Two Battery Cases For the iPhone

I am a big battery guy. The more battery life the better. But my iPhone 2G going on two years, the battery while still pretty good, isn't what it used to be. Well, I have no way of telling for sure and I've done a pretty good job taking are of it.

On the other hand, my mom used and abused her iPhone and now her battery life, by my estimate, is half what it was and started complaining about it.

So, I went ahead and ordered a couple of battery cases. It was not an easy decision since I've heard both good and bad things on just about every model out there. To make the story short, I decided on two models.

• Mili Battery Pack from Phone Suit.
• Fastmac iV from Fastmac.

My thinking at the time was that with two iPhones, it is more prudent to order two different battery cases in case one of them does not live up to my expectations. So, what do I think?

Only the Mili Battery Pack arrived. Today. I'm on my first charge and here are preliminary thoughts:

• Good design. Nice curves and fits the iPhone 3G nice and snug, as many reviews on the Web indicated. But oh, wait, you said. You've got an iPhone 2G. That's right. And bummer. While they advertised it works with the original iPhone, it didn't fit tightly as the iPhone 3G.
• I've been play around with it since about 3PM this afternoon, push notifications only, e-mailing, surfing the Web, and listening to music. I've depleted about 50% of the Mili battery pack.
• Need to really push the iPhone hard into the case so the pins are touching. Otherwise, the iPhone will tell you that the accessory wasn't made to be used with it.
• Yes, it is bulky. More than anything I've ever had. It's about the size of the old Gameboy. But holding something with the added weight certainly brings a different mobile experience. I kept it in my pants pocket and the iPhone with the battery pack never made me forget it was there.

As for the Fastmac iV, I'm still waiting for it to get here and with Veterans Day tomorrow, I don't expect it until Thursday or Friday. The iV is bigger but it has a larger battery but I don't want to get into it until I've had a couple of days with it.

If you're interested, google other reviews and see if the Mili or iV is for you. Again, I am always pushing for longer battery life. I don't think just because we go mobile, we have made compromises like rationing power usage.

A better review of the Mili Battery Pack is forthcoming. But I'm impressed with the change in attitude about battery life and how I've started using the iPhone more and more in just a few hours with the battery pack.

Mobile Help For Your Macbook: Disable Features To Save Battery Life And Increase Resolution

I can never get enough battery life.  I can never get enough resolution in my 15" Powerbook or 13" unibody Macbook.  and for my fellow mobile Apple readers, I'm sure you're in the same boat.  But these quests for the two Holy Grails of mobile computing marches on.

There are two applications that I think you'll consider using that can help you squeeze more out of your Macbooks in terms of battery life and screen resolution.  Both of these applications are free and come from Cynosurex.

The first one is Spotlight Manager .  I find Spotlight very useful but I almost use it exclusively to launch applications.  Nevertheless, it does run in the background and so it takes up resources.  Spotlight Manager allows the user to turn Spotlight on or off during one's day through mobile work.

I don't know what the resource savings from having Spotlight off will translate into extra minutes from the battery but every minute helps.

Also, you'll want to check out MagicMenu.  Having the menu bar at the top of the screen is helpful.  We use it a lot and Apple figure it needs to stay there for us to easily access.  But there are some instances where I like to have a full screen and I'm quite ap with shortcuts.  There is where MagicMenu comes in.

MM is an utility that allows the user to hide the menu bar give mobile warriors extra real estate.  What do we get back?  5%?  Not bad at all.  What's very cool about MagicMenu is the customizability - it allows the user to toggle the menu on or off depending on what application you want to use.  

I am sure mobile OS X users will find both applications very useful.  I think the developers for these applications should bundle them together into one app to make it easier for folks to use.  After all, this is OS X and we want Mac specific experiences.

Note:  Please read the instructions carefully.  For instance, you'll have to enable Spotlight again should you decide to rid yourself of Spotlight Manager or you might find yourself without Spotlight.

Another Note:  If you find the applications useful, support the developer.  While these are freeware and some of them are happy to help out the community, we can still show them appreciation for their work.  Send him a coupon for a beer or something.

More iPhone App Chats And Comic Books

On On Apple, I think I'll start spending more time talking about apps that I find useful.  There are any number of sites that already do that but I have to wonder if they spend a few hours on each app, write up a quick review, and move on to the next one.

I'm gonna start talking about actual experiences.  Free apps we can use and delete and move on if we don't like it.  With apps we buy, it's a bit more involved since it require us to make a purchase.  

For instance, I bought some comic books from Panelfly and Comics from the in app stores since I'm a big Marvel fan.  Two separate stores but I want to see how the experience is like.  I've read ebooks on my iPhone but never comic books in depth.

So, when I find time this weekend to read the comic books, I'll get into some more.

Stay tuned!

Cry Translation: There's An App For That

If there is an app that ought to have been rejected, it is this one.  Six-year research project by a Spanish team translate into an app called Cry Translator.  It is suppose to do what the title says.  It'll tell you what your precious little one means when he or she cries.

As you well know, babies can't talk.  So, they make noises.  Mostly, they cry when they're not sleeping.  It's what I noticed with my brother's new baby.  Essentially, the research time claims there are 5 universal cries.  They're either hungry, bored, stressed, sleepy, or in discomfort.

Will this work?  Well, it costs $40 but will be available for an introductory price of $10.  Boy, I am attempted to see if this works as claimed if Apple's refund procedure isn't so, well, you know.

Then again, there are a number of fart apps and this is at least trying to claim to be useful.  Anyway, drop me a note if you end up finding this app useful.

More at Baby Chums .

Internet News: Why No iPhone for Verizon and T-Mobile USA Should Get the iPhone in 2010

Verizon Wireless has said time and time again that the ball is in Apple court as to whether the iPhone will make it onto VW's network.  Well, if the Droid campaign is of any indication, the answer is that the VW customers will not see a CDMA or LTE iPhone for a long long time.

Well, Internet News has a very good down-the-middle post about why the iPhone will stay with ATT for a while and it's a must read. 

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg recently said that despite the Droid campaign (only some parts of it were good-natured fun against the iPhone), VW is ready to embrace Apple as a partner.  One thing everyone can agree on:  whether the Verizon gets the iPhone is entirely Apple's decision.

And IN mapped out clearly why that's not going to happen in the near future.  here are a few reasons why:

• Not until LTE network is completed or near completion.  That won't happen until 2013.
• Details on the deal between ATT and Apple remain obscured.  Some folks say 5 years.  Don't put any stock in that.  No one knows except Apple and ATT.  
• Apple has trashed CDMA and until VW provides a viable alternative, no go.
• Apple is looking at war and doesn't care about individual near-term battles or profits.  Recently analysis has it that Android will overtake the iPhone in the market.  While I don't dispute the conclusion, Apple would beg to differ.  It looks 5 or 10 years down the road.  Selling a few million CDMA iPhones doesn't fit into Apple's design and outlook philosophy.
• LTE seems to be the "it" network in the US but WiMax isn't going away either.  There are more WiMax networks in the world than LTE at this time.  Still, Apple can afford to take a wait-and-see attitude with respect to the iPhone on VW's LTE network.

Looks pessimistic for Verizon customers, right?  Yeah, it does.  Still, VW is spending billions to beef up its 4G network.  If VW can cut down the time it takes to create a national LTE network, Apple might be convinced to let Verizon be its next US partner.  

Having said all that, I'm going to bring up something which I'm alone in indicating in the past.  We're likely to see the iPhone with T-Mobile before we ever see it on VW.  And it's not like I woke up one day and realized it.  Okay, maybe it was just after my third cup of coffee but I was coherent when I put together my reasonings.

It was always about 3G and GSM and how Apple can easily make it happen..  But there's another reason for it now.  Google and Android 2.0.  With Droid, Google and Motorola has made Android an even more viable alternative than Palm and Sprint did with the Pre.  

Already, Android devices have invaded all of the four major wireless providers in the US while the iPhone sits on just one.  By bring aboard T-Mobile in early 2010, Apple can combat any momentum Android has built.  

Plus, any deal with T-Mobile would have been negotiated at least a year ago.  That fits the type of deals Apple created with other carriers in Canada and Britain where the iPhone is available with more than one carrier.  

So, no iPhone for VW but don't be surprise if T-Mobile starts selling even just the 3G and maybe the 3GS models in early 2010.  No announcements is likely to be made to protect the Holiday sales if there is such a deal.  

More at Internet News.

Note:  Keep in mind that Jobs has a long memory.  Legend has it that VW spurned Apple when it approach them about the iPhone.  Given how Apple's doing now with ATT and sales relying on international growth, Apple isn't in a hurry to make VW competitive against ATT.

Another note:  The stuff about T-Mobile is just my prediction and analysis.  Nothing more.  Not rumors and stuff.  All me.  

Prediction: Apple Will Approve Google's GPS Navigation App

There you have it.  Apple will approve Google's new navigation app and everyone in the mobile world will be better for it.

Today, Google sank the hearts and minds of the GPS navigation industry with its own free navigation software for its Android device and said it will have the same offering for iPhone users if Apple approves.

Initially, I was going to tease this post with a title about Apple maybe striking out Google.  First with the Latitude app and then the Google Voice app.  But I couldn't go there because Apple will approve Google's navigation app.

As you probably know by now, Apple and Google have started taking shots at each other publicly but since Android's debut, Chrome OS, and Apple's app rejections (though some would take Apple's line that it continue to study Google Voice), things does not appear to be rosy between the two.  Now, there are no e-mails or anything definite to say that even a cold war between Apple and Google has started.  But folks can connect the dots.

In this instance, I am not sure how Apple can say no to a mobile experience that enrich iPhone users and even make the GPS app market more competitive.  Google's offering will be free which may force other navigation app developers to lower their prices.  Sure, Apple is likely to lose out on some revenue should app developers cut prices but that's the nature of the market.  And it'll certain force developers to be more innovative and add features to their apps.

Now, it isn't without precedent that Apple has rejected app for reasons no one can understand.  However, remember Podcaster?  It was rejected because Apple said it duplicated a function on the iPhone.  Months later, it came out with its own podcast function in the iTunes app.

I bring up this point because a map service company this summer leading many to speculate that Apple was thinking of replacing Google's map app with its own.  But like of Apple's moves, you don't know what they're going to do until they do it.  Perhaps, Apple do intend to replace Google's offering with its own in the future.  But that's months if not a year or so from now.  Until then, Apple can ill-afford to alienate its users by denying them free services and apps.

And speaking of alienating, Apple, Google, and the whole wireless industry are currently under the watchful eye of the FCC.  During the latter part of the summer, Apple, Google, and ATT were summoned by the FCC to explain why the Google Voice app was rejected.  That matter does seem to have been cleared up yet.

So, Apple isn't going to give the FCC to open up another front into its business by rejecting Google's navigation app when there are plenty of other apps like it in the app store.

So, folks.  We will get Google's free navigation app.  It's a matter of when.  Meanwhile, I look forward to experiencing it when T-Mobile updates my G1 with Android 2.0 which includes the navigation function.

Here is a video of what Google has to offer iPhone users.  And yes, iPhone users.  We want this!



More at Appleinsider, Engadget, Techcrunch (vid of Droid in action)

Note:  Okay, we'll see the nav app from Google in the app store.  I'm wondering if just maybe we'll even see Latitude slip in there somehow.  But I could care less about Latitude since I don't use it at all.

iTablet Series - Awesome But All Conjectures

We'll get into it each day or week, however it makes sense, on what everyone's guess about the iTablet is and what it will be able to do.  But once we start smelling rumors, we'll leave it out.

The reason I want to get into it now is because I ordered myself a Nook, Barnes and Noble's first reader, and I'm trying to convince myself that I ought to wait for the iTablet.  The Nook is certainly an interest concept and I wouldn't mind trying it out before the iTablet is available for sale.  However,  a dry run would cost me close to $400.  That could at least be half the cost of an iTablet.

Quite expensive for a test run.  And canceling and waiting to see if I'll like it when the Nooks are in the stores will likely put me at the back of the line.  I remember I did that with Playstation 2 and I had to wait until February the following year to get my hands on one.  And then there was Wii that out of stock for like...ever.

So, back to iTablet.  It's going to be awesome.  Today, let's get into the print media and how Apple will save their collective butts.

Alright, honestly, I've got my doubts.  Apple is in this to sell iTablets.  If others can make money like the music industry and app developers, I'm sure Cupertino is happy for them.  And if print media like magazines, books, newspapers, and comic books help sell iTablets and manages to make money, Steve Jobs is cool with that as well (so long as Apple gets its cut).

So I read Gizmodo's post about the iTablet "restoring comic books to former glory".  Quite honestly, I think comic books did it to themselves and Apple isn't going to be able to save them much.  First of all, as a comic book collector, I like the action but I also wanted to learn more about the characters, their personal conflicts and demons, and using their brain muscle rather than just muscles.  But things moved away from that.  It was about boobs and bigger badder guns.  Both of which I am for there ought to be a balance.

So, I doubt Apple can restore comic books to its golden age but it can at least help comic writers and developers expand beyond their core audience.  The leading guess right now is that Longbox Digital Inc will play a big role in Apple's plan to make the iTablet the premier platform for digital comics.

Even now, Apple offers comics but in different formats.  One look in the app store and there are dozens if not hundreds of individual apps that exists as comics.  It was inevitable that was the format things were going to take place.  But what made things more interesting is Apple now allows in app purchases.

For iPhone and Touch users, instead of remember to go back to the app store to make the purchase of subsequent comic apps, readers can now simply buy the next chapter in the one app they bought.

Also, Apple offers in the video part of the iTunes store videos dressed up as comic books.  It's hardly the ideal format for hard-core comic readers.

So, we don't know how Apple will save the comic book industry or any other parts of the print industry but from what NY Times' Bill Keller revealed, Apple's iTablet is something the industry has to be ready for and embrace.  There is a video of Keller's presentation and mentioning of "Apple slate" whatever that means.

More at Gizmodo, Gawker