imo

imo is free a multi protocol instant messaging application. That's basically a fancy way of saying you can connect to multiple instant messaging services (including Steam) from this one app.

This is one of those apps that can save you some clutter. It supports all the major instant messaging protocols so if you're okay with using all in one applications you can potentially delete quite a few single use IM apps by switching over to this one.

There really isn't any way to argue with free either.

imo supports the following protocols:

• imo
• MSN
• Skype
• Yahoo!
• Google Talk
• Facebook
• AIM / ICQ
• Jabber
• VKontakte
• My Space
• Hyves
• Steam

And yes, once again, that last one was not a mistake. imo allows you to connect to Steam! That alone is a reason to have it on your device, providing of course you are an avid Steam gamer.

Now, this isn't a 100% perfect application. The interface is a bit clunky but you can adjust to it easy enough. It's also a cross platform IM client so you can use it on iPhone / iPad / Android / Blackberry / Nokia (Symbian).

Hopefully they will come out with a Windows Phone client at some point.

You can set it so that when you sign into one account, they all sign in. Something I like, but if you only want to sign into one specific network at a time you will want to leave that off.

Again, the things really like about this app is that it replaced my need to have MSN and Google Talk installed on my device. It also adds the ability to connect to Skype chat (sans video) but that again saves me from running Skype for no reason. Did I mention this works with Steam chat? Also, free.

Sreenshots:


Linkage:
My imo screenshots here.
imo website here.
imo iTunes link here.


Price: Free.

Downcast

The first app I wanted to write about is Downcast. This is probably the best podcast app I've ever used. It does cost $1.99, but if you listen to podcast on a frequent basis, it is a must have.

Downcast allows you to download, manage and listen to podcast from your iDevice without having to sync with iTunes. It's very straight forward and easy to use.

I've only had two issues with Downcast personally, one of those being an iOS issue that is out of there control. The first issue, is that I've never been able to get an episode to stream successfully. I can download and play them back just fine, which is what I do 99% of the time anyway, but streaming has never worked for me. I would bet that its something I'm doing wrong, but either way, if you plan on streaming everything (which kind of defeats the purpose) this may be a bigger issue for you.

The second issue is that it won't run all night and download new episodes as they come out unless it is the active application. That's an iOS behavioral thing so I'm not knocking Downcast for this by any means, however it is annoying. For those not familiar with how iOS works, an app is only active while you are using it. Once the device is locked or the app is in the background it will only run for a maximum of 10 minutes before it is set to a suspended state. You can read a much better and more detailed post about iOS multitasking here and here.

You can also search for and sign up for podcast directly from within downcast as well.

The features that make Downcast a must buy for me are the following:

• Ability to download podcast directly to the iPhone.
• Limit downloading to WiFi only.
• Automatically delete episodes after they have been listened to / watched.
• Ability to lock episodes so they won't be deleted.
• Listen to episodes in the background.
• Gesture controls (great for fast forwarding / rewinding).
• Customize skip forward / back times.
• Create playlist from within the app.
• Sleep timer.
• Manage subscriptions.

Those aren't necessarily all the features of Downcast, but they are the reasons I like it so much.

Need a few podcast to check out? Here are a few of the ones I listen to:
/Filmcast. Great movie and television discussions. Official podcast of /Film.com.
FilmRiot. A look at how movies are made.
Totally Rad Show. Nerd is the new cool. Comics, video games, TV shows, movies, board games...
Weekend Confirmed. All things video game related.

Screenshots:


Linkage:
My screenshots for Downcast here.
Available via iTunes here.
Downcast website here.

Price: $1.99

iPhone > Blackberry?

I've been a BlackBerry user for the last few years. I started out on a Curve 8310 and then moved on to the Torch 9800. Since then I have moved away from BlackBerry to iPhone. I'm going to explore why I moved away from BlackBerry devices and went with the iPhone and maybe a bit about the transition.

Blackberry and Me

I really like BlackBerry devices, in particular the way they handle messaging and notifications. Messaging on a BB is very business oriented. This makes it quite efficient. The downside to messaging on BlackBerry's is of course, BIS. The other aspect of a BlackBerry that I've always liked is notifications. You can set it up to play a different sound for almost any type of alert. Best of all, you can use .mp3 files for those sounds. Out of the box. No hacking required. The BB OS takes some getting used to, but all smart phones do.

Using a few extra apps I even had it setup to display different colored LED notifications depending on what was going on. For example, an email to my work address would result in a green LED notification, Gmail blue, Hotmail yellow and so on. Without having to unlock the device or even pick it up, I could have a sense of what it was notifying me of. In an always connected society, this was very handy.

My issues with BlackBerry devices started around the time the 9810 came out. Everyone knows that RIM (Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry devices), are falling behind and have not been leading anyone in hardware lately. This isn't that big of an issue to me, I mainly use my phone for messaging, not gaming. However, releasing a device with almost all of the same specs as the under powered 9800, within a year of its release? That was a bit of a slap to the face. To me that says "ok, we get it, the Torch was too under powered. Our bad. Here's another model. It looks the same, feels the same, but has better hardware and runs much smoother." So basically, I'm now stuck with the under powered 9800 for another two years (you've gotta love Canadian mobile providers and the classic three year contract). This doesn't bode well considering RIM essentially just released a device that is what mine should have been to begin with.

RIM Vs. Apple

In my opinion RIM should have released the original 9800 with more competitive hardware from day one. Releasing an updated version with virtually no updates except better internal hardware within one year normally wouldn't be that big of a deal. Apple has been doing it quite successfully for some time now. The main difference is that when a new iPhone comes out, it's near top of the line in terms of hardware. There really isn't a NEED to update every year. There is definitely a WANT, Apple is good at creating the want, but they provide a solid piece of hardware year in and year out. The best way to illustrate my point is by comparing the BlackBerry Torch 9800 to the 9810 and the iPhone 4 to the 4S. For this I will turn to GSMArena.

Blackberry Torch 9800.
Released: August 2010,

Memory: 4 GB storage, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
Camera: 5 MP.
Video: VGA, 24 FPS.
Processor: 624 MHz

Blackberry Torch 9810.
Released: August 2011.

Memory: 8 GB storage, 768 MB RAM
Camera: 5 MP.
Video: Yes, 720p.
Processor: 1.2 GHz

Releasing a brand new devices in 2010 with a CPU below 1 GHz was very disappointing. So was a lack of 720p video. However, being a fan of physical keyboards and the BlackBerry OS, I let those things slide.

Less than 1 year later, the new model comes out, and the CPU has been doubled. It runs BB OS 7, something the original Torch will not be able to do due to it's inferior hardware and has 720p video recording. Which, again, should have been included on the 9800. I'm not sure, but I don't think the optics have been changed, I think the 9810 just has the horse power to handle 720p video.

Now let's have a look at the iPhone 4 Vs. 4S.

iPhone 4
Released: June, 2010.
Memory: 8/16/32 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
Camera: 5 MP.
Video: 720p@30fps
Processor: 1 GHz Cortex-A8

iPhone 4S:
Released: October, 2011.
Memory: 16/32/64 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
Camera: 8 MP.
Video: 1080p@30fps
Processor: Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9.

Looking at the iPhone 4 to 4S we can see that Apple kept the RAM (Memory) identical. The display is the same. The two big things with the iPhone 4S in terms of hardware is the dual core CPU and the new 8 MP camera. It also shipped with iOS 5. So the shiny new dual core processor is quite the upgrade, I guess that means the iPhone 4 won't be able to take advantage of iOS 5 right? No, as the iPhone 4 still has very capable hardware, it is quite easily up-gradable to iOS 5, in fact iOS 5 launched before the iPhone 4S!

This illustrates a very different mindset between Apple and RIM. Apple are constantly innovating, tweaking and advancing there devices, while still designing software that will run on older models as well as the current one.

Another smart decision Apple has made is to keep the iPhone line simple. Every year we get one new iPhone. Well, usually one new iPhone and a repackage 99 dollar version of it's predecessor.

RIM is all over the place with devices, we have Curves, Pearls, Bolds, Torches's. The devices differ in design and specs.If someone walks into a store and asks for a BlackBerry the decision can be a bit daunting. Believe it or not, but RIM is actually getting a bit better at it now then in the previous generations. Older BalckBerry devices could ship with either WiFi, GPS, or both. Now most of RIM's devices have WiFi and GPS built in, but still there is a lot to consider when buying one. Most consumers won't know the difference between a Bold or a Curve as the form factor is almost identical.

When going into a store to get an iPhone it's a much different experience. Do you want the latest top of the line model, which of course will cost a bit more, or last years model which cost a bit less?

All this to say, I was feeling a bit annoyed by the hardware that was put into the Torch only to have a new model all but make it obsolete within a year. So I decided to get an iPhone 4S.

Using iPhone

So far I'm pleased with my decision, but there is a lot to get used to going from one device to another. Some of the things that make this switch particularly hard and frustrating is how locked down the iPhone is, others, just things that the BlackBerry does better than iPhone out of the box.

A few quick examples:

Podcast. You would think that considering the "pod" in "podcast" comes from the iPod, that iPhone would be the clear winner over BB when it comes to listening to podcasts on device. Not the case. I'll discuss this further down.

Sounds.  I'll discuss sounds a bit more later as well.

Notifications. Having an LED for notifications, specifically one that can display different colors for different notifications is extremely convenient. For example, a missed call could blink blue-red, blue-red. That would rank much higher than a new Hotmail message (blinking orange LED).

Touch Screen Typing. A physical keyboard will always win to non tactile touch screen typing. Always.

Video Playback/Support. Being able to copy an .avi file encoded with DivX or XviD over to your device using Windows Explorer and without trans coding it to another file type is very nice, and something I miss. I'm still jealous of all the iPhone users that scored a copy of VLC that time it was available.

iTunes. There isn't anything I can single out. All of it is terrible. Why I can't use Explorer or Finder to transfer files to the device is beyond me.

Those are a few of the big ones. Sound being the biggest. Sound is actually a very annoying thing with an iPhone. 

Here is a small issue between how BlackBerry and iPhone differ with sounds. Being able to use .mp3 files as sounds for alarms and notifications. This is something I took for granted. Yes, you can use iTunes to convert .mp3 files to the appropriate format for the iPhone, but that is such a pain in the butt compared to just selecting an .mp3 file whenever you feel like it. For example, deciding to change the song your morning alarm will play just before going to bed. On a BlackBerry that's a few taps of the screen. With iPhone that would involve converting the song I want to use into a ringtone, connecting the iPhone to the PC and transferring that ringtone over using iTunes, and then changing it on the iPhone.

Here's a bigger issue. The iPhone doesn't have sound profiles. You have physical ring / vibrate toggle on the side. That's it. Here's why that's lame. I use my phone a lot. I would say my usage is probably split up as follows, messaging (IM / SMS / Email) 80%, Other (Games, Camera, Apps) 18%, Phone 2%. I hardly ever use the iPhone as a phone. However, that being said, when a call comes through on the iPhone its probably important. that's why when I go to sleep I would set my BlackBerry to the "Phone Calls Only" sound profile. It does what the name implies, only makes a sound for incoming phone calls and alarms, nothing else. With the iPhone I can either leave all sounds off, or set it to vibrate (which can be just as annoying).

This is probably the biggest sound issue I have with the iPhone and this one is an actual design flaw on Apples end. It plays sounds when I'm on the phone. This is incredibly annoying and doesn't make any actual sense. If I'm using it as a phone, the odd's are pretty good I want to listen to the person talking on the other end, not hear beeps and songs to notify me of this or that. One recent example of this is I had an appointment to have a plumber come over to look at a leaky sink. The plumber called at 8 AM and I was sleeping. I missed the call but called him back immediately. As I was talking to him and letting him know I was home, the voicemail that he had left came through and my phone began to play my new voicemail tone so loud I couldn't hear the plumber over the sound of the ringtone.

"Wow, that's really annoying, I'll just go and turn that off so I won't receive sound alerts while I'm on a call", I thought to myself. After inspecting the Sounds and Phone screens from Settings, I can confirm, there is no way to change that.

Podcast. Here's another area BlackBerry excelled in comparison. Getting podcast via iTunes is very easy and straight forward. But I really do not have the time to Sync with iTunes every morning and every evening to get all my new podcasts through the day. I want them to download directly to my iPhone via WiFi. No problem, I'm sure you can do that via iTunes on the device right? No.The first App I will talk about (in a separate post as this one is already miles long) will be Downcast, a great alternative that works much better than the client built into the BalckBerry, but it is a paid application.

As far as notifications go, it is what it is. The iPhone will turn on the screen and show you a brief notification pop up, but that's a far cry from having a persistent LED let you know whats going on. You can easily identify the LED notification from across a room, not so with the screen turning on and briefly displaying a mini notification. There is no real work around here as the iPhone doesn't have a colored LED. I am aware that you can have the LED flash in the accessibility options but that again is largely useless as the LED is far too bright, monochromatic and on the back of the device which is normally pointed directly at the table or desk or whatever surface my device happens to be laying on.

I don't want to come off as hating the iPhone. It's a terrific device in a lot of ways. For one thing, the camera on the 4S is amazing. This was one of the main reasons I bought the iPhone 4S and it hasn't disappointed. 

General performance and ease of use are big things with the iPhone. Apple is known for making devices with easy to understand and use interfaces that just work and the iPhone may be the greatest example of that.

Twitter integration is another nice feature of iOS 5. Gaming, something that the first Torch will never be able to be competitive at due to it's lack of hardware alone. Apps. As any iPhone user quickly learns, an integral part of the iPhone experience is Apps. The iPhone ships with all the standard ones, but you will quickly find yourself in the App Store searching for more of them to enhance the experience. I have quickly become an app junkie and download new ones daily. I've also become fairly addicted to gaming on the iPhone. I like quick bite sized games that I can play for a few minutes at a time. I've decided to write about some of the apps and games that I use quite often so expect more posts to come in the next few days.

Summary

I feel both devices have a lot going for them. I still like the feel and use of a BlackBerry, but I feel RIM is in trouble. I think consolidating there device line up and focusing on better hardware would go a long way to getting them back in the game. BlackBerry's are extremely efficient at messaging and still have the best physical keyboards around in my opinion. Getting QNX integraged with BlackBerry 10 and support for Android Market Place could very well make RIM a big player again. As it stands right now, with so many different models and the lack of app support, I think I'm going to stick with my keyboardless iPhone for now anyway.

*I would also like to point out that I am aware that iPhone and BlackBerry aren't the only types of devices out on the market. I've spent time with all of them. I've used an X10 for a while, a Samsung Focus and I've tested countless other devices including ones running Windows Mobile, Symbian, Bada and WebOS. Out of the big ones (Anroid, BlackBerry OS, iOS and Windows Phone 7 (Mango)) I like BlackBerry and iOS the best, I'm also comparing the devices I've spent the most time with. This isn't meant to be a piece about market analysis or mobile phones in general, just my own personal experience.