Review of the iSkin solo FX SE

I have tried a lot of cases for the iPhone.  I have been on a bit of a quest to find the perfect case.  Most recently I tried out the iSkin solo FX SE, available for $34.99 from the iSkin site.

The solo FX SE comes in three varieties, clear, black, and pink, while its cousin the solo FX comes in purple, red, orange, blue, and green.  I have had trouble finding a pink case that I like, in a shade that isn't too obnoxious, so I was eager to try this one out.

The solo FX SE is easy to put on and remove from the iPhone, but it also has a snug fit, with a nice seal around the edges that should hopefully prevent dust from getting in the ridge around the screen.  The case itself is a rubbery material somewhat reminiscent of those jelly shoes from the 80s.  It has a nice feel in the hand, however, with the texture on the back keeping it from being too slippery.  The iSkin site informs us that the case is treated with a substance called "Microban" to "inhibit the growth of stain and odor causing bacteria."  That sounds good to me, especially in this age of H1N1.

The case is well-made and fits correctly over the ports.  The on/off switch and volume buttons are covered.  The keys are a little bit difficult to press in the case, requiring a firm touch to activate.  The camera, headphone port, and docking port are exposed.  The opening for the headphone port is perfect for the headphones themselves and works with my Monster cassette adapter for my car, but another cassette adapter that I have does not work with this case because its cable attachment is too large.

You can see through the back of the case to see the Apple logo, a feature I love.  It always seems like a shame to me to have a beautiful device like the iPhone completely covered by a case, so it's nice to be able to see the phone itself.

Overall, I like the case for its attractive design and protective features.  For $34.99, I think a case should be excellent, and this one does not miss the mark.  The case also comes with screen protectors with a mirror-like finish when the device is off.   I have not yet tried the screen protectors, as I currently have my favorite Power Support Anti-Glare screen protector in place.

Pros:
1.  Offers good level of protection without adding bulk.
2.  Attractive.
3.  Antibacterial!
4.  You can see the Apple logo through the case.

Cons:
1.  The buttons are a bit difficult to press.
2.  May not work with all accessories requiring headphone port.

Verizon and the iPhone?

Apple rumors are always flying, and the iPhone/Verizon ones are among the most popular. While I'm sure Apple would love to tap into the Verizon customer base and sell more iPhones, market share alone has obviously never been Apple's sole motivation. They currently have a pretty sweet deal with AT&T. Once the iPhone is available for more US carriers, they are not going to be able to command the same subsidies from the carriers.

That said, Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's CEO, has himself implied that the iPhone won't always be exclusive with AT&T. I am sure it won't. But there are a few big stumbling blocks that still have to be overcome to get Apple and Verizon to play nicely together.

This rumor states that they aren't exactly close to churning out CDMA iPhones:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/11/12/rumor...zon-nowhere-n/

I think more telling, though, is the series of ads Verizon has put out lately attacking the iPhone.
"There's a map for that" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCbYTrYD5y8) and "Misfit Toys" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JgrBtn8XdU) go after AT&T more than the iPhone itself, but the "iDon't/Droid Does" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e52TSXwj774) commercial goes directly after the iPhone, which can't be making Apple happy.

This post points out that the new Droid ads running in Sports Illustrated go after Apple policies, and maybe even Steve Jobs himself:
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/11...et-steve-jobs/

These ads are entertaining, but it seems like a strange way for Verizon to woo Apple. I wouldn't hold my breath for a Verizon iPhone by summer, although to be fair, with Apple, you never know.

Twitbit for iPhone

To my knowledge, Twitbit is the first Twitter client with native push notifications built in. This feature works well, allowing you to receive notifications for @mentions and direct messages with badges, alerts, and sounds. You can customize this for the type of notification you want to recieve or choose to get all three. Another unique Twitbit feature is the Trending Topics - in addition to the standard current trending topics, you can also see daily and weekly trends.

Twitbit's interace is clean and intuitive. Unlike some other clients, it allows you to see not just how many people are followers of/following a given user, but who they are as well. You can start/stop following, send direct messages, and retweet. You can see geographic location for a user and tap the location to be taken to Google Maps to see the location on the map. This is a nice feature, but unfortunately its placement on the screen is too easily tapped accidentally while trying to see a user's profile, taking you out of Twitbit to Google Maps inadvertendly, which is frustrating.

There are a few features I would love to see in future updates. The inline web browser works nicely, but it would be nice to be able to use it in landscape. I would like the capability to block/unblock from the app. Retweeting uses the format (via @user) rather than RT @user. This is a personal preference, but I would like to at least have the option to use RT @user, since it's the more common format I see on Twitter. Also, when you post a tweet, it takes you to the top of your timeline, which is annoying if you were just writing a quick reply and want to keep your place in the timeline. And finally, at times the interface seems sluggish. It can take a long time to load the timeline, and following threads in a conversation can be slow.

Overall, Twitbit is a solid Twitter client, with the added benefit of native push notifications and a novel implementation of Trending Topics. With a little tweaking in future updates, Twitbit has the potential to be a strong competitor in the crowded fields of Twitter apps. Whether or not it will replace my favorite Twitter client, Tweetie, remains to be seen.

UPDATE:

Twitbit's latest 1.1.0 update goes a long way towards fixing several of the issues on my Twitter client wishlist. You can now change the retweet format to the more popular RT @user. The browser works in landscape, which immediately puts it ahead of browsers on other clients like Tweetie and TweetDeck. You can even rotate the screen to allow you to read and compose tweets in landscape. Twitbit will hold its place in your timeline, so that you come back to unread tweets rather than starting from the most recent tweet. Posting a tweet still puts you back at the top of your own timeline, which is unfortunate. The too-easily-clicked-upon geographic location, taking you out of the app to Google Maps, is also unchanged. But overall, the updates do an excellent job of improving the functionality of Twitbit.

MobileMe - A Review

In my quest to find an alternative to Hotmail, I have been using the free trial of Apple's MobileMe. MobileMe got a lot of flack when it was released almost a year ago. The launch was accompanied by some significant issues, including two weeks during which people weren't able to receive e-mail. Recently, however, it seems that many of the bugs have been worked out, so I decided to give it a try.

So far, I'm happy with it. MobileMe offers several services. The first, which was my main concern, is the e-mail service. MobileMe offers the IMAP protocol, so I can use it with any IMAP capable client, including Apple Mail, Entourage, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Mobile Outlook, and of course Mail on the iPhone/iPod Touch. That achieves my main objective, which allows the creation of folders and the synchronization of mail across multiple platforms. MobileMe has the added benefit of allowing push e-mail on the iPhone, with e-mail "pushed" to the phone as soon as it arrives. So far, the only options for true push e-mail on the iPhone are MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange, and Yahoo (though with push notifications enabled in iPhone 3.0, hopefully some others will be following in the near future). MobileMe also has a web-based interface, although that has some issues (more about that later).

MobileMe has a calendar and address book feature that allow push calendar/contacts to your iPhone and desktop programs, as well as the web interface. This is great - if you make a change on, say, your calendar on the web, that change will immediately be reflected on iCal and the calendar program on your iPhone. It is also supposed to work with Microsoft Outlook. While the integration with the Mac programs was seamless for me, I had some issues with Outlook. I believe the problem came down to the different ways Outlook and iCal were handling groups (for contacts), and different calendars (e.g., home, work, etc.). The programs seemed to understand those things differently, resulting in some quirky behavior. I really was just trying it out on Outlook, so it wasn't worth it to me to keep struggling with it. My take on it is that calendar/contact synchronization works well with iCal/Address Book or Outlook, but is a little quirky when trying to use both at the same time.

MobileMe has a photo/video gallery as well. I use Kodak Gallery for my photo needs, and plan to continue to do so, since I can order prints with them as well as share my photos with others. But I did try the MobileMe gallery for video. I have been pleased with it. I can take a video on my iPhone 3GS, upload it to MobileMe, and send an e-mail to family and friends letting them know I am sharing it, all without using my desktop computer. Your friends can then click the e-mail link to your gallery and view your photo or videos on their desktop (or on their iPhone/iPod Touch). I set my gallery up with password protection for privacy, so I let my friends know what the user name and password are when I send them the e-mail. You can also upload photos/videos on your desktop, or through iPhoto on a Mac. The web interface for the gallery is attractive and it works well with PC or Mac. I tested it out with my mom, who isn't that tech inclined, and she had no trouble with it.

Some other features of MobileMe include iDisk, which allows you to upload large files to the server (or "cloud") and download them on other computers. An iDisk app for the iPhone is rumored, but not out yet. The amount of storage offered with the basic package (20 GB for mail/gallery/iDisk combined) isn't really enough to back up all my files, but it is a nice way to share files with different computers.

With the recent update to iPhone 3.0, MobileMe has been advertising a "Find my iPhone" feature. From the web interface, you can have MobileMe locate your iPhone by GPS. You can send a message to the lost phone, asking to be contacted. If hope of getting it back seems to be lost, you can also remotely erase the data on your phone, so at least your personal information won't fall into someone else's hands.

The web interface has some quirks. It does not support all browsers. It is supported for Safari 4 and Firefox. It will work with Internet Explorer 7 and 8, though you get a warning message that it may not work quite right. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Internet Explorer 6. Now, you may ask, why would you want to use it with a browser that hasn't been the current version of IE in three years? Well, for some of us, we may not have much choice. My workplace only has IE6, and they are not real keen on having other browsers running on their system. That means I have no option to use the MobileMe web interface at work. I'm not that concerned about the other features, but I really want to be able to get my e-mail.

Luckily, I found a couple of workarounds. I am able to use Firefox on the computer in my office (though not with other computers I use). There is also a version of Firefox, Mobile Firefox, that can be run from a USB flash drive, DVD, or, in my case, from a virtual drive I have access to on my server at work. Mobile Firefox is about 20 MB. It's an older version of Firefox, but it is compatible with MobileMe. There is also a service called Mail2Web that allows you to check any web mail service that offers a POP or IMAP protocol through their website. The interface isn't particularly attractive, but it does work as a way to get your MobileMe mail on IE6.

I am only a few days into the trial, but I like the features of MobileMe. MobileMe offers many of the functions of Exchange as well as several additional features. It has the advantage of not requiring me to put my personal calendar, contacts, and e-mail on my Exchange account at work. They offer a 60 day free trial. After that, it is $99/year for an individual plan. Amazon.com, however, offers MobileMe licenses for about $65. That comes to about $4.60/month for 14 months (2 months free + 12 month license). For the features offered, I think that's pretty reasonable.

Microsoft ruining Hotmail; time to find another e-mail service

Rumors have been coming for a long time that Microsoft was planning to end the httpmail or DAV support on Hotmail. For those not familiar with the protocol, it allows Hotmail to synchronize with various desktop e-mail clients such as Outlook Express and Entourage. Microsoft actually sent out a notice more than a year ago that they were planning this, but, presumably after an outcry, they held off on it.

Now the time has come. Microsoft is discontinuing DAV altogether starting in September. If you want to use Hotmail on Outlook Express or Entourage, you will be forced to use it via the POP protocol, a woefully outdated way of using e-mail in the year 2009. POP does not allow any use of folders on the server, so while Hotmail on the web may offer "ever-growing" storage, forget organizing those gazillion e-mails into any kind of folder system, because the folders you create on the web, and the e-mails they hold, will not be visible on your e-mail client. Moreover, doing anything with your e-mails on the client, such as deleting them, will not be synchronized with the web. You have the choice of downloading all e-mail to the client, thus losing the ability to access it from any other device, or you can "leave messages on server" and be faced with many duplicate e-mails. Neither option is very appealing.

Hotmail via POP is also going to require you to use port 25 for your outbound e-mail. Many ISPs block port 25 due to its abuse by spammers, so you may not be able to use Hotmail's outbound e-mail server at all. For many users, there will be no sending mail with Hotmail from your desktop.

Microsoft's explanation for all of this foolishness is that DAV is an outdated protocol. That may well be, but POP is hardly a modern upgrade, despite the spin some of the Microsoft support personnel are putting on it on the support forums. With legitimate options available these days (IMAP, Exchange, Mobile Me), that allow folder synchronization, few would willingly choose POP. We live in a different era than the one that gave rise to POP. In the earlier years of e-mail, many people accessed their e-mail from one computer only, so POP worked just fine. Now, however, people may use several different devices to access their e-mail. Personally, I use a computer at work, more than one computer at home, my iPhone, iPod Touch, and a Windows Mobile phone. I want my e-mail to work on all of those devices _and_ to stay synchronized. Technology these days makes that a reasonable expectation. The Hotmail web interface, like that of many services, is not an appealing option, particularly on mobile devices. One of the reasons I have been a loyal Hotmail user for eleven years, including paying for a premium account, is that, of all the webmail services, they provided the best functionality with desktop e-mail clients.

So who will be affected by this?

1. If you use Hotmail on the web only, don't worry about it. It doesn't affect you, even though Microsoft sent you the same e-mail, which has caused hundreds of posts on their support forums from people who don't understand why they got the e-mail telling them their Hotmail was going to stop working.

2. Outlook Express users are out of luck. POP only.

3. Same goes for Entourage users. I can sort of understand discontinuing support for Outlook Express, since it is not a current Microsoft product, but Entourage 2008 certainly is.

4. Windows Live Mail users - does anyone really like this program? Well, if you do, you're in luck, because it will work for you. It uses a proprietary Microsoft protocol called "Delta Sync" to allow synchronization. Microsoft wants to force Hotmail users into Windows Live Mail's clunkier (even the name is clunky), decidedly less clean, interface, when Outlook Express worked just fine. I guess this makes sense for the company that decided Vista was an upgrade to XP. Windows Live Mail isn't an option for Mac users.

5. Outlook users can use Hotmail by installing a program called the "Outlook Connector" available from Microsoft. I have tried this, and it does appear to work, leaving folders and synchronization intact. Which leads me to wonder why this can't be an option for Entourage users since Entourage is, after all, a Microsoft product.

6. For Outlook Mobile, I have no idea. It wasn't mentioned in their e-mail and has received minimal discussion on the support forums.

Interestingly, the one platform which may not be affected is the iPhone. I use an app called mBox Mail, which is designed to allow the use of Hotmail on the iPhone, and the developer informed me that this app does not use DAV, and will still work after the switch. In an ironic twist, this may be the one feature that will cause me to keep Hotmail, since I love mBox Mail, and actually prefer it by leaps and bounds to the built-in Mail app on the iPhone. It is rumored that they may make a Mac version of the app, which could be enough to get me to stick with Hotmail. Quite ironic that I may stick with Microsoft's Hotmail in order to use a 3rd party e-mail client for Apple's iPhone.

So for now I am going to hold off on changing, although I spent quite a while today switching many online accounts to Gmail. Gmail thankfully allows forwarding, and for the time being I still have it set to allow forwarding to my Hotmail e-mail. But I am going to be prepared to leave Hotmail if Microsoft doesn't change its mind, or if mBox Mail doesn't have a good Mac client in place with enough lead time before September so that I can get my folders switched over to another service while I still can.

Will it be worth it to upgrade to the new iPhone?

Well, the first question is, will there be a new iPhone coming out this summer? I think almost certainly the answer is yes, although we aren't going to find out for sure before WWDC on June 8. The next question is, will there be anything about it compelling enough for existing AT&T users to upgrade from an iPhone 3G? Users of the original iPhone got a pass when the 3G came out, and were eligible for upgrade pricing, but they had to pay a full, non-subsidized price for the original iPhone. No one knows yet what AT&T will do, but it seems unlikely they will let 3G users, who by July won't be any more than a year into their two year contracts, get a fully subsidized new iPhone. It's possible there may be some discount, but it's likely to be an expensive purchase under most circumstances.

So being that I would fall into that group of those who will be paying a hefty price for a new iPhone, I have been following with interest all of the speculation about what it might include. I didn't have an original iPhone, but the difference between EDGE and 3G would have made that upgrade worth it to me, even without any other changes (I am reminded of that any time I am in an EDGE-only area). Will there be any killer features like that with the new phone?

Some things that seem likely:

1. More storage, with 16 GB and 32 GB models

2. Faster processor

3. More RAM

4. Video (but this may be possible on the iPhone 3G as well after the 3.0 software update. The hardware is capable of it already, as jailbreakers will attest)

5. Better camera

6. Magnetometer

Some things that would be great, but haven't received as much buzz:

1. HSUPA

2. 802.11n

3. Better battery life

Silly, but fun:

1. Glowing Apple logo on the back (like on a MacBook)

While all of those updates would be nice, I'm not sure any of them is all that compelling in terms of convincing the average iPhone 3G user to shell out big money for a new iPhone. Many of these are under-the-hood improvements that will not lend themselves as much to marketing, especially because Apple is always a little sly about letting anyone know the actual processor speed and amount of RAM in their devices.

Many updates should actually be part of the 3.0 software available for existing iPhone users. Cut/paste may not be exciting, but it is necessary. MMS, push notifications, possibly video and tethering - all of those should be accessible without getting a new device.

Apple may be feeling a little heat from the Palm Pre (although it's hard to see the Pre as a true competitor to the iPhone when it is limited to a smaller network like Sprint's), and they are going to want to create strong buzz. People will expect a lot out of the launch of a new iPhone after the phenomenal success the first two models have enjoyed. We will have to see what they use as the hook with this new device, whether it is touting it as a video iPhone, playing up the speed improvements, or focusing on some as-yet-unmentioned feature.

WDW Dining Disney App Update - A Review

The WDW Dining Disney app from VersaEdge Software has had an update! This app is not an all-purpose tour guide; it's a reference just for dining. It includes all of the on-property Disney restaurants, divided into categories by theme park, Downtown Disney, and each Disney resort. Selecting a category such as Magic Kingdom brings up a list of all the restaurants in the Magic Kingdom with their location, whether or not they participate in the Disney Dining Plan, and a price range. Selecting the restaurant brings up menus, type of restaurant (table service or quick service), whether or not it participates in the Disney Dining Plan and, if so, for how many credits, and whether or not it's eligible for the Tables in Wonderland Discount, type of cuisine, and information about reservations. From each reservation-eligible restaurant, you can select the option to call the number right from the app (iPhone only). Beyond this basic information, you can also find out information about things such as which characters are generally present at character dining experiences.

With the latest update, you can now see a picture of the restaurant, which is a welcome addition. Dining menus have been updated as well. The app itself has had some cosmetic changes in colors and appearance, with a nice fresh feel.

Some features could use a little tweaking. There is no map included. The restaurants are organized alphabetically, so if you are looking for a restaurant in, say, Tomorrowland, you have to scroll through all of the Magic Kingdom restaurants to find what you want. Having a map feature would allow quicker access to restaurants by geographic location within the parks themselves.

Overall, though, for $0.99, this app is a great buy. The organization is logical, and the information useful. The information included is all on the Disney website, but as anyone who has tried to navigate the Disney website knows, it's not always the quickest way to find out what you want to know, and certainly not when on the go. I actually find this app a better way to do dining planning even when I have access to a computer because you can quickly and easily switch from one restaurant to another without going through the maze of options on the Disney site. When looking for counter service or snack locations, it's wonderful to be able to access the menu without trudging across the park and standing in line, only to find out they don't have anything you want. And for Disney Dining Plan customers, as many will be during the upcoming Free Dining promotion, it's nice to have a quick reference to find out where you can use your dining credits. I would strongly recommend this app for Disney travelers.