iPhone4idiots » iPad

iPhone4idiots App Review – WeeMee Avatar Creator

hirtme — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:03:26 +0000

WeeWorld’s WeeMee Avatar Creator, $0.99, is a simple yet robust app that quickly lets you create avatars. Once saved you can then easily add them to your profile in Twitter, Facebook or assign them to the contacts in your iPhone. There are over 300 items to help create your avatar: 44 hairstyles, 92 clothing items, 26 eyeware choices, 78 accessories (food items and tech stuff) and 15 backgrounds. There is a built in address book where you can assign avatars to appear when your contacts call your iPhone. Creating my first avatar took less than five minutes. What do you think? I like the iPhone in my left hand although a beer might be more appropriate in my right. Not sure why that isn’t an accessory option other than maybe WeeWorld or Apple wants it kid friendly. When you choose hair or clothing items there is a paintbucket that appears allowing you to adjust the color. Yes, I admit I have more grey than my avatar is showing. I guess I’m just vain. Once you are done creating the avatar you save it to the gallery where you can then upload it or return and add to it at a later date. I assume WeeWorld will continue to add more items and backgounds in future updates.

iPhone4idiots App Review – The Lorax – Dr. Seuss

hirtme — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:19:19 +0000

Another quality children’s storybook, The Lorax – Dr. Seuss Oceanhouse Media $3.99, that definitely gives you your money’s worth. The app is available for iPhone, iTouch or iPad. I just sat down with my boys before nap and chose “read to me” mode. The only issues – I was falling asleep and forgetting to swipe to turn the page before the 25 minute story was over. Now that’s not because the story was boring, but because it was so long and the kiddos wear me out! I would have just given them my iPhone, but they want me to “read” it with them. For those that don’t remember, The Lorax is a tale of industry versus environment. The Lorax, a short furry creature, tries to save the Truffula trees in the forest, but the factory owner ignores his pleas and cuts down every last tree. As you can see in the picture here on the right, the birds are flying away due to the smog and deforestation. Below all the humming fish are leaving the pond due to the pollution. There is a glimmer of hope at the end, however, as there is one seed left. Oceanhouse Media does a fantastic job with children’s storybooks. The Lorax includes all three modes you’ve come to expect: “Read to Me”, “Read it Myself” and “Auto Play”. Many pictures on each page are touchable and the words zoom up in bright letters and are spoken when pressed. The narration and pictures are beautifully done and the length is as long as you are going to find in kid’s storybooks. So if you are looking for another children’s storybook for you iPhone, iTouch or iPad, you should consider giving this one a try.

iPad Thoughts, Sales & Insurance

hirtme — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:29:58 +0000

So I went to the Apple Store Saturday afternoon to check out the iPad myself. The “cool” factor on this device is so high that I almost bought one knowing I could resell on Ebay when the 2nd generation iPad with the camera (the one I really want) comes out. Frankly, I was surprised they still had iPads in stock, but Apple reported today that including pre-orders they sold over 300,000 iPads on the first day. Estimates of one million sold in the first year look very conservative now. I’ve been saying all along this is a device for games, TV, video calling and video chat. Well the obvious one I didn’t list was for reading. While I haven’t read many books recently seeing the iPad in person really opened my eyes. The Kindle is toast. Ebooks on the iPad look great! It is so simple to load, adjust screen brightness and font to make your ebook look how you want. The max font size is large enough that even those with poor eyesight should give it a look since it might work. Also, even at this max size, the iPad is large enough that there are still ample words per page to where you aren’t swiping to turn the page every second. Oh, and turning the page looks amazing. The page peels back and really gives you the feel of a book. The iPad is so light – it really is amazing. Another thing I noticed is most people were not purchasing cases to protect their device. This is a big mistake. I’ve dropped my iPhone at least 20 times. With the much larger screen I would think the iPad is much more prone to cracking if dropped. Now you may have read a previous post I’ve done about iPhone insurance. Well, I came across Worth Ave Group that is offering iPhone and iPad insurance for the lowest rates I’ve seen. The $500 iPad can be insured for just under $50 per year. This has only a $50 deductible and covers liquid spills, cracked screens and even theft! This is sweet as Applecare doesn’t cover drops and spills. So if you want to insure your new iPad (or iPhone for that matter) I highly recommend checking out Worth Ave Group. And no, I’m not getting paid for saying this. I’ve just been following it enough to know that $50 for $500 worth of insurance that covers drops and spills and only has a $50 deductible is as good as you are going to find. Assuming this insurance company is legit – and I have no reason to think they are not – this is where you should go. Now, I think its time go buy more Apple stock.

Netflix & ABC apps arrive for iPad!

hirtme — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:19:26 +0000

Very exciting news! With the iPad going on sale tomorrow almost 1000 new apps are hitting the iTunes app store. BTW, you’ll probably notice a ton of the apps you already have are available to update. This is because they are going Universal Binary (whatever that means) to support the iPad as well. You really don’t have to update unless you are getting an iPad, but when you have some extra time I’d go ahead and do it. Now why most of these apps are iPad only, this is great news for iPhone and iTouch users as I’ll explain in a minute. But first a quick mention of two of these new apps, Netflix and ABC Player, both of which are free. ABC Player allows you to stream about 20 shows, including Desperate Housewives, FlashForward, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Modern Family, and V. I’m not sure how much advertising will be added (I wish it were none). The Netflix app requires a Netflix account of course, but if you have one your iPad has access to TV shows and movies from the catalog of Netflix titles available for instant viewing. Now, why is this big news for the iPhone and iTouch? Because my guess is these apps will work on jailbroken iPhones and iTouches within a few months at most Further, because these apps are only available for wifi, I predict it will be less than a month until the iPad is jailbroken so 3G unrestrictor will work on it. Also, with ABC on board the other big networks are sure to follow very quickly. Live TV everywhere anytime on your iDevice just got one step closer.

Buying an iPad? Not til Steve Quits Holding Back

hirtme — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:47:31 +0000

Estimates are Apple sold over 120,000 iPads on the first day pre-orders were available. Officially sales begin on April 3, 2010 and analysts predict 3 to 4 million iPads will be sold in the first 12 months! I started a new poll for the first time in awhile to see if anyone is planning on getting one? Anyway, a brief review for those not paying attention. The iPad is a 9.7 inch multi-touch display that’s just 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.5 pounds. It has built in wireless and 10 hours of battery life. Prices range from $499 to $829 depending on the size (16, 32 or 64 GB) and whether or not it has 3G capabilities. Obviously, to use 3G you would have to get a contract. Personally, I’m not buying one yet for two main reasons. First generation models are more buggy but a million users tend to find what needs to be fixed. Not just what needs to be fixed, but what needs to be added to the 2nd generation model to make the device much better. Second, I’m convinced Apple is holding back key features for the second generation model. This is the device for video calling and video chat. Teenagers will be begging for an iPad so they can lay in bed and walk around the house while ichating with friends. Having to be stuck in front of your computer screen is the biggest thing holding ichating and video calling back. IMO, along with gaming this is going to be a huge market for the iPad. I’m confident there will be a front facing camera on the iPad within a year so I’m not laying out $500 until then.

What does this mean for Apple. Well, I believe this won’t compete with Mac or iPhone sales one bit. However, the iPod Touch is going to suffer. While some will still buy for the lower price points (mainly for kids and teenagers I believe) why on earth not spend a couple hunderd more dollars for the much larger screen? While you can’t put it in your pocket, this is the device you will use around the house. Just wait for that camera

Yes, Apple is pushing the iPad as the savior of print media. While this might be true, its not that big a selling point for me. However, check out this concept video below. If all newspapers and magazines start creating articles like this one, I might just take reading up again!

VIV Mag Interactive Feature Spread – iPad Demo from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.

Apple iPad – My Thoughts

hirtme — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:24:53 +0000

I pretty much keep this an iPhone and iTouch only site, but today’s news about the Apple iPad has to be discussed. The iPad looks like an iPhone with one button on the front and is a half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds and has a 9.7-inch touch screen (compared to 3.5 inch for iPhone and 6 inch for Amazon Kindle) with a 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch. This is an aspect ratio of 4:3 which isn’t great for watching movies and TV. Hopefully, Apple changes this to 16:9 or 16:10 in the next generation. To me this is the biggest flaw in the device. It comes in three models: 16 GB for $499, 32 for $599 and 64 GB for $699. All models have WiFi and Bluetooth and you can get one with 3G with an ATT contract for unlimited data for $29.99 per month.

What does this mean?????The iPad will have similar verison of the iPhone software running on it and will offer all the apps. It plugs into your computer through USB to connect to iTunes. The battery lasts for 10 hours, but I’m not sure what that means since watching video or playing certain games has to drain the battery way faster than just looking at pictures or surfing the net. In addition to apps and surfing the net, the iPad is for watching TV and movies – yes even in HD although not true 1080p. So what does this mean??? Well for the iPhone nothing. This isn’t a phone so I don’t think it will effect iPhone sales at all. For Amazon Kindle its a killer. Yes, its a little more expensive, but it offers so much more, is bigger and has a better display. For ATT its more business, but can their network handle it??? I’m not so sure. The iPhone is killing it in markets like New York so how is to gonna handle millions of iPads? My guess is it will be jailbroken quickly allowing people to stream TV shows and movies over 3G. Time will tell, but the sooner Apple lets other US carriers share the burden of its heavy bandwidth useage the better. For the cable companies you better wake up! In 10 years I see many people consuming both old and new media from the net. Why pay that cable bill when a 4G network gives you quality TV streamed to your iPad??? So what do you think?