Wow, what a find by LifeHacker!  I moved to iPhone earlier this year knowing that, unfortunately, I’d have to install the dreaded iTunes software to be able to manage it.  Well as of today I can uninstall it thanks to (free!) CopyTrans Manager.  CopyTrans Manager is a fully functional media manager for all iPod’s that’s stripped right down to the bare essentials.  It doesn’t let you buy stuff from the iTunes music store or manage applications, but I don’t care…it hasn’t crashed on me and I’ve been using it for all of an hour!   Okay, iTunes isn’t that bad.

CopyTrans doesn’t do any auto syncing, it’s a media manager that allows you to add to and remove tracks and videos to your iPod.  I’ve found it’s faster than iTunes too so far adding an album (over the network) in about 30 seconds.

CopyTrans also have free software for backing up your iPhone / iPod and for restoring your library to you PC from your iPhone / iPod.

[This article originally appeared on thedigitiallifestyle.com ]

I’ve been trying to use the Daily Burn iPhone app for a few days and I just can’t use it properly.  For some tasks that should be simple, it’s over complicated and takes too darn long.  Here’s 2 examples:

Here are the steps with the iPhone App to enter some food I’ve just eaten:

And here it is with the web app:

Not only is it a whole screen less, I can just enter the serving size, I don’t have to use a silly spinney thing (actually 6 in total!)

Next up the app doesn’t show all my workouts, despite “synchronising” every time I launch it.  On the left is the web app and the right the iPhone app, notice that 4 – Barbell lifts and Shoulder Press is missing on the right.

So this is why, for now, I’m sticking with the webapp.

If you’re into your personal fitness then the DailyBurn is an essential tool for helping you reach your goals.  The free version (there is also Pro) lets you track what you’re eating, how much exercise you’re doing and track your weight.  It also lets you set goals, like your target weight and helps you eat the right amounts by calculating your BMR (how many cals you need a day) and if you get stuck for an exercise then it’ll help you find the perfect one, with video!  They’ve had a web app for some time, but have just released a “propper” app, this is a quick tour and some of my thoughts.

At a glance: The first screen of the app, after you’ve logged in provides easy access to your daily stats, and brings the opportunity to go Pro front and centre (that’s an in app purchase by the way).  Navigation is the familiar and not very fun 5 icons down the bottom, they stick with you throughout and provide access to all the areas you’d expect from the web site.

Works offline: This app will work offline and keeps itself in sync with the website and so every so often there’s a “synchronising” message that appears at the top.

Body: Rather obviously the Body page shows information about your current body stats, but it’s also where they can be changed.  There are three selections here, the first changes the body statistic being measured, in the picture it’s weight, but it can be changed to any of your bodily dimensions that you happen to be tracking.  Current lets you set your current measure for that level and Goal lets you adjust your goal.  The latter is something that I thinks’ a bit superfluous in a mobile app and something best saved for the full web application.

The body page also includes the familiar line chart of your progress. 

Secret if you tilt iPhone, ala the Stock app, then you get a landscape view of the graph. There’s a bug here, though.  The graphs on the website have always impressed me how they move smoothly between my goal (74kg body weight) and my progress (currently 170.75 lbs) even though the scales are different, the website converts on the fly (goal is KG progress is LBS).  That fails on the iPhone app and it makes it look like my goal of 74lbs is way off – I’m glad it is!!!

Workouts: The workouts page helps you track and zero in on your workout progress, the first 3 sections just give you an overview of where you are today, the next four take you off to more stuff.  My workouts takes you to all your predefined routines so that you can track progress.  Progress can be tracked for an individual exercise by selecting it and then selecting Submit Progress or for the workout as a whole by selecting Start Workout which then walks through each exercise in the workout.  Back on the Workouts page Find Workouts lets you find workouts submitted by the community and Find Exercises does the same.

Find Exercises is also the place to access videos of exercises if you aren’t sure of the correct form for doing one, which can be very handy.  The video’s open in the video player but just clicking the Done button takes you back to the Daily Burn application.

The Workout Log option takes you to your log of exercises for the day, initially this looks rather useless, each options selectable but does nothing.  At the top there is however an Edit button and once selected it allows for the removal of any exercise or set that you didn’t actually do.  That’s really useful as I make lots of mistakes like that!

Secret: swipe left to right on any set to reveal a Delete button, quicker than Edit if you only need to remove one!

Nutrition: Obviously this is where you track what you’ve eaten for the day, but what I like is that there are small progress bars that indicate how much of your intake of Calories, Fat, Carbs and Protein you’ve had.  There’s two ways to enter foods you’ve eaten, the first is just to search at the top, which is quick and always my preference on the website.  In this app though it’s easier to use My Favorites and select one of your favourite foods.

Either route there are two ways to add that item to your intake.  The first is to select the +1, but beware, doing that gives you no option to change the portion size, it’s litterally +1 portion, so make sure the portion sizes of your favourites are right!  The second way to add a food is to select, the food (use the icon area) and you then get the option to change the serving size.  Phew!

The edit button at the top right again lets you remove favourites (which can be added from the search).  Secret: again swipe left to right to reveal a Delete button for just one item, and again it’s the faster way to remove just one thing!

Adding a new food is more simple, use the search and just select the food and enter the serving size, to favourite it resist the urge to +1 it and select the food by it’s icon and the Add to Favorites.

My Nutrition Log is where your days intake is available and again from here items can be removed, which is great for that accidental addition.  Again either use the Edit button top right or swipe left to right to delete.

Account is the last option and it lets you change account details, and again upgrade to Pro.

Final thoughts – This is a good first effort for the app, everything seems to work (apart from that annoying bug with the chart).  The one problem that I have with this, over the web app which I’ve always found to be perfectly great, is that it seems harder to quickly enter my food and workout progress.  Well see how I get on with it over time, but I won’t be removing the web app yet.  It does seem more capable for sorting out those mistakes though.  The big thing that’s missing is the ability to add new foods, it’s in the web app, why not here?!

  The number one reason I moved to iPhone from Windows Mobile was for the applications.  The developers on the WinMo circuit had stopped innovating in my opinion (I was one of them) and we were just churning out app after app that looked like an copy of an iPhone app.  This news then is highly encouraging news for a platform that I love and that really needs some TLC right now.

Microsoft have, through their developer network MSDN, released a case study on how to port an application from iPhone to Windows Mobile, the actual target device is a HTC Touch Pro.  The case study makes an interesting read, particularly for iPhone devs who want to make money through the Windows Mobile Marketplace that Microsoft are releasing very soon.  I really like this direct quote from the developer, it’s something that I’m sure everyone who writes C# already knows but there you go:

“What I’m finding is that it’s harder to mess up with C# than in Objective-C, which is used for iPhone application development. This makes any extra effort needed to customize the classes I want worthwhile,” commented Luke Thompson, Gripwire software engineer porting the Amplitude application.

So hopefully it won’t be long before those innovative iPhone apps become innovative WinMo apps and when porting becommes de rigeure hopefully  the fantastic WinMo developers can concentrate on function over form.

I picked up on this from twitter from the @Microsoft_gov account and Computer World which has an excellent article on the subject.

The clincher for me moving to iPhone from Windows Mobile was that TomTom is coming and not only that it looked like an excellent implementation as this teaser video shows.  That was a couple of months ago at WWDC (Apple’s big conference).

Today it appears that the first pre-orders are available from UK site Handtec for the special mount that provides “enhanced GPS performance, clear voice instructions, hands-free calling and in-car charging.” I have to say though that I’m totally shocked at the price, £113.85!! 

For that princely sum you get the special car cradle and the software, although it’s not quite clear yet how you go about getting the software from iTunes as this is the first peripheral hardware for iPhone that needs software and will work happily without the hardware.

Alternatives

Also launched today is iGo My Way 2009 which doesn’t have any external hardware and is available with Western Europe maps for £52.99 or £44.99 for the US maps.  Navigon MobileNavigator is also available at £52.99 for Europe and £39.99 for the US maps.

Where next

I’ve been waiting for the TomTom solution for a while, so I’m personally going to wait for the reviews.  I want to see what the verdict is about the car cradle, and if it really does add much to the navigation experience (it’s supposed to make it more accurate) if it doesn’t add much it’ll be a strait choice between 3 products all competing on almost the same features.  I’ll let everyone know how I get on.

[via iPhone Alley - RSS]

I’ve just moved over to iPhone, as you’ll see if you browse about abit, but obviously I had a great phone before that, a Samsung i780 and before that a t-mobile touch plus (aka HTC Touch Dual) and before that an m3100 from orange (HTC Hermes) and before that an Orange c550 and before that … you get the drift.

And I still have all those phones, or at least I did until we decided we needed to declutter, we’ve been selling stuff for months on eBay! Checking out the prices for all those mobiles on eBay and it seemed a bit hit or miss so I decided to look at the mobile recycling companies. Just as an aside here worth noting it’s taken me a while to come to terms with actually getting rid of gadgets (I kept the i780), I say this only in case some thinks I’ve lost the plot, or a portion of my mind a least. The final decider, apart from the clutter was the cash.

I opted to use Mazuma mobile. The reasons behind this choice were many but mainly based on a first hand endorsment from a colleague and my being overly inflenced by the TV! So how was it?

On their website you fill details in about the phone and you don’t really even need to know much about it since they have a huge catalogue to choose from. Next you enter the IMEI number of the phone and they go off and check that the phones not been stolen (or at least not stolen and put on the register). Finally they give you a valuation. The touch dual and Hermes fetched £45 a piece and the older phones abou £15 each. The price is based on the condition of the phone; either working or not working. The definition is happily very loose too. “Working” basically means it turns on and you can, therefore, guess what the “not working” deffinition is too. The m3100 I sent had a button missing, but I still got full price and none of the Windows Mobile devices had propper firmware on, but that was no problem either. Anyway back to the process because I didn’t have money in my pocket at this point.

Having submitted the “order” through the web site I got a little pack in the post a couple of days later that contained instructions, a plastic ( and unpadded) postage paid returns bag and a certificate of postage for the post office clerk to sign. All I had to do was pop the phones in the bag and put it in the post box at the post office. A day or two later I recieved an email to tell me the phones had been recieved, then hours later I was told that a check was in the post. Full price for each!

And so a day or two later I have a cheque waiting for me to make it to the bank and I’m writing a review of a company that is actually more based on low tech postage methods than a digital lifestyle. It’s a superb service though, worthy of recommendation and in my oppinion it could be improved only by allowing an option like me getting my cash though paypal. If you don’t fancy using Mazuma then there are some alternatives listed below.

I’ve just been to one of my favorite gadget shops again, Poundland.  I’ve written about them before when I’ve hit upon a bargin and I’m really motivated to do it again so that everyone can benefit.   The image with this post is their retractable USB iPod charging cable and they sell it for just £1 like everything else in store. Here’s a similar item available online. These should be available UK wide right now and they’re the perfect, compact cable for your gadget bag. Quality is ok, not Apple standard but then I could buy one of these a month for the price of the Apple sync cable.   Bargin.

I’ve already said that one of the big reasons I moved to iPhone was for the innovate apps, well how’s this.  The people who make the excellent TVGuide.co.uk application have created this for Londoners, an “augmented reality” application that shows you where your nearest tube station is.  It’s 3GS only, because it uses video and looks amazing.

[Via @jamestenniswood and Gizmodo]

Also leaking out today is news of the TomTom application, which is what pushed me over the edge when it was announced that my favourite navigation application was on it’s way.  There’s some very promising information in this and I must say I’m looking forward to it….it’s one app I know I’ll buy.

[via @jangles and macworld]

The battery life on my iPhone 3GS is really starting to impress me. I cannot remember the last time I got more than a full day out of a phone, with pretty average usage and email on a 15 minute pull schedule.

There is a secret to this, I’m actually using 2g most of the time and am using WiFi in most locations turning on 3g when I need fast data on the move…which isn’t that often right now as most places seem to have WiFi. Incidentally this works well because connecting to Wifi is so easy on this thing. This is my “Usage” screen a few moments ago on 10% battery.

These little iPhones  look beautiful and no one wants to have a device that’s covered in scuffs and scrapes, me included. So as soon as I got it…no wait before it arrived, I started doing research into screen protection for it and it wasn’t long before I realised back protection was also a must. The research led me to the products of Case-Mate, a great company that specialise in phone protection. At the time I was looking for a silicone skin to sit around the device but I soon came across the Stealth, an adhesive protection for both front and rear that doesn’t increase the size of the device, nice I thought.

I didn’t go for it though. One of the super-cool features of the Case-Mate site is their extensive use of their own, and customer created, YouTube videos. For lots of the products they have instructional videos for applying the product. Wait. How good is that? Half the time that’s the big problem with installing these things, and these guys have cracked it! It was on examination of these that I found ClearArmour. What makes Clear Armour stand out is that it’s applied “wet” just like you put wallpaper on the wall. The video showed just how easy the spray on formula was to apply and how good the results are and it showes the magick tip to get the corners to stick. I bought one immediatley.

When it arrived the postman had crushed it to get it into the letterbox, but I opened it up and got the video playing for a refresher. The installation experience was absutley as advertised, it applied perfectly.   Spray the films, spray your hands, put it in place (moving it easily if necessary) then use the supplied bit of board to remove any bubbles and leave to dry.   Overnight it dried and looked great, but with two bubbles on the back, 24 more hours later and they’d gone too.   Superb my iPhone was now protected. That’s how it’s stayed too, but there is one issue.  A couple of the corners have stared to pick up a little dust, but that will probably stop as soon as those ares loose some stick. However there are actually two comple armours supplied so I might use the other to get a better application, I could use some more spray though.

I’ve been mega impressed by Case-Mate and they answered my Twitter questions quickly. Put simply their customer service rocks so much that I want to try more of their stuff. I’m gonna get a silicone case from then still as I want some impact protection.

The number one reason I chose the iPhone is the innovative Eco system that’s built up around it, not only in terms of the great apps that are available but also the hardware. Apple make a beautiful, minimalist doc that looks super but it really cost some cash, not only for the dock but also for the cable that’s required. Combined the cost is about £40. A quick scout on eBay turns up lots of lower cost alternatives, the best value of which I found was the Belkin TuneSync. Available for about £10 delivered it offers the same charging and sync benefits of the Apple dock but with the very useful addition of a 5 port USB hub.

It’s a great device and works superbly, clearing away some of the clutter from the desk. It’s more functional than the Apple dock and a quarter of the price. The only minor flaw is that it’s lacking in weight so when the iPhone isn’t docked the weight of the USB cables tips it up by a quarter inch.

Well it had to happen I suppose. It took a while too but eventually I had to get one. I’ve been a winmo fan for years and this really pains me but I’ve got it for the developers. WiMo has some of the best devs out there but they are stuck with a creativity sapping 10 year old OS and iPhone is where all the exciting apps are at. Sure there will be more soon but here’s a snap of my home screen to mark the moment.

When I was in the states a few weeks ago I picked up the new Jawbone from an At&T store.  A small sleek black unit, with hidden buttons, leather bound ear loop and the killer feature “Noise Assassin” technology.  Well I’ve been using this device for lots of phone calls, from both my BlackBerry pearl and my T-Mobile Touch Plus (HTC Touch Dual) and I’m now ready to talk about using the device on a day to day basis.

You can read the full review at Mobile Tech Addicts…

I’ve just posted the following article on MobileTechAddicts…..to read the full article go click here to the post…

Having launched the new iPhone and with the new SDK on the way Apple have added in a couple of clauses to curb what developers can do with the GPS built into the new iPhone.  According to Electronista the agreement states that the GPS cannot be used for real time navigation applications.

There have been a number of blogs out there, including this one – which by the way is excellent – talking about the fall of WinMo becuase of the iPhone’s SDK release and the fact that MS have licensed the ActiveSync protocol to Apple.

I really need to say something about this.

What these posts all seem to have missed is that WinMo is mainly targeted at the enterprise customer. Enterprise customers have hundreds of devices to manage…who want’s to manage hundreds of iPhones with no management software? No over the air activation? No policy enforcement? Your top exec running an iPhone, and not being able to fix his issues when your in England and he’s in Dubai?

Have a look at http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/mobile/default.mspx management is what REALLY maters to big Enterprise. Jason Langridge intrduced me to this at the last MMUG meeting.