MarcForrest.com

Category: iPhone

  • Weekly app Review – 1 Nov

    I was away last week, so didn’t get round to posting my weekly review. While I was away I acquired a new iPhone 3Gs. So now I can try out all the AR apps that are available. I am a big big fan of navigational stuff, so the compass app on the 3Gs, is also pretty awesome.

    Layar Reality Browser (Free)

    This is an awesome app. Augmented Reality is set become the next big thing. But what is Augmented Reality ? Well in a nutshell, we will using mobile devices in the future to tell us about things/people/objects around us. So for example. You sitting in Paris, you hold your phone up to the Eifel tower, with Layar app running. The app will then give you all the information about the tower, show you pictures people have taken etc. It will also show you other points of interest around you. I have used it to show me pictures people have taken around me. All in all a very cool app, with loads of potential. If you have a 3Gs, just get it :)

    Pano ($2.99)

    I know I have mentioned this app before, but it is really one of my top apps on my phone. I cannot wait to see how the 3Gs Camera will work with this one, and some of the Pano shots I get.
    Last week when I was in Cape Town, I managed to get a stunning shot of the Sunset from the Blue Peter hotel in Blouberg.

    Cape Town sunset pano

    ArminOnly ($7.99)

    The price on this one may put you off a bit, but I can guarantee you it is well well worth it. This is the full “DVD” set of Armin van Buuren 9 (NINE) hour set recorded live in Utrecht, The Netherlands. It is seriously insane, and has some some awesome video. It makes me want to daaaance :)If you are an Armin van Buuren fan, then I highly suggest this app.

  • Portfoolio iPhone App

    4The team from immedia have released their latest their iPhone app offering called Portfoolio. The app is allows you to track your share portfolio from the JSE and get real time pricing and stats and notifications.

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    I have been using this app for the last couple of months, and I can honestly say this is by far one of the best apps to come out of South Africa yet. The information is pretty much real time, and allows you to import your full share portfolio from a number of sites, such as Fin24.com or Sharenet.

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    Portfoolio tracks equities, indicies, unit trusts and Single Stock futures. You can also take a quick glance at a ticker which shows the current price of  the shares in your portfolio, which shows you a red or a green figure depending on the movement of the stock.

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    The app also has a feed for SENS news alerts, as well as real time push notifications should your share drop below a specified percentage, as well as push notifications for the SENS alerts.

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    You can download Portfoolio from the app store here -> http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=333260218&mt=8

  • Weekly app Review – 18 Oct

    I haven’t come across any groundbreaking or extra cool apps this week in the app store, so I thought I would go back and look at some of my most used apps on my iPhone. I use these almost everyday for something different, and they are all winners on my 2nd page :)

    Doodle Jump – $0.99

    I have written about this game before, but I really can’t put this game down. It is THAT bad. My wife has now started jostling for my iPhone, to a point where I have considered taking out a loan to buy her her own. It is THAT bad :)

    In all seriousness, this is 1 awesome game, and if you looking for something to waste your time on, then I suggest you get this game. “Our” (Read my wife’s) highest score is 31971. The latest update to the game also brings in a new “boss” who is a killer. Also check out the Doodle Jump facebook fan page. Leave your highest score in the comments, to see if you can been the Doodle Jump kings :)

    Convert – $0.99

    This is a handy app that converts almost anything to everything. seriously. If you need to know how many Russian Rubles you can get for 1 Phillipino Pesos (0.647 btw), or if you suddenly need to know how many Ergs are in 1 Killowatt-Hour (3,6e13)
    The app layout and interface is fantastic, and there are hundreds of different conversions you can make. This is one app, you buy, may not use it all the time, but is a life saver when you do need it.

    Speed Test.net Speed Test – Free

    I’m pretty sure we have all used the SpeedTest.net site to check our connection speeds at sometimes in our lives. It seems to have become the benchmark in testing connectivity issues, and speed on broadband connections. The app does exactly the same for you, and is super handy when trying to figure out why your surfing speed on your phone is slow. The app also stores your previous speed tests. All in all a fantastic app which, for the price, is a keeper.

  • 10 tips to make your iPhone battery last longer

    Today we have a guest post by Kishyr Ramdial. Kish is an iPhone developer at immedia and is iPhone obsessed :)
    If you want to read up a bit more about Kish and his ways, be sure to check out his interview on izimvo.

    Let’s face it, the iPhone is a life changing device. Most of you either don’t know how you managed with out it, or wondered what you’d do if you were forced to use another device. But in all it’s glory, there’s one factor that we all, thoroughly, hate about this gifted device: the poor battery life.

    Or at least, what we perceive to be a poor batter life. We’ve all complained about it at some point but the thing is, it’s battery life is actually pretty decent. There, I said it! Think about it. This all-in-wonder device has four(!) radios built-in: GPS, GSM, 3G, and WiFi; a proximity sensor; a light-metre; an accelerometer; and 3GS users also have a digital compass. Woah. And all those apps to take advantage of each one of those awesome technologies.

    But that’s just not it. iPhone users also use their phone more than any other mobile device they’ve used before (not a scientific study but it’s pretty obvious). We’re constantly on our phones, tweeting, checking maps, replying to emails, browsing the web, listening to music and laughing while our phone makes farting noises.

    The sheer fact that we use this device more often means the battery life will inevitably reduce it capacity quicker, not because it’s got a poor battery inside it (well maybe that too).

    But if you’re caught in a situation where that gloomy red battery indicator is on the top-right of your screen indicating that you’re down to your last 20%, and you might need to make an emergency call, here a few tips to squeeze every single drop of power out of your phone:

    1. If you don’t have Wifi reception; turn Wifi off. (But if you do have Wifi reception, leave it on as 3G uses more battery power than Wifi does).
    2. Turn off 3G.
    3. Reduce your screen’s brightness.
    4. Turn off Push notifications. A significant drop in battery power happened when iPhone OS 3.0 was released. This is because the iPhone always maintains a single connection to the mothership’s server so that it can push alerts to your device.
    5. Turn off bluetooth.
    6. Turn off Location Services or stop using apps that require the A-GPS. Location based apps use the iPhone’s A-GPS technology to pin point your location. Apps can use three different technologies to get your location: Wifi geolocation; cellular triangulation; and the built-in GPS itself. Depending on the accuracy of location that the app requires, it can use any of the above technologies, or all three (like how Maps does).
    7. Use apps that don’t require the 3D graphics power of the phone’s graphics processor (like games).
    8. Set the phone’s auto-lock feature to 1 minute.
    9. Set your mail to manually check for new messages (instead of an periodic check or Push).
    10. Stop checking what the time is on the stand-by screen! You know you do it all the time. I’ve said it before: cell phones are the new pocket-watches! By constantly putting the display on and off, you are using precious battery power.

    Hope these tips help!

  • Custom Ringtones on the iPhone – For FREE !

    We all know that a rather big downfall of the iPhone is the very limited selection of ringtones they offer as standard options. iTunes does offer ringtones for purchase, but at $0.99 a pop, I’m a bit hesitant.

    I came across this fantastic site a while ago, and used it again today. The site, Audiko.net, allows you to upload a song of your choice, edit it, then download it as a custom iPhone ringtone. They also have millions of ringtones that are already on the site, which you can download and then drag into iTunes, and sync to your phone.All of this for FREE !! Cool hey ?

    Here is a quick quick tutorial on how to get your own ringtone onto your iPhone.

    1. Visit Audiko.net. You can either upload a song, trim it to your specs, or download it from the site. For this example, I am going to download a song from the site. Click on “Download Ringtone for iPhone“, and save it to your desktop. The file will be saved in a .m4r format.

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    2. Drag the downloaded file into iTunes -> Ringtones. You should now see the downloaded file in iTunes under Ringtones. If you don’t see it here, try and add  it by clicking on Ringtones -> File -> Add file to Library in iTunes

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    3. Make sure that Sync Ringtones is ticked on the Ringtones tab on your iPhone in iTunes. Sync your phone, and you should now see your downloaded ringtone on your iPhone.

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    4. To select the ringtone on your iPhone go to Settings -> Sounds -> Ringtone -> and you now should see your ringtone at the top of the screen under custom. Select it, and you now have your favorite song as your ringtone.

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    Easy hey. Shout in the comments if you get stuck. Happy listening :)