Posts tagged iPhone
Tweetbot for iPhone
41 year ago
Looking at the Social folder on my iPhone, it’s safe to say I’ve tried just about every twitter app going from Echofon, to Twitterrific, to Weet. Even though I was perfectly happy with Tweetie back in the day, I couldn’t resist downloading the newest additions to see how they compared and whether they could lure me. Nothing ever could.
When Tweetie was bought by Twitter, things changed and not just the icon. More recently the addition of the #dickbar showing the latest trending topics at the top of the timeline outraged users and Twitter eventually accepted defeat and removed it. I tried moving to other apps during the #dickbar debacle, but still couldn’t switch away from Twitter for iPhone. Twitterrific was the second nicest app and I’d have probably switched fully to it, but lack of ability to post mine/see others location and save drafts was a huge miss that I couldn’t live without in the end.
Shortly after midnight on Thursday 14th April, Tweetbot for iPhone appeared in the App Store, created by tapbots. I’d heard rumblings about them working on a twitter app for months and being an owner of the gorgeous Convertbot I was very excited knowing the attention to detail they pay to their creations. Tweetbot also, in this case, didn’t fail in that department.
This app is polished to the hilt, it’s gorgeous. The sounds, the gestures, everything. Within minutes, Twitter.app was banished to a folder that resides on my second screen, named ‘Social’. That’s where all the other Twitter apps sit, having been tried and tested but not quite making Home Screen grade. Tweebot then proudly taking up home screen status next to my other most loved and used apps.
You can see the full list of features at the Tweetbot site, aswell as view the demo video which is much encouraged as it helped me understand what gestures do what. For an even more indepth look at the app, head over to macstories, who have written a mammoth review.
All I will say in ending is that this app costs just £1.19 for a limited time – you can’t go wrong. If it lured me away from being a loyal Tweetie/Twitter for iPhone users after all these years then that’s testament to a really great app. And I even gifted the app to my friend who is celebrating his birthday today, confident that he would use the app after a longtime Osfoora user. I think it’s safe to say he will be 
Tweetbot for iPhone [iTunes App Store link]
[rating: 5/5]
iPhone is all good in the Hood
6I like unusual things that make people smile. One of those was the Apple Logo Lamp I bought last week. Today it’s a Hoodie…for my iPhone.
Flicking through a magazine article recently, I spotted an iPhone wearing a hoodie. It was just too cute to ignore. The website advertised as carrying the hoodies in the article didn’t actually have any available, so after a quick Google search I found Amazon had them for £8.95. It fits iPod Classic, iPod touch and iPhone. Not knowing the specific dimensions of the Classic and iPod touch I wasn’t sure how fitting this would be for iPhone 4 – but it’s absolutely perfect. The back of the box it came in also says it will fit many other kinds of MP3 players and phones.
This might not be the kind of cover I’d feel too comfortable about carrying my iPhone around in outside, but it sure does stop the smooth back of the iPhone sliding around on my bed. But hey, more importantly than that it just looks so cool, to heck with it being practical!
[rating: 5/5]
Simplenote for iPhone and iPad
11 year ago
For about 18 months now I’ve been using an app which I would be pretty lost without, it has to be said. There are times when I need to take a note of something, make a list or I’m lying in bed late at night and a great idea comes to me that I want to remember in the morning. That’s when I whip out my iPhone and open Simplenote.
Simplenote is very unique compared to the standard official Apple application, Notes, in that it syncs wirelessly between your iPhone, web app or any supported desktop app on your computer. No having to connect to iTunes to sync up notes taken in Notes.app. More than that, you can share notes between family and friends, restore backups of notes, apply tags, etc.
I’ve been using Simplenote in conjunction with JustNotes on both of my Macs, meaning I have my notes wherever I am and they sit neatly and quietly in my menubar, not asking for any space in my dock. There are several desktop applications which support Simplenote syncing, for Mac, Windows and aswell as extensions, scripts and plugins.
Simplenote for iPhone and iPad is free on the App Store [iTunes link]. You can also upgrade to a Simplenote Premium account which removes ads and gives you more added benefits including Dropbox sync, ability to edit notes in list view (iOS) and RSS feed. I’m currently subscribed as as Premium user, costing $19.99 per year.
[rating:5/5]
iDrops for your Mac
5I’m a creature of habit when it comes to the wallpaper I use on my iMac, MacBook Air and iPhone. If I can have them all matching up, the better and once I find a clean wallpaper I very infrequently switch away from it.
Several months ago I found a very clean wallpaper which was inspired by the iOS 4 default wallpaper, called iDrops. This is the wallpaper I keep coming back to on my iPhone in particular. The package includes:
- For 16:9 ( 1280×720, 1920×1080 )
- For 16:10 ( 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200 )
- For iPhone 2g,3g,3gs and iPod Touch 1g,2g,3g ( in two variations )
- For iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4
- For iPad
Here it is in all it’s glory on my MacBook Air and iPhone 4:
You can download the iDrops package from deviantART.
Angry Bird Plush Toys
2Earlier this year I downloaded Angry Birds for iPhone and promptly kissed goodbye to all my free time. It’s the most fun, addictive, infuriating and frustrating game I have ever played – yes, THAT good! Since Angry Birds Halloween was released last week I spent hours a day trying to total all the grinning pigs with the cute Angry Bird characters and realised they hold a special place in my heart!
I went in search of merchandise and to my delight noticed that plush toys were being made and reportedly coming soon. Then tonight one of my Twitter friends tweeted that the Angry Bird Plush Toys were available for pre-order at $14.99 each.
I wanted the blue bird originally, okay so I wanted them ALL, but it showed as Out of Stock so I settled on the yellow one. After numerous attempts at completing the transaction via PayPal I kept getting errors which weren’t very specific. I have funds in my bank account so there was no problem with that, but PayPal wasn’t playing ball and kept returning me to the merchant. My friend Stephen kindly offered to purchase it on my behalf and it looks like it’s been confirmed now that the order was a success.
I decided to go for the blue bird in the end, which on a second check was showing as In Stock. The Angry Bird Plush toys will start shipping in December. If you know anyone who has wasted hours, days, weeks or even months on Angry Birds then this is the perfect Christmas gift for them.
Uface for iPhone
21 year ago
Occasionally I like to let the App Store Genius recommend apps to me, based on my past purchases. Some recommendations are very hit and miss, but it can uncover some gems at times. I quite like apps that let you create yourself in cartoon form. These can be useful for using on forums as avatars, or using as Contacts pics on the iPhone.
A few nights ago Uface was recommended to me, based on my WeeMee app purchase. With one touch, Uface Unique Face Maker can make professional looking sketched faces. The interface is very nicely designed and easy to use, with 240 male/female character items, backgrounds, facial expressions and more. Here’s just a few I created of myself…
You can also see one of them that I created in action on my About page. Perfect for people who perhaps don’t want to upload their photo to social networking sites but want to create a profile pic that gives a rough idea of what they look like. You can upload your finished sketched mugshots to Twitter or Facebook, or alternatively save them to your iPhone photo album, assign to a contact or email them.
Uface is a great app – and an absolute steal at just 59p/$0.99 for a limited time only. Grab it on the App Store.
[rating:5/5]
Switching to o2 iPhone Simplicity
112 years ago
Today my 18 month iPhone 3G contract with o2 came to an end. For a few months I’ve heard some fellow o2-iPhone friends talk about moving to an iPhone Simplicity tariff with a 30-day rolling contract, leaving them free and single to sign a new contract when the newest and shiniest iPhone hits the streets, possibly in the summer.
So, looking to save myself £10 a month, I called o2 today and switched from iPhone 30 (£30 per month) which gave me 75 mins/125 texts, to iPhone Simplicity 20 (£20 per month) which gives you…
- 300 mins
- Unlimited texts
- Unlimited data and wifi
- Visual Voicemail
The phonecall to 2302 from my iPhone took just a few minutes. Shortly after making the switch I checked Visual Voicemail on my iPhone which was showing as ‘Currently Unavailable’. I assumed that this feature wasn’t available on iPhone Simplicity until a few friends confirmed that it was. 3G was also failing on my iPhone, so I called o2 again and spoke with a girl who really confused matters.
I was told to change the network settings on my iPhone so that I could get 3G and MMS. She also repeatedly insisted that Visual Voicemail does not come with the iPhone Simplicity tariffs. However, it appears she was confusing regular Simplicity with iPhone Simplicity, so there was no need to alter any settings on my phone. I can confirm that you DO get Visual Voicemail on iPhone Simplicity and there is no need to manually change any network settings. Simply reboot your iPhone once you’ve moved to iPhone Simplicity which will bring back 3G and all your current data settings will work correctly without any amendment.
Challenge your friends with Plus+ Games
62 years ago
One of the things I love about many of the iPhone apps out there is the way you can interact with others via online multi-player with Cocoto Kart, for example, or games that have Plus+ built in. Plus+ is a social play network for the iPhone and iPod touch, bringing you, your friends and the rest of the world together so you can all challenge eachother.
One of my recently bought games, Skee-Ball by Freeverse Inc., has Plus+ built-in. Skee-Ball is super addictive – a game I used to love playing at the funfair as a child. It’s totally relived in this fantastic game which is just 59p/99c on iTunes. With Plus+ being a feature of this app, I can see what score my friends have on Skee-Ball and compete against them, aswell as check out their Awards and what other Plus+ enabled games they are playing…
With another Plus+ enabled game, Charadium, not only can I once again challenge my friends in a similar way as Skee-Ball, but I can also play against them (and the entire world) as it’s a pictionary multi-player game. If I choose to play against my Plus+ friends only then I can create a room…
…where I can then invite my friends to join me for a game of Charadium…
Charadium is priced 59p in the App Store. Other games that have the Plus+ feature are Rolando 1 & 2, Worms, Topple 2 and many more.
Feel free to add me to your Plus+ friends list: purplelime
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]
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