I don’t anticipate any big Apple news on the horizon, so iPhone J.D. will be quiet for the next two weeks. If I come across anything interesting, I will post it on Twitter, if you want to follow me there. @jeffrichardson is my Twitter account. See you in two weeks!
-Jeff
One year ago today, the iPhone 4 was released. The Internet is full of rumors about when the next generation iPhone will be released this year (maybe September?). If you bought your iPhone 4 soon after it came out in 2010, you are about to hit the end of your 1 year warranty. You can see how much time you have left on that warranty by going to this page on Apple’s website and entering your serial number, which you can find on your iPhone by going to Settings –> General –> About. If you want to add a second year to your warranty, that same page will let you do so for $69, but you can only extend the warranty if you are still within your first year. And now, on to the news of note from the past week:
[UPDATE: Tom Bihn updated the Ristretto for iPad in 2012. Click here to read my review of the 2012 model.] If you haven’t read my last post yet (my review of the BoxWave Encompass Urban Bag), especially the first two paragraphs, go read it right now. The Encompass Urban Bag is a great value at $50, and after I used it for a few weeks I really thought that I had found the bag for me. Then a free review unit of the Ristretto from Tom Bihn in Seattle showed up in the mail, and I started using it for a few weeks, and boy do I love this bag. For reasons I’ll explain below, you really need to spend about $150 to get the full value of the Ristretto, but if you are willing to spend three times as much, you get a premium product that is a joy to use. If you are looking for a bag for your iPad to use to and from work every day and every time you travel, I encourage you to seriously consider spending the extra money for the Ristretto. It is fantastic.
Tom Bihn’s Ristretto for iPad
Like the Encompass Urban Bag, the Ristretto is a vertical messenger bag that you carry over your shoulder. The Ristretto is nicely padded to provide protection to the contents, and the material used is thick and very durable, nicer than what you get with the Encompass Urban, and similar to (although somewhat more durable) than the material of a nice JanSport backpack. It comes in lots of different color combinations. I have the Black/Steel because I wanted something classic that doesn’t stand out, but if you want to have more color in your life there are ten different color combinations. (Andy Chen of The Gadgeteer has some nice pictures of the Olive / Cayenne model along with a good review of the bag.)
Also like the Encompass Urban Bag, the Ristretto has large main compartment with a compartment in the back for the iPad. The iPad 2 easily fits with or without the Apple Smart Cover. Unlike the Encompass Urban Bag, which has a flap that attaches with velcro to hold the iPad in place, the Ristretto has a large flap that simply tucks behind the iPad to keep it secure. It works well. In the other side of the main compartment, you can fit another large object such as the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard. The compartment is larger than the similar compartment in the Encompass Urban, plus unlike the Encompass Urban which has a zipper on top, the large top flap of the Ristretto simply folds over. Thus, you are unlikely to have problems fitting even larger objects into the Ristretto. It might be a small bag, but it can hold a lot.
The front portion of the Ristretto has places to hold a few other items. First, there are two medium size pouches (about 3″ wide and about 4.5″ deep) to hold items like a backup battery or an iPhone. Next to those pouches are two small compartments for pens. Although the pen compartments work well, the two medium size pouches are my only real disappointment with this bag. I find that items that I put in them tend to easily fall out. I wish that there was a cover or some way to secure those compartments. Because there is not, I tend not to use them very much. The pen compartments don’t have this problem because you can attach the clip of the pen, and each pen compartment can easily hold two pens, so I use those two compartments to hold two real pens and two styluses.
Second, there is a large compartment with a zipper. This compartment is very useful and I slide lots of different items in here such as power cables for both my iPad/iPhone and my external batteries, VGA adapters, smaller items that I don’t want to fall out of those medium size pouches, etc. Third, in front of the pouches there is a large space where you can put something. When I go through security, I will often slide items like a wallet or iPhone in there to put them through the security conveyor belt so that they don’t set off the metal detector or the new full body scanners.
Finally, the backside of the Ristretto — just like the backside of the Encompass Urban — has an open-top pocket that is a great place to slide a magazine, a receipt, a folded sheet of paper, etc.
The o-rings
One of the really handy features of the Ristretto is the inclusion of o-rings: small plastic rings attached to the inside of the Ristretto by a tiny strap. There is one o-ring in the front compartment of the bag just below the zipper, there is one inside of the zipper compartment, and there are two inside of the main compartment (one on each side). Any gripes I have about not being able to use the medium size pouches to secure smaller items (because they slide out) are compensated for with these o-rings because you can purchase accessories for the Ristretto that attach to the o-ring. The Ristretto comes with a keystrap, a handy place to attach your keys and know that they won’t fall out of the bag. You can purchase additional keystraps for $2.00
You can also purchase a Clear Organizer Pouch, a zippered pouch that attaches to one of the o-rings. They come in various sizes, and the Ristretto can fit the $7 4″ Mini (good for change or credit cards), the $9 5″ Small (good for wallets, keys or makeup) the $11 7″ Medium (good for a checkbook or pens) or the $11 9″ Pen/Pencil pouch. Here is the Meidum size which I’m using right now to hold a MOBiLE CLOTH.
You can also purchase a Padded Orgaizer Pouch in Mini, Small or Medium sizes ($8 to $12) if you want padded protection for the item in the pouch. Tom Binh sent me a small one, which I am using to hold an RSA SecurID fob and my Apple In-Ear Headphones.
Both of these are great for adding an additional, secure pocket to organize additional items in the Ristretto. Moreover, there are many other items that you can purchase to attach to your o-rings such as nylon pouches, an RFID blocking passport pouch, an organizer wallet either with or without a clear front, and even a light.
The strap
What really takes the Ristretto over the top is the amazing Absolute Shoulder Strap. The Ristretto comes with a Standard Strap (which I did not try) but for an additional $20 you can upgrade to the Absolute Shoulder Strap — and really, you must do so. This is hands down the best strap that I have ever used for any bag. First, the part of the strap that sits on your shoulder has a rubbery feel which provides amazing friction. Unlike most other shoulder straps that slip off of you shoulder, this one really stays in place.
Second, there is something about the engineering of this strap that distributes the weight to make the bag seem much lighter than it really is. The website says that it combines “a soft, durable neoprene pad with comfortable stretch backing to make bags feel 50% lighter and 100% more comfortable.” I don’t know how it works, but it is like magic. I can fit many more objects in the Ristretto than the Urban Encompass bag, so clearly the bag is much heavier, and yet with the Absolute Shoulder Strap it feels lighter.
Attorney David Sparks of the MacSparky blog reviewed the Ristretto for iPad last year and noted: “I’ve also found myself repurposing The Absolute Shoulder Strap with all my various bags.” I may have to look and see if there is a way that I can get this strap to work with my briefcase the next time that I use my briefcase. It seems silly to say this, but this optional strap is truly as much a selling point for Tom Bihn’s Ristretto bag as the bag itself is.
By the way, the Ristretto also comes with a waist strap that you can use if you are riding a bike or otherwise need to keep it very close to your body. I didn’t need this, and it is easily removed.
Conclusion
As I mentioned in my last post, my research into a good bag for my iPad narrowed me down to the Encompass Urban and the Ristretto. Had I not had the opportunity to use both bags, I might have opted for the Encompass Urban simply because it is only $50. And frankly, I would have been very happy with the Encompass Urban because it really is a great bag. But now that I have had an opportunity to use both bags for a long period of time, it is clear that the Ristretto really is a much nicer bag. It is more durable, it has better compartments, the o-ring design gives you even more options for storing items, and the Absolute Shoulder Strap is amazing.
Keep in mind, though, that to really get the most out of the Ristretto you need to spend more than just the $110 for the bag. At a minimum, you are going to want to spend $20 for the Aboslute Shoulder Strap plus you will want to get two or three accessory pouches, which can run around $10 or so each. Thus, it is easy to spend $150 or more for the Ristretto with accessories, three times the cost of the Encompass Urban. It really is worth it, though. Much like the iPad and the iPhone, I have grown to consider the Ristretto to be my trusty companion. It has received a lot of abuse, going through countless airports, being tucked under lots of airplane seats, being stepped on and dropped many times, and the bag itself — and most importantly the contents such as my iPad — have held up just fine thanks to the durable materials and top notch construction (made in the USA). The Tom Bihn Ristretto for iPad is now my favorite third party accessory for the iPad, and I strongly recommend that you consider it if you are looking for a great way to carry around your iPad.
Click here to get the Tom Bihn Ristretto from the manufacturer ($110 + more for accessories).
There was a time when I would often use my briefcase to take my laptop back and forth to work and to take my laptop with me when I traveled. Those days began to come to an end the day I started using an iPad, and nowadays I never bring my laptop home from the office or take it with me when I travel. I can do everything that I need to do with my iPad, which is a fraction of the weight, has much better battery life, and is a much more enjoyable device to use. When I need to use a desktop application that doesn’t exist on the iPad, I can always connect to my office using Citrix or connect to my computer sitting in my office using LogMeIn Ignition. But how do I take my iPad back and forth to work every day and carry it when I travel? For a while I was using my briefcase, but that is really way too big for the iPad, and now that I try to keep all of my documents in electronic form (usually PDF) on my iPad, I don’t even need the extra space in my briefcase to carry papers. What I needed was a small bag that would hold the iPad and some key accessories, including my Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, for going to and from work and for traveling. I suspect that many of you have the exact same need.
I visited a ton of product and review websites, asked lots of people for advice (including iPhone J.D. readers) and got some great tips, and finally narrowed down my research to two products. Both companies sent me review units at no cost, and I’ve been using them both for well over a month now. They are both fantastic and I give them both strong recommendations. Today I’m talking about the BoxWave Encompass Urban Bag, which is less expensive ($48.95) and overall has fewer features, but for many people will be the best choice. In a few days I’ll talk about the other product, the Tom Bihn Ristretto for iPad ($110, and around $150 with accessories).
BoxWave’s Encompass Urban Bag
The main reason that you get a bag like this is to safely carry your iPad. I wanted something that would fit the iPad 2 with the Apple Smart Cover attached. The main compartment of the Encompass Urban is divided in two. One half is for the iPad. It is well padded for protection, and once your iPad is inside a flap folds down and attaches with velcro so that your iPad won’t slide out, even if the main compartment is open. In the other half of the main compartment, I put my Apple Bluetooth Keyboard. (In the first picture below I am using a Kensington PowerLift just to prop open the inside of the bag so that you can see it, but normally I would store a battery like that in the external pouch.)
One side of the Encompass Urban has a large flap attached by velcro. Open it up to reveal two large pockets about 4″ x 6″ in size. Each pocket can stretch out to hold about 1.5″ of items. Inside of each pocket is a secondary netted pocket so that you can separate items within the pockets. I also often put a stylus in the netted pocket, with the clip attached to the netting to keep it in place. There is also loop made of elastic. I found the loop a little large for a pen or stylus; it does a good job holding a marker and I imagine would do well holding a thick stylus. With the large velcro flap closed, items inside of the two large pockets are safe and will not fall out of the Encompass Urban.
The other side of the Encompass Urban has one large pocket on the entire side, about 8.5″ wide and almost 8″ tall. There is one small piece of velcro in the middle of the top of the pocket that keeps the pocket closed, but beware that smaller items could slip out of the sides. If you just ignore the velcro, you can easily tuck a larger item into this side pocket such as a magazine.
A bag like this has to do a good job of holding items, but it also has to be easy to carry. There are two ways to carry the Encompass Urban. First, there are two small straps that work well when you want to carry the bag in your hand. But I found that I almost never used them, and fortunately there is a small compartment on each side of the bag that allows you to tuck away the handle so that it is out of the way. Instead, I almost always use the included padded shoulder strap that attaches easily to the bag with metallic bindings. (You can easily remove the strap if you just want to use the small handles.) The padded portion of the strap that sits on your shoulder has netting to give it friction on your shoulder to make it harder for the bag to slip off your arm. It worked reasonably well, although after walking a distance I would find the strap slipping down so I would have to push it back up. There were a few times when I was rushing in an airport to catch a tight connection, and I would put the strap on my other shoulder so that the straps were diagonal across my body. That position held the Encompass Urban bag very well. It’s not a position I would want to use very often because it is a little annoying to have a strap across my chest, but for those rare times when needed, the position kept this bag secure on my body.
BoxWave makes lots of great products for the iPhone and iPad, including the great BoxWave Capactive Styra and the BoxWave Capacitive iPad Stylus. They know what iPad and iPhone owners need, and thus it comes as no surprise that I have really enjoyed using the Encompass Urban bag. The entire bag is nicely padded so all of the contents are safe. It very easy to store all of my essential iPad and iPhone items in this bag: the iPad 2 with cover, the keyboard, external batteries, power cords, VGA adapter cord, pen, stylus, and other small accessories. Thus, I can carry those items with me, and as an added bonus I always know to go to the bag to find those items. This is also a great small travel bag for when you are on an airplane. You can put it under the seat in front of you and, unlike a briefcase, there is still tons of room for your feet, and in that location it is easy to access your iPad once you hit 10,000 feet.
I find that when you have too many items in the outside pockets, the bag stretches somewhat making it a little harder to close the main compartment when you have the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard in there. It will close, but it can get a little snug. With fewer items in the outside pockets this problem disappears, and if you don’t plan on carrying something as long as that keyboard, you won’t run into this problem even with full outside pockets.
This bag also lacks some features of the Tom Binh Ristretto that I will be reviewing in a few days, but the BoxWave Encompass Urban Bag is nevertheless a fantastic bag at a fraction of the price ($50 versus $110 for the Tom Binh plus around $40 in accessories that you will want to get). If you are looking for an easy way to carry your iPad and accessories around, you’ll love this bag, and at only $50 it is very affordable for what it gives you.
Click here to get the BoxWave Encompass Urban Bag from Amazon ($48.95)
For Father’s Day yesterday, I received a very cute card from my kids (with a lot of help from my wife, and inspired by this page). It was a Father’s Day card shaped like an iPad, so they called it the iDad. Instead of opening up the entire card, you open each app to reveal words on the card. Very cute. Obviously, my family really knows what I like! If you are a father, I hope you had a great day yesterday. I certainly did. (If you are looking for another version of an iPad greeting card, see this page.)
I had an interesting conversation over lunch yesterday. Gavin McLachlan, an attorney in South Africa who reads iPhone J.D., was in New Orleans for a wedding, so he reached out to me and we had lunch, along with Ernest Svenson of Ernie the Attorney. It was interesting hearing about the legal system in South Africa, which has some things in common with the U.S. but many procedures that are different. For example, there are no jury trials there. He told me that he first got an iPad in April of 2010, which amused me because the iPad didn’t officially go on sale in South Africa until January of this year. Like so many other people outside of the U.S., he managed to get his hands on an iPad that was originally sold in America. McLachlan tells me that lots of attorneys in South Africa are now using iPhones and iPads, and he said that at one recent meeting of attorneys in that country, almost every participant was using an iPad. According to Google Analytics, I have only had about 500 unique visitors this year from South Africa, so if you are one of them, please spread the word about iPhone J.D.! It was interesting to hear that while our legal systems are different, McLachlan and I actually use many of the same apps on our iPhones and iPads. And now, on to the news of note from the past week:
The best place to buy an iPhone or iPad — heck, one of the best stores in the country — is an Apple Store. Much of the credit goes to Ron Johnson, the Senior VP at Apple who helped to create and has overseen the development of the Apple Store. As reported by ifoAppleStore, J.C. Penney Company Inc. announced this week that Johnson is leaving Apple to be its new CEO. That’s great news for J.C. Penney, but a loss for Apple. It’s also a loss for me, because the picture at the right was a heck of a lot cooler when it was a picture of me and a high-ranking Apple VP. Me and a department store CEO? Yawn.
I cannot count how many times an attorney at my law firm has told me that he or she wants to get an iPad and wants advice on what to get and then what apps and accessories to get. With over 250 lawyers at my firm, lately I’ve been getting this question at least once a week, so much so that I find myself sending essentially the same e-mail every time. I thought about this recently when I saw that Virginia attorney Rob Dean wrote a great post on his WalkingOffice site called “New iPad? Start Here.” I am sending a version of my e-mail to one of my partners today, so I thought I would share that e-mail with the rest of you. If you have any other good recommendations for attorneys who are first time iPad users, I’d love to hear them.
[Click here for the March, 2013 version of this post.]
Dear ________,
The first thing you need to decide is what model to get. I recommend that most people get the 16GB version of the iPad 2, either Wi-Fi only ($499) or Wi-Fi + 3G ($629). You really only need the more expensive 32GB or the 64GB versions if you plan to put a lot of movies on the iPad (each movie takes about 1.2GB) to watch while you are on a plane. My guess is that you won’t do that — at least not enough that you need more than 16GB. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you want to get a model with 3G in it. My guess is that you will mostly use the iPad at your house or at work where you already have Wi-Fi and don’t need 3G. Keep in mind that if you get the 3G version, you’ll also have to pay a monthly fee for the service.
You should also get the Apple Smart Cover for the iPad 2, which costs either $39 or $59. The more expensive model is leather, which I have and like, but both models are fine, and it really comes down to what color you want. If you want the black one that I have, you’ll need to get the more expensive model.
Once you have the iPad, you’ll need to configure it to work with our law firm. Our tech support folks can handle that for you so that you get all of your e-mail, contacts and calendar entries on your iPad.
Once you get it, and after you have gotten used to it, you’ll want to download some apps for it. You can do that right on the iPad itself using the “App Store” app. Here is a list of good apps that you might want to consider:
Citrix Receiver — this one is free, and it allows you to connect to the Firm’s network and control a virtual computer. While the iPhone can handle your regular e-mail just fine, you can use the Citrix app to run Outlook on your iPad and then do everything else you can do with Outlook, such as access files in the firm’s document management system. Citrix is also a handy way to access our firm’s accounting system.
GoodReader — this app is $5, and it is great for organizing files, especially PDF files. So much of my life is PDF files right now, and this gives me a way to store documents on my iPad in folders so that I always have documents I need with me — briefs, contracts, etc.
Dragon Dictation — this free app allows you to dictate a short message. You speak a few sentences, then it translates into text, then you tap one button and can send an e-mail. Often much faster than typing with your fingers on the screen.
Fastcase — free app that lets you enter a cite and pull up a case or statute. Sort of like a free version of Westlaw or Lexis for the iPad.
Documents to Go — although you can easily read a Word file on the iPad without buying any extra apps, I usually prefer to read Word documents using Documents to Go. This $10 app displays the document with a larger font, can show the footnotes, and can even show redline edits (although unfortunately it doesn’t let you create redline edits; I hope that they add this feature soon). You can also use this app to edit a Word file and to view or edit an Excel file. There is also a $17 premium version of this app which adds the ability to edit PowerPoint files and use online services like Google Docs or Dropbox. My guess is that the $10 version is all that you need.
The Weather Channel — good, free app for checking the weather.
ESPN SportsCenterXL — free app, great for sports scores
If you want to use your iPad as a legal pad and take notes on it, you’ll need two things. First, you’ll need a stylus. They cost between $8 and $25. The one that I am using right now is called the Kensington Virtuoso. It costs $20 and also includes a regular pen. You can get it at Amazon. Second, you’ll need an app that lets you draw on the screen. The two apps I recommend are either Penultimate, good for short notes, or Note Taker HD if you want to take longer notes. Then you can e-mail the notes to yourself as PDF files to store them on your computer or in our firm’s document management system.
If you want to use your iPad as a laptop replacement to write documents, such as typing notes in a meeting, it can be useful to buy a Bluetooth keyboard. I have the one that Apple makes which costs $69, but any Bluetooth keyboard will work. And then you want a good word processor program. You can use Documents to Go, the app I mentioned above, to write Word documents. Another alternative is an app that Apple makes called Pages. It costs $10 and works well.
If you ever work with attorneys or courts who send you documents created with WordPerfect, the iPad doesn’t know how to view those files on its own. You can purchase an app called WordPerfect Viewer that can view those apps. It is $6.
The iPad doesn’t come with a calculator app. I recommend Digits because it has large, easy to read and use buttons. It costs $2.
If you want to have fun, of course there are tens of thousands of games. I like Scrabble and Angry Birds. Your kids can probably recommend lots of other great ones to you.
That will get you started. If you want to learn more, I recommend that you read my iPhone J.D. website. http://www.iphonejd.com You can even have it delivered to your e-mail for free every time I write a new post; just go to this page — http://bit.ly/iHeqff — and enter your e-mail address.
Enjoy your new iPad. You are going to love it!
-Jeff
When I talk about how attorneys can use an iPad in court, I’m usually referring to litigators. However, Judge Dan Hinde of the 269th District Court of Harris County in Houston, Texas recently took the time to share with me how judges are also using iPads in the courtroom. He was kind enough to let me share his thoughts here. Here is what Judge Hinde told me:
The “Judicial” iPad
As courts go, the civil district courts in Harris County, Texas are relatively high-tech. We have fairly modern audio-visual equipment in each courtroom. Lawyers can electronically file documents, and since around 2008, all of the courts are “paperless.” By this I mean that our case files are now kept electronically. Electronic filings go straight to the file without being printed out, and paper filings are scanned into each case file. Thanks to the District Clerk’s Office, lawyers can access documents in case files on the internet.
This has greatly diminished the volume of paper handled by the courts. But it does not mean the judges have less to read. (The number of new cases in Harris County have actually risen since 2008.) Instead, it has led us judges to change how we read, absorb, and analyze materials submitted for our consideration. We all pretty much read case files on our desktop computers. We can also access our files remotely on laptops via several options for secure access. And a few of us our now using iPads to review briefs and motions. But I think this is just the start.
I received my iPad 2 in April and have worked with the IT departments of the courts and the clerk’s office to find some great ways to securely access briefs and exhibits in an organized, efficient way. I can now download all the briefs and exhibits related to any motion on my docket onto my iPad to review later using GoodReader. I can access our network for any additional materials securely through a VPN as well as a Citrix client app.
Legal research will become even more efficient. I now have the entire set of Texas statutes, including the Texas Constitution, all of the Texas codes, and the Revised Civil Statutes, on my iPad using RealTek’s Texas Statutes app. (The printed volumes take up about 8-10 bookshelves in my office.) So instead of having to run back to my chambers in the middle of a hearing to look up an obscure statutory reference (or instead of logging onto Westlaw or Lexis), I can simply open up this app and look up the statute being cited to me.
Similarly, Fastcase’s iPad app provides quick access to cases, albeit without any headnotes or subsequent history information. I have also bookmarked the websites for the Texas Administrative Code and Westlaw for access to other materials. While the Black’s Law Dictionary app is a little pricey for me (I tend to download only free apps or iBooks), I do have Nolo’s free law dictionary for use when I need to know the difference between a cestui que use and a cestui que trust.
Of course, I have downloaded one of the free Constitution apps available on iTunes. And through iBooks, I have a free copy of certain secondary authorities, like The Federalist Papers and Democracy in America.
But I see so much more potential for this device. As lawyers and parties look for ways to reduce costs, I think videoconferencing may become more prevalent. Before the iPad, the equipment costs made videoconferencing cost-prohibitive under our tight budgets. But now it is an option worth considering for hearings and status conferences given the number of videoconferencing apps like FaceTime, Skype, WebEx, and Yahoo Messenger, among others.
District judges in Texas have a very small staff. Few, if any, have a secretary, so having speech-recognition software like Dragon Dictation’s iPad app could help us draft materials more quickly. The various note-taking apps give us the opportunity to take notes on the bench or at home while listening to arguments and testimony or reading briefs and keep these notes in an organized manner and close to hand.
These are just some of the uses I see for the iPad as a judge. I am sure there are more on the way. I look forward to exploring them.
– – – – –
Thank you to Judge Hinde for sharing his iPad experiences with the readers of iPhone J.D. With a population of 4.1 million, Harris County has (according to Wikipedia) the third largest population of any county in the United States. It is great to hear that courts in that large and important jurisdiction are making the most of technology. You can learn more about Judge Hinde in his biography on his court’s website, you can follow Judge Hinde on Twitter (@JudgeDanHinde), or you can see him in person on the 13th floor of the Harris County Civil Courthouse in Houston, Texas.
Back in 2009, I was on a plane that offered free use of the Gogo Inflight Internet service so I tried it out and wrote about my experiences, which were positive. Gogo provides Wi-Fi on many different airlines including Air Canada, AirTran, Alaska Airlines, AmericanAirlines, Delta, Frontier, United, US Airways and Virgin America — currently over 1,000 different airplanes. Since my original post in 2009, many people have told me, wrote to me, or posted a comment on that original post saying that they have had disappointing experiences with Gogo, so I have been curious to try it again.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been on twelve different Delta flights (three trips with connections on both sides of the trip). Knowing that I would have several trips in June, I paid for 30 days of service on June 1 to give Gogo a more comprehensive test. Once again, my experience was for the most part quite positive.
Unlike the last time that I tried the service, there is now a Gogo app that works on the iPhone or iPad to help you sign on to the service. You don’t need the app (you can sign up using a web browser) but the app saves you the trouble of typing in your username and password every time you use the service.
Signing in to Gogo Inlight Internet
The procedure for using Gogo is as follows:
1. Wait for the flight attendant to announce that you have reached 10,000 feet and you are allowed to use electronic devices. On your iPhone or iPad go to Settings –> Wi-Fi and select the Gogo service.
2. Wait a few seconds for the Wi-Fi icon to appear at the top of the screen.
3. Launch the Gogo app. You will see one of the following screens. If you didn’t wait long enough, you will be told that the service is unavailable (the first picture below). But if all goes well you’ll see something like the second picture below.
4. If you need to sign up for the service, you will be given several different priced options. The current prices for the iPhone or iPad are as follows. (Service for a computer is slightly more expensive.)
There are several other packages with different prices. For example, if you pre-purchase Gogo before you are on your flight, you can pay $34.95 for a month of service on any plane from any airline. Better yet, if you use this link on the Delta website you can currently get that service for only $24.95. You can also pre-purchase a 24 hour pass on the Gogo website for $12.95, and Delta is currently selling the 24 hour pass at a discounted price of $11.00.
5. If you already have an account with a username/password that is saved in the Gogo app, then after you tap the sign in button, you see the following screen at which you need to type the characters shown on the screen. I presume that thi step is designed to make it harder for someone to hack into the service, but it sure is annoying.
6. Finally, you wait for the service to start, which usually takes about 5 seconds or so. The app tells you when the service is ready.
All of the above screenshots are from an iPhone, but if you are using the app on an iPad, the steps are the same. The Gogo app only works in portrait mode on the iPad (I can’t imagine a reason for that limitation), but the process works the same, and you see screens like this:
Speed of Gogo Inflight Internet
Once you are connected, you can exit the Gogo app and use your iPhone or iPad like normal. You can only use your account on one device at a time, but you can easily go back and forth — you just log in from the new device and the account becomes inactive on the other device.
The question most people ask me is: how fast is the service? My qualitative answer is: fast enough for e-mail, simple web browsing, Twitter, Facebook, etc. To give you a quantitative answer, I used the Speedtest.net app to test Internet speeds on each flight. The results from my 12 flights ranged from 0.31 Mbps to 0.81 for download speeds and from 0.18 to 0.88 Mpbs for upload speeds. The speed varies throughout each flight (and I’m sure was dependent on who else was using the service) but most of the time the speeds were around .70 Mbps download, with the following picture showing a typical result:
When I use my iPhone on the Wi-Fi at my home, I can easily get 10 Mpbs or more for download speeds. Data speed using AT&T 3G on my iPhone varies greatly; it can sometimes be 1 Mbps download or slower, other times it is 3 Mbps or much higher. So in other words, Gogo is likely not as fast as the Wi-Fi you use at home or your office, but it does feel similar to what you see over 3G on those occasions when 3G is working but is on the slow side. You need to wait for screens to load, but they do load before too long.
I did have one occasion on a flight from Atlanta to New Orleans when the Gogo service didn’t work at all. Other people on the plane noticed the same thing, so I asked the flight attendant if there was a way to reset the system, and she said no. Nevertheless, about halfway through the flight I tried it again, and it was working. This only happened to me once over those twelve flights and at the time I didn’t have a pressing need to use the Internet so it was not a big deal, but I’m sure that if I had pre-purchased service for that one particular flight, I would not have been pleased.
Usefulness of Gogo Inflight Internet
Is it worth it? For me, it was, mostly because of emails. First, Gogo can create billable hours. For those of you who are attorneys who bill by the hour, I presume that your billing rate is much higher than the cost of Gogo. Of course, there are other ways to bill, such as bringing documents that you can read, but I have many days that a big part of my billable hours involves working through e-mails, and it is nice to be able to do that on the plane. Second, Gogo avoids e-mail pile up. I hate getting off of a flight only to see that I have dozens of e-mails to work my way through. By keeping up with the e-mail during the flight, I avoid seeing those large double digit numbers in the red circle above my Mail icon when I turn on my iPhone after the plane has landed. Third, Gogo helps you to stay in touch. It is often helpful to be able to immediately respond to e-mails in real-time, especially when they are time-sensitive questions from clients. Fourth, even if you are not working, it is enjoyable to have Internet access if (like me) you enjoy reading Twitter or using an RSS reader to read the latest news from the websites of your choice.
I have also used Gogo to use the LogMeIn app on my iPad to access my office when I realized that I left a file on the desktop of my office computer that I had intended to read on the plane. The ability to access that file in my office from 30,000 feet was not just useful — it made me feel like I was living in the future. (Hey, aren’t we all supposed to have jetpacks by now?)
I don’t plan to use Gogo every time I travel in the future. $5 for a single flight that only lasts about 90 minutes will often seem like too much — although of course at an airport you can spend that much on a coffee or just a part of your lunch, so in that context perhaps it feels less expensive. On the other hand, if I have several trips in a month, $20 is much easier to justify.
Note that even if you don’t pay for Gogo, you can use Gogo for free to access an airline website or use an airline app on your iPhone or iPad. Thus, during your flight you can look up your gate of arrival, the gate of your next flight, find out whether flights are delayed, etc. And every once in a while you will see other specials. This past March, I saw that you could access Twitter for free using Gogo. This month, on Delta flights, you can use Gogo for free to access the Zappos.com website — perfect for when you have an emergency need for shoes at 30,000 feet. You can read the Gogo blog to keep up with the latest deals and learn other travel-related tips.
Gogo Inflight Internet is relatively slow compared to what you normally see on your iPhone or iPad, but for most tasks it is fast enough to get the job done, at a price that is somewhat high but often something that you can justify. My tests over the last few weeks confirm that — just as was the case when I first tried this service back in 2009 — Gogo can be a valuable service for those looking to get work done with an iPhone or iPad on a plane.
Click here to get Gogo Inflight Internet for iPhone and iPad (app is free; service has costs):
Click here to get Speedtest.net (free):
I’ve been thinking about all of the new features coming to the iPhone when iOS 5 is released later this year, and the more I do so the more I really look forward to the update. Features like iCloud have the potential to fundamentally change the way that we work with our iPhones, plus the update will provide numerous small improvements and fixes that will make the overall experience of using an iPhone much, much better. Here are the news items of note from the past week: