iPhone MMS is here ... I think

AT&T released today the long awaiting carrier settings that enables MMS on the iPhone.  This is great, and woefully late given that every other phone has supported MMS for a long time, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Getting MMS enabled involved checking for updates in iTunes and then syncing my phone.  Once done, you have to reboot.  Upon rebooting running the MMS app provides for attaching a picture or when using the Photo app you can now compose an MMS from there.  Great!  So how well does it work?

Alas, I tried sending an MMS to my boss and he received nothing.  I sent again, and still nothing.  So I sent an SMS and that got through fine.  So something isn't working with MMS.  Now, he has not applied the update on his iPhone yet so perhaps that is the issue.  But in the past when an iPhone was sent an MMS at least an SMS was delivered with a convoluted link to a web-site where you could enter a password and view the media, so I'd think it would have still done that, but no.

What are others experiencing?

I'll be able to update another iPhone and try between updated phones shortly and will report back then.


Update: Original try was to a 3G running 3.0.1.  Subsequently tried to one running 3.1 but without the carrier settings and it too failed.  Updated that one with the carrier settings and now it works.  So it appears the MMS hack of the past does not work now if the MMS is sent from another iPhone.

Google Sync now supports Mail on the iPhone

I became a Google Sync user awhile ago when they released support for over the air calendar syncing from the iPhone.  It has worked well and I've had no issues with it.  At the same time, and actually before using Google Sync, I have been using the built-in Mail app on the iPhone to access my Gmail account which treats it like an IMAP server and this too has worked well.  As Google Sync didn't support mail, this meant configuring two accounts, one for calendar and one for mail, but you do that once and then you are all set.

I was interested then when Google announced today that Google Sync was adding mail support, and especially push mail support for Gmail.  Now, I have to be honest that I'm perfectly happy with my current setup and in fact am leery of adding anything with push as it is likely to impact battery life and we all know that under heavy use the battery on an iPhone is not its strongest point.  And I'm not really losing anything without push as I get enough e-mail that my phone would be going "ding" all the time and because I get enough mail, I don't really need a notification to know I have new messages so I just go run the app and let it download the messages then and I'm set.  The few seconds spent downloading is well worth not taxing the battery.  But I decided to give it a shot anyway as I can always turn push off and have the optimization of a single account to configure and manage.

So I followed the instructions, deleting my existing Gmail account then going to the settings for the Google Sync account and turning on mail syncing.  Worked great, that is until I went to try to look at my mail.  I immediately get a message saying unable to connect to the server and no messages are listed.  I try again a few times and same result.  After waiting a bit and trying again, it finally works and I can see the messages just like I could previously.  So what, I had that before and while I now have a single account to manage, lets see if push really works as that would be the perk of having this.

I make sure push is turned on, get back to the iPhone's Home screen and send myself an e-mail from another account.  I stare closely at the Mail app to see the unread message count go up and listen for the ding, but nothing.  I wait 30 seconds and nothing.  A minute and nothing.  In the meantime in the web interface on my laptop I saw the message arrive about 5 seconds after sending.  "What's up?" I ask.  I again run the Mail app and get the connection error again.  So I give up for the time being.

An hour or two later I gave it another shot and this time there is a friendly "ding" and the message count jumps up, ... but by 3?  I look at the web interface and only my test message arrived so that doesn't make sense.  So I run the Mail app to see what the three messages are.  To my surprise when I go to my Inbox the Mail app doesn't show me any new messages and proceeds to try to connect to download them.  Huh?  I thought I had push?

I suspect that the failure to connects and perhaps other issues are caused by Google's servers being overloaded, so I may try again later.  But to test the theory out I turn mail off on the Google Sync account and recreate my old Gmail account.  When I use it, the Mail app connects quickly and downloads 200 messages in seconds.  Hmmm, so either it isn't the servers, or the more likely explanation is that the "Exchange" servers supporting the push and syncing are overloaded but the standard servers for serving up POP and IMAP are working just fine.

For me, I'll just stick with my 2 accounts and no push for now.  I may try the push again later when Google figures things out.

But what is your experience?  Have you successfully gotten push working from Gmail on the iPhone?  Post your comments!

AT&T asks consumers to pay more for better cell coverage

AT&T has been the brunt of many complaints from all over about poor cell coverage in certain areas.  I don't know how many times I've read someone saying they would love to get an iPhone but won't because of AT&T's coverage.  Now I actually haven't had too many complaints and have been a PacBell/AT&T/Cingular/AT&T customer for some time.  Perhaps I'm just lucky or not picky enough.

For those that do perhaps have poor coverage near their homes, AT&T is now offering a "personal cell" you can install at home.  Called the MicroCell, it is a femtocell device that is supposed to boost 3G signals indoors, and a phone is supposed to be able to switch to/from it and the regular 3G network.  It is nice that AT&T is doing something to help customers in poor reception areas, but that is where the kudos stop.

First, the way it works is that the femtocell ties into your home internet connection to get to AT&T's network, effectively routing your cell phone connection over your cable/DSL/FiOS connection.  Sounds nice, but if you were going to make calls over your internet connection why not just use Skype or some VoIP provider like Vonage and avoid the hassle of another device?  You say you want to receive incoming calls?  Fine, get a Google Voice number and give that out instead of your mobile number and use it to route incoming calls wherever you want!

Second, while the femtocell (it is a fun word to say so I'm writing it a lot, go ahead, say it out loud 5 times in a row) will give you a stronger signal at home, if you are indeed in a poor reception area, once on a call, you are stranded at home as the call will drop if you leave the range of your femtocell.  So it is really no better than a cordless phone at home and see the Google Voice suggestion above to handle the incoming calls.

Third, they are charging $150 for the device.  Ok, they say there is a $100 rebate, ... IF you sign up for a $20 monthly plan!  So let me get this straight.  I'm already paying nearly $100 a month or more for my voice and data plan, another $50 plus a month for high-speed internet, and because the former doesn't work well you want to use the service from the latter to "fix" it but want to charge me for equipment and another $20 a month on top of that?!

Before piling on too much, it is just a trial right now and pricing when they roll it out could change.  And AT&T shouldn't be singled out as both Sprint and Verizon are reportedly doing the same thing (not but with 3G speeds, so give AT&T credit there!) and are probably subject to the same criticisms above.

So give them credit for identifying a solution for a common problem, just as a consumer don't give in to paying more money on top of what you are already paying.  There is other technology that can leverage what you are already paying for to help solve the problem.

Thoughts?  Agree or disagree?

It's Football Season! Schmidt Computer Rankings Have a New Home

The calendar says it is almost September, the days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler.  It must be football season!  And with football season comes me spending my weekends trying to get my computer ratings going again.

This year, rather than muddling up this blog with the occasional entry on my computer's ratings, I've created a computer ratings blog that I'll do my best to diligently keep updated each week.  I've already posted last years season ending college ratings and the NFL will be there soon.

Go take a look and let me know what you think!

Snow Leopard is here! My initial review.

My Snow Leopard DVD arrived yesterday but I didn't have a chance to install it until this evening.

I actually did an upgrade, upgrading a MacBook Pro from 10.5, and the upgrade itself took about 45 minutes.  One strange thing was during the middle of the upgrade the screen went 90% dim and I could hardly read how much longer it would take.  But alas everything completed without a hitch and the machine rebooted.

Since one of the perks of the new OS is improved performance, I had done a few very unscientific tests on the machine prior to upgrading and then did the same tests post upgrade.  The tests I performed and timed were:

• Boot and login.
• Start NeoOffice.
• Open a simple .ods file from a fully closed NeoOffice.
• Start Safari pointed to the default apple.com page.
• Start Firefox pointed to google.com.
• Open Eclipse.
• Re-open Eclipse from fully closed.
• Transcode a .wmv video to .ogv format.

After these tests I also looked at memory usage to see where things stood.

I did perform the tests on Snow Leopard twice since I was a bit surprised by a few the first time.  Note that in each case the tests were performed in order so everything started from a fresh reboot.

Action	Leopard	Snow Leopard (1)	Snow Leopard (2)
Boot to login screen	40	33	35
Start NeoOffice	23	17	20
Open .ods in NeoOffice	10	12	9
Start Safari (apple.com)	8	5	4
Start Firefox (google.com)	8	8	6
Open Eclipse	17	36	19
Re-open Eclipse	7	7	7
Transcode WMV to OGV (wall clock)	4:52	5:14	4:51
Transcode (user time)	4:48	4:55	4:46
Free (GB)	2.43	2.03	2.14
Wired (MB)	153.5	304.4	162.8
Active (MB)	376.68	524.7	403.3
Inactive (MB)	45.21	157.3	310.7
Used (MB)	575.39	986.4	876.8
VM size (GB)	30.2	104.04	107.73
Page ins (MB)	243.07	916	224.6

• So Snow Leopard boots a little faster, but not dramatically so.  Further, on the first reboot, completing the login took about 5 seconds whereas with Leopard it was just a second or so.  The second test on Snow Leopard was in the 1-2 second range so perhaps it was just something with the very first login.
• It would appear NeoOffice itself starts a bit quicker under Snow Leopard, but opening a spreadsheet is roughly the same.  I'm not sure if anything can really be concluded here.
• Safari certainly starts quicker, I'm not sure if there is a new version that is faster or if they sneakily have it partly loaded/started behind the scenes.  Firefox took basically the same time to start but was perhaps slightly faster under Snow Leopard.
• Oddly, the first time under Snow Leopard, Eclipse took much longer to open than with Leopard.  This was the big reason I did a second test and in that one it was closer to the same time.  I'm not sure if there was something about running Java the first time or what.  In both cases re-opening Eclipse after a full close was the same time.
• Surprisingly the transcoding of the video was slower under Snow Leopard the first time.  The second time it was just about the same.
• The memory management with Snow Leopard seems to be quite a bit different as performing the exact same steps resulted in over 50% memory being used, although in the second test the bulk of this increase was inactive.  But the VM size was over 3 times greater in each case.

As I said at the beginning, not terribly scientific, but at the end of the day it appears the only noticeable improvement is in the Safari initial start time which is less than I had hoped for.  I'll certainly be reading other reviews and looking for other improvements there might be in the coming days.

HTML5 in Action; Plugin-free video and browser geolocation

I mentioned HTML5 in my links entry from yesterday and reading about what is coming is great, but seeing some of it in action is even better.  So I've created a few examples of a couple new features that I describe below.

The first is the ability to have video in web-pages without requiring any plug-ins.  This is done with the new <video> element, an example of which can be viewed below or here which happens to show Galen Rupp going sub-4:00 earlier this year.  But take a look at the source of that page and see how simple it is:

<video src="RuppMile.ogv" controls/>

Isn't that easier than relying on plugins and or much more complicated HTML that has to download and use Flash?

Now, a few caveats are that (to my knowledge) this only works in Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4 and the video has to be in Ogg Theora, Ogg Vorbis, or WAV format.  The Ogg media formats are not patent encumbered like other formats are so look for their growth and adoption to increase.  Learn more about it here.

The second is the use of some geolocation APIs that are not part of HTML5.  This can open a whole host of possibilities for applications to take advantage of location and deliver innovative applications for consumers.  I've created a simple example that uses the information provided to create a Google map centered on your location.  Try it here.

The source for this is a little more complicated due to the Javascript and use of Google's APIs but it boils down to the following:

navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(showPosition);

function showPosition(position) {
var latLong = position.coords.latitude + ',' + position.coords.longitude;
document.getElementById('latLong').value = latLong;
loadPage();
}

The first line of code registers a method to be called when the location is known and when that method is called it can retrieve the coordinates and do with it what it wants.  In my case I load the map.

Again, this requires Firefox 3.5 where it uses a service to get your location from your IP address which is somewhat accurate, or you can use Safari on your iPhone which tends to be much more accurate with its cell tower triangulation and GPS capabilities.

Grab Firefox 3.5 and start giving HTML5 a try!

Galen Rupp video requiring no Flash, Silverlight, or other plugin!

Apple Stifling Innovation

I previously wrote some initial and additional thoughts on Google Latitude highlighting some of the pitfalls of it being browser based.  There have been others that have written but this one points out that the story of not confusing the user with the Maps app has a bunch of holes in it.  In the end, this stifles innovation.

Then I come across a story on Apple blocking Google Voice from the App Store that reinforces the notion that they are stifling innovation.  Now, in this case it is likely due in part to pressure from AT&T, but there are official Google Voice apps for other mobile devices so it is still Apple that is caving in this case.  And if true that Phil Schiller had personally approved it and had to call to apologize, it is more embarrassing but also probably proof that it came from AT&T or (gasp) Steve.

I can understand, but don't agree with, why Apple would restrict apps may adversely affect battery life or confuse the average user, but outright not allowing interesting and creative apps that are ground breaking and available on other mobile devices is just wrong.  I love my iPhone and am happy I made the purchase as Android wasn't mature enough yet and I can jailbreak to get around some of Apple's restrictions, but I'm growing increasingly open to my next phone being something else as the other platforms mature and don't impose the restrictions Apple does.

Additional Thoughts on Google Latitude for iPhone and Apple vs Google, Apple vs Palm?

I wrote up some initial thoughts on Google Latitude for the iPhone a few days ago and this morning I come across this ZDNet blog entry on the struggle between Apple and Google on native vs browser based apps.  While a part of me admires Apple for going to extreme lengths to ensure their devices have a good user experience, in this case their desire to control the device is, IMHO, not providing the best experience.  As noted in my blog there are a few quirks and serious limitations that I think wouldn't be there if it was a native app or otherwise restricted by Apple's review process.

That said, Apple does control the device and Latitude not being available for the iPhone was a glaring gap so Google no doubt had to accept the limitations.  And clearly Apple is being successful with the iPhone, but at what point will Apple have to relinquish some control or risk losing market share to other devices running Android?  The iPhone has a head start but you can be sure that Android will improve and the openness of the platform will be an advantage that will benefit it.

And related, but in the Apple vs Palm front, as you are probably aware, one of the Palm Pre's touted features was being able to sync with iTunes.  Apple used their control of the platform to break that sync'ing with an iTunes update, but Palm has countered with an OS update that makes the sync'ing work again.  When will this cycle end?  Probably not any time soon.

Initial thoughts on Google Latitude for iPhone

I had heard about Google Latitude awhile back and wanted to try it out, but alas it didn't support the iPhone.  That is until today!  The Google Mobile Blog today announced support for the iPhone so of course I had to try it out.

As they highlight in the blog, this is not an app but rather a web-app you access in Safari.  Apparently Apple didn't want to confuse users with a new Google Maps type of app when there is already the native Maps app.  Since keeps things simple, but the downside is it apparently only can update your location when you are actually running Safari on the google.com/latitude site as it can't run in the background.  That is awfully limiting and I'd think its fatal flaw, but we'll see.

When I first pointed Safari at the app, it came up with a login form to log in to my Google account and, whoa, what just happened?  Suddenly Safari disappears and I'm back at the iPhone home screen.  This is the first outright crash of Safari on the iPhone I recall.

So, I try it again and this time there is no crash and I'm able to login.  Along the way though I'm asked to allow using my location no fewer than three times which seems a little much.  Oddly, getting all the way out of Safari, and running it again it only asked me once.

In any case, it tells me I have a friend request (I'd gotten that far when I tried to look at it awhile back) so I accept it and then go to try to add more friends myself.  It lets me scroll through my address book, but oddly the app has a floating menu bar at the bottom that it has to try to reposition while scrolling and the scrolling is much jumpier and frankly annoying than the scrolling in any other app I've seen on the iPhone.

Another first, and potential flaw, is that while I am inside and thus GPS assist isn't working, the location it has for me using its triangulation method isn't accurate, and in fact my actual location is about 400 meters outside the displayed accuracy circle.  I'm sure it probably has something to do with my specific location and isn't a widespread problem, but I swear before the OS 3.0 upgrade in the same situation Maps was more accurate.  And Maps is consistent so it isn't unique to Latitude.

In summary, great idea, but a few rough edges, particularly having to have Safari on the app in the foreground for it to work, probably make it more toy than genuinely useful app.  Have you tried it?  What do you think?  Your comments are welcome.