Archive for the ‘tech.commentary.mobile’ Category
Instagram 3.0 Available
Instagram 3.0 was made available for download yesterday. The major release will be welcomed by the 80 million users who are sharing photos with friends via Instagram’s iPhone and Android apps.
Instagram 3.0 includes a variety of improvements and performance enhancements, but the goal of the release was clearly to improve, and re-imagine, the browsing and exploration experience.
During an interview with TechCrunch, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom described the new update:
“With every data release we’ve tried to shift our focus dramatically. Instagram 2.0, with its new filters, etc, was all about the user’s production experience. Instagram 3.0 is about a new kind of browser experience, Photo Maps. Photo Maps is such a fun way of re-descovering yourself, but not just yourself, all Instagram users”
Photo Maps, a feature of the member profile, provides an alternative map-based way to browse photo collections. The experience provides a new and fun way to browse other’s photos, but it’s also a fun way to rediscover some of your own photos.
Instagram’s Photo Maps
Improvements like support for continuous browsing, and slightly larger grid photos will also be welcomed by the army of people that use Instagram on a daily basis.
The video below provides a walkthrough of the new Photo Map feature if you’re interested in learning more. Or, just download Instagram for iOS, or Android, it’s FREE!
Instagram 3.0 – Photo Maps Walkthrough from Instagram on Vimeo.
Nexus 7 Teardown
The iFixit team gave the Googles Nexus 7 a 7 out of 10 repairability score. The iPad scored a 2 and the Fire scored an 8. The only real problem they have with the Nexus 7 is that the LCD doesn’t separate from the display glass – making repair more expensive. Another step in the right direction for the Nexus 7.
Google I/O 2012
Google announced a lot of great stuff at the Google I/O conference this week. Highlights for me included the release of Chrome for iOS, the Nexus 7 announcement, and the earlier than expected availability of Google Glass. I’ve got a Nexus 7 on pre-order and Chrome for iOS running on my iPhone. Way to go Google, glad to see you’ve still got it. I’d say Google had a very successful Google I/O conference this year.
Amazon Cloud Player for iOS Released
Amazon’s Cloud Player for iOS is now available in the iTunes App Store. Amazon Cloud Player provides Amazon’s customers with the ability to stream or download music stored in their Amazon Cloud Drive. You can also manage your music library and create playlists using the App. Because Apple prohibits it, you won’t be able to purchase new music through the App – the Kindle App for iPhone is limited in the same way.
Now your music can come with you everywhere! Listen to your music from the cloud on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch anywhere you are. You can download or stream your library from the cloud – or play the music you already have on your device. – iTunes App Description
Amazon Cloud Player is long overdue – it should have launched along with the Cloud Drive service a year ago. Still, I’m glad to see that Amazon is willing to commit resources to supporting their customers that are also Apple customers.
Phone Review: Samsung Galaxy S III
Pelicans are going to be dropping Samsung Galaxy S III phones on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless stores near you this month. $200, and a 2-year contract, will put this 4.8-inch screen (720p resolution) and an 8-megapixel camera in your pocket.
The Galaxy S III is obviously the next evolutionary step in the popular Galaxy S line. More than 50 million Galaxy S phones have been sold, and there isn’t any reason to think the the Galaxy S III won’t continue the trend.
The Galaxy S III includes a great hardware package, and a few new innovative features. Smart Stay uses the front facing camera to monitor your eyes and reduce the chances of the phone going to sleep when you need it to be awake. S Voice, a Siri like feature that doesn’t promise to be your new best friend. And an impressive camera that includes image stabilization and a shutter speed that apparently does’ t have any lag. There’s more, but the phone has been well covered, so you can read about it elsewhere if you’re interested.
You can pre-order the Galaxy S III from Verizon Wireless and AT&T starting today. T-mobile and Sprint will launch the phone on June 21st. Available in multiple colors, but only from AT&T to start.
App Review: Nuance Dragon ID
Soon you’ll be unlocking your iPhone or Android powered smartphone using your voice and Nuance’s Dragon ID. You won’t find the App in the iTunes App store or Google Play, but hardware vendors will be integrating it into their devices at the factory level soon. For example, you might be able to unlock you iPhone by speaking your password into your Bluetooth connected headset. Personally, I’m looking forward to this, my iPhone screen has four dimples.
[Source] Nuance’s Dragon ID lets you unlock your phone by voice
App Review: Loving Snapseed Photo Editor
A Day In The Life of Talented and Inspirational Mobile Photographer Andrew Proudlove by Joanne Carter (@theappwhisperer) is a good read for any aspiring mobile photographer. The article features some of Andrew’s work, and the Apps he uses to manipulate the images he captures – amazing stuff. I’ve only had time to play with a few of the Apps mentioned in the article, but Snapseed (@snapseed) is quickly becoming a new favorite. Snapseed’s UI is intuitive, and it includes a really well thought out feature set. If you’re ready to add another photo App to your collection, Snapseed won’t disappoint.
ioShutter Camera Remote
Control your DSLR from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch using the ioShutter Camera Remote and ioShutter App. The ioShutter App (free and paid) supports six different modes: standard trigger, motion trigger, sound trigger, time-lapse, timer, bulb, and modes can be combined. Most of Canon’s cameras are supported, and it sounds like a version for Nikon cameras is in the works.
The ioShutter Camera Remote competes with the successful Kickstarter project - Trigger Happy camera remote. Remotes like these are going to replaces the standard remote switches most manufacturers offer – the added functionality you get in the supporting Apps makes it an easy choice, and you don’t have to pay a whole lot more for the added functionality.
The ioShutter Camera Remote is available from Photojojo now for $69.99. The Trigger Happy remotes can be pre-ordered now, but won’t ship until July.
Update 05.08.12: Camera’s from the following manufacturers are supported by ioShutter Camera Remote: Canon, Hasselblad, Pentax, and Samsung. Nikon coming this summer. Compatibility details available on the ioShutter website.
Incase Box Case
iPhone Laser Pointer
The Smart Dot from Tangram Design Lab (@tangram_design) is a laser pointer you can control with your iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, iPod Touch or iPad - and a bit more. The laser connects to the 3.5mm jack on your iOS device, and it’s powered by the same. The free Smart Dot App activates and deactivates the laser, but it can also connect with the machine hosting your presentation via wi-fi and act as a controller for your presentation as well. The App also includes a trackpad feature you can use to control the mouse pointer on the machine hosting your presentation. Smart Dot will do all of this for a mere $79.90. A pretty cool little gadget for the road warriors out there.
Logitech Ultrathin iPad Keyboard Cover
A new ultrathin iPad keyboard cover from Logitech is about to drop. The aluminum encased cover sports an ultra-quite Bluetooth® wireless keyboard and enough battery to keep it all running for months of regular use. The cover integrates well with the magnets built into the frame of the iPad 2 and iPad (3rd generation) to secure the cover, and wake and sleep your iPad as it should. From the pictures, it looks sharp enough to hang with the iPad. Available later this month for about a Benjamin. If you spend a lot of time writing email on your iPad, you might just want to pre-order one of these.
Pebble Smartwatch – Wearable Computing
I backed Allerta’s Pebble watch Kickstarter project yesterday; this is the second Kickstarter project I’ve backed. The Pebble e-paper watch extends your iOS or Android powered smartphone by connecting to it via Bluetooth; once connected (paired), Pebble can display notifications sent from your phone (calls, text messages (Android only), alerts, etc.), act as a music player remote control, and a whole lot more.
Pebble features an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller, a 1.26-inch 144×168-pixel black and white e-paper display with backlight, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, four buttons, a vibrating motor, a three-axis accelerometer, and a scratch and shatter resistant lens. The battery is expected to last more than seven days on a charge, and it’s water resistant to boot.
Eric Migicovsky, Allerta’s founder, has been developing smartwatches for three years. inPulse, Pebble’s younger sibling, worked originally with Blackberry phones but was upgraded to work with some Android phones. inPulse has been popular despite some serious limitations, i.e. you could only install and use one App at a time. Pebble will have an App switcher built in so core functionality like notifications and the music player remote control can remain available even while an App is in use. To support this, Allerta added the ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller and 8 times more Flash memory and 12 times more RAM than inPulse.
I’m looking forward to getting my hands on my Pebble watch this Summer or Fall. I think wearable computing is going to be a big deal in the future, and I can see the use cases for Pebble in my life today. And a big congratulations to Eric and his team, they cleared $3M in backing today, on a goal of $100,000 – I’d say that’s a pretty good indicator that wearable computing has a future. @pebblewatch
Instaprint Prints Instagram
Dig Breakfast‘s (@breakfastny) Instraprint project – now on Kickstarter.
Instaprint is a location based photo booth that can transform parties and events by putting a camera in everyone’s hand. By setting Instaprint to look out for specific locations or hashtags, any Instagram tagged appropriately will automatically be printed out on inkless paper.
iOS Apps Rejection Rate
A 30% rejection rate on iOS App submissions is a bit higher than I thought it would be. Well.. now that I’m thinking about it, maybe not.
of the 26,000 applications submitted for review each week, 30 percent are rejected for failure to meet developer guidelines. – Tim Cook (Apple CEO) – via VentureBeat MobileBeat
All of this is coming out of Tim Cook’s response to letters from G.K. Butterfield and Henry Waxman, ranking members of a congressional subcommittee dedicated to protecting the little people from evil things – like iPhones ; )
iOS Adoption Rate
Matthew Panzarino’s (@mpanzarino) TNW post, Why do developers prefer iOS over Android? Try 75% adoption of iOS5 while ICS is stuck at 1%., and Chris Sauve’s (@pxldots) post, iOS Ebb and Flow, are both good reads for anyone interested in iOS adoption rates.
Sauve on just how incredibly fast iOS gets picked up when compared to Android:
iOS 5 captured approximately 75% of all iOS users in the same amount of time it took Gingerbread to get 4% of all Android users. Even more astounding is that 15 weeks after launch iOS 4 was at 70% and iOS 5 was at 60% while Ice Cream Sandwich got to just 1% share at the same age. – Chris Sauve
iPhone Bike Computer
Squeeze a little more value out of your iPhone by turning it into a featured packed bike computer! The Wahoo Bike Pack wirelessly connects your iPhone to any ANT+ bike sensor so you can get all of your favorite cycling data on your iPhone, including speed/cadence, power (wattage), and heart rate.
The Wahoo Bike Pack includes a bar-mounted, waterproof case for your iPhone. Linked up with the Wahoo Fitness App, it tracks all your fitness data: power, bike speed, heart rate, etc., plus it connects wirelessly to any other ANT+ devices you’re already using.
New iPad Commercial
Apple released a new iPad commercial today to highlight the stunning Retina Display that will be included with the new iPad – a feature they’re expecting will set the iPad apart from the growing number of iPad competitors. Ordered my new iPad today, looking forward to the stun.
When a screen becomes this good, colors are more vibrant. Words are pin sharp. Everything is more brilliant. Because when a screen becomes this good, it’s simply you and the things you care about. The stunning Retina Display on the new iPad.
Clear Task Management
Clear, an elegantly simple and gesture based task manager for iOS, had a fantastic first week. Clear has been downloaded more than 350,000 times in the 9 days since it hung its shingle in the iTunes App Store, as reported in the Guardian. Clear was developed by RealMac Software in collaboration with Milen and Impending. You can download Clear now for the introductory price of $0.99 – MAC and iPad versions on the way.
“With Clear, the mission was pretty simple. Get rid of the bullshit, and focus on easy, quick and flexible task entry and management. We looked at what was out there, and began by forgetting everything we saw.” – Impending
Clear for iPhone – Available Now! from Realmac Software on Vimeo.
About palmIT
palmIT is authored by Cale Bruckner [LinkedIn], President at Concentric Sky, and former SVP Product Development at Palo Alto Software.
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Apple makes more on an HTC Android smartphone than Google
0 CommentsTuesday • November 13, 2012 • by Cale Bruckner
That’s right, Google makes a projected $2 per Android powered phone sold, and Apple is closer $6 or $8. Microsoft is making about $5 on LG, Acer, and Samsung Android phones.
Source: VB / Mobile Apple and Microsoft could make 600% more from Android than Google in 2013
11/21 update: HTC CEO Peter Chou – “I think that these estimates are baseless..” /via ARS Technica