Buying First iPhone: Main question, how to deal with "the car problem"? Secondarily - What is a good Schedule Management app? Finally - Any general iphone advice? Apps, accessories, must haves?
Getting the new iPhone 3G S when it comes out. Moving from an old Windows Mobile Phone. This will be my first iPhone and first iPod like device since the original iPod like 6 years ago (I know, I am a Luddite).
So point is... don't assume I know anything about normal iPod/iPhone usage or lingo have any idea of the normal gear or apps or anything.
Answers:
1. Solutions to the "car problem" - everything I have found about this is more than a year old. Has an elegant and inexpensive phone+charger+music via radio solution come up in that time? If not what are the best components to get (I am more interested in the charger+music via radio side, I am not a big car phone talker).
2. Calendar / Schedule management - One of the main things I used my old phone for was calendar, task, reminder purposes. Used and enjoyed PocketBreeze for an "integrated today screen". I suspect that the iPhone is designed better out of the box then my WinMobile phone, so maybe embedded calendar apps will suffice, but if not what do you suggest?
3. Anything else I gotta get? Advice, tips, favorite apps.
Bonus Points for #3: I really want to make use of the GPS capabilities (car navigation? geocaching apps?) and cool games. These are icing, not essential.
1) I did a sweet little DIY setup in my car that ended up being pretty inexpensive. The iphone usually comes with this little white dock that serves as a charge/line-out. I rigged up something that fit in my cup holder (no more tipping/falling over!), took an AC adapter and a cassette adapter and hooked it all up. It's a bit permanent, but now I can just get in my car, plug in my phone, and I'm set for charging and music. I found the cassette adapter was a bit more useful than an FM transmitter, less interference/clearer sound.
2. Not too much experience with this one. I usually just did a combination of the default calendar and Remember The Milk.
3. Top Useful Apps: Remote, allows for controlling what iTunes is playing over WiFi; Cydia/BossPrefs/Winterboard and Themes (only if you feel like jailbreaking)
Top Games: Field Runners, awesome little tower defense/strategy game that sucks up a bunch of time; Scramble, a word puzzle game; and the New York Times crossword App.
posted by pyrom at 7:21 PM on June 13, 2009
Must have apps:
Google Voice Search - Pretty decent voice recognition search
Bank of America - If you are a B of A customer, they make a nice little online banking interface
Lose It! - Great free calorie counter (I've lost 10 pounds)
Shazam - Ever wonder what song you are listening to? Shazam will tell you.
Kindle/Stanza - The screen is on the small side, but the iPhone makes a very nice ebook reader
Remote - Control iTunes on your computer with your phone (iTunes must be already running, and you must be on the same WiFi network)
Sol Free - Solitaire! I'm kind of addicted
Urbanspoon - Let your phone tell you where to eat tonight
And a couple that are only really useful to house hunters, but they are REALLY useful:
Trulia - Find houses for sale in your immediate area
Zillow - Find property values anywhere
Loan-U-Later - Decent free monthly payment calculator
For listening in the car, the easiest thing is to use a cassette adapter. I have this one and use it all the time, but have to agree with the negative reviews; the sound quality is terrible (I don't care, but you might) and you often have to stick it in a few times to get the tape deck to accept it. This one from Sony gets better reviews, so I'll recommend that!
posted by escabeche at 7:23 PM on June 13, 2009
Depending on your car you might have the potential to have a really nice iPod/iPhone setup. What car and stereo unit do you have?
For my ancient 98 Jetta with factory head unit, I was able to buy a little magic box that connects to the CD changer port on the back of the unit and makes it think my iPod is a CD changer. It's not perfect, but I have a dock connector cable in my glove box that charges the phone and I music I play comes out wonderfully through my speaker. The 1-9 buttons on my head unit let me choose through my first through ninth playlists.
Bluetooth Integration is becoming big business for many manufacturers, partly due to government regulations introduced in the early 2000's and secondly due to the increasing emphasis on safety. The recent surge in Bluetooth car kit sales has allowed manufacturers to develop new products designed to make these systems much more use-able and integrate into the vehicles stereo & entertainment systems to provide greater control.
Previously, integrated Bluetooth car kits consisted of a stereo mute function that auto-mutes any sound being played through the stereo at the time of a call. These kits don't actually integrate into the stereo system they just override it when a call is made or received. New systems being introduced into the market from Dension allows complete integration into the stereo system. So you can control your phone through the steering wheel controls to browse phonebook & recent calls, and also make and answer calls. Information is displayed on the cluster screen (near the rev gauge & speed gauge) or on the stereo in some occasions.
The New Kits show how far the technology is developed in recent years as it was previously thought too difficult to create a system that integrates as all vehicles software and hardware are different. Creating a dilemma, either produce one product which is universal, and installs via a unique vehicle specific lead (SOT Leads) or create multiple product SKU's (Stock keeping Units) of the same kit for compatibility into each different vehicle manufacturer, and sometimes models.
However Dension acquired good knowledge of vehicle hardware & software systems from creating iPod integration kits. The same or similar technology is used for Bluetooth which also include iPod connectivity as well. Setting them in good stead to compete with Parrot Bluetooth systems for dominance over the market.
One problem with the integrated kits from Dension, called the Gateway five or Gateway 5 is that they are vehicle specific and not available for every vehicle as of yet. The vehicles must Run CAN Bus system in the vehicle to work, so older vehicles (except some BMW's) will not be capable of using them.
One thing is for sure, the Dension Bluetooth kits offer much better integration and quality over other kits currently available on the market and although they don't offer any voice control commands like the bury and parrot Bluetooth kits, they are easy to use & functional. Making them to kit to compete with over the coming years.