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Entries in iPhone (4)

Friday

Jan222010

Being Mobile - Smartphone Reflections

Friday, January 22, 2010 at 11:58AM

For the past 3 years I have been using my iPhone alot and more recently my Android smartphone as well. I have pretty reached the point where my I carry only my laptop and my smartphone for work and travel.

The laptop has become my main computing platform for all but my heavy duty tasks. However my smartphone is my main workhorse. I check mail, status updates, send pictures, do documents, read news, listen to music, play games, share information, make calls, watch movies, and make blog posts among many other things. Having owned other smartphones I want to be clear that my iPhone has been hands done the most to change my portable computing habits. I like Android too but it's quite frankly not as slick nor easy to use yet. Both sets of devices are in my opinion far better overall than blackberry or Microsoft phones I have used.

I am amazed at how productive and plugged in I have become thanks to these new devices. They are very user friendly, powerful and flexible than prior generations. Their portability also makes them really attractive since they are lightweight and less bulky than either laptops or netbooks.

Personally and professiionally speaking I am looking forward to the future generations of these devices and how their innovations improve the quality of my professional career.

Altan Khendup |

AT&T Network - A Personal Perspective

Friday, January 1, 2010 at 12:03PM

Since the recent hoopla over the quality of the AT&T network such as the Verizon 3G coverage map and independent lab tests I have been asked a lot by people who have never had service with any other carrier than AT&T my opinion about the recent wave of information.

I have both an Android phone and iPhone. After having used both for me, iPhone wins out in pretty much every category that I need to be honest. I do like Android considering my technical background and there are some nice features of Android but device-wise I love iPhone.

I cannot say the same for the data service. While it has improved over the years, I tend to reliably use WiFi instead of the 3G service. The issue is simple: 3G is just not reliable enough coverage wise. Once I have connectivity, it works great but it is getting it that is a pain. Also I feel that paying for unlimited data which is bad since I am paying top dollar for really poor quality that I have to get from AT&T since a data plan is mandatory with an iPhone, not optional. That's what burns me the most. I pay for the connectivity not the lack of connectivity. At this point in my conversation I get statistics and views about how the iPhone users are heavy data users. That is true but AT&T is also wooing netbook users and ultimately other smartphone/mobile devices that will have similar services. So if they cannot handle the iPhone how in the world are they going to handle additional users from other devices? And if they are "segmenting" based on device, I go back to my fee - why am I paying top dollar for basically low grade service? Throw in the fact that AT&T wants me to curb my use of the iPhone rather than improving makes me even more frustrated.

This entire experience network wise with AT&T is tremendously maddening. I think there are alot of people that would love to a more reliable network especially if it has coverage for the iPhone. This is probably why many analysts see AT&T losing out on their iPhone profitability if that were to happen. In my opinion it is basic market forces, if the customers do not like what they get from AT&T they will attempt to move else where.

So when I talk with my friends I try to steer them towards waiting if they can. If rumors hold true, then in the new year of 2010, there may be better alternatives to the Apple iPhone network providers than AT&T. If not they can always go back to AT&T and hope they live in an area with good coverage or at least coverage enough to justify paying AT&T the data plan price. Personally I tell my friends and colleagues to wait. Maybe at some point in the future, the AT&T network will be more reliable from a typical consumer standpoint.

Altan Khendup |

Google Voice for the iPhone

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 8:06PM

With all the hoopla about the iPhone version of Google Voice I thought it would have been interesting to see what could be possible. For that I managed to track down a good friend of mine with a jailbroken iPhone who installed an application for Google Voice called GV Mobile from Cydia and was willing to show me around.

Interestingly that application installs it's own dialer application. It does not disable the existing iPhone dialer yet it does not seem to integrate with it either. Which in my opinion makes sense in that the application appears to be insuring that it does not tinker with the deep inner workings of the Apple software.

When the dialer is selected it launches like any application with a brief display of the logo...

GV Mobile Splashscreen

Once into the application it resembles the iPhone dialer complete with it's own functions shown in the bottom on the dock; SMS, Call History, Voice mail and application Settings.

GV Mobile Application looks similar to what iPhone users currently experienceAt this point it is important to note that this application is using Google Voice functionality even though the services look the same as the carriers in this case AT&T. The contacts are the same as on the native iPhone so that does not really change anything.

The messaging is still called SMS. And looks and acts the same as the current iPhone messaging application.

GV Mobile's SMS Messaging

You can even still select the individual message and interact with it normally.

Note that since there is no MMS support yet from AT&T, it is not really clear if this functionality will work with MMS messages when they appear. That is something to bear in mind.

GV Mobile still allows you to interact with your message

The call history is similar to the iPhone's current Visual Voice mail; it has a history of calls and voice mail functions.

GV Mobile Displays a Call History

I suspect that in being similar to the iPhone, GV Mobile insures that iPhone users will not suffer through a different UI.

GV Mobile also has similar Visual Voice mail capabilities and UIThe settings are where things are different in that they are specifically designed to be simplified controls for the Google Voice service itself.

GV Mobile Supports Numerous Google Voice Options

You can add the basic logon information, options for the service, and tell the Google Voice service which phone numbers it should forward to and add other ones. Phone changes appear to cascade if you should make changes to the numbers on the Google Voice web application.

GV Mobile also allows Google Voice to call other phonesAside from great features such as free SMS and calling within the continental United States, the transcription service is very nice. It is not always accurate mind you but it is very helpful. Voice mail transcriptions are available in the SMS messaging portion of GV Mobile.

GV Mobile's Voicemail Transcription ServiceTelephone numbers are turned into dialing links so that you can call them back. As can be seen in this heavily edited example, the transcription can be accurate but heavy accents, background noise, or even complications in pronunciation can cause unpredictable translations. However, it is nice in that you can get notified of voice mail that you may have received and quickly look at it if you are unable to listen in.

Since GV Mobile does not displace the native iPhone dialer, making a call with it is reasonably seamless. The only interesting thing about it is that GV Mobile actually calls your cell phone per the settings and you have to answer it if you want to take the call. This is necessary from what I could tell so that the native iPhone dialer can still work in case something should not work with GV Mobile. The settings can be adjusted so that Google Voice does not forward the call to your iPhone if it really becomes annoying.

I have an Android phone which supports Google Voice and does a wonderful job. However it is nice to see what the fuss was all about on the iPhone side. It still appears to be obtainable if you are willing to jailbreak your iPhone which is probably not the majority of iPhone users.

Personally I hope that the entire Google Voice application can find it's way at some point to the iPhone and other mobile phones as well.

Altan Khendup |