Facebook always had the option on your desktop to filter your news feed to just read the updates of people you had put into a custom list. However in a couple of the last updates on Facebook, Facebook has been automatically creating some lists for you as well. My main complaint on the Mobile Facebook apps was that you couldn’t filter your news feed to these list on the Mobile device applications. It is possible but it is not that obvious and requires a little trick.  In this article I explain you how you can do this on your Windows Phone, Apple iPhone, iPad and on all Android devices.

Facebook app for Apple iPad, iPhone and all Android devices.

Facebook app for Windows Phone

The Windows Phone allows you to create your own filtered groups by creating a group tile which is really the best way. I have described this in an earlier article. This will filter the facebook, linkedin and twitter posts from these people in this group.

The Windows Phone Facebook app takes a couple steps to see the specific news feed of on of your lists.

1. Open the Facebook app on your Windows Phone
2. Tap on “Friends” in the selections
3. Tap on “Lists” on the top of your screen
4. Select the List of your choice in the selections.
5. Select “News Feed” on the Top of your screen.

Apple just released the iOS 5 update for their iPhone 3G, iPhone 4,TV,  iPad and iPad 2. However many people are getting errors trying to install it the regular way using iTunes. The reports say it has to do with the Apple servers at this moment. But here is the fix to this problem.

Some people have luck with the following steps. It worked for me

1. Reboot your Computer
2. Manually download your ISPW iOS 5 file from here.
3. Save this file in a folder on your desktop.(not directly on your desktop)
4. Open up iTunes
5. Connect your Apple device to your computer.
6. Hold down the power and home button together for 10 seconds until the Apple logo shows and let go of the power button but hold on to your home button until the restore mode has been activated. Screen displays usb cable and iTunes logo.
7. ITunes on your computer will have an option to Restore. Before you click on this “Restore” option make sure you hold down the shift key on your keyboard while clicking on this restore option
8. Find the location of your downloaded ISPW file and select this file for the restore process.

The Apple press conference just finished and all of  us were hoping on a new designed iPhone with some great new innovations. However the only number 5 mentioned was for the iOS, while the new iPhone announced is the iPhone 4S which has some new internal components but looks exactly like the iPhone 4.

While following some live blogs during the announcement I had many thoughts pop which I shared on twitter as well. Let me sum up these thoughts for you.

• I Hope that innovation in the new Apple phones is going to be a week long battery (Keep on dreaming)
• Slides with graphs and numbers can be created to have a positive look on each company
• Twitter integration! Sure one app less, but old news since Windows Phone already has it
• iCloud….hmmm old news.
• iOs 5 some great improvements to catch up with the competition.
• Camera Button from Lock screen is one of them.
• We are 51 minutes into the press conference and….nothing really announced yet.
• A press conference for a $30 discount on existing apple products, Wooow!
• Phone 4S same design with new guts
• That new iPhone 4S looks TOTALLY like a Samsung. They should sue.
• Siri, is pretty cool but are you really gonna use it.
• 8 megapixel camera with Full 1080i HD video. Competition has it as well, but Apple’s was always better.
• A5 Chip will help in the user experience.
• Siri integration, a money maker for Apple. Can sell Prime direct search results.
• iOS 5 is the first time the numbering is ahead of the numbering of the iPhone
• This iPhone 4 S launch was just for Sprint….Apple stock will drop #prediction
• With he sign of the times Apple customers will wait….No iPhone 4S needed. Pictures are already awesome.
• Where is the 4G, LTE or HSDPA+ ???

A few days ago Vonage released a free app for all the iOS devices. The app is called Time To Call and can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store. The great thing about this new service is that you do not need to have a Vonage home account. MobilityMinded is proud to announce that Vonage (Facebook | Twitter) has given us the chance to give an Apple iPad 2 away as a contest prize. MobilityMinded will hold this contest from August 27th till August 31st. I guess I will be giving away an iPad 2 during my own Birthday !!

Apple iPad 2 Give away.

MobilityMinded is not the only blog that is part of the iPad 2 give away. Check out the dates of all the other 74 blogs on Callsfromsmartphone.com and come back to MobilityMinded.com from August 27th till August 31st for your chance to win the iPad 2 32 GB ($700 iTunes gift card, can get you the 64 Wifi model as well ) or a iTunes gift card for $15. This contest is open to all readers. Yes!! also you our international readers. If you are the winner and you have no Apple store in your country then Paypal will be your friend.

 What is the Time to Call ™ App?

• Pay per call and talk up to 15 minutes to 100 countries for $1.99 or less¹
• For an additional 90+ countries, talk up to 15 minutes for $2.99 to $9.99¹
• FREE download
• No need to be a Vonage home customer

LIMITED TIME OFFER: Download now and call up to 15 minutes for FREE.
 Activate your FREE call to take advantage of this offer.* No purchase required!

Download the Time to Call™ app and make low-cost international calls of up to 15 minutes to landlines and mobile phones in over 190 countries. Save money over dialing directly through major mobile carriers, and pay for your calls through your iTunes account. It’s FREE to download with no monthly charges and no commitments.
Make a FREE International Call! For a limited time, each download includes a FREE call up to15 minutes to landlines and mobile phones in any one of 100 countries. Activate your FREE call to take advantage of this offer. No purchase necessary.**

Description:

· Pay per call and talk for up to 15 minutes to 100 countries for $1.99 or less (excluding applicable taxes)
· For an additional 90+ countries, talk up to 15-minutes for $2.99 to $9.99 (excluding applicable taxes)
· Bill directly to your iTunes account
· Works on Wi-Fi® worldwide
· Also for use on high quality 3G networks in the U.S. and Canada
· Special bonus! For a limited time, unused minutes can be used for additional calls
· No need to be a Vonage home customer

Now it’s even easier to make international calls when you’re on the go. Conveniently bill calls directly to your iTunes account and save money over major mobile carrier rates. Whether you want to make an international call while traveling or catch up with friends and family abroad, just find the country you want to call, tap the Buy button and start talking. All you need is Wi-Fi. In the U.S. and Canada, may be used over a high-quality 3G network (carrier charges may apply if you have a limited data plan).

Start calling now!

What you’ll need:
· The Time to Call™ app for iPhone
· An iPhone with Wi-Fi or a high quality 3G connection in the U.S. or Canada

Get started now:
· Download the Time to Call™ app for iPhone
· Select the country you want to call
· Tap the Buy button on your screen and dial the number you want to call – no service plan is required and your call is billed directly to your iTunes account
· Call mobile or landline numbers and talk for up to 15 minutes
· For a limited time, each download includes a FREE call of up to 15 minutes to landlines and mobile phones in any one of 100 countries. Activate your FREE call to take advantage of this offer. No purchase necessary.**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnnITF35Y2A

** Limited time offer for first calls placed to landlines and mobile phones in any one of 100 countries using the Time to Call iPhone app. You must activate your free call before this offer ends by clicking the “Try it for Free” button on the country plan page within the app. Free call expires one year from activation. Eligible countries include: American Samoa, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bermuda, Bhutan, Brazil, Brunei, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, French Guiana, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Mongolia, Montserrat, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Trinidad And Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, US Virgin Islands, Uzbekistan, Vatican City (Holy See), Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia.

[Disclosure: The giveaway prize will be provided by Vonage, but they are not the administrators of the giveaway on our site. We are not liable for the prize. We received an iTunes gift card for testing the Vonage Time to Call app. As always, the opinions expressed are ours.]

Many people have either a Gmail account or a Google Mail account for their own domain. However, the quick Gmail set-up on some phones only brings in your emails from your Gmail or Google mail account and not your contacts and calendar items.  This article will show you that it is possible to sync your Gmail- Google mail,  contacts and calendar items onto your device using the Corporate Exchange protocol. The advantage of using this protocol on an Android device is that you are able to change the sync settings to a specific time frame instead of the only Push setting in the standard “add Google account” on the Android devices. This can save you a lot of battery power.

Remove existing Gmail- Google mail account.

First of all we have to be sure that you start removing your earlier quick Google / Gmail account that you have set up on your Device. Go to your account settings on your device and remove all excisting Google Gmail account that were set up using the quick “add Google/Gmail” account.

Adding your Gmail – Google mail account using the Corporate Exchange settings.

The following steps will guide you in setting up your Gmail – Google mail account as an exchange account on your mobile device.

(Ps. If you have a account for your own domain you first need to activate the active sync functionality in your Google Domain Dashboard.  “Manage this Domain -> Mobile-> Check box “Enable Google Sync“->Save settings

1. On most devices you can add a new account in the settings section.
2. Tap on “Add Account” which is listed under your already set up email accounts.
3. Select “Corporate Account, Outlook or Microsoft Exchange” depending on your device.
4. Type in your email in the first field.   Name@gmail.com or Name@yourowndomain.com
5. Type your password in the password field
6. Type in the Server  field the server address “m.google.com“
7. Check the boxes for SSL and accept all SSL certificates.
8. Now the “Next” button on the top right of your screen will be active.
9. On most next screens you can select which data you want synced (Email, Calendar, Contacts) and the frequency. Select Push for instant download of all new items. But if you have many accounts on your device I would recommend changing it to a less frequent time to safe on your battery power
10. Now you should be all set. Your data connection will sync all your contacts , calendar and emails for this account.

Today at the WWDC keynote event Apple announced the newest version of its mobile operating system. iOS5 will have more than 200 new features, the ten most important ones were included in the presentation. A brief overview of some of the most interesting features.

• Notifications

iOS5 will get a Notifications Center, notifications will become visible when you swipe down from the top of the screen (similar to how it works on Android).

• Twitter integrations

Twitter will be fully integrated in the OS

• Safari improvements

Tabbed browsing on the iPad and a reading list (similar to Instapaper or Read it later) to save articles for later. These will synchronise between your iOS devices.

• Reminders

A to do list that is location aware (many apps are available with similar features).

• Camera improvements

You can now make a picture without unlocking your phone, straight from the lock screen (a WP7 like feature). Furthermore the volume-up button will allow you to take a picture.

• Improved mail

Flags will be supported, hopefully this will work also for Exchange accounts. Full message search function.

• iMessage

A WhatsApp/Blackberry messenger service.

• PC Free

Should also be called Mac Free, no longer is it needed to first attach your new iOS device to iTunes.

• Over the air software updates

There will be incremental updates, no more downloading of a full version.

• iCloud

Apple online content storage service. Calendar, email, music, photos, apps, documents, this service will store it all up to 5Gb and push it to your iOS devices.

Wrap-up

Apple again improved their mobile Operating System with many useful features. Not all of them are unique to iOS, but by incorporating them deeply into their platform they are raising the bar again for the competition, in particular for their tablets. iOS5 will be available to the latest two hardware generations of iPhone/iTouch and iPad. iCloud will be seamlessly integrated with iOS5.

OtterBox announced and showed us a preview of a new series cases called the Reflex Series during CES 2011. OtterBox has been known of their amazing cases that well protect your mobile devices. Their Commuter, Impact and of course their Defender series cases have been a huge success. The Reflex series is a complete new and different design that is the slimmest and lightest, but will still give you the ultimate protection you need.

The OtterBox Reflex case is a two part case that gives you Reflex zones in the corners of your case. Within the case a cushion of air gives you the extra protection for your device when it falls, similar to a crumple zone of a car. The Reflex case is very light weight and allows you to easily remove the bottom half of the case if you want to dock the device. The bottom of the case is open enough for your speakers to give you the volume you need and allows you to connect all original and 3rd party cables. The top has a nice wide enough opening to allow the connection of most headphones. The Vibrate/Silence switch opening is also wide enough to make this function still a function. The Power and Volume buttons are covered with precise button activators.

The OtterBox Reflex series cases are available for the Apple iPhone 4 and the BlackBerry Curve 8500/9300 at a price of $44.95 on the OtterBox site.  The iPhone 4 version gives you 4 color combinations to choose from and the BlackBerry version only 2.

Video Review

Take a look at the video review how nicely the Reflex Series case is on the iPhone 4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVgsplNVM0c

Looks like applications for smartphones can cover each moment of our life: from Oprah show to Cardio Calc. It can be rather laborious to think an application which has not been created for iPhone or Android devices. There are lots of specific female applications that have been already developed.  That is not to say that all women need a Period Calendar and Cooking book but using these 7 applications for iPhone and Android can ease women’s routine sufficiently bringing orderliness and saving time.

Recently Evernote released Evernote 4, an updated version of their software for the iPhone or iPod Touch. Evernote is a great notetaking service that can be used to store virtually anything digital, from text notes to images and with support for audiorecording and pdf files. Both images (through OCR) and pdf files as well as text are fully searchable making it a great resource for all the information you have captured in it. I have been using it since the company behind Evernote made the switch to a cloud service with mobile clients and I’m a premium user for almost two years now!

Evernote has software clients for many operating systems including support for mobile platforms such as iOS, Android, WebOS and Windows Mobile. Evernote for the iPhone/iPod Touch was available from the start of the App store, and has  now been redesigned for an optimized user experience.

As shown above, notes browsing and creation has been combined on the Evernote main screen. Notes are shown in Snippet View containing title and some text of your note, if your note also contains other content like an image or pdf a thumbnail will be shown too.

You can also use the Notebooks button to directly browse the notes you have stored in your notebooks, Evernote’s version of subfolders. Alternatively, you can use the Tags button to browse your notes by their tags.

When you browse your Evernote collection using any of the available options you can further browse your notes based on their content or location. As shown above for “All notes” browsing, you can select to only view notes containing images, attached files, or with location information.

At the bottom of the Evernote application you will  always find a large button with a big plus sign on it, tapping it creates a new note. Attaching additional information like images, voice recordings or location is very easy using the large buttons that show up underneath. These buttons will be replaced by the software keyboard when you tab the small keyboard switch button. This optimized interface makes it much easier to enter all the required information in your new note.

I really like the improved user interface in this update of Evernote for the iPhone, both browsing and creating notes has become much more efficient. According to Evernote they will bring many of the features from this update to an upcoming version of Evernote for your iPad. In addition to that, the expected Windows Phone 7 version of Evernote is moving along, with a release expected in weeks rather than months based on information posted on the Evernote forum. You can expect a review of it on MobilityMinded when it is released.

If you are not familiar with the the high grade Etymotic products yet, it is time to get to know them. Etymotic has the world most accurate noise-isolating earphones in the categories under $100 and under $200. During CES 2011 they launched a new program with ACS Custom to have custom fit molds earplugs made for just $100 using the ACS Network Audiologist. These custom molds earplugs will give superb comfort, secure fit, consistent noise isolation and of course a perfect sound.

I have been using the Hf5 earphones for a year now and never went back to any other one. The Hf3 Headset and Earphones are very similar. The Hf3 has an added audio control with microphone specially designed for the Apple mobile products like the iPhone, iPod and iPad’s. These controls let you answer your calls and control your music. I have tested these Hf3′s with the new Windows Phone 7 and Android devices, but the microphone and the Volume up/down buttons don’t work. Play and Pause will work. On my iPhone 4 it all works perfectly. If you have a Windows Phone, Android device, Zune or any other music/ media player you should get the Hf5 earphones.

The sleek design of the Hf3 (as well as the Hf5) with the 4 different possible earplugs (different in material and shape)  gives you a great in-ear fit just for your ear. The earphones don’t sit in your ear, but actually goes into your ear canal. This gives it a optimal noise isolation and a quality sound. Included in the package are:

• Headset/Earphone
• 4 different ear tips
• Manual
• Flyer on Custom Fit
• Zippered storage pouch

What I missed in the package is the special filter changing tool with an extra set of filters when you want to replace them. According to the site they should have been included.

Technical Specifications

• Frequency Response – 20 Hz – 15 kHz
• Accuracy Score – 85%
• Transducers – High-performance balanced armature
• Noise Isolation – 35-42 dB
• Impedance (@1 kHz) – 16 Ohms
• Sensitivity (@1 kHz) SPL at 0.1V – 105 dB
• Maximum Output (SPL) – 120 dB
• Accu Driver™ high performance, precision matched, balanced armature driver
• Cable – 4 ft with 3.5 mm plug -Kevlar®-reinforced cable for durability
• User Replaceable ACCU Filters™ – protects the balanced armature driver from ear wax
• Warranty – 2 years
• CUSTOM FIT Option
• Soft touch finish in 3 color options: Black, Ruby and Cobalt
• Documented highest noise isolation of any earphones or headphones on the market today
• Close-proximity high sensitivity microphone
• Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad compatible

Instructions for Use

I always had hard times of finding the right earphones for my ears. They always fell out, were uncomfortable, you name it. And I really didn’t want to be traveling with those over the ear headphones. But since I discovered the perfect solution of the Etymotic headphones it is going to be hard to replace these.

The manual and the site gives a great description how to select the right eartip and how to proper insert your earphones. Make sure to watch the video as well which will give you a great experience that I have as well.

Selecting an Eartip

The eartip that is most comfortable is the likely choice, but it MUST SEAL well in your ear. If you can easily hear others when the volume is off, you don’t have a good seal. Twist it in deeper, or choose another eartip.When changing eartips make sure the eartip fits securely on the stem of the earphone.

Proper Insertion

Important:Sound quality, full bass response and noise isolation all depend on a good eartip seal in the ear canal. View Earphone Insertion Video

• Carefully insert the earphone while pulling up and out on the back of the ear.
• Twist the earphone up into the ear canal while inserting, until outside noise is blocked out.
• 3-flange eartip: Moistening eases insertion.
• Foam eartip:Roll down or compress foam eartip before inserting. Hold the eartip in place for about 5 seconds while the foam expands to create a tight seal in the ear canal.
• Glider eartip: Simply push into ear canal.

Removal

Remove earphones slowly with a twisting motion to gradually break the seal. Do not pull on the cable to remove the earphones.

In another week I will receiving the custom ear mold plugs from ACS custom to go along with the Hf3 that Etymotic has provided me to get the best niose isolation and sound experience possible. ACS Custom products are being used by the best in the music industry like U2,Pink Floyd, BBC Symphony Orchestra, etc.

Stay tuned for an upcoming article of my experiences of getting these custom molds fitted to actually receiving them and using them instead of the already quality noise isolation ear tips. “True to the Ear”

The Etymotic Hf3 is available at the Etymotic site for $179

Mobile Monday Amsterdam has got it’s own iPhone application since the beginning of September. In this review I’ll go through the functionality of this iPhone Application. IN case you don’t know Mobile Monday; Mobile Monday is a worldwide open community platform for people and entrepreneurs interested in the mobile industry.
The Amsterdam capter is lead by 5 enthusiastic young gentleman. Marc Fonteijn (@marcfontijn), Maarten den Braber (@mdbraber), Sam Warnaars (@samwarnaars), Yuri van Geest (@vangeest) and Martijn Pannevis (@PanMan). If you’re interested in these Mobile Monday Event’s check here if there’s a Mobile Monday Chapter near you. The next Mobile Monday in Amsterdam will be held on november 8th. In this article I give a short overview of the iPhone application of Mobile Monday Amsterdam.

Main Interface

The main interface of the Mobile Monday Amsterdam app has four buttons:

• Speakers
• Live
• Twitter
• Setting

Speakers

The speakers button brings you to the Speakers screen. In the speakers screen you’ll see an overview of the speakers of the past Mobile Monday’s.
Currently the speakers of the last 2 Mobile Monday’s in Amsterdam are shown. (MoMo #16 & #17). I don’t know if the application shows the last two MoMo’s or the presentations since #16, but it’s cool to see older presentations back again. When you click on a speaker, a streaming video will start with the presentation of that speaker.

Live

The Live button brings you to the Live screen.
The next Mobile Monday will be held november 8th. When this event is on, there will be a live stream on the internet. The “Live” button should display the live stream of the Mobile Monday.
I wasn’t able to test this yet. If there’s no live stream available at the moment you’ll see a notice.

Twitter

After pushing the Twitter button, you’re asked to sign into Twitter. When the authorization process has successfully finished you’ll see the tweets of people in your timeline and 3 buttons on the bottom: My Timeline, #momoams & Both.
Selecting one of these three buttons, will either show you only tweets from your timeline, only tweets with the hashtag #momoams or both combined.
On the top of the twitter screen there’s an input box to enter a new tweet. When writing a new tweet the hashtag #momoams is already added.
This is particular good for people how want to ask questions via Twitter when they are listening to the Presentation.
The selected timeline gets automatic updates every 30 seconds.

Settings

The settings screen has the possibility to log out with the twitter account and features and “About” button. Further there are some sponsors listed in this screen

Overall conclusion

For People interested in the Amsterdam chapter of Mobile Monday, this is a very nice iPhone application.
There is only 1 thing I miss in this application: It sadly is not possible to see the date and line-up of the next (or current when viewing live) Mobile Monday in Amsterdam.
I like the fact that it is possible to easily watch back several presentations I’ve missed, because I wasn’t attending last MoMo.
The application has a clean interface, and all the important features are within a few clicks away.

In anticipation of the availability of the new Windows Phone 7 devices I stumbled on the SeeSee application for the iPhone in iTunes. SeeSee is a picture and album organizer but build to make it look like the New Windows 7 operating system.

SeeSee allows you to organize your pictures in different albums which are being shown as tiles on the home screen of this application. In the Edit tile you can rename, create and select the order of your albums. One album is marked private an allows you to protect it with a password.

To copy over a picture from your camera roll or other pictures is quite easy. In the thumb nail view of each album you just tap and hold a image. A green check appears on that image. Now you can add multiple images by just single tapping them before you select “Move to…”. When you select “Move to” all your tiles of different albums appear and you can select the album you want to move these images to. The original pictures in the camera roll won’t be deleted.

SeeSee is a great application to organize your images but it can improve with many more options like actions within the image to email, MMS, Rename, etc.

What I really like about this application is that it will give me for a little while the Windows Phone 7 experience on my iPhone before I get my own Windows Phone 7.

Below is a short video showing you the application.

Here’s the iTunes link

When I listen to my music at home I normally connect my iPhone to my amplifier with the 3.5mm Jack, open iTunes on the iPhone and press “Play” on any song I’m in the mood for. Then I walk over to the couch, lay back and relax. When the song is over I head over to the iPhone again, choose an other song, press play and listen to that song.
Now one solution for not always walking from the iPhone to the couch is playlists but with playlists it isn’t possible to play exactly THAT particular song you’re in the mood for. That was a long description to introduce a nice solution for remote controlling music on an iDevice: Tango Remote

Two iOS devices

A Tango cannot be danced alone, It tales 2 persons to dance a Tango; and Tango Remote needs 2 iOS devices to work. Like I’ve said, I’ve got my music on my iPhone; With Tango Remote it is possible to Remote Controle the music I’ve got on my iPhone from my iPad.

First thing you’d have to do is to install TangoRemote on both iOS devices. The application is optimized for both iPhone (or iPod Touch) and iPad so there’s only one version. On start Tango Remote will ask if the device is the “Music Player” or the “Remote Control”

The device which is selected as “Music Player” will launch a shot scan through your music and then let you select the song you’d like to play.

The device which is selected as “Remote Control” will ask which device in the same WLAN should be controlled. After selecting a device to control the party is on. Pick a song and the “Music Player” will play the selected song.

Perfect harmony

When the devices are connected with Tango Remote,  there’s clearly a perfect harmony between the devices. The “Music Player” has most of the functions the iTunes player also has. So it’s still possible to for example skip the song, select another album etc. only on just the “Music Player”, the real power of Tango Remote comes obviously with the second device.

With the second device you’re able to control everything you’d possibly like to control when it comes to a music player.  I always use the Remote Control on my iPad in Landscape mode, but it also has a portrait mode.

In the landscape mode you’ll see the current song playing, song scrubbing, randomize, repeat, previous song, next song, play/pause and volume control. You’ll also see the album art of the current song, and the different kind of song selection. You can select songs based on Playlist, Songs, Artist, Albums and Genres.

To show how well the harmony between iOS devices is when using Tango Remote, I’ve made a screenshot on the iPhone and on the iPad at the exact same time. Below are both screenshots:

The first image is of the iPhone version while playing “Californication” by the Red Hot Cili Peppers. As you can see, all the common controls are also visible on the Music Player.

At the exact same time I also took a screenshot of the iPad version:

As You can see; All the important controls are also available on the “Remote” device.

Integration with iTunes

Now something I really like is the integration with the iOS iTunes player. Let’s have the next example in mind: You’re going for a nice bike ride or walk accompanied with the iPhone as your music player. You’re listening the music with the iTunes application.When you arrive home, you’d like to continue listening to the song which is just playing, so you connect your iPhone to your amplifier, but also want to Remote Control your iPhone’s music.

Tango Remote enables you to do this. Tango Remote picks up the music playing in iTunes and continues to play it without any hick-ups.
One small downside that I’ve found is that Tango Remote doesn’t exactly shows the correct information when the music is picked up from iTunes.

Concluding thoughts & Wrap-up

Tango Remote has definitely managed to get a good position on my ‘Must-have’ iPhone/iPad applications. When showing off your iPhone and/or iPad Tango Remote is an application you could show anyone and everybody would be thrilled about the possibilities. In my opinion Tango Remote is even more than that: It’s the standard for Apps when it comes down to connecting two iOS devices.
Tango Remote can be downloaded for free in the iTunes Store

I’m a big (maybe the biggest) fan of Grooveshark. If you don’t know grooveshark; Grooveshark is an online music playing service and it totally fits all my needs. If you live in the US, you’ve probably heard of Last.FM or Pandora or maybe Spotify. In my opinion all those services don’t work as great in the Netherlands as they do like Grooveshark does. If you are a Grooveshark VIP ($3 p/month or $30 p/year), you can use this iPhone App unlimited.

From Jailbreak app to Appstore

Grooveshark tried to get the official iPhone app approved by Apple for a long time. Because at some time the Grooveshak team thought it lasted to long, they decided to release it within Cydia and make it available for everyone who had a Jailbroken iPhone.
Luckily the Grooveshak Team kept trying to get the iPhone app approved and now it finally is available in the Appstore.

We’ve been working laboriously on this app for a long time, and we are really excited to announce what we honestly feel to be one of the best mobile music apps in the market.

Grooveshark for iPhone gives you access to your playlists, Favorites, search and play any song as well as nifty extras like Offline Caching (for Airplane Mode).

Key Features

The key features of Grooveshark are:

Play any song instantly: Search and stream any song in the world directly to your iPhone.
Save and make playlists: Create playlists and save them on your Grooveshark account.
Radio: Listen to the Grooveshark Radio: Based on songs you like!
Listen Offline: Get your favorite music offline and save the song directly onto your iPhone.
Worldwide: Have the advantage of these functionality anywhere you are in the world!

The Future

Now that the App is finally approved, the Grooveshark team will, without a doubt, work on further updates of the Grooveshark App. Multitasking is the next milestone for this app and there will be more features added to the app through time.

Final Thoughts

I mainly became a Grooveshark VIP because of the Mobile features a Grooveshark VIP receives. On most other platforms grooveshark already was available and now it’s also officially available with Apple’s approvement. I think Grooveshark totally rocks and now that it’s possible for Grooveshark to have their app installed on even more iPhone, I think Grooveshark will grow even bigger than they are already.

Now if you’re already a Grooveshark VIP and you’ve got an iPhone, go over to the Appstore and download Grooveshark now! Take a look at the application and wait for the much wanted update (already!) which includes background playback.

Since the release of the Apple iPhone 4 and it’s more predominant antenna problem many solutions have been offered. Apple is even giving away a free Bumper case or some other cases.  Best Buy is giving it’s iPhone 4 costumers away free Invisible shield wrap in the hope to sell the full body wrap.

However, we received from CraftyGalDecals the Apple iPhone 4 Edge Wraps to customize the color of your antenna edge of your iPhone 4, but also prevent the Death Grip (loss of antenna reception).

I was pleasantly suprised how easy the installation went.

Make sure that the surface of your iPhone 4 is smooth and free of oils. By cutting the sheet in to the three strips you are able to lift off about an inch and start applying the strip to the side of your phone. The strips are easily identifiable for where they belong.

I you go a little sideways it s easy to lift it up again and align the decal better. I actually removed the strip for the bottom of the phone completely and aligned it over the connector opening to get the perfect alignment.

Make sure you slowly work you way around the edge and handle your iPhone 4 with care for the next few hours to let the vinyl adhesive settle.

Below is a short video showing you how to apply the Edge Wrap.

The GraftyGalDecal Edge Wraps are just $7.99 at her online store www.craftygaldecals.etsy.com in the following colors.

CraftyGalDecals has also full wraps available for the iPhone 4 and other wraps for the Apple iPad and Macbook at www.craftygaldecals.etsy.com.

I really recommend these CraftyGalDecal wraps to customize your Apple iPhone 4 and have an easy solution against the Death Grip.

For our Dutch readers you can get these wraps at  www.laptat.nl

We have received a multitude of Dragonfly cases for review that are all compatible with the iPhone 3G and 3GS.  DragonFly has some great and unique designs to will fit many users. In anticipation of the new Apple iPhone 4 holders we reviewed the current line up of the Apple iPhone 3G and 3GS models.

The models we received are as followed:

• The Dragonfly DF Shield Carbon Black
• The Dragonfly DF Case Hollywood Grain Black
• The Dragonfly DF Skin Rezza Neon Green
• The Dragonfly DF Case Monster Box
• The Dragonfly DF Case Portable Carbon Black
• The Homade ChocoCase

The Dragonfly DF Shield Carbon Black

The Dragonfly DF Shield Carbon Black is a very nice case, if you are looking at style rather than drop protection. The case is a simple plastic snap on case with a design on-top of the carbon black layer of color. Putting the whole line of cases side by side, the Shield Carbon case definitely stands out the most because of the genuine design on the back. There truly are no real drawbacks to this case if you are looking for a good style for your iPhone. The cool design on the back also gives more of a grip to your iPhone because of the slightly raised design. I noticed this right away as soon as I snapped on the case. This makes your iPhone feel twice as comfortable in your hand compared to a bare iPhone.

The Dragonfly DF Case Hollywood Grain Black

The Dragonfly DF Case Hollywood case is extremely convenient for the people who enjoy using media on their iPhone. The Hollywood case has a specially designed stand so your iPhone can stand horizontally on a flat surface for viewing video with the greatest of ease. I used this feature once, and I must admit, the stand works, but is at some moments slightly unstable. If there were two fold out stands that would greatly improve the stability of the device. The case itself not including the stand is very durable, made from an almost leather-like material, giving the case a very durable and rugged feeling to it. When the iPhone is inserted into the case, it does add quite a bit of bulk to your phone. This is caused mainly by the flip out stand. Overall, the Hollywood case is another great creation from Dragonfly for the iPhone.

The Dragonfly DF Skin Rezza Neon Green

Having used the Dragonfly DF Skin Rezza case for over two days, I will tell you about this one first. The Rezza case overall is a very nice case. When the phone is inserted into the silicone based shell, you have a sense of security because of the nice and grippy texture. On the back of the case where there is also a smooth plastic surface which gives the case a more expensive feel. This is so far my favorite case, mainly because of the neon green color and gray backing, which is a great combination for an iPhone case. This case gets the highest rating out of all of them for me at least because it keeps the original iPhone shape without adding too much bulk to the phone itself.

The Dragonfly DF Case Monster Box

We also had the pleasure to test the Monster Box Case from Dragonfly. This is probably the most rugged case on the market currently for the iPhone. “It is a monster to get the phone in, and a monster to get it out,” but once it is in, you have unbelievable drop protection. From what I can see, there are two layers of protection, the outer shell which is a leather-like material and a very shock absorbent rubber/plastic on the inside closest to your phone. This case is ideal for those people who have strenuous jobs such as construction workers, etc. I myself didn’t have much experience with this case because I really had a hard time getting the phone in and a really hard time getting the phone out. If you are someone who likes to take your iPhone out of the case to put onto a docking station, you might want to look at one of the other cases above. Overall, this is a great heavy duty case.

The Dragonfly DF Case Portable Carbon Black

The Portable Carbon Case from Dragonfly has the same genuine design as the Shield Carbon Case, but the design on this case is raised slightly more, giving it more of a grip compared to the Shield Carbon Case. Outlining the Apple logo and the camera opening there is chrome trim, giving it a more expensive look when looking at all of the cases side by side. This case when on the iPhone has less bulk compared to the Hollywood case, because it has an overall slimmer design. The inside of the case also has something nice. There is some felt lining covering the area where the back of the iPhone would be making contact with the case itself. This keeps the iPhone in a prestige condition, especially because this case also offers some shock absorption and protection. Because this case still adds some bulk to your iPhone, it is not my favorite compared to the Rezza case which even fits in my Sony Speaker System and Docking station.

The Homade ChocoCase

Finally we have the Homade ChocoCase from Dragonfly. I love chocolate, but this isn’t really my taste regarding cases. On the back it looks almost identical to a Hershey chocolate bar. This case is the most protective because it is a silicone sleeve that wraps around the iPhone. It is overall a great idea, but the Mobility Minded community I think is going to stick with the other more useful cases regarding protection and style, all of them listed above.

Roots of Peace

On every order you make with Dragonfly Cases, a portion of the proceeds is donated to Roots for Peace, a program that helps unearth landmines in war-torn countries, and return the lands to their previous agricultural states. Every penny helps. Visit www.rootsofpeace.org for more information on this cause.

DragonFly cases are available with many online retailers with prices between $8-$35.

Visit : www.dragon-fly.com for more information.

Apple iPhone 4 DragonFly Cases Coming Soon

We are looking forward to the new line of DragonFly Apple iPhone 4 cases which will be released soon. A tasteful image of what is coming is seen below.

I really like iOS4 – It gives me a lot features I use every single day (Every hour to be quite honest).
But there’s one major downside to iOS 4: It’s batterylife.

The iPhone’s battery life never really was very good – Therefore I bought a Morphie Juice Pack Air last year, but with iOS4 on the iPhone 3GS the battery drain is significantly more than iPhone OS 3.1.2. Eventhough Johan already posted a nice post with a few tips how to keep your battery drain at a low level, I thought it would be good to share this tip as well.

I think the battery drain mainly is because of the new multitasking feature in iOS 4. Multitasking lets you quickly switch from one app to another, and return to the first app and go on where you left with the first application. But with heavy applications like Navigon or TomTom (which use a lot of battery anyway) it’s sometimes not good to have them running in the background all the time. With these applications, when I reach my destination I’d like to completely close the application and start it whenever I need it again.

Walk-through

Now there’s a solution to that – and the solution is directly in iOS4, but a lot of people don’t know about it.
When double-clicking the home-tab you’ll get a list of all ‘open’ applications. This list can become very long.

Now tab-and-hold with your finger on an application in the multitasking list.

You’ll get to see a close button on every single application. Pushing the close-button closes the application and removes it from the multitasking list. This can be done with every application in the list. In the example above I closed NAVIGON, becasue It took to many resources and I didn’t need to get directions anymore. So after pushing the close-button on the Navigon tab – all the other applications move to the left and the blank spot is filled with an other open application (In this case WunderRadio)

Update from comment Johan: When scrolling your finger to the left, You’ll get to see the next 4 ‘open’ applications. In this way you can more specifically select which application you want to close.

By repeating this on all the other open applications it is possible to completely get the list Empty so that no application is open anymore (And therefore doesn’t take any system resources)

Return to the default home-screen just like you’re used to do by pushing the Home-button once.

Concluding Thoughts

In my opinion this is the best way to get more out of the battery-life during the day on the iPhone (3GS). By closing an application in stead of just hitting the Home-button I honestly can say that the battery drain of my iPhone 3GS is significantly less than just leave the app ‘open’ in the background.
If you think your iPhone’s battery drains more after the iOS 4 update, I’d recommend this procedure and hope your battery drain problem is solved as well.

Adapt Mobile has sent us a sample of the latest version of the ADK-100 keyboard. This Micro Keyboard is the smallest Bluetooth keyboard in the market supporting a wide range of devices.
The keyboard comes in a blister package and contains the keyboard, a driver CD which also contains the manual and a Micro-USB cable for charging the keyboard. The keyboard contains 2 LED’s. One (red LED) indicates you are charging it and one (blue LED) shows you the status of your Bluetooth connection.

After the launch of the Apple iPhone 4 there are many reports about the “death grip” which gives a loss of reception in the antenna of the Apple iPhone 4.  Some how a good grip on your phone with your hand gives a conduction with the metal rim of the iPhone 4 with a loss of signal strength. Most solutions are as easy as by getting a case around your phone.  But I really do like the design of the iPhone 4 and don’t want to loose it by covering it up with a case.

In the steps below I show you how I used left over Apple iPad Invisible Shield by Zagg. Of course you can use any clear tape as well.

Step 1.

Create a strip from the left over edge of the Invisible Shield for the iPad. Measurements are 0.5 cm by a minimum of 20 cm.

Step 2.

Cut this long strips in to five pieces of:

1. 0.5 cm x 6 cm  for right under the volume buttons of the Apple iPhone 4
2. 0.5 cm x 1.5 cm for the side of the volume bottons  after the black strip break of the Apple iPhone 4
3. 0.5 cm x 5 cm for the upper part  of side of the sim card tray on the Apple iPhone 4
4. 0.5 cm x 2.8 cm for the lower part  of side of the sim card tray on the Apple iPhone 4
5. 0.5 cm x 1.5 cm for the side of the sim card tray after the black strip break of the Apple iPhone 4

Step 3.

Apply these strip on the correct parts on the side of the Apple iPhone 4. The volume buttons, sim tray and black strips on the sides should stay free of the shield.

For now this fix will give you a better reception. Hopefully Apple will come soon with a iOS 4.0.x update for this as well.

DocumentsToGo from DataViz was only available for the iPhone version when the iPad was launched. In my earlier review I showed you  how it still was a powerful application on the iPad using the 2 times rendering. But now with version 3.3 DocumentsToGo premium is “the” powerful app on the iPad and worth paying for it.

If you are already a DocumentsToGo Premium owner of the app for the iPhone this will be a free upgrade.

First of all, I just want to let you know because of the different OS (or iOS 3.1.3) on the iPhone compared to the iPad (iOS 3.2)  their is one major difference in the set up. To see e-mail attachments in your DocumentsToGo on the iPhone you need to set up these accounts in your iPhone app. For the iPad you don’t need to do this. The built-in Apple email app can now pass files to third party apps like DocumnetsToGo. All you need to do is have your email account set up within the built-in app and when you receive a Word attachment you can view it on the iPad and even open it within DocumentsToGo. With this great new feature it will support all types of e-mail accounts and not just Exchange and Gmail.

However I do miss the feature on the iPad to actually see all my email attachments in one list within DocumentsToGo. This of course is still the case on the iPhone.

Let me sum up the functionalities and in the video below I will show you most of these.

• Create new Word, Excel, PowerPoint messages on the go.(format in either MS Office 97-2004,X, XP or MS Office 2007-2008)
• Edit documents on the go.
• Sync documents with multiple desktop and many cloud services
• Store documents to local iPad, Desktop Sync Folder
• Send an e-mail with documents as an attachment.
• Cloud service documents listed in all and download-able upon request, remove as well (ideal for offline functionality)
• Many formatting functions available like the toolbars in office desktop applications like Save (as), mail to, B, I, U, Font Color, Font Size, Highlight colors, alignments, bullets, redo , undo, etc……….And same for Excel.
• Create Powerpoint presentations on the Go
• Cloud service support for; Google Docs, Box.net, Dropbox, iDisk, Public iDisk and Sugar Sync
• iPad all email attachments support within the iPad mail app. iPhone e-mail support for Exchange and Gmail accounts through set up in DocumentsToGo app.
• Move and copy documents easy between different services.
• and more that I haven’t found yet.

The image below is of the home screen. Click on the image for a larger view.

Click for Larger Image

The following image is of the settings page which includes already set up sync partnerships.

Click for Larger Image

The following cloud sync services are availalble. You can have multiple of each kind.

The image below demonstrates the list view of a service with the offline available documents on your iPad. When removing documents that are stored on your iPad you will only remove them from your iPad. You have to go through your desktop to remove the document permanently from your services.

Click for Larger Image

The following new documents can be created in DocumentsToGo.

PowerPoint has three possible templates to start creating a new PowerPoint within DocumentsToGo.

Conclusion

If you have an iPad and you want to be more productive, but feel like you still need to bring a laptop with you, then DocumentsToGo will be the app on your iPad that will allow you to leave the laptop behind more likely and hit the road with only the iPad.

I haven’t installed and used  the iWorks applications and I am not able to compare this with DocumentsToGo. But as a PC user I am now very mobile using my iPad to access all my documents online and offline.

The DocumentsToGo Premium app is available at the iTunes Store for $14.99. (every penny worth it for me)