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Worried about iPhone international roaming charges while traveling abroad, but you want to use the phone’s GPS? Read on.
I’ve had lots of people ask me about using their iPhone when traveling abroad. Specifically, they want to know if the GPS will work without the SIM card installed (yes) or while in Airplane Mode (no).
MotionX GPS updated their iPhone app a while back with an extremely useful feature: The ability to preload a map cache for selected geographic areas. You can also select a range of zoom levels you wish to cache. The interface is as simple as dragging a circle around the area to be cached. You can also drag an oval shape if your travels are more linear-inclined.
Before the update I preloaded map tiles into MotionX GPS by dragging maps around an area of interest in advance of my travels. That wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t have to repeat the procedure for every zoom level you might want to view while offline. Omissions were inevitable.
Of course as you select closer and closer zoom levels there will be far more tiles to download. The app lets you know how many megabytes you’re downloading and a progress bar lets you know when the cache has been built. You can also delete a cache when you don’t need it anymore.
Cached maps improve performance while online as well, so maybe you’d download your home town. The maps will load faster when they’re already on your iPhone. Note that MotionX GPS works with Google and Bing map tiles but the preload cache feature only works with MotionX’s own maps. The MotionX maps have been fine for Murphy.
Your phone has a button to turn off data roaming, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t use the iPhone for voice or data. Instead of using Airplane Mode while in Toronto I removed my sim card to ensure I wouldn’t be charged international data rates. Airplane Mode turns off the GPS receiver. My hotel wifi connection gave the GPS enough information to get a fast fix on my location and from then on the GPS worked just fine. Without a cellular or indexed wifi connection it could take a very long time for the iPhone GPS to report its location.
Note: Turning on Airplane Mode turns off wifi too, but you can manually turn wifi back on while in Airplane Mode.
MotionX GPS isn’t primarily designed for tourists or finding restaurants. But to find your way around the streets in an unfamiliar city it’s more than adequate. The application is built for biking, hiking, running, etc. But the cache and other features make it useful in many situations. For $2.99 MotionX GPS is easily one of the best paid apps Murphy has purchased.
MotionX GPS ($2.99) has frequently been updated with useful new functionality since I purchased it. They also make a turn-by-turn direction product called Drive that Murphy hasn’t tried yet.
More on MotionX GPS:
Loading Google Directions into MotionX GPS
Intro to MotionX GPS
Murphy's Web Host
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Just kidding, Murph doesn’t unbox.
But Snow Leopard did arrive today. And while I was pleased last month that it seemed Apple was keeping to its word — it’s not about shiny new features — I kind of wished there were a few more today. That said, I admire the goal Apple set for itself here, and I hope Snow Leopard proves itself with increased stability and performance.
Here are a handful of observations:
- My in-place install took 40 minutes.
- I reclaimed 20GB of space.
- The text replacement feature doesn’t apply to Terminal.
- Screenshots are now named with a date-time stamp.
- The new Expose stuff is nice. Hover the mouse over a window and tap the spacebar to zoom in.
- I’ve never really used Stacks, but I’ll give it another shot with Snow Leopard.
And that’s about as far as I got.
I had two issues with applications. I’m a big fan of 1Password. There’s a slightly unusual situation there. They have a beta that’s compatible with Snow Leopard, jumping the product to version 3. That product is still in beta but available now with reduced pricing. Working fine for Murphy so far. If you stick with version 2 you’ll need to run Safari in 32bit mode, which can be done by selecting Safari in Finder and bringing up its Get Info panel.
The other issue was with Airfoil. Same thing: I had to run Safari in 32bit mode to make it work with Snow Leopard.
That’s about all I’ve gotten to so far.
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Unfortunately, none of our senior staff expect any of these items to reach the iPhone 3.1 update, rumored to be on schedule for a September release. Still - here’s what we’d like to see:
More Voice Commands
Specifically: Navigate Voicemail. Launch Apps. Open a Safari bookmark.
The Voice commands work better than expected. It would be nice to extend them to a few more functions. The Google Mobile app is a great example of voice working well.
Wifi OFF button on Available Networks List
It makes perfect sense. When the iPhone offers a list of wifi network to choose from there should be an OFF button. Otherwise a series of taps is required to turn it off.
Why it won’t happen? There has to be a nefarious reason it hasn’t been added since people realized how helpful it would be back in June 07. My guess: Apple is appeasing AT&T. Omit a super-convenient way to turn Wifi off and users are less likely to burden AT&T’s network.
Camera Shutter Release
Make the physical volume buttons a shutter release for the camera. Please.
Conventional Speed Dialing
Press and hold a digit on the numeric keypad. You could assign a speed-dial number to entries inside your Favorites. Single digits can be easier to spot and tap if you’re running or holding a puppy or something.
Non-destructive Video Editing.
Heard this is on the way. They should add non-destructive photo cropping while they’re at it.
Stacks
I don’t have tons of pages of apps, but some people do and this would be useful. A folder icon full of apps on the home screen that reveals its contents when held. Some users would find stacks a more convenient way to store Safari bookmarks. Like Murphy.
Overall, the iPhone 3GS exceeds my expectations. But we always want more. Right?
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If you’re using Google Voice you may have realized getting people to use your new number could be tricky. Lifehacker has a post covering steps you can take to make your friends update their contacts. But the most important factor in getting people to use your new number could easily be CallerID.
If you call someone without going through Google Voice they’ll see the number of the phone you’re using: home landline, cell, or work. The extra steps to initiate the call through Google Voice might be a barrier for users otherwise interested in the service.
But there’s a way to direct dial your contacts and have them see your Google Voice number in the Caller ID. When one of your friends sends an SMS to your Google Voice number it needs to go through a legit mobile number as the intermediary. Google has taken control of a block of area code 406 numbers in Montana for this purpose. The 406 number you (GV user) see when Wendy sends you a text is a permanent mapping between you and Wendy. In other words, Your Google Voice Account + 406 123 4567 = Wendy’s Mobile Phone. But you can’t tell your sister who uses Google Voice to use that same 406 number to call Wendy. For your sister’s Google Voice account there will be a different 406 number assigned to Wendy. The mapping allows one 406 number to be used by many Google Voice customers.
Here’s what happens when you dial the 406 number from one of your Google Voice associated phones: By dialing the 406 number in the first place you’re calling straight into Google Voice. Google sees it’s your home landline from the CallerID and knows you are a Google Voice user. Then Google joins your Google Voice account with the 406 number you’ve dialed which maps to Wendy’s mobile. Your call is completed to Wendy with your Google Voice number inserted into the CallerID instead of the number of the phone you’re calling from.
Downside? From a home landline it would be a long distance call for those of us outside 406. But from many mobile phones long distance is included, so there’s no extra charge.
Keep in mind that another Google Voice user will have a different 406 number for Wendy. Another catch: You can’t use the 406 number from a phone you haven’t tied into your Google Voice account. That would result in Google only having half the equation - they wouldn’t know what Google Voice account to pair with the 406 number to see who should be called. A call to the 406 number from a non-Google Voice phone won’t be completed.
Google hasn’t provided tons of information on the 406 numbers but it’s been reported that the mappings are permanent. For many people, using the 406 numbers to call your contacts will be the most direct way to dial through Google Voice. And it’ll help get people switched over to your new Google Voice number.
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Apple rolled out changes to the Apple TV - and the Remote app for iPhone and iPod touch - shortly after the new iPhone came out. The Remote app was already pretty good, but it had some holes. You couldn’t control everything on your Apple TV — it was more of an iPod-like interface for Apple TV.
Now you can directly control the on-screen menu, no need to have another remote control just for that. What’s more interesting: You can control the Apple TV without looking at your remote.
Is that such a big deal? Probably not if you were using a little white Apple remote for Apple TV. There are so few buttons it’s easy to know where your thumb is.
But Murphy uses a JP1 remote that controls TV, stereo, DVD, and Apple TV. The little white Apple remote is in a drawer somewhere. The JP1 has quite a few buttons on it - so only a well-trained thumb can operate it without looking down. Yeah, your iPhone is another device to have around. But unlike the little white remote it’s probably right there anyway.
With my iPhone and its new Remote app navigating the Apple TV menus is simple, just drag your thumb up, down, right, and left. Tap anywhere to select a menu. During playback you can use simple drag gestures to fast forward and rewind at various speeds. Tap to pause. Incredibly easy and intuitive. Think of it this way: Your iPhone is a trackpad and your Apple TV is the computer display. Yes - Apple has quietly provided a wireless trackpad for your television.
Is it something you have to have? No. Is it nice to have? Yes. It’s an example of Apple devices working well together. It’s driving innovation. And it makes you wonder why a Sony phone or Wifi Walkman can’t do the same thing with Sony devices.
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