CrackBerry Kevin on the iPhone 3G - Help!

[Duvi]

Here are some food for thought regarding the iPhone, Kevin:


And remember - addiction is always a bad thing.

Welcome to TiPb. Great 1st post.


Kev... where have you gone? Don't tell me the iPhone's got you addicted like that... hehe.

 

[Dimietriev]

Welcome to TiPb. Great 1st post.


Kev... where have you gone? Don't tell me the iPhone's got you addicted like that... hehe.

He is busy combating David Pogue, and it might be a while.

 

[IndyJonez]

He is busy combating David Pogue, and it might be a while.

LoL.

When is the next round robin podcast and is there a live chat during the show?

 

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Hey Guys,

Ok..been playing a bit with the iPhone. I get distracted playing apps on it and still haven't hooked up the MobileMe stuff. That'll be this afternoon.

So here's my two new questions:

a) How do I clear notifications easily?! Like for example..i have the facebook app installed. It shows I have 40 things in there..like emails or whatever. Honestly, i dont like to check my facebook often, so i dont care if there's 40 or 50 or 100. I know i gotta get to them at some point, but for right now it's distracting to keep seeing the "40" notification tied to the icon. is there a quick way to clear that?

the same thing is actually the case with email. i get so many emails i can't always reply to them all. so i want them to remain as unread in gmail, but on my device i want them to be marked as read. i don't want to fully duplicate my desktop experience on my mobile device... i think of the computer as home. my mobile as on the go. so when i'm on the go i only need to be alerted to what's new. what i know that, then i'm done with it..i want to be able to get rid of that notification.

that make sense? maybe


b) apps like AIM. I don't quite get it. So am I ONLY logged in when the device is open on and the app is open? or just when the device is on? if i login, is still running even when i have the device off and sitting in my pocket? it gives me the impression that when i exit the app i'm closed, but i just dont quite the way that works. i obviously want all my messenger applications open and able to receive msgs and alert me to them even when the device is locked and in my pocket

thanks! gotta get my video on this recorded either later today or tomorrow, so any quick help would be appreciated.

 

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Bump Bump Bump... need some answers to my post above folks?! THANKS!!

 

[CrackBerry Kevin]

ACK.. K guys, need more help!!

So I have my MobileMe setup... I think! But something doesn't seem quite right. It's definitely not "push".

So I've:

a) created my mobile me account. Installed on my PC. It pulled all of my calendar/contact info from outlook (that's kind of been my "home" for that sort of data) and did push it over to my iPhone without issue. sweet

b) I set my gmail account (that's where all my email goes) to forward a copy to my mobileme address. I added mobile me as an account on my iphone for email, and set it up to PUSH email. i have my email notifications and stuff turned on in settings

c) I do have gmail also set up on the iphone, but i disabled that for now so it only checks for messages if i GO into the app. this is good with me. it's nice having this there incase i want to search through all messages, labels, etc., but getting just new messages to my mobileme is what i care about. so the gmail app will lay dormant unless i need it, and all i want is the mobileme new message to wake me up

d) but if the iphone is sitting on the desk, it doesn't get new emails. i actually have to hit the home key, unlock, then go into mail and then the new mobile me messages come through quick. but i need my iphone to just wake up and start buzzing/beeping the second an email comes through.

so why isn't mobile me actually getting the new messages? it looks to me like the settings are right that it should be pushing them through to the phone instantly.

any help asap would be great, thanks!

 

[CrackBerry Kevin]

ALSO..

autolock.

so my autolock was set to 2 minutes. but that drives me nuts, as if i'm working at the computer everytime i want to use the phone i need to do the swipe to unlock thing.

i just want to have the phone sit there with the display off, but when i click the home button have it wake up and jump right to the homescreen (or right into the email app or sms app would be nice if a msg just came through).

i set the autolock to NEVER... but then the display never actually turns off. it just sits there turned on.

is there way to have the display shut off but have the phone still on? so i dont always need to swipe unlock the thing to use it?

thanks!

 

[Mike M]

I don't have mobile me or gmail, but I'll answer as much as I can.

For the notifications, no you can't clear them all. Well, if it's an rss reader then maybe, it just depends on the app I guess. In mail I THINK you can just move the "read mail that's actually unread" into a new folder. The badge should only reflect the amount of unread messages in the inbox itself. Facebook doesn't have a way to mark all as unread, so you'll have to deal with that badge showing up. Personally, I like it to stay there so I always know how behind I am in checking my messages. I used to consider my computer to be my main email too, now I tend to keep a mental list of things I need to do next time I log on from the computer that I couldn't do from my iPhone (either in the mail app or safari). I'm proud to say that I'm ALMOST desktop free when it comes to email

AIM, along with the other apps, will run even with the screen off for 30 min before the iPhone shuts it down. At least that's the conclusion I've come to, can anyone confirm/correct that? Once Apple releases their already promised push service then IMs and anything else the apps want will pop up just like mail and SMS even while they're off. Until then, yea, you're signed out when you exit.

I'll skip over your email questions to the autolock one. I use yahoo mail and push works perfectly about 98% of the time, and I've heard that mobile me does now as well so hopefully it's just a settings issue that someone here can help you with. I can't stand the autolock either because I use my phone at school and work a lot and end up taking more than 2 min to get back to it often enough to be annoyed when the screen's turned off again. I keep auto lock off and have gotten into the habit of hitting the power button when I'm done using it. You wouldn't want to be able to turn the screen on without the swipe, imagine the horror of pulling it out of your pocket and realizing you accidently turned it on a few hours ago and now it's opened up in some random mail folder. You can, however, leave the app open and the next time you unlock it'll still be there. The SMS app will open to your new text automatically if you unlock the screen before it blanks the screen after notifying you. The text in the "slide to unlock" field changes to "slide to reply" or something like that. The SMS app also opens to the newest unread message automatically when you tap the icon.

 

[Jeremy]

b) apps like AIM. I don't quite get it. So am I ONLY logged in when the device is open on and the app is open? or just when the device is on? if i login, is still running even when i have the device off and sitting in my pocket? it gives me the impression that when i exit the app i'm closed, but i just dont quite the way that works. i obviously want all my messenger applications open and able to receive msgs and alert me to them even when the device is locked and in my pocket

Hey Kevin, the only IM app that works properly is BeejiveIM, not sure if you want to spend the money on that one for only a week. You stay logged in as long as you want with that app. It will also notify you by SMS or email saying you have a new IM. Best IM app out there honestly.

 

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Thanks for the help guys.

Mike M - to your point above about the horror of pulling it out of your pocket and having folders accidentally opened up.... isn't that wrong? it's a capacitive touchscreen... it needs the electric current in your fingers to actually swiped and tap. so if i did toss it into my pocket with the screen on, who cares? nothing should actually tap. should be a lot safer than putting a device like your blackberry into your pocket unlocked - as then one key press can autodial numbers. correct me if i'm wrong there. i think ill be taking your approach of leaving unlock off and just manually locking/unlocking, but that's driving me nuts to know end already.

as for the IMS like AIM not fully working yet... why even put them into the app store until they fully work? i'm gonna pickup BeeJive and give it a go. that's a good app for blackberry as well.

got my push all working the way i want to know. i had both mobile me and gmail set up on the device, with mobile me to push and gmail to manually check. but i accidentally had gmail set to my default app still, so i think that was preventing mobileme from pushing. once i swapped it i was good to go. my typing is pretty dang fast actually as long as i'm paying focused attention. though one mis tap and then i'm blown wayyyy off course cuz my fingers are already three words down the road before i see how bad i screwed up.

and the more i use the device i REALLY wish they would have put a button on the right hand side towards the top of the phone. they could have called it the I Button and made it programmable for either launching your favorite app OR what i wish for.... being able to set it as a back button. it would be much more to my liking with a back button.

 

[CrackBerry Kevin]

weirdness. installed beejive. msn signs in find, yet aim keeps telling me bad password. yet the regular aim app i also installed signs in fine. je ne sais pas!

 

[Duvi]

weirdness. installed beejive. msn signs in find, yet aim keeps telling me bad password. yet the regular aim app i also installed signs in fine. je ne sais pas!

Delete the BeeJive app on both PC and iPhone and then download the PC version again and sync. You will not be charged again, iTunes will recognize it.

 

[Duvi]

Also AIM does work, but not as flawless as BeeJive.

 

[VikingBrad#IM]

While not productivity applications, here are some that make the iPhone a bit more wow

- Music apps - Ocarina & Harmonica, MiniPiano, Guitar, etc)
- Music recognizing software -Shazam or Midomi
- Local search - Urbanspoon
- Spoken foreign language apps ( Lonely Planet or lastminute.com, etc)
- Lots of games - try Air Hockey (FS5 Hockey)

 

[Jeremy]

Also AIM does work, but not as flawless as BeeJive.

Sure it works... really bad. As for why they are on the app store? I think the developers all rushed their IM apps out just to get their app out there. The only one that took their time and did it right was BeejiveIM. Last one available and the best one. Bar none.

 

[wesdavies]

Hey Guys,

Ok..been playing a bit with the iPhone. I get distracted playing apps on it and still haven't hooked up the MobileMe stuff. That'll be this afternoon.

So here's my two new questions:

a) How do I clear notifications easily?! Like for example..i have the facebook app installed. It shows I have 40 things in there..like emails or whatever. Honestly, i dont like to check my facebook often, so i dont care if there's 40 or 50 or 100. I know i gotta get to them at some point, but for right now it's distracting to keep seeing the "40" notification tied to the icon. is there a quick way to clear that?

Sounds like Facebook isn't that important to you. Short of contacting the developer to request an option in the app's settings, the best thing to do would be to move the app to a home page that you access less frequently. But, really, is it so hard to just ignore something that isn't important?

the same thing is actually the case with email. i get so many emails i can't always reply to them all. so i want them to remain as unread in gmail, but on my device i want them to be marked as read. i don't want to fully duplicate my desktop experience on my mobile device... i think of the computer as home. my mobile as on the go. so when i'm on the go i only need to be alerted to what's new. what i know that, then i'm done with it..i want to be able to get rid of that notification.

Bulk move your emails to a different folder and keep your inbox clear for new stuff. Simple. Personally, I prefer things the other way around; I want the desktop experience because I want to know how many mails I haven't attended to.

b) apps like AIM. I don't quite get it. So am I ONLY logged in when the device is open on and the app is open? or just when the device is on? if i login, is still running even when i have the device off and sitting in my pocket? it gives me the impression that when i exit the app i'm closed, but i just dont quite the way that works. i obviously want all my messenger applications open and able to receive msgs and alert me to them even when the device is locked and in my pocket

These problems will be solved once Apple launches push notifications. Until then, as others have said, Beejive IM is the way to go.

 

[wesdavies]

ACK.. K guys, need more help!!

So I have my MobileMe setup... I think! But something doesn't seem quite right. It's definitely not "push".

It is.

d) but if the iphone is sitting on the desk, it doesn't get new emails. i actually have to hit the home key, unlock, then go into mail and then the new mobile me messages come through quick. but i need my iphone to just wake up and start buzzing/beeping the second an email comes through.

so why isn't mobile me actually getting the new messages? it looks to me like the settings are right that it should be pushing them through to the phone instantly.

any help asap would be great, thanks!

Email get pushed to my iPhone instantly, accompanied by a beep and a vibrating alert. Check that your MobileMe account is set as your default.

 

[Duvi]

Oh my... my default has been Yahoo. I wonder if this plays a role when my email was not pushing.

I'm going to test that out.

 

[Touch Me]

Just checking in. 18 shopping days to Xmas.

 

[IndyJonez]

I'm Checking in as well! Barely made it before midnight! yikes!