All Entries Tagged With: "iPhone"

iEarn: Google Adsense application review for the iPhone and iPod Touch

iEarn for the iPhone is a basic income tracking application for webmasters using Google Adsense on their website or blog.  It allows the user to view basic information about their Adsense account without having to load the browser.  It displays Today’s earnings, yesterdays earnings, last 7 days, this month, and last month’s earnings. 

That’s what it does and that’s ALL it does.  If you are looking for an application that will allow you to track multiple sites, break earnings down by pages, set up your own custom reports, or anything else then you need to stick to the browser for now.

Unfortunately not only does the app not do much, what it does do it does not do well.  It is slooooooow retrieving your data,  and it often  requires multiple starts in order to retrieve your data.  In fact I started this app at the start of writing this article and I am still waiting 10 minutes later to see any data, this is on an Edge connection.  Performance was a little better on wifi but not an acceptable wait time for a minimum of information.

I was excited when I saw this app appear on the App Store and downloaded it right away, but for $1.99 it was a waste of money in its current iteration.  So if you need an app to track your Adsense earnings while on the go then keep watching the App Store for other options for now.  Hopefully the developer will continue development on iEarn and eventually make it in to a useable application.  If there is no further development on the app then I at least have a review on iPhoneAppReview that is displaying ads, it will only take a few thousand clicks to earn my $1.99 back. 

iPhone Apps I Use Everyday

The iPhone has tons of applications available for it.  I have downloaded my share of apps, and deleted many of them.  Below is my list of essential apps for the iPhone, some are perfect the way they are, some I am using until I can find something better.  Without further ado here is my list of essential iPhone apps.

iTunes 8 and iPhone 2.1 tomorrow?

Original Article found here:

On Friday, we posted a short roundup of what’s expected in iTunes 8 thanks to the rumortastic stylings of Kevin Rose. The Pandora-like Genius feature, Genius Sidebar, Grid view, and more are all said to be included. Although the general web consensus was that it would probably land on next Tuesday’s Apple Special Event, we were skeptical.

Well, that skepticism was unwarranted, it seems. A person close to the situation has informed us that, as of this morning, iTunes 8 is finally confirmed for September 9. This person conveyed that much of what Rose claims is in iTunes 8 is correct as well. So, our hunch was wrong. And we’re glad, because it sounds pretty cool, too.

Another little birdie told us that it’s widely expected within some Apple circles that iPhone 2.1 will be released on September 9. We were told that, aside from what we already know about iPhone 2.1 from leaked info on the web, there are other parts to 2.1 that were specifically removed from developer seeds in order to keep them secret from the world. This both excites and worries us, because if true, then there are features coming in the newest firmware that have not been widely tested outside of Apple. On the other hand, we’re suckers for a surprise.

All we can say is that Tuesday can’t come fast enough for the rumor mill.

Spore for iPhone due Sunday 9-7-08

The iPhone version of Spore is due on Sunday, says Electronic Arts Mobile. Called Spore Origins iPhone, the game will not be a port of the computer or clickwheel iPod versions of Spore, but a reworked title meant to take advantage of the iPhone’s graphics, multi-touch interface and accelerometer. It will arrive on the same day the game officially launches on the Mac and PC. EA Producer Mike Pagano tells MacNN his team spent months working with iPhone SDK, and was “surprised at its capabilities.”

Unlike the Mac and PC versions — which begin with microorganisms that evolve into a modern civilization — the iPhone game is confined to the cellular phase, set in an ancient tidepool. The objective instead becomes staying on top of the food chain, surviving 35 levels of play. An initial port of Spore was among the first games demonstrated on the iPhone SDK back in March. It was created in about two weeks (see video), but since that time, Pagano says EA developers discovered the iPhone SDK could do “a ton of stuff” they had not expected. Programmers were able to use the iPhone’s hardware acceleration to create levels of parallax, image meshes and 3D graphics that we previously unavailable on mobile devices.

Spore Origins is said to make extensive use of multi-touch, notably in the Creature Editor, where people rely on finger gestures to add eyeballs, fins, scales and other body parts. Once the game begins, the iPhone’s accelerometer controls the creature as it fights to stay alive and/or evolve. Players must tilt, twist and rotate the device to slip across the tidepool. Pagano says the iPhone version was designed for intermittent play — users can pause the game and resume play in a spare moment. The game likewise has separate Evolution and Survival modes, with various backgrounds including underwater caverns.

“It’s intentionally a different experience,” says Pagano, “it should provide three to five hours of gameplay depending on skill.”

A disappointment for iPhone users may be the inability to download creatures or play online against others. But Pagano says that the game does allow users to import textures or images — including photos of their own faces — when designing creatures. Snapshots can also be e-mailed or exported to share with friends on MySpace, and other social networking sites.

The success of games like Sega’s Super Monkey Ball have shown the iPhone’s potential as a gaming platform, Pagano adds, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. He says the device is “a totally viable platform,” and programmers are just beginning to exploit its features. He compares the iPhone to the Sony PlayStation 1, which took time to catch on as developers moved away from cartridge-based games to CD-ROMs.

EA Mobile says it has nine other game titles in development for the iPhone and iPod touch: Yahtzee Adventures, EA Mini Golf, Lemonade Tycoon, Mahjong, Monopoly: Here & Now The World Edition, Sim City, Tiger Woods 09, Need for Speed Undercover, and The Sims 3.

Spore is already available for clickwheel iPods for $5 at the iTunes Store. Spore Origins for the iPhone and iPod Touch is expected to cost $10.

iLounge Review of Movie Apps for iPhone

With the releases of Apple’s Dashboard and Yahoo!’s Konfabulator/Widgets programs, Macs and PCs gained the ability to run miniature applications called “widgets” that could quickly check the Internet for weather, flight information, stock prices and more. Notably, Apple developed a Movies widget for Mac OS X Leopard, capable of displaying movie and theater details, quick links to trailers and summary text, and even offering the ability to buy tickets directly from the widget. Though the iPhone received custom versions of some of the best Apple-developed widgets, it somehow never wound up with an official “Movies” program.

Where To: iPhone Application Review

Description:
One of the best features of the iPhone is that it’s able to determine your current location. But missing is something that’s become a staple of most GPS systems: a quick way to find points of interest around you. Where To provides that in a slick, intuitive user experience.

Find food, places to shop, fun things to do and much more with just a few taps. Then quickly get driving directions to your destination through a familiar Maps user interface.

Not sure what you want for dinner tonight? Tap “Surprise Me!” to make the choice. Take a chance and find something new and exciting!

Price: $2.99

Review:

Accu Fuel: iPhone Application Video Review from iPhoneAppReview.com

Details:
AccuFuel Fuel Efficiency Tracker is a powerful tool that makes monitoring your vehicle’s fuel efficiency simple and fun. Is your SUV guzzling gasoline? Is your hybrid saving you money? With AccuFuel, you’ll instantly see how your driving habits affect your fuel efficiency.

Cost:
$0.99

Video Review:

Koi Pond: iPhone Video Review from iPhone App Review

Description:

The iPhone lends itself to be the home of many peculiar apps. It has a lot of really great functionality that would make it perfect for some form of virtual pet or even just a nice ambient environment. Koi Pond has taken a little bit from each of those ideas and has actually made a virtual fish pond for your iPhone.

This app is pretty unique, as it’s just something that you watch. Your interaction is limited to changing the water color, amount of fish, lily pads in the pond, the different animal sounds you hear, and switching it from day to night. You can shake the iPhone and feed the fish, tap the pond to scare the fish, or leave your finger in and watch them eventually swim up to you.

That’s all this app does. There isn’t anything more to it. The sounds are pretty interesting, but the chances of this being something you want to fall asleep while listening to are slim to none. Unless of course your soothing sounds of the rain forest tape broke and you can’t get to sleep without it.

It’s a great concept and it really does look cool. But the fact that Koi Pond actually costs and that you really don’t do much besides watch the fish, it’s hard to justify making the purchase. While Koi Pond does seem to be one of the more popular paid apps at the time of this review, we’re going to have to recommend that you keep that dollar in your virtual pocket for the time being.

Cost: $0.99

Video Review:

Fotomatic iPhoneAppReview Video Review

Description:

Fotomatic puts your favorite Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa photo albums in the palm of your hand with animated, captivating slideshows that are fun to watch and cool to show off! Simply enter or search for the names of online photo albums hosted on Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa, and they’ll be automatically transferred to your iPhone (or iPod touch).

From your iPhone, you can browse your photos or watch them within uniquely animated slideshow themes. View them mounted in a virtual photo book, zooming past you, part of a mural, and many more! Fotomatic also features a unique “Add Fun Album” feature, where you can instantly access public photo albums, ranging from landmarks, sports, and shoes to cars, skateboarding, and NASA!

Fotomatic is designed to meet all your mobile photo needs and combines multiple photo apps into one. Enjoy your photos on the go in a whole new way! More screenshots coming soon.

Features:

• A multitude of animated slideshow playback themes
• Seamless Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa downloads
• “Add Fun Album” offers instant access to countless public photo albums
• Intuitive multi-touch interface to browse, navigate, and manage photo albums
• Automatic updating of previously downloaded albums on startup
• Downloads photos while you view other albums

Cost: $4.99

Video Review:

Google App for the iPhone

I have read some of the reviews on the Google App for the iPhone over at the App store and I don’t think people quite get it.  They are blasting the app stating they can do web searches already from safari.  But the Google App does a whole lot more.  You can search your contacts, your previous searches, websites, and it provides suggestions as you type.

I have found the app to be very useful.  It has not quite found it’s way on to the front page of my iphone yet, but it is secure on the second page for the moment.

So, if you have a lot of contacts or do frequent web searches from your iPhone, then this app may be just the thing to fit the bill.  Browse to the app store and download the Google App, it’s free of charge and helps get all the google goodness to your screen that much faster.

Moo Cow Music Band Review

At $9.99 I think this app is a little over priced.  $4.99 would be a little better price range for this app.  You can’t blame the developer though, it’s not often you get to walk on stage at an Apple press event to announce your new app…I might over price my app by a few bucks too.

The app allows you to record and lay multiple tracks down which is kind of cool.  It also has a few pre-recorded songs.  The nice thing about the pre-recorded songs is that it highlights the guitar licks or piano keys as they are played so you can learn from the sound track how to play the song.  Since I am not too musically inclined I wish there were more sound samples to help teach me a few of the ropes.

Overall this is a fun app for the musical novice, it may be more useful for someone who actually knows and understands music.  Somewhat overpriced…I give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

iPhone and iPod touch: About backups

Original article found at Apple.com

A good read on syncing VS backing up on the iPhone / iPod touch.

Summary

iTunes can create backups of settings and certain other information on iPhone and iPod touch. You can use a backup to restore this information to your iPhone or iPod touch after a software restore or update, or to transfer the information to a different device. Backups can be deleted from iTunes using the steps below.

Products Affected

iPhone, iTunes 7 for Windows, iTunes 7 for Mac, iPod touch

The 3g iPhone may be cheaper than the current model.

If you have been waiting to get an iPhone, your patience may be about to pay off.  That is if you are not an AT&T customer and are willing to sign a 2 year commitment.  According to published rumors on the web AT&T may be subsidizing the cost of the soon to be released 3g iPhone by $200.00 with a signed contract to AT&T.

That’s a smart move for Apple and AT&T. I think it will keep a few more unlocked phones off the market and will bring a new wave of iPhone adopters to the fold.  With subsidized pricing an 8 gig iPhone would cost $199.00 and a 16 gig would be $249.00 in the U.S.  With those kinds of prices I think a few more people may be willing to live with AT&T for 2 years.

Along with cheaper prices some of the rumored new features of the iPhone are said to be 3G (of course), GPS, and some rumors are stating a slimmer package than the current.

I would not be surprised to see the phone released in 16 gb and 32 gb models only.  This can not be substantiated, but you can quote me in case I am right.  It makes good business sense, due to the cheap prices in memory and Uncle Steve wants you to have lots of room to store Apps, and movies, and music, and games, Oh my!  Apps, and music, and movies, and games, Oh my!
So if I am right quote me, my name is Kevin Morris @ www.iPhoneAppReview.com, and if I am wrong, Oh well!

3G iPhone photo and rumors

There are many rumors about the the 3G iPhone that are starting to hit the net.

First is the wide spread reported shortage of iPhones at Apple stores across the country.  Apple typically reduces inventory of a product in store before releasing a new updated version.

And now this…actual photos of a possible 3G iPhone in a new shiny black case.  Could this be the real thing or hoax?  Only time will tell.  For now the photo shows an all black plastic case that would help with the problems that the metal case causes interfering with the antenna in the current model and 8 gigs, at least on this prototype.

I would be surprised to see Apple carrying the 8 gig over to the 3G but they may need to in order to keep the entry price down.

Thanks to iPod Observer for the photo.

Car Charger for the iPhone

Griffin Technology announces their Power Jolt Car Charger for all iPods and iPhone.

Some things that make this charger unique are:

• Low profile.
• Detachable power cord.
• Amber and red ring light to show you the charge status.

You can order the charger directly from Amazon for $17.30, that’s more than $2 off the retail suggested price.

John C. Dvorak is my Hero

On a site like iPhoneAppReview you may not understand the title of this post.  But let me explain, in one short article John Dvorak can bring more attention to a product and him self than a thousand press releases.

a recent article as an example
He likes to beat the war drum and gets the Apple faithful worked up, scratch a little of the chrome on the shinny Apple logo.  I think it’s great, because I get his schtick.  He does not pick his topics based on personal beliefs but on what is going to get a rise out of the community that he is attacking.  The easiest targets are Apple fans, most Apple faithful read his articles or headlines and froth at the mouth.  They discuss the idiot John Dvorak, they email his articles they go to his web site, they view his web ads, they watch him on TV, they make him money so that next month he can do the same thing again.

Microsoft Office on the iPhone

Microsoft is said to be leveraging the skills it has learned from it’s Mac Business Unit to look at creating a mobile version of MS Office for the iPhone. Microsoft will leverage it’s expertise in Active Sync technologies to create business applications that are sure to appeal to the corporate units who are looking to bring the iPhone in house.

This looks to be shaping up as an explosion of applications and development as every company wants a piece of the iPhone marketplace. 10 million phones may be an easily attainable sales figure if this is picked up on the corporate level as it looks like it is shaping up to do. I predict by this time next year that Apple will be on level playing ground with Rim as far as phones in the marketplace. I believe the adoption will be swift, and snowball as corporations adopt, developers create compelling apps, and other corporations adopt so as not to be left behind.

iPhone 2.0 Screen shots

Boy Genius has posted numerous iPhone 2.0 screen shots on his web site. So, if you just can’t wait to see what Apple has in store for you, head on over to take a peak for yourself.

Early shots of the iPhone Appstore

According to iPodNN
Apple may have inadvertently revealed ongoing testing of the App Store for the iPhone and the iPod touch, a popular hacking site claims. One contributor notes that while experimenting recently with the v2.0 firmware, he inadvertently managed to enter the App Store, instead of receiving the normal “cannot connect” message. Found inside were two web applications, including the well-known iPhone version of Facebook; it is speculated that Apple is doing live testing of the Store, and using placeholders in advance of the first truly native applications. Also observed in the Store were a five-star ratings system, and a series of navigation buttons which mimic those of the current Wi-Fi Music Store.

Epocrates for the iPhone and iPod touch

One of the developers who were invited to the Apple town hall meeting to show off their wares have launched a iPhone friendly web site. Epocrates, they are best known for creating software for doctors to use as a resource on their jobs, but I like to have information available about any prescriptions I am given as well.

You can currently look up:

• Dosing
• Interactions and Adverse Reactions
• Safety/Monitoring
• Pharmacology
• Retail Pricing

The site looks great on the iPhone and will hopefully stay around after their native application is released in June.

Check out the site on your iPhone at
http://online.epocrates.com/public/mobile/iphone/