MobileViews Blog

Category: iPod

Apple iPod products

  • The iPod touch Paradox: It is Easier to Control a non-touch iPod by Just Touch

    The funny thing about the iPod touch is that I use it for everything except listening to music and podcasts. Why? Touch devices like the iPod touch and Pocket PC are two-handed devices. Both require you to cradle it one hand and manipulate it with the other. Non-touch iPods, like non-touch Windows Mobile smartphones, are designed from the ground up to be one-handed devices. I can adjust the volume, go backwards and forwards through a song list, pause or play on a non-touch iPod without looking at the navigation wheel. This is pretty much impossible for me on the iPod touch.

    I’m heading to Seattle to attend the Microsoft Global MVP Summit next week. And, I was just debating whether to take an iPod video or iPod touch with me. Yeah, it would be more P.C. to take a Zune, but as I’ve mentioned here before, it takes forever to get video podcasts and other video files on the 1st generation Zune. And, I’m planning to catch up on a bunch of video podcasts on the flights to and from SeaTac. I’ll probably take the iPod touch to get a better video viewing experience. But, I really wish Apple had an iPod touch with a navigation wheel to provide tactile feedback.

  • Website Exploit Can Freeze or Crash iPhone/iPod touch

    According to CNET… A new exploit will either lock up your iPhone or iPod Touch or crash your Safari browser on your PC or Mac OS desktop if you simply visit a maliciously coded Web site.

    Web code locks up iPhones and iPod Touch

    The current workaround is to disable Javascript in the Safari brower. Yuck. CNET’s article provides the 4-step process to disable JavaScript.

  • Linkedin Mobile Looks So Much Better on an iPhone/iPod touch

    Linkedin Mobile on iPod touch and T-Mobile Dash

    Linkedin is the latest big social network site to mobile enable itself. You can find the mobile friendly site at…

    mobile.linkedin.com

    It would have been nice if they adopted the “m.” prefix to reduce the amount of tapping on a small keyboard or screen. But, oh well…

    The real story here though is that once again the barebones display designed for WAP-ish devices like Windows Mobile that can’t deal with a rich web site design looks horrible compared to the much richer iPhone/iPod touch version. You can probably figure out which is which in the photo above. One is an iPod touch. The other is a T-Mobile Dash Windows Mobile 6 smartphone (amateur edition).

  • iFrogz Vibez: The Little Speaker That Could

    iFrogz Vibez

    I bought this little Vibez speaker from iFrogz on a whim during their post-holiday sale period. It listed for $34.99. I bought it for $19.99. And, it currently lists on their site for $24.95. This thing is not going to give your high-end or even decent portable speakers any competition. However, despite its relatively low-fidelity, it sounds ok for what it is: A tiny speaker that works with anything that has a mini-plug headphone jack. I often use it to listen to podcasts when I am roaming around a room (I hate wearing headphones or earphones). The USB plug is used to charge the integrated rechargeable batteries. The charge seems to last darn near forever. I think the last time I charged it was sometime in mid-January. You can squeeze it down in size for carrying around. But, I don’t want to stress that plastic pleated mid-area. And, it is small enough to easily carry around even in the expanded state you see in the photo. Personally, I think music sounds ok on it too. It obviously has no bass range to speak of. But, it is fine for un-nuanced music. A mobile thumbs up for this little speaker.

  • iPhone Searches on Google 50x More Than Other Phones

    Saw a reference to this on the AppleInsider site and followed the link to…

    Google homes in on revenue to phones

    …The key quote from the article that AppleInsider pointed out is: Google on Wednesday said it had seen 50 times more searches on Apple‘s iPhone than any other mobile handset, adding weight to the group’s confidence at being able to generate significant revenues from the mobile internet. I guess this means we’ll see even more cool web services and sites designed specifically for the iPhone (and as a side effect the iPod touch) while Windows Mobile and other smartphone platforms will have to be happy with WAP text sites and CSS-ed reformatted pages.

    You know, I think it was around 11 years ago that Charles Fitzgerald told Bill Gates that Microsoft needed to focus on the web (I was a contractor for MSN at the time, btw). I hope there is someone like that over at Microsoft now pointing out that they need to focus on the mobile web now.

  • OEDb: 100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better

    I don’t know anything about the OEDb (Online Education Database) site. But, someone associated with them pointed out this useful looking iPod resource…

    100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better

    I thought it looked useful enough to spread the word. The resources are categorized as study guides, podcasts, tutorials, applications, tools ad sites, iTunes U, and other groupings that make it easy to hunt around the long list.