Gmail Push Notification Using Yahoo! Mail, How-To

[Note: For iPhone Users Only] There is a lot of desire out there from GMail users to have push notifications to their iPhones.  In fact, I’m one of them.  The recent attempt to provide push notifications by GPush, an app by Tiverias Apps, was an utter failure.  However, their immediate success to the top 100 list shows that there is indeed huge demand for this type of service.  The real solution is for Apple and Google to implement it the “right” way.  However, in the meantime, while we wait for the powers that be, what are some alternative solutions?

I have been looking into this scenario for a few days now.  Unlike others, I don’t mind fetching my email every 15 minutes.  I know it’s not the best for battery life, but I deal with it.  I can’t be bothered with the cumbersome solutions that some have proposed of running a desktop client on your computer that notifies your iPhone when you get mail - too tedious.  I want something I can set and forget.

Probably the most consumer friendly solution here is to use another email provider to push your notifications.  Yahoo! mail and MobileMe both support push notifications to your iPhone.  MobileMe provides a very nice integration, why wouldn’t it? it’s Apple’s solution.  However, MobileMe will also set you back $99.00 per year.

The cost-free way is to use Yahoo! Mail, and it’s super easy to setup and works excellently.  Here’s what you do:

1. First and foremost, if you don’t already have one go and get a Yahoo! Mail account.  You will use this email account as your push notification account on your device.
2. Now that you have your new Yahoo! Mail account, you must add it to your iPhone.  Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > Yahoo! Mail and enter the values as you set them up in step 1.
3. Ensure that Push is enabled.  Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data.  Should read “Push” if it doesn’t, slide the toggle to On.  At this point, if you were only to use Yahoo! Mail you will have push notifications for that account.
4. The last piece of this is to forward your GMail to your Yahoo! Mail.  Since forwarding happens near immediately, when Yahoo! Mail receives it the notification should show up on your iPhone fairly quickly.  To do this step, you must sign into your GMail account on a computer.  Go to Settings (top of page) > Forwarding and Pop/IMAP then click the radio button to enable forwarding.  Enter the email address you setup at Yahoo! Mail.  Click Save Changes.
5. You’re pretty much done now, except to give it a test try.  Send yourself an email to your Yahoo! Mail account.  You should be notified by Yahoo! within a minute, or less.

I should note that you will want to keep your other GMail accounts on your iPhone.  This way you can use the GMail account for replies and keeps your GMail synced should you read an email in the GMail account, etc.

We keep hoping that one of these firmware updates from Apple will enable true GMail push notifications.  However, in the meantime, we’ll continue to work around the deficiency and come up with our own creative solutions!  I should also note that this same trick will work for any email account.  Now that you have the Yahoo! part setup, forward any email account to your Yahoo! email and it will push it to your device.  Enjoy!

How To: Install Apps onto Your iPhone or iPod Touch

Since the iTunes App Store launched one year ago, it has grown to become the standard to follow for delivering applications to mobile devices.  Every mobile device manufacturer is scrambling to catchup to Apple in this regarHowever, if you are new to the iPhone or iPod, then installing applications may not be as intuitive or simple as you hoped.  So, if you’re like thousands of people out there that need a little help, then this post is for you.

So, you’ve been reading AppChatter.com, found an app you like and would now like it installed on your device.  No problem!  There are two main methods for getting apps from iTunes onto your device, here’s how:

The first, and possible the most comon method, is via your computer using iTunes.  Since iTunes comes for both PC and Mac, the process is pretty much identical for both platforms. Here are the steps:

1. If you haven’t already installed iTunes on your PC or Mac, go here and follow the instructions.
2. Also, if you don’t have an iTunes account, you must first open one via the iTunes application.  You’ll need to provide a credit card (used for buying apps, music and whatever else).
3. Now that you have iTunes installed and have an account, you’re ready to start app shopping.  You’ll find that many app links on the web (even those from AppChatter.com) will send you directly into iTunes and land you on the app page that you clicked on.  You may also use the App Store to search and find apps as well.
4. You’ve found the app you like, now click “Buy App” and follow the purchase instructions.
   
5. Now that you have the app on your PC/Mac, you have to sync it to your iPhone or iPod.  Using the USB cable, plugin your device to an available USB port on your computer.
6. Once connected, your iPhone/iPod will show up in the iTunes side bar.
   
7. Click on the device in the side bar, then click on the “Applications” tab.
8. You should now have a list of downloaded apps on your computer. Enable app sync, then select each app you want to install.
9. Click the Sync button in the bottom right of iTunes.
10. iTunes will now sync your device and install the checked applications.

The second method may be the easier method for getting apps onto your device, since it does not require a computer.  All iPhone and iPod Touch devices have both the iTunes and App Store apps installed on them.  However, you will still want to go through the iTunes setup and install on your computer so that you can keep your device backed up.

1. Using your iPhone or iPod, launch the App Store app.
   
2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and touch the Sign In button.
   
3. Select either “Use Existing Account” or “Create New Account” option.  If you didn’t already setup an account (never bought music before from iTunes?), then you’ll want to create a new account.
4. Confirm the store: United States, agree to the terms and follow the process for creating an account.
   
5. Now that you have your account created you can use one of the tabs (Featured, Categories, Top 25, Search) to shop for apps.  Take your time to explore the various methods.
6. Now that you’ve found the app you’d like to purchase, simply touch the price button and then touch again when it says “BUY NOW.”
   
7. You may need to confirm your password or enter your iTunes account email and password. Touch OK.
8. The App Store app will close and the purchased app will now download directly to your device.  Once installed, it will be ready to run.

The drawback to the second method is that if you are on the 3G or EDGE network you cannot install apps greater than 10MB.  If you’d like to install an app greater than 10MB you’ll need to find a WiFi signal do download it or use the first method above.

That’s it!  Happy app shopping!

A Tour of the iPhone 3GS Camera, Sample Pics [Part 1]

Part 1 of 2, Still Picture Mode:

In 2007, while other phone manufacturers were producing cell phones with 5MP cameras or higher, Apple chose to launch the original iPhone with a week 2MP, fixed lens camera. Then in 2008, with the introduction of the iPhone 3G, Apple chose to leave the camera untouched essentially continuing with the same lousy camera they introduced with the first iteration iPhone while disappointing many iPhone users (myself included). With the release of the iPhone 3GS one of the biggest improvements that previous iPhone users will see is the new 3.2MP camera.

iPhone	iPhone 3GS
Taken at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City, looking northward toward the Apple Store.

Finally, with Apple’s third installment of the iPhone they have chosen to improve the onboard camera, and improve they did.  Granted, the megapixel count didn’t increase much (it’s now 3.2MP vs. 2MP), but they introduced a few key features that makes this camera shine: autofocus, spot focus, spot metering and more.  Images from the new iPhone 3GS are considerably sharper, have noticeably more detail and are easily worthy of printing by your favorite photo printer (I wouldn’t say that for the first two iPhones) so long as you stay in the smaller sizes (3×5 or 4×6).

If you’ve read many of my posts before then you will know by now that I’m kind of a photography buff, so this post was not only necessary for me to write, it was also a lot of fun to produce.  Over the past couple of weeks I’ve taken my new iPhone out on a few photo outings.  I’ve tried to lug around my old iPhone too, for comparison sake, and you’ll see below that the results are pleasing and in many cases startling.

Let’s take a look at the technical specs of the cameras offered in the iPhone:

	iPhone	iPhone 3G	iPhone 3GS
Autofocus	No	No	Yes
Spot Focus (touch screen)	No	No	Yes
Spot Metering (touch screen)	No	No	Yes
Image/Video Geo Tagging	No/n/a	Yes/n/a	Yes/Yes
Image Size	1600 X 1200	1600 X 1200	2048 X 1536
Pixel Count (MP)	1,920,000 (1.9)	1,920,000 (1.9)	3,145,728 (3.1)
Video	No	No	Yes, VGA (640×480) 30fps with Audio
Flash	No	No	No

Camera Controls, Spot Focus, Spot Metering
One thing to notice immediately is that with iPhone OS 3.0 the interface has changed somewhat. Now you see a small thumbnail of your previously taken picture in the bottom corner. On an iPhone 3GS, you also see a slider button to toggle between video and still mode (video functions to be covered in a later post). However, what’s more is that you now get the focus square in the middle of the screen when the camera is focusing and adjusting aperture.

iPhone 3GS Camera Interface

Note the still/video toggle and also the small square in the image which is where I touched on the screen for spot focus/metering

Touch anywhere on the screen and that is the spot that the camera will focus and take it’s metering from. This is a very cool function, one that we will likely see in high-end dSLR cameras in the future (mark my words!) and you saw it here first!! (well, on your iPhone 3GS first). Why is this function so important and cool? Well, with any typical camera these days, in order to “spot” focus or “spot” meter you must point the center of the camera at the point that you want to focus/meter, half press the shutter button, re-frame your subject then follow through on the shutter release. Well, not with the iPhone 3GS. Simply frame you subject, touch the screen where you want focus to be, and touch the shutter release button. Wrong exposure? No problem, just touch somewhere else and allow the phone to re-focus and re-meter that spot then retake the pic. Here’s a couple of samples to demonstrate this feature:

iPhone 3GS Spot Focus/Metering Demo
Focus/Metering on Tree Note the detail in the tree.	Focus/Metering on Flower Note the detail in the flower.
Focus/Metering on Desk	Focus/Metering on Window

Macro
If you are a macro photographer then you will appreciate the new minimum focus distance of the new iPhone 3GS’ camera. Macro shots, albeit not as sharp as even a P&S camera, are now possible.

iPhone	iPhone 3GS
Comparison Macro between iPhone and iPhone 3GS.

Conclusion
The new camera offered in the iPhone 3GS is a significant step up from the previous two offerings. Now, having said that, I wouldn’t call the camera superior to all phone-mounted cameras, but it is a refreshing improvement. If you’re a hardcore photographer then by all means, don’t consider this camera for much of anything. However, if you’re a photo buff and like to experiment and would find value in these new features, then this will be a nice improvement to your phone.

Pros

• Significantly better than previous iPhone cameras.
• Spot Focus and Metering are welcome additions, and make using the camera function much more enjoyable.
• Auto focus is finally here.
• Video (See follow on post that will discuss this in greater detail).
• Much improved detail in images (due mainly to auto focus)
• 150% more megapixels than previous iPhone cameras, although 3.2MP is nothing to scream about.
• Much improved low-light capabilities, albeit far from what I’d like to see.

Cons

• Still lags behind the competition in camera resolution.
• No flash.
• Still not a point and shoot replacement (yes, I know it’s a phone first - it’s all about device convergence).
• Ity, bity, tiny lens. Until this is bigger, not much here will change.
• Still no physical camera buttons for shutter release or even to switch to camera mode.  You must use the touch interface.
• No self-timer.

Samples

iPhone	iPhone 3GS

Post your feedback in the comments, I’d love to hear what you think. Also, if you liked this post, there are many similar others so take a poke around.

Note: All images in this post are © Copyright 2009 by Rob Lyons and AppChatter.com.

How To: 5 Tips to Improve Your iPhone Battery Life

This will be my second post in a new series of how-to posts here on AppChatter.com. The first post dealt with removing Apple app icons from your springboard a la Parental Controls. In this post, I will discuss a much debated topic: iPhone battery and improving the iPhone’s battery life.  So while I recognize that my approach here will be scoffed at by many, I’m sure others out there will welcome the tips.  I will preface that not all the tips offered here will work for everyone, obviously, so to each his own (or however that goes).

If you’re a heavy user like me, then battery life is likely a limiting factor with your iPhone.  Likewise, if  you’re not a really heavy user, but just looking to eek out as much battery life on each charge cycle as you possibly can, then the pointers below will definitely help you out as well.

I moved up from a first-generation iPhone to the 3GS, partly because I thought it was high-time to upgrade but mostly because the new features found in the new device were just too much to pass on.  So here I am over a week later on the new iPhone 3GS and all my biggest complaint so far is: battery life sucks!  That’s right, under iPhone 2G I could browse the web all day (albeit over EDGE), listen to music, pull email from 5 email accounts (mostly google mail), and test app after app after app (this is an app review site, afterall!).  At the end of the day I would regularly have 30-50% battery left.

Since moving to the 3GS, I can do about half of what I used to do on my old phone before reaching the 20% battery warning.  I now carry a battery cable in my car for just this, since now when I leave work my phone is nearly dead.

So what can you do to improve  your battery life?  Well, turns out, there’s a lot you can do.  Since any new feature that Apple puts into the iPhone ultimately costs battery life, some of these more battery intensive features can be disabled at the cost of omitting that function.  So, here we go:

1. Probably the biggest battery eater on your new iPhone is the 3G network.  While significantly faster for data connections it eats battery like no other function can.  So, if you’re always near WiFi for data, or don’t ever use your phone to browse the web, or simply don’t mind the slower data speeds of EDGE, then you can disable 3G.  Go to: Settings (you’ll go here for all of these suggestions) -> General -> Network and turn off 3G.  Your battery life just improved dramatically.
2. One of the long-anticipated features of the new iPhone OS 3.0 is push notifications.  Unfortunately, this is also a feature that will contribute to a quicker battery drain.  If this feature isn’t important to you, here’s how to disable it: Settings->Notifications, now turn it off.  If you’re using apps such as Textfree with notification, disabling this feature will cause that you are not notified when your friends text you, or when AP Mobile app needs to alert you to the death of another Hollywood star.
3. Don’t ever use WiFi?  Turn it off.  Turning off another radio on your phone will only improve your battery life.  However, don’t turn it off in lieu of using 3G, since that will be taking a step backwards in terms of battery life.  If you use WiFi and are in WiFi area, then see #1 above.  To turn this one off, go to Settings->WiFi and tun it off.
4. Bluetooth is another radio in that device of yours using up power, albeit not much.  However it is using power to scan devices in its vecinity if BT is enabled.  So if you don’t use BT for anything, turn it off.  Settings->General->Bluetooth.
5. The final radio to disable is  your GPS or Location Services.  Since you can’t just disable the GPS radio you have to actually disable the service altogether.  Doing so means that Google maps will no longer display your location, and any location aware app (a lot of them) will no longer be able to determine your location.  However, once again, it’s another radio taking juice so if you’re main focus is a long battery then this will help. Settings->General, turn off Location Services.
6. [Updated] This post really should have been the top 10 ways to save battery because undoubtedly I’ll get to 10.  But here’s one that was overlooked in the original post: Dim the light.  That’s right, turn down that brightness and turn on auto-bright.  The light used to illuminate your screen is a big battery killer, so if you can tolerate a lower brightness then this will help eek out some battery juice.  Settings->Brightness then slide the slider.

These suggestions are not for everyone, we get that, but if you’re trying to figure out how to  get a little extra life out of your iPhone then surely there’s something in that list that will help.  We also intentionally omitted suggestions such as limiting your call time or web browsing time and focused solely on what features of the phone could be disabled in order to extend your battery life.  Furthermore, the list is not conclusive.  In fact, if there’s other things that you’ve found that you can do to improve your battery life, by all means let us know in the comments.

How To: Easily Remove (some) Apple App Icons

I see and hear complaints all the time of people wanting to remove pre-installed applications from Apple off of their iPhone or iPod Touch.  Everybody knows by now that to remove an app installed from the App Store simply touch and hold the app icon until all the icons jiggle.  Once the icons start to jiggle the non-Apple apps will have a black “X” badge in the corner of them.  Touch there to remove that app from your device.  But what if you want an Apple app removed?  There is no black “X” badge that appears for Apple apps, so that doesn’t work.

With the introduction of iPhone OS 3.0 Apple added Parental Controls called “Restrictions.”  Using the Restrictions function you can block access to all sorts of content on the device - including a few applications.  While not a surefire way to remove all of the Apple icons from the springboard, you can use Restrictions to block access (ie: remove) to a few of the Apple installed applications such as Safari, YouTube, Camera, iTunes and App Store.  You’re still stuck with the other Apple apps such as Notes, Calendar, Weather, Stocks, Mail, etc.  But for these few applications turning them off and hiding their icons is easy.

To use Restrictions to hide the icons of these apps you must first enable it in the Settings app. Navigate to Settings, select Restrictions,  enable Restrictions, and enter a passcode.  Now you can easily turn off the apps that you don’t want showing up anymore.  That’s it! You’re done!  If you need help on how to enable Restrictions via step by step then see our earlier post: Tour of Parental Controls.

A Tour of Parental Controls on iPhone OS 3.0

Apple’s recent release of the iPhone OS 3.0 has brought a lot of new functionality to the iPhone and iPod Touch. We now have the long awaited push notifications, the ability to search our devices (spotlight), as well as copy and paste.  However, it has also brought a whole new level of worry for parents.

This new OS allows a higher degree of parental controls and lock outs, which is good.  However, with the new parental controls in place, Apple decided they could start releasing more explicit apps in the iTunes App Store.  There is a new rating of 17+, which opens the door now for apps containing full nudity and porn to be submitted for sale on iTunes.  In fact, one such app was released Wednesday.  It was later pulled from the App Store, but not because Apple didn’t approve.  Rather, it was pulled because the developer’s servers were at capacity. [Update: Apple did indeed remove the application in question after they realized the developer had remotely changed the content to include nude photos.]  It seems the introduction of these types of apps is imminent.

So, we decided it was high time we got information out there on how parents can keep their kids, and themselves, safe.  Enabling parental controls, called “Restrictions,” on an iPhone or iPod Touch is very easy.

1. Open the Settings app

2. Tap on General

3. Scroll down the page and tap on Restrictions

4. You will then be asked to setup a four number passcode. Remember what you enter here, as you will need to re-enter the passcode to make changes to parental controls in the future.

5. At the top is a button to enable restrictions.  Touch there.  Now there is a section for apps that you can choose to allow or block.  These apps include: Safari (an internet browser), You Tube, iTunes, Installing Apps, and Location.  The bottom section of the screen allows you to block or limit the content that can be viewed on the device.  You can allow or block In-App Purchases, block explicit Music & Podcasts, and choose the acceptable rating for Movies, TV Shows, and Apps.

Any content on the iPod or iPhone that does not meet the restrictions you place on the device should simply disappear once you have set the restrictions.  After you have adjusted the settings, exit the app.  The restrictions will not be accessible again without the passcode you put in place.

One further word of caution.  Placing restrictions on an iPhone or iPod does not guarantee that your child will never run across anything that you don’t want them to see or hear.  I have run across some apps that I found offensive that only had a rating of 4+.  I would never allow my 5 year old to play with them.  They are inappropriate for that age group.  Furthermore, you should not consider the new parental controls as an end-all to keeping your kid’s away from this content. Most know that they could just launch Safari and browse any of the millions of porn sites already on the web. There is no substitute for staying involved in our kids lives and being aware of what things they are viewing and listening to.  That having been said, the parental controls that are there help block most of the content you’d like to keep from your kids and make these devices a little safer for all.

For more information, or to watch a step by step tutorial, check out our video on parental controls coming soon to YouTube.

A Tour of Voice Control on the new iPhone 3GS, with Video

One of the great new features of the new iPhone 3GS is Voice Conrol.  This new feature allows you to call contacts, dial phone numbers, play music and more.  While voice control for a phone is not new, it is new for the iPhone and it is only available on the new iPhone 3GS. I did a quick video tour of Voice Control this evening, just jump to the end to skip the written stuff…

Voice Control is launched by holding down the home button while on any screen, even if the phone is locked.  Once it launches, you hear a couple of beeps which indicate that it is ready for your voice command.  There are a number of things that you can say, such as “play songs by … ” or “next song” or “shuffle.”  You can also ask what song is playing or what artist and a few other iPod commands.  For dialing phone numbers simplay say: “call <contact>” or “dial <phone number>.”

Here’s a list of commands:

Command	What to say
Get basic help	Say “help”
Call someone in contacts	Say “call” or “dial” then the name in the contacts list. If the person has more than one number you can elaborate and say “mobile” or “home.”
Dial a phone number	Say “call” or “dial” and then the phone number.”
Make a correction	Say “wrong”, “not that one”, “no”, “nope.”
Control Music Playback	Say “play songs by ,” or “play artist “, “play album “, “play playlist .”
iPod Control	Say “pause,” or “next song,” or “pause music,” or “previous song,” or “shuffle.”
More information	Say “what song is this,” or “what’s playing,” or “who sings this song,” or “who is this song by.”
Genius	Say “genius,” or “more songs like this,” or “play more songs like this one.”
Cancel	Say “cancel.”

The voice command list is rather short, but it’s not bad for a first iteration. We were hoping to see the ability to launch applications (like the new voice memo’s app?) but that function is noticeably missing. We can only assume that a future software update will enhance this feature further and we look forward to those enhancements. Also, I tried to use the voice function using a Plantronics bluetooth headset but no-go. You must hold down the home button (or Apple pause button on included headset) to launch. It will also not use the mic on your bluetooth device, so keep the phone close … or use the included headset.

The good: very accurate, even understands my 5yo when he speaks at it (which he loves to do). Easy to launch (home button for 3 seconds or headphone pause button for 3 seconds).

The not-so-good: A rather short list of commands. Does not work with many bluetooth devices.