It has happened to many iPhone users. Suddenly your iPhone is draining very quickly, even without using the iPhone at all.

This has happened to my iPhone now for two times. On many blogs and forums people are complaining about it and many tips are given but not a real good answer to the sudden quick drain of your battery.  Below are these tips to save on battery power but won’t fix the sudden extreme drainage of your battery.

We have changed the title to include Android and Windows Phone devices now as well. We experienced the same battery drain on other mobile platforms. It seems that the exchange sync funtion (possibly calendar) hangs on the devices. In which it means it constantly is asking for data transfer in which your battery drains very fast. The device will feel hot as well. The solution is simple but takes some time.

• You need to delete to exchange account on your device
• After is is finished deleting your synced information you turn off your device and restart it.
• Set up your exchange account as before, the device will sync all your information back to your device.

The tips below will preserve more battery power:

• Turn off 3G (saves battery and is almost a must in area’s where you have Edge coverage)
• Turn off Notifications
• Turn off Push for e-mail
• Turn off  WiFi
• Turn off Bluetooth
• Set your Fetch schedule on all your other emails to manually
• Turn your Brightness down

Again these tips above will not fix your sudden battery drain on your iPhone. And really turning off all these options, kinda makes your iPhone a phone like any other. You really don’t have to do this.

I have discovered that the sudden extreme battery drain has to do with your Exchange Account that has been set up on your iPhone.  For some odd reason it keeps check and checking for new info and it won’t stop. Before trying to do a restore on your iPhone I would first recommend deleting your Exchange Push Account on your iPhone and set it up again as a new account. This will save some time in the fix for the extreme fast battery drainage.

Follow the steps below to fix the extreme battery drainage on your iPhone.

1. Go to your “Settings” on your iPhone.
2. Select “Mail,Contact,Calendars“.
3. Select your account that has been set up with an exchange server.
4. Select “Account Info“.
5. Copy down the information which you will need to set up this account again later on.
6. Select the “Arrow back ” on the top of your screen with the name of your account.
7. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select “Delete Account“
8. Let the iPhone do its work. It will remove all e-mails, contacts and calendar items from your iPhone associated with your account.
9. When done Turn off your iPhone and Turn it back on.
10. Once your iPhone is turned back on you can go back to Step 1,2
11. Back in the “Mail,Contacts,Calendar” Settings you have to select  “Add Account“
12. Select the “Microsoft Exchange” and enter the credentials you copied down before.
13. The server information is not visible in this field yet, it will appear after you set up your E-mail, Domain, Username and Password are entered and “Next” has been selected.
14. Now your account has been set up again. It will take some time for the iPhone to synchronize everything back. Give it some 5-10 minutes.

Now your Exchange Push account has been set up again and your extreme battery drainage has been stopped. If you think that after these steps you still have this issue, I would recommend using the “Restore” function in iTunes while your iPhone is connected.

Today the developer of the Tweetie iPhone application published a blogpost about his new project: Tweetie 2.0.  Tweetie is one of the most popular paid iPhone twitter applications, mainly because Tweetie had a clean, no-nonsense interface.

The developer says about how his life changed after bringing the first version of Tweetie to the AppStore

A few people bought it. Then a few more bought it. Then I realized this App Store thing was actually pretty popular, and ($2.99 - 30%) x enough people = a living. So I dropped everything and devoted every working minute since to Tweetie.

In the last year the developer not only developed the Tweetie application for iPhone, but also the popular version for Mac OSX. This Mac OSX version is based on a twitter “core” called Bigbird.

Now, a few months after the release of Tweetie for Mac OSX, the developer brings this core to the iPhone with Tweetie 2.0

Tweetie 1 set a new standard for Twitter clients and iPhone apps in general. It proved that you didn’t have to sacrifice intuitiveness for functionality. Today we have iPhone OS 3.0, 3GS, and new Twitter APIs. Tweetie 2 is built from the ground up to take advantage of these fantastic new technologies.

Tweetie 2 will contain a lot more functionality than verison 1.

• Draft manager
• Link Twitter users to iPhone contacts
• Threaded conversations
• Support the new geotagging metadata coming soon from Twitter.
• Multiple attachments manager
• Full Landscape Support

Personally I think the best new feature will be the off-line mode.

Speaking of offline reading, there is also a fantastic offline mode. You can favorite, follow, block, add to Instapaper and more all while offline. Next time you connect, all of those actions will be synced back up.

The new version will not be an upgrade to the 1.x version of Tweetie but will be an application that needs a new purchase at the price of $2,99.  Personally I think it sounds very well and worth, but there really should be an option if you’ve just purchased Tweetie 1 a week ago.

A couple days ago we announced the availability of the Navigon North America Navigation software for the iPhone.

We have gotten a review copy for evaluation and below is my review of this easy to use Navigon North America Navigation for the iPhone.

Download and Installation

Be prepared for big download. When purchasing I suggest doing this in the iTunes store on your desktop or laptop with high speed internet connection. The app is going to to be 1.3 GB. The download itself will take some time as well. If you are like me and want to try new things right away this is a disappointment. However the file has this size because it has all the map data for North America, which includes the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

For a succesfull installation I have to give a couple small tips.

Due to the large file to install on your iPhone it would be best to check first if you have the 1.3 GB space left over on your device. You can do this easily by connecting you iPhone to the iTunes on your computer. Once connected, click on the name of your device on the left hand side of the iTunes window. Now on the bottom of the screen you can see how much storage memory you have left over on your device.

The second thing you want to do first before going ahead and un-check the synchronization of Navigon and make sure that all your new podcast are downloaded to your computer and then are synchronized with your iPhone.  After you have done these 2 things your iPhone is just connected to your iTunes on your desktop and at the next synchronization it only needs to install the Navigon Software. So go ahead and check the box next to the Navigon application in the application tab under your phone name while your iPhone is connected to iTunes. Now click on “Sync” on the right bottom of the iTunes screen. Again due to the large file this will take some time before it is finished installing.

User interface and options

When starting the application it takes a couple of seconds to start up.

The first screen that shows up on your iPhone is a standard warning about using the navigation software.

After the above screen the Main Menu shows up. The Main Menu has 4 tabs.

From the Main Menu you can enter an address directly. Through this process it will let  you select the State first which is indicated with a country flagg right next to it. This is a great added feature so you don’t have to scroll through many same named cities or towns with different state codes behind them.

From the Main Menu you can also navigate to a POI (Point of Interest). This means if you need to find a bank, school, restaurant or anything else, you can use this function to find these POI in a city or nearby you current position

Another quick “Main Menu” item is to” Take me Home”. The first time you select this you are able to enter in your own home address and from that point on the “Take me Home” button will automatically calculate the route back to your home.

The last button in the “Main Menu” will show you the map. You can use your fingers to scroll through the map and to point a location you would like to navigate to.

The” Favorites” tab lets you quicky select your destinations you have marked as favorites.

Your “Recents” tab lets you select quickly the destinations you have entered last.

And your “Contacts” tab will look at your iPhone contacts and use the addresses enterered already within your Cotact fields.

Now that we are on our way you can use your Navigon navigation software in portrait mode or landscape.

If you have a red bar on the top of the screen it means that your internal GPS has no fix with the satellites. However with your iPhone in to a car mount in the windshield of your car you get a great fix and the time response in movement is as with any of the current stand alone Personal Navigation Devices. (PND). I prefer to use the ProClip USA mounting system for my on the dash mountings of my devices.

Within this current screen you can tap on the top bar of your screen and the info listed will rotate from:

1. Destination Time
2. Destination Milage /KM
3. Speedometer

Tapping on the bottom bar will rotate the info between:

1. Street name next turn
2. Street name current position

Tapping on the left box with the next turn notification will repeat the voice instructions for this information.

The “Options button”  on the right top will give the following options:

By tapping the middle of the screen while driving will give you a quick 2d view of your current location. However going back to to navigation screen with view into your driving direction (3D or 2D) you have to tap the “Done” button instead of tapping the screen again.

When you take a wrong turn the Navigon software will quickly recalculate a new route for you.

You can also adjust your settings to give you “Caution” warning when you are driving a certain speed over the speed limit. Could be handy for those unaware heavy foot people.

Experiences

Take a quick look at my live experiences with software below

This weekend I drove for about 8 hours in total using this Navigon navigation software for the iPhone and I have to say that this version can easily replace my Personal Navigation Device. However a limitation to the iPhone is multitasking. Once you leave the navigation software for some music or quick weather information. You have to restart the navigation system. It won’t keep running in the background.

Hopefully the future will allow you to pick up traffic information,weather information and search for new live POI’s within the software. Who ever has the iPhone has the data connection. Why not use the data connection to enrich the use of the Navigation Software?

Conclusion

The Navigon Navigation Software is the first proffesional navigation software for the iPhone comparable to the stand alone devices. The functions are slightly different from the stand alone devices, but this is the bestversion now available to have on your iPhone.

The Navigon MobileNavigator North America is on sale now for $69.99 in the App store until August 15. After that the price will go up to $99.99.

Navigon just announced yesterday that their iPhone GPS Navigation for North America is available in the app store. If you are not familiar with Navigon. I suggest you will.

The Navigon user interface was always attractive and very good on the Windows Mobile Phones and on their own Personal Navigation Devices. Now they have made the step to get this successful Navigation software on the iPhone as well. And they are in the app store before their biggest competition does.

The Navigon MobileNavigator North America is on sale now for $69.99 in the App store until August 15. After that the price will go up to $99.99.

The Navigon MobileNavigator Europe and Benelux LITE are already available in the App store. Check out the pictures and videos on the iPhoneclub.nl

We are lucky enough to receive a review copy. Stay tuned for our own review of the North American version of the Navigon MobileNavigator.

In the mean time read the press release and watch their promotional video.

NAVIGON Launches iPhone GPS Navigation for North America

First on-board iPhone solution from a major navigation company now available in the App Store

Hamburg/Germany, JULY 22, 2009 — NAVIGON AG, the leading innovator in the navigation market, today announced the availability of a North American version of its on-board navigation software in the iPhone App Store. The MobileNavigator transforms any iPhone 3G, equipped with the new Apple OS 3.0 operating system, and any iPhone 3G S into a complete navigation device.

Following its successful launch in Europe last month, NAVIGON is the first major navigation company to launch an on-board navigation solution for the iPhone in North America.  In more than ten European countries*, the app was ranked within the top three of all paid applications in the Apple Store in the first week.

Compared to off-board navigation, NAVIGON’s on-board approach has a clear advantage: After downloading the GPS application, the software and map data is saved directly on the device. This means that users don’t have to pay subscription fees or wait for map downloads during the navigation. The software includes many of NAVIGON’s hallmark navigation functions such as Reality View™ Pro, Lane Assistant Pro, Speed Assistant and Day & Night Mode. It also features NAVIGON’s sophisticated and elegant map views including branded POIs along the route. NAVIGON will even add more features with software updates later this year. The only requirement for using the MobileNavigator on the iPhone is the new Apple OS 3.0 operating system.

“By making the MobileNavigator for the iPhone available for users in North America, we are taking another major step towards the future market of GPS navigation on mobile phones,” said Egon Minar, CEO of NAVIGON AG. “The combination of NAVIGON’s signature navigation features with typical functions from the iPhone creates an integrated and unique experience.” The map display, for example, switches automatically from­ portrait to landscape view as soon as the iPhone is turned 90 degrees. There is also the option of navigating directly to an address from saved contacts. If the iPhone is used for talking on the phone during navigation, the software resumes automatically after the call has ended. Furthermore, the multi touch function of the iPhone is integrated into the app and allows users to easily zoom in and out the map view with two fingers.

The NAVIGON solution sells for $99.99 and is equipped with maps of North America from NAVTEQ®. It will be available for a promotional price of $69.99 until August 15.

For more information and FAQs, please visit: www.navigon.com/iphone. A video of the MobileNavigator for the iPhone can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/kq2a5q. You can also follow us on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/NAVIGON_.

Key features of the NAVIGON MobileNavigator for the iPhone:

• Reality View™ Pro displays photo-realistic 3D views with actual road signs and lane guidance for virtually every highway interchange and exit drivers will encounter.
• Lane Assistant Pro helps drivers prepare to make an upcoming exit or turn by providing a lane map complete with arrows and actual road geometry.
• Speed Assistant with adjustable audio-visual warning.
• Day & Night Mode for map display.
• Direct Accessallows navigation to contacts saved in the iPhone’s address book.
• Branded POIs and POIs along the route
• 2D and 3D map view.
• Automatic switch between portrait and landscape format.
• Intelligent address entry.
• Real signpost display.

*Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland

About NAVIGON:

NAVIGON AG is a world-leading manufacturer of navigation systems. With its own portable navigation systems, and thanks to its partnership with reputable consumer electronics manufacturers, NAVIGON stands for high-quality GPS navigation on pocket PCs, PNDs and mobile phones. NAVIGON also provides professional navigation solutions such as driver-assistance features for the automotive OEM market. NAVIGON was founded in 1991, and employs over 400 workers in locations in Asia, Europe and North America. – NAVIGON. And the world is yours.

SPB Wallet has been around for a while on the desktop, Windows Mobile and Symbian phones. But as of June 24th this great sensitive data management application is also available for the iPhone.

Below is a short description of the SPB Wallet software from their press release which explains it best.

SPB Wallet AES 256-encrypts and password-protects all stored sensitive information. SPB Wallet supports automatic lockup, automatic clipboard cleanup, and protects from phishing. The stored data can be synchronized between (and accessed from) multiple PCs and mobile devices. The virtual, electronically stored licenses, cards, and passports look like the real ones: SPB Wallet 2.0 offers an integrated online database with images of thousands of most popular cards and documents, plus the option to order more custom pictograms – for free. The desktop component of SPB Wallet offers advanced integration with web browsers, automatic supply and capture of online login information, includes a password generator, and a migration wizard from custom CSV formats and from other wallet applications.

Importing existing data from another wallet application

I have been using a different wallet application for a while, and I didn’t wanted to retype all of my close to 300 entries all over again. The desktop application allows you to import the exported files from all major wallet applications that currently exist for the mobile devices.  I did an export and an import and my data is available in a separate folder in the SPB Wallet named after my previous wallet application. Now you just have to reorganize them if you want.

Synchronizing Desktop application with iPhone

On my previous wallet application,I could only synchronize the desktop information with my iPhone through a Wifi connection using the Bonjour sync application installed on my laptop.

The problem I had, is that I use the wallet application on my main desktop, which had no Wifi.
Thes following steps I had to follow to sync my desktop data with my iPhone.

- I had to sync my desktop version with my Windows Mobile device through active sync
- I Synced that Windows Mobile Device with the desktop application on my laptop which has Wifi
- Now I could sync my iPhone with my Laptop through Wifi and the Bonjour sync application.

SPB Wallet for iPhone came with a great solution for this. Besides syncing your desktop application and the iPhone together using Bonjour sync over Wifi, it also allows you the encrypted cloud synchronization with a Gmail account.

I currently am cloud syncing  now my data between two laptops and the iphone using a Google account with my own domain. To be able to sync in the cloud allows you not to be depended any more on different sync applications on the different platforms.

Key Features

Now that I have gone over the two major differences of the SPB Wallet application I will sum up the key features.  A lot of these features are also available on the competion applications, however SPB Wallet always adds a little bit extra.

• Secure Storage for sensitive information (string AES 256 Bit encryption, Automatic wallet locking)
• Cards look like those in your wallet
• Cards flip flow
• Online templates gallery with 7000+ most popular cards integrated into application
• Free template creation by request
• Password auto fill for websites in web browser
• Cards and templates are fully customizable
• Templates import, export and sharing
• 60+ predefined templates, icons and graphics
• Item level synchronization with support of multiple devices and desktops (cloud synchronization with Google Mailbox and desktop synchronization over Wifi with Bonjour sync
• Smart card fields allow taking action right from the wallet (open links, send e-mails, make phone calls and send text messages from the application)
• Password generator
• Quick search
• Compatible with Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile professional and Standard, Symbian S60 and Windows desktop
• Desktop specific (SPB Wallet toolbar and automatic password supply for Internet explorer and Firefox)
• Desktop import wizard from other Wallets (eWallet, FlexWallet, CodeWallet, SplashID, HandySafe and custom CSV)
• Desktop quick search
• Desktop backup and wallet in tray
• Desktop Drag & Drop for fields inot other apps

As you can see SPB Wallet has so many options to keep your data safe and avaialble to you on many devices. For me this is going to be the wallet application I will be using for now.

The SPB Wallet desktop version is available at the SPB website for $9.99
And the iPhone application is available for $9.99 at either the SPB website with a link to the App store.

Together this is under $20 and is $9 less compared to the Windows Mobile version. The price is very reasonable for a great useful and  needed application to securely manage all your sensitive information.

]]> http://www.mobilityminded.com/2211/spb-wallet-2-0-for-iphone-and-desktop-review/feed 10 http://www.mobilityminded.com/2056/gogo-iphone-3g-cases-reviewed http://www.mobilityminded.com/2056/gogo-iphone-3g-cases-reviewed#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:46:58 +0000 Johan van Mierlo http://www.mobilityminded.com/?p=2056

The Gogo iPhone 3G cases seemed very attractive to me when I saw them through one of the Facebook ads.

I contacted Gogo and asked them for some review samples of the Gradient, Handpainted and Royal series. They all looked appealing to me due to the snap on and slim looks of the cases.

I have to say I am not disappointed at all. The looks and the feel of the cases are great. As they proclaim the cases snap on, are slip free, scratch proof and the royal series are soft to the touch.

I had my worries for the hand painted version I received. The butterfly is hand painted onto the case and you can feel the raised paint on the case. I thought this would get scratched very easy . My wife has been using this case with pride and loves showing of the design and the craftsmanship to her friends. The case really adds some flare to the iPhone. The hand painted butterfly shows no scratches on the paint after extended time of use.

All the three cases don’t add much weight or volume at all and gives it a good feel in your hands.

Of all the cases I have tried and used ,the Gogo case is now my case of preference.

The Gogo cases are priced between $24.99 and $29.99. If you want more then one case they sell them in bundles as well.  Bundles are priced between $29.99 and $34.99, and that is a great deal.

Below is a small video showing the ease of putting on and removing the case.

Today Apple announced the iPhone 3GS on the WWDC in San Francisco. In this article a shot wrap-up about what has been announced today.

Speed

The new iPhone 3GS is not really different from the “normal” 3G. The “S” stands for speed: The iPhone 3GS is over 2 times faster than the normal 3G in most applications.

Camera

The camera of the iPhone 3G is a 2 Megapixel camera. From day 1 people have been complaining about camera. So Apple built in a new camera in the iPhone 3GS. The new camera is a 3 Megapixel camera with autofocus AND with this camera it is also possible to record videos. The videos can be edited directly on the iPhone and when done they can be sent to several services like MobileMe, Youtube or Email.

Voice Control

Voice Control is a feature with great potential. Just tell your device what you want to do with it. With the Voice Control feature it is possible to tell your device to call Remo Knops just by saying “Call Remo Knops” or dial a numer by saying “Call 123456789″. You then get a voice returning your command with what the iPhone is doing like “Calling Remo Knops”. Unfortunately the demo on the Apple website did not convince me. The quality of the pronouncination is just not good enough I think.

With Voice Control it is also possible to control the builtin iPod. You can start all songs from a particular artist, start playlists or ask the iPhone 3GS which song is playing right now.

Compass

The iPhone 3G will have a digital compass. With the digital compass the maps application reorientates when you are tuning. I hope there will be an application like Google Sky Map available soon for iPhone users.

Battery

The iPhone 3G S has a battery improvement. Using internet (on Wifi) lasts 9 hours (this was 6 hours on the 3G), Video 10 hours (was 7 hours), Audio 30 hours (was 24 hours), 2G talk 12 hours (was 10 hours) and the 3G talk time stays at 5 hours.

Overall I think its a good improvement for people listening to songs and using the internet a lot.

iPhone OS 3.o

iPhone OS 3.0 will be a major software improvement for exiting iPhone users. The new OS has more than 100 additional features compared to the previous OS versions. The most important feature updates will be:

• Cut, Copy & Paste
• Landscape Keyboard
• Tethering
• MMS
• Spotlight Search
• Voice Memos
• Improved Calendar

OS3.0 will be availabe for the iPod Touch (upgrade will cost $9,95) for the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS (free)

TomTom for iPhone

Finally – after way too long waiting TomTom comes up with an iPhone application. The TomTom applicaion looks very much the same as the familiar TomTom Go, One and Navigator interface. Luckily TomTom is not exclusively for the iPhone 3GS, but can also be installed on the iPhone 3G. The TomTom application should be in the iTunes Store “soon”.

TomTom will sell an accessoire (the TomTom car kit) for secure docking of the iPhone and better GPS Performance. I hope this means that this accessoire does not NEED to be used becasue the GPS-signal would be to weak - We’ll see.

Conclusion

I think the new iPhone 3G S is a cool device, but far from mindblowing. There’s no really convincing WOW!! in the presentation we saw today. The only thing I couldn’t have thought was TomTom, but that’s because they waited way too long with a decent TomTom iPhone application. So to be honest: I’m a little disappointed, but let’s wait for a final conclusion before we have the iPhone in our hands .