iPhone Approll

PALM DESERT, Calif.--Apple is leaving behind clever mobile-app developers--and it's evident at the DemoSpring conference. Three interesting and potentially useful mobile apps were introduced here Tuesday on other platforms--Windows Mobile and Android--because these platforms allow background processing, and the iPhone does not.

When the 3.0 version of the iPhone operating system came out, it added background notification, but through a server-based push mechanism that only gives developers a few capabilities for sending notifications to phones. It's not true background processing like you have on a computer or on other smartphones. An advantage to the Apple scheme, … Read more

Since its introduction late last year, Bing has been a worthy rival of the Google Mobile App on the iPhone and iPod Touch by combining a map, a browser, search app, and a few other nifty features into one. According to Microsoft, there have been more than a million downloads of the Bing app for iPhone so far.

The app just recently got even better with its 1.1 update, which was released on Friday. Apart from a number of stability fixes and usability tweaks, it also adds a few major features and improvements, including:

Bookmarks and improved Web browsing: … Read more

Navigon has taken its MobileNavigator app for iPhone and split it into three.

More specifically, the new MobileNavigator MyRegion apps take Navigon's United States map data and breaks it into three regions: East, Central, and West. People who don't stray too far from home can simply grab the region of their choosing to get from point A to B for a reduced entry cost. If you decide to add more maps--for example, to plan a family vacation in another region--the omitted maps can be added later as an in-app purchase.

Navigon says that there is no additional download … Read more

TomTom's latest version 1.3 update to its navigation app for iPhone went live this week, adding a handful of new features that we were expecting, and a few that we didn't.

We'd heard previously that the 1.3 update would bring integrated Google Local search and TomTom Traffic. However, rather than rolling the traffic service into the update, TomTom gives users access to the service as an in-app subscription. For U.S. users, this means shelling out $19.99 per year to gain access to live flow and incident data for more accurate routing and arrival … Read more

GPS device manufacturer TomTom continues to put its weight behind its TomTom app for iPhone with a new version 1.3 update. This revision, which has just been submitted to Apple for review, will add real-time traffic speed and incident reports for more accurate routing and travel time estimates.

Also included in this update is Local Search powered by Google, for finding points of interest that are not included in the preloaded database without leaving the app. TomTom tells us that there will be other yet unnamed enhancements that will be detailed when the app emerges from this end of … Read more

Google Voice just got a little better on the iPhone, thanks a new Web site for iPhone users, google.com/voice/m. As iPhone users will painfully recall, Apple last year rejected Google's iPhone-native Google Voice app, leaving those who wanted to use Google Voice with what was at first a bare and limited Web-based app. But one of the big advantages of the new HTML 5 spec, which the iPhone's Safari browser supports, is that it lets Web developers bring more application-like functionality to Web apps. The new site is proof of that. (News story)

The new … Read more

EA Mobile has released the second iPhone game in the Need for Speed series: Need for Speed Shift.

You may remember that we took a look at Need for Speed Undercover not too long ago and found it was a fun, arcadelike take on racing with a decent number of fully customizable vehicles. Shift is an evolution of that game but with more realistic racing physics in place of the hokey storyline. Also new to Shift are customizable racing views. Users can now select between chase-cam, hood-cam, bumper-cam, and cockpit views. The cockpit view is unique to the vehicle you're driving, but unfortunately there are no working gauges. The cockpit view is also the only view that features damage modeling in the form of a windshield that gets more messed up the as you hit things.

On your first outing with Shift, you'll be treated to a quick tutorial that teaches you how to drive with an iPhone. Shift pretty much plays like Undercover, but with a few key differences. Its steering is still controlled by tilting. The vehicles still auto-accelerate and brake when the screen is tapped. However, the race-breaker, slow-motion feature is gone and the controls are supposedly more realistic. In practice, this means that you can no longer win races without touching the brakes and that the transmission is now manual, which can be frustrating for novice users who just want to drive.

Fortunately, there are driver aids that can be activated that automatically brake and shift for you and assist steering that make your ham-fisted inputs smoother and more accurate. Users who want an easy to play, arcade-style racer can turn on the driving aids and win a few medals on the bus ride to work; and users who want more of a racing-sim experience can set all systems to manual for more control over the game. Driving aids or not, drifting is maddeningly difficult this time around. I prefer the drifting mechanics of Undercover.… Read more

You have two main options when it comes to GPS apps for the iPhone: apps with offline maps and apps with online maps. Examples of apps with offline maps are the Navigon, the iGo My Way, TomTom, or the recently added Magellan RoadMate.

These apps are excellent for frequent users as they don't require a live data connection to work. All the maps are included with the app and downloaded to the phone. However, they tend to require gigabytes of storage space and take a long time to install. If you plan on going on a long road trip, they are good fits.

If you are a casual user, however, it's better to use an online GPS application. These applications are just a few megabytes in size and therefore take a few seconds to download to the phone via a 3G connection. This means you can immediately get one the moment you suddenly need turn-by-turn directions.

The first online GPS app for the iPhone is the AT&T Navigator, which works pretty well. Unfortunately, it's only available to AT&T customers and is rather expensive ($10 per month) for what it offers. The good news is, you now have other and more flexible choices. … Read more

As the PND vs. smartphone battle for navigation superiority continues, we're seeing more of the GPS heavyweights hedging their bets by developing application versions of their standalone GPS devices, while others push toward adding cellular technology to their portable devices in a bid to even the playing field.

Magellan finds itself in the former camp with the announcement of its Magellan RoadMate for iPhone turn-by-turn navigation application. The application is compatible with the iPhone 3G and 3GS models and will be available soon on the App Store at an introductory price of $79.99 (which will jump to $99.99 sometime thereafter).

The Magellan RoadMate for iPhone inherits many of the features that we liked when we tested the RoadMate 1470 standalone navigation device, such as the OneTouch user menu--a customizable shortcut menu that allows users to store frequently accessed addresses, POIs, and searches--and the ability to calculate and compare multiple routing options simultaneously. The RoadMate app also uses the same Navteq maps as the standalone unit. Maps and POIs are stored locally so you can keep navigating even without a data connection.

Other positive features that stand out are spoken text-to-speech street names, an oversize on-screen keyboard that's easier to use at an arm's length than the iPhone's default keyboard, native access to the iPhone's contacts list, and graphic lane guidance with digital highway street signs. In-app music control with playlist creation isn't critical to getting from point A to point B, but it's nice to have. 3D building data for major cities may be nice for users who navigate visually, but I think it's more of an eye candy thing than a truly useful feature.

Once you get where you're going, the RoadMate app automatically remembers the location of your car so you can find your way back and can switch to a Pedestrian mode for further navigation on foot.

I got my hands on an advanced copy of the Magellan RoadMate for iPhone app for evaluation and found, for the most part, that it worked as advertised. The app booted quickly and responded snappily to my inputs when tested on an Apple iPhone 3GS. A positive side effect of locally stored maps and POIs is that searching and routing with the RoadMate app is lightning fast, even when calculating four simultaneous routing options.… Read more