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In Time For The Holidays, Etsy On Your iPhone

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Etsy hat

Hipster shoppers, rejoice.  You can do all your Etsy holiday shopping for those one-of-a-kind crafts on your iPhone, or anymobile phone with a proper browser for that matter.  Etsy just launched its iPhone app, along with a new mobile website.

You can browse everything from arty crochet, knitting, and quilts to handmade children’s clothes and jewlery.  Just like on the regular handcrafted marketplace.  Both the iPhone app and the mobile site feature large photos of the items to make visual browsing easy.  You can search by tags, or regular keyword, or browse by category.

The app has some well-thought out social sharing features also. Any item can be shared via Twitter, Facebook, email, or SMS.  The app encourages you to sign in with your Etsy ID so that you can favorite items and add them to your cart.  And of course, you can shop straight from your phone.

The search is actually really deep for a mobile app.  If you search for “hats” for instance, you just keep getting an infinite scroll of new hats (mostly knit hats, for some reason). Then you can filter the search by location (buy local!), price, relevance, or recency.

Etsy sellers can also use the app to manage their shops, see what items are selling, get alerts, and even make minor updates.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/16/holidays-etsy-iphone/

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Stop Making Apps

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Screen Shot 2011-11-12 at 3.10.50 AM

There are a bunch of iPhone apps I own though I have no clue what they do. These apps include but aren’t limited to; FLUD, Apptitude, Cartoonatic, Can’t Wait!, Punch, Pah, Prize Claw, Traveler, Concur, Jajah, Fast Customer, Pimple Popper and many more whose names I can’t even remember.

Occupying my valuable homescreen real estate are also a bunch of apps whose purpose I remember only because they were built by people I know or am friends with, but that I sadly never use. And in some cases I really wish I did, because it would make my friends happy and the world a better place.

The mobile few apps that I actually open daily (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Foursquare, Spotify, Reminders, Safari, Messenger, and Yammer sadly enough) are securely fastened to my homescreen. For those relegated to the “app ghetto” I usually either substitute Google or SMS because I’ve forgotten that I’ve downloaded them and am too lazy to swipe past my first screen.

Dispersed throughout my app ghetto, or the neighborhood ten or so swipe screens past the iPhone homescreen, are things I’ve downloaded for work, apps that people joke about not using (Color,Path), new apps that people are still trying to figure out (Batch, Oink) and perfectly legitimate apps that lend themselves to more casual usage (Uber, Quora, Yelp). And all the apps that fit into one or more of those categories. Oh, and I just bought Camera+ (not to be confused with Camera Plus) — it’s  not homescreen worthy just yet though it might just be the best 99 cents I’ve ever spent.

If I ever want to use an app ghetto app I just use iPhone search (a swipe right) because there are just too many! There should be some sort of app that makes your app ghetto apps disappear if you haven’t used them in a while.

Sure we’ve written before about app fatigue, but it seemingly hasn’t discouraged app makers from continuing to churn out countless useless apps or SocialMobileLocal offerings that would be better suited as sub-features of Foursquare. And it doesn’t look like they’re going to stop anytime soon; Android growth is insane, iOS influence is crazy. Coupled with minimal development costs, you get the fact that the Bump app has 50 million downloads. Yes, Bump, that thing that lets you “bump” contact info over your phone and nobody I know uses.

If Bump’s existence proves anything, it’s that many SoMoLo apps are basically competing with SMS. Why go through another tiresome two-second increment of human communication and exchange your contact info WHEN YOU CAN “BUMP”? YES THERE IS INDEED AN APP FOR THAT.

I realize that asking y’all to stop making apps is a quixotic endeavor (so go ahead and have at me in the comments); 74% percent of you think that the world needs more mobile apps even though we’ve already got over 500K of them with 18 billion plus downloads– on iOS alone.

The app economy is/will be huge and is inexorable, and I don’t want to deprive anyone of the jobs it will eventually create, even though a lot them will be building things that will eventually fail. Oh well. The truth is that if you imagine the homescreen of your phone ten years from now, your favorite apps will be ones that don’t even exist yet. And that’s pretty amazing.

So if you can’t beat them join them. But if you join them I’m going to ask you to consider one thing; rethink the notion of an app versus a service; Stop making apps, or gimmicks, things that don’t solve problems. Don’t build something silly and ill-thought out just because you have a celebrity co-founder and/or lots of investor money that will help you scale initially no matter what.

The truth is that the hardest part is hanging onto that first spike of users, and there is no number of TechCrunch posts about your every-single-decimal point update that will get you there, you actually need to solve a problem – even if that problem is “How the hell do I entertain myself for the next fifteen minutes?”

Focus on building a service not just an app; a service may have an app component — like Spotify, for example — but that app component must only exist to make life easier for the user of your service, exist to add value not just to be cool.

Listen to PG; start with a problem, then let your mind wander just far enough for new ideas to form. It’s pretty simple, solve a problem and focus on solving that problem across as many platforms as you can, even if one of those platforms is an app store.

This whole “solving a problem thing” is why people are liking Batch, even if they’re skeptical at first, because it solves the real problem of, “What do I do with all these random photos on my phone?” Maybe that’s not enough to be a long-term business? Well, at least it’s a start.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/11/start-making-sense/

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The iPhone 4S: Faster, More Capable, And You Can Talk To It

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What does the “S” stand for?

When I ask Apple this, they’re vague in their response. They note that some people say it stands for “Special” or “Super”. Others say it’s for “Speed” — much like the iPhone 3GS, the successor to the iPhone 3G. Or maybe it’s “Storage” (this is the first iPhone with 64 GB option — and with iCloud storage). Or “Sprint” (this is the first iPhone to run on that network in the U.S.) Or perhaps it’s for “Speech” or “Siri”. Either of these last two would get my vote. The point is, the “S” can stand for any number of things depending on who is using the device. Here’s all I know for certain: this is the best iPhone yet.

Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of talk in the blogosphere following the unveiling of the iPhone 4S last week. Some pundits seemed underwhelmed by what was unveiled on stage. “Where’s the iPhone 5?,” many wondered. Arguing over names is silly — Apple could have easily called this device the “iPhone 5″. But I assume they chose not to for the same reason that some actually felt underwhelmed: the iPhone 4S looks exactly like the iPhone 4. Fair or not, if a device looks the same, many will assume it is largely the same.

But that would be selling the iPhone 4S well short. While it does look the same as the iPhone 4, the 4S contains innards that are a significant upgrade over the previous model. The two biggest changes are the faster chip — the A5 over the A4 — and the much-improved camera. Combine those with the new iOS 5 software, and you have what will definitely be a worthwhile upgrade for many users. And when you throw in the amazing new voice-driven “intelligent assistant” Siri, it becomes a no-brainer, in my mind. These are the aspects I’m going to focus on.

The A5

First of all, the iPhone 4S blows away the iPhone 4 when it comes to speed. For the past week, I’ve been testing all of my most-used apps and the differences range from solid to awesome. At first glance, the speed difference may seem subtle. But over time, it adds up and becomes apparent. I would switch back to my iPhone 4 and get frustrated by the lag.

Apps that used to take a longer time to perform a task — applying a filter in Camera+, for example — now work much faster. More generally, every app seems to load quite a bit faster. The best way to see this is to load the Settings app that is built into iOS. On the iPhone 4, it can take up to 3 seconds to load. On the iPhone 4S, it loads in less than a second. And the 4S is faster at switching between apps when multi-tasking.

Better still is the performance boost that games get. Apple showcased Infinity Blade 2 during their demo last week, but the improvements to even less graphic-intensive games is impressive. Apple says that graphics can render up to seven times quicker thanks to the A5.

The Camera

The camera is an even bigger deal to me. As I’ve been following for some time, and Apple noted last week, the iPhone has become the most popular camera in the world if you go by the images uploaded to Flickr. And it’s not even close. This new camera in the iPhone 4S goes above and beyond. And it’s going to push that lead even further.

If the point-and-shoot market wasn’t in trouble before, it will be now.

Much will be made about the upgrade from 5 megapixels to 8 megapixels with the iPhone 4S. But the bigger difference is the engineering behind the new camera. Apple notes with pride that their engineers were able to completely re-architect this tiny camera to produce images that are on par with the nicest point-and-shoots available. They credit five “precision elements” to record incoming light (versus four in the already excellent iPhone 4 camera) and the inclusion of a larger f/2.4 aperture to bring in more light.

I was actually in London last week when I got the 4S. For the trip, I brought my Canon S95, a $400 point-and-shoot which is generally considered to be one of the best. I barely used it. While it still bests the iPhone 4S in low-light settings, for all most other environments, it’s hard to tell the difference. Yes, the S95 is still better, but it’s no longer so much better than it can trump a device that I always have in my pocket with me anyway. Yep, point-and-shoots are screwed. (In case that wasn’t already abundantly clear.)

Also great is that the iPhone 4S camera can shoot 1080p video for the first time. The iPhone 4 is limited to 720p. The 4S also features video stabilization, to ensure your home videos won’t make viewers want to vomit. Testing this out, it seems to work pretty well.

Below, a video taken with the 4S (be sure to switch the embed to 1080p):

Below, an image taken with the 4S (more at the bottom of the post):

iOS 5 & iCloud

Considering that Apple has been talking about iOS 5 for several months now, and developers have been testing it out and showing it off for almost that long, I’m not going to focus on it too much. I too have been using a developer build of iOS 5 for months, and it is without question a worthwhile upgrade. If you have an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, you absolutely need to download it immediately (starting when it’s available tomorrow). With the iPhone 4S, all the new features simply run faster and a little bit more smoothly.

The best addition to iOS 5 is the revamped Notifications system. Yes, it’s a bit like the system that Android and webOS have had for a while, but once again, Apple took their time to make sure they did this right. Gone are the annoying blue pop-ups that would get lost when another notification came in. Now you have a full-on notification center to keep track of everything you miss when you’re away from your phone or simply not in the mood to check it. Again, having used it for a few months now, I’m spoiled. There is no way I could go back to the old system.

Other key new features of iOS 5 including Twitter integration (which we talked about more in-depth here), the new iMessage (SMS killer), Reminders (an Apple-built to-do list), and a faster version of the Safari web browser.

But the biggest change of iOS 5 may be that you can now setup and manage your iOS device without having to use a PC or a Mac at all. When you boot up a new device, a short tutorial walks you through how to enable the services you wish to use, and activate your phone. It’s quick and painless.

You can also now use iCloud to back up your phone and for the don’t-call-it-syncing of your data. iTunes in the Cloud and Photo Stream are great additions for people who simply do not want to manage content through the iTunes desktop software. Apple comes closer to an “it just works” system than anything I’ve seen previously. Regular people will be able to use this.

Siri

All of that sounds great. And these things would be enough to get millions of people to buy an iPhone 4S without any questions asked. But the true killer feature of the device is Siri.

Yes, others have done voice controls before — even Apple has had them baked into iOS for a few years. But most, including Apple’s previous attempt, have been awful. Others, like Google’s voice services built into Android, are decent. Siri is great.

In the coming weeks and months, we’re going to hear: “both fill-in-the-blank-Android-phone and the iPhone 4S have voice control functionality”. But that’s like saying both Citizen Kane and BioDome are films. True on paper. Decidedly less true when you have to actually experience them.

You really have to use it yourself to see just how great Siri actually is. Using it for the past week, I’ve done everything from getting directions, to sending emails, to sending text messages, to looking up information on WolframAlpha, to getting restaurant recommendations on Yelp, to taking notes, to setting reminders, to setting calendar appointments, to setting alarms, to searching the web. The amount of times Siri hasn’t been able to understand and execute my request is astonishingly low. I’ll say something that I’m sure Siri won’t be able to understand, and it gets it.

Also awesome: when I first tried out the service in London, Siri was set to UK English. It didn’t understand a word I was saying. The Apple reps couldn’t figure out what was going on. But a quick change of the settings had it working perfectly. Siri understands accents as well.

A number of folks have written that while Siri looks good, it seems like a feature that gives good demo but won’t actually get used. I disagree. I think this is a feature that will sell the device. And I think all of Apple’s rivals will have to act quickly to counter it. We’ve all seen the science fiction television shows and films where people talk to their computers like human beings and the computer understands them. That future is now.

Further, I do believe Siri has a real shot at disrupting the stranglehold Google has on mobile search. No one is going to beat Google at their own game, but with Siri, Apple has a way to change the game. Right now, just Yelp and Wolfram Alpha are partners. But this is just a first release of Siri — it’s actually in “beta”. Just imagine what will happen when Apple partners with other services to expand Siri further. And imagine when they have an API that any developer can use. This really could alter the mobile landscape.

To activate Siri, you simply hold down the home button for a couple seconds (similar to the old voice controls). Or there’s a setting you can turn on so that when you bring your iPhone 4S up to your ear, it will activate Siri. Obviously, if you’re on a call, it knows not to do this.

The one downside of Siri: because it uses server-side software to decipher what you’re saying (likely using Nuance-licensed technology), you have to be connected to the Internet in order for Siri to work. But that shouldn’t be an issue in most circumstances.

Before you ask: no, Siri will not be available as part of the iOS 5 upgrade for other devices. It will be an iPhone 4S-only feature. Apple is vague as to why this is, but they do say that part of it has to do with processing power. I also asked about the possibility of Siri coming to the iPad 2 (which has the same A5 chip) — I was told that for now, Siri will be iPhone 4S only.

“So”

Those are the key elements on the iPhone 4S, in my mind. Each of them makes the iPhone 4S a worthy purchase in their own right. But it’s Siri that really puts it over the top.

As for upgrades, it’s a tougher call. If you already have an iPhone 4 and still have time left on your two-year contract, it will be a pricey decision to upgrade to an iPhone 4S — especially since you’ll get the iOS 5 features (again, minus Siri) as an upgrade for free. If either speed or the camera are of the utmost importance to you, you should upgrade. If not, go to an Apple Store and see for yourself just how cool Siri is and then decide.

If you’ve had an iPhone 3GS and have been waiting a couple years for the next iPhone to come out, now’s the time to upgrade. If you’re worried just because this is not called the “iPhone 5″ , you’re being foolish.

If you’ve never owned an iPhone before and the 4S will be your first one, you’ll love it. I suspect that millions of Verizon and Sprint customers in the U.S. are going to be in this bucket.

As a bonus: the one issue I’ve had with my Verizon iPhone 4 is that it’s basically useless in much of the rest of the world (which uses GSM, not CDMA). But the iPhone 4S is both GSM and CDMA compatible. Even if you’re a Verizon (or Sprint) customer, you can take it overseas and use it there (for an undoubtedly large carrier fee).

As for battery life, the 4S seems solid. That’s impressive given the faster processor. I would get about 7 hours in heavy usage over mainly 3G on any given day. If I was only on WiFi, more. Apple’s own specs do note that standby battery time has decreased a bit, but it’s not something I noticed enough to make note of.

Leading up to last week’s event, like everyone else, I kept reading the rumors about a new iPhone with a larger screen and completely different form factor. Quite frankly, I was hoping they were wrong. (For the record, I stated that I heard the screen size rumor was wrong weeks ago.) The iPhone 4′s design is the pinnacle of smartphone design in my opinion. I simply could not imagine how they could alter it to make it better. Even making it thinner would mean that it wouldn’t fit as nicely in your hands for taking pictures. Android fanboys are going to love that statement.

I’m happy that Apple decided not to change the form factor even though they had to know there would be some backlash from a certain segment of the population (read: idiots). Instead, Apple focused on the other thing they do best: refining already great products to make them better. The iPhone 4 was a great product. The best smartphone ever made. Now it cedes that title to the iPhone 4S.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/11/iphone-4s-review/

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Should iPhone 3GS owners upgrade to iOS 5? (Ask Maggie)

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But at the same time, new software updates promise all kinds of cool new features. And Apple’s iOS 5 is no exception. So it makes sense that iPhone 3GS users, who aren’t ready to upgrade to the iPhone 4S, would want to update their phones with the new software. But can two-and-a half year old iPhone 3GS handle the new software? In this week’s Ask Maggie, I address this very issue.

I also offer some good news to an AT&T smartphone customer about keeping his inexpensive text messaging plan when he upgrades to the iPhone 4S.

Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers’ wireless and broadband questions. The column now appears twice a week on CNET, offering readers a double dosage of Ask Maggie’s advice. If you have a question, I’d love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put “Ask Maggie” in the subject header. You can also follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.

To update or not update?

Dear Maggie,
I have an iPhone 3GS. I’m not eligible for an upgrade until the spring. And then I think I’ll probably get the iPhone 4S. But for now I’ve got to hold onto my 3GS. My question is whether or not I should update my software now to iOS 5 so I can start enjoying some of the new features like iMessage and iCloud. Or should I just not do anything. I know in the past people have had trouble with updates. And I can’t afford to screw up my phone too badly since I still need it for the next six months. What should I do?

Thanks,
James

Dear James
This is a great question. But it’s a tricky one to answer. As you noted, previous iOS upgrades have not gone smoothly for some people who had older hardware. CNET Reviews Mobile section editor Kent German said that when iPhone 3G users first upgraded to iOS 4.0, many noticed the phone slowed down and the new software drained the battery. Some of this was corrected via bug fixes from Apple, but it took a while.

Find My FriendsiOS 5′s Find My Friends is visually compelling and simple to use.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

“It was a painful experience for some,” he said.

Apple says that the new iOS 5 software is fine for iPhone 3GS devices. The software has been out less than a week, and there are complaints from some users.The biggest issue I’ve heard from people is regarding battery life. One iPhone 3GS user vents his frustration on an Apple message board:

“Upgraded my 3GS to iOS5 on Wednesday and now it runs out of battery after about 6 hours with no use, 4 hours or less with occasional email use. Had to recharge it 3 times yesterday, and after 4 hours today…Never had these issues until this upgrade.”

And another user said:

“Same for me 4 hours from 100% to 16% with no use iphone 3Gs”

It’s hard to pinpoint the culprit, but people responding on the message board who initially had a similar problem explained that resetting the email and turning off certain functions, such as GPS location services, Bluetooth, push notifications, and iCloud back-up may help fix the problem. Also, if battery life is an issue in general, you may consider reducing the brightness of the screen on your device and turning off Wi-Fi when you’re not at home or near or a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Still, even when you turn off all these options, some people say the OS is still a bit sluggish post iOS 5 upgrade.

That said, the phone is still functional after the upgrade, even if the battery life is diminished and performance is slightly affected. What this means for you is that you have to balance these potential pitfalls with what you’ll be getting in exchange. Keep in mind that that this software update is a big one. The new iOS 5 has more than 200 updates. Some of these new features are not necessarily a big deal. But there are enough enhancements that are worthwhile that you may not want to wait until you upgrade to the iPhone 4S. And unlike the previous iOS update, which actually did not offer too many enhancements for iPhone 3G users, almost all the features in the iOS 5 update will function on the older iPhone 3GS, as well as the newer devices.

You mentioned a couple of these features already in your question. The ones that I think are most interesting are the rejiggered notification screen, which gives you a pull down menu for all your notifications so they are not just popping up on the screen.

I also really like the upgraded camera and photo apps. Now you can pinch the page to zoom in and you can even take a picture by clicking the volume button. You can also edit pictures right on your phone, such as removing red-eye and enhancing the color. While these are not earth shattering enhancements, they’re incremental improvements, which make using the camera on your iPhone a little easier.

I’m also pretty excited about the iMessage function that will allow you to send text messages, photos, videos and contacts to other iOS users on iPhones, iPads or iPhone Touch devices. And I like the wireless syncing for iTunes and the ability to get over-the-air software updates.

If you do decide to upgrade, keep in mind that things can go wrong. And if you’re a few minor updates behind on your device, there’s more of a chance that the software will get hung up when you try to update. That’s why it’s very important that you backup up your iPhone before you begin updating the software. (To do that you simply plug in your phone to iTunes and sync it.) That way, if something goes wrong, you can completely wipe the device and start from scratch. And you’ll be able to reload it with everything you originally had on your phone.

Also, keep in mind that when a big software update like this comes out, app developers will also be releasing new versions of their apps. So you may have to update your apps or even re-download some of them. If it’s an app you paid for already, the App Store will recognize that have already bought the app, and you won’t be forced to pay again.

So what should you do? It really depends on how badly you want these new features. I haven’t heard of iPhone 3GS users having such terrible problems that their phones no longer work. But you may be forced to charge your phone more often. And there may be times when it isn’t as quick. If you can live with these inconveniences, then go for it. Otherwise, you may want to keep things the same and enjoy all the new features when you eventually upgrade to the iPhone 4S. The problem is that once you upgrade, it’s hard to revert back to older versions of the software. It’s not impossible, but it’s not easy.

Good luck.

 

Are AT&T text messaging plans grandfathered too?

 

Dear Maggie,
I know AT&T is allowing people with unlimited data plan to keep those plans when they upgrade to the iPhone 4S, but what about the older messaging plans? I signed up with AT&T in 2008 and have the old unlimited data plan that costs $5 a month for 200 messages. I normally use up only 100 to 150 messages a month. I think it was earlier this year that AT&T went to the all or nothing messaging service. Either you don’t get any messaging or you pay $20 for unlimited messaging. If I upgrade to the iPhone 4S, will I also be grandfathered to my old messaging plan? Or will I have to pay an extra $15 a month for the unlimited messaging plan just for the privilege of having an iPhone 4S?

Thanks,
Phil

Dear Phil,
I have some good news for you. I contacted an AT&T representative about your question. And she said that you should be able to keep your $5 text messaging plan that gives you 200 text messages per month when you upgrade to the iPhone 4S. So you won’t have to give up anything.

Just like with the unlimited data plan, this older text messaging plan will be grandfathered in. If you change your cell phone plan and get rid of the $5 deal, you won’t be able to get it back. But if you’re simply upgrading your plan, you should be able to get all the same pricing on these services that you had been getting under your previous contract.

As you pointed out in your question, AT&T eliminated its lower tiers of text messaging in August. So now the $5 a month 200 message plan and the $10 a month 1000 message plan, no longer exist. Instead, new customers are forced to either pay for every incoming and outgoing text, which is 20 cents a pop. Or they can sign up for the unlimited text plan for $20 a month.

It will be interesting to see how the SMS text market evolves if apps like iMessage gain in popularity. iMessage is a feature built into iOS 5, which will allow people to text message, send pictures and videos and share contacts to other people using an Apple product running iOS such as an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The service is free, because it goes over an Internet connection instead of a carrier’s SMS text network.

Microsoft, which bought Internet phone giant Skype and group messaging serviceGroupMe, is also likely to add messaging features into its Windows Phone software. Research In Motion’s BlackBerry also has a similar service that is very popular, called BlackBerry Messenger. And there are several third party apps that allow people to bypass carrier text messaging.

But wireless operators, which generate more than $20 billion in revenue each year from text messaging, are doing what they can to keep that revenue stream alive. And this is likely why AT&T eliminated the lower tier of text service.

To some degree, customers will be stuck with using some carrier text messaging services because it’s the only messaging service today that doesn’t require a special app and can be used on any cell phone using any software operating system on any carrier network. Apple’s iMessage is limited to Apple devices. And BlackBerry’s BBM service is limited to the BlackBerry. Other third party apps that offer mobile messaging require that users have that app loaded on their phones.

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Funny SMS 30

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