Communication
WhatsApp Messenger for iPhone
92 years ago
I’ve been trying to find the perfect push notification iPhone-2-iPhone messaging solution. An app that falls between instant messaging and SMS, without the cost of SMS. The two top ones on the App Store are Ping! and WhatsApp. I reviewed Ping! recently, but I just had to try out WhatsApp to see how it compared.
WhatsApp differs from Ping! in that it uses your phone number and your contact list rather than a PIN/username, so there’s no signing up or having to pass a username onto friends – and no need to add new contacts – your whole iPhone contact list is available within the app. If you have friends with an iPhone then all they need to do is download WhatsApp [iTunes link] which is currently absolutely free, then when you open the app you’ll see which of your contacts already have the app installed by looking through the Favourites list. You also have the option to send an invite to your other friends so they can download the app and interact with you.
The advantage WhatsApp has over Ping!, for me, is the timestamps are correct. You’d have to take a guess when a contact had sent you a Ping! message as the timestamps would read whatever they wanted at any given time. The UI in WhatsApp is also far more attractive than Ping! – and the icon is a lot prettier. That matters. On sending a message you get a little notification tone, much like in the default SMS app on the iPhone. You can also see when one of your contacts is online and composing a reply – ‘typing’ will be displayed under their name at the top of the messaging window.
In WhatsApp you can set a status from the ones given as default such as Available, Sleeping, Busy, In a Meeting and many more, or you can create your own such as ‘iPhone docked and charging’ – a status which indicates that I am unable to reply right away…and something I find myself using a lot! In the settings you can switch status notifications on so that you will get an instant push notification when one of your contacts changes their WhatsApp status.
I can see many people using Ping! alongside WhatsApp. Ping! is the better alternative for chatting to online friends who perhaps you don’t feel comfortable about giving your phone number to, but WhatsApp is probably more suited to those that you do know and trust enough to share your vCard with.
WhatsApp is currently free so there’s no excuse for you and your iPhone friends not to check this one out.
[rating:5/5]
The best just got better!
52 years ago
Tweetie 2 (iTunes) was released to the App Store last night, shortly after developer Loren Brichter announced to the masses on Twitter that it had been approved. The buzz about it on Twitter felt very similar to that which accompanies the release of a brand new Apple product. It was THAT good.
After I wrote a little about Tweetie 2 a couple of weeks ago, I read some pre-release reviews which confirmed that there were no themes in Tweetie 2, just the one simple theme. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to feel about that as Chat Bubbles has been my theme of choice since day one. I didn’t like the thought of having that taken away from me. But, the list of features kept my interest fully there, so I wasn’t going to pass judgement until I had the app infront of me.
Let’s just say I’m now thinking “Chat Bubbles? What Chat Bubbles?”. The simple clean white theme is gorgeous. Simplicity and absolute elegance. The screengrabs of the theme don’t do it justice. See it on your iPhone and you’ll feel the love. I have barely put my iPhone down since I bought Tweetie 2 last night. There’s features I haven’t touched yet – still so much more to play with which is what I love in an iPhone app. Having everything there and fully functional, but still managing to find something even more cool on closer inspection.
My favourite bits of Tweetie 2 so far are the “pull down to refresh” feature which gives that satisfying little pop sound when it’s done, threaded conversations and the little blue neon markers underneath unread tweets, @’s and DM’s. The ‘nearby’ feature is also particularly beautiful. I’m also a huge fan of the new simple silver icon. I think, like the application behind it, it’s simple and elegent. It sits on the opposite side of the same row as my Camera app on my iPhone’s home screen – and looks right at home there.
Rather than do a full review of every feature, I am going to hand you over to the Cult Of Mac who have done a sterling job on that front. One more thing I will say, however, this is worth £1.79 ten times over. I seriously do mean that. I believe fully in supporting developers when they create beautiful applications like this which change the way I use my iPhone and Twitter on a daily basis. £1.79 just doesn’t even begin to cover my appreciation.
[rating:5/5]
Tweetie 2 – iTunes [£1.79/$2.99]
Ping!
32 years ago
Yesterday I downloaded a messaging application called Ping! from the app store, following a recommendation by a friend. Earlier in the day I had been looking at WhatsApp, but since I wasn’t too keen on sharing my phone number with online friends, I gave Ping! a whirl.
Above is a shot of a section of my iPhone home screen. As you can see, Ping! is there. My home screen is reserved for my favourite and most opened apps only. You can see where this review is going.
Ping! is an iPhone to iPhone messaging app, oh and the iPod touch. A cross between IM and SMS. Unlike the latter, it doesn’t incur any additional carrier charges. It works over wifi and 3G on the iPhone and wifi only on the iPod touch. A friend sent me a Ping! notification via GPRS yesterday. Worked a charm. Ping! works with push notifications so that messages can be delivered anywhere in the world, instantly.
The great thing about Ping! is you don’t have to share your phone number with anyone. Once you’ve downloaded the app you simply pick an ID (choose carefully, this can’t be changed currently) then tell your iPhone/iPod touch using friends about the app and once they install it you can send messages to eachother for free.
One of the refreshing things about this app is it’s unique notification tone. A lot of apps out there use the default text messaging sound which can cause confusion, but Ping! gives us a lovely “ping ping” sound which I have recorded especially for you to sample, here…
[fruit]KxilTDKwfWY[/fruit]
I’ve been messaging a few of my iPhone using friends over the past 24 hours and it’s a great way to keep in touch or just send a reminder to eachother. Nicky notified me via Ping! when the news about Tweetie 2 broke, since I wasn’t going to be at the computer, so as soon as I heard my Ping! I knew he was bringing good news.
I wouldn’t say the app was perfect just yet, but I expect future updates will change that. I had a couple of app crashes when deleting a typo and the timestamps aren’t reliable. But, all the time I was using it, the server status remained green and OK. There appears to be a character limit per message but at the moment I’m not entirely sure what that is. I sent a message more than around 200 characters to a friend last night but was told it got cut off at a certain point. I’ve e-mailed the Ping! developer to ask what the maximum character limit is and I’ll report back once I get a response. So, to be on the safe side don’t natter for too long, like me 
[UPDATE]
The character limit per message is 150. In the absence of a character counter within the app, you’ll have to rely on guesswork. I hope we can expect a character counter in a future update.
Overall I am absolutely and totally impressed with Ping! It’s currently free for a limited time only, so head over to the app store and grab it today.
[rating:4/5]
Manage Multiple Gmail accounts with Notify
42 years ago
For a year or two I have been using Gmail’s Notifier app on my Mac to keep a check on new mail. It sat in my menu bar and would give me a Growl notification when new mail was awaiting me. Now I’ve found another menu bar app that does the same thing, but oh so nicer.
Notify is a beautiful free app that sits in your menu bar and auto-checks your mail accounts as often every 1 minute or up to 15 minutes. Notify also has Growl Integration and will handle up to four Gmail accounts, unlike many others out there.
This has completely replaced Google’s official Gmail notifier for me. Elegant and beautiful, Notify feels right at home on the Mac.
o2 and Twitter Team-Up
52 years ago
o2 UK have teamed up with Twitter so that come August 1st, every o2 customer will be able to turn on text notifications in Twitter to receive replies and direct messages absolutely free. Text updates to Twitter will be part of your normal text message bundle or the cost of a normal text. You can read more on this new partnership, here.
That’s great news. I don’t think I will be taking advantage of it as I receive @reply and DM notification to my iPhone through Tweetie’s Prowl/Growl integration currently and have also purchased Boxcar – Twitter Push Notifications over the weekend to give that a go.
Will you be enabling the free notifications come August 1st?
Your iPhone On Your Mac
02 years ago
Some of you may remember my plea last year for a Mac app that would show a notification on screen when you’d missed a call to your iPhone while docked. Here’s a refresher.
Wouldn’t it be great…if there was a Mac app out there which would show a notification on your computer screen when you’d missed a call to your iPhone while it’s docked?
I was just thinking this today when having to leave my iPhone docked after it completely ran out of juice during the night. I haven’t been at the computer much today but have occasionally popped up to have a look at the iPhone screen to see whether I’d missed any calls. How convenient would it be to come up and see a Growl-style notification message on your Mac (that stays there until you close it) letting you know.
I would pay good money for that.
(comments on the entry)
Now there is an answer – BluePhoneElite 2 which is now iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS compatible. Here’s a table of what is supported…
It’s a shame that SMS Messages aren’t supported, but that’s down to a limitation by Apple and not the software developers. A review of BluePhoneElite 2 can be found at Smoking Apples. You can have a 2 week trial with the software then it’s $24.95 to buy.
So, iPhone users, is this something you’ll be using? I haven’t installed the software yet but wanted to pass on the exciting news for those who have been waiting for an app that does that!
The 9 Month Itch
162 years ago
It’s been 9 months since I bought my iPhone 3G on o2 and chose the £35 per month tariff which got me 600 inclusive minutes, 500 texts and unlimited data. As a fairly low user it came as no surprise that I wasn’t even touching the edges of this allowance each month.
With o2 in the UK, we can downgrade our tariff after 9 months. So, last week I called o2 and downgraded to the £30 per month tariff which gets me 75 inclusive minutes, 125 texts and unlimited data. As you can see there is quite a big leap in allowance between the two tariffs for the sake of £5, but it’s better off in my pocket than o2′s. I’m sure the £30 per month tariff will be more than enough, but it’s good to know that I can upgrade again at anytime if my usage increases especially since MMS uses 4 SMS messages. I think popping back up to the £35 per month tariff may come sooner than I anticipated
Which brings me neatly to the iPhone 3GS that was released today. AT&T in the USA and o2 in the UK released their pricing and eligibility for upgrade details shortly after the Apple event at WWDC last week. Unlike July 2008 when existing iPhone 1st gen customers could upgrade to the iPhone 3G by simply signing another new 18 month contract, customers must now wait until their current contract expires before being eligible for an upgrade, or they can pay up their existing contract and then sign a new contract for the iPhone 3GS.
As the features of the iPhone 3GS were being announced at the Apple event, the improved 3MP camera and video was something I was very pleased to hear. However, since my current contract doesn’t end until March 2010 then I don’t have the eligibility to upgrade right now. However, o2 have outlined ways of getting the new device, one of which would be to pay the remainder of your monthly line rental in one payment and sign a new Pay Monthly contract. Not an attractive option for me with 9 months left, but also signing a new 18 month contract means when the next new iPhone is released next June I wouldn’t be eligible for that one, which is bound to carry even more new great features than the 3GS, plus a new design I’m betting.
The other alternative is to buy the PAYG iPhone 3GS 16GB for £440, pop in my existing pay monthly SIM and then sell my 3G. That means I own the phone outright and my contract ends next March as usual, leaving me free to get the new iPhone in Summer 2010 (and sell the 3GS). This is a far more attractive offer and very many of my online friends have opted for this so they can have the latest and greatest device today. This is the route I would likely take, should I decide to get the 3GS.
Have you bought the new iPhone 3GS today? Are you going to buy yourself out of your contract? Wait until your 18 month contract has expired? Or like me are you considering the PAYG iPhone + your existing SIM?
o2 Activating MMS on iPhone
82 years ago
The much anticipated iPhone OS 3.0 landed this evening at approximately 6pm, British Summer Time. Everything went smoothly for me which I most definitely wasn’t anticipating, given that major releases usually cause the iTunes servers to collapse and curl up into the foetal position. However, I know the updating procedure didn’t go smoothly for everyone, with some reporting activation errors and a 2-3 hour wait before everything was complete.
Something else that I wasn’t expecting to be activated so quickly was MMS by o2. I received a text message, then an MMS message from o2 shortly after applying the 3.O software update letting me know that picture messaging was ready to use. I didn’t need to do anything to get that message, it came to me automatically. I know there has been some confusion over whether a persons iPhone is set up and ready to go with MMS, but you should receive this message when you’re good to go.
o2 tweeted this evening…
Huge backlog of requests for MMS. We are working as fast as we can to process the requests and everyone should be set up within a few hours (via @o2)
I’ve sent and received several MMS this evening and although I had initially thought it would be a feature I wouldn’t use much, now I’m not so sure. It is pretty convenient for sending photos quickly to people that you know haven’t got regular access to their e-mail accounts – or an e-mail account at all!
UPDATED
I’ve had a lot of people asking how I got MMS activated on my iPhone so quickly. To my knowledge I didn’t do anything. However, I know that I did activate Find My iPhone on my phone which may be purely coincidental (settings > mail, contacts, calendars > clicked on my MobileMe account > switched on Find My iPhone). Then I logged into me.com and clicked ‘Find My iPhone’ which located my phone. It wasn’t long after that when o2 sent me confirmation that MMS was activated.
Now, that may or may not play any part in activation, but worth a try if you still haven’t been set-up. I would recommend a call to o2 if you are still waiting for activation, just so they can investigate. There have been no further updates from o2 on twitter.
Another update: Twitter friend Sam received text from o2 stating…
“We know you’re waiting for MMS activation; you should be set up in a few hours”.
More of my twitter friends are reporting having received this message now. Hope everyone will be firing on all MMS cylinders by this evening 
Terminal Tip: Twitterrific
03 years ago
I love Twitter chatter, but sometimes there can be just too much noise, especially if there is an event being talked about heavily and people are using those annoying hashtags before the #word. If you couldn’t care less about hearing the chatter about these events, then you’ll be looking for a way of filtering them out – or considering closing your Twitter desktop client until the event is over!
My friend Nik posted a godsend last night, especially for the desktop Twitterrific users out there. It’s just one simple line to pop into Terminal (Applications > Terminal) to filter out certain tweets and hit enter. This is the line I’m using…
defaults write com.iconfactory.Twitterrific tweetTextFilter -string "(please RT|RT please|Facebook|Austin|[sS][xX][sS][wW]|#[sS][xX][sS][wW])"
From Nik’s blog;
The one above is one that I’m using on the desktop (apart from the SXSW mentions) and I’ve used it previously to hide annoying Twitter competitions and the like. To filter out tweets with other terms, simply manipulate the expression in brackets to your needs. You can enter URLs, hashtags and the like to you needs, but be sure to remember that for now, the terminal command will overwrite the existing expression instead of adding things to it so you’ll need to enter the entire thing once again. I remain hopeful that the Icon Factory will add a UI for this functionality (even if it’s just a basic ‘exclude’ list). There’s plenty more options to tinker with via the Terminal if you read the Twitterrific 3.2 Read Me included with the Twitterrific download.
I have a feeling that I will be updating terminal quite a bit. I considered filtering the hashtag altogether, but then that would probably make Twitterrific too quiet! Now, if only Tweetie had a built in filter…
Twimailer
43 years ago
A new service launched on the intertubes yesterday which is one of the most exciting twitter-related services I’ve seen in a long time.
If you’re left wanting more information about a new follower than what Twitter currently supplies in their basic ‘new follower’ notification e-mail then you might want to try Twimailer.
After registering your e-mail at Twimailer it will generate a random e-mail address for you which you just enter into your Twitter account settings as your default e-mail. Then it’s just a question of waiting for that all important new follower so you can see the beautified notification e-mail. It gives you as much information as you’ll need to know about this new follower, including their avatar, location, bio, their following/follower stats aswell as their latest 10 tweets. It’s is a great way to weed out the spammers without even having to leave your inbox. Twimailer is what the Twitter.com new follower e-mails should have looked like by default. Be sure to watch the video on their site for a full walkthrough.
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