Iphone 4 Ghost-Armor Review

The company Ghost Armor sells screen-protection films for iPhones and other electronic devices. They sell them online and also have kiosks where they professionally install them. Go to http://www.ghost-armor.com/  in order to find locations near you as well as the products and services that they provide. I visited the kiosk in in Lincolnwood Town Center at Lincolnwood Illinois. The service was good, and the worker was very enthusiastic about their products and service. Of course, your mileage may vary on this one. He took it upon himself to demonstrate the scratch-proofness of the armor by scuffing up his own phone which was half-covered with the protector and half-uncovered.

WHAT DID I ORDER?
I ordered the standard shield as well as a scratch proof outer armor. The inner-armor is just a clear plastic. The outer armor is distinctive. It has some raised-texture and comes in white, black, and gun-metal. I chose black. It was $15 for the basic armor, $10 for the installation, $15 additional for the extra matte-finish armor. The word 'armor' is a little misleading since it is so thin I'm sure it doesn't protect the phone much from anything aside from scratches and oily fingers (which is amazing considering I have two kids!).

I left my iPhone 4 at the kiosk for about a half hour. I guess while I was gone, he cleaned the phone, applied the shields (like applying tint to a car windshield), then put it in a drying machine that blows air on it. After I got it back, I was advised that I should carefully handle it over the next 24 hours to make sure the screen didn't get messed up. In reality, I had no problems with it even a couple hours after getting the phone back.

CAVEATS OF THE ARMOR:
The only big problem with the extra armor is that you are no longer able to use the Apple iphone bumper with it. The ridges are slightly raised and interfere with you being able to press the buttons through Apple’s bumper-case. The bumper should work fine with the standard armor, or perhaps you could ask the Technician not to install the edge-pieces. The armor provides a highly-scratch resistant border, but it probably won’t protect from something like a drop (who wants to test that out!?).

The edges of the outer armor seem a little raised and aren't very smooth, this takes a little getting used to. It is textured and allows you to get a good grip on the phone without it slipping so much.
 

RESULTS:
It’s a much better job than I would ever do. I’m sure better than most everyone can do judging from what I’ve seen of other people’s phones (little bubbles, and creases). If you're good at installing window tint on cars, you can probably just order this through the mail and apply it yourself to save on the installation fees.

I highly recommend the basic front screen protection. Get the back done and consider the full armor if you aren't using a protective case for your phone. The outer matte armor adds a sophisticated distinctive look to your iPhone. These pictures don't really capture how good the outer case looks in real-life.

Getting the most out of free online file-storage DropBox

Have a pesky habit of losing thumb drives left-and-right? Need to syncronize and backup important files between different desktops? There’s no need to fear, dropbox is here!

WHAT IS DROPBOX?
Dropbox.com is an online website where you can store your files and syncronize them between different computers and mobile-devices. 

 
WHY USE DROPBOX?
It’s one of the best options in online-file storage in terms of ease-of-use
You can have it synchronize files on multiple computers and mobile devices.
You can get 2-8GB for free if you are able to get others to sign up.

WHAT'S THE DOWNSIDE?
It is a limited amount of space to really be able to backup files unless you pay $10/month to get 50GB of space.

HOW DO I GET STARTED?
First, if you use my link to sign up http://db.tt/Vu2B5Ml we will both get an extra 256mb of space (up to 8gb). Signing up is as easy as putting in your name, and password. Install the dropbox software on your computer and move files you want syncronized or backed up the folder (default is Dropbox under your MyDocuments).

HOW DO I GET MORE SPACE FOR FREE?
By running through some hoops and inviting friends to sign up for dropbox you can add additional space to your free account.
1. Use your email contacts. This will send emails to everyone in your email list your link.
2. Send targeted emails. A nicer option than spamming everyone is to email individually.
3. There are a few steps you can do with your social-media sites at https://www.dropbox.com/free. Basically Link to your Facebook and Twitter, send a tweet, and give a small testimonial. These will net you around 500mb of extra space.
4.  A more unscrupulous method would be to email invitations to your own alternate email addresses. Make sure that you install the Dropbox clients for the different accounts on SEPARATE computers. Dropbox won’t  award you extra space if you are using multiple accounts on the same computer.

The one reason to avoid the iPad (for now)

If you love reading eBooks with Kindle or Nook Apps, you need to watch out. Apple is starting to enforce its new subscription/purchasing model. Apple is starting to block apps that don’t allow them to get a 30% cut of things you purchase on the device. The Sony eReader app was one of the first victims in not getting its app approved.

No one is sure whether Barne’s and Noble or Amazon will be willing to share their revenue with apple. And no one is sure if Apple will continue to let Kindle and Nook apps to run on the device in the future if they don’t comply.

What does Amazon and Barne’s and Noble need to do to comply?

They need to reprogram their app a way for iPad users to purchase content directly through Apple. This way, Apple can get their 30% cut.

Amazon is reportedly working on a way to access its ebooks via web browser which would avoid the new pricing structure. Unfortunately, this approach would require you to have a constant internet connection, and would be more sluggish compared to running the ereader app locally.

Why not use Apple’s iBooks App to purchase and read books?

IBook’s selection is lacking compared to Kindle and Nook. Using iBooks may be a good solution for you if you mostly read mainstream and current books.

What does this mean for me as a consumer?

Be wary if you are purchasing an iPad mostly as an eReader. It may happen that Apple makes it more difficult for you to access your ebooks. There’s no doubt that the iPad is still a great device, but it would be disappointing to have to carry an extra Kindle or Nook around just to access your eBooks (although realistically the Nook and Kindle are small enough).

Verizon iphone 4 launch a failure?

Verizon launch a failure?

It does look pretty ridiculous for there to be 20 Apple Employees in the store to applaud 2 people outside during Verizon's launch of the iPhone 4. But there are a couple things to consider:

1. People are locked into their current smartphone contracts whether it’s Verizon or AT&T or any other carrier. Most of the people who want an iPhone already have one (except business customers locked into Verizon).

2. Verizon customers have seen the folly of people trying to get iPhones on opening day. They are more of the business-population, so they know it's probably more efficient to have just pre-order then get them delivered.

3. 4g phones are probably just around the corner, why get locked into a 2 year contract if the 4g version is most-likely coming around the corner?

4. Apple itself didn't make a big deal out of Verizon getting the iPhone. They let Verizon handle the announcement and pretty much sat back in the shadows.

5. It was cold outside! (just throwing that in there).

Will Iphones be replaced by Google Phones?

Google Android Smart-phones may make inroads into the  market, but they will never totally dominate it. Apple is a moving target. Apple has a strong Vision about their products, but they've learned that they need to respond to their competition, as well as to what the marketplace wants.

When Google-phones had multitasking and Apple didn’t, Apple eventually came around and included a decent multitasking response. When Droid did tethering and IPhone didn’t, eventually Apple added a sort-of blue-tooth tethering to the iPhone. Apple has learned from it’s past that a strong vision is good, but tweaking that vision toward what the market wants is better. Apple has done a good job of not staying locked too-far into it’s vision.

Some of the biggest complaints with the IPhone 3G was no video recording, slow processing,not enough memory, no copy-and-pasting, and no multitasking. Those problems are all fixed now with the newest IPhone 4g and the rest of their line-up of iDevices. And even 1st generation of IPhones were able to take advantage of many of the features included in iOS upgrades.

Google android phones may be open source. But they also have some of the failings of other open-source projects like Linux. There’s a ton of different versions out there. There may not be versions like Redhat, Ubuntu etc, but there are Android version 2.2, 1.6, 1.8 etc. A user can’t just update their phone to the latest and greatest Android version, because each phone manufacturer is using the openess of the system to include their own customizations. These customizations sometimes break with an OS update. It’s the responsibility of the Phone manufacturers and carriers to make sure their customizations work. Instead of back programming old phones with new customizations, carriers put their resources into new hardware comes out with the new version of the OS. An Android user basically has to buy a new phone if they want to take advantage of new features.

Buyers feel a little safer knowing that, for the most part, Phones, IPads, and IPod Touches, hold their value better then Google phones. Since Apple is the source of all their hardware, they make  sure that most of the new features of updates work across all their devices.

Without having an enforced unified Operating-System level, some programmers can’t be sure if the proper libraries and API’s will be there to support the Apps that they write. The programmer may include instructions that take advantage of the newest OS, but lo and behold, half the users can’t even update their phones. On the other hand, a programmer may find that his app is broken with a new Operating system update.

The iPhone iOS is bolstered by the fact that every IPod touch and IPad is basically another iPhone (but with less continuous access to the internet). The IPod touch is definitely a gateway product for people getting the IPhone. People buy a IPod Touch while keeping their old phone until they can afford to go to AT&T. Eventually they get sick of carrying around two devices and make getting the IPhone happen.

Google’s advantage is that their phones are cheaper then IPhones. They also have more options in the U.S. markets as far as carriers go. Apple could easily drop the price on their phones and sales would go through the roof. Apple has already just added Verizon as a U.S. Carrier and people are flocking to it.

Without competition between these two rivals, the prices on Smart-phones would still probably be sky-high. If there was no IPhone, we’d still be on our Palm-pilots, PDAs, Treos, and Blackberry’s. If Google-Android didn’t come out, surely we’d still have IPhones that don’t multitask or copy-and-paste. Competition is a good thing.

Apple iPad 2 feature wishlist

The iPad is a near-perfect device, but everything could use improvement. Apple has had great success with the iPad, but they need to keep improving. Android and the rest of the tablet-world is gunning for them. The threat of competition is what has kept Apple on it’s toes in the past. They’ve done a pretty good job so-far, and they shouldn’t let up now.

iPad screen.
Retina display for the iPad. I was skeptical after seeing ‘retina display’ being a new feature on the iPhone. I was  surprised how much better things looked on it when after actually getting the phone, and especially once apps started optimizing for it.

Higher dpi for Touch screen.
I’d like to be able to use a pen for notes and artistic endeavors. The iPad is designed to be used with your finger. Because the resolution is geared toward a fat-finger, you can’t really get great fine-control even with using one of those iPad pens. I’d like the resolution you can get similar to that of using a Wacom input devices. Then an iPad2 could truly replace the need to carry around notepads, help us take better handwritten notes, and help our kids create that next digital painting.

A 7” option.
A 7” iPad2 option that would cover the area between the current iPad and an iPod Touch. The iPad is great, but it always needs to be carried in some sort of bag. A 7” device is right at the edge of being able to sneak into a front-pants pocket or small-purse, along with the functionality of a larger screen than your Iphone. Steve Jobs seems to hate this option. But he usually states that he hates things until Apple comes around with the ultimate solution to that niche.

Memory and Expandability.
Although memory is less of a factor now that many things are streamed, there are times that we aren’t tethered to the internet. These are the times having those extra gigabytes of memory really shine... We all want more memory on our devices for cheaper prices.  Also adding options for external SD cards and USB support would add flexibility and options to the iPad2.

Cameras.
Front and  rear cameras have been added to iPod touches, there’s no doubt that they will be added to the iPad 2.

Native flash support.
Sure, there’s the new Skyfire App, but why leave it to an app to take care of?  Apple itself could support flash natively without all the hocus-pocus involved in getting flash to iOS devices.

Bring back the Lock switch. This isn’t really an iPad  problem, but the 4.2 iOS update to the iPad changed what the physical lock-switch on the side of the device does. It was made into a mute-slider like it is on the iPhone and Touch. There isn’t much functionality for this on the iPad. You now have to go into the multi-tasking interface to deactivate it. It’s just a couple extra swipes, but it can be very annoying when you’re trying to slide it over while the oriention of the screen keeps flipping on you. Hopefully with the iPad2 with iOS update, this could become a screen-orientation lock switch again.

User profiles.
iPads are being shared much of the time between family members. Having a system for separate user-profiles would be a great upgrade. We would have finer control over what our children could do on our iPads. There would also be less fights about different family-members moving icons around and such.

Even more battery life!
Battery life is pretty good on the iPad, but more is always better. Another battery option is that they could stay at the same level of performance and shave more weight off of it. Imagine if they could get a device with the iPad’s level of performance as thin and as light as a Kindle!

Apple should continue to make the iPad2 so good that it becomes the ultimate device to have. Apple does a decent job of giving consumers what they want, but I hope Steve Jobs finds something surprise us with when the iPad2 announcement comes out.  I can’t wait to see what they have in store.

How to Transfer epubs and pdfs to ipad or iphone

You have a shiny new iPad, and you’ve downloaded a bunch of apps and PDFs. Now it’s time to read those bad-boys, but how do you do that? The iPad is a great reader for PDFs and ePub books. One of the nice things about the ipad is that the screen is a good readable size. With its color-screen, touch-interface, and zooming options, it’s also easier to read ePubs, PDFs, and to use than a PC, netbook, or smart-phone.

Sometimes different apps handle pdf’s a little differently. You may get better results with different apps and/or methods. Example, some apps spend time pre-fetching your next page while you are reading. When you load the next page it will load faster than it would be using iBooks.

For the most part, the iPad handles ePub books and pdf files the same. They are both just different types of files to be transferred to, then opened on the iPad. We’ll refer to them as “a file” going forward in this article. Let’s look at some of the options available.

Methods of transferring your files:

1. From your PC and iTunes.
You have your PDF treasures and ebooks all stored in your “My Documents” folder. The easiest way to transfer these is just to drag them from your “My Documents” folder into iTunes. Next sync your device. The files will be stored in the iBooks application by default.

The drawback of the iBooks app is that there’s no good way to organize your articles. IBooks also doesn’t render graphic-heavy pdf’s very well. Sometimes it’s just easiest to use the ibooks app with the iPad if you don’t need the additional features of other pdf-reading apps.

You can also transfer the files with the Apps like Goodreader or Cloudreaders through iTunes. Click on “your iPad” icon in iTunes. Select the ‘Apps’ tab. Toward the bottom on the right side there will be a File Sharing Section. Highlight the App in iTunes, then click the “Add” oval toward the bottom-right. Add your file(s). Your files will be added to your iPad at the next sync.

2. Through email.
Another way to open files is through email. This works great if you have some files you want to send to your iPad but you don’t have one of the cloud-file sharing apps/accounts setup. Just email the attachment from your desktop to yourself, then open it on your iPad. It will open as a PDF in a browser window. From there, if you click on the arrow in the top right corner you can open the PDFwith one of your other apps on your iPad like Cloudreaders, Good Reader, or one of the many other Office Apps available.

3. From the cloud (box.net or dropbox.com)
Storing files on “the cloud” just means using special services to store files on the Internet. You setup a personal account with a service like dropbox.com They give you anywhere from 2-5GB of space for free. The nice thing about these services is you don’t have to be tethered to your PC to get your files (but you will need wi-fi).

Summary of the different transfer methods:
1. Drag the file from your PC into iTunes, then sync your iPad.
2. Use iTunes to sync the files between your computer and the App.
3. Email file to yourself and open on iPad.
4. Open the file directly on your iPad through a cloud-storage app dropbox.com app.