Review: September 2008 Archives
Author: Troy Dreier
Whether you live in New York or if you're just planning a visit, you need to download CityTransit NYC Subway Guide ($2.99) to your iPhone. This must-have app , available here, makes navigating the lines far simpler. It puts the entire subway map at your fingertips, and also delivers timely info, telling you which lines are down because of weekend service interruptions, for example. We also love the GPS connection: the app uses the iPhone's GPS ability to pinpoint your location, then tell you the nearest lines to where you are. With this interactive guide in your pocket, getting around the New York City subway system is almost as easy as hailing a cab.
Author: Troy Dreier
Earthscape, available here at the App Store, offers a curious way to explore the world on your iPhone. See and share what's happening in the world today—down the street or on the other side of the planet. Earthscape is the world's first and only virtual globe app for cell phones. Explore the earth in 3D and view photorealistic image of the planet from any perspective. Users upload their own images to build a shared photographic model of the planet. Glide over maps and view photos geotagged to nearby locations. We love the personal view it adds to maps, showing not only where people live but how they live. It's a fascinating way to get to know the people in any area.
Author: Troy Dreier
If you're only going to buy one game from the App Store, this is the one to buy. It's an online classic and now it's available on the iPhone. We loved testing Bejeweled 2 ($7.99), since it's now enhanced with cool backgrounds and video effects. It feels tremendously responsive and is even more fun than on a computer. Choose from three modes: Classic, Action (timed), and Endless. The settings let you either hear the game's own tense music while playing or hear your own songs. Check out Bejeweled 2 here at the iTunes App Store.
Author: Gerry Blackwell
Apple's iconic iPhone 3G may be the only mobile device you'll ever need - heck, the only device, period. (Until Apple comes out with a 4G version, of course.) The new iPhone, released in July, is available from AT&T for $199 with a two-year voice-data plan ($70 - $130 a month), and from Rogers in Canada for the same price with a three-year plan ($60 - $115). If you bought the original iPhone last year, the new one offers significant inducements to trade up, especially for enterprise users. Chief among them is broadband-speed Web surfing, downloading and e-mail on the mobile network - the new iPhone works on UMTS/HSDPA networks as well as GSM/EDGE, including overseas. If you somehow missed iPhone mania last year or earlier this summer (off the planet perhaps), but you're now in the market for an electronic swiss army knife, this is the deluxe model, but without a deluxe price. It does everything, and most of it well: voice, e-mail (including push), 3G and Wi-Fi Web surfing, music, video, 2-megapixel still and video photography, GPS navigation. And it features a brilliantly designed touchscreen user interface, the hands-down coolest of any smart phone we've seen. What else is new in the iPhone 3G? Improved sound quality - Apple says. Support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, which means secure push e-mail, contacts and calendars for enterprise users. Built-in VPN (virtual private network) with strong two-factor authentication. And access to scores of new applications written by third-party developers, and available at the wildly popular new Apple AppStore. What's not to like about the new iPhone? In truth, very little, although the non-corporate e-mail experience - at least in our testing of a Rogers iPhone - isn't a patch on BlackBerry. The onboard navigation software and GPS is definitely nit-pickable. And the absence of a physical keyboard or keypad does present some constraints. Some of these are more than quibbles, but none comes close to being a deal-killer. Let`s start with the good, though.
The acrylic completely covers the iPhone - back, sides, and front. And you don't have to use a separate film over the touch screen, like the leather or rubber cases. Over the touch screen the case is a special type of plastic so you can use the touch screen without removing it from the case.
I haven't tried dropping the phone in the case, but my guess is that the naked case will offer some protection to both the phone and the glass touch screen.
I had one issue with the case in June - it seems to trap moisture - humidity from the air - between the touch screen and the case. This isn't a big deal, but it seems like there is a "blob" of something on the screen, and that blob sometimes moves around. Whether or not this moisture blob is present depends on your environment. In the humid South, it is often present, but in air conditioning, or when I was in the Northeast on vacation, it wasn't. Not a real problem.
My other concern was whether the acrylic case would scratch. But after 4 months carrying my phone in my pocket the touch screen surface has not, however, the plastic on the back and the sides do. The original beauty of the case is still there, just a few scratches. Lint from my pocket does seem to build up inside the case.
