Support NeoGAF

[alterno69]

Well considering my wife is not a tech geek or addicted to the net like me i think she won't be using it much but i want to know how much just being idle uses.

 

[dskillzhtown]

I think this has been fixed with the 9.0.1 iTunes update.

My custom smartlists are still borked on my iPhone, but work perfectly on iTunes. I am going to try to un-check them and sync. Then re-check them and sync to see if that helps.

 

[tmdorsey]

My custom smartlists are still borked on my iPhone, but work perfectly on iTunes. I am going to try to un-check them and sync. Then re-check them and sync to see if that helps.

Well 9.0.1 fixed the problem of playlist sorting being out of wack. There is and always have been the problem with live updating on the iPhone/iPod Touch not working when you have a smart playlist that references another smart playlist.

 

[LCfiner]

My custom smartlists are still borked on my iPhone, but work perfectly on iTunes. I am going to try to un-check them and sync. Then re-check them and sync to see if that helps.

the temporary solution is to uncheck "live updating" option of the smart playlist in itunes.

the order will be correct on the iphone after doing this. major downside is that if new music is supposed to be added to the playlist, it won't be unless you re-check "live updating" in itunes...

then uncheck it again to keep the order correct on the iphone.

it's a stupidly embarrassing bug for apple considering how well the feature worked before. I think it'll require a 3.1.1 iphone update to fix.

 

[Blackhead]

Can anyone tell me if I can jailbreak my iPhone 3G 3.1? What are pros and cons for that? Does it work like CFW for PSP, in which you later update jailbroken iPhones in pararell with official firmware releases?

I have contacts, sms, etc. on my iPhone, will I lose all of this if I jailbreak?

There are too many pros and the number of reasons keeps growing every week. Cons... I'd say the major con, if you can call it that, is you'll have to take greater responsibility for the operation of your phone (you could always get someone to do all this for you of course). Jailbreaking isn't just for 'power users'--for example, being able to download 'high quality' youtube videos, instead of streaming crappy versions over 3G, is a feature most appealing to teenyboppers. It's just the next step after the afterglow from purchasing an iPhone has faded...

If you have access to a Mac, use this guide to jailbreak your iPhone 3G 3.1.

Well considering my wife is not a tech geek or addicted to the net like me i think she won't be using it much but i want to know how much just being idle uses.

Never a good assumption to make when the iPhone is involved.

 

[LCfiner]

There are too many pros and the number of reasons keeps growing every week. Cons... I'd say the major con, if you can call it that, is you'll have to take greater responsibility for the operation of your phone (you could always get someone to do all this for you of course). Jailbreaking isn't just for 'power users'--for example, being able to download 'high quality' youtube videos, instead of streaming crappy versions over 3G, is a feature most appealing to teenyboppers. It's just the next step after the afterglow from purchasing an iPhone has faded...

other cons.

certain jailbreak programs can cause instability and crashes. which ones? you'll need to consult the community to find out after new ones are released. it's not always immediately obvious.

you can't update to major phone OS revisions when they release and you need to wait for the jailbreak community to re-jailbreak Apple's OS.

battery life can suffer a great deal if you're not aware what you're doing and run too many background apps.

 

[dyls]

other cons.

certain jailbreak programs can cause instability and crashes. which ones? you'll need to consult the community to find out after new ones are released. it's not always immediately obvious.

you can't update to major phone OS revisions when they release and you need to wait for the jailbreak community to re-jailbreak Apple's OS.

battery life can suffer a great deal if you're not aware what you're doing and run too many background apps.

Are there still problems with lagginess and general slower performance? My phone was jailbroken for 2.21, but when 3.0 came out I decided to just upgrade and haven't jailbroken again yet. The main reason is that I was getting a pretty annoying amount of slowdown opening and switching between apps; performance in general took a hit. I tended to use fairly intensive Winterboard themes, which probably created most of the problem. I've thought about jailbreaking again and just not using Winterboard, because I really miss my SBS settings and calendar on the lockscreen. And the search function still beats the official Apple one. I loved being able to search google and IMDB from the home screen.

Alright, I think I just talked myself back into jailbreaking. Any other things I can do to minimize slowdown? I have a 3G, btw.

 

[jax (old)]

my OG iphone - 2 days back to back has been given me problems where it won't take calls - "user unavailable"... and I won't realise til I tried to call myself and its stupid. A reset fixes it but honestly, it was furking annoying.

*not jailbroken

 

[Solideliquid]

Someone told me the 3GS cannot be jailbroken is that true?

 

[RubxQub]

Someone told me the 3GS cannot be jailbroken is that true?

Untrue.

 

[LCfiner]

Are there still problems with lagginess and general slower performance? My phone was jailbroken for 2.21, but when 3.0 came out I decided to just upgrade and haven't jailbroken again yet. The main reason is that I was getting a pretty annoying amount of slowdown opening and switching between apps; performance in general took a hit. I tended to use fairly intensive Winterboard themes, which probably created most of the problem. I've thought about jailbreaking again and just not using Winterboard, because I really miss my SBS settings and calendar on the lockscreen. And the search function still beats the official Apple one. I loved being able to search google and IMDB from the home screen.

Alright, I think I just talked myself back into jailbreaking. Any other things I can do to minimize slowdown? I have a 3G, btw.

3.0 is just slower than 2.2 (on the 3G) period. jailbroken or not.

I had an original iPhone that was jailbroken with 1.x and it ran A-OK but I had numerous issues with 2.x jailbroken on my 3G phone. And there's a few other stories of people having some issues with the jailbreaking on the 3G. not everyone, certainly, but enough that I wouldn't try it again unless there was something I really could not live without.

The 3G, due to limited memory as far as i can tell, is more prone to crashing issues with jailbreaking than a 3GS. you need to be more careful with what you install.

 

[Alfarif]

Well considering my wife is not a tech geek or addicted to the net like me i think she won't be using it much but i want to know how much just being idle uses.

Barely anything. Unless she has push on, or has email or calendars updating in the background, it's not really sending or receiving anything significant.

 

[Lime]

Someone told me the 3GS cannot be jailbroken is that true?

So far, only if you have 3.1 3GS. Otherwise, you're good to go.

 

[mattiewheels]

I guess 3GS 3.1 isn't jailbreakable yet? I miss backgrounder so much, man.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

What is the best tutorial to jailbreak a 3GS Iphone on 3.1? Thanks!

Edit 1: Sorry guys, didn't see above that its not able to be jailbroken yet.
Edit 2: Is there a way to auto fit the web pages within the iPhone browser? I am use to the G1 being able to do that and figure there has to be a way on the iPhone. Am I mistaken?

 

[red shoe paul]

I guess 3GS 3.1 isn't jailbreakable yet?

Correct. They might not even bother doing it for 3.1 also..

 

[Bboy AJ]

Correct. They might not even bother doing it for 3.1 also..

devteam isn't doing jack without someone to steal work from now that geohot's in college

 

[Foob]

I might be in the minority, but I honestly do not miss being jailbroken. I had all the best jailbroken apps/utilities that came with it (ok, I do miss being able to lock orientation), but the whole speed thing was really killing me.

Ya, the default icons are all ugly as hell, but the general snappiness of everything makes it all worth it.

 

[Blackhead]

I might be in the minority, but I honestly do not miss being jailbroken. I had all the best jailbroken apps/utilities that came with it (ok, I do miss being able to lock orientation), but the whole speed thing was really killing me.

Ya, the default icons are all ugly as hell, but the general snappiness of everything makes it all worth it.

You know you could jailbreak and only install the rotation inhibitor. Merely jailbreaking the phone doesn't cause a performance decrease. *shrug* I got a 3GS and all my complaints about speed and snappiness have largely been forgotten.

 

[mattiewheels]

i want jailbreak for two things, backgrounder and bitesms' quick text function. does anyone know if things on the store can do the same things?

 

[StrikerObi]

You guys,

Bargain Bin just alerted me to the fact that I Am T-Pain is on sale for $0.99. This is big news.

However when I look at it on the App store I see the $0.99 on the search results page, but the app's details page (where you click "buy") says it is $2.99. What's up with that? Some sort of display bug on the App store. According the Smule, it is indeed $0.99 to celebrate the addition of "I'm On a Boat" to the In-App Purchases.

 

[Erebus]

Kinda new to the iPhone scene, therefore this might be a stupid question.

I have a 3G iPhone running 3.0.1 jailbroken/unlocked. Should I bother with update 3.1? And will I lose everything by updating and going through the jailbreak process again?

 

[mujahidmd]

I just got a white 3GS the other day its pretty nice so far ive owned every single iPhone and i have to say this one is nice but i was more impressed from going from the 2G to the 3G. The only thing that sucks is this one is running 3.1 so it cant be jailbroken

 

[Auron_Kale]

You guys,

Bargain Bin just alerted me to the fact that I Am T-Pain is on sale for $0.99. This is big news.

However when I look at it on the App store I see the $0.99 on the search results page, but the app's details page (where you click "buy") says it is $2.99. What's up with that? Some sort of display bug on the App store. According the Smule, it is indeed $0.99 to celebrate the addition of "I'm On a Boat" to the In-App Purchases.

Just tried buying the app - got a notification popup saying that it was being currently being modified and to try again later.

 

[Blackhead]

Kinda new to the iPhone scene, therefore this might be a stupid question.

I have a 3G iPhone running 3.0.1 jailbroken/unlocked. Should I bother with update 3.1? And will I lose everything by updating and going through the jailbreak process again?

3.1 contains some bug fixes, nothing life threatening though. Some new apps, and some updates for existing apps, require 3.1 so it depends on how much you need those. There have reports about a random shutdown bug on 3.1 but I can't say how widespread that is. Supposedly you can't hack your carrier profile to enable tethering on 3.1 if you didn't already do so before updating but I can't confirm that. Anybody? Anyway, you can downgrade the 3G from 3.1 to 3.0 if it's not to your liking.

What exactly do you mean by "lose everything"? You can backup your contacts, sms, phone records etc with iTunes. There are apps on Cydia that back up even more stuff, and as an extreme measure you can connect to the phone's file system and grab the stuff you want. There should be an option when using the Pwnage tool to not upgrade your baseband along with the firmware and thus keeping your unlock functionality...

 

[StrikerObi]

Just tried buying the app - got a notification popup saying that it was being currently being modified and to try again later.

Looks like the price has adjusted now. I'm gonna get my Autotune on. No way I'd pay $3 for this but at $1 I really can't pass it up. It'll pay for itself the moment I use it to annoy my friends by repeating "shortay" over and over and over and over again.

 

[Doc Evils]

Good news for the UK.


Vodafone and Orange have signed a deal with Apple to bring the 3GS early 2010.


http://www.gsmarena.com/vodafone_uk_playing_catch_up_will_sell_iphone_3g___3gs_as_well-news-1147.php

http://www.gsmarena.com/apples_and_oranges_iphone_3g_and_3gs_coming_to_orange_uk-news-1144.php

 

[Swag]

My iphone sync has been acting very buggy lately, so I decided to do a restore to fix it. I restored it to 3.1 but whenever I try to restore it to a backup I get the error that " The backup process has failed " Restarting Itunes / my computer doesn't seem to fix the problem.

Anyone know what may be up?

I also get the error "Itunes cannot read the contents of the Iphone "Sebby's Iphone" Go to the Summary tab in Iphone preferences and click Restore to restore this Iphone to factory settings."

I've restored my Iphone twice

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

woah has anyone else's push Gmail with gsync stop working? I have had like no e-mails for about a day and a half. I just signed into Gmail on my PC and there are a ton of unread e-mails. On another note it looks like when I trash e-mails they are not going to the trash can. Weird.

Edit:
Ah it appears I am not the only one who is not receiving e-mail through gsync: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=372e92d79119d655&hl=en

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

Good news for the UK.


Vodafone and Orange have signed a deal with Apple to bring the 3GS early 2010.


http://www.gsmarena.com/vodafone_uk_playing_catch_up_will_sell_iphone_3g___3gs_as_well-news-1147.php

http://www.gsmarena.com/apples_and_oranges_iphone_3g_and_3gs_coming_to_orange_uk-news-1144.php

Well it says Vodafone will start selling it in early 2010 but hopefully Orange will introduce it before Christmas... but I won't hold my breath.

 

[Blackhead]

Alyssa Milano commenting on the Tweetie 2 upgrade price

Boooooo!!! RT @TwitterDispatch: Tweetie 'Upgrade' costs the same as buying new: http://j.mp/b6VgC

:lol it's always weird when I find out random celebrities use the iPhone

I think all the fuss from both sides has been silly. To the complainers: the developer has every right to charge whatever he wants. But to the defenders: the developer is not a superhero and stop acting like everybody complaining is just being cheap. The complainers have a very valid point that the original purchasers should get something (after all Tweetie 2 for the Mac is going to be a free upgrade for original purchasers so even the developer understands the concept of rewarding loyal users). And it's misleading to blame it all on the App Store, conveniently ignoring (from the post that sparked the debate):

I understand that Apple likely does not make any of this easy for developers. Even so – very, very bad call. If an ex-jailbreak developer like Snapture Labs can work out manual(and labor intensive) ways to offer a FULL, FREE upgrade from a jailbreak app to an App Store one, then a developer who cares about their users can try to work something out for upgrade pricing. If not, then find a way to cram all the new functionality and features into the existing Tweetie app. Do something to show you care even a tiny bit about your customers.

Would it be so hard for the Tweetie developer to release an update to the existing client with one, or two, of the new features and a splash page informing the user that a new version is coming up on the App Store with even more super features and they should support him by upgrading? It's to his advantage really. By deciding to submit Tweetie 2 as a completely new app, so as to charge a fee from 'upgraders', he loses out some advantages. First, it won't show up as an upgrade for existing users, when they open up the app store, so many might not find out about it. Second, the new Tweetie App will start at the very bottom of the AppStore rankings and will not be able to display all the positive (and negative) reviews that the previous versions have accumulated. And don't be surprised if some disgruntled users rate it low because of the price... the transition will go a lot more smoothly if the developer gives the existing users something. We aren't one of the beta testers, the chosen few, so how do we know the update is it all it claims to be? *shrug* I'm moving on to better twitter clients anyway...

p.s. what's the best client for just following and reading tweets? I'm not concerned about it's posting capabilities... I'm trying out Echofon because when you tap on a username it takes you directly to the user's most recent tweets. Even better would be if I could tap on a tweet in my timeline and be taken to it's exact position in the user's history. Any app like that?

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

People bought Tweetie 1 for the features it had. They were satisfied and enjoyed the application without knowing that a second version was coming, but now it's not enough. It's ludicrous to expect to receive more features for free.

I'm not sure of the reaction I would have if a client I had made a website for asked me to redo it for free because they had already paid for it the first time. Or even just to redo it for a discounted price.

 

[RubxQub]

People bought Tweetie 1 for the features it had. It's ludicrous to expect to receive more features for free.

I'm not sure of the reaction I would have if a client I had made a website for asked me to redo it for free because they had already paid for it the first time.

It's a weird market, because there have been apps like FieldRunners that have released new content for free as well as other apps like PocketGod.

Some really popular apps, but free updates with lots of content.

I'd agree with you'd likely say "But those guys are screwing themselves or should not be considered the rule, but the exception", but the precedent is out there.

Only app update I plan to pay for is map updates in the TomTom app whenever that happens.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

I do agree that there is this weird psychological issue where people are wildly appreciative of free updates, presumably behaving by the idea that it is charitable that the company isn't charging for what should really be charged content (ex: Team Fortress 2). But when something that should be paid for ends up needing to be paid for, the free content is no longer thought of as charitable but instead as how the system is supposed to be (Left 4 Dead 2 vs TF2).

I guess it's the "give someone an inch..." cliche.

 

[Big Takeover]

woah has anyone else's push Gmail with gsync stop working? I have had like no e-mails for about a day and a half. I just signed into Gmail on my PC and there are a ton of unread e-mails. On another note it looks like when I trash e-mails they are not going to the trash can. Weird.

Edit:
Ah it appears I am not the only one who is not receiving e-mail through gsync: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=372e92d79119d655&hl=en

That's a limitation of the service. Deleted emails go into your archive instead. That, along with not being able to save drafts pushed me back to the GPush app.

 

[Blackhead]

I do agree that there is this weird psychological issue where people are wildly appreciative of free updates, presumably behaving by the idea that it is charitable that the company isn't charging for what should really be charged content (ex: Team Fortress 2). But when something that should be paid for ends up needing to be paid for, the free content is no longer thought of as charitable but instead as how the system is supposed to be (Left 4 Dead 2 vs TF2).

I guess it's the "give someone an inch..." cliche.

whoa this is a more hardline position than most. The current Tweetie app is at version 1.3.2, he's already released numerous free upgrades. Let's be clear, the developer already believes in 'giving up features for free' (he's doing so for the Mac version of Tweetie) and would offer an upgrade pricing structure for Tweetie if he could. He just doesn't think he can offer anything to existing users while I disagree with that. Debates over the price being charged and whether the iPhone user base is cheap are besides the point to me. I understand why he chose to call this version a new app (he rewrote the code) but he could just as well have called it version 1.4 and given it as a free upgrade if he wanted.

Even on the Mac, I tend not to buy apps if I don't see continual work going into it. Half the apps even have a "pay, so more development can be done" sign somewhere. Part of what I'm paying for is the promise of more features (because very few apps are perfect from the get go).

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

whoa this is a more hardline position than most. The current Tweetie app is at version 1.3.2, he's already released numerous free upgrades. Let's be clear, the developer already believes in 'giving up features for free' (he's doing so for the Mac version of Tweetie) and would offer an upgrade pricing structure for Tweetie if he could. He just doesn't think he can offer anything to existing users while I disagree with that. Debates over the price being charged and whether the iPhone user base is cheap are besides the point to me. I understand why he chose to call this version a new app (he rewrote the code) but he could just as well have called it version 1.4 and given it as a free upgrade if he wanted.

Even on the Mac, I tend not to buy apps if I don't see continual work going into it. Half the apps even have a "pay, so more development can be done" sign somewhere. Part of what I'm paying for is the promise of more features (because very few apps are perfect from the get go).

My strong stance on this is coming from how the online arguing about this tries to make everything black and white. Either everyone that exists makes updates for free or no one does, but no one considers the variables. Tweetie is the guy's only job. It's his livelihood. I take issue with wanting months of his work to have been done for free or a reduced price, even though purchasers of the original never bought into it with knowledge of a future version ever being made.

A free update to the Mac version is irrelevant since that version is sustainable through the ads presented to the free users. The Mac version has also not been completely rewritten; it is the base that the iPhone app is being rewritten to match.

 

[Chorazin]

I dislike how the Tweetie dev pretty much gave up on it months ago to work on Tweetie 2. Minor bug fixes with no new features that tons of tother Twitter apps had just bugged me, enough to switch clients. I simply don't want to buy another app from him, have him support it for a few months, and then ditch it AGAIN to work on Tweetie 3 while I need to look for another app that does all the new stuff Twitter adds.

 

[UtadaBarkley]

Anyone using any good bluetooth headphones that they'd recommend? Normally the wired versions don't bother me as much, except for when I'm traveling. Traveling and dealing with tangled wires in the airports, on public transportation, etc is very annoying, so, I want a wireless solution. They don't need to have the absolute best sound, but something decent would be nice sub $100 USD.

 

[Chorazin]

Anyone using any good bluetooth headphones that they'd recommend? Normally the wired versions don't bother me as much, except for when I'm traveling. Traveling and dealing with tangled wires in the airports, on public transportation, etc is very annoying, so, I want a wireless solution. They don't need to have the absolute best sound, but something decent would be nice sub $100 USD.

I just got the Motorola MotoROKR s305's from Amazon, they were dirt cheap ($39.99) and sound pretty good.

 

[SuperPac]

My strong stance on this is coming from how the online arguing about this tries to make everything black and white. Either everyone that exists makes updates for free or no one does, but no one considers the variables. Tweetie is the guy's only job. It's his livelihood. I take issue with wanting months of his work to have been done for free or a reduced price, even though purchasers of the original never bought into it with knowledge of a future version ever being made.

A free update to the Mac version is irrelevant since that version is sustainable through the ads presented to the free users. The Mac version has also not been completely rewritten; it is the base that the iPhone app is being rewritten to match.

Also we're talking about a $2.99 iPhone app. I've gotten my $3 out of the current app since I originally bought it. If I need to pay another $3 for the new version, it's not that big a deal to me. I don't feel like I've been slighted asking to pay for a new version and I get enough use out of it that I don't mind supporting what I think is a good product.

 

[robertsan21]

Need some iPhone-Itunes help

I am trying to backup my iPhone but when I press backup and the sync is starting iTunes give me a popup and tells me this:

Photos Folder syncing has been disabled for the iPhone "xxxxxx" because the folder "Pictures" cannot be found

Now this is a new computer I am trying to sync my iPhone to as the old Laptop I had has been trashed

what can I do to be able to get the pictures folder working again?
I do not want my iPhone photos to be deleted on my iPhone.

 

[Blackhead]

Cleaning house

After an inspiring discussion with Marc last week, I finally cleaned out my collection of iPhone apps, deleting about a third of them and ending up with 23.

The big difference this time was that I decided that I’d ignore the price I paid for the app when deciding whether to delete it. Lessons learned:

• Neither WeatherBug (free) nor MyWeather Mobile ($10) proved any more convenient than Apple’s built-in Weather widget. And both were slower to launch and update.
  
• I shouldn’t buy a game, no matter how cheap it is and how good it looks, without seeing video reviews. (Low Grav Racer)
  
• I actually play games much less frequently than I think I do when I’m buying them.
  
• Just because I enjoyed an app or game once in the past doesn’t mean I’ll ever really want to launch it again. (pairMe, Brain Tuner)
  
• I have too many apps that I keep around “in case I want to browse stuff when I’m bored”. I can cut some. (Facebook, NYTimes)
  
• The “graveyard” page of my home screen should be reserved for things I care about when they update for competitive intelligence (Byline, Stanza) or utilities that I rarely use but do occasionally need (iSSH, BubbleLevel). It’s not a good place to fill up with games and apps I’ll never launch again.
  
• I’m not allowed to install new games until I’ve played all of the ones I already have at least once. Many haven’t reached that point yet. (2079, Rolando, Slingshot, Up There)
  
• If I’m not motivated to ever launch a game for whatever reason — frustration at a certain level, boredom of it, etc. — I can go without it. (Dizzy Bee, Monkey Labs Puzzle Games, Tris, TrivialTech)
  
• I don’t actually play long, story-based games on my iPhone. (Toy Bot Diaries)
  
• I can accept that a free app (Wikipanion) is sometimes better than a paid app (Kiwi) and delete the paid one.
  
• I should never buy apps solely on John Gruber’s recommendation. (MyWeather Mobile, Kiwi)
  
• No matter how good an app looks, I shouldn’t buy it on the assumption that it will come in handy “sometime”. Rather, I can buy it only when I start to need it. (Sketches)

And finally, I can aggressively delete because I can always redownload applications** I’ve previously bought for free. Unless, of course, I can’t remember what they’re called — in which case, I probably shouldn’t be redownloading it.

**Not if you're on the road and the app is over 10MB (assuming the phone isn't jailbroken).



iPhone app paging strategy

As nice as it is to have an app for that™, I hate being bogged down by tons of apps and needing to swipe and skim through multiple pages to find the one I want to use.

I recently went through another app cleanout, and I’ve settled on this layout for the time being.

It’s intentionally small: I don’t like having more than four pages, and I don’t like a page to fill its fourth row. If I start filling any of the pages, I reevaluate my priorities and go on a deleting spree.

Page 1: Fast or frequent access
These are the apps that I either use the most, or need the fastest access to. That’s not necessarily the same thing. For instance, I rarely launch Voice Memos, but when I need to quickly capture something, I don’t want to page through to find the app. So all forms of quick-capture are on page 1: Simplenote, Camera, Voice Memos, Birdhouse. I also recently switched the double-tap-home action to launch Camera for quick capture (on John Gruber’s recommendation) because that’s the capturing action I do most frequently.

Page 2: A lower-priority Page 1
This is more of an overflow of page 1 with apps that I still use semi-regularly but don’t need fast access to.

In practice, most of the time, that’s as far as I get. But when I occasionally want to play a game or look at a more detailed weather report:

Page 3: Games
I burn through a lot of games because I tire of them quickly. This is the more timeless set that has kept my interest for longer than most. I’ve purchased more than three screens worth of games, but only end up playing a handful on a regular basis.

Page 4: Occasional utility value, and unused Apple apps
Apps that I rarely launch, but either can’t delete (Contacts, Calculator) or occasionally need (iSSH, Sketches).

So far, this is working better than any of my previous organizing or deleting methods. I can do a lot with my iPhone, but I’m not filling it with cruft and constantly flipping through pages of apps.

I'm always interested in new ways to useful ways to organize apps. It's why I theme.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

That's a limitation of the service. Deleted emails go into your archive instead. That, along with not being able to save drafts pushed me back to the GPush app.

Wow, that is lame. I am going to go back to 15 min. fetches myself using imap again.

 

[LCfiner]

All this moaning by some people (not in this thread) about paying 6 bucks for two versions of tweetie just makes me feel a little silly for paying 10 bucks for twitteriffic back when it launched.

ha ha, silly me paying 10 dollars for an iPhone twitter app. but, hey, at least the 2.0 update was free (and awesome)

 

[mrkgoo]

Cleaning house
**Not if you're on the road and the app is over 10MB (assuming the phone isn't jailbroken).



iPhone app paging strategy


I'm always interested in new ways to useful ways to organize apps. It's why I theme.

My strategy is basically this:

General considerations:
- I like cool looking icons, so if it came down to two apps that are equal, I will probably go for the cooler looking icon.
- I try not to duplicate functionality. Pretty much means I will probably never get a new weather app.
- I keep apps in pairs of functionality if possible. If possible, an entire row of 4 apps will be similarly themed. If possible, apps along a row will also be alphabetical.
- I if possible, the apps directly above or below may match a theme also (in actuality, I end up stretching making up excuses to match).
- If possible the position of an app on a page will match in theme with another app on another page.
- If possible, the colours of the icons will be aesthetically pleasing to their location on the page.


Dock:
Apps I need the fastest of access to.
Phone, Messages, iPod, Settings

Page 1:
Pretty much Apple apps, except Stocks and youtube, which I barely ever use. In place of those, I have Skype and Beejive, both of which have cool icons, and seems to fit directly above phone and messages respectively. The simple bright colours of these apps, my dock apps and the two store apps are very pleasing.

Page 2:
Utilities and toys. Top row are photography related apps. My convert app sits in the same position as the calculator app on the first page. The bottom row are connection related tools, such as a touchpad app, file sharing, iStat and remote. REmote sits above the iPod app.

Page 3:
Web and reference apps. I don't have a perpetual connection, so I don't use these all that often. Top row are web bookmarks.

Page 4:
My favourite/frequent games - mostly pick up and play casual. Top row are the apps that are more 'design-y' in nature (in alphabetical order): Edge, Eliss, Infinity Gene, and Unify.
Bottom row are some staples - I don't actually play them that often, but I like to know that they are there. And they have really nice icons: Deep Green (Chess), Xiangqi (chinese chess), Solebon (solitaire), and ACT sudoku.

Page 5:
More hardcore games. Top row are essentially direct ports of classic games from other platforms: CivRev, Duke Nukem, Flashback, Monkey Island (also in alphabetical). Third row are also big name ports, but more casual: DDR, Mr. Driller, Peggle, Snood (also alphabetical). Bottom row are kind of niche word and puzzle games, but I like to keep around.


I used to only have 1 page of games, but it became hard to narrow down my favourites, and I really like where my page is at the moment, so I'm going to have to rethink everything when some must haves come out for me. Namely, Card Ace and Doom Classic. I will consider bumping to a 3rd page of games, but only if I can fill an entire third page. Unlike the example above, I prefer to keep all pages filled. I'll probably bump off Mr. Driller and Metor Blitz, because I don't like their icons, but I do like the games. Maybe Electric Box and/or Geared, as these games are knife of wasted just sitting there (I completed them), though I do enjoy them.

 

[mrkgoo]

All this moaning by some people (not in this thread) about paying 6 bucks for two versions of tweetie just makes me feel a little silly for paying 10 bucks for twitteriffic back when it launched.

ha ha, silly me paying 10 dollars for an iPhone twitter app. but, hey, at least the 2.0 update was free (and awesome)

I paid whatever it costs now. I hardly use it really, but I do like the app. I have it for my mac too, but I use the ad-version there.

 

[jts]

What if each page of apps could be vertically scrolled as well? :O

I never thought of that until now, but I'd like to see that. Never fill up your "games" page again!

You could even name each page, heh... it's nice to want things.

 

[mrkgoo]

What if each page of apps could be vertically scrolled as well? :O

I never thought of that until now, but I'd like to see that. Never fill up your "games" page again!

You could even name each page, heh... it's nice to want things.

That would be pretty cool.

You know, I've been thinking, Apple did an amazing job with the iPhone UI. It's intuitive, simple, and now, VERY iconic. I always say they don't allow too much customisation because they want everyone to recognise that it's an iPhone - a black rectangle with coloured squares is now universally seen as the iPhone, much like a rectangle with another rectangle and a circle in it is recognized as an iPod. EVERYONE is copying the same formula for app layout screens on many modern phones. YEs, I know apple didn't invent buttons on a screen, but somehow, like several times before, they have claimed it as their own in the mind's eye of the consumers.

That said, it is looking dated. They MUST be working on some kind of major update. Maybe it's OS 4.0, maybe it's later. But I really wonder what they have in mind...

 

[Ashhong]

What if each page of apps could be vertically scrolled as well? :O

I never thought of that until now, but I'd like to see that. Never fill up your "games" page again!

You could even name each page, heh... it's nice to want things.

categories / jailbreak ftw