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Review: Zgrip iPhone Jr. for the iPhone 3GS
Obsessable takes a look at the $69 Zgrip iPhone Jr. handgrip system for recording video with your iPhone 3GS.
Figure 1: The Zgrip iPhone Jr. in action
If you've ever held your iPhone 3GS shaking slightly in landscape mode in your two hands and had your finger suddenly cover the lens or you've ever been extremely keen on amateur to prosumer level video production, you've probably thought, "I wish I had a tripod for my iPhone 3GS right now." Zacuto has created the Zgrip iPhone Jr., priced at $69, as a handgrip system to help you more easily balance the video you're shooting with your iPhone 3GS with only one hand. Zacuto sent us a demo unit for review, and we've spent the last several days determining if the Zgrip Jr. is worth your $69.
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Review: Things to-do app for iPhone or iPod touch
Things to-do list and task manager application for the iPhone and iPod touch can help you get organized, but may be too highly priced for some at $9.99.
Figures 1, 2, & 3: Things' Lists view, Scheduled list, and Someday list
Cultured Code, the developers behind Things for Mac, gave us a copy of Things for the iPhone and iPod touch to review. The best way to understand the functionality of this robust to-do and task management system is to watch the video on Cultured Code's website that provides one with a nice walkthrough of the key features of the application. The application allows you to quickly add tasks by simply hitting the + button in the bottom left corner of the app, tasks can be scheduled and filed in any of the pre-loaded lists (Inbox, Today, Next, Scheduled, Someday), and tasks can also be added to projects, which are groups of tasks related to a larger goal. All completed tasks are automatically tracked in Things' Logbook.
Profile pages: iPhone apps
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Review: reMail for iPhone and iPod touch
reMail for iPhone and iPod touch offers fast offline search of your email.
reMail for the iPhone and iPod touch (currently on sale for $4.99 until September 1st and then $9.99; direct iTunes link) offers the ability to archive an entire IMAP or GMail account on your iPhone or iPod touch so that you can quickly and easily search through your email, whether or not you have an active connection to the internet via EDGE, 3G, or WiFi. reMail's founder and CEO, Gabor Cselle, was kind enough to provide Obsessable with a copy of the app to review, and if you're interested in this application after reading this review, you should follow Gabor on Twitter, as he will be giving away some free copies of the software over the next several days via his Twitter account.
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Review: Navigon MobileNavigator for iPhone
We get to take this $69.99 (until August 15th) GPS turn-by-turn GPS program for the iPhone 3G or 3GS running OS 3.0 on the road to tell you if it's worth your dollars.
Over the weekend, we had the chance to test Navigon's MobileNavigator GPS program with North American maps for the iPhone 3G and 3GS on a 16GB iPhone 3GS. The application is currently available for an introductory price of $69.99 until August 15th, at which point it will return to its normal price of $99.99 (direct link to the iTunes App store). MobileNavigator offers turn by turn GPS directions alongside a full set of North American maps, so that if you do lose connectivity to GPS temporarily, the application can still continue directions for you. Over the course of our testing, we found MobileNavigator to be a mostly dependable GPS mapping solution for the iPhone 3G or 3GS, albeit one that takes up a hefty 1.29GBs of space on your iPhone and comes with a few problematic rough spots with the voice directions feature as well as a few caveats shared by all iPhone-based GPS systems.
Continue reading our review...
Profile pages: Apple iPhone 3G, GPS, Navigon, Apple iPhone 3GS, Navigon MobileNavigator for iPhone, iPhone apps
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Review: SimplyTweet iPhone Twitter client with Push notifications
After previously reviewing Boxcar app for Twitter push notifications, Obsessable now has had the chance to use SimplyTweet, a full iPhone Twitter client that supports push notifications.
Figures 1, 2, & 3: Push notification, Mentions, and Conversation views
After reviewing Boxcar, the Twitter push notification app that works alongside a full Twitter client like Tweetie or Twiterrific, we decided to also look at one of the first full Twitter apps for the iPhone that offers integrated push notifications: SimplyTweet. Unlike Boxcar, SimplyTweet ($4.99; direct link to iTunes) is a full and robust Twitter application, complete with Theme support and support for sites like Posterous, Instapaper, and Hootsuite. However, the amount of features crammed into this single program belies the application's name and leads to a few rough edges in some spots that may make it a less than ideal Twitter client for non-power users.
The application does handle push notifications well, although it only checks every five to ten minutes for new mentions or direct messages, and as a result, we consistently received notifications from Boxcar before receiving notifications from SimplyTweet. The two times during our testing when SimplyTweet did beat Boxcar to the punch, the Boxcar notification arrived right after the SimplyTweet notification. Also, there is no option in SimplyTweet to choose to only receive DMs or only receive mentions, as there is in Boxcar. However, SimplyTweet makes this bearable by compiling multiple mentions and DMs into one notification (as can be seen in Figure 1 above).
Profile pages: Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3G, Apple iPod touch, Apple iPhone 3GS
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Review & giveaway: Boxcar, a Twitter push app for iPhone
We spent the last 24 hours checking out Boxcar, a $2.99 app that brings push notifications of Twitter mentions or DMs to the iPhone and iPod touch. We're also giving away several licenses to Boxcar.
Figures 1, 2, & 3: Boxcar splashscreen, OAuth Twitter authentication upon launch, and Boxcar Settings
The people at appremix were nice enough to send us a code for Boxcar ($2.99; direct link to iTunes) to let us test their new push notification service for the iPhone and iPod touch running iPhone OS 3.0 that notifies you whenever you receive an @ reply or mention on Twitter, or whenever a DM is sent your way. As many of you may recall from our comparative review of BeejiveIM and IM+ chat clients for the iPhone/iPod touch, IM+ ($9.99; direct link to iTunes) already offers this same functionality alongside some rudimentary Twitter client options. Also, iTwitter arrived the other day offering push notifications, but only between other users running iTwitter ($3.99; direct iTunes link). Also, since we first spotted Boxcar, iTweetReply, a full standalone Twitter client, ($1.99; direct link to iTunes) has appeared in the App Store offering similar functionality, although their Application Description notes "Replies and Direct Messages using Push appear as an SMS and enable you to quickly reply," so without testing it is unclear if this occurs via normal Push or if it is actually piped through SMS (which could cost you over time, depending upon your SMS plan).
Unlike all these other options, Boxcar is focused on doing one thing: sending you Push notifications of mentions and Direct Messages, and it serves as a basic Direct Message Twitter client. Since Twitter's API doesn't currently support Push notifications, Boxcar does this by polling your Twitter account every five minutes and sending you push notifications of any new replies or DMs. You grant Boxcar access to your Twitter account via OAuth authorization on Twitter (see Figure 2 above), which means Boxcar never knows your login and password, and you can always revoke the application's authorization by logging into Twitter and navigating to Preferences—>Connections and revoking the applications access to your Twitter account.
Profile pages: Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3G, Apple iPod touch, Twitter, iPhone OS 3.1.2, Apple iPhone 3GS
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Review: iPhone 3GS, Part 2
After several weeks of intense use of the iPhone 3GS, it's clear that the device is a larger improvement upon the iPhone 3G than all the early reviews claimed.
In part 1 of our Obsessable review of the iPhone 3GS, we focused on three main features of the 3GS: the notable speed increase over the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G, the improved 3-megapixel camera with auto-focus and auto-white-balance, and the new video capabilities of the iPhone 3GS.
In part 2, we move to look at the voice control capabilities of the device, the built-in compass, the new oleophobic screen, the battery, and a discussion of overall performance of the device, including what's missing and what we'd like to see in future models (or in future firmware upgrades to the device).
Profile pages: Apple, Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3GS
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List of eBook eReaders
These portable hardware devices, typically based on e-ink technology, hope to usher in the digital book publishing age.
The Kindle may be the most famous of the lot thus far, but the market for typically E Ink-based electronic book readers continues to heat up with other players and new devices on the horizon. As print publishers continue to work through the digital transition and the average reader finds themselves increasingly on the go, these companies are betting that eReaders will become a no-brainer for book lovers and frequent readers.
Be sure to also check out a comparison of 9 of these side by side.
Profile pages: Sony Reader PRS-700, Amazon Kindle 2, iRex Digital Reader 1000, iRex iLiad Book Edition, FoxIt eSlick, Sony Reader PRS-505, iRex iLiad 2nd edition, Astak EZ Reader, Bookeen Cybook Gen3, BeBook 2, BeBook mini, Amazon Kindle DX, Plastic Logic Reader, Bookeen Cybook Opus, Wizpac txtr
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Review: iPhone 3GS, Part 1
After several weeks of intense use of the iPhone 3GS, it's clear that the device is a larger improvement upon the iPhone 3G than all the early reviews claimed.
Apple's newest iPhone, the iPhone 3GS, doesn't appear to be all that different from the iPhone 3G that has been with us for more than a year, largely because the form factor and outward design of the iPhone has not changed from one model to the next. Apple's continued sale of the iPhone 3G alongside the 3GS at a reduced price of $99 serves as a nice marketing move by the company to make sure that both devices remain relevant. Combine that with the release of iPhone OS 3.0 that brings a whole slew of new features to the entire iPhone and iPod touch platform, and it's pretty easy to misconceive the iPhone 3GS as an incremental update to the platform.
However, after spending several weeks with a 16GB iPhone 3GS, it is clear to this reviewer that judging the iPhone 3GS as anything less than a drastic improvement over the iPhone 3G is a mistake. The vast difference between the two devices will inevitably become more clear as AT&T's network improves and catches up with the faster capabilities of the iPhone 3GS and as a new breed of software, particularly games, begins to be released for the iPhone 3GS that will not function—or not function as well—on the slower and less-graphically gifted iPhone 3G.
Profile pages: Apple, Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3GS
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Review: Fever, self-hosted RSS reader tells you what's hot
We've spent the last several weeks using Fever, a self-hosted feed reading solution that costs $30.
Fever is a $30 RSS and Atom feed reading application created by Shaun Inman, the same developer who created Mint, the $30 website analytics application. Shaun has a video demo of Fever that you can watch on the website dedicated to the application, but unfortunately, there is no try-before-you-buy option with the software, which only runs after you have purchased a license and authenticated the installation on your server.
Besides the no-money-back $30 up front with no chance to try the application, the other big obstacle that will prevent many from giving this feed reader a try is that to run the application, you have to host it on a webserver somewhere that is accessible by a domain name that you own. Once it is hosted on your server, you can either update your feeds manually whenever you visit Fever in your browser or set up a regular cron job on your server to update the feeds. If you don't know what a cron job is, then this application is probably not for you.
In short, Fever is for people who are very serious about their feed reading. As such a person (I'm currently subscribed to 537 RSS feeds that I manage to skim in their entirety every other day), I thought I'd take the plunge, plop down my hard-earned $30, and give the application a thorough kicking of the tires.
After two weeks using Fever as my sole feed reader, I definitely like it, but I also am sure it's not for everyone.
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