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Six months ago, I reviewed an app called WPD Viewer from LawBox which allowed you to view WordPerfect files on the iPhone or iPad.  Last week, Corel — the developer of WordPerfect – announced that it was releasing an app called WordPerfect Viewer that allows you to do the same thing.  Corel sent me free review copies of the iPhone and iPad versions of the app.  If you read my prior review, this app should look familliar; Corel confirmed to me that they purchased the rights to WPD Viewer from LawBox and were releasing it as their own app.  Perhaps the only thing that you really need to know about this app is that, just as was the case six months ago, this is the only app that you can use to view WordPerfect files on an iPhone or iPad.  If that is important to you, then you need this app.

The basic features of the app remain the same.  This is only a viewer app and it does not allow you to directly edit WordPerfect files.  If someone e-mails you a WordPerfect file, you can open the file in this app and then the app converts it into text, losing some of the formatting along the way.  You can also use iTunes to transfer .wpd files to your iPhone or iPad.  Just like before, you can e-mail the entire text of a document, you can add bookmarks to parts of a document and then jump to those bookmarks, and you can export an HTML version of the document to another app (such as Documents to Go, and from there you can edit the text and save it as a Word document).  And you can still search for text within a document.

There have been only minor updates to the app since I reviewed it six months ago such as updates to maximize compatibility with iOS 4.2 and the ability to pinch to zoom in and out.  One helpful addition is that there is now a scroll bar on the right side which makes it much faster to browse through the document or quickly jump to another part such as the middle or the end.

Although there is an iPad version of this app, it is not a universal app so you need to purchase separate apps for your iPhone and iPad.  As you would expect, documents look much better on the large iPad screen.  In portrait mode, the document fills the screen and because the screen is so much larger than the iPhone screen, the document replicates what you would expect to see on paper.  In landscape mode, you view the document on the right and see a list of files on the left.

The iPad version also includes one feature not currently in the iPhone version, a button with the letter “z” on it that allows you change text size.

Although this is essentially the same app that I reviewed six months ago, WPD Viewer is technically a distinct app that is no longer available on the app store and now only WordPerfect Viewer is on the App Store.  If you purchased the former app, I suspect that it will no longer be updated, so for future support you will need to buy the virtually identical Corel version of the app (although I have written an e-mail to Corel to confirm this).  [UPDATE: Corel did confirm this for me.  You need to buy the Corel version of the app to receive future app updates, even if you previously purchased the app when it was called WPD Viewer.]  If you have both the old and new app installed at the same time, both apps are called WPD Viewer, resulting in confusing choices like this:

Hint:  the icon for the old version says “ABC” in the magnifying glass; look for “WPD” to indicate the newer version. 

If you purchased the previous WPD Viewer app, the new app is virtually the same so I would not purchase it again at this time.  Instead, keep an eye out for updates to the WordPerfect Viewer app and whenever new features are added, then you can decide if there is a justification for spending more money.  (I’ll be sure to post here if and when I learn of any such updates.)  But if you haven’t purchased the app before and you use WordPerfect yourself or you anticipate working with other people who use WordPerfect to create documents, it is useful to keep this app on your iPhone or iPad so you are prepared whenever a WordPerfect .wpd file comes your way.

Click here for WordPerfect Viewer for iPhone ($4.99): 

Click here for WordPerfect Viewer for iPad ($5.99): 

 

Here is this week’s collection of iPhone and iPad related news articles which I think are worth your time to read:

• Legal technology consultant Ted Brooks, who wrote a great comparison of the iPad Evidence and TrialPad apps, just wrote a review for Law Technology News of two useful iPad apps that help you pick and keep tabs on juries:  iJuror and Jury Tracker.  He finds that both are good apps, so you might want to put them both on your iPad before your next trial.
• Attorney David Sparks of MacSparky noted on Twitter that there is now a Dragon SDK for the iPhone.  This means that iPhone app developers can incorporate the excellent Dragon speech recognition technology directly into their apps.  It would be great to see Apple incorporate this feature into its Mail app.
• Ryam Kim of GigaOm notes that Starbucks will soon allow you to use an iPhone to pay.
• Apple COO Tim Cook, who is in charge at Apple while Steve Jobs is on leave, comes from Robertsdale, Alabama.  The local CBS affiliate interviewed Cook’s parents, and it is a great interview.  You can read the text of the interview, but I encourage you to instead watch the video which appears at the top of the same page.
• I’ve noted in the past that you can use Google Scholar to find caselaw on your iPhone.  Now that we have the great Fastcase app, I rarely use Google Scholar on my iPhone, but nevertheless it was nice to see Google announce that you can now limit searches to specific courts in specific jurisdictions.
• Can’t remember the difference between an ETF and a UDID?  TiPb has come up with a useful dictionary of iPhone-related terms.
• How many apps do you download every month?  Horace Dediu of Asymco calculates that the average iPhone user downloads 5 apps a month, and in another article notes that more than 60 apps have been downloaded for every iOS device sold.
• Harry McCracken reports that Microsoft has released a OneNote app for the iPhone.
• Boston attorney Martha Sperry explains why she likes her iPad.
• I am a big fan of LogMeIn, an app that gives you remote access to your computer.  Maryland attorney Charles Jannace pointed out to me that GoToMyPC — a competitor to LogMeIn — is announcing on its website that an iPad app is coming soon.
• Speaking of remote access apps, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal compares LogMeIn with iTeleport.
• Jannace also pointed me to this excellent series of posts by Australian attorney Kyle McDonald who discusses using an iPad in his law practice.  McDonald and I practice law in very different parts of the world, but I find that we are using many of the same apps on our iPads.
• Glenn Fleishman reviews 11 iPhone GPS apps for Macworld.
• Kirk McElheam of Macworld lists 10 useful iPhone shortcuts.
• Heather Morse-Milligan, the Director of Marketing of Barger & Wolen LLP in Los Angeles, explains on her blog why a lawyer is like an iPhone.
• Charlie Rose of Bloomberg Businessweek conducted an interesting interview with Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to discuss the iPhone coming to Verizon.
• Apple notes on its website that the 10 billionth app is about to be downloaded.  If you are the one to do so, you will win a $10,000 iTunes gift card.  Good luck!
• And finally, I was wondering how Verizon would advertise to the masses that it was now carrying the iPhone.  Here is their first ad, which I find very effective:

A year ago I mentioned BarMax, a bar review app for the iPhone.  At $999.99 it was the most expensive app on the App Store (I don’t think that Apple lets you price any app higher than that) but compared to the cost of other bar review courses, that price is reasonable. And for that price, you don’t just get an app; the developer also sends you a packet with hundreds of pages of materials for your computer.  There are versions for the California Bar Exam, the New York Bar Exam and the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE).  The MBE version is only $499.99.

I mention this app today for two reasons.  First, I see that there is now an iPad-specific version of the California version of BarMax, so aspiring attorneys won’t strain their eyes as much looking at the small iPhone screen during that stressful time.

Second, I see that there is a also free MPRE version of the BarMax iPhone app, so if you are a law student or an attorney taking a bar exam in a different state, you can try out the MPRE app to decide whether you like it.  I took a look at this app, and it works well.  From the main menu, you can choose to listen to a lecture, answer real practice MPRE questions from past exams, or Flash Cards.

 

When you listen to a lecture, you see an outline of the lecture on the screen (for which you can adjust the font, font size, colors, etc.).  There are controls to play/pause, skip back 30 seconds, etc.  Unlike the BarBri iPhone app that I reviewed last year, the BarMax app only provides you audio.  With the BarBri app, you need to download the lectures, but you have a choice of downloading audio or video.  With rare exceptions, the BarBri instructors did not use visual aids, so it was never necessary to watch a person speaking.  Having said that, it was nice to have the option to see a person talking; with BarMax, you can only listen.

 

For the multiple choice questions, you are presented with the question, you tap an answer, and then you are told whether you are right or wrong.

The BarMax MPRE app doesn’t explain why the answers are right or wrong.  However, I see that the other BarMax apps (the ones that you have to pay for) do provide explanations for the different choices.  One nice feature of the BarBri app that seems to be missing from BarMax is that for BarBri, each multiple choice answer is linked back to the outline, so if you miss something, in addition to being told why your answer is wrong, with one tap you can quickly jump to the outline to learn more about the subject area from which the question was derived.

The Flash Cards function simply displays a title of an outline and then, upon pressing a button, shows you the sub-categories in that topic.  Not very sophisticiated, but still, this could be a useful way to learn an outline.

Although the BarBri app has more features (and is part of an overall course that provides you many more resources, such as live lectures, tons of printed books with outlines, practice tests, etc.), it can cost thousands of dollars to take a BarBri course.  BarMax is far less expensive, and I suspect that for many people (especially those who prefer to study at their own pace and who don’t want to attend live courses), BarMax would be a good way to study for bar exam.  For example, if you are a practicing attorney considering a move to California, you might not want to put in the time and money for a full BarBri course, and BarMax might be a perfect alternative.

And of course, if you are studying for the MPRE, why not give the BarMax MPRE app a look.  It is free, and if nothing else can serve as a complement to your other study aids.

Click here for BarMax CA for iPad ($999.99): 

Click here for BarMax CA for iPhone ($999.99): 

Click here for BarMax NY for iPhone ($999.99): 

Click here for BarMax MBE for iPhone ($499.99): 

Click here for BarMax MPRE (free): 

Yesterday, Apple released the results for its 2011 fiscal first quarter (which ran from September 26, 2010 to December 25, 2010) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. The results were amazing, beating the expectation of every Apple expert analyst who I saw make a prediction before yesterday.  And as has often been the case since 2007, iOS devices including the iPhone and iPad dominated the discussion.

If you want to hear the full call yourself, you can download it from iTunes or you can read the transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.  Apple’s press release is here.  Here are the iPhone-related highlights of the call:

• The fiscal Q1 quarter includes the holiday shopping season, and thus it has traditionally been the best quarter for Apple, especially since the iPod became popular and Apple became even more of a consumer electronics company.  But even though the prior first quarters have been great, this was the best ever, with Apple seeing record revenue of $26.7 billion and record net profit of $6 billion.  Over $10 billion of that revenue was from the iPhone and over $4.4 billion was from the iPad.
• Apple sold a record 16.2 iPhones last quarter, plus around 10 million iPhone touch devices.  (Over half of total iPod sales were of the iPod touch variety.  The other half included the sale of that iPod nano that my wife bought me for Christmas.  Thanks, honey!)  And Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that demand still exceeds supply; Apple could have sold even more iPhones last quarter if they could have made more.
• Apple also sold a record 7.3 million iPads.  That means that Apple sold 14.8 million iPads in 2010, the year that the iPad was introduced.  That’s some introduction.
• Just to emphasize the importance of iOS devices to Apple, 75% of Apple’s revenue came from iOS devices (including 13% from the iPod, 17% from the iPad and 39% from the iPhone).  Mac revenue was at a record high last quarter (which includes the 13" MacBook Air that I bought my wife for Christmas; you’re welcome, honey!), and yet was still only 20% of Apple’s revenue. 
• To date, Apple has sold around 160 million iOS devices, which includes around 145 million iPhones and iPod touch devices.
• The iPhone is available on 185 carriers in 90 countries.  Apple COO Tim Cook said that every time that Apple adds a carrier in a country, iPhone sales go up.  And of course, Apple just added Verizon in the U.S., so … well, you can do the math.
• The iPhone continues to do well in big companies.  88% of the Fortune 100 is deploying the iPhone, and large companies such as Wells Fargo, DuPont, Staples, Starbucks and Nissan are making iPhones available to employees.
• Apple saw an average of $625 for every iPhone sold and an average of $600 for every iPad sold.  People think of the iPad being more expensive than the iPhone, and while that is true for consumers because phone carriers subsidize the price of the iPhone, from Apple’s standpoint they are about the same.
• There are over 300,000 apps on the App Store, and Apple is about to see the 10 billionth app downloaded.  (Whoever does so wins a big prize, so start your downloading now!)
• Apple wouldn’t predict how many iPads it would sell in the future, but did note that an independent company (IDG) predicts that the tablet market will quadruple in 2 years.  Assuming that Apple continues to lead that market with the iPad, that is a lot of potential for iPad sales in the future.
• Tim Cook noted that in 2005, Apple entered into long-term agreements with flash memory manufacturers to ensure that Apple would be able to get the supplies that it would need for devices like the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air.  Cook then noted that last year Apple identified another key component (he wouldn’t say which one) and that Apple entered into similar long-term agreements.  (My guess is that this was for the touchscreens used on the iPhone and iPad, but who knows, perhaps it is for the battery or some other key component.)

Perhaps best of all, it appears that the future is bright.  Tim Cook said that “in my view, Apple is doing its best work ever” and “we are all very happy with the product pipeline.  And the team here has an unparalleled breadth and depth of talent and a culture of innovation that Steve has driven in the company, and excellence has become a habit.  And so we feel very, very confident about the future of the company.”  You expect that sort of optimistic outlook from any chief executive at a company, but given Apple’s success with the iPhone and iPad, it really does seem that for the iPhone, the iPad, and Apple in general, the best is yet to come.

Do you have a relative or a close friend who lives out of town and is unable to come to a birthday party?  Here is a tip — with your iPhone 4, you can invite them to the party.

A few weeks ago, I was with family members celebrating my mother’s birthday.  My brother lives in another state so he couldn’t join us, but thanks to my iPhone, he was able to be a part of the celebration.

Although my brother doesn’t have an iPhone 4, he does have a Mac, so I asked him to start up the free FaceTime program for the Mac.  Using my iPhone 4, I initiated a FaceTime video chat with his e-mail address and I propped up the iPhone so that it was facing my mother and the birthday cake.  My mother and the rest of the family could see my brother on the iPhone screen, and he could see the rest of us thanks to the iPhone’s front-facing camera.  He was able to join us to sing Happy Birthday and watch my Mom blow out the candles (with considerable assistance from my kids, for whom blowing out birthday candles is at the top of their list of favorite activities).  The whole experience worked great, and for a few seconds there, I felt like I was living in an Apple TV commercial.

Video chat is nothing new, and I suppose I could have accomplished the same thing using a laptop computer with a built-in camera, but I didn’t happen to have a laptop computer in my pocket, whereas the iPhone is always there.  I was able to use FaceTime because I had Wi-Fi at the time and my brother uses a Mac, but even if I had been relying on 3G and my brother had been using a PC, I could have used the recently-updated free Skype app for the iPhone to do the same thing.  If you can use FaceTime, the quality is better than Skype.

(If the next version of the iPad has a camera and supports FaceTime, perhaps for the next birthday party my brother can appear on a much larger screen.  Louder speakers on the iPad would also help.)

I know a lot of iPhone 4 owners who have never used it to conduct a video chat, and frankly I don’t use FaceTime very often either.  Nevertheless, when the occasion presents itself, try to remember that the easy-to-use video conferencing capabilities of the iPhone 4 can make a special moment even more special.

The announcement that the iPhone is coming to Verizon dominated the news this week.  It also resulted in quite a few calls to me from law partners and friends saying that they are now ready to get a (Verizon) iPhone and asking what model to get.  I even overheard a conversation about the Verizon iPhone by strangers in an elevator this week; it occurred to me that I could have interrupted them and referred them to my post from Wednesday, but I quickly thought better of that.  Here is the notable iPhone news of the past week:

• A ChangeWave survey suggests that 16% of AT&T customers will switch to Verizon to use the Verizon iPhone.  I’d be surprised if it is that high, but we’ll see.
• Attorney John Wallbillich of the WiredGC blog considers what the Verizon iPhone might mean for attorneys.
• Electronista reports that Verizon activated 16 new 3G towers in New York City, presumably to prepare for the iPhone.
• David Pogue of the New York Times weighs the pros and cons of switching from AT&T to Verizon to use the new version of the iPhone.
• Zach Epstein of BGR explains that he is not switching to Verizon because the iPhone is faster on AT&T.
• An excellent article by Adams Satariano and Peter Burrows of Bloomberg Businessweek reports on the long history behind the Verizon iPhone.  I was surprised, however, that the article did not mention that Apple first came to Verizon with the original iPhone, but when Verizon was unwilling to accept Apple’s demands, Apple instead went to Cingular, which of course became AT&T.
• Jon Stewart of The Daily Show ran a long and funny story on the Verizon iPhone.  You can watch it several places on the web, including here on Engadget.  However, the video requires Flash, so if you want to view it on an iPhone, you’ll need to use the Skyfire browser.  Click here to get Skyfire for iPhone ($2.99): 

  

    Click here to get Skyfire for iPad ($4.99): 

  

• Apple provided a beta version of the next iOS operating system, iOS 4.3, to developers this week.  The contents of that beta software are supposed to be confidential (and are subject to change before the final release of iOS 4.3), but apparently someone spilled the beans to (attorney) Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge, who wrote this extensive report on the new features.
• David Pogue of the New York Times wrote a report on last week’s CES, noting that even though Apple didn’t have an official company presence, its influence was felt everywhere.
• For example, Thomas Ricker of Engadget writes that speakers compatible with Apple’s AirPlay are “set to explode in 2011.”  I recently wrote about using a speaker system with an AirPort Express; these new speakers have the Wi-Fi built-in, making it even easier to stream audio to them from an iPhone or iPad.
• Laurel Newby of Law.com writes about an IP battle between two iPhone drink apps.
• Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reports on the update to the iPhone Skype app that allows videoconferencing over 3G.
• Attorney Dan Friedlander has been writing a number of great articles for TechnoLawyer, many of which discuss the iPhone or iPad.  You need to subscribe (for free) to the TechnoLawyer newsletters to get these articles as they are written, but there is now section of the TechnoLawyer website collecting all of Friedlander’s prior articles.  These are worth reading.
• Speaking of TechnoLawyer, they introduced a new newsletter this week called LitigationWorld to discuss “tips from the forefront of today’s litigation practice.”  The inaugural issue was pretty good this week.  If you are a litigator, you should click here for information on subscribing.
• Also speaking of TechnoLawyer, Alabama attorney Clark Stewart wrote an article on how to start a law firm with $2,500 worth of technology.  The iPhone plays a prominent role.  You can read the article on Stewart’s Soul Practioner blog.
• Marianne Schultz of AppShopper discusses an update to the Google Mobile app that allows the app to recognize ads and solve Sodoku puzzles.
• Last week I discussed the new Apple App Store for the Mac.  The always funny Scoopertino announces an improvement:  App Store Express.
• I haven’t played the card game UNO since I was a kid, but the game is 40 years old this year, and Gameloft is celebrating by offering the app, normally $4.99, for only a buck.  Click here for UNO for iPhone ($0.99): 

  

    Click here for UNO HD for iPad ($0.99): 

  

• If you want to read some of my thoughts on the impact of the iPhone on the practice of law, the attorneys at the great Abnormal Use blog posted this interview.  Abnormal Use won the torts category in the 2010 ABA Blawg 100; if you practice torts law (like I do) make sure that you add Abnormal Use to your regular reading list.
• And finally, the always funny Joy of Tech comic has this take on the Verizon iPhone, which the creators gave me permission to repost here:

Every week I hear more stories about attorneys successfully using an iPad at trial or in mediation or some other conference.  It is nice to store all of your documents on a computer, but it can be even nicer to have those documents on an iPad, which you can hold while walking around more naturally and which doesn’t take as much space as a laptop computer. 

I was recently contacted by the developers of two iPad apps that can be used to display and annotate documents and then display them during a trial, mediation, or just a conference.  To display anything from an iPad on an external monitor, you need to buy the Apple iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter which costs around $35.  Of course, if you make such a connection, your iPad must remain in one spot and you lose the advantage of walking around with your iPad, although you gain the ability to display documents from a device that is smaller and easier to carry around than a laptop with a screen that is a natural for using  your fingers or a stylus to circle, underline, etc.  The two apps are Evidence from Rosen Litigation Technology Consulting and TrialPad from Lit Software.

Although these apps are designed to perform a similar function, there is a vast difference in price.  The Evidence app is $9.99, whereas the TrialPad app is $89.99.

I was provided free review copies of both apps, but I have not yet been in trial or any other meeting where I have had an opportunity to try out these two apps, even though they look very interesting.  But I see that legal technology consultant Ted Brooks has written an extensive review comparing both apps.  Brooks used to work at the very large Brobeck law firm based on San Francisco, and then after that firm famously imploded eight years ago, he started Litigation-Tech, a company specializing in trial presentation and legal technology. Brooks has extensive experience displaying documents at trial, so he seems to be a good person to provide an educated opinion on both apps.

I don’t see any reviews of Evidence yet on the App Store, but the few reviews for TrialPad are very favorable.

If you like to stay on the cutting edge, and if you don’t mind (or for that matter, seek out) the extra attention that you will get using an iPad to display and annotate documents, you should give these apps a look.  Make sure that you read Brooks’ review first to get a sense of what these apps can do.  I will try to post my own review after I have had an opportunity to kick the tires on these apps.

Click here for TrialPad for iPad ($89.99): 

Click here for Evidence for iPad ($9.99): 

The wait for many is finally over.  Yesterday, Verizon announced at an event in New York City that it will be carrying the iPhone 4 starting next month.  There are still many unanswered questions, but here is the key information that we now know about the Verizon iPhone.

Available in February.  Verizon is providing iPhones to Verizon employees this week so that they can begin to learn how to use them.  On February 3, existing Verizon customers can preorder a Verizon iPhone 4.  On February 10, the Veizon iPhone 4 will be available for purchase to current or new Verizon customers.

Cost.  The iPhone 4 itself will cost the same as it does on AT&T, which is $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB version, both with a two year contract.  Verizon has not yet made an official statement on the montly plans, but if it uses the current Verizon plans, you will be able to get unlimited data for $30, or spend $15 or $25 for limited data.  AT&T no longer offers an unlimited data plan for the iPhone, although if you had one from before you can continue to use it, and instead now offers a 200MB plan for $15 or a 2GB plan for $25.

If you are currently an AT&T customer and you want to switch to Verizon for the Verizon iPhone, and if you are still in contract, you’ll want to determine the cancellation fee, which may make it prohibitively expensive to jump ship.  Macworld has an article to help you do the math.  Note that the AT&T iPhone 4 uses the GSM network and thus will not work on the Verizon network; if you switch,  you’ll have to purchase a Verizon iPhone 4 which uses the CDMA network.  [UPDATE:  Diesel Mcfadden points out in a comment to this post that you can sell your AT&T iPhone 4 and that would help to offset the early termination charges, which is a good point that I had not considered.]

Personal Hotspot.  Verizon announced that you can pair a Verizon iPhone with up to 5 devices and use it as a mobile hotspot using either Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or a USB cable.  Thus, you can share the Verizon iPhone’s 3G access with an iPad, a computer, etc.  Verizon did not not announce how much extra this feature would cost.  It looks like this is not a Verizon-specific feature, but instead a feature of iOS 4.2.5 which is installed on the Verizon iPhone.  (The AT&T iPhone 4 currently uses iOS 4.2.1.) 

Thus, it appears that the Personal Hotspot feature could technically work on AT&T’s network.  The only wireless tethering that AT&T currently offers is over Bluetooth, and AT&T charges an extra $20 for it.  However, an AT&T representative told Business Insider that AT&T is evaluating the new mobile hotspot feature.  It appears that the Personal Hospot feature will allow you to share your iPhone’s data plan, over Wi-Fi, with an iPad, eliminating the need to purchase a montly data plan for your iPad (assuming that you even have a 3G iPad).  I suspect that even if AT&T enables Personal Hotspot, AT&T will not let people grandfathered into an old $30 unlimited data plan use the Personal Hotspot feature.  But we’ll see.

Design changes.  At first blush, the Verizon iPhone 4 looks exactly like the AT&T iPhone 4, but there are small differences.  Around the edge of the AT&T iPhone (which is of course an antenna) you can see 3 black lines.  On the Verizon model, there are four lines, and unlike the AT&T model which has one line at the top (next to the headphone jack) the lines on the Verizon model are on the two sides.  Look at these Engadget pictures to see what I mean. Was this change made to improve the antenna over the AT&T model, or because the CDMA antenna simply works differently than the AT&T GSM antenna?  I don’t know.

Also, because there is now a black line just above the ringer on/off switch, that switch and the volume buttons are moved down slightly [UPDATE 1/21/11:  it looks like just the switch moved, not the volume buttons], which means that the Verizon iPhone 4 may not work with the currently available cases, which assume a different position for the buttons.  Apple has announced that it will release a new bumper case to accommodate the change.  I suppose that third party case manufacturers will need to follow suit.

Finally, there is no SIM tray on the side of the Verizon iPhone, because you don’t use SIM cards for CDMA.

Can you hear me now?  Verizon has a reputation for having a better network than AT&T.  If you live in an area where AT&T coverage is inferior to Verizon coverage, than this should be an advantage over the AT&T version of the iPhone.  I’ll be curious to see real world reports on this.  On the other hand, AT&T’s 3G network is supposed to be faster than Verizon’s 3G network in most places, and I’m sure that in February we will also see many comparative reports on how quickly files can be downloaded on an AT&T iPhone 4 versus a Verizon iPhone 4.

No voice and data at the same time.  The CDMA 3G network used by Verizon does not support a voice and data connection at the same time.  For example, if you are talking on the phone, you cannot look up some information on Google at the same time (unless you have access to Wi-Fi).  If you are using data and then someone tries to call you, your use of data pauses so that the phone can ring.  This is likely to be an issue that AT&T emphasizes to argue that its iPhone 4 is superior to the Verizon iPhone 4.

Limited international use.  Another limitation of the Verizon network is that few places outside of the U.S. use CDMA.  Thus, if you travel internationally, your Verizon iPhone may not work. Of course, AT&T’s international rates are so expensive that Verizon might argue that this is a feature!  Ahem.

Unique Verizon apps.  No unique Verizon apps will be installed on the iPhone 4.  However, Verizon says that you will be able to download its VZ Navigator and V Cast Media Manager from the App Store.

iPads, too.  You can currently buy a Wi-Fi iPad from Verizon, but Verizon said yesterday that in the future it would also offer an iPad with integrated support for the Verizon network.  My guess is that this will not happen for the current iPad but instead for the 2011 edition of the iPad, which I imagine will be announced in the coming weeks.

Should you get a Verizon iPhone 4?  If you are a Verizon customer who has been waiting for the iPhone to come to Verizon, you can finally make the plunge … but is now the right time?  Here are the dates on which Apple has previously made available new iPhones:  June 24, 2010; June 19, 2009; July 11, 2008; June 29, 2007.  See a pattern?  Yep, Apple likes to start selling new iPhones in June or July, so you can bet that in June or July of 2011, we’ll see the, umm, iPhone 4+?  iPhone 4GS?  iPhone 5?  Well, I don’t know what it will be called, but I’m sure that it will be out.  Anyone who has waited this long to get a Verizon iPhone needs to decide whether they should wait five or six more months to get the next model.  It’s not an easy decision.

Keep in mind also that it appears that the iPhone is no longer exclusive to any carrier in the U.S. on any network.  If you love Sprint or T-Mobile, we may well see an iPhone on those networks too, perhaps this June or July.

The best news is really twofold:  iPhone customers now have a choice, which is nice.  Also, the carriers will be forced to compete for those customers, which could work to the benefit of customers.  For example, maybe AT&T would not have enabled the Wi-Fi Personal Hospot feature, but now will feel compelled to offer it because Verizon is.  We’ll see how this all plays out, but I suspect that the availability of the iPhone on Verizon will be a very good thing for many people.

I hate smudges.  They always seem to show up on my eyeglasses, so I usually try to keep nearby one of those microfiber lens cloths that you can pick up at any store that sells eyeglasses, and more often than not you’ll find one in my pocket or briefcase.  I also hate smudges on my iPhone and iPad, and that is one of the reasons that I love the oleophobic coating on those devices that makes it fairly easy to swipe the face on your shirt to clean off most of the smudges and dust — although frankly that is harder to do with the iPad because it is so much larger than an iPhone.  I doubt that John Hartigan knew about my smudge-phobia when he sent me a free sample of a product that he sells called the MOBiLE CLOTH, but it made me very curious to check out this product.

The MOBiLE CLOTH is a 9 inch by 9 inch cloth made of microfiber.  When you touch the cloth it instantly sticks to your fingers because of the large number of tightly woven microfiber nubs.  It feels a little strange at first, almost like you are touching something that is sticky as if you are touching cotton candy.  But the stickiness is simply the result of the way that the microfibers are woven, and it makes this cloth much more powerful at picking up dust than those lens cloths that I have used for years with my eyeglasses.

Does it work?  Yes, amazingly well.  For example, the other day I had been typing on my iPad screen using the virtual keyboard, and when I was done my screen was covered with smudges, dust, etc.  It would have taken a lot of rubbing on a shirt to try to clean it off, and even using a normal lens cloth it would take a short while to get this clean.  But with simply a few quick swipes of the MOBiLE CLOTH, the screen looked amazing. 

I decided to really put the MOBiLE CLOTH to the test by using it to clean the screen of my big screen TV, a screen that was covered with countless smudges and quite a few sticky substances of unknown origin from my 3 and 5 year old kids.  It did an amazing job, and the screen looks as good as new.  Afterwards, I washed the cloth in water (I didn’t use any soap, but I understand that you can use a mild cleaning agent as long as you don’t use bleach or fabric softener) and let it dry, and the cloth itself cleaned up very well.

I recognize that my desire to keep my iPhone and iPad screen clean is partly because, as noted, I am a little neurotic in this area.  I like a clean screen.  But with my iPad, I feel that there is an important need to keep the screen clean because I find that I am often using it to show something to a client or colleague such as a PDF file, a photograph, or even just a website.  It is nice to have a great looking screen when you are showing off the iPad to another person, so it is great to be able to quickly swipe my iPad with a MOBiLE CLOTH.

The website for MOBiLE CLOTH claims that it doesn’t just make your iPhone and iPad look good, it also removes up to 98% of germs.  I have no way of testing that, and frankly I don’t know how much of an iPhone germ problem there really is, but if this is important to you than perhaps this is an additional reason that you will like the MOBiLE CLOTH.

Best of all, the product is cheap.  You can buy one (either blue or white) for only $2.99, or you can pay even less if you buy in quantity (2 for $4.99, 6 for $12.99, all the way up to 100 for $189.99).  I see on the website that if you buy a 4 or 6 pack right now, you get an extra one for free.  John Hartigan, the owner of the company, sent me two and I like having one at my desk at work and one in my study at home.

My only wish is that it also came in a smaller version that had a carrying case so that I could more easily carry one around with me.  The size and thickness of the MOBiLE CLOTH make it a little too large to toss into a pocket, plus it seems that you would want to cover the cloth in some sort of case to keep it clean.  The next time I travel, I’ll probably place one into a Ziploc bag and put it in my briefcase.  [UPDATE:  John Hartigan tells me that a smaller version is in the works for later this year.]

This is by far the best cleaning cloth that I have ever used.  It keeps my iPhone and iPad clean, and also works great with my eyeglasses, computer screen, and other similar surfaces.  If keeping your iPhone or iPad looking great is a priority for you, I think that you’ll really like MOBiLE CLOTH.  You can purchase this item directly from the manufacturer at the MOBiLE CLOTH website.

Following up on the first two installments, here are even more new hardware accessories for the iPhone and iPad announced last week at CES that struck me as interesting.

SPOT Connect

Don’t you hate it when you can’t get a cell signal on your iPhone?  SPOT Connect is a device that connects to a global satellite network so you can get a signal even if you are in the middle of nowhere.  Connect your iPhone to the SPOT Connect using Bluetooth, and then you can send e-mails or text messages, although what you can send is rather limited.  The device costs $170 plus you have to pay for service, which starts at $100 a year.

iRig Mic

The iRig Mic adds a high quality microphone to your iPhone.  It will cost $60.

WowWee Cinemin Silce projector

This iPhone and iPad dock doubles as a projector, so you can show a movie on your device on a wall or the ceiling.  You can preorder the Cinemin Slice for $429.

Neosonic’s LifePower Battery for iPad

This iPad case includes a battery that doubles the life of the iPad, plus a strap to make it easier to hold the iPad when you are walking around.  Is it possible that this would make the iPad more useful in the courtroom?  Attorney Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge has a bunch of pictures of the Neosonic LifePower Battery.

FreeOneHand case for iPad

If you just want something to help you hold our iPad (in court or elsewhere) but don’t need to also add battery life, the FreeOneHand case might be a good solution for you.  It costs $40.

ZAGGmate

ZAGGmate is a $100 hard cover protector for the front of the iPad that matches the look of the back of the iPad.  Take your iPad out, and the unit contains a keyboard and a stand that works in portrait or landscape mode.  I know a lot of people who are using an iPad as a laptop replacement when they travel, and while a lot of people (like me) use an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, this looks like an interesting alternative.  The website for the product includes some videos showing it in action.

Vyne

Does your hand get tired when you are holding up your iPhone to watch something on it?  Then you might need the Vyne iPhone holder.  The website doesn’t say anything about the price or the release date.

iBottle opener

And finally, if your two greatest desires are protecting your iPhone and drinking beer, then boy do I have the iPhone case for you.  I’ll let the picture speak for itself.  Available from Baron Bob for $19.95.