App giveaway: CoPilot Live satnav
At the start of the year I reviewed CoPilot Live for UK and Ireland from ALK Technologies.
It’s my first choice of satnav app, and I’m happy to promote it as I think it’s worth your cash. It has also just been updated with the latest NAVTEQ maps and safety camera data.
And lucky you, Santa has brought TEN copies of the app for me to give away!
The cheapest iPad mobile data options, including Mifi tariffs
Last updated: Nov. 4th, 2010
If you’re planning on getting an iPad 3G, then the networks have revealed their pricing on Apple’s UK website. I’ve collated these with all the options and notes and added Three and Vodafone’s MiFi mobile broadband into the mix. I’ve also worked out the Total Costs of Ownership for all that tasty mobile data, which I’ve put into one searchable, sortable table.
Think different apps
Clearly, apps are one of the key factors in the success of the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The ability to download apps and customise your device to your tastes means you can to make it be what you want it to be.
That’s all except for system apps – the ones that come bundled with iOS. These are slightly different on each iOS device, but what they have in common in that you can’t uninstall them, and in some cases it’s difficult to use a replacement.
What could Apple change to give users more choice in the apps they use?
iPhone 4 HDR Photography and Why It’s Important
iOS 4.1 just went live. Among its many updates and improvements is a feature that is specific to the iPhone 4. iOS 4.1 when running on the iPhone 4 adds an HDR photography option to the camera app.
The HDR (High Dynamic Range) technique has been around since the 1930s, but this is the first time that it has been offered as a default option on a smartphone. What does it mean and should you use it instead of the standard photo option? Let’s find out. (Non HDR shots on the left, HDR shots on the right).
When you take a photo with the iPhone the exposure is automatically set to render the best possible range of luminance based on the centre of the scene or, if you tap on a part of the scene, that area. As I’m certain you have noticed for yourself, this means quite a bit of experimentation to find the best compromise between under and over exposure. Under expose the photo and you risk crushing all the blacks and dark colours, over expose the photo and you’ll surely end up with washed out colours and very little detail in the highlight areas.
iPad and me
I’ve had my iPad since June 16th. I was in Boston; I had to rush over to the Apple Store on Boylston Street half an hour before they shut at 10pm, because they wouldn’t hold it for me any longer. And then I went and got drunk watching the Celtics at a sports bar, and almost lost my expensive new purchase, but that’s not important right now.
What’s important to me is that, in under a couple of months, I’ve come to use my iPad for more and more tasks. Is it a big iPod touch?. Sort of . Is it a limited device? Yes. But it doesn’t feel limiting, it feels liberating.
Mobile data costs: iPad 3G vs iPad with MiFi wireless hotspot
I recently looked at the cheapest options for mobile data for your iPad 3G.
But if you’re thinking of buying an iPad, you may not want to splash out the extra £100 for a 3G model instead of a Wifi-only model. However, what if you do need mobile broadband? Maybe that £100 is worth it?
So here’s a comparison between the prices of the different iPad models, with their differing mobile broadband options.
What are the full iPhone unlocking policies of the UK networks?
I’ve already looked at how to buy the cheapest officially unlocked iPhone in the UK, but what if you already have your iPhone?
If you’ve decided you either can’t or don’t want to use an unofficial unlock, such as ultrasn0w from the iPhone Dev Team, then that leaves you with one option: get it unlocked officially by a mobile network.
So what’s the likelihood of that happening with the UK iPhone carriers? (more…)
How to make a million from the App Store without writing an app
There’s a clear policy on this website: no press releases. There are plenty of other sites that provide that sort of news regurgitation service. But on this occasion I’m going to break that rule.
I like to make people aware of iPhone-related things that are interesting, or just good ideas. And the best ideas are often the simplest, like this one.
Is the iPhone platform really fragmenting?
In “Welcome to fragmentation-land Apple“, Ben Smith of The Really Mobile Project has commented on a consequence of the iPhone OS 4.0 announcement. Ben points out that your favourite fruit-logo’d mobile maker will not be providing the oldest iPods and iPhones with the latest operating system. So for the first time we’ll have some iPhones running 3.x firmware, and some running the 4.x release. Oh, and don’t forget iPads will be thrown into the mix.
I want to have a look at this in more detail, and see what it means for both developers and users. Is fragmentation of the iPhone platform all that bad?
Getting an iPad? Get iPad Creative
It’s iPad launch week. Excited yet? Well, whether you’re of the mind that Apple is about to change computing forever, or just sell an oversized iPod touch, it’s certainly going to be an interesting ride. iPhone apps are going to morph into desktop-style apps, and some desktop apps are going to attempt to re-imagine themselves as iPad apps. Yet as excited as I am, the amount of iPad coverage on All About iPhone is going to depend on whether I end up buying one!
But there are plenty of websites out there to satiate your iPad curiosity. And if you’ve enjoyed James Burland’s articles on this website, then I’m sure you’d like to read his new website dedicated to the Apple tablet, iPad Creative.
It’s in pre-launch beta at the moment, but he already has quite a few articles posted, including a great one exploring which graphics processor the iPad is running, and the impact that is likely to have on its gaming capabilities.
iPad Creative is currently running a series over the next few days entitled, “5 Apps We Cannot Wait To See On The iPad”. If really you can’t wait at all, then you should also check out these 60 leaked screenshots of iPad apps over at Boy Genius Report.
Good luck with the new site James!
