5 Wacky Wi-Fi iPhone Apps

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Apple(AAPL) iOS users may spend more money on apps than Google(GOOG) Android users, who prefer freebies, but there is still a chunk of iPhone apps available in the App Store for free.

Here are five that offer a wacky Wi-Fi twist.

Blow Photo — This gimmicky app turns on a five-second timer for the iPhone’s camera before snapping a photo. Just blow at the screen. Yes, blow air on the screen. Amusing but that may tire after a while. A more useful feature is that you can edit photos on the fly — add effects, brighten it up, crop and even draw on the image — and then upload it over Wi-Fi to Dropbox, Evernote or other cloud-storage services.

One caveat: Blowing on the screen to set the camera’s timer gives you just five seconds, so pose fast!

Remote Snap !! — Instead of using a self-timer for group photos, this app turns an iPhone into a remote control for well-timed shots. Remote Snap !! does require two iPhones (or iPads or an iPod Touch). One acts as the camera, the other is the remote. Cue the first camera phone and then get into position. The second phone turns into a remote that you press when everyone is picture perfect. The phones communicate over Wi-Fi and require typing in a code to connect.

iNumKeyPad — Thoughtful use of iPhone as a laptop’s dedicated number key pad. To connect the two, both devices require some software and must be on the same network. Also, you may need to adjust the firewall to allow the app to link to the computer. Once linked, the iPhone-turned-number pad works immediately. Great for typing in loads of numbers. Developer MBPowerTools did address the main issue of repeated numbers. Just turn off “Repeat key” in the settings.

Cup Phone — This walkie-talkie-like app pays homage to the original childhood mode of communication: two cups and string. And while it seems like walkie-talkies are so outdated these days (um, this is a phone, after all), Cup Phone is handy and fun when two people are in the same building and don’t want to yell (“Time for dinner”). It works over a local Wi-Fi network or Bluetooth.

USB Sharp – Transfer multiple files to and from iPhone and PC with no extra software needed for PC. Nifty features are what make this app stand out — zip a file on the fly, view a PDF and send the file straight to Dropbox or other cloud service. Not sure why USB is in the name when using Wi-Fi is so much more convenient. But what a timesaver when you don’t want to muss with cables and iTunes.

Caveat: Help page is in Chinese so if you don’t know the language, you’ll have to play around to see what else the app can really do.

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Article source: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11482758/1/5-wacky-wi-fi-iphone-apps.html

Impressions of Android and the Galaxy Nexus

Seth Levine

• Impressions of Android and the Galaxy Nexus
• Rounded Corners
• One platform to rule them all

About a month ago I switched from my iPhone 4S to the Galaxy Nexus from Samsung. I was finally making the move from ATT to Verizon and I couldn’t bear the idea of paying $450 once again for another 4S “upgrade”. I’d been meaning to try Android and figured now was as good a time as any. And since I wanted to run Ice Cream Sandwich that meant a Galaxy Nexus. I switched cold turkey and have been using the Nexus exclusively. Since a lot of people ask me how I like it I thought I’d post some thoughts.

 

First, the conclusion (in case you don’t want to read any further). I like the Nexus and Android and it’s definitely a workable phone. But I’m likely going to switch back to the iPhone platform when the 5 comes out this fall (but stay on Verizon for sure).

What I like about my Galaxy Nexus:

• First off, Verizon kicks ATT’s ass. In a month I’ve maybe had one call drop on dial. On ATT, calls failed to connect on the first try about 40% of the time. Overall network coverage was much better, data speeds were much better and I had coverage in more places (NY, SF, Boulder, etc.) than I did with ATT (I’ll allow here that the test wasn’t apples to apples and that differences in the hardware itself may be partially responsible).
• Swipe to answer. Swipe right to answer. Swipe left to send to voice mail. Swipe up and you can send one of a few pre-programed text messages back (or write your own custom message). Love this feature!
• Screen yumminess. Simply put, the screen on the Nexus is beautiful. Stunning, actually. And large.
• Flexibility. Android as an open platform is just way more flexible than iOS. I can arrange my screen as I’d like, there are more apps for any one thing you’re looking to do, you can customize your environment as you like. And I love the way you can nest contacts and have your favorite numbers grouped together logically and available on your home screen.
• Batteries. I’ll talk about why this is so critical below, but I do like that I can swap my battery on the Nexus. I carry 3 batteries with me at all times (including one of the extended batteries) and when I run out of juice I can just pop another one in. Sadly, this happens all too often…

What I didn’t like so much about my Galaxy Nexus:

• Battery life. Wow, does the Nexus suck down the juice. Depending on what you’re doing, you can run down your battery in an hour (for example, tethering the phone will discharge a fully charged battery in less than 60 minutes). I mentioned that I have 3 batteries for my phone – this is because owning a Nexus is an exercise in battery management. The phone needs to be plugged in at every opportunity possible. And I’d strongly recommend getting the extended battery as well as an external charger for your batteries (so you can plug the batteries in and charge them when they’re not in your phone). There’s no way I’d recommend getting this phone unless you’re willing to take on the task of power management.
• Bugs. There are some bugs in Ice Cream Sandwich which make it a pain to use from time to time. I’ve had my phone freeze up on me a few times. If you’re in the video camera and you let the screen go to sleep, you will have to re-boot the phone (which takes about 3 minutes) before you can use the camera or video camera again. Dialing a number directly from calendar is really kluge and usually takes me about 5 attempts. The text database on my phone get messed up and this causes all incoming texts to show up in double. Full calendar items only show up when you enter the editor in the calendar. Bunch of little things like that.
• Are you sure? There are a lot of things that you’ll attempt to do on Android where it will ask you to confirm your selection (are you sure you want to delete that; are you sure you want to dial that number, are you sure you want to power off, etc.). I found this really annoying.
• Facebook. The Facebook app for Android is really bad. Mine consistently loaded slowly, sometimes didn’t load at all and generally was only usable if you were willing to be extremely patient (the app doesn’t cache any data and has to reload from scratch each time, although even that doesn’t explain the remarkable latency in the app). I don’t buy phones for one app. And to be clear, it’s not like I’m addicted to Facebook – honestly, I could quit any time. But it was a bummer that this didn’t work better.
• Soft home key. The home key on the Galaxy Nexus is a soft key. And you’d think after a month I’d stop accidentally hitting it when I was typing. But you’d be wrong. I hit it all the time and have to go back into the app I was working in. I prefer a hard home key. Or at least a soft key spaced a bit further away.
• Size. I found the Galaxy Nexus to be a bit big for my tastes. For some things this was great, but overall, I found it hard to use with only one hand and difficult at times to navigate because of it’s size and where the various command keys ended up being laid out because of that size

So there you have the highlights and lowlights. I’m glad I ran this experiment and I’ll definitely hold on to this phone while I wait to see what the next Apple release looks like. But I’ll probably head back to iOS in the next 6 months…

Would love your thoughts here if you’ve also made the switch.

Read more posts on VC Adventure »

Article source: http://www.businessinsider.com/impressions-of-android-and-the-galaxy-nexus-2012-4

5 new regional US carriers will offer Apple’s iPhone starting April 20 [u]

By Katie Marsal

Published: 11:24 AM EST (08:24 AM PST)

A total of five regional U.S. carrier announced on Wednesday that they will begin selling Apple’s iPhone on April 20, as Alaska Communications, GCI, Appalachian Wireless and Cellcom join an earlier announcement from nTelos [updated].

The iPhone 4S will become available to customers of five regional U.S. on April 20. It will be sold for $50 cheaper than its traditional subsidized price at other carriers, starting at $150 for the 16-gigabyte model, $250 for 32 gigabytes, and $350 for 64 gigabytes. The 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 will also be available for $50.

And one of the carriers announced Wednesday, GCI, has a GSM network, which means it will also be able to offer Apple’s iPhone 3GS for free with a two-year contract.

Two of the carriers announced on Wednesday are based out of Alaska: Alaska Communications and GCI. The iPhone 4S will be available through Alaska Communications from its 14 retail stores, as well as the company’s website.

The carrier offers nationwide unlimited talk plans for $90 with 2 gigabytes of data, while adding unlimited texting brings the monthly cost to $101 and bumps the data cap up to 5 gigabytes. The subsidized iPhone pricing requires a two-year service contract.

“We are delighted to offer Alaskans the best iPhone yet on Alaskas smartest network,” said Anand Vadapalli, Alaska Communications president and CEO. “As the Smartphone experts, Alaska Communications has a range of plans to meet the needs of all Alaskans, at home and at work.”

Cellcom offers wireless service in parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, while Appalachian Wireless is based in Kentucky.

The announcement of four more wireless partners as an official carrier partner of Apple came on the same day that nTelos Wireless was also revealed. nTelos will also begin selling the iPhone 4S on April 20 to its more than 400,000 subscribers.

Apple began expanding availability of the iPhone to smaller, regional carriers last October when a deal with C Spire Wireless was announced. That carrier has about 900,000 customers.

Article source: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/04/04/alaska_communications_will_also_offer_apples_iphone_starting_april_20.html

Apple’s iPhone 5: What it will need to suceed in 2013

With the new iPad 3 officially launched all eyes are now looking to Apple’s next big release: the iPhone 5.

So far not much is known about Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone but we have heard numerous reports from a variety of reliable sources that claim the device will be launched around June 2012.

But the big question on everybody’s lips is this: Will the iPhone 5 be a true update – i.e. one that looks different and also features new hardware – or will Apple simply stick with the 2010 iPhone design?

Now we know Apple is fond of its incremental updating process where each new iOS device slowly builds on the last by adding new components and hardware, like the new iPad’s Retina Display and the iPhone 4S’ Siri assistant. 

This time should be different, though, because Apple has effectively exhausted the current design by producing two handsets back-to-back that looked identical. It cannot afford to release another iPhone that looks like the current model – it would be suicide.

The new iPhone 5, therefore, has to represent a dramatic change. A mere glance at the iPhone 4S next to the HTC One X illustrates this point profoundly. The iPhone of old is finally beginning to look its age.

Should Apple choose to ignore the demand’s of its customers, which, lets be honest, is very likely based on the company’s past behaviour, then 2012 could very well be the year that Apple’s brand appeal starts to lose its allure, just as IBD predicted back in January.

Here’s what we want from the iPhone 5:

New design
This should be paramount on Apple’s list. The original iPhone 4 design, whilst being exceptionally beautiful, is now starting to lose some of its initial appeal when viewed next to Samsung and HTC’s latest range of Android super phones.

This isn’t all that surprising when you think about it. The original iPhone 4 is now two years old. Yet despite its age the design is still popular and the iPhone 4S is still one of the best selling smartphones on the planet – a fitting testament to Apple’s innovative design principles.

But after two years we’re more than ready for a change. So expect to see a vastly different looking iPhone 5 device with a bigger display, larger dimensions and that all-important ultra-thin profile we’ve come to expect from Apple smartphones.

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Article source: http://www.knowyourmobile.com/features/1310302/apples_iphone_5_what_it_will_need_to_suceed_in_2013.html