iPhone, the cat among the pigeons
Every time I fire up Trains, TV Plus, Wikipanion, Twitterrific, Apple’s YouTube app or even Sunrise, I am reminded of just how quickly iPhone apps are changing my usage of the Internet.
Take Trains as an example. Before Trains if I wanted to check on the progress of my ride home I would fire up the South West Trains website and navigate to the ‘How’s My Train Running’ page. With Trains on the iPhone, just one click plus a five second delay and I can clearly see what time my train is due in, the time at which it left every station along the route and an expected time of arrival at my final destination.
Another example? Try TV Plus. Before TV plus I would open up the Sky homepage, navigate to the ‘My Sky’ page, wait for the remote record section to load up, complete with four adverts for other Sky services and then eventually find and select the show I wanted to record. Now just two or three clicks, a couple of swipes and I’m good to go.
It’s not hard to imagine how this non-Web widgetised version of the Internet could become far more useful than the current Web-centric model, especially on mobile platforms.
James’ App Store Pick of The Week!
I’m really eager to see what John Carmack can do with the iPhone. Back in August, the designer of such classics as Doom and Quake stated that he believed the iPhone to be as powerful as Sega’s Dreamcast console and almost as powerful as the PS2 or original XBOX. Admittedly, Kroll and Cro-Mag are both beautiful iPhone games that are surprisingly attractive in their own right, but nothing on the iPhone thus far makes be believe that Carmack might be onto something. That was until I played Fastlane Street Racing by Atod AB.
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Google Street View
iPhone update 2.2 sees the introduction of Google Street View. This stunning virtual reality feature added to the desktop version of Google Maps last year was first shoehorned into the Android based G1. How does it perform on the iPhone? Let’s find out…
It’s hard to believe that the industry has moved from the basic cell phone with a crippled ‘sawn-off’ version of the internet to the iPhone with its near perfect access to the web and other internet services in just a handful of years. Whatever will the next decade bring?
Push notification as an App Store solution?
Background push notification is Apple’s solution to the problems created by refusing to grant multi-tasking to 3rd party applications. Keeping a persistent IP connection to the iPhone to forward third-party server notifications will enable IM clients and other social networking apps such as Twitterrific to operate in a much more useful fashion.
Obviously, this will be a welcomed addition to this powerful pocket computer. True multi-tasking would be the ideal, but with the iPhone’s limited resources Apple’s nifty solution – should it ever see the light of day – could be a dream come true.
Could the push notification service be used for more than instant messaging, perhaps even solving some other thorny issues presently worrying iPhone developers?
James’ App Store Pick of The Week!
Back in January I conveyed my excitement for the coming iPhone revolution…
“This month the iPhone will be transformed. At present the iPhone is a refined phone, a first class iPod and a capable internet device. By this summer it might well have been reborn as the smallest, lightest, thinnest and cheapest Mac OSX computer. If the iPhone SDK lives up to expectations, it could propel the iPhone into a completely new orbit, escaping even the Newton’s powerful gravitational field.”
It turned out that Apple wasn’t quite ready in February, but pent up demand and an extra few months of development overcame any marketing hurdles that the delay may have caused Apple.
The Chosen Two
Out of the box, the iPhone has just two free gaps available on the first page of the dashboard (application launcher). Unless you move things around, the bottom row will start with iTunes and end with App Store, but what comes next? Over the last few months my chosen two has included Evernote, iPlayer, Record, Tuner, Fieldrunners and the ever popular iChalky! However, in the last couple of weeks I’ve settled upon Twitterrific and Wikipanion. Of the ninety or so extra applications on my iPhone it’s these two that I want to find the quickest.
I have a feeling this particular chosen two will be hard to budge! What two extra applications have you promoted to the first screen of your iPhone?
James’ App Store Pick of The Week!
I had not heard of the Tower Defence game genre until I came across Fieldrunners by Subatomic Studios. In short, the aim of any TD game is to stop wave after wave of advancing enemy troops by placing defensive towers across the play area.
James’ App Store Pick of The Week!
Welcome to this new weekly feature. Even at this early stage the App Store is changing the way we think about mobile phone applications and in many respects the way we think about all applications. Apple have created a farmers market, a place where even an indivdual developer can make a living from Apple’s pocket computer platform.
With the recent 2.1 upgrade bringing faster and more reliable application installations, I figured it was time to take a closer look at some of the very best iPhone applications available.
BBC iPlayer for iPhone now supports streaming radio
BBC iPlayer goes from strength to strength. The iPhone has become the best way of accessing the quality content of the BBC. Recent changes included an iPhone formatted front end, availability of an entire series, and now streaming radio via wifi.
The radio shows are provided in MP3 format at 128kbps. I listened to Radio One’s ‘Fearne and Reggie’s Request Show’ this morning, I was able to find the show within seconds and the quality was superb, certainly way better than FM.
2.1 to end ‘killer’ apps?
Do you have any killer apps on your iPhone? I’m not referring to Vicinity, Wikipanion or Twitterific, all three of which I consider to be essential applications for any iPhone. No, I’m referring a handful of iPhone apps that quite literally kill your iPhone.
Here’s how it goes. You install your new app, it freezes causing you to force quit the iPhone. Next time you boot up you’re either presented with the Silver Apple Logo of Death or none of your 3rd party apps will launch! The only solution is to completely restore your iPhone back to factory settings using iTunes, a lengthy and hugely frustrating experience, especially if even a restore leaves the iPhone completely unstable.