Calvetica: Beautiful iPhone calendar app
Simple. Elegant. Lovely.
$2.99. Totally worth it even with the minor UX issues that will supposedly be fixed.
About me
My name is DavidI am 26
I live in Palo Alto, CA
I am a UI designer at
iControl Networks
I write for IntoMobile
Make a Personal iPhone App:
…only to see it get rejected from the app store.
There are several startups (Mobile Roadie, MobBase, iSites) empowering small businesses, musicians, and bands to create their own iPhone apps without knowing any Objective C (the programming language used to build apps). You create an account, upload a few photos, enter your Twitter username, enter your blog’s RRS feed URL, and write a couple background paragraphs.
It’s so simple.
Pricing for a custom app can be anywhere from a $20 to $500 activation fee, and $8 to $29 in monthly fees depending on how many people install it. What are you paying for besides avoiding programmers and designers? You don’t have to worry about communicating with Apple. These companies handle everything.
As an experiment, I thought I should try it out. I spent a couple hours arranging the menus to my liking and excitedly clicked “Publish.” My original intention was to take lots of screenshots and describe the process of building an app. That idea was trashed once my app got rejected. Apple claimed that they don’t want to become a “yellow pages” store.
At first I was upset by this decision, but after some time thinking about it I realized that they made the right choice. Why should there be a “David Klein” iPhone app that only provides my tweets and blog posts? Who would download it? My mom? She doesn’t even own an iPhone (although she’ll soon own an iPad)! In my opinion personal apps are a waste of space in the app store.
140,000 apps and counting, but your personal content needs to stay on Twitter and Facebook.
iPhone:phone :: Android:computer
The above analogy was an epiphany I had a couple days ago. I was listening to a co-worker talk about his new Motorola Cliq when I realized the primary difference between the iPhone and Android phones.
Here’s what my co-worker said:
“My phone’s battery kept running out quickly. I looked around online and saw someone in a forum suggest closing applications one at a time and checking the memory state after each close. After closing a few apps I figured out that it was some stupid app I downloaded that ran in the background and alerted me every time I lost GPS connection.”
Think about that for a second. Isn’t that ridiculous? It’s a phone; not a computer. His process reminds me of using Mac OS 9 and trying to figure out which extension was crashing the computer. That kind of control and information availability shouldn’t exist on a phone.
People constantly whine about the iPhone not providing multitasking (besides the built-in iPod). I applaud Apple for continuing to delay that functionality. Allowing multitasking opens up a lot more questions. How do I quit apps? Do I need to quit apps? I remember using my HP iPaq and having to manually quit one app at a time when it slowed to a crawl. That was so annoying. It sounds like Android has similar complexity issues. Apple’s placement of restrictions on the iPhone is actually a feature.
The iPhone has remained a phone: simple.
Android continues to sound (and feel) like a computer: overkill.
Note: If Apple in a few months announces OS 4.0 with multitasking, I’ll feel pretty silly in between moments of excitement.
Our Favorite Apps on the iPad
We can all (mostly) agree that the iPad is an awesome new product that we are all (some of us) eager to purchase. Along with the new hardware should come some amazing upgrades to our favorite apps to take advantage of the larger screen. Here’s a list of the apps I’m particularly excited about.
Using your fingers to adjust brightness, contrast, and make other changes to your photos on the large screen will be an amazing experience. It can be frustrating trying to be accurate with adjustments on the smaller iPhone screen. Yes, I realize that the photos will have to come from emails or the Photos app since the iPad doesn’t have a camera. That’s why I hope the Flickr app will someday integrate Picnik similar to the Flickr website.
The iPad will make a great cooking companion. Put it in the dock on your counter, open your new recipe and cook away. Just be careful to not splash any oil on the screen.
Playing chess on a tiny screen can be challenging at times. Maybe I’m getting old but the pieces are starting to blend together. I also move the wrong pieces occasionally. Yes, this is embarrassing. The larger screen will definitely fix this.
Whether you have an iMac in your bedroom or a Mac Mini connected to your high definition TV in your living room, controlling the mouse and keyboard remotely has become as simple as launching an app. I use Touchpad several times per day to control my computer from the couch. My only complaint is, again, accuracy on the iPhone. Problem solved.
Byline is my favorite Google Reader app. It’s definitely worth the $3.99. This is how I consume most of my news/blog content. Finally, I’ll be able to read on a book-sized screen.
What apps are you excited about using on the iPad?
New nightstand setup:
I got rid of my old Sharper Image leather charging station. It was too big for the small table, and I don’t have enough items to charge anymore; just the iPhone and Jawbone.
I replaced the charging station with a little fountain. I enjoy the sound of trickling water. Very relaxing. There’s also plenty of room for a “K” coaster and a small dish to hold my pocket contents.
Of course the iPhone rests in the Xtand with the Flip Clock app running.
