My Mobile Life

Okay, I should admit that I’m quite partial to a flight simulator game. Some of my favourite games on the computer have been flight simulators, so I couldn’t help but try this one out when a Canadian friend showed me this game for the iPhone.

Skies of Glory

The game is called Skies of Glory and the graphics on it are quite incredible. Just as good as what you’d expect from a high quality computer or console based game (though obviously shrunk down to fit on the iPhone screen).

Great graphics

Amazingly the game worked quite well on my 3G iphone, though the loading time was a little slow. It runs like a dream on the iPhone 4, loading quickly and allowing me to easily take screenshots while playing.

The initial free version of the game comes with a tutorial which gets you up and flying and a campaign that allows you to test your newfound flying skills. There are also plenty of dog fit missions to fly, though you’re limited to a single plane unless you opt to purchase one of the expansion packs.

Sortee Intro

I couldn’t resist purchasing an expansion pack that included a bunch of new planes and campaigns from the Battle of Britain and other European campaigns. This has kept me playing happily for hours (on the odd occasion when there wasn’t something better to do).

In the hangar

Campaigns include numerous sortees and progressing through them opens up new planes with various weapons. There’s other nice touches, like the ability to select your character picture and incremental saving during missions, which lets you jump back to the last saved point when you crash and burn.

Sortees in a campaign

If you do get bored of playing on your own there is a multiplayer option. I’ve just had a crack at joining my first multiplayer game and the Quickmatch option seems to work well. Within seconds of joining a game, I was dogfighting with other couch surfers online. What a blast! I think I’m going to sign off and go shoot down some more planes! See ya!

Yesterday I was finally rewarded for my patience in waiting to upgrade my phone when my new iPhone 4 arrived by post. I ordered it the day the phones hit the shelves here in Australia and ended up switching carriers (from Vodafone to Three) in order to be able to get my order in that day.

After getting quite frustrated with the 3G iPhone, due to it’s sluggishness following installation of OS 4 for the iPhone, I was half expecting to be at least somewhat disappointed by the new phone. But, I’m happy to say those fears have proven to be unfounded.

The biggest difference I was looking for was a speed increase over the 3G version and that’s the first thing I noticed. I wondered initially if this was because I didn’t have any apps installed, but even after installing all the apps I wanted and loading the phone up with my photos, music, videos and data it’s still no slower than it was when new. It feels like the new phone finally has the performance to live up to the potential created by all of the apps that have been created for it.

Some of the things I’ve tested so far on the phone and the things that I noticed about them in no particular order are:

1.) Contacts – heaps faster than they used to be (thank heck for that – it used to be almost unusable)

2.) Video – works great and there doesn’t appear to be any random limit to the amount of video you can record, it just depends how much space you have

3.) Camera – it’s cool to be able to switch between the camera on the front and the back. You really notice a difference between pics taken from the front of the phone and those taken from the back though, due to the difference in lenses. Images tend to be a bit grainy taken from the front camera.

4.) Voice recognition – I’ve been playing with this in the Google Mobile app and as is to be expected it’s not super accurate (when trying to recognise what you say). For example I tried to search for the terms “Unique France” (a client of mine) today and it took three attempts before the phone got it right. Though I do have a cold…

5.) Multi-tasking – this is an interesting one. Where clicking the home/menu button used to exit your apps, now it doesn’t. I found this out when using Tom Tom today while driving. At a certain point I wanted to stop using the app so I just hit the Home button and I started browsing the web, but lo and behold, Tom Tom stayed in the background and kept giving me directions. Interesting… Potentially very useful, but also annoying if you actually are trying to quit the app.

6.) Battery life – is significantly improved. This was something Apple had to get right with this phone and it appears they have. I’ve been using my phone as often as I could for a day and only used about 40% of the battery life.

7.) Screen – the new Retina display really is something. Super clean and crisp and makes looking at just about anything on the phone a joy.

Another funny thing I’ve noticed, the shape of the phone, which is now considerably more square than the previous models, means that you can’t tell as easily which way the phone is sitting in your hand (without looking at it). This isn’t a big deal though and I can see the design reasons for it as it permits more room for components in the phone.

In summary, I have to say that this is one of the best upgrades I’ve made. The phone has totally lived up to expectations and is definitely worth looking at if you’re planning to upgrade from a 3G/3Gs version of the phone or any phone for that matter.

Wow, so it’s been two months since I last posted. I feel a bit slack really, but I think the long silence is no small part a reflection of my frustration with my iPhone. It’s amazingly how quickly we get used to having the ability to do so much more with the phone and then start wondering when a better device is coming along. Certainly this has been the case with me as my 3G iPhone now seems slow and often brings me to a point of great frustration. A classic example is when it won’t let me answer a call because the slider keeps jumping back to the left. Apparently there is a solution to this, click the menu button or the Screen on/off button on the top of the phone, and then you can answer calls again. Though that doesn’t make it less annoying really!

While I had been thinking about upgrading to the 3GS version of the iPhone which no doubt would be a step up from the old model, I’ve also been aware that there was a new version of the iPhone in the wings. For a while now Apple has been advertising it on TV in Australia and the general consensus was that it would be released  June/July this year so it seemed worth waiting for..

As luck would have it this week the next generation of the iPhone was announced. iPhone 4.0 features a new squarish case and a host of features such as video calling through cameras on the front and back. The phone also sports a new high resolution display (called Retina) and this looks like it will be improve the already impressive viewing platform. The fact that the case shape has changed probably means that those of us who have bought cradles which fit the current generation of iPhone will have to go out and upgrade them (Thanks Apple), but this is made up for by the fact that the phone is a good 24% thinner than the previous model.

Certainly the video calling could be cool, I’m guessing the person you’re calling would also have to have a 4th generation iPhone for that to work though. The other question is whether broadband speeds here will be up to scratch for that sort of application. I’m guessing it shouldn’t be too big a problem with the improvements in 3G speed that we’ve seen over the last couple of years.

Probably one of the best features in the new phone is the introduction of a true multi-tasking Operating System which will allow multiple apps to run on the device at once (in the same way that your computer runs multiple programs now).

The faster process in the phone (the A4 processor which is in the iPad) means that you should notice a considerable speed improvement over the 3Gs phone, which will be a relief to any of you who like me have found yourself yelling at your phone while in traffic waiting for the phone to boot up your mapping or GPS app.

If you’re interested in reading a first hand account of the new phone check out this blog post, otherwise you may just have to wait till you can get your mits on one, which hopefully should be towards the end of this month or early next month (given that we don’t generally see stuff until after it’s released in the US).

The other day Apple gave developers and selected members of the public a preview of the new iPhone Operating System (OS 4.0). The OS is now available in beta to developers registered the in Apple Developer program and will be released in the Northern summer (between June and August).

The OS will provide a number of cool new features and enhancements including:

• Unified mail – being able to see mail from all your email addresses in the one Inbox (just like you can in Apple Mail)
• Multi-tasking – the ability to run more than one app at once, while the iPhone already does this with some apps (i.e. you can play music through the iPod app while using another app like Cyclemeter), it will now be available for developers to use (albeit on a limited basis).
• Folders – The ability to group apps in folders (which will no doubt make organising your home screens a bit easier)

While there hasn’t been as much coverage of this as I thought there would’ve been, there are a few good write ups on the new OS which a bit more detail on what’s in OS 4.0. In particular check out this writeup on the MacTalk site. The Tuaw blog also has a screenshot from the new OS for those who want to see something visual.

Yesterday I noticed that the Apple iPad is now available for pre-order on the US Apple website http://www.apple.com/ipad/pre-order/

This is pretty exciting news for me and many other Apple consumers out there. While the device had been expected to hit the shelves in March there was considerable coverage (see this example) of the fact that the launch would be delayed due to a supply problem. While this has turned out to be the case it looks like it’s all systems go now with an April 4th launch date being advertised on the US Apple website (something that is rather unusual for Apple who don’t normally specify a launch date).

I had a check today to see if it’s the same deal here in Australia, but nay, the Australian Apple website says simply that the iPad will be available late April. So it looks like we will have to wait a little longer to get our grubby mits on the iPad. Then again maybe you can order it through a US forwarding service like Bongo US!

In other iPad related news, I came across this article today which reports a massive increase in the number of applications being developed on the iPhone SDK (which also now works for the iPad) since the announcement of the iPad in late Jan. What this means for you and I is that once the iPad does become available there should already be plenty of interesting applications on it. Bring it on!

Well, today I’m reviewing the Hybrid Woven Hard case which was sent to me by the guys at CaseOn. After seeing the pictures of the product on the website, I was pretty excited about this case as it looks mighty swish online. In real life though I have to say I’ve been somewhat disappointed with it.

Firstly, the case is a bit too big for my liking. Those of you who have read my blog will probably know I’m not really a fan of iPhone cases generally (I love the look of the phone on it’s own), so a case is going to have to be pretty special for me to want to cover my phone with it. I mean, a phone is something you carry with you everywhere, and you really want it to be as small as possible, so it lost a few points there. The quality of the manufacturing also leaves somewhat to be desired I’m afraid, as there already appears to be little rips on the inside seam.

On the plus side, the case is quite light, though this isn’t that surprising considering it apperars to be made from a substance that seems closely related to paper (hey, maybe it’s recycled paper and I should be giving it points for that – though I didn’t see that on the packaging).

The phone also fits very snuggly inside the case, which is good, cause you’d hate to have your phone slip out and go to pieces. On the other hand, it’s not so good if it fits so snugly that you can’t get it out (which has just happened to me with this case). It’s a balancing act, I’ll grant you.

If you are contemplating this case and you’re happy to ignore the rest of my review (and buy one), you will be faced with a choice of colours. In the unlikely event that you would like my opinion in that case, I’d suggest you go with the white or the silver, as the Navy case looks nothing like it does on the website. I had gone with the navy thinking that it might be good, being the closest colour to that of the phone, but to be honest, it sucks. Maybe try silver, then again…

I have been wanting to get my hands on the TomTom car kit ever since I purchased the TomTom app for the iPhone, several months ago. While in Melbourne last December driving in the CBD I was bitterly disappointed with the performance of the TomTom app (as buildings obscure the GPS signal). So I spent a couple of hours looking for a store that sold the TomTom car kit but there seemed to be a shortage of the units here in Australia.

Recently however the apple store began selling the kit, so I jumped online and purchased one for $159AUD. The product ships within 24 hours (for free) from the Apple store when in stock, so I had no qualms about ordering it thorough Apple.

As luck would have it this weekend has provided a perfect opportunity to test the new kit as my partner and I were attending a wedding on the south coast of NSW. We flew to Melbourne and made the trip in a rental car taking the scenic route through the countr, which we meant we had a good 1000 kms over which to test the device.

One of the reasons I purchased the kit was that I have been looking for a solution that would allow me to make phone calls while driving. I thought about buyng the Apple headphones with Mic/remote ($39AUD), or even the Apple in-ear headphones with mic/ remote ($119AUD). After testing a set of these for a week or so, I decided against using Headphones as the cord got in the way while driving.

I ended up deciding that the TomTom car kit which comes with a built in speaker and mic that enchances the audio for the phone would be the preferable solutions. After testing I have found that the sound is improved by the speaker in the car kit, particularly the voice instructions from the TomTom iPhone app. The speaker is small but is reasonable even when playing music and does enhances in-call conversation though unfortunately I have found that at times the audio is still too quiet to have a conversation with someone else who is also on a mobile while driving. Calls to landlines are better though and I’m told the clarity on the other end is quite good.

The GPS performance seems to be slightly improved by the built in chip, but my 3G iPhone is still slow when analysing and plotting a route (particularly over a long distance). The fact that the phone has no built in compass is also not helped by the in car kit and this is noticeable when turning corners and at low speed.

Probably the best thing about the in car kit is that it comes with a cable for charging the phone via the cigarette lighter. This is a significant benefit as it means that you can use TomTom on a longer trip, without worrying that your phone will run out of battery. Generally the phone seems to use quite a bit of battery when using the GPS chip, so don’t expect your phone to fully charge even if it is plugged into power on a long trip, but the charge you do get is a great deal better than nothing.

Another place the car kit scores points is on the quality of the phone holder. The attachment has a suction point which fits firmly to the windscreen or dash and a hinge mechanism allows you to adjust the angle of the phone once on the holder. This setup means that the kit should work well in most car configurations.

In thinking about how I would rate the car kit overall, I would probably say it gets a 3.5 out of 5 stars. On the one hand I have been slightly disappointed by the fact that I still can’t have a decent mobile phone conversation using it while driving and that the GPS performance is still a bit crap, but on the other I am impressed with the build quality of the unit and I love being able to charge my phone while driving. Depending on how fussy you are as a consumer, you may not want to spend $160 on the car kit when you get a perfectly reasonable in car holder for your phone for $20, however if you want the whole box and dice then by all means lash out on the TomTom car kit.

It’s well known that the iPhone battery life leaves somewhat to be desired and while I have heard that Apple have done a bit better with the 3GS, with the amount of usage a typical iPhone gets, it will always be at a premium. Yes, there are some things that you can do to improve the battery life on your iPhone (like turning off Wireless and Bluetooth when not in use), but generally there’s no substitute for having a charger with you all the time.

Of course a charger is only useful if you have a wall socket to plug it into, and for those of us who travel a fair bit, sometimes it’s hard to find enough places to charge your phone. This is an issue for those who spend a great deal of time in remote areas, or on outdoor adventures (bush walking, camping, dive trips) as well.

Once again, I’m happy to report that Proporta.com have come to the rescue with the USB Turbocharger 3400. I’ve been playing with this gizmo for a couple of weeks now and it’s pretty cool. Essentially it’s an battery pack, shaped like a very small external hard drive which comes with several different connection pieces that allow you to charge, not only your iPhone but most modern cameras, iPods, and other USB powered devices.

The first thing I noticed when unpacking the battery was that it’s extremely light. The pack that it comes in includes a small bag which keeps the battery and the various connectors all together when traveling.

The charger itself is equipped with a standard USB port for charging itself (this is done by connecting the device to your computer directly and generally takes 3-4 hours) and a mini USB port which acts as the outlet charge port. A bank of Leds on the device allow you to see the current level of the battery and also to see the progress of the charging process.

The kit comes with a retractable cable and a range of interchangeable connector heads including 1 x DS Lite, 1 x iPod, 1 x Nokia, 1 x Sony Ericsson, 1 x Micro USB and 1 x Mini USB. A PSP connector is also available from Proporta on request.

Other reviews of this device that I’ve read have reported that 7-8 charges are possible from a single charge of the mobile battery, but I guess this will very somewhat depending on the size of the battery in the device that you are charging. With my iPhone I have found I can get 3-4 charges out of a single  charge of the main (mobile) battery which would typically keep me going for 7-10 days, more than enough for most trips on the road.

In the end I have to say that this little gadget is extremely handy to have on hand for those trips where you may not have the luxury of plugging your phone into a power point every couple of days, but where you still need your phone or other device to remain charged and at approximately AUS$50 (excluding delivery) it’s quite conveniently priced.

Some time ago, around the time that I purchased my iPhone 3G in August 2008 I made the decision not to jail break my iPhone. For one, I think the term “jail break” scared me off. “No, I haven’t been to jail and I don’t need to break out. Neither does my iPhone” was roughly what went through my head.

In all seriousness though, while there are a number of apps that you can’t get through the app store (and which may tempt one to crack their iPhone), for me at least there seemed to be enough apps on the iTunes app store and I wasn’t going to push my luck by cracking it and risking loss of warranty and god knows what else. That and the fact that it took a bit of stuffing around (and technical know how) was quite enough to put me off.

Well, today I’m kinda glad I made that decision after seeing this article which reports that some crackers have had their Apple accounts disabled after jail breaking their iPhones. Okay, they were probably more active than most users/crackers who simply wanted to get another app or two onto their phone, but nonetheless, it is enough to make you worried if you have (cracked your phone). Yes, I’d imagine that you can just go and sign up for another Apple account if yours gets disabled, but it would be annoying.

Has this happened to any of you out there and were you able to get another Apple account. If so let us know.

Well, after months (years even) of putting off getting a case for my iPhone I have finally given in to reason and started using one. I’ve always liked the look of the phone on it’s own and argued that’s it’s solid enough to take a few knocks. And mine certainly has, in fact there’s a crack on the back which is now measured in inches rather than millimeters, so it seemed prudent to protect this valuable little device.

What is more, Proporta were nice enough to send me their anti-microbial silicone case to review and thus I wasted no time in slapping it on my little baby when it arrived.

The first thing I can say is it slides on easily. It’s not a super tight fit, but it is tight enough to do the job and this makes it a hassle free case to put on.The silicone has a nice texture as well, which is one of the other things I’d been concerned about when thinking about putting a case on the phone. I didn’t want to put some cheap plasticky looking thing on there and hide this gorgeous device that Apple spent so much time designing. What is more the case has holes in all the right places, meaning that you still have full access to the camera, re-charge port, ear-phone plug, etc… It’s even got a couple of extra holes at the back near the battery which I can only assume are there to dissipate heat and allow the phone to stay cool. Or maybe it makes it go faster. Who knows!

The silicone case itself only protects the back and sides of the phone, which still leaves the glass to worry about. So it’s just as well Proporta have included a glass protector as well. It’s just a slim piece of plastic that sticks to the glass and provides scratch protection and would probably prevent the thing shattering into a thousand pieces if you did manage to drop it on the wrong side. Getting it on to the phone sans air bubbles is harder then licking your own elbow, but hey it’s worth the effort.

Okay, so the case does what you’d expect, it protects the phone. What else is new? Ah, well did I mention the case is Anti-Microbial. “WTF? Why would I need that…” I hear you thinking. I’ll let Proporta explain:

“It’s an alarming, but not entirely surprising fact that the filthiest things we encounter on a regular basis are computer keyboards and our mobile phones. In fact, the average mobile has 25,127 germs per square inch, whilst the average toilet seat has just 49. So to help protect against any possible nasties you could pick up from your iPhone 3G, Proporta has developed the Antimicrobial Silicone Case with SteriTouch (Apple iPhone 3G).”

Think about that the next time you decide to clean your screen with your tongue.

So for all you clean freaks out there (yes, Nanda I’m thinking of u) this is the case for you. Well, if you have an iPhone 3G that is.