iPhone – a camera with a phone or a phone…

I have covered a lot of accessories here for the iPhone to enhance it’s camera using experiences. There is no doubting that having cell phones in our pockets with better quality camera and photo editing software always available… people are taking a lot more pictures.

There isn’t the overhead of buying film and the waiting to see if the one chance at a sunset was missed… weeks later when the film is developed. We love instant gratification and we are getting it. If the image isn’t just perfect, we now carry a darkroom in our pockets to tune up those images too.

Things have gotten so good that there are many apps and social networks for photo sharing around the area of making your photos look like they were taken with a low quality or at least a camera from yesteryear.

I had mentioned previously the many folks making cases for the iPhone to make the phone look like a camera. This week I happened upon a new project that tries to split the fine line between phone and camera.

Called ‘Red Pop’, it’s a device you snap onto your iPhone connector to give you a camera like grip. The Aluminum body (wrapped in anti-slip plastic) is complete with a big Red Button on the top to push like you would a regular camera. The connector for the iPhone is hidden inside of the handle when not in use, then a twist of the Red Pop exposes it to snap onto the iPhone. Photos snapped using the Red Pop button are saved to the iPhone’s Photo Library like normal. www.red-pop.com

The question is, outside of the fun/coolness of it, would you carry and use the Red Pop?

For me, I love the concept and would enjoy using it… during a time when all I’m doing is snapping pictures. For day to day use, the strength of having a camera on my iPhone is that I con’t have to carry another device around. If I have to carry two devices, I would carry my 14 Megapixel camera to compliment my iPhone when ‘high resolution’ is really needed.

The final straw for me to be leaning towards passing is Steve mentioning last week that in iOS5, the volume buttons will now be allowed to be used to snap images. Now, a Red Pop in my life would be more of a conversation piece and something cool to have on my office shelf. Actually use it? Would like to but wouldn’t just from the stand point of having to carry one more larger around device in my pocket. Just my two cents of course…

F1 on the iPhone updated in time for Canadian GP Race

While the update isn’t a major update of features, the free ESPNF1 app received a speed increase update today. Just in time for the Canadian event.

I use the app when I can’t be by the TV for an event or on Qualifying Saturdays when I’m out and about. The ESPNF1 app does actually give regular updates, but they are hidden a bit. A few folks I work with mentioned it so I thought we may want to take a minute to drive down to where they are.

The opening screen for ESPNF1 shows if an event is live (Practice, Qualifying and Race). During an event is shows the lap standing and number of laps completed over total.

From this opening page, you can choose across the bottom to view ‘News’ articles, the event Calendar, Season Standings… and ‘more’ (videos and settings). The ESPNF1 app’s ‘News’ is full articles and not race tidbits.

Choose ‘Calendar’ to see the list of events. Notice that today’s event is marked live. Choosing the ‘Live’ event opens up a whole world of real time event updates!

Inside of the Event area for that race is where you find the order the cars are currently running (Live button) as we the ‘Commentary’ area is lap by lap highlights. Neither of these require hitting the refresh button as ESPNF1 updates per lap on it’s own. These features work even if the event isn’t being shown on TV by ESPN. There is no additional charge for these updates!

If your not familiar with the track or need to know a spot being mentioned, just to the ‘Circuit’ option at the bottom. ESPNF1 gives you data on the track layout, history and other vital info on the event.

iTunes on the iPhone updated with re-download and all purchases

Things are starting to really shape up with the new iTunes solutions.

My wife and I are on the same account, but purchase music that we each want to listen to via our MacBooks or iPhones. Through iTunes, there is no way to download the whole purchase on both machines and finding the right song file to move to the other computer can be a challenge. Especially if there are similar songs on different albums. This really gets to be fun if either of us purchase on our iPhone. We then need to sync to get the song on the notebook, find the file to move to the other notebook and then sync the other iPhone.

As promised by Steve yesterday, the new iTunes gets rid of all of those layers and steps.

Launching the iTunes app on the iPhone this morning, I found the ‘Purchased’ option like in the App Store app last night. Choosing this presents a new page with two tabs to choose from. ‘All’ is for all of the songs I have on my iPhone. Tapping any of these results in a page to see the album or drill down further to the song level (sortable by ‘Most Recent’ and ‘Song Name’. Tap a cloud to re-download a song I had once installed again. There is a ‘installed’ box next to the items you currently have loaded on your iPhone.

As with the App Store change, “Not On This iPhone” gives a list of songs that anyone on the iTunes account owns but I never installed. They are divided down into groups rather than presenting an endless list of songs.

Tapping any of the options gives you a screen of the songs in that group. Tap the ‘cloud’ icon to download the individual songs you want to carry with you. I was concerned when Steve mentioned all of the songs could be shared between devices… I don’t want ‘all’ of the songs my wife has purchased. Being able to just choose the ones I want is very nice.

The Updated App Store on the iPhone

As you most likely have heard, Apple is moving everything off to the ‘cloud’. You wont have a single desktop that your trying to sync everything through, instead they will manage your files for you and keep all of your devices in sync. This is music, apps and documents too. I have already gotten the email about my MobileMe acct going to a iCloud acct later this year. As things hit, I’ll cover the experience.

First out appears to the rethink on the ‘App Store’ on the iPhone (no difference yet on my iPad). When you get an alert that you need to update an app, the first window has the usual download each or all options. As well, there is now a’Purchased’ option at the top.

Downloading apps is the same as it was previously. Watch for a new feature in the near future where you only have to download the updated part of apps instead of the current method of downloading the whole application with each update. Happy days for apps like Navigonn that is over a gig in size!!

The first tab is ‘All’. Which presents you with a list of all of the apps you currently have installed on your iPhone. And, it shows apps you have installed on your other iOS devices that you could download/install with a click of their ‘cloud’ icon.

The next tab option is “Not On This iPhone”. This is all those apps that you bought and do not have currently loaded on your iPhone. Sweeping through it is so much easier than the list on the desktop iTunes, which only works when you have your iPhone connected for sync.

On the list of updates today was ‘Magic Hour‘, which now supports High Resolution photo outputs. Custom crop and flip is new too… more iPhone photo tuning.

Continue reading “The Updated App Store on the iPhone”

iWork apps on the iPhone – Apple makes Numbers, Keynote and Pages Universal

I am a big time iWork users on my MacBook and my iPad so hearing that Apple has make the iWork apps into Universal apps is GREAT news for my daily work. Now I can swap the files between all of my machines to touch up, edit and even create new.

That isn’t to say I don’t use other apps on my iPhone for putting together presentations and spreadsheets. I’m excited about the ability to move files around in a single standard that is shared on all devices I use every day (and have with me all the time).

Since this update is to make the apps Universal, if you already own any of the parts that make up the iWork group, those same apps will install to your iPhone without additional charge.

Searching for the apps in the iTunes store on the iPhone, they don’t come up as available yet. To get them loaded, I had to follow a link on a Web site through my iPhone. Since I owned them for my iPad, just entering my password resulted in downloads without additional purchase.

Numbers: “Numbers lets you make compelling spreadsheets in minutes — with tables, charts, photos, and graphics — using just your fingers. Choose from 250 easy-to-use functions. Enter and edit data with an intelligent keyboard. Create impressive tables and charts, then move them around the flexible canvas. Spreadsheets look great on iPad, and they’re stunningly sharp on the high-resolution Retina display on iPhone 4 and the latest iPod touch.”

Pages: “Pages lets you create, edit, and view documents wherever you are. Every page looks stunning and clear on iPad — and also on iPhone 4 and the latest iPod touch, thanks to the high-resolution Retina display. Pages uses Smart Zoom to automatically zoom in on text while you type and zooms back out when you’re done, so it’s easy to write and edit on iPhone and iPod touch.”

Keynote: “Keynote makes creating a world-class presentation — complete with animated charts and transitions — as simple as touching and tapping. Use full-screen view to present right on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. If you’re presenting to a large audience, connect your device to a projector or HDTV and preview your slides and notes using the presenter display.”