I Sold My Geo for an iPad

It was time to get a new car for my growing family and so I had to get rid of my 1995 Geo Prizm.  I loved that car, but it just wasn’t big enough for the entire family so it had to go.  My buyer was looking to sell his iPad so that he would have enough money to buy the car so logically I just said “how bout the iPad for the car?”  It worked out and I am the proud new owner of an iPad 2.  People have been crazy for the iPad and act like it is the end all device that you can use for everything, but my impressions of its abilities have not changed even after owning one.  The iPad just doesn’t fit nicely between my iPhone and my MacBook Pro.  Is there really any need for a tablet between those two devices?  I have been thinking about what I can use the iPad for to make it really worth the money, but I have not really come up with anything yet.  It is really cool and I love watching NetFlix on it, but I do not really see myself using it for GPS in the car and it cannot do things like Hulu unless you subscribe to Hulu plus.  The best use I have come up with so far is to put it in the car for my daughter to use for movies.  It would be a very good looking screen and we can load the movies to it and get some Bluetooth wireless headphones so it seems like that is the most reasonable use. 

There are a couple of things that shocked me about the iPad.  First, it does not come with any headphones.  Those ear buds that Apple usually provides with iPods and iPhones have got to be really cheap to produce and therefore it seems like an odd exclusion on a $500 tablet.  I have my ear buds from my iPhone so there is not really any problem, but if I were getting this device to be in place of the laptop or the iPhone I would definitely need some way of listening to it without using the external speaker.  The second thing that seems odd is that my MacBook Pro came with a microfiber cloth to wipe the screen off because it is a glass screen, but it is not a touch screen so in theory it should rarely be necessary.  On the other hand, the iPad does not come with anything to wipe the screen off with.  I find myself constantly trying to wipe it off with my shirt or something just so that I don’t see all of those awful smudges on the screen.  Why would they not include a way to wipe it clean?  The Smart Cover certainly would not do the trick because you would really need to wipe the screen to get it clean and from my understanding the Smart Covers also take dirt off of the table and get smashed between the screen and the cover every time you close the cover so it seems like a lose/lose situation. 

 

What are your impressions of the iPad?  Have you come to love this Mac in tablet form factor? Does it do everything that you need it to do to take the place of your laptop and do you find that it can really be useful in between an iPhone and a MacBook?  Let me know what you think in the comments.

The iPad in All of Us

Apple's new iPad has no doubt crossed your mind if you are even close to an Apple or Mac fan.  I know it has been an item that has been impossible for me to ignore lately.  Even with all of the fanfare and how truly spectacular the iPad itself looks, I still have no desire to own one.  I just cannot find a good place for it to fit into my lifestyle.  Although it looks cool and is a prime example of an Apple product, it just doesn't seem like a very good alternative to a MacBook.  Of course the starting price is quite lower than a MacBook, but a MacBook has Mac OSX, flash, easily replaceable or upgradable components, a physical keyboard, a countless number of existent applications, and I am sure there are a few other things that I am missing.  Also, the premium that you pay to get 3G on the iPad seems downright outrageous at $130, unless I am missing something.  You would be hard pressed to convince me to get the 3G version of the iPad especially since it is on AT&T's network and costs so much more both monthly and initially.

So where do you stand on the fence of iPad or not iPad.  If I were to get the iPad I would definitely have to use it for a car computer or something.  It is just too expensive for me to justify using as a reader and too limited to use as much more than my iPhone.  No flash!  Look, I do not care if Steve Jobs hates flash and the HTML5 or whatever is supposed to be better (debate-able), every site out there already uses it even after three years of Apple pushing back against flash.  Can we not just grow up and allow the consumer some convenience for once?

Guide on How to Replace the iPhone Screen

Since my post a while back providing video tutorials on how to replace a cracked iPhone screen seems to be a more popular post I thought it might be helpful for some who are looking to do this difficult repair to have a guide on how to go about fixing the iPhone.  This do it yourself project should only be attempted by those that are confident in their ability to work on delicate electronics and are willing to void the warranty for their iPhone.  This project should cost between $50 and $150 depending on where you get your parts and which ones you will need to get.

Where Do You Get the Parts to Fix Your iPhone Screen

Of course when you attempt to do this project you are going to make sure you can get all of the tools required to replace the iPhone screen.  First thing is first though, you need to determine whether you have broken just the front panel (glass covering the display) or the actual display (lcd) itself.  The easiest way to tell is if everything still looks clear aside from the broken glass.  If all of the pixels appear undamaged and there are no odd colors then you are probably in luck and it is only the front panel that needs to be replaced.  This could save you around $70 since the display is the most expensive part.  The guide to fix the screen is the same with the exception of actually using the new display or not; the video in this post does a great job of explaining that as well.

There are a few places that you can go to get iPhone parts and tools.  Without a doubt, iFixit is your best place to start your search for parts and tools for the repair.  iFixit has plenty of parts for most anything that you need Mac related and they also provide repair guides for the DIY project you are planning to do.  Although iFixit is a great place to get these items, there are other places that may have the parts and it may be a good idea to shop around so you get the best price on your iPhone parts.  Rapid Repair is a great site which has iPhone parts and also offers repair services if you think that you may be in over your head.  eTech Parts looks to have a good selection with some good prices and there is always eBay.  iFixit and Rapid Repair are probably the best places to get the necessary tools if you do not have them already. 

 How Do You Replace the iPhone 3G Screen

This guide will be very similar to the one for the iPhone 3GS, but you should make sure that you use the guide that applies to your specific model of iPhone if you are still using a first generation iPhone.

There are a few tools that you will need a also a couple of parts.  You will need a Phillips #00 Screwdriver,  a small suction cup, and a spudger.  The parts required would of course be the display and the front panel which is actually the covering for the display.  Once you have these items you should head on over to iFixit for the full guide on how to repair the screen.  There is also a somewhat humorous video below that goes through the process for an iPhone 3G.  It would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with both before attempting to do the repair.




Can You Replace An iPhone Screen Yourself

At this point you may be asking yourself, "can I replace the iPhone screen myself?"  The video above should make you a little more confident in your ability to do this repair, but if you do feel uncomfortable it may be a good idea to get a professional to repair it.  Apple will of course do the repair for you, but it will cost you about $100 more to get them to do it for you.   This will allow you to retain your warranty though, and it also could give you peace of mind.  Unfortunately, there is no fun in that approve at all.  If you are good with gadgets and think that you can be careful when doing the repair then you are probably going to be just fine.

AT&T Speaks Out About Their Network

It turns out that AT&T has not taken kindly to all of the Verizon ads lately knocking their network. It seems that the two networks are playing nice now after a small legal battle that was childish at best and just managed to bring light to the whole deal anyway; making it a lose lose for AT&T.  After the dust has settled a little bit though, I got this email from AT&T.  They decided to email me and let me know that their service was great and getting better all of the time.

Normally I would just think this was some email that I had signed up for accidently when buying something, but I know that for AT&T I had specifically told them not to send anything.  They sent it anyway and it only puts more bang in Verizon's advertising buck.  True, it does speak well about AT&T's network and it does try and reassure us all that they are working hard to make it better, but only when they are under the gun.  Shouldn't AT&T be working on their network all of the time.  I know that AT&T has to defend their brand whenever it is slandered in someone else's advertising, but AT&T should have addressed many issues long before deciding to take on the iPhone.  The iPhone has done so much to damage AT&T's reputation that AT&T has actually started to advertise their other devices more heavily to soften the blow when they lose exclusivity of the iPhone.  There will probably be a huge shift in brand loyalty when the iPhone does become available for other carriers, but unfortunately only time will tell.

iPhone to Verizon

Although it is just a rumor, it has been floating around so it may be worth a mention. With all of these Droid commercials and "there's a map for that" stuff you would think that Apple and Verizon will never have a partnership, but the truth is there is a perfect transition here that could truly make sense. The "Droid Does" campaign was not a very good one for the argument, but if Verizon keeps pushing the fact that their network is much better and you should pick your network and then your phone we could see a perfect shift to the iPhone coming on to Verizon's network. We have always known that Verizon was greedy and wanted too much control of the iPhone and so Apple had to logically fall back on ATT as the second best partner. Verizon is really kicking themselves right now since Apple and ATT have been living it up, but if Verizon gets a second chance it could mean great things for Apple and not so great things for ATT. I think with all of the talk of bad networks that ATT could actually see a decline in their subscriber numbers if Verizon were to get the iPhone. I for one would consider the switch if only to give Verizon a chance. The only reason that I ever switched from T-Mobile was because of the iPhone and to have a choice between the two biggest wireless providers in the US would just make it more dependent upon the network. Only time will tell if we are going to get a chance to have a big red iPhone, but hopefully we will get the option so that it helps pull prices down a little.

iPhone OS 3.1 kills Tethering Hack

AT&T has yet to release a tethering option for iPhone owners, but there was at least a little hack that was discovered which would allow you to use tethering for free without jailbreaking or unlocking your iPhone. Unfortunately, as promised, the new firmware for the iPhone does break that hack so that you can no longer use your tethering to surf the web on the go. There are a few upgrades that may be worth the update; especially alongside the iTunes updates that you can now use in conjunction, but still the loss of tethering is a major bummer. Hopefully someone will find another easy way to get the tethering working again for free and without jailbreaking. If I find one I will be sure to post it here.

Apple's New Snow Leopard

So now that Snow Leopard has been released and everyone has gotten a chance to get their copy it sounds like it is well worth the switch. Are you going to update your mac to Snow Leopard or are you going to wait for the next OS to make the upgrade? I have been anxiously awaiting the new OS especially since it has a lot of under the hood improvements that actually help with making your mac run more quickly. For a $30 upgrade cost it is not something that I think I can pass up. Sure I probably will not see much of a difference, but it is always good to keep as up to date as possible. Windows 7 on the other hand made a lot of improvements to the looks of the Windows platform, but possibly not as much focus on the internals. It is however, supposed to work much better than its predecessor so everyone is still working in the right direction it would seem.

Blogpress Review

After using Blogpress for a little while and having some experience with customer support I feel it is time for a full review. This iPhone app has a lot to offer for mobile bloggers and is really the top pick if you are looking for an app to do bloggng for a few different blogs.




First Impressions

The app overall felt like a very solid one at first, but soon I found out that I was not able to connect to Wordpress. I have two main blogs; this one and Dave's Movie Reviews which is on Wordpress. I liked the Wordpress app, but it did not allow for placement and sizing of the photos. This was a must for my movie review blog so I set out to find a decent blogging app for the iPhone that had more functionality. At first I wondered about the price, but after using the app I have to say that it is well worth the few dollars. So how did I resolve the Wordpress connection issue; it was quite simple actually because customer support was quick and helpful. I tried a couple of their stock troubleshooting techniques with no avail so then I decided to email customer support for help. In only a few hours I had a response. After a couple days and a few emails the issue was resolved. I am not sure what I was doing wrong, but the customer support was friendly fast and helpful so I have to give them top notches for that.




Review

The app is not free from it's glitches, but I am hoping that constant improvements will be made to alleviate some of those issues. The first thing I noticed was the ability to do landscape editing of the post. This is a mus for any true blogging software on the iPhone because it allows you to type a whole lot faster and easier. Now even though it is included in this software I would say it is a little inconsistent. You can only switch to landscape view while in the body of your post. This is not that much of a problem, but is not very intuitive and I see no reason that you should not be able to all navigation and editing in landscape mode. Also, there have been a couple times when the app got stuck in landscape and I had to close it out and restart and also a few times where it failed to go into landscape mode entirely. This is the main complaint about the app for sure. The great news is the ability to add your own photos to posts and be able to place them and size then to your liking. The main reason I chose this app proves to be quite useful and works great. I have heard of people having trouble with length of posts, but I have not had any trouble with that yet. I also would not mind a few more formatting and sizing of text options, but this is a great start. If you are looking for a great blogging app that works with wordpress and blogger then this is your app.

Blogpress - iPhone App First Impressions

I just purchased Blogpress for the iPhone so that I can do a little more mobile blogging. Mainly, I have been annoyed with the lack of a Google blogger iPhone app so I thought I would see what third party apps were available. Blogpress had the best reviews out of the apps I saw and it is supposed to work with a few blogging formats including the two that I use; Blogger and Wordpress. So far it is pretty good; although the main concern now is that I cannot get wordpress to work. I am hoping that the support ticket I sent in gets answered quickly and then I would probably give this app high praise. We will have to wait and see though.

Tethering With Your iPhone 3GS

It turns out that even though AT&T does not allow tethering that there is still a way around that. To unlock the feature and use your iPhone as a wireless modem for your laptop just check out this post at 9 to 5 Mac.

There are a few easy steps:

1. Download the file at 9 to 5 Mac

2. Open the file with iTunes

3. Connect your iPhone and option click the restore button in iTunes and select the open file

4. Go to settings/general/network/internet tethering on your iPhone and turn it on

This will allow you to connect by USB or by Bluetooth; I have tested both and it did not seem to make a difference in speed. What have you found to be faster when tethering? Just remember that if you tether too much AT&T may catch you and can suspend your account or charge you hefty fees. Good luck and happy tethering!