iPhone J.D. is the oldest and largest website for lawyers using iPhones and iPads. iPhone J.D. is published by Jeff Richardson, an attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. This site does not provide legal advice, and any opinions expressed on this site are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of Jeff's law firm, Adams and Reese LLP. iPhone J.D. is not associated with Apple, Inc.
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Pursuant to 16 CFR Part 255, the Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, please note: (1) iPhone software and hardware developers routinely send me free versions of their products to review. I sometimes keep and continue to use these products that I did not pay for after posting my review, which might be considered a form of compensation for my review, but I do not believe that I let that color my review. (2) When I post links to product pages on certain stores, including but not limited to Amazon and the iTunes App Store, my links include a referral code so that when products are purchased after clicking on the link, I often receive a very small percentage of the sale. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Again, I do not believe that I let that color my review of products. (3) Some of the ads that run on this website are selected by others such as Amazon or Google. If one of these ads comes from the seller of a product reviewed on iPhone J.D., that is a coincidence and I do not believe that it colors my review of that product. Other ads are from paid advertisers, and if I discuss a product from a company that is a current advertiser, I will note that. (4) Some of the ads that run on this website are from monthly sponsors of iPhone J.D. When I discuss products from these companies on iPhone J.D., I do so to pass along information provided to me by the sponsor. Often, I will also provide my own commentary on the product, and while my goal is to be honest, please keep in mind that I was compensated to promote the product. If you have any questions about this, just send me an e-mail or post a comment on a specific product review.
Because you are reading this website, chances are you have already decided to make the iPhone your smartphone of choice, but many attorneys are currently trying to decide whether to get an iPhone or some other device running operating systems such as Android, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Windows Mobile 7. BlackBerry was long the traditional platform of choice for attorneys, but those looking to upgrade seem to be largely moving to the iPhone or Android. Why choose one over the other?
That is the topic of the latest Lawyer2Lawyer podcast, the excellent, flagship podcast on the Legal Talk Network. The hosts are attorneys Bob Ambrogi (a Boston attorney who publishes the LawSites blog) and J. Craig Williams (an attorney in the Irvine, CA office of the Sedgwick law firm who publishes the May it Please the Court blog). Ambrogi and Williams invited me to "defend" the iPhone and St. Petersburg, FL attorney Rick Georges of the great FutureLawyer blog to "defend" the Android operating system. Georges and I are passionate about our platforms of choice so the podcast got a little heated (and I fear that Ambrogi and Williams had trouble getting a word in at times!), but it was a great discussion. Unfortunately, we only scratched the surface; there was so much more that we could have mentioned with more time, but this is just a 30 minute podcast.
Even if you are not trying to decide between iPhone and Android, you will enjoy listening to this podcast. It is always interesting to learn about the technology that other attorneys love to use. For example, Georges brags about the fast, new LTE network on his Android phone — although he doesn't like how much it reduces battery life. Tim Cook of Apple has suggested that the first generation LTE chips are not desirable because they consume too much battery life and require a very large phone to fit a large antenna. But better chips will come along, and I look forward to seeing LTE come to the iPhone when the technology is ready.
If you want to listen to the podcast using your web browser (including Safari on the iPad), you can click here for the page on the Lawyer2Lawyer website devoted to the episode entitled Battle of the Smartphones: iPhone v. Android. Or you can download this episode of Lawyer2Lawyer (and subscribe to Lawyer2Lawyer) for free on iTunes by clicking here:
By the way, if this topic interests you, then I would love to see you at the ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago in a few weeks. On April 13th, I'll be on the panel for the presentation entitled 2001 Smartphone Shootout, where we will discuss the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.
If you have an iPad, a stylus is a useful and inexpensive accessory. It makes it easier to highlight documents, sign your name and draw, and even with normal apps that are controlled by tapping, it sometimes feels more precise to use a stylus. (You can also use a stylus with an iPhone, but I consider that useful only in rare circumstances, such as when trying to use an iPhone with gloves on in cold weather.) Last year I reviewed the BoxWave Capacitive Stylus and the Ten One Design Pogo Sketch Stylus. They are both great producs, but I preferred the tip on the BoxWave device. For the last few weeks, I have been trying out review units of two other styluses, the Boxwave Capacitive Styra Pen and the Kensington Virtuoso Touch Screen Stylus and Pen. Both of these are great products that I like better than the two styluses that I reviewed last year.
These products offer two advantages over the styluses that I reviewed last year. First, you can remove the cap on both devices to reveal a pen. There have been times in the past when I have had a stylus in my shirt pocket and needed a pen (or someone asked me for one) and it was annoying to not have one. If you are carrying around the Virtuoso or the Styra, you have a pen for when you need it. Although the Virtuoso is slightly longer than the Styra with the caps attached, with the caps removed they are exactly the same size. Note that unlike some pens, you cannot attach the cap to the back of the pen (over the capacitive tip) when you are writing.
In terms of writing quality, the pens are identical. Both use a standard Parker refill so it should be cheap and easy to replace the ink cartridge when one runs dry.
The second advantage of the Virtuoso and the Styra over the styluses that I reviewed last year is the length. The standard BoxWave stylus and the Pogo Sketch Stylus are quite small, not that much longer than a golf pencil. They are just long enough to feel fine in your hand when in use, but now that I have tried the Virutoso and the Styra, I find that the longer length really feels much better in my hand. Even if you never use the pen function, I would still recommend either of these for the additional length. The Kensington Virtuoso is slightly longer than the BoxWave Styra, but frankly I found either length sufficient. To show the lengths, here are (from top to bottom) a Sanford Uniball pen, a Mont Blanc pen, the Kensington Virtuoso, the BoxWave Styra and the BoxWave Capacative Stylus that I reviewed last year:
One other advantage of the Virtuoso and the Styra is that they do not contain that metal loop at the top for attaching a string; I found the string useless and the loop at the top of the normal BoxWave stylus just got in the way. The BoxWave Styra and the Kensington Virtuoso have a smooth top which is much better.
Comparing the Virtuoso to the Styra is difficult because both are great. The rubber stylus tips on these two products feel identical. The Virtuoso is slightly longer, but as I said above, in my testing that hasn't proved to be any real advantage. Having said that, the slightly longer clip on the Virtuoso made it slightly easier to use than the clip on the Styra.
Another difference is the finish. The Virtuoso has a matte finish whereas the Styra has a shiny gloss finish (like my Mont Blanc pen). I suppose the matte finish gives you a slightly better grip, but it is not a huge difference. You can get the Styra in black or white, but the Virtuoso only comes in black.
There is a slight difference in price. The list price of the BoxWave Styra ($32.95) is higher than the Kensington Virtuoso ($24.95) but if you buy from Amazon, the Styra is $22.95 and the Virtuoso is $19.95, not much of a difference.
If I had to choose, I might give the slight edge to the Kensington Virtuoso because I slightly (but only slightly) prefer the matte finish, the longer length, and the somewhat cheaper price, but all of these differences are very minor and I frankly am happy using either stylus. Now that I have both of them, I just reach for whichever one is closer to me.
If you own an iPad or an iPad 2, I recommend that you get either the Kensington Virtuoso or the BoxWave Capacitive Styra. Both are well-made, useful products. They are more expensive than the $15 BoxWave and $8 Pogo Sketch styluses that I reviewed last year, so if you are not sure how much you really will use a stylus you might want to get one of those because they are less expensive. But having used them all, I think that most people would be much happier with the Virtuoso or the Styra.
One final note: is it possible that there is an even better iPad stylus out there, either on the market now or coming soon? I find it hard to imagine improving very much on the Virtuoso or the Styra, but that is why I am a lawyer and not an inventor. Earlier this week, two inventors in New York unveiled an idea called the Cosmonaut, essentially a stylus that is the size of a marker instead of a pen. If you click here, you can see their Kickstarter page on which they explain their invention, arguing that an iPad is more like a white board and thus something that feels like a marker works better. If and when their idea becomes a shipping product, I'll be curious to find out if they are right. One concern that I have is that the Cosmonaut looks far too big to put into my shirt pocket, whereas the thin Virtuoso and Styra with their clips do that job quite well.
Click here to get the Kensington Virtuoso on Amazon ($19.95).
Click here to get the BoxWave Capactivie Styra on Amazon ($22.95).
The iPhone has very few physical buttons. Simplicity is often a virtue, but not when you want to control an iPhone without looking at the screen. For example, I listen to podcasts and music when I drive in my car, and while I used to use the Kensington LiquidAUX in my car which includes a handy remote control with physical buttons that you can easily reach and use while you are driving, a few months ago I switched over to the Kensington AssistOne. I prefer the AssistOne to the LiquidAUX in every way except for one; I miss those easy to use physical buttons on the remote for when I want to pause/play music and skip to the next track while keeping my eye on the road.
The other day, on the MacSparky blog run by David Sparks, I read his "home screen" interview with writer, director, and actor David Wain. One of the apps Wain keeps on his home screen is FlickTunes, and after reading about the app I decided to buy it myself to try it out. After just a few days of use, I can see that this is a really useful app. It makes it vastly easier to control my iPhone when I don't want to look at the screen to find the tiny virtual button to press, such as when I am driving and my iPhone is docked in the AssistOne or when my iPhone is docked in my Bose SoundDock Portable.
If music (or a podcast, audiobook, etc.) is already playing when you launch FlickTunes, FlickTunes will take over control of that music. The artist and song and album titles are clearly displayed in large type at the top. (If too long to fit the screen, the line with the words automatically scrolls to reveal what is missing.) There are several different display options so you can place the words, album art, etc. in several different positions. The displays work in either portrait or landscape mode. You can also configure FlickTunes to automatically start playing a playlist that you specify whenever it launches, which saves you the multiple steps of opening up the iPod app and then tapping the play button.
By default, you can simply swipe left or right on the screen to switch to the next or last song. That is so much easier to do than looking for the small next or previous track button in the iPod app and then tapping it. There are also two finger and three finger swipe controls, which gives you 12 different command that you can give the app without having to look at the screen. Frankly, just four commands is enough for me so I rarely use anything but a one finger swipe. I have mine set up so that if I swipe down the music will pause/play. If I swipe up, I have mind set so that the the music will skip back 30 seconds, useful when I have a podcast playing and I want to quickly repeat what I just heard because I stopped paying attention to the podcast for a short while.
Take a look at the following screens to see all of the different commands that you can assign to any one, two or three finger swipe:
Note that for FlickTunes to work, your iPhone does not go to sleep and therefore it uses more power. I usually use FlickTunes when my iPhone is connected to my AssistOne or my Bose where it is being charged anyway so that is not an issue for me, but keep in mind that you will use more power with FlickTunes than with the normal iPod app. There is a setting to dim the screeen when FlickTunes is running, which I suppose decreases some of the power use.
If you ever find yourself wishing that you could control the iPod function of your iPhone without having to look at the screen and find the little virtual button to tap, FlickTunes is well worth a buck. The app has earned a place on my first home screen.
I realize that there are still some portable music players on the market made by companies other than Apple, but no one can dispute that Apple owns this market with its iPod. And for good reason; the iPod is a very high quality product that comes at multiple price points. You can start with an iPod shuffle for only $49, get an iPod nano for $149, get an iPod touch for $229, or if you have a ton of files that you want to always have with you, get the iPod classic with 160GB for $249. The only real competition to the iPod comes from Apple itself; instead of getting a dedicated music player, why not get an iPhone so that you can combine your phone and iPod into a single device?
We are only on the second generation of the iPad, and much like the early days of the iPod, there are lots of other companies just now starting to sell competitors. And these are substantial companies, like HP soon selling the TouchPad, RIM soon selling the PlayBook, Motorola now selling the Xoom, and Samsung recently unveiling new Galaxy Tabs. I hope that these products do well — competition is a good thing — but from all of the reviews I've read, I cannot think of a good reason to recommend any of them over the iPad.
With other companies struggling to match the quality that Apple offers, price becomes a possible way to undercut the iPad. The cheapest iPad 2 costs $499, so a strong competitor would have to cost less than that — substantially less to make it really worth it, such as under $400.
Which leads me to yesterday, when I was shopping at a Sam's and saw this display:
Sam's is selling the first generation iPad, and the entry level 16GB model sells for only $388. Only a year ago, when that device was unveiled, many had predicted that Apple would sell a product like the iPad for $1,000. As much as I am looking forward to upgrading to an iPad 2, the original iPad is still an amazing device, and the thought of getting it with a price tag that starts with the number "3" is simply amazing to me.
Of course, there is nothing unusual about selling a discontinued product at a substantial discount, but I wonder how long it will be before we will see many different tiers of iPads, including some in that same price range. Apple continues to sell the iPhone 3GS at the same time that it sells the iPhone 4, and you can get an 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS for only $49. The iPhone 4 is a much better phone, but from what I hear that $49 3GS still sells quite well, as it should considering how much value you get for that very low price. I wonder whether the iPad 2 will continue to be sold even after Apple releases an iPad 3 (in 2012?) just so that Apple can sell a compelling product for far less than $500. Whenever this happens, I suspect that the iPads will, like iPods, be everwhere.
The iPhone and iPad news of this past week includes apps for using an iOS device for both business and pleasure, some great stories on finding lost iPhones, and Homer Simpson.
For the fifth consecutive year, Apple has ranked #1 in J.D. Power and Associate's smartphone customer satisfaction rankings, and this year the gap between Apple and other smartphone manufacturers widened even more. Gregg Keizer of Computerworld has more details.
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal recommends apps for using your iPad at work such as Documents to Go, Quickoffice, and GoodReader as well as services such as Dropbox. I use these apps on my iPad virtually every day.
Attorney Dan Friedlander also talks about the useful GoodReader app in an article for the BigLaw newsletter.
Dave Caolo of TUAW has relates the story of a person retrieving a stolen iPhone using the Find My iPhone feature, this time a student in Manchester, England.
Charles Starrett of iLounge relates the story of a very different use of Find my iPhone. Ron Walker, a parachute jumper in the Air Force, accidentally dropped his iPhone 1,000 feet from an airplane. He figured that the iPhone was gone forever, but amazingly he was able to recover it using the Find My iPhone feature. Wow.
David Pogue of the New York Times reviews portable Bluetooth speakers that work with the iPhone.
Speaking of the New York Times, the paper is about to start charging for use of its website. John Gruber writes a good critique of the new pricing structure.
Rich Mogull wrote an article for TidBITS in which provides some tips for making sure that your iPhone is encrypted if you are using an older iPhone that you upgraded to run iOS 4.
Rob Waugh of The Daily Mail profiles Jonathan Ive, the main in charge of designing Apple's products.
Tyler Tschida of AppAdvice reviews the latest update to QuickOffice which provides additional sharing options and AirPrint support.
Attorney Slyvia Hsieh wrote about lawyers getting the new iPad 2 for the website Lawyers USA. I was one of the attorneys she interviewed for the article. If you are a subscriber, click here to read the article.
One of my favorite arcade games in the 1980s was Tapper, and now there is a version for the iPhone and iPad featuring the great graphics of Don Bluth, known for animating the famous Dragon's Lair arcade game. I bought the iPad version and it is a lot of fun. Unlike many old arcade games brought to the iPhone or iPad, this game actually works better with touch controls. Click here for Tapper World Tour for iPhone ($0.99): and click here for Tapper World Tour HD for iPad ($1.99):
Is there a connection between Steve Jobs and Homer Simpson? Well actually, there is. John Brownlee of Cult of Mac explains.
Attorney Robert Gitelman illustrates landmark cases and sells his drawings on T-shirts at his site HypoJustice. He also has a part of his site where he recommends several iPhone apps.
Ted Brooks reviews Court Days Pro. He likes it, as did I when I reviewed the app last month.
I love this story. A husband bought an iPad 2, but then returned it to Apple with a note on it that said "Wife said no." Click here to see Apple's response, as reported by Arnold Kim of MacRumors.com.
And finally, the Angry Birds craze continues. Not only was Angry Birds Seasons recently updated for St. Patrick's Day, but there is a new version called Angry Birds Rio which is nicely done. Both my son (who is 5) and I have been enjoying playing it on my iPad. Click here for Angry Birds Rio for iPhone ($0.99): and click here for Angry Birds Rio HD for iPad ($2.99): . But apparently we are not the only father and son who get a kick out of Angry Birds, as shown in this great birthday video:
Early last month, I received an e-mail from Vincent Ko, a recent business school graduate from Georgetown University, with this story about a product he designed called the iFlip:
"How does a business started by a college student only selling one type of iPhone case reach $32,000 in sales during its first year with no advertising and no media outreach? By creating a unique iPhone case and offering the best customer service possible. At the time I was a student at Georgetown University and I had just gotten an iPhone for my 21st birthday. Realizing that I only needed to carry around some cards and cash on a regular basis, I thought there had to be a way to combine my wallet and iPhone. During a late night study session a light bulb went off – create an iPhone wallet case.
The first prototype was created by cutting up an old leather wallet and sewing it together with an iPhone case. It took several trials to refine the ideal design but it was eventually picked up by a leather wallet manufacturer. In the first year we have sold close to 1,000 iFlipWallet cases through our company’s website."
Vincent asked if he could send me a free sample of his product. My first thought was that this was a crazy idea. Why would anyone want a wallet with an iPhone in it? Like many folks, I put a wallet in my back pocket, and I cannot imagine sitting on my iPhone. Many women put an iPhone in a purse, but then why would you need to keep the iPhone together with your wallet when there is more than enough room in all but the smallest purses to keep both an iPhone and a wallet without needing to combine them? But for some reason I found his story compelling, perhaps because I graduated from Georgetown Law School so we had that in common. I agreed to try out the iFlip wallet, and I have been doing so for the last few weeks. To my surprise, this is actually a really nice and useful product that I think many of you might be interested in as well.
The iFlip is a leather bi-fold wallet that feels good in your hands, like, I suppose, any good leather wallet. You slide your iPhone in one half of it, and when the wallet is closed you can access the front of your iPhone and the home button through an opening in one side of the iFlip.
There are openings on the side so that you can access the volume buttons and mute switch. The wallet stays closed with a small strap that attaches to the back of the wallet with a magnet, a feature that works very well.
When you open the wallet, you see four pockets to hold two or three credit cards or IDs and some cash. It is hard to tell from the below picture unless you click to enlarge it, but there is an opening in the see-through area where you place cash so that you can slide the cash in and out of that pocket. There is also a hole for the iPhone camera so that if you want to take a picture while your iPhone is in the iFlip, you can just open the wallet and don't have to remove your iPhone.
The wallet does not hold very much, just a few essentials. Each pocket can really only hold a single card, and the place where you can slide cash doesn't hold more than a few bills. But because it holds so little, I realized what the iFlip is really for. This is probably not going to be the wallet that you use every day. It is just a wallet that you use on a special occasion when you just want to carry all of the essentials -- a few cards, some money and an iPhone -- in one place.
For example, it just so happened that I was trying out the iFlip during Mardi Gras season here in New Orleans. When I take my kids to a parade route, I don't need to carry much with me. I figured I should have a driver's license and a credit card on me (not that I would be likely to use them at a parade) and a little money just in case I want to by something from a vendor, plus of course I want my iPhone with me. The iFlip is too big to put in my back pocket, but at a parade it was nice to have everything in one place in a front pocket on my pants. That way I could always know exactly where the iPhone and those other valuable items were, without the risk that a single credit card or ID or $20 bill might slip out of my pocket.
And it is easy to use the iPhone when it is in the iFlip, whether for making a call, taking quick photo to upload to Facebook, looking up some quick info on the Internet (such as the latest parade update on Twitter to see how many blocks away it was), etc. Since Mardi Gras, I've found the iFlip is just as useful when I want to carry only the essentials to take my kids to the Zoo or a park.
I had two issues with the iFlip, but frankly Vincent Ko warned me about them before he even sent me the product. First, the pockets are very tight. He told me that with use over time, the leather will loosen. So far he is right, although I look forward to them getting a little more loose over time. Second, the edges of the iFlip cover about 1mm of each edge of the iPhone screen. Ko told me that because the leather loosens over time, this was a conscious design decision so that after normal use, the leather would adjust to the size of the iPhone screen instead of starting at the right size and then getting too big. Even after a few weeks of occasion use, the edges still have a little more to go before the size is a perfect fit, but I suppose I just need to give it more time.
The list price of the iFlip is $39.99, but right now it is on sale for $29.99. You can buy a model for either the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 3G / 3GS. If you like the idea of carrying your iPhone and a few essentials in one place, perhaps over the weekend or when you are traveling, the iFlip is worth your consideration. It is a nice and useful product.
Click here to get the iFlip from the iFlip website ($29.99).
I am always looking for better ways to hold an iPad. The TabGrip is an innovative solution that makes it easier to hold your iPad, and as a bonus it also functions as a stand. It was developed by Chulho Song, who is a licensed attorney in California but who has been involved in business, not the practice of law, for several years. He tells me that he actually had lawyers in mind when he came up with the TabGrip because he thought that they would be a natural market for a lightweight and versatile product that makes it easier to hold and prop up a first generation iPad. He sent me a free sample for review purposes, and I've been trying it out for the last few weeks.
The TabGrip itself consists of a flexible rubber strap that attaches to all four sides of the iPad using rubberized plastic grips.
Each grip has a groove inside, and you pull the TabGrip to slip it over each side of the iPad. Once attached, you have grips on all four sides of the iPad so you can easily hold the iPad in one or two hands with a far smaller risk that the iPad can slip out of your hands.
The TabGrip would be useful if that was all that it did, but additionally each of the grips opens up to reveal legs, making it easy to prop up the iPad in multiple positions in either a landscape or portrait position.
Because the grips extend past the width of the iPad, when you have the grips attached you can place the iPad face down on a table and the iPad screen (or back) is lifted so that it doesn't come in contact with the table, reducing the change of scratches.
If you have plans to give a presentation or be in a meeting where you will be walking around with your iPad in your hand, having the TabGrip attached make it much easier to keep a grip on the iPad. It also makes it easy to pass your iPad to someone else, giving them something to grip when the take it from your hands.
I see that one reviewer complained that once he got the TabGrip on his iPad, he couldn't remove it. I agree that it is a little difficult to remove the TabGrip. You get the hang of it over time, but the first time I tried to remove it I was a little worried about the pressure I was exerting to do so. (Tip: I find it easier to first remove the TabGrip from the shorter sides of the iPad, and then you will find it easier to remove the grips from the longer sides of the iPad.)
Another drawback is that holding one or two grips on the side of an iPad is, in my opinion, not a very comfortable way to hold an iPad for a long period of time. I find it much easier to use a product like the FreeOneHand or the GorillaMobile Yogi (I just wrap the adjustable legs around my hand). I suppose that, for me, placing one of my hands in the center of the weight of the iPad is a lot more comfortable than supporting the iPad just by holding it on one side or both sides.
Having said that, the TabGrip is an innovative product that provides a unique way to get a better grip on your iPad. In a business setting when you are walking around holding the iPad or passing it to a colleague, and in a game setting when you are "steering" the iPad turning it left or right, the TabGrip is a useful accessory for the first generation iPad.
The retail price for the TabGrip is $50, but you can get it for $40 right now both on Amazon and from the manufacturer's website.
Over the weekend, AT&T announced that it will acquire T-Mobile for cash and stock valued at about $39 billion. The companies estimate that it will take 12 months to clear regulatory hurdles and handle the logistics of the merger. According to an article in The New York Times, combining AT&T's 95.5 million wireless customers wth T-Mobile's 33.7 million customers would account for roughly 42% of all wireless subscribers in the United States. (Verizon has around 31%, and a good part of the rest are Sprint customers.)
What does this mean for the iPhone? Recent T-Mobile ads have made fun of the iPhone, trying to argue that while the iPhone was on AT&T and Verizon, T-Mobile is better because it offers "4G." I put that in quotes because there is considerable debate over whether it is fair to call the HSPA+ service offered by T-Mobile 4G service because while it is faster than traditional 3G service, it is not as fast as the LTE technology that both AT&T and Verizon call 4G.
One of the first thoughts that many had after the announcement of the merger was whether this means that the iPhone will be coming to T-Mobile subscribers. Not so fast, says T-Mobile itself, which posted this Q&A on a FAQ page on its website:
Is T-Mobile USA getting the iPhone?
T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G.
I think that simply means that during this transition period, T-Mobile isn't getting the iPhone. (I'm sure T-Mobile wishes that this were not the case; the CEO of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG, the parent company of T-Mobile, admitted last year that the lack of the iPhone has hurt T-Mobile's business.) But once the acquisition is complete (assuming that it goes through), then I think it is obvious that T-Mobile customers will be AT&T customers and thus will have access to all AT&T devices, including the iPhone. I suspect that the ability to get the iPhone in the future was one of the reasons that T-Mobile considered it worthwhile to be acquired by AT&T. For the next 12 months, though, if you are a T-Mobile customer who wants an iPhone, you're going to need to make the switch now to AT&T (which it appears you will soon being doing anyway) or Verizon.
Will this acquisition have any benefits for current AT&T iPhone users? Perhaps. AT&T and T-Mobile are the two carriers in the U.S. who use GSM, although the way that they handle 3G is different so if you put a T-Mobile SIM in an AT&T iPhone and enable it by jailbreaking the iPhone, you can only take advantage of the slow Edge network on T-Mobile. But even though the current GSM 3G technology is not compatible, perhaps AT&T can find a way to make it work together. When the iPhone 5 (or whatever it will be called) comes out in a few months, perhaps it will have a way to take advantage of faster flavors of 3G.
Most likely, however, the main potential benefit of the acquisition to current AT&T iPhone customers will come in the future. AT&T (like Verizon) is just starting its 4G LTE roll out. I doubt that this 2011 version of the iPhone will take advantage of 4G, but I suspect that the 2012 iPhone will. By adding 4G LTE not only to all of the AT&T towers and spectrum but also the T-Mobile towers and spectrum, I hope that AT&T will be able to provide better 4G coverage to even more people, including those who are in areas that currently have T-Mobile service but little to no AT&T service. Randall Stephenson, the chairman and CEO of AT&T, alluded to this when he said that the acquisition of T-Mobile "will improve network quality, and it will bring advanced LTE capabilities to more than 294 million people."
I have been on the road lately and haven't had a chance to purchase a new iPad 2, but I did get a chance to try one out earlier this week when I was meeting with another lawyer who had one. What an impressive device; it really feels much better in your hand than the original iPad. And with the iPad 2 on everyone's mind, it comes as no surprise that the news of note from this past week is virtually all about the iPad:
If you are going to get an iPad 2, should you get the Wi-Fi only model or the 3G model? For the past week, I've been using my original 3G iPad with the cellular data turned off and using my iPhone 4 as a Personal Hotspot. The combination seems to work very well. The battery on the iPhone 4 deplete somewhat more quickly with the hotspot feature turned on, but my overall experience leads me to think that I don't need 3G on an iPad 2. For more information on the Personal Hotspot feature of the iPhone 4, check out this great article from Glenn Fleishmann on Macworld.
Apparently another difference between the Wi-Fi and 3G iPad 2 is the microphone on the unit. Charles Starrett of iLounge has details.
How much better are the graphics on the iPad 2 versus the original iPad? One way to find out is to look at a game that pushes graphics to the limit, and Trevor Sheridan of App Advice looks at Infinity Blade and Real Racing 2 HD. Of course, over time, I'm sure that games will do more to take advantage of the iPad 2, but these first efforts seem impressive.
Attorney Clark Stewart discusses his efforts to get an iPad 2.
Justin Kahn of the iPad Notebook site looks at TrialPad, an iPad app that runs presentations with the ability to annotate.
I am a big fan of LogMeIn Ignition, an app that allows you to remotely control a PC or Mac from an iPhone or iPad. The app was just updated to add a feature that allows you to quickly get a file from a remote computer, and I'll be talking about this feature more after I have had a chance to try it out. But I wanted to note that a competitor to LogMeIn Ignition, VMWare, is also available and Sean Hollister of Engadget has an overview.
Leander Kahney of Cult of mac writes that a Hugarian politician is drafting a new version of the country's Constitution on his iPad.
Lex Friedman of Macworld posts 10 power user tips for the iPad.
Sean Doherty of Law Technology News discusses Worlddox DMS for the iPad.
And finally, here are Dave Letterman's Top 10 reasons to get an iPad 2:
Earlier this year, I noted an iPhone case called the iBottle opener which, as you might guess, is an iPhone case that has a built-in bottle opener. I'm not sure how practical that product is, but it is certainly humorous. The company that sells that product and many other zany contraptions, Baron Bob, sent me a free review sample of a product in a similar vein called the iPlunge, billed as a handy stand for your video emergencies. The product looks like a minature plunger. It is a piece of wood attached to a red suction cup that stands about two inches high:
You attach the iPlunge to your iPhone just by pressing the cup part of the plunger on the back of your iPhone. The directions say that it works better if you moisten the cup, but I didn't find that necessary. It attaches easily to the back of the iPhone, and should also work fine with most iPhone cases that have a smooth surface. It also removes easily without leaving a mark.
With the iPlunge attached, it is easy to prop up an iPhone in the landscape position, putting the iPhone at a good angle for watching a video. You can also use the iPlunge to prop up your iPhone in the portrait position, useful for a FaceTime videochat, but I found it much more difficult to find the exact right spot to stay upright in the portrait position; it can be done with some effort, but the iPhone is more likely to tip over.
Of course, I feel that talking about how this product works is somewhat beyond the point. The main selling point of this item is simply that it is humorous. At only $5.95 it makes for an inexpensive joke gift for someone who uses an iPhone, not to mention a funny gadget for yourself if you are looking for a laugh when you prop up your iPhone. You'll have to decide for yourself whether it is prudent to use the iPlunge during a meeting with a potential client. Will it be an icebreaker that leads to a shared laugh, or will it cause the client to lose all confidence in you as a lawyer capable of a serious representation of the client? How exciting to see which it will be! Let me know how it works out for you; I suspect I'll keep this iPlunge packed away during client meetings. Then again, every time I look at the iPlunge, I cannot help but smile.
Click here to get the iPlunge from Baron Bob ($5.95).
Apparently these have been around since July of 2010, but until recently I had not paid much attention to a section of the App Store called App Store Essentials. This is a part of the App Store that recommends apps in several different categories.
For example, the Apps Starter Kit section recommends 25 apps for the new iPhone owner looking to cover the basics. It is a pretty good list of apps:
Last week while I was on vacation, Apple was certainly busy. Most notably the iPad 2 was released on Friday, and I see from the e-mails that I received that many of you were lucky enough to get one. Congrats! I plan to get one soon, most likely the black 32 GB Wi-Fi model. My current iPad has 3G, but now that iOS 4.3 is out and the iPhone 4 on AT&T has a Personal Hotspot feature, I can just use my iPhone to provide 3G data to my iPad when I'm not in a Wi-Fi hotspot, so I don't see a need to have 3G on the iPad 2 itself.
Speaking of iOS 4.3, Apple released it on March 9, 2011. There were many improvements, and the ones that struck me as most significant are the following:
Personal Hotspot. In the Settings App on an iPhone 4, if you go to General --> Network --> Personal Hotspot, you can now share the 3G data on your iPhone with other computers using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB. If you have AT&T, this means that you need to change your rate plan to the DataPro 4GB plan that allows for tethering and which costs $45 a month. I had been using the $30 unlimited data plan so by changing to this plan I lose unlimited data, but in my experience I rarely go over 1GB of data a month so the 4GB plan should be more than enough even when I start sharing data with my iPad. And while I don't plan to share much data with my laptop, it is nice to know that I can also do that in a pinch.
Wait and pause. When you assign a number to a contact, you can now add a wait within the number by pressing the "wait" button, which is displayed as a semicolon. This is useful if you have a voice mail system or a conference call where you need to wait before sending another string of numbers. There is also a "pause" button, which is displayed by a comma, if you just need a slight pause before more numbers are entered. This is a useful feature that I have wanted for a long time.
Safari speed. Safari is now faster thanks to the new Nitro JavaScript engine.
Side switch (iPad). On the iPad, you can now choose in Settings whether the side switch mutes the volume or locks the screen orientation. I find it easy enough to quickly mute the iPad by tapping the volume down button a few times so I have assigned the side switch to the screen rotation lock.
Password required for in-app purchases. In-app purchases now require a password, solving the problem that I noted in this post where a child might make purchases without you knowing about it.
Better security. Every iOS update brings security improvements, and this one does as well. Apple provided this list of what was improved.
Other minor changes. There is a new font in the Notes app called Noteworthy and which is more cursive. The expanded AirPlay feature allows Safari and third party apps to send video to another device such as an Apple TV.
If you want to learn more about all of the nitty gritty details of the changes in iOS 4.3, I recommend this post by Rene Ritchie of TiPb.
It's Mardi Gras season right now in New Orleans. If you are here in New Orleans, I'm sure that you are enjoying the parades and good times with friends and family. If you are not in the Big Easy right now, well, you should be, and you ought to try to make up for it by coming in town for Jazz Fest next month.
Normally there wouldn't be much connection between the iPhone and Mardi Gras, but the theme of one of the parades this past Saturday (the Krewe of Tucks) was "iTucks: What's APPening," as you can see from these pictures of the title float in the parade:
Many of the floats made fun of apps and most of the floats found a way to stick a small "i" at the start of various words. And if the theme itself didn't do enough to emphasize the popularity of the iPhone/iPad and the App Store, the fact that this little fellow preferred playing with an iPhone over catching beads from floats speaks volumes:
Many businesses shut down for a few days during Mardi Gras and those people who don't stay home to watch the parades often use this as an opportunity to take a vacation, so iPhone J.D. is taking a break this week. See you next week, and laissez les bons temps rouler!
Steve Jobs said on Wednesday that 2011 will be the year of the iPad 2. We'll see whether that is true, but there is no question that this was the week of the iPad 2, evidenced by the bulk of the news items of note from this week:
Yesterday, I gave you my thoughts on why lawyers will like the iPad 2. Brett Burney shares his thoughts on the subject here.
Brendan McKenna is not as excited about the iPad 2 in this article for Law Technology News.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote a fantastic analysis of the iPad 2 introduction.
Jeff Gamet of the Mac Observer notes that Apple is still selling the original iPad wit the prices dropped $100, so you can get the 16 GB Wi-Fi version for only $399.
Want to pay even less? You can get a refurbished iPad for as low as $349 directly from Apple. $349 for an iPad? Wow.
Did you buy an iPad after February 16, 2011? Bryane Wolfe of App Advice notes that you can get a $100 rebate from Apple.
The site iLawyerApps discusses LogMeIn Ignition, a $30 app that I use all the time on both my iPad and my iPhone.
A competitor to LogMeIn Ignition is GoToMyPC, and Tony Bradley of PC World has a review of the new GoToMyPC iPad app from Citrix. The app is free, but you need to have a $10 a month subscription to the GoToMyPC service.
Joshua Topolsky of Engadget wrote an interesting commentary on the Post-PC World, a concept that Steve Jobs discussed during the iPad 2 introduction.
Eric Slivka of MacRumors cites recent reports by Bloomberg and Reuters that Verizon will drop its unlimited data service this summer. AT&T used to offer an unlimited data service for the iPhone, but now only those grandfathered into an old plan can use it. That includes me, but I am thinking of switching to AT&T's current 2GB/month plan. I've never used more than 2GB a month, and with that plan selected I can take advantage of the new Mobile Hot Spot feature in iOS 4.3 that is coming out in a few days, which means that I can just get the Wi-Fi version of the iPad 2 and piggy-back on my iPhone's data plan. If any of you have been thinking about doing the same thing, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
The ABA TECHSHOW blog notes that there will be lots of opportunities to discuss the iPad at the upcoming conference next month. That is true, and there will be also lots of opportunities to discuss the iPhone as well.
Joel Johnson wrote an interesting article for Wired about the conditions at Foxconn, the massive manufacturing company in China that makes (among many other things) the iPhone.
Peter Cohen of The Loop notes that the developer of the Angry Birds app is very happy about Apple.
There is a good comparison of four different iPhone apps that you can use to take notes on the And Now It's All This blog.
Divorce lawyer Paul Talbort writes on The Huffington Post about using spying on your spouse using their iPhone or BlackBerry.
Josh Barrett of Tablet Legal writes about apps that you can use for Word and Excel compatibility.
And finally, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2 this past Wednesday, he also showed this video looking back on the uses for the original iPad over the previous year. Like many videos produced by Apple, it is incredibly well done, and may even provoke a tear or two. Worth watching:
Yesterday, Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2, which will be available at the same price as the original iPad starting Friday, March 11 at 5pm. The original iPad sold 15 million units from April to December of 2010, and a lot of those sales went to lawyers. The iPad 2 will appeal to lawyers even more. If you want all of the nitty gritty details, check out the information and videos on the iPad 2 page on the Apple website and the article by Roman Loyola on Macworld. Or if you have an hour, you can watch the video of the entire presentation. In short, though, the iPad 2 is thinner, lighter, faster, has cameras, and works with a neat new cover sold by Apple. Here is what I think that this will mean for lawyers.
Easier to hold
Working with documents is essential to the practice of law, and I love storing all of my important documents on the iPad. But when I hold up my iPad for an extended period of time, it starts to feel somewhat heavy in my hand and I fear that it might slip out. This is the reason that products such as the FreeOneHand can be so useful for lawyers with the original iPad.
The iPad 2 has a different design than the original iPad. The original iPad has an edge on it (sort of like the iPhone 4). The iPad 2 has a back that curves up to meet the front so there is essentially no side at all, as you can see in this picture:
Also, the iPad 2 is 33% thinner than the original iPad (indeed, it is even thinner than the iPhone 4). It is also lighter than the original iPad (1.3 pounds instead of 1.5 pounds).
When I first saw those specs, I thought that they sounded good but was curious how much difference it would really make. But Steve Jobs emphasized yesterday that these seemingly small differences in design, thickness and weight work together and are significant. He said:
It's dramatic. ... When you get your hands on one, it feels totally different. ... Going from 1.5 pounds to 1.3, and you might not think that is a lot, but when you get down to 1.5 pounds a tenth of a pound is a lot, and it feels quite a bit lighter.
I have read and listened to several reports by folks who were at the introduction yesterday and got a chance to handle the new iPad, and they all say that the iPad 2 really is much easier to hold. The curved design, the thinness and the reduced weight make holding the iPad a dramatically better experience. Jason Snell of Macworld remarked in a podcast yesterday that holding the iPad 2 feels almost like holding a magazine. After holding the original iPad for a while, my hand can feel like it is holding a large hard cover book. Having a case on the original iPad (or something like the FreeOneHand) can help, but the reports make me think that with the iPad 2 it will be much easier to get by without those extra contraptions.
Faster
The original iPad is usually pretty fast, but can sometimes lag in certain tasks. For example, whenever I am doing legal research, I like to download cases in PDF Format and then read and highlight them on my iPad using the GoodReader app and a stylus. Sometimes when I am highlighting a document, or marking up a PDF by drawing a circle or an arrow, there is just enough of a slight lag that it breaks the illusion that I am actually writing on a document.
But the new iPad 2 is, in the words of Steve Jobs, "dramatically faster." It has a new chip inside called the A5 that has two processors instead of one, and a CPU that is up to twice as fast. Moreover, the graphics are up to nine times faster. According to those who handled the iPad 2 yesterday, these improvements make the iPad feel much more responsive. We'll see when I get my hands on one, but I hope that this eliminates those slight lags that I see on my current iPad. And I understand that using the Safari browser to surf the Internet is much zippier on the iPad 2.
Cameras
The iPad 2 has a camera on the front and a camera on the back, just like the iPhone 4. The back camera on the iPad 2 is not as good as the camera on the iPhone 4, but I don't see that as very important. I often use my iPhone 4 to take pictures, but I can't see holding up something the size of a legal pad to take many photographs. On the other hand, the cameras let you use FaceTime on the iPad, which in my experience is a nice way to keep in touch with family when I have to travel on business. Having a bigger screen will make FaceTime more enjoyable.
Video out for presentations
The new iPad 2 can work with a $39 device that provides HDMI mirrored video output at up to 1080p and works with all apps and supports rotation. Apple has more information on this page. For lawyers, this means that you can use your iPad to give a presentation on a large TV screen and the audience can see whatever you see on your iPad.
According to a page on the online Apple Store, the new Apple Digital AV Adapter also work with the iPhone 4 and iPod touch (4th generation). (I'm not sure if it works with the original iPad.) So this should mean that you can even just use your iPhone to easily display a document, slide, etc. with other counsel or clients as long as you have access to a TV with an HDMI port. [UPDATE 3/4/11: Apparently, you can't do as much with this adapter on an iPhone. Macworld reports: "However, when used with an iPhone, iPod touch, or original iPad, the adapter doesn’t support systemwide mirroring and is limited to displaying video from apps that explicitly support video output, such as the stock Photos and Video apps and the Netflix app. In addition, that video is limited to 720p resolution. (When used with an iPad 2, the adapter lets you mirror anything and everything, including the Home screen, and supports resolutions up to 1080p.)"]
Smart Covers
Apple (and many third party companies) made cases for the original iPad. But for the iPad 2, Apple decided that it wanted to come up with a way to protect the screen without adding as much thickness and weight. The result is what Apple calls the Smart Cover. It attaches to the iPad with magnets, covering the screen and automatically putting the iPad to sleep. It also folds up into a triangle that can prop up the iPad either slightly for typing or more for watching videos, doing FaceTime, etc. This short video does a great job of showing how it works:
The covers come in a polyurethane version in five colors for $39 each and a leather version in five colors for $69 each. I suspect that almost all iPad 2 owners will want to pick up one of these. Time will tell whether the Smart Cover makes other iPad cases obsolete, but it is great to have such a sleek option that adds so little size and weight to the iPad so that it will be even easier to carry the iPad 2 around.
Lawyers will love it
I'm just touching on the major features. The iPad 2 also has a lot of fun new features, such as the Photo Booth app (your kids will love it), and the (optional) new GarageBand and updated iMovie apps look really neat. The new three-axis gyroscope (just like the iPhone 4) will be useful for augmented reality apps. And while the original iPad only came in black, you can get either a black or white model of the iPad 2. In short, though, it looks like the iPad 2 will add a lot of useful features to a device that lawyers already love, and will address some of the few shortcomings of the original iPad.
I know a lot of lawyers who have been waiting for the next model to get their first iPad. Their time has come. I also suspect that a lot of lawyers who currently have an iPad will be gifting it to a spouse or other loved one to take advantage of the new features. I feel that I should note that John Gruber and Jim Dalrymple — two folks who tend to have very good sources and good insight on unreleased Apple products — have bothguessed that Apple will announce an iPad 3 (or perhaps the iPad 2 HD), a version of the iPad 2 with a retina display like we have on the iPhone 4, in September of this year to have a new model for the holiday buying season. Will this happen this year? Well, maybe we can read something into the statement on this slide that Jobs displayed yesterday: "2011: Year of iPad 2." Perhaps that means that the iPad 2 is all that we will see this year and the third generation iPad won't come out until 2012. We just don't know.
Of course, you never know when the next great technology product will come out, and if you keep waiting for the next model, you'll never get anything at all. One thing that is for sure: I am positive that many lawyers will soon be very happy owners of the new iPad 2. And I suspect that I will be one of them.
At 10:00 Pacific / 1:00 Eastern today, Apple will host an event in San Francisco at which the next version of the iPad will be announced. I suspect that Apple will also announce when iOS 4.3 will be available, and it is also likely that Apple will preview the next major revision of the iOS, perhaps called iOS 5.0. I doubt we will learn much about new iPhone hardware, but who knows.
If you want to follow the event live as it happens, I recommend the live blogs at the following locations:
If you want to watch the event yourself but are not a member of the press with an invitation, I suspect that tonight, Apple will also provide a video of the event on the Apple website.
I often find myself wanting to use my iPhone to find places that are close to my current location, such as nearby restaurants, banks, and parking lots. There are some ways to do it using the built-in apps on the iPhone, such as going to the Maps app, finding your current location, and then doing a search for "restaurants" but the list returned is limited. Localscope is a very useful app dedicated to finding places close to you by using several different tools at once: Google, Bing, Foursquare, Twitter and Wikimapia. I wasn't aware of this $1.99 app until the developer sent me a free copy for review purposes, and after using it for a few weeks, I now find that it is the first app that I launch when I want to find places around me.
When you first launch the app, it uses the iPhone's GPS to find your current location, which is displayed at the bottom of the screen in the form of a street address. You can modify that address by tapping the small arrow at the bottom left of the app to move the pin to any other location. Or you can enter a specific street address, which makes it possible to find what is near a location even if you are not currently in that location.
As a side benefit, whenever the pin is in a location, you can tap the circle at the bottom right to quickly share that location with someone else via a text message or e-mail or post your current location to Facebook or Twitter. (The app sends a Google Maps URL and shortens the URL using Bit.ly's j.mp service.)
Once the app knows where you are, you can tap on one of 35 different categories (restaurant, pub, gas station, hotel, hospital, police, post office, etc.) Or if those categories don't cover your need, just type something else in the search bar. The main screen always lists items in the order in which you searched them, most recent searches at the top of the list, so if for example you mostly use this app to find restaurants, that choice will always be at or near the top.
Once your search term is entered, you get results from Google with key information such as the name, address, phone and distance from where you are now. I like viewing the results in a list view, but you can also tap the rectangle at the top right to change to a map view.
Tap on any result to get more information. For example, one field contains the phone number, which you can tap to quickly place a call. Or you can tap the URL to launch Safari and get information on the restaurant through a Google search.
If that was all the app did, it would be a great, clean interface for a Google search. But what I really like about this app is the ability to get a second opinion from other search engines. On the main search results screen, just slide at the bottom to run the same search in Bing or Foursquare. You will likely see results that are similar, but not identical, so it is a great way to double-check if something might have been missed on the first search on Google.
In my expereience, the Twitter searches were usually not that helpful, but Wikimapia was a good alternative place to search.
In addition to the list and map views noted above, you can also select an augmented reality view. In this view, your iPhone uses the camera on the back of the iPhone to show whatever is in front of you and superimposes on top of that image information on what is nearby, including how many places are to the left and how many are to the right. I didn't get a good image of this on my iPhone, but here is an image from the developer's website to give you a sense of how it works:
The app also has some advanced features that I haven't tried. It integrates with the Facebook app on the iPhone, but I am not the sort of person who posts this sort of information on Facebook. It also integrates with the TomTom navigation app if you use that one, which I can see being very useful. And if you find a location and start walking (or, I suppose, driving) towards it, a compass will update in real time to point you in the right direction and tell you how far you have left to go.
The above screen shots give you a sense of the results that you can get by running a search, but what they don't show you is how fast this app works. This app is without question the fastest method that I currently have on my iPhone for figuring out what is around me, and the two primary reasons that I really like this app are its speed and the well-designed interface.
If you ever want to use your iPhone to figure out what is around you, this app is easily worth $2. Localscope is a great, useful app.
