August 2008

The Altec Lansing T612 Digital Speaker System for iPhone was the first speaker dock to get “works with iPhone” approval from Apple, which means you can plunk your iPhone down and listen to music without having to worry about cellular interference or missing a call because it’s stuck in Airplane Mode. It also happens to be one best speaker docks we’ve had the privilege to look at. Its big sound, compact design, and beautiful aesthetics make the T612 one of our top choices for an iPhone speaker dock.

Altec Lansing T612: [Gallery]

Description: As soon as I got the T612 out of its box, I immediately fell in love with its design. A band of aluminum wraps around the outside of the speaker dock, giving it a unique look. The speaker itself is angled back from bottom to top, which reflects the same tilt as the iPhone does once it’s seated in the dock. On top of the unit are five buttons for power, volume, bass, and treble. The front of the unit is made up of a black metal grille which covers the two 3″ full-range drivers, two 1″ silkdome tweeters, 5 blue indicator lights, and the IR remote receiver. Below the speaker is the iPhone/iPod dock itself.

On the back are three screw holes which can be used for mounting the speaker using the optional wall-mount kit. You’ll also find the DC-IN port, and a 1/8″ auxiliary input for connecting anything with a headphone jack.

Accompanying the T612 is a small infrared remote control. The remote provides the same power, volume, treble, and bass controls as the top of the unit does. Additionally, buttons for play/pause and next/previous tracks can also be found on the remote

Pros: The most obvious advantage to the T612 is that it fully supports the iPhone without requiring Airplane Mode to be engaged. Unapproved speaker systems suffer from audible cellular interference when used with the iPhone unless Airplane Mode is used. The disadvantage to Airplane Mode, among others, is that any incoming calls are automatically forwarded to voicemail. The T612 is shielded against cellular interference so that, while you’re listening to music, calls can come in as they normally would. The T612 also works with any iPod with a dock connector, thanks to Altec Lansing’s use of Apple’s Universal Dock insert model.

For an iPhone speaker, the T612′s performance is phenomenal. The T612 easily fills any medium-sized bedroom, office, or living room with a very rich sound. While using the speaker in my basement, my family upstairs heard it through the floor and assumed that I had cranked the home stereo system. You can imagine how surprised they were when I told them it was merely a little speaker dock.

The quality of the sound is especially good for a small iPod/iPhone speaker. Because the T612 uses full-range drivers and tweeters in combination, the audio is very clear. Sounds occupying the higher range of the audio spectrum come through well and aren’t overpowered by lower frequency sound. The low-end on this unit isn’t bad either. Although it doesn’t blast me out of my chair, it performs at quite an impressive level for not having a dedicated subwoofer. Thankfully, unlike some “made for iPod” speakers, the T612 isn’t very directional and sounds great from just about any angle. The front indicator lights are also very visible from nearly any angle.

In addition to the obvious volume and track controls, I was very pleased to learn that I could tweak the bass and treble right from the remote.

Cons: Although the T612 performs astonishingly well for an iPod speaker dock, it does have a few downsides. The biggest for me was the remote. Compared to my fantastic little Apple Remote which I use to control my MacBook and Apple TV, the T612′s remote is absolutely awful. In order to be effective at controlling the unit, you need to point the remote directly at the center of the speaker dock. If you’re successful at getting the T612 to respond to the remote, it’s great. You can play/pause and control volume, treble, and bass, but you can’t navigate the iPod app as you can with some other remotes.

The other significant complaint I have about the T612 is its low-end performance. Like most speaker docks out there, the T612 doesn’t have a dedicated subwoofer. Instead, it makes use of two full-range drivers in place of a ‘woofer. For the most part, this works great – until you crank the volume. At some point, depending on the amount of bass in any particular song, you’ll start getting bass distortions. My first low-end test led me to play Of Montreal’s “Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games” which features a great bass line. To my surprise, I didn’t get a whole lot of distortion until I pushed the unit far past the point of comfort. However, with Radiohead’s “Nude”, the T612 started distorting as soon as the bass came in. Lowering the volume or using the bass controls to knock down some of the low-end will do the trick, but the low-end distortion is too significant to ignore, especially since the dock costs $200.

Bottom line: Altec Lansing’s combination of appealing aesthetics, booming clear sound, and near-perfect integration with the iPhone make this the speaker dock we can’t ignore. It sounds great in almost any location with just about any sort of music you can think of. Low-end distortion is a significant problem with some music, but it can be easily tweaked away. The remote is my only huge complaint. It works well, but only if you can get a clear shot at the speaker. Considering the remotes on many other units we’ve seen don’t fare so well either, we can’t be too hard on Altec Lansing, especially since it works some of the time.

The T612 by Altec Lansing is available in Apple Stores for $199.95. More information and specifications are available at alteclansing.com.

Twitterrific, like its counterpart on the Mac, is an application for interacting with the popular social network, Twitter. Although there are arguably more Twitter applications than necessary these days, Twitterrific is one of the originals and is therefore one of the most popular. And because of Iconfactory’s simplistic approach to application interfaces and design, Twitterrific for the iPhone is a Twitter client that stands out among the rest.

Opening the application, you’re presented a stunning representation of all the recent posts on twitter.com. Clicking the wrench icon allows you to customize your experience and log in. Once logged in, the fun really begins. Returning to the main screen, you’ll see that all of the tweets from people you follow are nicely represented in shiny little rectangles, arranged by time posted. Posts which contain an “@ reply” are highlighted in brown and direct messages are highlighted blue. When you tap any tweet, it becomes highlighted as well.

For longer tweets, you may need to double tap to bring up its full text. In this mode you can reply to the tweet, as well as scroll through tweets individually. If you tweet from this view, you can directly reply or “@ reply” to any individual tweet, with the correct ‘@’ or ‘d’ prefixes automatically attached along with the person’s username. If you exit the application in this “single tweet” mode, the app will remain in single tweet mode when you return. It’s up to you which mode you prefer.

If you’re a fan of the desktop version of Twitterrific, all of this may sound familiar. In fact, all of the functionality of Twitterrific for the Mac is built into the iPhone version, along with a couple of extras. One thing the iPhone version has that the desktop version doesn’t is the ability to directly tweet a photo. While composing your tweet, clicking the camera icon will allow you to choose any photo from your camera roll. Once selected, the photo is uploaded to twitpic and the link is added to your tweet. You can also change the setting in the preferences page to allow photos to be taken directly. The other major difference is that your location can be automatically updated using the iPhone’s current location.

Pros: Twitterrific for the iPhone is everything you’d expect from the makers of Twitterrific. Your tweets are neatly and beautifully displayed, posting a tweet is extremely simple, as is updating your location, posting “@ replies”, and sending direct messages.

My favorite feature of all is Twitterrific’s built-in web view. Whenever you click a link, a sheet comes down with the full web page. This means that you’re not sent into Safari whenever you want to check out a link, which is a big plus in my book.

Cons: The biggest complaint I have for Twitterrific is its performance. Scrolling through your list of tweets can be extremely “clicky” and slow. And using Twitterrific premium to rid myself of the ads didn’t seem to help much, either.

Additionally, using the single-tweet mode, a number showing how many new tweets have come in is placed on the “refresh” button. However, after you scroll up to the next tweet, the number disappears. It would be better for the number to count down every tweet you look at so you know which ones you’ve read.

The last complaint I have is that you can either post photos that you take on the spot, or post photos already stored in your camera roll. The option to either choose or take a photo isn’t arbitrarily available while tweeting. This is more of an annoyance, because you can toggle the setting by going into Twitterrific’s preferences, but it is worth pointing out.

Bottom line: Twitterrific is one of the best Twitter apps out there, both on the Mac and now on the iPhone. If you’re willing to put up with a bit of sluggishness (which exists in almost every twitter client anyway), Twitterrific is a fantastic choice. There are other Twitter apps out there, but Iconfactory’s use of a simple interface coupled with a lovely design lands Twitterrific on my iPhone’s first page of apps.

The Sportsuit Convertible is a sleeve and armband setup with a comfortable fit for good performance and stable carrying. The sleeve’s clip works with multiple Marware accessories as well, providing wider functionality.

SportSuit Armband: [Gallery]

Description: As a case, the sleeve is not advertised to actually protect your iPhone besides with minor scratches. The case fits very tightly over the iPhone and keeps it there, and the clip firmly attaches to the armband. The armband is advertised as ‘one of the finest, most comfortable armband design on the market’, and admittedly it’s very nice. I took this case for a couple runs and the armband fit remarkably well, staying firm but comfortable for most of the run.

Pros: The armband is comfortable, fitting snugly around the upper bicep. The sleeve itself is extremely tight and there is no chance of your iPhone falling out due to normal jostling. There is an included pocket to place your keys, allowing runners to run in normal shorts. The multi-function clip is very useful if you have other Marware products, and a belt-clip is even included in the box.

Cons: The screen cover doesn’t settle against the iPhone’s screen, which make the bottom part of the cover harder to work with. If you plan on taking this case off, I’d advise grabbing the KY Jelly and getting ready for some real work.

Bottom Line: If you plan on running and want to bring your iPhone along, this armband apparatus is snug and comfortably fits around your arm. If you want a secure way to carry your iPhone while running or doing similar activities, this is a great accessory.

The Sportsuit Convertible is available at Marware’s site for $34.99.