20 hours with the iPhone: A full, hands-on evaluation...so far
As I mentioned in my previous iPhone post, I took the plunge Friday night and drove down to my local AT&T store for a nice new iPhone. So, with some time on my hands as my girlfriend watches more YouTube videos than anyone else who has ever seen the site, I thought I would give you some insight into my experience with the iPhone and my impressions at this point.When I got to the AT&T store, I was asked to stand outside the door until one of the seven sales kiosks became available. Within five minutes the security guard opened the door for me and I was well on my way to getting a new cellie. As I mentioned in a previous article, I am a Verizon Wireless customer. And for a string of reasons, I feel compelled to keep my relationship with Verizon running, so I now have two phones, two plans and two bills. Great.After a five-minute wait while the sales representative made sure another iPhone was in stock, I had the box in front of me and credit check behind me. A couple minutes later, I was on my way home with a new toy.Once home, I needed to install the new iTunes update, which took about 10 minutes. After a quick reboot, I connected my iPhone to my MacBook and it was immediately recognized. After a quick run-through of my address and billing information, I was sent a confirmation that my iPhone had been activated and I was free to use it the way I saw fit. All in all, the process of going to the store and calling some people took about a half hour--much quicker than my previous trip to a cell phone store, when I bought my Treo from Verizon Wireless.As a guy who is dedicated (or is it obsessed?) with his e-mail, I spend quite a bit of time typing away on my Treo.Because of this, I spent the better part of last night learning how to use the virtual keyboard. I am happy to report that after just one night with the iPhone, I have been able to (almost) master the art of two-thumb typing on the device, and believe it or not, it's actually better than typing on my Treo.Which brings me to another topic: e-mail integration could have been the most rewarding experiences I have ever had while using a mobile device.When I first brought my Treo home, I had to go through the agonizing process of inputting my username, password and POP server information. As many Verizon customers know, outgoing mail servers (SMTP) need to be networked through Verizon servers in certain areas, and unfortunately, I am in one of those areas. So, after a week of calling Verizon asking why I wasn't able to send any email, I finally had the outgoing mail server set up and ready for use. The iPhone was nothing like that.As soon as the iPhone was connected, it recognized all of my Mail settings and immediately integrated them into the phone. In seconds (seconds!), I was using the exact same mail application on both my iPhone and my laptop. Wow.So far, I have connected the iPhone to two different Wi-Fi networks, and the ease with which it switches from AT&T's EDGE service to my Wi-Fi network is gratifying, to say the least. YouTube videos are slow when I use the EDGE network (obviously), but I was still able to get them to run after a while.Unfortunately the EDGE network is slower than my EV-DO, but believe it or not, it's only nominally slower on most major Web sites.Sure, a 5- or 10-second wait may be a big deal to some, but I personally couldn't care less. That said, if I needed Web site information quickly on a page that wasn't too big, I would probably choose my Treo. But if the Web site was larger, I would take the iPhone any day. Why, you ask?Because navigating a stacked and screwed up Web site is probably one of the most annoying aspects of using a smart phone, and the iPhone doesn't do anything of the sort.Simply put, Web pages look great.At this point, I have not yet charged the iPhone.On any given day, I usually receive well over 50 calls on my Treo and check my e-mail every 10 or 20 minutes.This usually means a nightly charge for Uncle Treo.But now that the iPhone is in the mix, I expect those calls to be cut in half for both phones, and although e-mail will be checked on the iPhone from now on, I don't see a significant enough drain to warrant a daily battery charge.In fact, after calling and receiving a number of calls and a conservative estimate of one or two hours on YouTube, my iPhone is still half-charged out of the box. This is one heck of a feat, if you ask me.Which brings me to one of the best aspects of the iPhone: the iPod. With a simple click of the mouse, I was able to tell the iPhone to sync all of my music onto its hard drive.Because I'm not much of a music aficionado, I have about 600 songs from a bunch of artists no one has heard of. All told, my music library is about 3GB.In a matter of minutes, my entire library was loaded onto my iPhone, and I'm currently listening to some of my songs through the device's built-in speaker, which, surprisingly, sounds quite good. The iPod gives you the same options as the current iPods, but throws in some Front Row and Apple TV flair by allowing you to flip through your album art. I wish fewer taps on the touch screen were required to maneuver through the iPod menu, but all in all it's still a great experience.Another topic I should mention is the ease of integration between my Mac Address Book and the iPhone contacts.In a matter of seconds, I sent my entire Treo contact list to my MacBook via Bluetooth and used the iTunes sync to send that file to my iPhone.I now have a complete replica of my Treo's contact list--a good 200 people--and didn't have to spend the hours it would normally take to input all of those people.Ringtones on the iPhone are nice, but like many others, I would have liked to use some of iTunes' songs. Oh well. I guess in this business we win some and we lose some.My biggest complaint so far is not really an indictment of the iPhone itself, but of the features it lacks. Talk about lack of faster Internet access and no GPS has been driven into the ground, so I won't go into that here. But my major complaint is the lack of iChat or another third-party chat client. For a full-featured phone that provides much of the same experience I have on my MacBook, there is no reason to leave iChat out. I know it supports SMS and I have 200 messages with my plan, but chatting is different and should have been thrown in.The iPhone, much like the iPod, is a landmark device. The iPod had no significant rivals after it went on sale and the iPhone has no significant rivals today.The iPod changed an industry and the iPhone has most definitely changed the cell phone business. The iPod had faults that have been addressed in later iterations and the iPhone has faults that I hope will be addressed. But for all of the bad, the iPhone has an awful lot of good. And it is for this reason that I consider my iPhone, after 20 hours of use, the most significant technological achievement in the past 20 years.
How to get unlimited free holiday music on your phone or tablet
How to get unlimited free holiday music on your phone or tablet
Warm fire, check. Good company and good cheer, check. Now all you need is some good holiday music, which you can get in virtually unlimited quantities on your smartphone or tablet. And it won't cost you anything extra.With the exception of iTunes Radio, which is available only for iOS devices, most of the services listed below are available for most mobile platforms.iTunes RadioSurprisingly, Apple's new streaming service has only one holiday-themed Featured Station, at least for the moment: the very good Rockin' Holiday. And if you search for "holidays," you get only a weird selection that includes, for some reason, comedian Jim Gaffigan. Search for "Christmas," though, and you'll find the Christmas Music Radio station, which offers a nice mix of classical tunes.PandoraAs any Pandora user knows, it's a snap to create a new station of Christmas or holiday tunes. However, when you start the process, you can also tap Browse Genre Stations, then scroll down to Holiday. There you'll find a wealth of stations already ready to go, including one for those of us who celebrate Hanukkah.Pandora's extensive holiday selection includes a Hanukkah station.Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNETSlackerSlacker has been around nearly as long as Pandora, but it's often overlooked as a source for free streaming music. Now's your chance to discover what's so great about it: browse the Stations listing and you'll find nearly a dozen devoted entirely to Christmas tunes. These range from New Holiday Hits to Jazz Christmas to Yuletide Classics.SongzaAn app that specializes in slinging tunes based on specific moods and activities, Songza has plenty of holiday-themed stations available, starting with half a dozen main categories: A Christmas Concert Spectacular, Too Cool for Yule, Cozy Christmas Hits, and so on. This is arguably the single best app for finding exactly the kind of holiday music you want to hear.TuneIn RadioThe popular Internet-radio app can connect you to a variety of Christmas-themed stations. Just tap Browse, then scroll down to the Christmas category. You'll see upwards of 20 stations, a good choice being Christmas 365 -- Santa's Radio.By the way, if you don't have a smartphone or tablet but still want an ample helping of free holiday tunes, check out Ed Rhee's roundup of online holiday-music options.Have you found another great app or service for streaming holiday tunes on the cheap? Talk it up in the comments!
Warm fire, check. Good company and good cheer, check. Now all you need is some good holiday music, which you can get in virtually unlimited quantities on your smartphone or tablet. And it won't cost you anything extra.With the exception of iTunes Radio, which is available only for iOS devices, most of the services listed below are available for most mobile platforms.iTunes RadioSurprisingly, Apple's new streaming service has only one holiday-themed Featured Station, at least for the moment: the very good Rockin' Holiday. And if you search for "holidays," you get only a weird selection that includes, for some reason, comedian Jim Gaffigan. Search for "Christmas," though, and you'll find the Christmas Music Radio station, which offers a nice mix of classical tunes.PandoraAs any Pandora user knows, it's a snap to create a new station of Christmas or holiday tunes. However, when you start the process, you can also tap Browse Genre Stations, then scroll down to Holiday. There you'll find a wealth of stations already ready to go, including one for those of us who celebrate Hanukkah.Pandora's extensive holiday selection includes a Hanukkah station.Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNETSlackerSlacker has been around nearly as long as Pandora, but it's often overlooked as a source for free streaming music. Now's your chance to discover what's so great about it: browse the Stations listing and you'll find nearly a dozen devoted entirely to Christmas tunes. These range from New Holiday Hits to Jazz Christmas to Yuletide Classics.SongzaAn app that specializes in slinging tunes based on specific moods and activities, Songza has plenty of holiday-themed stations available, starting with half a dozen main categories: A Christmas Concert Spectacular, Too Cool for Yule, Cozy Christmas Hits, and so on. This is arguably the single best app for finding exactly the kind of holiday music you want to hear.TuneIn RadioThe popular Internet-radio app can connect you to a variety of Christmas-themed stations. Just tap Browse, then scroll down to the Christmas category. You'll see upwards of 20 stations, a good choice being Christmas 365 -- Santa's Radio.By the way, if you don't have a smartphone or tablet but still want an ample helping of free holiday tunes, check out Ed Rhee's roundup of online holiday-music options.Have you found another great app or service for streaming holiday tunes on the cheap? Talk it up in the comments!
Amazon getting cloud-music rights, may match iCloud (scoop)
Amazon getting cloud-music rights, may match iCloud (scoop)
Amazon executives are close to striking license deals with music studios to cover the company's cloud music service, numerous music industry sources told CNET.Amazon already has reached agreements with Universal Music Group, EMI and Sony Music Entertainment and is in the later stages of negotiations with the other Warner Music Group, the sources said. Amazon could announce the deals within weeks. Spokesmen for UMG, EMI and Sony declined to comment. An Amazon representative was not immediately available for comment, though I'll update as soon as we hear back.Details are scarce as to what new features Amazon's cloud music service will offer as a result of the license deals, though it's likely that Amazon may soon be able to match many of the features found at Apple's iCloud.The moves comes more than a year after Amazon surprised both the music sector and its rivals, Apple and Google, by launching Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player without licenses from the top labels. Amazon became the first of the major music stores to enable users to upload their music collections into the cloud. Related storiesAmazon's Cloud Player enters the App StoreAmazon's cloud risks war with labels, studiosAmazon may soon launch film, music locker serviceAmazon Cloud Drive enables users to upload copies of their music, e-books, videos, and other digital media to Amazon's servers. The Cloud Player enables them to listen to the uploaded music with the help of Web-connected devices. Earlier today, Amazon announced that the Cloud Player app is now available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. While we don't know what new features Amazon will offer, the company will likely eliminate the need for users to upload every one of their songs individually to the cloud. Because Apple obtained licenses before launching its cloud service last year, it was allowed to scan a user's hard drive to identify the music there. The company could then match and stream songs to the user from copies stored in the iTunes' library, eliminating the tedious uploading. Amazon couldn't offer a similar service because the scan-and-match process involves creating and delivering copies of music to users who didn't technically buy them. Making a copy requires a license, say the labels; otherwise, they argue, such copies violate their copyrights.Update: 6-13-12, 8:15 a.m. PT: To include news that Sony Music Group has also reached an a cloud-music agreement with Amazon.
Amazon executives are close to striking license deals with music studios to cover the company's cloud music service, numerous music industry sources told CNET.Amazon already has reached agreements with Universal Music Group, EMI and Sony Music Entertainment and is in the later stages of negotiations with the other Warner Music Group, the sources said. Amazon could announce the deals within weeks. Spokesmen for UMG, EMI and Sony declined to comment. An Amazon representative was not immediately available for comment, though I'll update as soon as we hear back.Details are scarce as to what new features Amazon's cloud music service will offer as a result of the license deals, though it's likely that Amazon may soon be able to match many of the features found at Apple's iCloud.The moves comes more than a year after Amazon surprised both the music sector and its rivals, Apple and Google, by launching Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player without licenses from the top labels. Amazon became the first of the major music stores to enable users to upload their music collections into the cloud. Related storiesAmazon's Cloud Player enters the App StoreAmazon's cloud risks war with labels, studiosAmazon may soon launch film, music locker serviceAmazon Cloud Drive enables users to upload copies of their music, e-books, videos, and other digital media to Amazon's servers. The Cloud Player enables them to listen to the uploaded music with the help of Web-connected devices. Earlier today, Amazon announced that the Cloud Player app is now available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. While we don't know what new features Amazon will offer, the company will likely eliminate the need for users to upload every one of their songs individually to the cloud. Because Apple obtained licenses before launching its cloud service last year, it was allowed to scan a user's hard drive to identify the music there. The company could then match and stream songs to the user from copies stored in the iTunes' library, eliminating the tedious uploading. Amazon couldn't offer a similar service because the scan-and-match process involves creating and delivering copies of music to users who didn't technically buy them. Making a copy requires a license, say the labels; otherwise, they argue, such copies violate their copyrights.Update: 6-13-12, 8:15 a.m. PT: To include news that Sony Music Group has also reached an a cloud-music agreement with Amazon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)