While the Apple Smart Cover is a cool cover, there is no protection for the back of your iPad 2. Griffin Technology released their IntelliCase brand case that provides a smart cover and a protective back in one.
While the ringtones on the iPhone for the most part are pretty decent, I prefer to use theme songs from my youth or favorite movies on my devices so I was disappointed that custom ringtone support was not available. Ryan posted the news on Mobility Beat that an inexpensive application is now available that allows you to create custom ringtones. I immediately went over to the Efiko Software site to find out more about iPhoneRingToneMaker and went ahead and purchased it for US$9.95 (50% introductory special). I was a bit skeptical since it seemed just too easy to create a ringtone, but as you can see in the YouTube video below that I shot of the process it really is quite simple.
After spending a full two days with the iPhone while out and about, I had the chance to put it through a few more tests. I used the camera to take photos at a fund raiser car wash, text messaged back and forth with friends, showed it off to the public at Lowe's and Les Schwab, made several more calls, received and sent emails from 3 different accounts, surfed the internet, listened to and watched a couple of podcasts and episodes of The Office, made a couple of calendar appointments, checked the weather, and wrote some notes to test the keyboard out. As fellow ZDNet bloggers like Mitch Ratcliffe and Jason D. O'Grady stated the device is quite spectacular and fresh. I think my teenage daughter might have said it best when she said "It is just a lot of fun." And yes, it is a lot of fun and I think the user experience is a blast. It will be interesting to see what people really think of it though after the novelty wears off and they need to get something done.
I gave the iPhone an honest try and as I stated in a post late last week I returned my iPhone prior to the 14-day trial period. I found that the iPhone lacked features found in many of today's feature and high-end smartphones and thought I could just leave it all behind me and move on. However, the iPhone drew me back in hour-by-hour over the weekend and I just could no longer resist it so I just picked up a new iPhone at the Apple store a couple hours ago. Over the weekend I tried using a Nokia N95 tethered with a N800 and both are excellent devices in their own way and I actually found some new applications for the N95 that made me like it even more. However, the Apple iPhone is slick and so refreshing after using other Palm, embedded Linux, Windows Mobile, and Symbian devices over the last 10 years that I was pulled back to it. At this time, the iPhone isn't necessarily about features, but about smooth integration and a new user experience that appeals even to power users like me.
I saw a sign at the S60 Summit that listed S60 touch interface as an upcoming feature. I think the introduction of the iPhone really pushed manufacturers to speed up development of technology they had under wraps and today Nokia officially announced the S60 touch user interface would be coming in 2008. Rafe has a YouTube video of the presentation at the Symbian Smartphone Show over at All About Symbian that has me personally very excited about 2008. Imagine something like the iPhone, but with more functionality and an open architecture for virtually unlimited customization and expansion to your needs and desires.
The new iPad is expected to be launched alongside a 4-inch iPhone 5se and a new Apple Watch, according to 9to5 Mac's Mark Gurman.
You have all probably seen the news about the new MacBook Air announced this morning by Steve Jobs and now that the glitz and glamour of the keynote is wearing off people are diving into the details. One major issue, IMHO, that Adrian Kingsley-Hughes pointed out in his first thoughts was the lack of a removable battery. The problem with the USB solution is that the MacBook Air, actually all of the Apple notebooks, do not include any kind of media card reader so if you want to upload any photos/videos you have to take out your USB modem, connect a card reader, move the photos/video onto the hard drive, and then reconnect your USB modem to connect again.
Apple made several recent iPod and iPhone announcements and on MobileTechRoundup show #110 we start off with our thoughts on the iPhone price drop and Jobs US$100 store credit. We then talked a bit about my HTC Advantage review and whether or not I'll buy the device, the new HP iPAQ devices, thoughts on the iPod Touch and the impact of QVGA to VGA on a handheld. HP also added a 64GB SSD option to its Tablet and Kevin brings in a Palm freeware of the show. We close with a warning of the Quechup spamming social network site.
The Zune keeps getting knocked and many people are quoting some recent sales data to show how the Zune is already falling down. However, you need to look at other circumstances surrounding when that data was captured and also give an honest look at the Zune in direct comparison to the iPod to see which is the best device for you.
I purchased the least expensive calling plan on AT&T to use with my iPhone since I still have a T-Mobile contract with lots of minutes for most calls. It is a bit of a pain to manage those minutes though when I carry the iPhone around with me all the time so I was pleased to read the Macworld article that announced Skype can be used on the iPhone with IM+ for Skype from SHAPE services. IM+ for Skype is currently in public beta.