Posts Tagged ‘iPhone’

Jajah is an incredible phone-to-phone VoIP service

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

I think we last covered Jajah around 2007. The very fact that it’s now 2010 and the service is still going strong is a testament to its power.

The premise is simple: phone-to-phone, via the Web. You go to the Jajah site (on your computer or through your phone’s Web connection), punch in the number you want to dial, and your phone starts ringing.

You pick up your phone (landline or cell), and then the other side starts ringing. They pick up, and you talk.

There are a number of key advantages here:

  • Since it’s phone-to-phone, I don’t need a high-speed Web connection. Sometimes I’m at a coffee shop or someplace with a crappy connection that wouldn’t carry Skype or Google Voice. With Jajah, it’s a non-issue.
  • Since it’s phone-to-phone, I’m completely mobile. I can use my cell phone and just go outside; I’m not tethered to my computer.
  • It works with my aging Nokia device; I don’t need a newfangled iPhone to use it.
  • It gives me a direct number for each of the contacts I have. I can simply dial a local number in my own country, and the contact’s phone starts ringing (even if it’s in the US or Taiwan).
  • The rates are very competitive. I use it instead of SkypeOut quite often.
  • They can bill you in more currencies than Skype can, which is good for international users.

What I like about it is that it doesn’t try to replace Skype. It is its own thing, in its own niche, and it just works. It’s very, very handy.

Jajah is an incredible phone-to-phone VoIP service originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Twitter for iPad launches, and it’s beautiful

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

The official Twitter for iPhone app has updated, and with the latest update it became a universal app, meaning it has native iPhone and iPad versions. While the iPhone version continues to incrementally improve, it’s the iPad version that is really remarkable.

It took me a little while to get used to it, because the user interface is fairly busy. But you get a heck of a lot of bang for your buck with all that busy-ness. While most Twitter apps on the iPad work best in portrait mode, and Twitter for iPad works fine that way, it really seems optimized for use in landscape mode.

Loren Brichter — who created Tweetie which was then purchased by Twitter and became the official Twitter iPhone app — has continued his revolutionary approach to interface design on the iPad version. Your list of tweets acts as a sort of launching point, and tapping on a tweet opens a pane from the right that gives you either more information about the tweeter, the conversation if that particular tweet is in response to something, or the webpage of any link that is contained in the tweet. Basically, it tries to show you the most relevant information that can be pulled out of any given tweet when you tap on it. It’s nothing short of brilliant.

I really only have one beef with Twitter for iPad. It’s a bit awkward to clear the right pane once you’re done with a given tweet. It stays off to the right out of the way, but still provides visual clutter that annoys me. Tapping a different list and then back to your timeline clears it, but it should be more simple than that.

Otherwise, Loren has really knocked another one out of the park with Twitter for iPad.

Apple’s iOS 4.0.1 arrives, with changes to signal strength bars

Sunday, August 15th, 2010
Apple’s iOS 4.0.1 has arrived — along with 3.2.1 for iPads — and the big buzz is about a change in the way “bars” of signal strength are displayed. iOS 4.0.1 “Improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display,” but the 378MB update doesn’t have any other specific info in the release notes.Apart from changing how many bars to show, Apple has also messed with the size of the bars. Engadget did a comparison of the old and new versions, but one of the screenshots was from the Home Screen, and one was from an app, so it was a little tricky to see the difference. Here’s what each meter looks like at full bars on my iPhone 3GS:

There’s not much to say about iOS 4.0.1, feature-wise, but it’s very interesting in terms of Apple’s marketing and PR. Apple has called a press conference for tomorrow, presumably to do some damage control on this very signal issue, so the timing of the 4.0.1 update seems well-planned. Also, we’ve heard rumors of a silent recall from friends whose pending iPhone orders have been canceled, but we can’t confirm it.

FaceTime: iPhone 4 gets its own video calling app

Monday, June 7th, 2010

When Steve Jobs announced his trademark “one more thing” during his iPhone 4 unveiling at today’s WWDC keynote, it was a real doozy. FaceTime is Apple’s new video calling app, that works from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 with no setup whatsoever. Just when we were getting excited that the iPhone 4’s front camera would let us video call with Skype, Apple delivered something even bigger.

FaceTime is not without its issues, though. First off, it’s going to be WiFi-only for at least the rest of 2010, while mobile carriers get their networks ready to handle it. AT&T, we’re looking at you! Get it together, guys! Also, taking mobile video calls mainstream presents some interesting issues of etiquette and decorum. With Skype, you know you can video call someone because they’re signed in. With FaceTime, you might get an incoming video call when you’re in public, or when you just got out of the shower. Plus, it makes drive-by flashing pretty damn easy … I wouldn’t hurry to answer any FaceTime calls from strangers, that’s for sure.

Despite the issues, though, I think FaceTime just raised the bar for what we expect from our communication devices. Plug-and-play video calling used to be Jetsons-type-future-stuff, and now it’s just the latest thing made mainstream by Apple. Love them or hate them, they’re pushing the envelope again.

For a recap of the keynote, check out the liveblog from our sister site, Engadget and further WWDC 2010 coverage on TUAW.