Jeff Richardson

I think that most people who own an iPhone or an iPad (or both!) know why people love these devices, but much of the news from this past week consists of surveys and studies finding that — hold on to your seat — people really like iPhones and iPads.  I know, crazy right?  Here is the news of note from the past week:

• People love Apple products.  Two weeks ago I mentioned that for the sixth year in a row, Apple was the #1 smartphone manufacturer according to J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction survey.  Confirming those results, Harry McCracken reports on a new survey by The American Customer Satisfaction Index revealing that Apple customers are far more satisfied than customers of other technology companies.
• People prefer iPads.  Electronista describes a new report by Gartner Research estimating that 73.4% of tablets sold in 2011 will be iPads, i.e. 46.7 million iPads.  That’s 5% more than Gartner was predicting just five months ago.  No other single platform is expected to have more than 5% tablet market share this year.
• People prefer iPhones.  Om Malik of GigaOm reports on a survey by USB Research finding that Apple has an 89% retention rate.  In other words, very few iPhone customers later switch to another platform, whereas lots of users of other platforms switch to the iPhone.
• Travelers prefer the iPhone.  Ed Sutherland of Cult of Mac reports that, according to Wi-Fi provider Boingo Wireless, iOS devices account for 83% of mobile devices using airport Wi-Fi.
• iPhone and iPad owners use Google.  Sein Weintraub of 9to5 Mac reports on Senate Judiciary hearings from earlier this week at Susan Michel, in-house counsel at Google, testified that two-thirds of Google’s mobile traffic comes from Apple iOS devices, which is interesting considering that there are also a ton of smartphones running Google’s own Android operating system.
• Peter Kafka of All Things D reports on a Citigroup survey of what people do with their iPads and other tablets.  There are lots of interest statistics there.  For example, almost two-thirds of iPad owners have downloaded 11 or more apps, the most common use of iPads is general web surfing and e-mail/instant messaging.
• Daniel Eran Dilger of AppleInsider reports on briefing by Gartner about the vast increase in iPhones in companies caused by employees preferring to use iPhones that they purchased themselves instead of whatever smartphone their companies try to give them.
• Mickey Meece of the New York Times reports on iPad apps that you can use to keep up with the news.
• Sam Grobart of the New York Times reviews the new SoundLink from Bose, a $300 wireless (Bluetooth) speaker for the iPhone or iPad.
• Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times reports on iPad apps that can help you make dessert.
• R. Chew of SimonBlog reviews Office 2 HD, an office suite for the iPad that competes with Quickoffice and Documents to Go.
• Rob Dean of WalkingOffice reviews FormConnect, an app that lets you create forms on the iPad.
• Yesterday I mentioned that one of the sources of confirmation for a new iPhone next month was Al Gore.  Jan Vermeulen of the South African site MyBroadband News has more information on Al Gore’s reference to new iPhones at a conference in South Africa this week.
• And finally, I recently reviewed the BoomCAN, a small and useful external speaker for the iPhone and iPad made by Scosche.  Scosche makes lots of other accessories for the iPhone that many people would find useful, but I sort of hope that there isn’t a lot of demand for this product — the RDTX pro Portable Radiation Detector for the iPhone.  This $329.99 device “empowers you to detect radiation levels with your iPod or iPhone so that you can take control of your well-being.”  I hope that none of you have the need to feel this empowerment.

It is rare that I comment on Apple rumors, and I don’t think that I’ve ever devoted an entire post to one, but practically ever since the iPhone 4 was first announced by Steve Jobs on June 7, 2010, people have been wondering when we would see the 2011 version of the iPhone.  Now we have what I believe to be a credible rumor that the next iPhone will be announced on October 4, with the device itself likely available for purchase in mid-October.

It used to be that we would always see new iPhones in the summer.  The original iPhone was available on June 29, 2007.  The Phone 3G was available on July 11, 2008.  The iPhone 3GS was available on June 19, 2009.  The iPhone 4 was available on June 24, 2010.  You could predict that new iPhones would be available, or at least announced, every year in June.  Indeed, Apple’s chief marketing executive, Phil Schiller, mentioned to David Pogue of the New York Times in early 2009 that Apple has a cycle for its products and that June was the key month for the iPhone cycle.

But a lot has changed since early 2009.  When Schiller mentioned June being the iPhone cycle, he also mentioned October being the key month for the iPod cycle, but nowadays iPods don’t carry the excitement that they once did.  The only really exciting iPod is the iPod touch, which is of course just an iPhone without the phone.  As John Gruber of Daring Fireball pointed out in an article last night, the iPhone and iPad are the exciting products now, not the iPod, so it makes sense to feature iOS devices in a Fall announcement so that there are shiny new Apple toys to buy for the holidays. 

There are dozens of websites devoted to Apple gossip and rumors, but some of the most reliable Apple rumors come from the Wall Street Journal — so much so that I’ve often wondered if Apple purposefully leaks rumors to that publication, although Wall Street Journal reporters frequently deny this, so who knows.  Whatever their sources, they tend to be good sources.  Yesterday, John Pacakowski of All Things D (part of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network) published a report that the next iPhone will be announced at an event held on October 4, 2011.  Given that it now makes sense to expect an iPhone announcement in the Fall, and given the Journal’s reputation for Apple rumors, when I first saw this article I thought that it sounded very credible.

And then we got further confirmation.  Perhaps the second most reliable source for Apple rumors is Jim Dalrymple, a former Macworld editor who now runs a site called The Loop.  Dalrymple frequently seems to have reliable Apple-related sources who whisper in his ear, and shortly after Pacakowski posted his report yesterday morning, Dalrymple linked to it with the one word confirmation “Yep.”

And then, proving the old adage that a second thirds it, we got a third report yesterday of new iPhones next month from none other than former Vice Preident and current Apple board member Al Gore.  Gore was speaking at a conference yesterday, and in the context of talking about technology advances he stated “Not to mention the new iPhones coming out next month.”  (I believe that the original source for this quote was this tweet by Toby Shapshak.)

So now we have the two most reliable sources for Apple rumors saying October 4, and an Apple board member also saying that the next iPhone is coming out next month.  Short of a statement from Steve Jobs or Tim Cook, that is about as solid as an Apple rumor as you are going to get.

If the next iPhone will be announced on October 4, when will it be available?  Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune took a look at the last few years and reported that it tends to average about two weeks from the announcement of a new iPhone until the availability of the new iPhone.  Apple often makes new iPhones available on a Friday, so perhaps we will be able to purchase new iPhones on Friday, October 14, or maybe Friday October 21?

I am very excited for the next iPhone announcement.  While we know about many of the cool new features of iOS 5 software, and it is probably a safe bet that the next iPhone hardware will include a better camera and a faster processor, beyond that we really don’t know what will be included.  Nor do we know the name:  iPhone 4S?  iPhone 5?  (I just hope that Apple doesn’t call it the iPhone J.D., because that will make things very confusing around here.)

So for all of you who have been e-mailing me and asking me about my thoughts on when the iPhone will be out, based on the three reports from yesterday and Apple’s historical desire to have a big Fall announcement before the holiday shopping season, it looks like early October for an announcement and mid-October for availability.  We’ll see.

I read a ton of documents on my iPad, and I find it very helpful to use a device that props up the iPad to make it easier to read, whether it be a device that you hold in your hand or a device that props up an iPad on a desk.  The FlexStand Bookstand is a product by M-Edge that attaches to the four corners of your iPad and allows you to prop up the iPad in an infinite number of positions in either portrait or landscape mode.  M-Edge sent me a free review unit of this product a few weeks ago, and I love it.

There is not much to this device, which is a great feature.  Three flexible steel legs are attached to each other at the middle.  Two of the steel legs have rubber holders at each end that you wrap around the four corners of the iPad.  The third steel leg has rubber balls at each end that you use to prop up the iPad. 

There are three things that I love about the design of the FlexStand.  First, it is incredibly easy to attach to the iPad.  Putting the four rubber feet around the corners of your iPad takes no time at all.  I’ve tried other devices that attach to the back of the iPad, and some of them are so tight that it is hard to put them on and off and you feel like you might damage the iPad.  Not so with the FlexStand.  For example, one of my very favorite devices for adding flexible feet to an iPad is the GorillaMobile Yogi by Joby that I reviewed earlier this year and which I continue to use all the time.  As good as the Yogi is, it does take a little time and work to attach the case to the back of the iPad and then clip the legs to the case.  Attaching the FlexStand is a cinch.

The second thing that I really like about the design of the FlexStand is that the two legs with the rubber ball feet are very flexible.  They make it easy to prop up the iPad in an infinite number of positions and angles.

The third thing that I love about the design of the FlexStand is that when you are not using it, it takes up very little space.  Just bend the three legs together into a straight line, and you can store the FlexStand anywhere.  It weighs just over 5 ounces, and is about 12 inches long when all the legs are straight.  This makes it very easy to take the FlexStand with you when you are traveling.  You can even curl it up if it is easier to put in your briefcase, purse, etc. in that position.

My only complaint with the FlexStand is that sometimes the positions don’t stay; you put the legs in one position and then the legs slowly bends to another position.  This can also be a problem if you type or do some other activity on the iPad in which you poke your fingers at the iPad a lot.  Even with repeated poking, the FlexStand does a decent job of staying in place, but if you push to hard it is fairly easy to move the FlexStand, and this can sometimes be annoying.  The GorillaMobile Yogi, in comparison, is rock solid and does not move once you put it in a position.  I find that if you bend the end of the feet of the FlexStand so that they point straight down, this helps to keep the FlexStand in place.

The FlexStand works with either the original iPad or the iPad 2.  Who knows what the iPad 3 will look like, but unless it is a radical departure from the prior models, I suspect that the FlexStand will work with future iPad models as well.

The FlexStand is a very useful iPad accessory for when you are reading documents on your iPad or if you just want to prop up your iPad on your desk and watch some pictures on it. This product is very well designed and has quickly become one of my favorite devices for propping up the iPad.  I suspect that most iPad owners have an Apple Smart Cover which allows you to prop up your iPad in two positions, but it is much more useful to have the flexibility of picking any position – especially if you are in an office environment with overhead lights that produce a glare unless the iPad is at just the right angle. 

M-Edge sells the product on its website for $29.99, but you can get it on Amazon for less than $20, which is a bargain for a great product like this.

Click here to get the FlexStand by M-Edge from Amazon ($19.94).

Apple Inc. shares closed at 411.63 on Monday, an all-time high for the company.  This gives it a market capitalization (number of shares times price per share) of about $382 billion.  I say “about” becasue I’ve seen conflicting reports; Mikey Campbell of the Wall Street Journal says that the number is $382.01 billion and Nick Bilton of the New York Times says that the number is $381.62 billion.  What is not in dispute is that this puts Apple above ExxonMobil, which has long been the largest company in the world.

Now I realize that the significance of this event is up for debate, and there are other ways to value a company besides market cap.  I certainly don’t believe that the rise and fall of stock prices always reflects the quality of a company’s products or is a true measure that one company is “better” than another company.  Nevertheless, this is a milestone for Apple, plus it demonstrates that a lot of investors are happy with what Apple is doing, something that many happy iPhone and iPad owners would not debate.

While acknowledging that this is a “dubious comparison,” Campbell of the Wall Street Journal notes that “if market cap were GDP, Apple would have one of the world’s thirty-biggest economies, on par with Austria, Argentina and South Africa.”

AAPL stock from 1981 to today.  Data from New York Times Markets Analysis Tool.

The most amazing thing of all, of course, is that Apple’s stock price has risen after Steve Jobs retired from the company.  For many years, analysts predicted that Apple’s stock would collapse after Jobs left.  I don’t think it is an accident that this didn’t happen, but instead is the result of careful planning by Jobs and the rest of Apple management.

I normally don’t pay much attention to Apple’s stock price or market cap.  I don’t own any Apple shares, and my knowledge of Wall Street and finance is limited.  But I do appreciate high quality products made by Apple, and I believe that the good news on the business side of the company reflects that the company also has some really smart people on the product development side of the company who have great things in store for Apple customers in the future.

Congratulations to everyone at Apple.

Over 25 years ago, two guys in a garage in California started a company which has now grown to over a billion in sales.  No, I’m not talking about Apple or even HP, it’s Belkin, a company that sells a diverse portfolio of products including networking solutions, power supplies and energy conservation devices, and a bunch of accessories for the iPhone, iPad and iPod.  Between now and the end of September, you can buy any Belkin product for 50% off.  Just go to their website and use the couple code FB50.

I haven’t reviewed any Belkin products on iPhone J.D. yet, but there are quite a few that look interesting to me, such as:

• Bluetooth Music Receiver — add Bluetooth to any stereo so that you can wirlessly pay music on the stereo from your iPhone or iPad.  MSRP $49.99.
• AirCast Auto HandsFree — just like the Bluetoth Music receiver, but for your car.  MSRP $79.99.
• Headphone Splitter — connect two headphones to an iPhone, iPod or iPad.  MSRP $14.95.
• RockStar — connect five headphones to a iPhone, iPod or iPad.  MSRP $14.99.
• Headphone Adapter — add play/pause and volume up/down buttons to any headphone.  MSRP $19.99.
• Keyboard Folio for iPad 2 — case with built-in keyboard.  MSRP $99.99.
• MicroCharge 2.1 amp + ChargeSync — car charger for iPhone, iPad or iPhone.  MSRP $24.99.
• VideoStand + ChargeSync — stand that holds up the iPhone and charges it.  MSRP $39.99.

And in addition to those products, Belkin also has a large selection of iPad stands, iPhone cases, chargers, cords, etc.  Amazon typically sells Belkin products for far less than the MSRP, but rarely 50% less, so 50% off is a pretty good deal.

If you are looking to get an accessory for your iOS device, check out Belkin before this sale ends at the end of September.

The next iPhone — which it seems like most everyone is now predicting will be called the iPhone 5 — must be coming soon given the explosion of posting about it on the Internet.  I won’t link to all of the rumors and supposed leaked photos of what it will look like; a lot of them look fake to me, just attempts to grab attention.  But I do suspect that we are now just a few weeks (or less) away from hearing from Apple.  And now, the news of the week:

• When the next iPhone does come out, John Paczkowski of All Things D reports on a recent study finding that there is “unprecedented” demand.  “In other words, we could see a very large iPhone upgrade cycle, come October — large enough that RBC has raised its estimate for fiscal 2012 iPhone sales to 110 million, up from 105 million.”  I’ll be one of those 110 million.
• My personal approach to writing briefs is to start with a basic outline in my head but to quickly jump right into the writing, and then later I edit and move paragraphs around so that everything fits into a tight outline.  However, if you prefer to prepare a full outline before you start writing, you’ll want to read this article that California attorney David Sparks wrote for Macworld about his use of OPML, a file format for creating outlines, and iPad apps that work with OPML.
• Florida attorney Christopher Hopkins writes about using iPhone location data in discovery in an article for Trial Advocate Quarterly, a publication of the Florida Defense Lawyers Association.
• Maryland attorney Erek Barron writes about the rise of smartphone technology.
• There is nothing new about attorneys creating publications describing an area of law.  These documents can help clients understand the law, and they demonstrate to the client (and potential client) that the attorney has expertise.  What is new is for law firms to use iPhone apps instead of printed brochures.  McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP recently released Mergers & Acquisitions Quick Reference Guide, a free iPhone app that discusses the topics involved in a merger or acquisition.  Click here to get Mergers & Acquisitions Quick Reference Guide (free): 

  

    This app reminds me of the Book of Jargon series of apps produced by Latham & Watkins.
• Travel+Leisure magazine just proclaimed New Orleans the best city in the U.S. for Food, Drink and Restaurants and also the best city for Foodies.  No, that has nothing to do with the iPhone or iPad; this is just information that you should know.
• Galen Gruman of InfoWorld explains how the iPad has changed his life over the past year.
• Dan Levine writes an article for The American Lawyer about technology desired by law firm associates.  Here’s my condensed version of the article:  give your associates iPads, and they are happy.
• I see that I’ve never reviewed the TripIt app for the iPhone and iPad, but it is actually one of my favorite apps for when I travel.  Kevin Tofel of GigaOm reports on data from TripIt gathered from all of its smartphone users, and apparently BlackBerry owners have more business trips than iPhone users.  So I guess if you find a BlackBerry owner complaining about all of the travel that he has to do, tell him to get an iPhone.
• And finally, this probably isn’t something that many of us think about, but one of the advantages of the iPhone and iPad is that Apple has spent a lot of time trying to make them accessible to people with disabilities.  I’m always amazed when a partner of mine whose son is blind tells me how much her son loves his iPhone.  With the flat screen and minimal buttons it seems counter-intuitive for a blind person to use an iPhone or iPad, but Apple has spent a lot of time making it work by turning the visual interface into audio.  One of the YouTube videos making the rounds this week is of Stevie Wonder at the Echoplex in Los Angeles on September 11.  Wonder talks about 9/11, but also takes the time to complement Apple and Steve Jobs.  The video is below if you want to watch it, and here is what he says at around the 4:30 mark:  “I want y’all to give a hand to someone who, as you know, his health is very bad at this time.  For someone who, his company took the challenge in making his technology accessible to everyone, in the spirit of caring and moving the world forward, Steve Jobs.  Because there is nothing on the iPhone or iPad that you can do that I can’t do.  As a matter of fact, I can be talking to you, you can be looking at me, and I can be doing whatever I need to do and you don’t even know what I’m doing.  Yeah!”  

Last month, I reviewed Calvetica, a nice alternative calendar app for the iPhone and iPad.  An iPhone J.D. reader wrote to suggest that I check out Easy Calendar, another alternative calendar for the iPhone.  Like Calvetica, it uses the regular iPhone calendar database so you can switch back and forth between the built-in app and this alternative app.  And like Calvetica, one of the main features is speed; it takes much fewer taps to enter a calendar event.  After using Easy Calendar for the last few weeks, I am really impressed with this inexpensive app and I find myself using it more and more.

Easy Calendar has one view, a week view.  The top of the screen tells you which week you are in, and you can tap that date to jump to a different week.

  

If your day has more entries that can be displayed in the box, you see an indication at the bottom that there are additional events.  Tap that indication (or, on any day, tap the line at the top of the box that has the day/date) to see a pop-up window showing additional information for that day.

Creating a new event is simple and very fast.  Just tap on any blank spot in a day and the day will turn blue, followed by a single page containing the most frequently used items for a new event — the time, the text for the event, and whether it is an all-day event.  If you want to enter additional information about an event, tap the More… button, but for a standard event that lasts an hour, you won’t need to bother with that screen.  In other words, you can often enter a new event with just a few taps:  tap the day on the calendar, tap the start time on the wheel, tap the text field and type the event, then tap done.  This is far fewer taps that it takes to create a new event in the iPhone’s native Calendar app.

  

  

This app also does a great job when you need to move an event.  In the normal Calendar app, to move an event you tap in the event to edit the event, then you use a calendar scroll wheel to select the new date, but you cannot look at your calendar while doing so.  In Easy Calendar, you tap and hold down on an event and the screen changes to indicate that you are in move mode.  Then you can flip through your calendar to find another day or another week, and when you are done just tap that day and the event moves there.

  

Easy Calendar focuses on doing the essential calendar tasks and it does them quickly and easily.  Seeing all of the events in a week at one time is very useful, adding or moving events is fast and simple, and jumping to a different date is much faster than on the built-in Calendar app.  The app is normally $3.99, but right now it is on sale for only a buck.  Even if you like the built-in iPhone Calendar app, I encourage you to take a look at Easy Calendar.  It is a elegant app that lives up to its name, making simplicity a virtue.

Click here for Easy Calendar (currently $0.99): 

Chris Mills, an attorney in the New Jersey office of Fisher & Phillips, wrote to me yesterday to say that he sometimes uses his iPhone as a speakerphone but wishes that the volume was louder so that it would be easier for others in the room to hear the speaker.  He asked me whether the Scosche BoomCAN that I reviewed yesterday might be solution to this problem.  It is, although there are some limitations.  I’ve been asked about making the iPhone speakerphone louder in the past so I’m using this post to share my answer to that attorney with all iPhone J.D. readers.

First, the basics.  Hopefully, you know that you can turn your iPhone into a speakerphone simply by pressing the “speaker” button on the phone:

Apple uses noise cancellation technology so that when the other person is speaking and that voice comes through the iPhone’s internal speaker, that voice isn’t picked up again by the iPhone’s microphone and send back to that person (causing an echo).

If you find that your iPhone’s internal speaker isn’t loud enough when using your iPhone as a speakerphone, you can certainly use an external speaker to make it louder.  The Scosche BoomCAN that I reviewed yesterday and which you can pick up on Amazon for around $20 is a very portable and inexpensive option, but obviously you can use more expensive external speakers to get even better sound.

Unfortunately, in my experience, when you use an external speaker there is a greater chance that the person on the other end of the call will hear an echo when speaking.  I suppose the iPhone knows how to cancel noise when the source is the iPhone’s own internal speaker, but once you add an external speaker into the mix, the iPhone will start to send back some of that same audio.  You won’t hear anything wrong on your end, but the person on the other end will hear a slight echo.  It isn’t horrible, but it might be enough to be annoying.  You can eliminate this echo by manually tapping the mute button on your iPhone.  The other person will still sound loud through your external speaker, and they won’t hear any echo.  Of course, once it is time for you to talk you’ll need to turn off mute and then press it again when you are done so that the other person is talking.  For some conversations this will be a real pain.  Other times, though, you may find yourself on a big conference call where you don’t plan on speaking much anyway and you would normally stay on mute for most of the call, and in these circumstances, using the mute button is not a big deal.

There are more expensive solutions to this problem, such as an external Bluetooth speaker that has a speakerphone function.  Examples include the Soundmatters foxLv2 ($200), the Jawbone JAMBOX ($180) and the Uniden BTS200 ($100).  I haven’t had the opportunity to test a speaker in the category yet.  They all advertise some form of noise and echo cancellation to eliminate the problem I noted above, but frankly I’ve seen both good and bad reviews of the speakerphone functions on these types of devices.

So if you find yourself wishing that you could get more speaker volume when you use your iPhone as a speakerphone, there are several solutions.  It really just depends on how much you want to spend.  If you are looking for something that is portable and inexpensive, and either don’t mind the slight echo that it will cause or are willing to use your mute button to avoid it, then the BoomCAN that I reviewed yesterday is a good solution.

Yesterday I reviewed the iMainGo X, an iPhone case that doubles as a portable speaker.  But if you are looking for the ultimate in portability and aren’t looking for premium quality sound, the new $25 BoomCAN from Scosche is just what you need.

Let’s start with the most obvious feature.  This thing is small.  Seriously small. It is about 2.25″ high and about 1.75″ wide.  The press release calls this item “slightly larger than a film canister,” for those of you who can remember the days when one had to wait to have pictures processed at a lab before viewing them.  (I know, crazy, right?)  It only weighs 2.25 ounces, less than half the weight of the iPhone 4.  You can easily toss the BoomCAN into a purse, a briefcase, or even a pocket.  It is the most portable iPhone or iPad speaker that I’ve ever seen.

The BoomCAN comes with a cord that has a mini-USB plug at one end that connects to the BoomCAN.  Two cords are attached to that plug.  One has a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack on the end that you can plug into an iPhone or iPad (or virtually any other audio device).  The other cord has a USB plug that you use to charge the BoomCAN. 

The BoomCAN contains a rechargeable 300 mAh lithium-ion battery that is advertised to last for 4 to 7 hours.  (I never had a need to use it for more than a few hours so I never tested the battery life.)  A light on the BoomCAN is red while charging and changes to blue when the charge is complete.  (When you are not charging the BoomCAN, the light turns blue when it is on.)  You can use the USB cord to charge the BoomCAN at the same time that you are using it.

A switch on the bottom of the BoomCAN has three settings:  off, Volume 1 and Volume 2.  Volume 2 is louder than Volume 1, but Volume 1 is still much louder than the iPhone or iPad’s internal speakers.  The bottom of the BoomCAN also has a rubber ring that does a great job of keeping the BoomCAN in place:

The BoomCAN has a 3.5 mm audio out port on the side, so you could daisy-chain multiple BoomCANs together for more volume (but not stereo).

You can get a BoomCAN in black, blue, red or silver.

The trade-off for the small size is less audio quality compared to other external speakers.  The sound is nowhere close to a high-quality external speaker like my Bose SoundDock Portable, but of course that speaker is a foot by six inches and weighs five pounds, not to mention the cost of several hundred dollars.  As much as I love my Bose when I’m listening to music at home, I’ll never be able to toss the Bose inside of my pocket.  The sound quality and maximum volume is also somewhat lower than the portable iMainGo X that I reviewed yesterday.  Keep in mind, for example, that the BoomCAN only has one speaker on the top, so you are not getting stereo.

On the other hand, compare the BoomCAN to the speaker inside of the iPhone itself.  I often listen to music or a podcast on my iPhone 4 by just tapping play and not using headphones.  Similarly, I’ve watched videos on my iPad 2 just using the internal speaker. I’m sure that you have done this too, and as you know the mono internal speakers on the iPhone and iPad are reasonable enough to get the job done, although not very loud.  The BoomCAN sounds a little better than the internal speaker on the iPad, and is many times louder, more than enough to fill a room.  So if you are in a room listening to something on your iPhone or iPad’s normal speakers and you find yourself wishing that the sound was louder, the BoomCAN is a major improvement.

I really like the BoomCAN.  The small size and weight is great for travel, but also has an added benefit.  The compact size makes it easy to keep it nearby all the time by storing it in your briefcase, purse, iPad bag, etc.  That way, whenever you want to show off something with sound on your iPhone or iPad to someone else, you can quickly attach the BoomCAN and have a lot more volume.  You can buy the BoomCAN directly from Scosche for only $25, which is a good value for a useful product like this, but if you click the below link you can get it for even less at Amazon, a great value.  This is an inexpensive, useful and fun accessory for your iPhone or iPad.

Click here to get Sosche BoomCAN from Amazon ($20.70).

There are tons of external speaker systems for the iPhone and iPod.  In my house, I’ve used the Bose SoundDock Portable for over three years and I love that device.  The sound is fantastic, and with the rechargable batteries and handle on the top it is easy to carry around from room to room or to the backyard.  But even though “portable” is in the title and you could certainly take it with you in the car, the Bose is too big to take with you when you fly someplace or want to put something in a briefcase.  For the last few weeks I’ve been testing two portable speakers for the iPhone that are small enough to take anywhere.  Today, I’m reviewing the iMainGo X.  (Thanks to RichardSolo for sending me a free review unit a few weeks ago.)  There is a lot to like about this device.  Tomorrow I’ll discuss the Scosche BoomCAN.

The iMainGo X is an interesting device whose size reminds me of the 1980s version of the Walkman, except instead of putting a casette tape inside of it, you put an iPhone inside of the iMainGo X.  It is small enough to be very portable, but certainly isn’t tiny.  (5.7″ x 3.8″ x 2.4″)  And it has some weight to it — the iPhone 4 alone weighs about 4.8 ounces; the iMainGo X without an iPhone inside weighs almost double that at 9 ounces.  To use it you unzip the device.  The left side contains the speaker and a rechargeable battery.  The right side has a plastic lid that you remove to place your iPhone in the unit, along with one or more foam pieces (depending upon what model you are using) to keep it snug in the unit.  You attach a plug to the headphone port on the iPhone.

Once the iPhone is inside, you zip the iMainGo X closed.  One side of the device has a clear plastic window so that you can still touch the iPhone’s screen. Touching the screen through the plastic worked fine, but it is a little difficult to press the iPhone 4’s button when it is in the case; I wish the plastic screen was just slightly longer.

Once you start playing your music, podcast, etc., you flip the unit over so that you can hear the speakers.  Unfortunately there is no built-in way to prop up the speakers, so I often just left it sitting on a table with the speakers pointed up.  Sometimes I would lean the unit against something to prop it up somewhat.

There is no volume control on the unit itself; you control the volume on your iPhone.  I don’t have any way to measure the loudness, but suffice it to say that this speaker is substantially louder than the iPhone’s built-in speaker.  I found it way too loud (and distorted) if the volume was all the way up, but at around 50% the speakers were loud enough to fill a relatively quiet room.  Obviously, a device of this size is not going to rival a full stereo system or my Bose, but the music sounded very good to my ears, and obviously podcasts sounded fine.

I love that this unit is small enough to be so portable for travel, but I wasn’t a big fan of accessing the iPhone through the plastic screen.  As a result, often when I used this unit, I would take the cord out of the iMainGo X but otherwise zip it up and keep the iPhone outside of the unit, making it much easier to access the iPhone’s controls.  Also, there was one time a few weeks ago when I wanted to show off my iPad’s GarageBand app to someone, and I found that the iPad’s internal speaker was not loud enough to hear in a room with background noise.  Thus, I attached my iPad to the iMainGo X and it sounded great and was more than loud enough.

On the other hand, there will be times when having an iPhone inside of the iMainGo X is an advantage.  First, it is nice to carry around just one unit containing both your iPhone and the speakers.  Second, using the iMainGo X is a case could be useful when you want to protect an iPhone from the elements.  The device is not completely waterproof, but it is water resistent.  I can see using a device like this at the beach if you don’t want sand getting in the iPhone.

Note that if you are just using the iMainGo X to protect your iPhone, you don’t have to use the speakers and share your music with everyone in the vicinity.  The device has two headphone ports on it, so you can keep your iPhone protected in the case while you listen to your music in privacy or share with one friend.  There is also an audio input port that I didn’t test but opens up the possibility of using this device to record to your iPhone using a microphone or using this device as an external speaker for an electric guitar (although you may have to use an adapter to work with the standard 3.5 mm headphone plug). 

This is the third generation of this product.  The original iMainGo was for the iPod.  (Here’s an iLounge review of that product from 2006.)  The iMainGo 2 (which is still on sale for $40) works with the iPhone and is powered by AAA batteries.  This third generation iMainGo X uses rechargable batteries (it comes with a charger), which is much more convenient and saves money on batteries.  The iMainGo X also adds the headphone and microphone ports.  In fact, if you wanted to go louder, you could actually use the headphone port to hook the iMainGo X to an additional external speaker.

So in sum, I love the portability of the iMainGo X.  You can easily pack it in a suitcase or briefcase, although it is a little large for a smaller bag like the Tom Bihn Ristretto that I’ve been using lately.  The sound quality is very good.  What I’m not completely sold on is putting my iPhone inside of the iMainGo X.  There could be circumstances in which this is a big plus, such as protecting your iPhone from the elements, but I’m not sure that I like having my iPhone zipped inside of something that makes it three times heavier, and I find it a little cumbersome to use the iPhone controls through the plastic window, although it does work.  Still, if you are in the market for a portable speaker, you should consider this one.  It might be the perfect fit for your needs, and I’ve enjoyed using it.

Note that if you purchase this item between now and the end of this month (Sept. 30, 2011), RichardSolo was nice enough to give iPhone J.D. readers a 15% discount, so you can get it for around $60.  Just use the discount code “jeff” in the coupon code field during order entry.

Click here to get the iMainGo X from RichardSolo ($69.95).