iGenapps MyApps - What not to do if you're a startup.

I have been interested for the past two days  in an app that has shown great promise.  My Apps is an app from a company called iGenApps available for the iPhone that promises to change the landscape of iPhone programming, by bringing self-made apps to the masses, without the need to learn cumbersome code.  The app is available for $1.99 at the app store and its 3rd iteration was brought into the light by a road show that took the web by storm this week.  At a demonstration at a conference, appropriately named DEMO.COM,  the company was able to show how easy it is to develop a rudimentary application on the iPhone and make it available as a web app for usage by anyone to whom you email the web address.   

I actually stopped dictating my charts after I saw the demo on thursday and proceeded to drop 2 hours into creating an app that I've been toiling over for my call group.  In the space of 20 minutes I was able to create the app that I had toiled over in Objective-C for months.  Granted the UI was relatively generic and standard, it was perfect for what I needed it for.  And 20 minutes would have been all that I needed to create, distribute and sing the praises of this app until something went terribly wrong!

I was unable to see a preview of my app.  I tried several times, but could never get the chance to see what my app actually looked like in the wild.  I tried different things, even having one of my partners sign up and recreating the app through their account. But to no avail, the app would get stuck in trying to do a preview.  I knew that I was not alone when a few other users started mentioning this on the comments section of the App store.  So I sent an email to the company, followed by a message to their Technical Support team (which the app stated to use) and then on Twitter.  Despite all three modes there was no response from the company.  Tweets on Twitter from other users were not useful, with a plethora of retweets supporting the view of how much of a game changer this app would become.  But it was obvious that none of the people tweeting had actually used the product.  There were no negative tweets except my own.  I assume that the company, an obvious startup, had become oblivious to the negative comments in the App store since they were on their road tour .

I would like to assume that there was oblivion and that the company was completely unaware, because the deafening silence was essentially disturbing.  I managed to see the wonderful reviews on the App store go from 5 stars for version 1.02 of their software to 1 star for the current version 1.03.  I obviously wished that I was privy to the earlier versions.   This is a problem for startups that I have seen on several occasions - How to communicate with your customers when things go wrong?  And quite honestly, I think that this is probably the worst thing that could have happened to iGenApps.  Imagine being the leaders of a company, performing an incredible demonstration, wowing the internet community, even stopping a physician in his tracks from dictating so that he could look at this sensational app, only to have a server go down.   With such worldwide attention, it would seem that even if there was a disaster on a server, the company would get ahead of this and mention it in a tweet or on their web site.  Apple does this!

As of this writing a few people have written that they have received word that there is a server issue at iGenapps and that it is directly affecting the Previews.  It is hoped that they will correct this by the end of this weekend.  But the real problem here is that we are finding this out through other users who are lucky enough to get an email.   This is not a good idea for a company that is poised to be a game changer.   Other companies are using Twitter or at the very least, releasing server updates on their website.  But this deafening silence is awful.

I personally see this company and its product as game changers.  I think that there will be more companies coming to the forefront who will do the same, if not better, but IGenapps needs to improve on its ability to communicate with its customers if it is to lead in this nascient category.

Thank You Palm - A Reprint from 2010

Feeling a little nostalgic today, I have decided to pay homage to a great company that put itself up for sale 2 years ago.  A company that started a revolution and literally became one of the first companies that changed the way in which I look at the world.  As I did in 2010, I will say it again, THANK YOU PALM. 

Sunday, April 11, 2010

T H A N K Y O U P A L M

Bloomberg is reporting that PALM has put itself up for sale. What a sad day this is if the rumors are true. I remember the early days of Palm and can reflect back on a time when this company really ruled the handheld market. What a difference a few years make. A misstep here, a faulty product launch there and a lagging Operating system brought this company down. Even with a sensational product like the PRE, the company did it all too late.

I shed a tear for this company. I personally tried, by starting this blog, to contribute to the Palm blogosphere and my requests for updates and additions were more out of love for the company that was and the company that I wanted it to be. Who can forget the day that they set their eyes on the Palm III ? It was a thing of beauty. Or the slider on the Palm V? I actually had two of them. That was innovation ! Palm really showed how to build a platform that was sustainable and profitable. Almost every physician that I knew had a Palm Pilot. It would go off in meetings. We would beam our cards, notes, addresses and files to each other. We would scribble our thoughts with various types of styli.

One day when I started a new job many years ago, I remember my partner suggesting that some salacious activity was going on between myself and an attractive looking drug rep. She had a Handspring (keep the puns to yourself, this is G-Rated :)), and she had all of the latest games and new software available. Not worrying about viruses at the time, I would always welcome the additions. She would beam these to me on her monthly visits. It turned out that her fiance was a developer, so I would get a lot of "free" programs and test them. My partner only heard "beaming" and other terms during the lunch breaks and always made sly comments. Well it wasn't too long before he joined the party. Not only that, but he became an advisor to Epocrates within two years. So much for salacious activity :).

Those were the early days. Along the way I met some wonderful people in the Palm hemisphere. A few developers and of course Sammy McLoughlin from PalmAddicts who remains steadfastly one of the staunchest supporters of Palm. He is also a very good guy. He was single handedly responsible for putting this blog on the charts. Again, it stemmed from my love affair with Palm. Apparently just about everyone on the Palmaddicts blog had the same love affair. This same affliction led to a meeting with Ryan Block and Peter Rojas during one of their whirlwind Engadget meetups. They offered great advice. All of this, because of PALM.

Of course my departure from Palm land happened in spirit in late 2006. I was becoming very much removed from the over promising and under delivering, not to mention the poor hardware that lacked innovation and kept on crashing - THE LIFEDRIVE. But on a day that I worked, but kept hitting F5 while surfing Engadget, I could not believe what happened next! If I was spirtitualy removed from Palm in late 2006, I was mentally divorced on that morning in January. Steve Jobs presented the iPhone and it appeared that this was the answer - a solid state device that was a PIM, small computer and a phone WITHOUT A STYLUS. I welcomed it, not only because it was brilliant, but because I thought it would put some fire into Palm. What happened next made the spiritual and mental break a complete physical one. It appeared that Palm was in panic mode! The rest of course is history.

But I prefer to remember the good times. The CASL Basic days, the NSBasic days along with programs like Smartlistogo and Handbase. Literally these small apps changed the way in which I lived. They served as organizing points and the Palm devices really stressed the things found in "The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People" by Steven Covey. Prioritization and historically recording facts; dumping the Franklin Covey address books and the never ending desk, wall and hand held calendars. Palm was it! I remember being in a small town and people crowding around me to look at my Palm V. I fondly remember in 1998 seeing the first Palm device at a dinner meeting when someone asked for my address. Yes, I needed that. It wasn't a want.

Now they will be no more! I am really going to miss this company. I will miss their once superior innovation skills. But really, despite the misses, I want to go on record to say THANK YOU PALM for all that you have given us. You changed the world. You were one of the true innovators, where many emulated/copied/plagiarized/

stole from you in the name of competition, you remained true to your calling - Innovation and simplicity.

Still waiting for THE Apple TV

Currently I have two Apple TV2's.  I picked up the "hockey puck" style device the first week it came out and considered it a work of wonder.  The idea of having no on board hard drive or "Mega Memory" didn't faze me.  Netflix adoption was the key and I was satisfied with the idea that on any given friday or saturday, sitting with my family, we could order a movie from Apple's large library of new releases or find a movie or show on Netflix.  Along the way, we suddenly noticed that we wanted to re watch some of our older movies and actually watch a few of the movies that were given to us for birthdays and holidays.  We rarely used a DVD player thus saving a copy of the movie on the computer was beneficial.  But it became cumbersome.  Add to that, the idea of converting formats for older films, the whole thing became burdensome.

With that in mind, I picked up a second ATV2 device with the intent of modifying it completely.  I looked around and considered Firecore, but decided that this would be better if I did the whole modification myself.  I was able to keep the installation nimble, using up very little memory and installed only the programs that I needed.  XBMC became the go to product.  With XBMC, there were issues that were eventually worked out, including the intermittent playback issues of movies encoded in Apple's .MV4, the defacto for the AppleTV.   However, I was able to watch other movies from my NAS server without problems.   More importantly, I did not need to have a computer on to stream movies to the Apple TV.  A simple NAS drive with AFP or SMB protocols did the trick.   Surprisingly, I was even able to play back 1080p MKV files without problems or hiccups.

Along the way, the family decided that it would be good for my psyche to pick up an old BOXEE device.  They got it on the cheap and I was a happy camper.  Something else to tinker with.  Although the software was not as refined as the Apple TV, I was impressed by its ability to stream anything and everything with impunity.   It was even able to Airshare and 1080p was the defacto setting.  Without a doubt, Boxee, with its 150+ apps was a winner and I found myself watching less and less of the Apple TV.  However, my wife and kids still loved the ATV hockey puck.  Whether it was the hacked version or the unadulterated one, they went back to Apple's simplicity - the one remote control with its minimalist buttons.  Everything about it was better for them.  And to be honest, the UI was just simple to use.

The New Apple TV Apps/Home Page

So imagine my dismay last night when I updated the ATV2 (vanilla device, not the hacked one) and saw what appeared to be a very close cousin of the Boxee UI. Additionally, imagine my dismay at the finding that one can only select two screen sizes - Standard and 720p.  The ATV2 has the A4 chip, the same chip found in the iPhone 4, which by the way can also handle 1080 p videos without a glitch.  The new ATV3 has the new A5 chip which is supposedly the reason why it can handle 1080p.  However, as many of the hackers have already proven, the A4 chip found on the current ATV2 can handle 1080 p without problems.  This begs the question - Why is 1080p only allowed in the new Apple TV and not the current model?

The Boxee Apps Page

Additionally, why is Apple skimping on the Apps?  Boxee has 150+ Apps, including the Wall Street Journal, Netflix and Vimeo which are found prominently on the ATV iOs 5.0 .  These incremental adjustments may be making way for what I believe is an inevitability.   I believe that this is an incremental upgrade in the grand scheme of things.  It is a move akin to the iPhone 3G to 3GS.   There is really nothing in the new Apple TV that would warrant a major purchase.  The hardware serial numbers or markers are probably preventing 1080p downloads from Apple's servers.   And this again must mean that Apple is planning on making the hockey puck obsolete within the next 12 months.  Obsolescence is always started and concluded by Apple and not by its competition.  If the reports are true, expect the next great release of hardware to be a real television or a totally revised Apple TV.

Still waiting for an Apple device that reads from a NAS drive without iTunes.

iPhonedoc.

It's Crazy Time Again....AppleTV and iPad.

It's that time of the year again folks.  The time when the blogs go crazy about Apple gadgets. It would appear that Apple has conquered the calendar to coincide with earnings reports.   March for the iPad, October for the iPhone and September for the iPod.  Of course all of this is subject to change, but it would appear that the company is on track to release several major updates on time.

What I would not be expecting is a new APPLE TV.  Let me expand on that.  I am expecting an APPLE TV device, akin to the Apple TV Hockey Puck device, but I am not expecting an actual television as some have postulated.  Unfortunately, since some (to coin a phrase from one of my twitter friends) eeeeejits will assume that a real AppleTV in the form of a television is coming out, this may do crazy things to the stock after next wednesday.

But short term aside, let me express my desire for the new AppleTV, something that I am a lot more interested in than the new iPad, which I really do not need right now:

1.  Expansion of Codecs.  I've said enough about this one.
2.  Some break away from iTunes dependence so that we can read files from a Nas Drive.
3.  1080 p.   The 720 p videos are very poor when compared to the Boxxee.
4.  More on board Ram.
5.  More video "apps."   I would love a Premier League package and more access to Indy films.
6.  Cheaper cloud storage.
7.  Access to other cloud servers.
8.  Some real time use for that USB slot.   Perhaps local file reads without iTunes, for movies?


As for the iPad, I will be interested to see if, apart from the incredible screen being reported, the company announces more amazing things for this device.   Stay tuned.....

Dear Amazon and Apple, We Need Family Accounts

We live in a land that has food, clothing, water and electricity.   We have gadgets that make a mockery out of those shown in the 60's.  We have bought into the commercialization of "must have it" gadgets, not just as individuals, but as a group and more aptly, as a family.   So why is it that after falling for all of the commercials, rantings and sales pitches, we the people cannot get two of the best companies in retail to get their acts together and create a family account?

Both companies have succeeded in getting consumers to purchase multiple devices that bare their name.  With integration via Whispersync for Amazon and now iCloud for Apple, both companies have made it possible to download files to all devices - ie Kindles or iPod Touches, iPhones etc from one account, without having to pay additional funds for the privilege.

But where both companies fall short is in the implementation of a real family account.  Apple has iTunes linked to one owner.  All who own an Apple device who want to share from the same iTunes account, must have links to the same Apple ID.  Hence, your son's iPod Touch must use the Master ID to access iTunes and download media.   It's not a bad system, particularly if you download apps, but recently, with the advent of iCloud, the system has gotten a little more disturbing.  Apple assumes that all devices - your kids, your wife's, etc - linked to the iTunes Apple ID account all belong to one person - the person with the Apple ID.  So, it will automatically download an app to your wife's iPod, kid's iPod Touch etc., without your permission.  This includes songs and other things as well.  It may not be in your best interest to do this all of the time and it can become downright annoying.

Amazon's system is a lot worse because it revolves around books.  For the Apple iBook store the same problem applies, but since Amazon's main dish is books, this is more of a problem.  I recently purchased Kindles for my kids.  I have a lot of books in my archive space - this is Amazon's cloud storage for your books (a nice system since you can archive 100's of books and only keep a few on your Kindle, thus saving space).  Due to the fact that both kids will be reading the same books a few years apart from each other for required reading at school, it behooves them to have the same account.  I have found out that the master account, which is mine, is not the best place to do that.   My son, in no time flat, began downloading free books without a password and is now only steps away from ordering from Amazon with One-Click to my credit card !  As of Christmas day, one required a credit card to open an account at Amazon and an email address.  So I will have to create a whole separate account with a prepaid credit card to "Stop The Madness."

Both of these solutions are obviously riddled with problems.  Both were created with one end user in mind and both systems have not modified their programming to include multiple users in the same household.  Both have successfully placed commercials showing the benefits of kids having a device with happy, smiling family faces and cute little children pressing touch screens.  But the reality is this. If you're on Amazon and you've got yourself a Kindle and a host of cheap Kindles for your family, your 8 year old could be downloading from your archive Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the unabridged works of James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence!   Apple is not immune to this.  The same holds true for their iBook store as well.

What we need is the following:


1.  A Master Account (MA).

       This account would tie all of the other accounts together and would have an Archive that may or may not be visible to those who have a secondary account tied to the main account.       This would be similar to Windows/Linux/OSX Main account in the OS. 

2.  Secondary Accounts (SA).

        Secondary Accounts link to the Master Account with separate permissions in place, ie.  Each secondary account may have its own password and download books to the Master Account, but  release the book to anyone tied to the Master Account (MA). 

        The holder of the Master Account (MA) would have full access to all Secondary Accounts including the ability to terminate Secondary Accounts and to not download from the MA archives.  Additionally, it would have the ability to shield secondary accounts from actually seeing the entire catalog of the Master Account and allow visibility access to only those who get permission to view it.        

I am sure that more restrictions could be placed, such as limiting the secondary accounts to no more than six people living in the same household or something like that.  But this would eliminate the multiple separate accounts that need to be created for both Amazon and Apple in order to separate media from kids.  The way that this exists now means that if you own Amazon Account A, you cannot download books belonging to the same family member with Amazon Account B.  In the Master and Secondary account structure detailed above, the parent will still have control over the subsidiary accounts and not have to purchase an item twice.

TIPD.


Attributes:

Liz Peeking Picture taken from Scholastic (http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/coloring/liz_peeking.htm)

Side by Side  taken from Step up to the Call blog (http://stepuptothecall.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-kindle-3-first-impressions.html)

The Best Video Player for the iPhone & iPad Revisited.

If you scour the app store for video players you will find a plethora of newcomers to the iPhone/iPad party. With Quicktime as the basis for all comparisons on the iPhone, we will examine the good and the bad of a few that I believe are important.  All products were tested on iOS 4.

Quicktime


This is the default video player that comes with the iPhone.  It is fast and plays back many video types and codecs that are supported by Quicktime natively on the Mac (1)(2):

      File Types:

1. QuickTime Movie (.mov)
2. MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4v)
3. MPEG-2 (OS X Lion only)
4. MPEG-1
5. 3GPP
6. 3GPP2
7. AVI*
8. DV*

*  Not available on the iPhone or iPad natively. 

    Codecs:

1. MPEG-2 (OS X Lion only)
2. MPEG-4 (Part 2)
3. H.264
4. H.263
5. H.261
6. Apple ProRes
7. Apple Pixlet
8. Animation
9. Cinepak
10. Component Video
11. DV
12. DVC Pro 50
13. Graphics
14. Motion JPEG (Mac OS X v10.6.x only)
15. Photo JPEG
16. Sorenson Video 2
17. Sorenson Video 3

For the benefit and simplicity of this article, one should concentrate on the File types listed above as opposed to the codecs.  The codecs can exist in many different forms, but if the File type is not recognized, then no matter what program you use, it will not work.   For example, many will use the term H.264 and assume that it only relates to Apple's MPEG-4 file type.  It does not!

Additionally, Quicktime does not support AVI file types on the iPhone or the iPad.  This is a major faux pas that is second only to the worst aspect of Quicktime:  The need to sync your computer to your iPhone in order for the files to work.  It is uncertain, as of the time of this report, whether this will change.  What is certain is the fact that Apple will probably not change its view on .AVI files.

In terms of playback, Quicktime offers very good performance as would be expected from an Apple default program.  It is also the main depot for developers sending compatible movie files from their apps.  They generally open in Quicktime to avoid additional software configuration.




CineXplayer

Version tested:  2.14
Size:  10.4 mb , 9.3mb (iPad)
Cost:  $1.99 $2.99 (iPad)

If you are a regular to this blog, you will know how excited I was to see CineXplayer.  However, not having an iPad at the time, the excitement was muted.  CineXplayer is probably one of the first Apps to natively play back .AVI file types while still supporting the other native Quicktime formats.   The performance of Cinexplayer to play the formats that it supports is flawless.  The larger screen of the iPad allows for a much better viewing experience.  However, ever since version 1 of this software (I am reviewing version 2.1.4), there has been little improvement in my opinion in regards to this app.

First you must use a computer if you want to upload .AVI or other movies to the device.  There are no Over-the-air (OTA) options to choose from.   Second, the lack of codec and file support remains somewhat problematic.  Although it can play back Xvid files (AVI), it still cannot recognize .MKV files.  Additionally, there are reports that its support for AC3, the audio format of choice for the iPhone, Quicktime and other Apple sound files remains elusive.   It is "hit or miss."

The new support for 3D movies is promising on the iPad, as is the integration with Facebook - if you're into sharing what you are watching with your friends.  But although Cinexplayer has arrived for the iPhone the continued lack of OTA downloads and streaming makes this one secondary at this point.  You are still tethered to iTunes and  your computer if you want to download a movie to your iphone or iPad.



AVPlayer and AVPlayerHD

Version Tested:  1.43
Size:  8.1mb  8.3mb(HD)
Cost:  $2.99 (both iPhone and iPad(hd)).

We now move on to what I call "the big boys."   AVPlayerHD is available only for the iPad and as its name implies, it is able to display full 1080p videos on the iPad and export them to a big screen TV.

The beautiful thing about AVPlayer for the iPhone and AVPlayerHD for the iPad is not only does it deliver where others have failed, but it sports one of the most elegant user interfaces that I have ever seen on either a Palm or Apple product.  When you use it, you feel as though Apple and its programmers wrote the app.  It is elegant, yet simple and the use of the color RED is nothing short of wonderful.

But don't let the aesthetic UI fool you, the programmers of this little puppy have done their homework and they have produced not only an elegant app, but one that is extremely useful.

First, the file type, codec issue.  Essentially a non issue here.  It plays the following file types and codecs (listed together here) natively:

1. xvid
2. avi
3. wmv
4. rmvb
5. asf
6. h.264
7. mkv

 The app has support for many different languages:

1. English
2. Chinese.
3. French.
4. German.
5. Japanes.
6. Polish. 
7. Russian. 
8. Spanish.
9. Turkish. 
10. Korean.

In addition, the software supports TV out via a compatible cord.   The cord is usually one of the composite cords with a large power supply.  These are somewhat expensive, but if you are in a hotel, they are a real requirement if you plan to watch movies.  I have a picture of a composite cord shown here.

I would suggest that you shop around before plonking down $40 for one of these things and making certain that you have a television that accepts composite video.  In addition, ensure that the device is compatible with the iPhone 4.  Some are not.  A good place to look for compatibility is the Apple Store of course ($$$) and also Buy.com.  I have seen the cords there for $17.99. (3) (4)(5)(6)






 Apart from playing long form videos, this little program also supports subtititles!   Personally, this means that I can now watch several episodes of the Korean medical soap opera Behind The White Tower (7)and read the subtitles (Great show by the way :) ).   It is obvious that the writers of this app had an international audience in mind when they wrote the app.

I spoke earlier about the UI, but make no mistake, the language issue is incorporated in this app by the wonderful use of gestures for making things work.  There are no long explanations of instructions, just swiping your fingers in certain positions will produce the desired effect.   In addition to this, the artsy partisans can enjoy changing the color scheme of shows watched.  This is really a nice touch for the old sepia movie crowd.

As I posted in one of my earlier reviews of this and the other app to follow, the simplicity of the UI was not the only thing that I enjoyed about this app.  There is also the file transfer mechanism chosen by the authors that makes this one a winner.  You do not need to have your computer attached to the device to transfer files to it.  You can if you want to however and this will produce the "side loading" effect found in Cinexplayer.  It will download the files in iTunes and serve them via USB and Itunes to your iPhone or iPad.  But be forewarned, this method of transfer will eat up valuable hard drive space on your computer.  Remember that backing up your data to your computer means that all of those video files get backed up again, so you will have duplicates of your movie files on your hard drive.

Much more interesting is the new FTP transfer system recently implemented.  It does work and  you have the ability to set up your device as an FTP server or client.  It's really not my favorite way to access my Network Attached Storage (NAS) which I have to do via my computer, but it works for any FTP client, so you are not necessarily locked into just downloading files from your local Machine.

For the computer, using your local address will allow you to upload and download files from your computer wirelessly.  It works with either the usual port 8080 HTTP route or via an FTP program.


Although it is nice, I still prefer the ability to use SAMBA or AFP directly.  But this method is not bad.  I cannot get the FTP client to work using the Apple Airport presently, but I think that is just me.

There are other wonderful things about this program, but you may not need any of them.  Just know that you can throw a lot of file types at it and it will respond nicely.


OPlayer and OPlayerHD



Version Tested:  1.31 iPhone,  1.1.01
Size:  33.1mb, 17mb (iPad)
Cost:  $2.99, $4.99 (iPad=hd)

The first thing that you may notice about this app is the sheer size of its iPhone version.  It is almost 4x the size of its competitors.  It is also the most expensive of the ones that I have reviewed.

OPlayer has a few things going for it that other programs still lack.  But this one almost went down in flames due to some social faux pas.  I sometimes feel sorry for Jonathon Young, the young programmer who created this wonderful app.  It is obvious that Jonathon created this program in response to a need that existed for playing codecs that were outside the realm of Quicktime.  But with success came trouble.  Having had Oplayer hailed as the best AV player for the iPhone bar none, Jonathon administered an update that just about crashed every time the app was opened.  Jonathon's slow response to the issues almost relegated this app to obscurity.  It received a plethora of negative comments in the app store.  I refrained, mainly because I did not do the update.  I am apt to waiting for feedback about updates before taking the plunge - something I learned from my Palm Lifedrive days.  And of course in the tech world - unfortunately for Jonathon, if you make a slip, there is always someone waiting to take over ie. AVPLAYER.

But some time in August a new update to this program was released and I have to tell you, it was well worth the wait.

What is obvious about Oplayer is the fact that it is not as snazzy as AVPLAYER.  It is obvious that this is either a one-man or two person software endeavor.  It is not elegant nor is it appeasing to the eye.  But what it has going for it is something that cannot be denied.  It will brute force almost any codec that  you throw at it.  You may have to do a little work to get it going, but once you do, the App shines.

First, let's talk about filetypes and codecs covered:

1. wmv
2. avi
3. mkv
4. rm
5. rmvb
6. xvid
7. mp4
8. mov
9. 3gp
10. mpg
11. .iso (really?).  Who would download an .iso file to their iphone?  Almost nobody.  But the secret sauce is .......... Streaming from a NAS.

And the playback is near flawless.  As I stated in my earlier review about this app, if you find the audio synching to be out of time, you can alter this without difficulty by decreasing the hardware decoding and skipping frames.  Skipping frames does not really show up appreciably if you are watching a movie on the iPhone4.   The quality is again exemplary as it is for the other apps, with the exception that the iPhone4 can only display a max of 720 p XVIDs.   A minor inconvenience.

As with AVPlayer, Oplayer can play back subtitled video.  This appears to work relatively well and I had no problem playing back my default file used for this review (7).

One feature that I have always liked about Oplayer is the security touch that was built into its first iteration.  The changing of the port numbers with each use of the software is pure genius.  For most players, including AVPlayer, port 8080 appears to be the ubiquitous route.  I do not need to tell you what the dangers are of having just one port available for transfers.  The variation of ports is a good thing and it is continued in this version of the program.

Where AVPlayer excels with its swashbuckling UI, Oplayer excels in its ability to play back almost anything.   Yes, you have the ubiquitous USB connection that uses iTunes.  See my previous report about that.  It is the fastest way to get a movie onto the device, but it is problematic when doing backups.   Oplayer has the FTP transfers just as its nearest competitor does.  But here is the kicker.  With the latest version of OPlayer, those of us using NAS drives finally have a streaming and downloading video player that does not need an additional program to use it.   Normally, on the iPhone or on the iPad one would use a separate program to download a file from a NAS drive and then transfer it to the video player of choice.  OPlayer now allows you to use the SAMBA protocol to download directly from your NAS drive or STREAM to your device and not download it at all.   THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUE.  Although there is no AFP streaming (Apple's native protocol), most devices can do both so you can use OPlayer to do a lot.  HTTP streaming is also supported, although I have never tried to use it. 

So what are the weaknesses? Well we've beaten the elegance thing into the wall.  It is not elegant at all.  In fact it is downright ugly!   The instructions on what to do are.... well.... nonexistent.    You really have to figure it all out as you go along.   The web site has gotten a lot better and there are now some YouTube videos that offer support.   But you have to do a lot of work sometimes to get what you want.  Downloading files remains simple if you use the HTTP route, but you do have to worry about Time Outs once in a while with larger files.

The HD version of the app for the iPad  is only slightly better than the iPhone version, but offers no additional features.

Languages supported:

1. English
2. Arabic
3. Catalan (really? )
4. Chinese
5. Czech
6. Danish
7. Dutch
8. French
9. German
10. Hebrew
11. Hungarian
12. Italian
13. Japanese
14. Korean
15. Polish
16. Portuguese
17. Russian
18. Slovak
19. Spanish
20. Swedish
21. Turkish
22. Ukranian

Far more than AVPlayer. 

The feedback that Jonathon Young received from a lot of users seems to have driven him to make some well thought out changes.  Apart from the broken English postings on his blog http://olimsoft.wordpress.com/, Jonathon appears to be earnestly trying to right the silence that he provided in April.  There is now a snazzy website called "edavs" which is short for Embedded Devices AV Solution,which offers information on present, new and upcoming products. 

I still find this piece of software to be very useful in the long run, particularly when I am having trouble with certain codecs.  And I can still say that I highly recommend it on the iPhone.

Real World Testing:

Reading from a NAS Drive: 

  Only the Oplayer on both the iPhone and iPad was able to read from the NAS drive using SAMBA.  The SAMBA setup was easy enough.  Although I was not fond of the fact that it accessed the first layer of the directory, I was impressed by the fact that it still worked.  I would like to see it open in a folder so that all of the network drive is not shown when connecting.

As for streaming, the quality is excellent.  There were some issues with rotating the device to landscape mode once a movie commenced, but when playing the file natively this did not occur. 
Additionally, once the device was turned to the portrait mode, it was fine.  Interestingly, if you begin watching the streamed movie in landscape mode it does not stutter.

On the iPad, the results were passable.  One thing I could not tell was whether the HD version was streaming 1080p or 720p like its iPhone neighbor.  The quality was still quite good. A recent check on the iTunes site now states 1280x720 for XVID and 800x600 for everything else.  Apparently there are some audio synching issues if you go outside of this.

So what about that iso file thing?  Well, streaming it (I wasn't crazy enough to sit and wait for an ISO download) took a while.  It was stuck on 95% load for almost 3 minutes before it began streaming.  I would say "Not quite ready for prime time" on that one.   Additionally, I could not get the DVD menus to work well, so I would say don't rely on this to remotely control your DVD's.

FTP:

I do not use FTP that much for anything anymore so my testing was limited to my other computers using an FTP server.  AVPlayer and OPlayer worked well, but AVPlayer's server capabilities were quite remarkable.  Although there are some issues with getting FTP to work immediately.

HTTP:

Both work well for HTTP downloading.  However as I have stated on several occasions, the use of unique ports with Oplayer is something that I find refreshing.  It is interesting to note that not many programmers have adopted this scheme.  AVPlayer, as usual was the most elegant, with a beautiful meter showing how far the download progressed. 


Security:

Both AVPlayer and OPlayer have security settings.  OPlayer allows you to add a password to use the app. AVPlayer uses the numerical keypass to do the same essentially.

Ease of use: 

AVPlayer wins that round hands down when it comes to simplicity.  One can get more complex with the hand gestures that are used, but overall the UI for AVPlayer is the most "Apple-like."

MKV Playback:

Oplayer -  Period!


Final thoughts:

iPhone 

For the iPhone, I reiterate my view that OPLAYER is the best video player out there.  Although there is stiff competition coming from AVPlayer, OPlayer still outshines AVPlayer with its incredible array of features for downloading and streaming, not to mention its ubiquitous language support.  If your movie is already downloaded into the iPhone memory then AVPlayer has a commanding lead with its hand gestures, color changes and again, dare I say it --- UI.

Even though OPlayer has its faults - (while using HTTP, despite having the wandering Ports that I love, OPlayer still does not show a progress bar for downloads.  Unless you are using something on your desktop computer showing data flowing in and out of your computer, you have no idea if the file that you are uploading to OPlayer is actually getting there or not.  This flaw needs to be fixed!) -  the wandering Port feature for downloads, the subtitles, language support and near flawless playback makes this one a winner for the iPhone, but for how long?  

iPad

Where as I may forgive OPlayer for its shortcomings on the iPhone, I cannot do the same on the iPad.  It's $4.99 price tag makes it one of the more expensive players on the iPad.  AVPlayer on the other hand excels in the iPad environs.  Its tremendous UI advantage is only amplified on the iPad.  Although it still pales when it comes to connectivity (SAMBA, Subtitles), once you get your file on the device, the playback using AVPlayer is spot on.  I had some issues with OPlayer on the iPad.  It seems that the little nuances that can be forgiven on the iPhone - tracking, pixels etc., are amplified on the iPad.  Folder management seems to be more concerning to me on the iPad than it was on the iPhone.  AVPlayer seems to excel in almost every department from ease of use to custom playback.  AVPlayer is well suited for the iPad.

One feature lacking in both was AirPlay.  I am hoping that iOS 5's screen cloning will resolve this issue, but for now, tethered playback to HDMI seems to work well for both using the iPad device.   On the iPhone, the Composite playback wires appear to work well.



My Recommendations for Video Playback:


For the iPhone:     OPlayer.     (Olimsoft)

For the iPad:        AVPlayer    (EPLAYWORKS)(8)

Olimsoft

Eplayworks

Footnotes:

(1)  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3775  Quicktime Native Codecs.
(2)  AVI not supported on iPhone Quicktime. 
(3)  For composite cords (subject to change):  http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1454
(4)  More on composite cords (iPad):  http://www.apple.com/ipad/accessories/
(5)  Buying a composite cord.  Pricey, but guaranteed to work:  http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC748ZM/A
(6)  Buy.com site for iphone 4 composite cords (again may be subject to change):  http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=219450938&sellerid=18700237
(7)  Crunchyroll also shows this streaming video.  I really recommend it.   Link is here to Crunchyroll http://www.crunchyroll.com/behind-the-white-tower.
(8)Olimsoft's new website:   http://www.edavs.com/
(9)EPLAYWORKS website:  http://eplayworks.com/
(10)  Video still from Pirates of the Caribbean.


Disclaimer:  The above mentioned review represents the opinions of myself and no other entities.  All software was purchased at full cost via the iTunes App store.  No Demo or Review copies were entertained.  This review is based upon real world use using standard equipment.  No input was sought from the companies mentioned in this report. All software was used on iOS4.  A recent trial with iOS5 has shown no appreciable issues so my review stands for both iOS4 and iOS5.




LDD.

Why Siri Matters.....

The iPhone4S has been derided as a minor upgrade by many in the press, but its presenters were somber for reasons that became apparent 24 hours later to the public.  But the highlight of the presentation was SIRI - a software Artificial Intelligence program built into the 4S. 

I have been using Siri on my iphone 4 for the past year, but it was only useful for restaurants.  I did not really need it for anything else.  What Apple has done is to transform Siri into an Artificial Intelligence application that not only obeys commands - something that the Android users have been ranting about for over a year - but appreciates context.   I am not going to go into specifics because you can view that on You tube

Where Siri comes into play is in the arena of disabilities.  At the end of the video above is a young blind lady using the device. She is able to dictate a message replying to a message that was received.  In regards to this, someone jokingly responded on Youtube that she would have to find the phone to use it.  But jokes aside, this is a really useful tool if you are disabled.  Not just for the blind.

I have a patient who was once a computer programmer and who worked as a nuclear scientist, but is now confined to working in a hardware store due to his disability.  He became disgruntled 2 years ago because his Parkinsons disease was not responding to his medications.  He was unable to write things down, but was able to work and live on his own.  He relied on his telephone - then a Palm Treo because he was able to tap the keys for appointments.  He came up with his own syntax, shortening words as much as possible.  So he would use "mn" for morning "tk" for take etc.  It would take him 2 minutes to type a sentence.  He was weary of buying an iPhone because of the lack of tactile feedback, but he welcomed the ability to do one thing that he saw on a presentation a year ago.  Phil Schiller presented a special feature in the email app that made my patient smile.  Since he used his device to mainly to make appointments and to attempt to answer email, he was able to tap on a date in his email and an appoinment would be automatically set up.  I actually do this a lot with email invitations and conferences.  The following is from About.Com on how to do this with your iPhone, if you have not done it before (http://email.about.com/od/iphonemailtips/qt/How-to-Create-Calendar-Events-from-Emails-in-iPhone-Mail.htm).


Yet, he took back the iPhone, because it was too difficult to type.  He needed the tactile feedback.  He settled for a regular Razr because of the predictive text, before eventually buying a Blackberry.  I couldn't understand the Razr purchase, but understood the tactile issues necessitating the need for the Blackberry.   But through it all, I remember him saying the following:  "If I could just tell the damn thing what to do, I'd be happy."  He had tried a Droid in the store, but found it lacking in some of the features that he needed.  It is possible that the iPhone 4S may be the phone that he needs.  Obviously real world use will dictate the reality of this device, but it looks promising for the many people with disabilities.

If he has not done so already, I plan to show him the video above when he comes to his next appointment.  For those missing the importance of Siri, which appears to be hardware dependent and hence the importance of the iPhone 4S, you should know that for many disabled people, the sheer act of holding a phone in one hand can be as difficult as writing a note.   For the patient in question, his constant shaking, particularly when he becomes nervous, makes writing near impossible and texting a chore.  This is why Siri matters.