bite size morsels of mostly good stuff
I, like a thousand other wordpress users are probably doing the exact same thing right now. typing this entry with the wordpress iPhone app. not bad so far. good for the short quick entry. now to find a photo import feature…
and there it is. enjoy an image of my recent table building experience!
Just over a week now, and I find myself waiting for more application updates. I’ve noticed most of the free applications have rev’d their version number by at least a .0.x or in some cases a .x update. Still, we’re seeing applications crash, force a reboot on the phone, slow the interface down and just cause general problems.
Additionally Apple’s support forums are alive with people discussing problems with wifi (one I am currently suffering with), interface issues, location services issues, accelerometer problems and more. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the two groups of problems are related. It sure seems like there are some issues with the new firmware and if reports are to be believed, their seeing it around the web already. Sure wish they’d hurry.
On a different note, my location aware social networking application application update shows another applicaiton bit the dust. Limbo was recommend in a previous post by a commenter (who apparently works for the company…) and I had already seen some comments about their app. I tried it out, but found the interface annoyingly RED! of all things, difficult to navigate and the whole what are you doing portion a bit lame. Additionally, I inadvertantly let the iPhone app grab all my contacts and when I decided I didn’t want that (thanks Loopt for making me paranoid about that) found that the website interface was nearly as bad as the phone. Ended up taking me about 20 minutes to delete all my contacts via the phone interface as the regular web interface wouldn’t let me delete names.
Maybe I’m not the right demographic for Limbo - what with all it’s ways of ‘Play’ing and getting ‘Loot’ (whatever that’s all about. how does that help me find my friends around me?). I’m looking for a simple, easy to use application that allows me to see my location, the location of my friends around me and the location (if i desire) of restaurants etc. Loopt was on the right track but man did they screw that up, insisting they aren’t responsible for the SMS debacle and the interface Whrrl used was just terrible. I’m still hoping Brightkite comes through like a champ - but who knows.
In other news. I finished a couple of tables. Not bad for the analog version of me.
I previously wrote that Evernote was a pretty clean interface and generally happy with the app. But I have to agree with John Gruber (here). He’s absolutely right about the interface. While that first menu is nice, the rest sucks when you go to write something, and like I said - no editing of a message? Are you kidding me?
Obviously this and more need help. I’d hope Evernote would try and bring some of the same functional aspects of the online app, at the very least, to the iPhone app. Suffice to say, Evernote has moved to the questionable section of my apps. However, until we get a better note syncing method for the iPhone, perhaps this is the solution for now.
As expected, the iPhone applications are really pretty awesome. Disregarding the weird seemingly random way applications made it to the store (flashlight applications? or phonesaber but no Netflix app?) the selection is pretty awesome - especially in the free versions.
Twitterrific, is, as expected, awesome, if a little slow on the scroll. The New York Times applicaiton is pretty cool too - I’m impressed with the overall look and speed of the app. Yelp is also a solid app, provide quick and easy access to location based information - something the other location aware apps could learn from.
The language apps are solid - providing a very easy interface with clear recorded content to play back the phrases and such. Very nice.
Pownce and Eventful are nice but I generally update Pownce but don’t actively use it (maybe this will change) and Eventful has always been on my radar but until I downloaded the app I hadn’t registered. Interesting side note - I wonder how many of these apps: Eventful, Pownce, Twitter (via Twitterrific), Yelp, Whrrl, Loopt, etc - have registered ridiculous number of new users who are using the iPhone apps now? The winners will be the ones who hold on to the users.
The Facebook app is clean and simple, providing a nice interface that I would otherwise use Safari to view.
So let’s talk about some of my favorites and some of my not so favorites.
Twitterrific. The interface is like the appliction on the map - but the addition of location services and direct twitpic posting is awesome. Hands down I’ll probably use the app now, more then any other app. Wish for this? I’d love for either Twitter to provide it’s own location based networking site - like Loopt - or provide a way to update Brightkite or Loopt or Whrrl or whatever. Whoever they pick would be happy for the business. Plus everyone is grabing location information, while I understand Twitter is only updating the general location info for my account, it’d be nice if it could pass that as well since Twitterrific is sendig it anyway - in the tweet.
Evernote. Clean simple interface (did you know you could do voice notes!? just found out via the iPhone app - awesome). Does exactly what its supposed to. But I can’t edit a note? What’s up with that?
Remote. Impressive and only Apple could have gotten it right. Very cool and should be a default application when you buy a phone or touch.
AIM. Nice - haven’t used it a ton but the interface is awesome. Swipe to go to the next conversation? Genius!. Both it and Twitterrific will definitely benefit in my book from push updates later this year.
Bloomberg. It’s great to see them give away an app that provides the kind of financial information I’d expect from a Google financial app - portfolio, news, international markets. Awesome. I may never open the Stocks app again and I may remove the Google finance shortcut from my home screen.
Pandora. Holy cow. Streaming internet radio of my own channel? Take that Congress. Awesome and fast even on EDGE. Just need a cable for the car and I think I may never listen to the radio again.
Jared. Nice to see that Apple made sure he was there at the opening. Wouldn’t have been right to have a new platform without Jared.
Airme and Shozu. I like both these apps. Sending images to Flickr without compression is great. However, neither has been solid. Shozu just won’t send anything while Airme is now in a repeating crash. But - Airme has contacted me via Twitter and hopefully will help resolve the issues. Meanwhile Shozu is on the short list for the next to get deleted. If Airme and it’s dead easy interface comes back, I don’t need Shozu, much less it’s crazy list of connected services when Facebook, Twitterrific and the rest provide the same sending interface. UPDATE - Airme just got back to me and their working on updates. That’s good enough for me, later Shozu.
Ok, the stinkers in the group.
BoxOffice and Movies.app - both gone from the phone. Both had interface issues and bad location aware issues. I also suspect one of them was causing stability issues.
Loopt and Whrrl. Both are pretty cool - frankly I like Yelp’s integration of location aware better then both. Whrrl’s maps are horrible and I can’t control the zoom - stupid. Loopt apparently is working to alienate it’s customers via this response. And while I’m glad it’ll update Twitter for me, why take a photo if you aren’t going to pass it to twitpic? Meanwhile Whrrl’s interface makes me dread using it and frankly it just doesn’t seem to make my happy to use it. Both are moving quickly in the wrong direction on my list.
Weatherbug. Apparently it hasn’t learned how to save locations well (it’s crashed and upon restart lost the locations) and limiting to three is kind of lame. Providing access to closer weather stations is awesome. Providing a radar map via Google is fantastic - but couldn’t we center it since it knows where I am? Maybe a little zoom as well? Fix some of these issues and it could replace my Weather app. Until then, 2 or 3 home screen for you!
What happens in the next week is really important here. Apparently developers didn’t have a lot of testing ability given the restrictions on how many phones applications during the early SDK phase could be tested on. Real world experiences are proving to be different in many respects then what the developers expected. Their ability to update and fix problems with the applications in this early period will definitely provide them with a unique opportunity to grab marketshare from later applications that do the same. Thus the issues with Loopt, Whrrl, Shozu and Airme are instructive. First to update and responds wins. Brightkite says their coming and while I agree it’s gotta be right, they better hurry. As long as Loopt and Whrrl suck for me, Brightkite is still in the running but if they were to magically fix their problems, it could be tough to switch back.
If I’m a Brightkite or someone similar I’d be worried too about the fact that we’re not there and we’re losing the opportunity to sign up people who haven’t even signed up for a similar service. How many of the new to the location based social networking crowd, who stay past this initial time period, will switch when Brightkite shows up? There’s a lot of people for whom the iPhone experience is new, not being ready to grab them could be a serious tactical error (Plurk where are you!?) and you run the risk of only moving your previously installed base which is probably smaller then the iPhone base.
Nevertheless - watching this unfold is awesome. The opportunity to connect and interact with information and people provided by these applications (good and bad) is awesome. In a couple of months, when push comes, wow. I can barely contain it - certainly my wife is done hearing about it.
Now. Back to rearranging my home screens and throwing away some of these apps…
I’m definitely not happy about the new at&t pricing plans for the iPhone. I wasn’t exactly waiting excitedly for July 11th (that’s what last year was for), but I was curious to see if both the phone and the plans would get better. Unfortunately, only half right.
I still believe that what is really important is the development platform and what it can do for connectivity and how it transforms the phone. I just hope that two things don’t happen - at&t doesn’t kill the market for the phone and I don’t have to have 3g to use all the goodies.
I’ll let you know July 11 around midnight - assuming I can pull myself away from the App store…