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An iPhone Owner’s Travel Lessons Learned From Comic-Con
An iPhone Owner’s Travel Lessons Learned From Comic-Con is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
As iPhone owners may know, it’s far from a perfect device, and its US carrier is far from perfect either. Heading out to one of the biggest celebrations of geek culture, the infamous San Diego Comic-Con, for the first time, I realized how much these issues will come to light when you’re out and about with thousands of your closest fellow geeks, nerds, otaku, et cetera. I came back with 4 important things to remember the next time I or any other iPhone owner heads out to a big trip with their iPhone in tow.
1. Phones will die. Prepare accordingly.
The iPhone is not a paragon of extensive battery life. Thankfully, the various extended life battery packs that are available can be a lifesaver for the iPhone owner. If you’re heading out to Comic-Con, picking up a couple is a very good idea, as otherwise your phone will die. Some columnists would make it a point to say “you’re hanging out with real people, enjoy their presence,” but we all know sometimes you need to check your tweets, or text someone to figure out what’s going on. Having an actual working phone is better than not having one, and a backup battery will go a long way towards preventing that from happening.
Now, you’ll want to make sure that your backup battery actually works. I had 2 batteries to help charge my iPhone, a 1900 mAh battery, and an 800 mAh battery that was small enough to carry around as a key fob. I hadn’t charged my larger capacity backup battery in months, and a few days before I left, I decided to charge it up, only to discover that I hadn’t used it in so long that it wouldn’t hold a charge. Well, no matter, I still had my 800 mAh backup battery, which charges via mini USB, and I had a mini USB wall charger that I brought along with my camera. But the fool in me failed to make sure said wall charger would work with my backup battery. I sure regretted this when I discovered it wouldn’t charge, and I had no mini USB cable with me as well, somehow. I was at the mercy of my 2 year old iPhone 3G’s stock battery. It suffered at times, to say the least.
Of course, even if you can keep your phone alive, other people’s phones won’t be so lucky. Set up times and places to meet so that if you do lose contact with them, you won’t be lost and wandering a strange city looking for people out amongst thousands and thousands of geeks.
2. Cellular data access will be spotty.
Speaking of thousands and thousands of geeks, let’s just say that trying to access the internet will often be problematic. Between spotty signal areas and people desperately trying to access whatever open wifi hotspot is available, you will often be without internet. At SDCC, there were often spots where I dropped to EDGE or lost data access entirely in and around the convention center. Amazingly, the speeds when 3G was available were not too bad, but this may be due to the fact that no one was on it because they couldn’t get access from where they most wanted to use it, like in Ballroom 20, where many popular panels were, and wifi access was reportedly spotty. And if you are an iPhone owner, stay away from the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront entirely. You will get no service in the room, and the wifi did not work at all. Those were the scariest 5 hours of my life being ’stuck’ in that room attending panels I wanted to see, but could tell no one about.
3. Wifi: More reliable, but only slightly.
While cellular data services are often interrupted, there’s at least wifi available, right? Well, it depends. At the San Diego Convention Center, there were spots where the provided free wifi worked spectacularly, especially on the second floor and in certain areas of the show floor. Tweeting, checking email, and writing up reports on panels was reliable, and it worked well. But then there were times where wifi would be unavailable, or my iPad and iPhone would not connect to the networks at all. While it still trumped AT&T’s reception at times, just remember whenever you see wifi networks around that any idiot can plug in a router and get it broadcasting a connection. Getting it to work properly is a bigger challenge, and one that many people apparently aren’t set to accomplish.
Also, any network named “Free Public Wifi” isn’t going to work. Just trust me on this one.
Now, while internet access on the go may be a sticky situation, at least you have the comfort of your hotel room’s wifi, right? Well, sadly, most hotels have decided to charge you for wifi, such as the Marriott Hotel & Marina which wanted $12.95 for daily wifi access. This is where you might want to shell out for tethering, even if it’s just for one month, that $20 you spend to just use your iPhone as your internet access is well worth it, especially if you can find a way to share it with other devices besides a laptop. If you have a jailbroken iPhone, MyWi is a great alternative: it costs $19.95, but the utility of being able to use your iPhone as a wifi router can’t be overstated. Also, you could recoup your costs by loaning other people temporary access to your tethered internet connection.
4. Bring a real camera.
This especially applies to older iPhones, but bring yourself a camera that can quickly and reliably take pictures. San Diego Comic-Con especially is a place where unique picture opportunities can pop up, and you don’t want to spend half a minute trying to open up the camera on your iPhone to take a picture of Captain America fighting Blanka while you wait in line for free ice cream bars. This is a weird alternate universe where people wearing strange costumes is almost normal, where you could easily run into celebrities just wandering around, and you want to make sure you can take good footage. Your iPhone just isn’t reliable enough for that. Bring a real camera.
If you keep these tips in mind, the only thing stopping you from having an enjoyable experience at the next San Diego Comic-Con or whatever trip you take will be whatever stupid things you or other people do. And of course, it’s more opportunities to blame AT&T for making your life one huge first world problem. Take it and enjoy it, people.
[ An iPhone Owner’s Travel Lessons Learned From Comic-Con is a post from 148Apps ]
Fix Slow YouTube on iPad and iPhone 4
Spanish Armada – iPhone App Review
Spanish Armada – iPhone App Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Spanish Armada ($1.99)
Version –1.1
REVIEW – “A great old classic brought to life!”
I remember when I was little playing battleship with
my brothers and sisters. The game has been a classic board game for decades. It was even more exciting when they released electronic games that had sound effects and that kept track of hits and misses! Well today I’m happy to be giving away a promo code for a battleship-like game called 
Spanish Armada by Orient Maple! So stick around for the end of this review where I’ll be giving you information on how you can enter to win!
If you’ve never played a game like this before the basic concept is that each player hides 5 ships somewhere on their grid? Once both 
players have hidden all their ships you then take turns selecting squares on your opponents grid to attack! This game breaks up the action with a couple of different ways to play as well.
In the options menu you’ll find the option to select “Volley Shot” or “Salvo Shot” mode. In volley shot you take turns shooting until you miss. What this means is if you strike on of your opponents ships then you get to go again until you miss! While on the other hand, salvo shot gives each player the same amount of shots that they have ships left.
There are several other options you can set which range from sound effect levels, music levels and difficulty level. Once you have it all set up like you want you can either play a game against the computer or you can play with a friend if there is a wifi connection available! I was impressed with the network connection for wifi games. I played several games with my wife between my 3GS and her 3G iPhone and I had almost no problems at all with disconnections.
Another nice aspect of the game is that it is integrated with the OpenFeint gaming network. This allows you to compare
scores with your friends, chat, and get achievements all from one simple to use interface! Overall this game is a lot of fun and is relatively cheap as well. My wife has literally played this game for hours on end!
So I’m sure you’ve probably been waiting to find out how you can win a free copy of this game. Well I won’t keep you waiting any longer! All you have to do is (1) follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/iHayward so I can send you a message if you win and (2) tweet the following message – “@iHayward win a free promo code for Spanish Armada from AppShouter! – “. That’s all you have to do! I’ll be selecting the winners next Monday the 15th so be sure to enter before then! Thank you so much for reading this review and for looking to AppShouter to find out about all the latest Apps!
- David H.
Download Now!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Developer – Orient Maple
URL: http://www.orientmaple.com/
© 2010, iPhone app reviews. All rights reserved. AppShouter LLC
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.appshouter.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png "Spanish Armada iPhone App Review"){kind=icon}
iCall Free VoIP – iPhone App Review
iCall Free VoIP – iPhone App Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
iCall Free VoIP (Free)
Version – 1.2.5
REVIEW – “Bad reception at home? iCall to the rescue!”
One of the things that I had to compromise a while back when I got my first iPhone was my cell phone service. Now don’t get me wrong, AT&T has very fast 3G service, and I don’t have any more problems in most areas with reception than I did with my previous carrier. The problem is that my house seems to be a dead zone! Since I don’t have a home phone this made it difficult for people to get ahold of sometimes. That is until I started using iCall Free VoIP!
I’ve tried a variety of different VoIP calling services in the past, but most of them are either difficult to set up or didn’t offer some of the features that I wanted to have like an incoming call 
number. The greatest feature of this app in my opinion is in the ease of use factor which was definitely refreshing!
When you open iCall for the first time you will need to set up what kind of plan you’ll be using. If all you want to do is be able to make phone calls one of the options is completely free! The setup for this kind of account consists of making a phone call to a number to confirm what your cell phone number is. Once you’ve done that all you have to do is dial any number to call out over WiFi or the cell network. The great thing is that you can start a call at home on WiFi and then continue it when you leave the house on 3G or EDGE!
But what if you’re like me and you need people to be able to get ahold of you 
at home as well as be able to call out over WiFi? Well for just $10 a month you can get unlimited outgoing and incoming calls to your own private number! There are a variety of area codes to select numbers from, although I was disappointed to see that there were not any local numbers to my area. With that said, there are a variety of area codes available and they are constantly adding more!
Now I’m sure you’re probably wondering how you can receive calls with no cell connection. Well as long as your home WiFi is set up properly you will receive a push notification over WiFi that will let you know when you have an incoming call! When you receive the message all you have to do is touch answer to open up iCall and answer the call immediately!
One of the most important things with a service like this is always going to be call quality. I was very pleased with the quality of calls using my 3GS phone. I made and received several calls to both local and long-distance numbers and didn’t seem to have any problems. With that said, my wife seemed to have problems with choppy audio on her iPhone 3G. It didn’t happen all the time though so it’s possible that it had more to due to some of the memory problems that the 3G has.
This app also offers a decent array of features that you would expect. It allows you to use your iPhone 
contacts list from directly within the app, it shows you a list of calls that you’ve made recently and it also offers a voice mail box that is particularly useful if you decide to pay for a personal incoming number.
While this app is really great I did have a few things that I would really like to see added in the future. The first is that it could use a “speakerphone” feature. As of now there is no way to put a call on speakerphone which is particularly annoying if you are trying to use a touchtone menu on a company’s answering machine. The
second thing that would be really nice is if there was an incoming call list. It’s great that you can see what phone calls you’ve made in the past, but more often what I want to check is who I’ve received calls from.
Overall, this app is definitely a winner in my book. The best part is there is that the basic service works well and its cheap. Some of the little things within the app should be easy to add/fix and make this app even more amazing. If you’ve been debating on getting a home phone number because of reception problems, I simply cannot recommend this app enough. The ability to make sure your phone calls have a strong signal and don’t get dropped while at home is worth a lot more than the cheap $10 a month that they are charging people! So what are you waiting for? See what all the fuss is about and try out the outgoing call feature of iCall today!
- David H.
Download Now!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Developer – iCall, Inc.
URL: http://www.icall.com/iphone/
© 2010, iPhone app reviews. All rights reserved. AppShouter LLC
WifiTrak: Find Free Wifi Anywhere
WifiTrak: Find Free Wifi Anywhere is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Price: $0.99 Score: 9/10 By Jeffrey Jenks
Bitrino, Inc provides a perfect example of a developer successfully building upon Apple’s own built-in functionalities with their slick, minimalist app WifiTrak. Basically, this application takes what can be found in the Wi-Fi Networks settings menu in the iPhone and expands it, giving the user many more options and information when dealing with wireless networks.
The standard settings on the iPhone allow the user to see what networks are near them, whether they are password-protected or not, and also the strength of the signal. By default, an iPhone user can also forget a network and decide whether or not the iPhone automatically connects to known networks. Outside of that, there isn’t much more an iPhone user can do by default.
WifiTrak provides iPhone users with just about as many options as is possible on a mobile device. It’s a feature-rich, no-nonsense application that provides functionality that should have come standard: a toggle for automatic or manual scanning, ability to set minimum signal strength requirements, and enhanced signal scanning and redirection, to name a few. While this may sound daunting, Bitrino has done an admirable job of keeping WifiTrak clutter-free and user-friendly.
When launched, WifiTrak immediately displays its default screen: a list of all nearby networks, their signal strengths, and what kind of encryption (if any) it is implementing. Next to the networks are circular icons that indicate various conditions (known, open-verified, open-not verified, Redirected, etc). Once one becomes acquainted with the different icons, it makes looking over a list and determining the best network at that time a breeze.
While WifiTrak is a great tool for people looking for better information and more options when seeking out and connecting to networks, it is not necessarily for everyone. After surveying 8 of my iPhone-using friends, I found that half of them wished their iPhone Wi-Fi options were more extensive. The other half felt that it worked fine the way it does.
And that, really, is the crux of the issue: the iPhone does do a fine job of picking up Wi-Fi signals and connecting to them. For some, though, more options and information is something worth paying $1 for. For travelers and people in the business sector who rely on seeking out and connecting to networks, this program could prove to be a windfall.
Ultimately, WifiTrak is a simple yet effective app that makes iPhone users ask themselves a simple question: why aren’t these features standard in iPhone 3.0?
WifiTrak requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch.
EA Update Big Hits with Multiplayer
EA Update Big Hits with Multiplayer is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
EA have released updates for three of their largest games that give them local multiplayer capabilities.
Madden 10, Tiger Woods, and Command and Conquer have gotten updates in the recent days that give them local multiplayer capabilities and EA have done it right.
For example, when playing Tiger Woods, you will actually be watching your opponent live as they play. You see them swing and the travel of their ball live you your screen just as they do on their screen. Tiger Woods supports both Bluetooth and Wifi local multiplayer and all courses are available to play.
For Madden, you each choose your teams and battle it out over a game, each picking their plays and playing in real time. Madden only supports Bluetooth multiplayer.
And for Command and Conquer, each command factions on the game map at the same time. Clashing as each team seeks to expand their territory. C&C works with both Wifi and Bluetooth for local multiplayer.
While we’d love to see large scale global multiplayer in these games, this is a first step and a great step for big fans of these games.
MADDEN NFL 10 by EA SPORTS
:: IT’S MADDENCategory: Games / Simulation
Released: 2009-09-09
Price: $6.99
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® BY EA SPORTS™
Category: Games / Simulation
Released: 2009-04-30
Price: $4.99
COMMAND & CONQUER™ RED ALERT™
Category: Games / Strategy
Released: 2009-11-02
Price: $6.99 ON SALE: $4.99
SpaceDuel!
SpaceDuel! is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Take part in exciting spaceship vs spaceship combat in the far reaches of space! Enjoy fast, fluid gameplay involving laser beams, particle cannons, crazy teleport abilities and more. The game has 5 unique classes of ships with very different abilities and weapons. Unlock them all and fight with your opponents over local-wifi to see who comes out first!
Features:
- Duke it out with your friends over local wifi.
- 5 unique ship classes and 10 different weapon abilities.
- Play a variety of single player missions to unlock the 5 different ships.
- Post your high scores onto a global high score board for both single and multiplayer.
- Supports customized left and right-handed interface controls.
How to play
Piloting your ship is easy. Tap ANYWHERE on the screen and drag. This will cause your ship to move in the direction of where you dragged.
Your ship has 2 weapons that are activated by tapping(or holding, depending on the weapon) on the 2 buttons situated at the lower corners of the screen.