The Brooks Review

Author: Ben Brooks

  • Apple store Bellevue

    As of an hour ago.

  • Dropbox Adds Ability to Create a Shareable Link to Any File in Your Account

    Simon Mackie:

    File sharing and syncing service Dropbox has just released a great new feature: The ability to create a link to any file or folder in your Dropbox account. People following the link will be taken to a specially designed landing page that allows them to view or play your shared files right from their browser, and the links are ready-shortened; perfect for sharing via Twitter — here’s an example: http://db.tt/6LZQjh.

    Sweet.

  • Line Update

    Store just opened i am in spot 130 in the non-reserved line. Not feeling too confident I will get one.

  • Ars reviews the HTC EVO 4G

    Ryan Paul:

    It’s clear that smartphone makers still haven’t found the sweet spot for large form-factor handheld devices. Simply increasing the size of the screen is not a recipe for building a better phone. The handset makers need to adopt higher resolutions for large displays so that the additional physical space consumed by the screen will actually translate into extra viewable area.

    Battery life still sucks – FYI.

  • iMovie for iPhone 4 is now available

    I will be downloading that shortly.

  • In line at Apple Store Bellevue, WA

    Got here at 5:30a line is long. Don’t think I’ll get the phone for my wife. Going rate for front of the line spots is $100 right now.

  • Watch Verizon Squash Attempts to Film the Droid X Next to the iPhone 4

    This is pretty funny. I don’t blame them for stopping the direct comparison, but they could atleast give a clear explanation. Instead of coming up with random stuff off the top of her head she could have just said, “Given the event that we are at we would like the focus to remain on the Droid X and not on the iPhone – we would appreciate it if you did not do a side by side comparison here. You are welcome to do that once you get a Droid X from your office.” Instead of the crap lines that were given.

  • Droid X vs. iPhone 4 (In Pictures)

    Just look at the size difference, then tell me which one you want in your pocket.

  • Initial iPhone 4 Thoughts

    I got my iPhone 4 at Noon on 6/23/10 since then here is what I am thinking about Apple’s latest gadget.

    • The form factor, being squared instead of round, is very different. Personally I love it, but it won’t be for everyone. The size is also significantly smaller than the iPhone 3G S and it really shows. I have noticed it is impossible for me to squeeze the phone between my shoulder and ear when on a call (I am able to with the 3G S) when I am wearing a collared shirt. This size change is most noticeable when you put the iPhone in your pocket, which is a welcome change for all smartphone users.
    • The flash is nice, but is limited in its usefulness. I have found that it is great so far for macro shots of text, they come out much sharper than without the flash.
    • The video and camera are far superior, and will prove to be one of the best reasons to upgrade to this phone.
    • That screen, wow it really is amazing. The text is so damn sharp – it seriously looks amazing, if you don’t believe me go to an Apple store or find a friend with an iPhone 4 and take a look at it for yourself. Open up the text messages or email and look at the text, bar none.
    • Reception is spotty in my office and a regular AT&T dropped call zone (not very cool). In the limited time I have had with the iPhone 4 I have noticed that it gets far more bars at my desk (previously got 1-2 bars now gets 3-4 bars), this is most likely a 3G versus EDGE decision it is making – but I’ll take it.
    • Call sound quality thus far is much different from the 3G S. To me it sounds cleaner, and deeper than it did before. My wife tells me that I sound like I am in an isolation booth (when I am sitting in my office), almost like I am in a bathroom – which I am not sure if that is good or bad. Time will tell what the difference really is – but for now there is a difference.
    • App installations seem much quicker. I installed a few new apps after getting the phone up and running and the installation part (not the downloading part) seems very fast in comparison.
    • Non-optimized iPhone Apps are clear as day – not in a good way. The icons for apps that have not been readied for the higher resolution screen look fuzzy and really are annoying to use. The text is still sharp, as are the Apple UI elements, stray from those and you get a fuzzy view reminiscent of the 3G S’ screen.
    • All I can say about the battery life thus far is that it has a battery. Reports say it is amazing, stay tuned on that front.
    • The iPhone 4 feels about 10 times stronger the my old 3G S that has several cracks in the plastic casing.
    • The fact that there is no light to let me know when the front facing camera is on bugs me, if I am in an app and that front camera turns on, I want to know about it. It isn;t like I can flip the phone over and know that no camera can see what is going on – cameras on both sides prevent this. Don’t get me wrong I love the front facing camera, up until a hacker figures out how to activate it.

  • FaceTime and the iPod Touch

    John Gruber:

    More importantly, you don’t need to initiate a FaceTime call using a voice call. You can start the call using FaceTime directly, in which case the entire process takes place over IP networking. The advantage to starting with a voice call is that you’ll get a voice connection even if the recipient isn’t on Wi-Fi at the moment.

    Read the whole piece, this is really interesting.

  • Braving the crowd: Getting an iPhone 4 without a reservation

    Check – see you guys there tomorrow.

  • Verizon Pushes 10 Gbps Through Fiber Network

    Wow, that is awesome.

  • iPhone 4 Has Arrived

    After a lot of waiting this morning I came back to my office and found a new iPhone 4 sitting on my desk. I have it all setup and expect more thoughts tomorrow.

    Also I will be waiting in the Bellevue, WA Apple Store line tomorrow starting around 5:30a to try and get one for my wife – be sure to stop by and say hi.

  • The Kindle won

    John Biggs:

    The Kindle App has made the Kindle “device” a obsolete for many early adopters.

    I can tell you that for me, if there was no Kindle app for the iPad I would not have given my Wife my Kindle. It is not the device for me, I just don’t want to lose the books I already purchased.

  • Over-the-Air vs Wi-Fi Syncing: Looking at Things & OmniFocus for iPhone

    One of the biggest requirements I also have for iPhone apps is to make sure the app provides some way of Over-the-Air Syncing (OTA). For the past year I have been settled on using OmniFocus for task management because it synced using MobileMe OTA to my Mac. When I found out about SimpleNote that also had OTA syncing I immediately switched from Evernote to it. ((Evernote does sync OTA, but I hate the look of the app both on the Mac and iPhone))

    Recently I made the switch from OmniFocus to Things – the primary reason being that there has been no OmniFocus for the iPad. ((This is something I find to be unacceptable and has really pissed me off. They even missed their tentative ship deadline of this month.)) Things syncs between the Mac and iPhone/iPad clients using Wi-Fi only ((you have to be on the same Wi-Fi network to get this to work. You also can’t sync between iPhone and iPad without a Mac involved.)) which had been one of my major points of contention with the app.

    I have been using Things now for about 3 weeks and could not be happier. There is maybe one time during the week when I miss OTA syncing – the rest of the time it is never an issue. Especially when I take into account the speed that Things syncs with my Mac, in just a few seconds it is synced – where most OTA syncs take 10-30 seconds each. ((based on my experience in using OmniFocus and Simplenote on Wi-Fi or 3G networks.))

    That Got Me Thinking

    This past weekend I began asking myself just how important OTA syncing is compared to Wi-Fi syncing. My conclusion: it depends. ((weak I know)) What it really depends on is what type of data you are syncing – how you are using that data. For things like task management apps the only reason to want it to sync OTA is so that you can sync if you forgot to before you leave your main computer. Other than the occasional forgetfullness there really is no difference between OTA and Wi-Fi syncing with task management apps.

    This line of thinking lead me to the conclusion thatOTA syncing only becomes crucial on stuff that you rarely use – or that you don’t use on one device when you are using it on another. Think about how lame it would be if the Dropbox iPhone/iPad app only did Wi-Fi syncing – that would make it a useless program. ((No one wants to keep all that data on their mobile device if they don’t have to.)) Think about notes applications where you type a new note on your Mac and grab your phone to leave our office – rarely do you prefer to type in a note on your iPhone when you have a computer at hand. This is not the case I have with task management apps (perhaps I am in the minority) – I find that I use the device closest to me to enter a new task regardless of where I am.

    Given that I spend a lot of time in task management apps on all three of my devices ((iPad, iPhone, Macbook Pro)) I rarely leave my main computer without an up to date copy of Things on my devices. It also helps that if I just leave Things open on each device they sync automatically, thus staying up to date with little involvement from me.

    The Future

    This is all inconsequential to most people, but moving forward I would suspect that most app developers use the cloud in some form to make OTA syncing the default – as it should be. For now though don’t be shy to use a program that only offers Wi-Fi syncing, there are a lot of great ones out there – you don’t want to miss out. ((Things for example))

  • iPhone 4 Arriving A Day Early: Apple’s Way Of Messing With New Droid Launch?

    Dan Frommer:

    Is this Apple’s way of messing with Verizon Wireless’s, Motorola’s, and Google’s new Droid launch event, scheduled for Wednesday in New York?

    It is uncharacteristic move on Apple’s part to let people get the iPhone’s a day early. I am not saying this is the reason why they are doing it, but I can hope.

  • Apple Makes It Easy To Opt Out of iAd Slurping Up Your Personal Details

    Apple is batting .500 today on privacy issues.

  • Adobe Launches Flash 10.1 For Mobile

    Stan Schroeder:

    Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that users will actually be able to install it right away. Flash 10.1 will be immediately available for phones using Android 2.2 (or Froyo), but that version of Android hasn’t been deployed to devices yet.

    It’s almost like saying here is the keys to the car you will buy in five months.

  • Counter Point on Marco Arment’s ‘Rambling about Verizon’

    Marco Arment said this morning:

    Every month without a Verizon iPhone costs Apple dearly in marketshare and mindshare. The longer they wait, the lower their chances to reclaim the difference.

    I’m guessing a CDMA Verizon iPhone will be available within 6 months.

    While I don’t 100% disagree with the thought that Apple will release a Verizon iPhone (6-months seems too soon to me though) – I 100% disagree with Arment’s notion that Apple needs Verizon in order to maintain market and mind share. All Apple needs to increase their market/mind share in the U.S. is to not be AT&T exclusive.

    I would think that as soon as Apple legally can we will see the iPhone on T-Mobile. The network is relatively the same as AT&T’s and iPhones have been working on T-Mobile for quite some time now. ((Source)) Just getting the iPhone on T-Mobile is going to win over a ton more people – those that just hate AT&T.

    It would be at this point when Apple will be in hard negotiations I would guess with both Sprint and Verizon. Apple most likely wants the iPhone on all major U.S. carriers – I think Verizon is putting up a little bit of a stink, wanting control of the product. This is where Sprint comes in, should Verizon not be willing to capitulate to Apple at this point I would look for Apple to take the iPhone to Sprint. Sprint and T-Mobile need the iPhone more than Apple needs them.

    T-Mobile has not had a ‘must have’ phone since the Google G-1, and Sprint has the HTC EVO, but it is getting hammered in the reviews. ((Mainly for poor battery life, the rest of the phone seems to be great by most peoples accounts.)) All this means is that it would be easy for Apple to get either carrier to do their bidding, or at least easier than it is to get Verizon to do so. ((Based off the success of the DROID line of phones.))

    Either way, I think T-Mobile is the next carrier not Verizon.

  • Apple also Sent me This

    I also received this note from Apple on the order for my Wife’s iPhone:

    Dear Customer,

    We were unable to complete the authorization process for your iPhone order. As
    a result, we had to cancel your iPhone order. To complete the purchase of your
    iPhone, please visit an Apple Retail Store or an AT&T company-owned retail
    store.

    This was not good news – it explains why Apple cancelled her iPhone order. I ordered this on my Alaska Airlines Bank of America card, which as of right now has an available credit limit of $12,500 – which is still apparently not enough for them to allow me to buy an iPhone 4. Now this is clearly a screw up on Bank of America, but instead of it being no big deal I get to wake up at 5a and go stand in a pre-order line – assuming I get my iPhone on the 23rd.

    (For those curious I paid for my iPhone with my business card – a perk for sure as it always is approved.)