a result of this, the creator of Readability appeared on the Rebooting the News podcast.
What is Readability?
The idea of the app is it strips away all the unrequired graphics and ads of a web page and lays an article out in a consistent way.
Even whilst listening to the podcast, the concept didn't appeal to me. Graphics and ads have never really bothered me. I've never been compelled to install an Ad Blocker for instance.
Consistency is Strangely Nice
However, in spite of that I figured I'd give it a try. Dave Winer seemed to be getting excited about it, so it was worth a look.
A week later and I have to say I'm very impressed. There is something to be said for a consistent reading environment regardless of the site. And the more I think about it, the more I realise that I prefer reading articles in an RSS reader to the actual site for that very reason. And especially on an iPhone (over Windows) because there are even less distractions.
How to Install
So far I've found the following ways to use Readability. I'm sure there are other ways, but these cover my needs at least:
iOS4 and the iPhone 3G
On Monday I upgraded my iPhone 3G to the latest version of the OS: iOS4
Unfortunately I’m not overly impressed.
I’m completely OK with the fact the 3G is missing out on some of the new features that the more modern iPhones are getting. As I’ll note later, the phone is now struggling to handle the OS as it is, without chucking multitasking into the mix.
But it feels like that the negatives out-weigh the positives. And so it’s hard to call it progress.
Positives
First the positives:
- The first thing I noticed was the ‘Places’ tab in the Photos app. It’s great that the photos are back-dated so I can now easily spot the photos taken at our holiday in Minehead, or our day trip to Poole, and the whole two photos I took on my trip to the states!
- So far the new Folders feature looks good. I’ve now got my home screen down to just 2 screens rather than the sprawling mess it was before hand.
- Something I’ve been hoping for in a while now is a ‘Suggest’ feature when you search using Google (ie. start typing a word and it suggests what you might be searching for). This update brings that. Considering typing can be a pain on the phone, this is a great feature to have. Bit laggy, but to be expected.
- The ‘one inbox for all accounts’ is useful. I have a mail address especially for Google Buzz. Up until now I’ve been missing out on those emails but now I’m getting them again.
- The iPod app now shows the show notes for a podcast. This has already proven useful as it’s handy to see who is guesting on a particular episode.
So there are plenty of neat little touches that I’ve come to expect from Apple. Things that make the experience all the more enjoyable.
Negatives
But now the negatives:
- The phone has become somewhat unresponsive. The previous milestone update left it a little laggy but now it’s getting very laggy at times. Even writing an SMS is a laggy (and painful) experience now.
- The handling of video and audio has become somewhat buggy. Skip back 30 seconds and it stutters a bit.
- I’ve only one example of this (although I’ve only been in the situation where it could happen once) but when opening up another (non-Apple) app whilst the iPod is playing a podcast, it caused the podcast to stop. If this is how things are now, it actually leaves the 3G even less capable of multitasking than it previously was.
- On the day that followed the update my battery was gone by 10:30 (having been unplugged at 7:30). This might be due to me using the phone so much to try and find new things. So it remains to be seen if the battery life with this new OS is even worse than before.
- The gmail style email threading should be good. Although I’ve yet to see it work.
- The update (and in particular the backup of the phone prior to the update) to an incredible amount of time. After a hour an a half the backup was around 3% in. I left it going overnight in the end. What I don’t understand is why it took so long. A backup during an average sync takes a few minutes. Maybe this is a (far) more in-depth backup. This is a minor negative though, as it’s a one-off. Plus, I was lucky in that my data remained in-tact afterwards. A friend lost all his texts, contacts and worst of all photos. And due to the incredibly poor backup system Apple implements (I might write about that later), he couldn’t restore them from the lengthy backup he had to sit through.
The biggest of those is the unresponsiveness. It makes the phone less of a pleasure to use, which is a shame because until now the best feature of the iPhone has been how enjoyable it is to use.
Shazam & Hollyoaks (& Last.fm)
Yesterday I finally got my iPhone - its fantastic! But that's a post for another time.
One of the apps I've downloaded for it is Shazam.
I remember hearing about Shazam (or at least a service like it) a few years back. The idea was, you hear a song but you don't know what its called. You ring a number, put the phone's voice piece to the speaker and Shazam would tell you what it was. Neat, but at the time I considered it a novelty. To inconvenient to be useful.
Jump forward a few years and Apple have changed the smart phone market with their iPhone. Suddenly Shazam is more convenient to use, and thanks to the open web has more information to back the service up (beyond the name of the song).
I've been trying to think of when I'd use Shazam. First thought was when listening to the radio. The thing is, if the DAB Digital radio display doesn't tell you what the song is, the DJ likely will.
Hollyoaks
Earlier today though I remembered that every time I watch Hollyoaks, there tends to be a song in the soundtrack (it sounds wrong calling it a soundtrack as its just a tv show!) that I really like. It happened the other day with a song that sounded like Coldplay doing a decent impression of Radiohead (and sounding better than usual as a result). I tried to find out the artist/song but the unusually the www was unable to help. So it occured to me, why not put Shazam to use on Hollyoaks.
So at the start of tonight's episode I got Shazam going and touched 'Tag Now' (strange terminology). I had the phone with me on the sofa (ie. I didn't put it up to the speaker) and shockingly it got it right! (Turin Brakes). Amazing!
So hopefully now I've thought of a use that works for me, I'll actually use it and it will go beyond novelty status.
last.fm
I think a better use could be found for Shazam though. I try to scrobble as much music on last.fm as possible. I like stats. This works fine when I'm either listening to my iPod, or iTunes on my PC. However, if I'm listening to a CD or record (as I often do), my listens go unscrobbled. Wouldn't it be neat if last.fm used Shazam to scrobble the music I listen to beyond my PC?
Ironies: Blackberry Curve Keyboard
I purchased my Blackberry Curve around 16 months ago. At the time I couldn't afford an iPhone so looked for the next best thing.
I should say now that's I've not regretted the Blackberry (BB) purchase, however I've since saved up to get an iPhone once my 18 month contract is up.
Before getting my BB, I remember a friend telling me he purchased a BB over an iPhone because he wanted a keyboard he could blog on.
Soon after getting my BB I pointed out to him my one disappointment with it was that the keyboard was just too fiddly to write anything lengthy on.
And its because of that, I find it ironic that an hour ago - after writing a lengthy blog comment - that I figured that writing a blog post on the BB would be a piece of cake, and that I should start doing it.
And so here is my first Blackberry written blog post. Apart from the fact its hard to include hyperlinks, its worked nicely.
Its just a shame that in a couple months time I'll switch to the iPhone and likely dislike that keypad even more 
until then though I hope to write more posts than I've been doing of late.