Comments on: iPhone, the cat among the pigeons

By: chrsfrwll

chrsfrwll — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:17:36 +0000

James: I get The Times ePaper. Not a dedicated app as such and viewed via Safari but it is in the same format as the paper version but formatted for mobile access. So I can read all the sections and magazines as if it was the physical paper, with all the pictures etc.. Would prefer the ability to download the whole in one hit and have it stored on the iPhone but they’re not quite ready for the iPhone version yet. Still, it’s not that bad as it is, just means I need network to read it. It works well enough over 2G networks.

By: James Burland

James Burland — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:59:35 +0000

Gerry: I’m the same, I only really fire up the MacBook of an evening if I’m creating content, some things (video editing come to mind) are obviously better suited to a full sized computer… but for how much longer.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the reason we have no video capture on the iPhone yet is because Apple are working on iLife 09 for Mobile OSX. iMovie for iPhone? Could happen.

For me, the big change from iMovie HD to iMovie 08 was a sign of things to come, it is much more geared towards quick on-the-fly editing and via less precise controls. Just a thought.

By: James Burland

James Burland — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:53:37 +0000

Chris: Unlimited data is certainly a game changer, in much the same way as it was for landline net access, although here in the UK at least the fair use policies are still a pain.

What ‘daily paper’ app do you use, or is it via the Web browser?

By: Gerry

Gerry — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:58:17 +0000

Personally I do prefer the cheaper ones – My Trains lite, and OnBox.TV – which no longer seems to be working right …

I hate to admit it but the iPhone has stopped me switching on my laptop most nights, mainly for chat (palringo) and a few other apps!

By: chrsfrwll

chrsfrwll — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:08:42 +0000

Yep, tend to agree with you to a degree, although I think, to be fair, my use of the “mobile” internet first started to change with the N80, where I used email and web fairly extensively in place of a laptop, evolved with the N95, with a better web experience (opera mini was great) and ftp, though to be fair (again) I was using ftp on my (now very) old 9500 before even the N80. Now with the iPhone evolvution has moved up a gear and everything has become so much easier, although as is well known, several functions have had to slip by the wayside.

I’m a MyRail Lite user and like you describe with Trains, my daily train commute has become a better experience through a couple of dabs of the iPhone screen, a few seconds of screen-loading and then a full breakdown of FGW’s abject failure to run a train on time.

Facebook is another example (to my shame). I never really used it when it was on my laptop but now, with it on my phone I’m able to gain instant access to all my friends activities. Thankfully I’m spared the finer points of Facebook’s pokes, snowball throwing and other such activities but it’s good to see the status updates, chat and upload/see photos.

NetNewsWire, BeejiveIM, MobileFiles (for access to my iDisk), Maps (with Google search – brilliant), TV Plus (as you mention), eBay, iBlogger, ShoZu (although I had that on my N95, it has become a better app on the iPhone) and Pro Football (for keeping up with the Eagles – good win over the Giants last Sunday!) have all become essential tools in my daily hook up to the internet. I even get my daily paper on my iPhone now (and for considerably less than the conventional paper version.

Thank goodness for unlimited data. But wasn’t it said, a while back and possibly by SL on AAS, that once the network providers woke up to the idea of unlimited data, the mobile platform would take off?