Master Dilettante

I know I’ve been complaining a lot about my iPhone.  Apple products are supposed to just work — that’s their brand — and this one just hasn’t, at least not for me.  But I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of technology torture, and just about everything’s working now, if not the way I would have liked originally.  I’m going to recount in the next few posts my trials and tribulations and how I overcame them.

Recall my most recent complaints:  (1) abysmal battery life and (2) broken Microsoft Exchange integration.

I was sometimes getting less than 5 hours of battery life, even after Apple replaced my unit with a new one.  Firmware 2.1 plus some more prudent battery conservation practices have all but solved #1.  I’ve read too many articles, blog posts and discussion board threads on this to recount.  Plus, I’ve finally succumbed to logical suggestions — most of which I daresay I had heard already — from BW and ES.  Here’s what’s worked for me:

First, I’m only fetching data now, and only hourly.  Such is the disappointment of and lowered expectations in performance of the iPhone 3G that the very reason for buying it — push — is what must be disabled to provide more reasonable battery life.  I’m not even upset that I don’t get push, because it was working so poorly — that battery-killing wheel seemed to be spinning constantly — and I’m so grateful for longer battery life.

Second, I’ve slightly reduced the number of accounts from which I’m fetching data.  I have work Exchange, Yahoo, Gmail and MobileMe accounts.  Instead of fetching data from all of them, I’m forwarding Gmail to Yahoo and fetching from Yahoo.  I use MobileMe only for calendar and contacts syncing, so I have it set up but never check that email.  And I’m even fetching from my work email account.  I came to terms with the fact that I don’t need push email to distract me in meetings, and I already get push when sitting in front of my destop with Outlook open.

Third, I’ve turned brightness down fairly low.  Even with a protective film on the glass, it’s still bright enough for me.

Fourth, I’ve left Bluetooth and Location Services on.  I use my Bluetooth headset to and from work every day, it’s too much of a pain to go into Settings to deactivate and activate it repeatedly, and I’m not convinced it’s a drain on the battery.  For Location Services, much of the time I have this off, but I just end up switching it on when prompted when using Google Maps or some other geo-aware application that calls for it.

Finally, I’ve left both 3G and Data Roaming turned on.  As eBay alumnus Ryan Spoon notes, push has a much greater effect on battery life than 3G.  I know at least one other iPhone 3G owner — ES –  who switches off 3G not because of the perceived battery life drain but because he believes the network is unreliable and results in dropped calls.  I’m accessing the Internet often enough that I want the speed from its being on all the time.

The net effect?  I can go over a day without recharging.  And I don’t live in constant fear of a sudden drained-battery-induced shutdown.  Frackin’ fantastic.  Reasonable battery life?  Check!

Next, I’ll bemoan the complete failure of Exchange integration, my data sync requirements and then the awkward but functioning solutions I’ve devised.

Some of you may know that I’ve been having myriad problems with my iPhone 3G, mostly around rapidly deteriorating battery life and inability to restore from backup.

Today, Apple released the new 2.1 firmware, and it’s broken my Exchange integration.  Right now, I have no calendar, no contacts and no email — the unit is useless to me without these core functions.  I’ve tried deleting the Exchange account and re-adding it, but that doesn’t help.  Apple support forums indicate that at least a few others are experiencing the same problem.  Frankly, I’m sick of the inability of the iPhone to perform basic functions, and I’m seriously thinking about switching back to BlackBerry.

Two reasons to buy Apple products:  (1) They just work and (2) sex appeal.  So far, (1) is absent leaving my iPhone decidely unsexy. 

I’ve been the proud, delighted owner of my 16MB white iPhone 3G for a week now. I love it. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its drawbacks. And I find that many of my complaints are around the absence of functionality I had on my BlackBerry Pearl. Following my first impressions, here’s what Apple could do that would make me say, “What BlackBerry?”

Must Have:

• Improve the battery life. The battery life is so bad that I find myself now becoming accustomed to charging my iPhone throughout the day. Granted, my usage is high. I ran the unit several times until it shut down to maximize battery life as an Apple Genius recommended. But any handheld communications-organization device needs to be able to run from the time I wake until the time I sleep. End of story.
• To-Do List/Notes Sync. I used Notes and the To-Do List (the “NextAction” add-on) extensively on my BlackBerry, and they integrated beautifully with Outlook, including Outlook Exchange Web mail. Now, I remain in a quandary as to what to do with the iPhone. I’m looking at Evernote, EasyTask Manager and OmniFocus as replacements (I’m a partial GTD adherent), but none solve all of the problems I have. (More on GTD applications to come).
• Copy/Cut-Paste. It’s beyond my understanding why this is not available.
• More Robust Email. The litany of issues is too long to enumerate. BlackBerry is way better, period. This is essential if Apple wants to steal share in the enterprise market.
• Voice Dialing. Especially in California, where headsets are now required by law when driving, easy dialing while in the car is essential. Favorites, Recents, Contacts — all of these are too difficult to use when driving. I’ve tried the SpeechCloud Voice Dialer application and it (1) isn’t a dialer - it’s a voice recognition lookup tool and (2) it doesn’t work well. In 4-5 tries, it never found the name I was seeking, and I then uninstalled it. In general, contact and phone number lookup on the iPhone require too many keystrokes, and the ease of use of the basic phone function is less than ideal.
• Overall Stability. My iPhone crashes. Not infrequently. Usually when flipping among applications. An open platform is great. It’s got to be more stable that this.

Nice to Have:

• IR Beam. Remember the Palm V? I do. I’d love better capability to transmit data from phone-to-phone.
• Video Recording. This isn’t that important to me, but I look forward to the day.

I’m still a satisifed promoter of the iPhone and look forward to future improvements. It’s been a week, and I’m still having fun.

Here’s what I’m loving so far:

• Evernote — This is a pre-existing capture-organize-search application new to me. Take notes, photos, voice notes. Among the many potential uses, I’m taking photos of random scraps of paper I’ve had lying around, tagging them for Evernote and then tossing ‘em. Love it.
• WritingPad — You’ve got to try this to understand it. It’s faster than the keyboard but lacks the magnifying glass cursor placement. Getting to numbers and symbols is a bit of a pain, but for sheer input speed, it’s cool.
• Twitteriffic — Who knew I had so much nonsense to say? (Yes, yes, everyone).
• Pandora — I was using this Web-based before. The iPhone application is great. It’s already changing how people regard radio.

Check these out!

After 6 hours spent at 6 different retail locations over 3 days from Southern to Northern California, I finally have my iPhone 3G!

I switched from my BlackBerry Pearl once Apple removed my primary barrier to adoption — lack of push email and calendar — and I am overlooking the challenging keyboard and lack of notes/to-do list sync.

I’ll miss the dedicated convenience of my Pearl, but “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”* between me and my iPhone.

The good:

• It’s cool and gorgeously, super sexy.
• The usability, both setup and ongoing use, is extremely good.
• The open platform and applications significantly increase the utility.
• 3G is pretty darn quick.
• The GPS is sweet. I could drive around all day just watching my car on the map. (Dork, I know)
• I do love it and am having a ton of fun.

The bad:

• On balance, I still believe Apple botched the launch weekend. Even aside from the long queues and the likely artificially suppressed inventory at AT&T stores, Apple made two critical mistakes: (1) Apple should have been better prepared for the server traffic from the iPhone 2.0 software upgrades and new 3G purchases. Apple now has placed itself in a position where it is offering mission-critical services to individuals and businesses. Effective outages (from bricked phones) and activation slownesses of the lengths experienced Friday are inexcusable and unforgivable. (2) Requiring that users with corporate accounts or discounts activate only at AT&T stores resulted in horrible customer experiences and undermines Apple’s entire strategy of acquiring business users. Business users require convenience, and the need to go to an AT&T store was decidedly inconvenient.
• Battery life on 3G is atrociously bad. I had a full overnight charge, started using the iPhone at 7:00 a.m., and my battery already is 30% drained. Granted, I’m using the thing a ton and haven’t optimized power consumption yet, but still . . . it needs to make it easily on one charge from the time I wake until the time I sleep.
• As with all things Apple, when things go wrong, you have few options and much frustration. Ringtones purchased on iTunes wouldn’t play at first. I’m frequently prompted to re-enter my iTunes password. A song spontaneously started playing this morning. Once I synced with my Outlook calendar through Exchange, I found that I have two calendars, including one that contains events from four years ago. The device has rebooted spontaneously a few times. It’s frozen a couple times inexplicably. In all these cases, your options and explanations and guidance from Apple are few.
• The touchscreen is great, but I have a hard time believing a touchscreen keyboard will ever be as good as a keyboard with tactile buttons.

Tips:

• The solution for freezing in some cases is to soft reset the device by simultaneously pressing and holding the power/sleep and home buttons for 30 seconds.
• I’ve found that the MacRumors Forums contain a wealth of information on troubleshooting. Just about every problem I’ve encountered, someone else encountered first.
• Apple’s site has a helpful page on battery optimization, although many of the suggestions are to disable the core functions that make the 3G worth getting.

On balance, I’m loving my new toy. Just remember: The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.

* Humphrey Bogart’s “Jack” in “Casablanca”

I’m thinking about it. Thinking about it hard. And I don’t know that I’ll have the strength to resist my consumer impulse.

I’ve loved my BlackBerry Pearl and its predecessors over the past few years. I love the synchronization with my work Outlook; I use email and text messaging constantly, the phone, notes, the to-do list, the camera, Google maps, a stopwatch/timer application, the alarm, the calculator, even the slow browser. The usability is great. I love the SureType input system. I love the size and the weight. It’s wonderfully functional.

Last year, I switched from PC to Mac for the first time in my life. I was already an iPod user and an iTunes Store buyer. With PCs, I was becoming fatigued with degrading performance over time and mysterious program crashes. Apple’s advertising campaigns slowly and surely were winning me over — a case where TV advertising worked. While I’ve always appreciated the apparent relative simplicity Apple offers, truly, it’s the coolness factor that tipped me towards Apple.

After a year with my iMac, I’m still puzzled by its inexplicable slowness in Web browsing at times, frustrated with how iPhoto handles file organization and at a loss whenever a program hangs. But, on balance, I’m happy with the switch.

Should I adopt the iPhone, too? What’s been holding me back and might continue to give me pause:

• The keyboard sucks! I’ve talked to numerous iPhone users who all assure me that I’ll “get used to it,” that “it learns” and that they love it. But I’ve used it half a dozen times now, and I miss letters more than I hit them. For me, a BlackBerry user, the keyboard falls far, far short of my expectations. With Palm’s handwritten entry system, I recall becoming very proficient in it in less than a day. I’m skeptical about my ability to adapt to the iPhone keyboard, and I do enough inputting on my handhelds to need an efficient mechanism.
• Equivalently slow Web access. With the first generation iPhone, I didn’t think the Web access would be appreciably faster than on my BlackBerry over the EDGE network. With 3G, this new iPhone promises much more speed.
• I use Outlook notes and an add-on to-do list extensively and rely on the synchronization between my BlackBerry and my desktop. My understanding is that even with the new iPhone, the real-time synchronization will be lacking. If I switch, I’ll be banking on the development of applications with better synchronization with the new Microsoft Exhange integration.
• That Exchange integration is key. I depend on email getting pushed to my handheld and wouldn’t consider adopting the iPhone if it were still pulling email. I also rely on my calendar being manageable from either handheld or desktop. With the Exchange integration, however, these, my most significant concerns, are eliminated.

The new iPhone is now the shinier, newer object, and I hear it calling to me. We’re counting down to the release date on July 11, and I’m betting I’ll have a new iPhone soon after that!

Unless you’re totally unplugged or otherwise hiding under a rock, you should know by now that Apple has released a new “iTunes Plus” (version 7.2) that allows for the purchase of DRM-free (Digital Rights Management-free) music. Once you download the new iTunes Plus, you can now download DRM-free music, particularly music from EMI, for $1.29 per song (as opposed to the typical $0.99 per song). You can also upgrade existing DRM-protected songs and albums for $0.30 per song.

It completely sucks eggs for three reasons:

• It doesn’t work. When you download the new version, in-product messaging indicates how many songs you have that are DRM-protected and gives you the option to upgrade them. Fewer songs than you would expect are DRM-protected. Of the 391 songs I’ve purchased from Apple, only 35 are available for upgrade. I understand that the servers may be busy given the popularity of this new release, but I have now been trying to upgrade these 35 songs CONTINUOUSLY FOR THREE DAYS and I keep getting this error message for each song: “‘There was a problem downloading “[song]“. An unknown error occurred (504). Please check that the connection to the network is active and try again.’” Now, don’t the Apple TV advertisements promise no cryptic messages? PROMISE BROKEN. I have no idea what this means, and my iTunes is now completely debilitated as it tries futilely to download just 35 songs. It appears to have downloaded 7 songs in three days, but I have no idea even whether the downloads worked, frankly. It is taking FOREVER.
• DRM-free does not mean device freedom. DRM-free effectively means that you can now play your Apple Stores-downloaded music on non-iPod devices that also support play of music saved in Apple’s proprietary AAC format. So what? If you have one of those non-iPod devices, you probably download music from another source. If you have only an iPod, the DRM-free music provides you no incremental benefit.
• iTunes Plus prevents AAC-to-MP3 conversion. Before the recent release, you could download a song through iTunes and then burn a disc in MP3 format. This function allowed you to play the disc on a CD player — such as my car stereo — that supported MP3 but not AAC. Now, as Boing Boing reports, you cannot do this. Lame!

Perhaps I’m missing something, but I’ve been completely disappointed in and frustrated by iTunes Plus so far — the first time I’ve ever had complaint with iTunes.

It’s here!

Just two days ago I wrote that I was making the switch from PC to Mac. I had ordered an iMac Monday through my friend Lisa and was told to expect it “by the end of the month.” Aiyah! I require instant gratification! Imagine my delight when Lisa called me this afternoon to let me know the package already had arrived!

So far, so great. My early thoughts:

• The out-of-box experience is phenomenal. My friend Emily suggested I photograph each step of the process, but, hey, this was like unwrapping presents on Christmas, and I had no patience for documentation. Open the top of the box (~24 in. height x 23 in. width x 10 in. depth), and the first thing seen is a smaller 11 in. x 5.5 in. x 1.5 in. box labeled simply “Designed by Apple in California.” Centered inside this smaller box is a pamphlet labeled “Everything Mac” and an identically-sized sleeve beneath it labeled “Everything Else.” The “Everything Mac” pamphlet is a quick start guide containing simple, clear, illustrated startup instructions. The “Everything Else” package includes the warranty and two backup installation disks. Flanking these items are Apple’s Mighty Mouse on one side and the remote control on the other. The only other three items in the overall box, all carefully and cleanly packed in Styrofoam, were the keyboard, the power cord and, of course, the iMac itself. Utter minimalist simplicity. Just beautiful.
• Startup is as easy as advertised. Plug one end of the power cord into the back of the iMac and the other into an outlet. Connect the Ethernet cable. Connect the keyboard to the iMac and the Mighty Mouse to the keyboard. Press the power button. A few startup and registration screens later, and I was opening Safari (the Mac’s Internet browser) and surfing the Internet. That’s it. Really. I timed the entire process from the moment I opened the top of the box; it took 10 minutes, and only that long because I was taking particular care with the unpacking and placement of items on my desk and marveling at the clarity of the user interface. Shockingly easy.
• I just joined a fun fan club. Usually, I eschew online registrations and avoid mailing lists like the plague. With this first Apple, I was happy to provide contact information during registration and to opt into mailing lists. I wanted to be known and to know. Can you imagine thinking such things with a Dell or a Sony?
• Bigger is better (for displays). I thought my Vaio (PCG-K13) screen was huge compared to the tiny screen of the Dell laptop (Latitude D410) I have for work. This 20-inch iMac dwarfs those. This is not unique to Mac — of course, larger displays can be had for any computer — but it’s still contributing to the delight I’m experiencing.
• Small is beautiful (for footprints). With the CPU, display and disk drive all combined in a single unit, this desktop hardly takes more space on my desk than my Vaio did. Efficient.

Again, so far, so great! The two early drawbacks I noticed:

1. Installation of new applications was marginally confusing. I installed Firefox and Skype during the first 30 minutes but experienced minor difficulty getting their icons to persist in the Dock. I expect to be able to do this more efficiently with familiarity.
2. The ergonomic designs of the keyboard and mouse aren’t very good. I think the spacing of the keys on the keyboard is too close, but I’m prone to think that because I use a Goldtouch keyboard at work. The mouse doesn’t feel great either, but I’m prone to think that, too, because I use a Whale Mouse at the office. I expect I’ll replace both Mac input devices to suit my idiosyncratic needs.

Overall, I’m very happy and looking forward to learning how to play with my new toy!

Three years ago, I loved my then-new Sony Vaio (Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.79 GHz, 448 MB RAM), with its vibrant, luminous display and blazing speed (at least seemingly then). It succeeded a long series of PC laptops and desktops. But, after 18 years of PC use, I’m making the switch to Mac.

Why?

(1) My laptop is dying

• Disk Space Is Full. I’m out of disk space. 30 GB seemed like a lot to me in 2004. The internal hard drive was bursting at the seams, so I added an external LaCie hard drive and moved most of my media off of the laptop. Before I added the external hard drive, if I wanted to add a new application, I had to delete an old one. Yes, I could upgrade the internal hard drive, but why bother? I’m throwing the baby out with the bath water.
• It’s Breaking Down. The internal CD/DVD drive broke over a year ago. I didn’t bother fixing it, because I didn’t want to ship my laptop away for any extended period of time and I was prejudiced the cost of repair would be more than an external drive. So I bought an external combo drive. Neither the internal drive nor the replacement have worked well or allowed me to burn DVDs. Also, the fan in the laptop runs 24/7 and is loud enough to be heard in an adjacent room when the door is closed. Finally, last year, I spontaneously began experiencing complete operating system failures which miraculously healed themselves. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
• Glaciers move more quickly. See below on why I am speculating Windows is to blame.

(2) Windows is pushing me away from the PC

• Speed Degradation. I’m tired of the consistently degrading performance of my three-year-old Vaio running Windows XP. Slower and slower and slower. I’m convinced that this pattern will repeat itself with any successor PC running Windows, because it has with every other PC I’ve owned. I’m tired of having to comb through my directories to look for things to remove that might be affecting performance.
• File Clutter. I’m tired of temporary Internet files (yes, I know I can delete them). I’m tired of the myriad programs listed under “Add or Remove Programs,” half of which I don’t recognize or remember installing.
• Poor Usability. I’m tired of the time it takes me to install any new software or hardware. After I switched routers recently, it was hours and days and phone calls to technical support before I could restore Internet access to my laptop.

(3) I hear the siren call of the Mac pulling me in . . . . Clearly, this is a decision steeped in pure logic based on extensive research . . . .

• It’s pretty. The first iMacs, in their candy colors, were cute . . . too cute. How could such machines possibly be functional and powerful? The present iMacs, with their sleek minimalism, clean lines, pure white color and compact footprint so obviously are a design and engineering marvel.
• I like the commercials. I’m a recovering lawyer working in the technology industry in the Valley. Who wants to be the dork in the suit? We all want be the chill, young dude with the long hair in the jeans and t-shirt.
• It certainly seems easy to use. I mean, the commercials wouldn’t lie, would they? Plus, so many of the computer enthusiasts I know are Mac advocates (and I’m quite susceptible to the power of suggestion). I’m lured by the promise that I can just take it out of the box and plug it in and everything will work immediately and well together.
• I need only basic functionality. I figure I use my computer 90% to access the Internet, 5% for iTunes (also Internet-based) and 5% for a poker results tracking program. I’m also intending to resume using Quicken, which can rely on Internet access. Of these applications, only the poker tracking program is built only for the PC, and Apple now has software that may still allow me to use it. Given my usage, I just want easy and fast.
• It seems reliable. The notion of having to fix my PC, whatever the issue, is daunting. I have a positive belief that the presence of Apple outlets throughout the Bay Area will allow me to fix my iMac as painlessly as possible.
• It’s not all that costly. I had the notion before that Macs cost a lot more. The delta isn’t that wide, and the trade-offs are acceptable. A new 20″ iMac retails for $1499.

Yesterday, through the help of my friend Lisa O. and her friend at Apple, I ordered an iMac 20″, which arrives within the week. I’ll write soon on the out-of-box experience!