PalmAddicts

SplashShopper for iPhone Review

"To Do" lists on the iPhone are a dime a dozen. Ok, most of them are a little more than that. My point is that there's a lot of them. Too many of them, if you ask me. What makes it worse is that you can't try before you buy. (One of the worst parts of the App Store right now is there's no model for “shareware” or “demo” applications.)

I have not tried them all. If you want a review of some of them, Macworld did a review of the basic ones.

I was very excited when I heard Merlin Mann say that Splash Shopper was coming to the iPhone. I knew of Splash Shopper from my long time use of a Treo (it was rated 5 out of 5 previously on Palm Addicts!) but I had never used it myself.

Mostly because I didn't know what it did. Or, I should say, I didn't know all that it does. SplashShopper is great at making shopping lists, but as Jerry Seinfeld famously said: “It does other things!”

SplashShopper does more than just shopping lists. It does any kind of lists that you might want to keep. But there's something that makes SplashShopper stand out: it has a desktop client; and not just a Windows client, but a Mac desktop client as well.

In fact, when you first launch “Splash Shopper” you will find several pre-defined lists: Books, Emergency, Gifts, Groceries, Household, Movies, Music, Office Supplies, To Do, Travel Checklist, and Wine. Several of those are shopping lists, several of them are not. Muchc has already been said about the over-abundance of “To Do” apps in the App Store, and Splash Shopper is wise to separate itself from that list, but in reality Splash “Shopper” is much more of a list-manager than just a shopping list.

(Also it should be noted that they are far from being the only ones who have this problem. A very popular Mac app “1Password” stores not only passwords, but credit card information, secure notes, and will auto-fill in webforms with your name, address, etc. I only discovered that by accident.)

This means that you can make your additions/edits/etc on the desktop, with a full keyboard, mouse, etc. Then you can sync wirelessly over your Wifi connection to your iPhone.

That's pretty damn cool.

Another big plus? Only takes a few seconds to load. This is critical because if you're anything like me, if it takes a long time to load, you're going to have a subconscious resistance to launching it. This takes no more time than it would to take pen and paper out of your pocket.

One minor "aesthetic" issue is the name. This isn't really entirely SplashShopper's fault: there's the space limitations on the iPhone screen. The name of the app is "Splas...opper". I have about 80 different icons on my iPhone, including a bunch of apps I have downloaded from the App Store. Not one other of them requires an ellipsis. Worse still is that, due to limitations of the iPhone, there is no way to rename the app, so I can't just rename it “Shopper”.

The parent company, SplashData has a lot vested in the branding of their “Splash” apps, such as SplashID, SplashMoney, SplashTravel, SplashNews, SplashMonkey (ok I made that last one up to see if you were still paying attention). It's completely understandable why they would want to keep those names. But it just doesn't work well on the iPhone screen.

What else does it fix?

Since the launch of the iPhone, people have been frustrated with the mind-boggling stupidity of the lack of a native way to sync notes on the iPhone. I still don't understand why Apple hasn't added that yet. But SplashShopper is a good way to take notes too. Just start a list called "Notes to Myself" or some such.

Any Problems

The Mac desktop client is still... rough. For example, when I open the lists, the "Item" column (the most important) isn't wide enough for me to read the list of items in it, and I have to manually drag it to the right. For every single list. Which gets old fast.

When I first started using Mac OS X a few years ago, I was often annoyed by comments such as “It just doesn't feel like a Mac app.” Well, now I understand. There's something about the Mac client for Splash Shopper that makes it feel non-Macish. It looks very much like a Palm app that was ported to Windows and then to Mac. I don't have any specific suggestions here, and this isn't the place for Mac review, but let's just say that it needs more work. That said, it is very nice to have any desktop client. In fact, one of the most important things is that there is a desktop client, which reduces the anxiety about having a backup of your data, as well as having an easier way to manage your lists.

Stability is an issue with all iPhone apps right now (even Apple's own Mobile Safari web browser). There is another more stable version of the operating system currently being tested. Did SplashShopper crash on me? Only once or twice, but I can't really fault it for that right now given the stability issues in the entire OS.

Great GTD App

Unless you've been living off the Internet for the last few years, you've heard people talk about “Getting Things Done.” For Mac users, the premiere GTD application on the Mac and iPhone has been OmniFocus which I both own and use.

However, some people find OmniFocus to be confusing, especially if they are not as familiar with GTD.

If you are starting out with GTD, or found OmniFocus too complicated (or you -- heaven forbid! -- don't use a Mac!!!!) I would highly encourage you to checkout Splash Shopper. I would simply make a new list per "context" and go from there.

Cost

The iPhone app is $10, which is similar to other applications on the App Store. The desktop client is $20. Is $30 too much to spend to get your life organized? Given how often that I will use this application, I'd say not at all! With the price of gas today, all SplashShopper has to do is save me a few trips to the store because I didn't forget things I wanted to buy and it will have paid for itself in both time and gas!

(OmniFocus, by comparison, is $80 for the Mac-only desktop client and $20 for the iPhone app. Now granted, OmniFocus is a lot more "tuned" to the GTD and has several additional features, but if you're new to GTD and afraid of getting overwhelmed, $100 is a lot to spend!)

To Purchase/Download:

For more information about SplashShopper see SplashShopper's Website, or to buy SplashShopper for iPhone, checkout SplashData's SplashShopper iPhone webpage.

Final Comments

I suspect there will be a lot of Palm developers who look at developing for the iPhone. If you have seen the numbers, you know that it is a growing market.

If I can make one suggestion, it would be this: get used to how iPhone apps, especially those from Apple, look and feel. That will have a lot to do with your application's success.

I know a lot of Treo users have moved to iPhones, and I'm sure a lot of them will be pleased to know that SplashShopper is available.

But even if you, like me, have never used it before, give it a look!

Class Action Settlement for Treo 600/650 Owners

This just showed up in my email INBOX. I haven’t heard anything more about it but thought it would be of interest to many readers in the USA - TjL

LEGAL NOTICE

If you purchased a Treo 600 or a Treo 650 smartphone, you could be entitled to benefits under a class action settlement.

A settlement of a class action lawsuit affects you if you purchased, in the United States, a new Treo 600 or Treo 650 smartphone for your own use and not for resale. The settlement will provide either: (a) a cash rebate to any United States resident who purchased a Treo 600 or Treo 650 smartphone, experienced two or more repairs or replacements (in lieu of repair) on that device, and purchases a new Palm smartphone within a defined time period; or (b) a right of repair for hardware defects, beyond the expiration of the warranty on your Treo 600 or Treo 650, even if you did not experience two or more repairs or replacements.

If you qualify, you may send in a claim form to ask for a rebate, or a repair form to seek a repair. You can also exclude yourself from the settlement, or object. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division, authorized this notice. The Court will have a hearing to consider whether to approve the settlement, so that the benefits may be paid.

WHO'S AFFECTED?
Purchasers of a Treo 600 or Treo 650 smartphone. You're a "Class Member" if you are a United States resident who purchased in the United States a new Treo 600 or Treo 650 smartphone for your own use and not for resale.

WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?
The lawsuit claimed that the Treo 600 and Treo 650 smartphones had certain defects, failed at unacceptable rates, and that Palm made misrepresentations concerning the Treo 600 and Treo 650 smartphones. Palm, Inc. denies all allegations and has asserted many defenses. Palm is entering into this settlement to avoid burdensome and costly litigation. The settlement is not an admission of wrong-doing or an indication that any law was violated.

WHAT CAN YOU GET FROM THE SETTLEMENT?
Palm, Inc. has agreed to provide a cash rebate to Class Members who experienced two or more repairs or replacements in lieu of repair, who purchase a new Palm smartphone within a defined time period, and who send in a valid claim form. The settlement provides for different rebate payments depending on whether you purchased a Treo 600 smartphone or a Treo 650 smartphone requiring repairs or replacements. Rebate amounts are as follows:

SMARTPHONE REPAIRED OR REPLACED AT LEAST TWICE		TIMEFRAME OF PURCHASE OF NEW SMARTPHONE		REBATE AMOUNT
Treo 600		Anytime after September 30, 2005 until the end of the "Redemption Period," which is six months after the Effective Date (the date the settlement becomes final)		$75
Treo 650		Anytime during the Redemption Period		$50

Palm has also agreed to provide a right of repair for hardware defects to any original purchaser of a Treo 600 or Treo 650 smartphone who submits a valid and timely Repair Form, even if they did not experience two or more repairs or replacements, and even if the warranty period has expired.

HOW DO YOU GET A PAYMENT?
A detailed notice and claim form package contains everything you need. Just go to www.palzasettlement.com to get one. You will be required to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury that your Treo 600 or Treo 650 smartphone was repaired or replaced at least twice and you will be required to provide documentation for at least one of the repairs or replacements.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES
Cash Rebate: The claim form for a cash rebate must be postmarked on or before July 28, 2008 and received by Palm no more than 21 days thereafter.

Right of Repair: If the warranty on your device has already expired by the Effective Date, the right of repair is valid for 120 days from the Effective Date. If the warranty on your device is still in effect on the Effective Date, the right of repair will extend for 120 days beyond the expiration of that warranty.

WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?
If you don't want a cash rebate or to obtain a repair, and you don't want to be legally bound by the settlement, you must postmark your request to exclude yourself by April 7, 2008, or you won't be able to sue, or continue to sue, Palm, Inc. about the legal claims in this case. If you exclude yourself, you can't get a payment from this settlement. If you stay in the Class, you may object to the settlement. Objections must be received by April 7, 2008. The detailed notice describes how to exclude yourself or object. The Court will hold a hearing in this case (In re Palm Treo 600 and 650 Litigation, Master Case No. C-05-03774-RMW) on May 2, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. to consider whether to approve the settlement and attorneys' fees and expenses totaling no more than $1,554,000 and incentive payments to the named Plaintiffs in the aggregate amount of $21,000. You may appear at the hearing, but you don't have to. To obtain a full notice and claim form, and for more details, go to www.palzasettlement.com or send an e-mail to palza.settlement@palm.com, or write to Designated Co-Lead Counsel, Ralph M. Stone, Shalov Stone Bonner and Rocco, 485 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1000, New York, NY 10018.

How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry

Wired.com has a very interesting article about How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry that mentions the Treo 600 as one of the key events in the life of the iPhone coming to fruition. (Source: DaringFireball)

There’s even a 100 word version at Valleywag (note: actually contains 378 words :-)

Newsgator Mobile + Desktop Apps now free!!

Do you follow a lot of websites via RSS? Have you been using Bloglines or Google Reader but wished for the convenience of a desktop client?

Do you use a desktop client and wish that you had the ubiquity of a web client?

How about both?

For several years I’ve used NetNewsWire on my Mac which syncs with Newsgator Online (m.newsgator.com. I used it with Blazer on my Treo and now iPhone.

Until today this has been a subscription model, but it is free as of today!

There is a Windows client (FeedDemon), a Mac client (NetNewsWire), a client for Microsoft Outlook (Newsgator Inbox), Newsgator Go for “RSS content on your Blackberry, Windows Mobile device, Java Mobile Smartphone or Java PDA.” (not sure if it works with Treos!)

This is awesome news for folks who love RSS feeds and want to have all of their feeds available on whatever computer device they are on, but don’t want the hassle of having to read the same articles every time they switch from one device to the next.

All free! Checkout all the Newsgator Offerings!

My 2008 Paper Date

Well, today begins the first real work-week of 2008, and it also begins my journey “back to paper.”

Long story short, due to some kind of synchronization error (no doubt exacerbated by the fact that I switched devices last year), I missed a fairly important meeting a few months ago.

That plus the routine pile of scraps of paper and index cards surrounding me told me I needed a better solution.

Neither the Treo nor the iPhone ever really “did it” for me in terms of tracking tasks and appointments. Sure it’s handy enough to be able to automatically setup recurring appointments, but the real sticky wicket seems to be syncing.

I now have a desktop, a laptop, an iPhone, and Google Calendar. Trying to keep them all in sync — via Windows or Mac OS X — is a gigantic pain.

The other problem is data entry. I’ve gotten good at the iPhone keyboard (not as hard as I imagined) and was very good with the Treo keyboard, but neither one is as fast as pen and paper.

So I started carrying around a little black Mokeskin notebook, and found I really liked it. As annoyingly trendy as they are, the hard cover, small pocket size, and yes even the elastic is useful. There’s a small pocket in the back which is the perfect size for about four or five 3x5" index cards and a few business cards. I use the cards when I need to leave someone a note, or when someone is searching through their pockets or purse for something to write on. The hardest part is when they ask to use my Pilot G-2 gel pen (0.38 mm - Blue) which I guard with a zeal usually reserved for bears watching over their cubs.

As I neared 2008 I looked for and found a similarly sized notebook which has a weekly calendar on the left page and a blank (lined) page on the right. I put meetings on the appropriate day and just write in the time. My days aren’t usually filled with meetings, but I could have one at 7am and another at 7pm. This works even better than the “Compressed Day View” that the Palm calendar offers. I can see more. I can jot notes down if I need them.

On the right (blank) page, I write down things I want to get accomplished sometime this week and (if necessary) a note at the bottom of the page reminding me about an important event on the next week ("Project Due on the 14th!" says this week’s note).

A friend who knows me pretty well saw me with this setup and said “What are you, the king of computers, doing with a paper calendar?!?!?” I told him and he said, “It sounds good... but I give you two weeks before you give it up.”

Well, today’s the first real test, and so far I like it a lot. There’s something very nice about literally crossing something off a written To Do list. Not to mention that if I say I want to do something this week and don’t do it, I’ll have to manually copy it over to next week, which is more motivation to actually get it done! Agendus’ automatic roll-over made it far too easy to just let things pile up.

My favorite part is not worrying about it crashing or getting screwed up in a sync error. Of course losing the whole thing would be a problem, but I have my name and address in it, and the bright red color makes it less likely that I’ll leave it sitting on some dark surface and forget about it.

Of course a few hours does not a habit make, so I’ll have to see how things go.

Wishing you all a fun, blessed, and productive 2008.

iPhone Juice Pack

Mophie has just introduced a very cool looking Juice Pack for the iPhone.

No it’s not some kind of technology-enhanced apple juice for your busy toddler on the go (that would be a juice box :-)

It is a slip-case for the iPhone which also has a built-in battery which offers:

• Standby Time - Up to 250 hours
• Audio Playback - Up to 24 hours
• Talk Time - Up to 8 hours
• Video Playback - Up to 7 hours
• Internet Use - Up to 6 hours

Even better, it looks much like my Case-Mate iPhone case, which I really like.

I’m not sure why they designed it with that gap at the bottom rather than making it flush the whole way across, but I suspect it has something to do with the speakerphone, which I believe comes out of the bottom there (the Case-Mate is open across the bottom).

Honestly, most days I have to work pretty hard to kill my iPhone battery before bedtime, but it has happened enough that this is good insurance. I’ve pre-ordered mine already, hoping that it will arrive before I leave town on Christmas eve (estimated delivery date is 12/21, but that’s a Friday, and 12/24 is Monday! Hopefully UPS will be working extra hard to get those Christmas packages delivered on time!)

Side note: I was extremely fortunate as an iPhone early adopter. Not only did I get my $100 credit, but a friend got his and said he would “never use it” (since it was only good at the Apple store) and so he gave it to me! So while this case/battery is expensive ($100), the blow is lessened somewhat.

(Note: found the Juice Pack via TUAW which cited jkOnTheRun as the original “spotter” for this.)

How did this happen?

One of the things I liked the least about my Treo was the headphone jack.

I never understood why they would choose a non-standard size when for 20? 30? years we had headphones with the same sized jack.

“At least I won’t have this problem when I move to the iPhone!” I thought to myself.

Unfortunately, as you may know, I was wrong.

Yes, even Apple, which has sold roughly 18 gabillion iPods over the past 6 years, decided to go with a different size.

Why? Reports are that they liked the look of the recessed port better; but I still can’t believe they couldn’t have recessed a regular sized jack, so that my regular sized iPod headphones would work.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the official iPhone headphones which have a built-in speaker (natch) but also have a button to pause/skip songs when using your iPhone as an iPod.

Except that I seem to have lost mine.

I have about 6 pairs of iPod headphones, none of which will fit properly.

I have a car adapter, which I used with a 3rd party adapter to listen to audiobooks on my Treo. Now I have another 3rd party adapter to work with my iPhone.

How did this happen? How did the world’s biggest MP3 player blow it this badly? It strikes me as nearly criminally stupid.

But there it is.

For those using iPhones, checkout The iPhone Headphone Adapter Roundup at TheAppleBlog.

Engadget’s iPhone doesn't work with most 3rd party headphones was the first place I learned about this travesty.

iPhone more usable than HTC Touch and the Nokia N95, but what about a Treo?

Computerword tested the iPhone, HTC Touch and the Nokia N95 in a recent article Usability test: Does iPhone match the hype?

Result? Yes, it does.

However, as Treo (and Blackberry) users will no doubt notice from the picture above (and the article, if they bother to read it), all the 3 devices lack a physical keyboard.

I don’t think many folks would question the iPhone’s usability when compared to other keyboard-less smartphones.

So the unsurprising results of this test can be summarized thusly: overall, the iPhone was found to be the best (that is, most usable) of the 3 devices for actually getting things done as well as overall look and feel, etc.

It would be more useful, IMO, to see a study which attempts to compare how usable a Treo, Blackberry, and iPhone are with: 1) someone who has just started using each of them, 2) someone who has used them for a week/month, and 3) someone who has used them for a month/year. Would the keyboard be a factor then? What about 3rd party apps?

Obviously we’ll have to wait for some of those longer studies since the iPhone has only been out for less than 3 months.

Anyway, for the full story checkout the story at Compuworld.com (note it’s the printer-friendly version, as the regular version was broken up over 5 pages for reasons I doubt anyone could adequately explain).

iPhone Buyers Beware: Doesn't work until activated

I was an Apple Retail Store (brick & mortar) over the weekend. Lots of people buying iPhones, as you might imagine. One young (early 20s) girl was looking to buy an iPhone. Standing behind her in line, I overheard her ask the sales clerk if she could use her iPhone as an iPod until her current contract runs out. He said yes. He was wrong. None of the iPhone’s features will work until the phone is activated: you can’t use it like an iPod Touch (that is, surf on WiFi, use the camera, iPod, calendar, etc). Now there are ways around this if you search the Internet, but since even an Apple Store Employee didn’t know it would not, by default, work, I thought it was worth mentioning in case anyone was thinking about picking one up now that the price has dropped. By the way, word came this morning that Apple is hosting a special UK event on September 18th. Perhaps the UK iPhone is almost here?

One way Palm can give its customers a better experience than Apple

One of the advantages that Steve Jobs pointed out about the iPhone keyboard being just displayed on the screen is that they can change it if they "come up with something better 6 months down the road" — like, perhaps, putting the . on the screen with the alphabet instead of making us switch to the numbers screen, eh Steve?

The other advantage is that Apple is developing and improving the iPhone, and those updates can get pushed regularly through iTunes.

This turns out to be a mixed blessing, especially with Apple’s other business: selling music, and now, selling ringtones.

In case you haven’t been following, iPhone (like most phones recently, including the Treo) won’t let you add your own ringtones very easily. The world has come to accept paying for ringtones, unfortunately, which means that others have decided that they want to get paid for them.

You should know that the artists don’t get paid for them, because the RIAA successfully argued that ringtones are not derivative works (see Engadget Report).

Anyway, iTunes 7.4 comes out and now you can buy ringtones from Apple (well, actually you can’t yet but you will be able to soon, and having iTunes 7.4 was an important part of being able to manage ringtones on your iPhone).

It didn’t take long for people to figure out that all you had to do is change the filename extension on any music file to make iTunes think it was a paid-for ringtone, and therefore let you use it.

Enter iTunes 7.4.1. Care to guess what it does? Well, Apple has been mighty terse with their descriptions lately, but suffice it to say that one of the things that it does is disable the ability to easily add your own ringtones.

So while the iPhone/iTunes/Apple connection is great in that it gives iPhone users a way to get frequent updates, it turns out to be a double-edged sword. With each update can come a “fix” for something that you don’t want fixed.

This is a battle Apple isn’t going to win, long term. After the new iPod Touch was released last week, the folks on the Macworld Podcast said “How long until you see iPhone apps showing up on the iPod Touch?” to which someone else replied:

“If one thing has been clear in the past 2 months, it is that these iPhone hackers cannot be stopped.”

(It should be pointed out that they were using “hacker” as most savvy computer users use the term, not as the media usually talks about them.)

The amount of work that people have done to make the iPhone better over the past two months is simply amazing. The iPhone is better because of them.

Unfortunately Apple’s business of selling ringtones is getting in the way of letting customers do something that they want to do, and something which is probably not illegal for them to do: namely, use snippets of their own songs from their own CDs as ringtones.

Again it should be noted here that the Treo is no better, nor are most phones sold today. If you have a Treo, I recommend RingoPro. The advantage is that it is highly unlikely that Palm is going to update the Palm OS to disable RingoPro. That’s a minor silver lining to the fact that Palm hasn’t really updated Palm OS at all for awhile, but even if they were, it seems unlikely that Palm would care all that much about 3rd party solutions to the “MP3 as Ringtone” problem, because Palm isn’t selling ringtones, unlike Apple.

Palm has the ability to give the user more of what it wants because of its lack of competing interests.

At least theoretically.

So far no Treo (as far as I know) has the ability to use a generic MP3 without the use of 3rd party software. There is no reason this has to be, although many have speculated that Palm has done this to keep in the good graces of the cell phone companies, who want to sell you ringtones.

The next version of the Palm OS ought to come with this basic feature enabled. It doesn’t have to be fancy (leave fancy for the 3rd party developers if you wish) and it doesn’t have to preclude you from buying ringtones if you want to. After all, cell phone companies may find that some people don’t want to bother.

But disabling MP3s as ringtones doesn’t serve the customer. It prevents the customer from doing something that many of them want, that is very likely legal for them to do, but which prevents the cell phone companies from squeezing out even more money from their customers.

Well that’s the cell phone companies' problem, not mine.