(AirVideo for iPhone Forum Review by msbaylor. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

I was quite surprised when I found AirVideo for iPhone [$2.99 - iTunes link] was available in the App Store and was even more blown away with what is said it could do. But would it live up to it?

Besides downloading the iPhone App, you’ll need to download the program for your computer (for PC & Mac OSX 10.4+). Neither app/program will work without the other. The iPhone app is basically a front end (UI) to the computer program.

The app has four main views – the server list, the file list, the file details view & and the queue view.

Installing the software and setup on my Vista computer was a breeze. The main thing here is to make sure you select what folders you want to have access to. Also there is an option to use “Internet access” which is an important option to have checked to really make this app scream! I even connected one of my NAS (Network Accessible Storage) drives to the app.

Switching back to the app, once you have everything on you Mac/PC setup, you will need to setup your iPhone app. Which, the two devices must be on the same Wifi network the first time for that the app can detect your PC/Mac

Again setting up the iPhone local and Internet connection are easy to setup. At one point I had an issue where I couldn't get one of the servers to show up under local network & I had to enter my IP manually to get it to work.

The flow of the program is easy to navigate – you have your servers, then your file listings. You also have the option to set a password for your server to keep other out.

It seemed no matter what type of file I had, I was always able to see a screenshot next to the name whether it was converted or not.

In viewing details about the video, if it's not in iPhone readable format, the app can either convert it for you (you can go about other things & come back to it later) or you can use the "LIVE conversion."

When the videos convert, you'll be left with a duplicate video file on your computer – the converted file, which is nonce to keep around other than being capable of streaming the video. Another thing you can do is add the video to iTunes and even to an optional playlist.

One of the things that really caught me by surprise was the extensive compression & ratio settings. You can even create multiple presets (ones for Edge & 3G connections) and set a default preset.

I never had an issue once I figured out the right conversion I wanted to use (the medium default preset worked out well for me to start with). I even made different conversion presets depending on what type of connection I thought I'd have.

Lastly, that other thing that caught me off guard was that the app has the ability to stream files remotely (via 3G/Edge) rather than just your local Wifi. Imagine instead of waiting tediously for a video to download from the Internet, you can leave your computer, check you iPhone, convert it and view it on-the-go!

Conclusion

Overall, this is absolutely an amazing concept & app, I surprised Apple/AT&T didn't block this one. On a side note, I'd have to say – if you need a video converter & you "happen" to have an iPod touch or iPhone, for 3 bucks to have a well created video converter is a steal!

Pros:

• Great interface
• Live conversion of videos
• Add multiple servers
• Compression settings galore
• Select audio streams
• Create compression presets
• Conversions are very good

Cons:

• Remote server can be tricky to set up as Port forwarding doesn't work on all networks
• Smaller, less resourceful computers, will not be able to run the software.

TiPb Review Rating

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Review: AirVideo for iPhone

(Labyrinth 2 for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Labyrinth was one of the first games that I saw to come out for the iPhone. I never downloaded it (beyond the free version) but when Labyrinth 2 [$4.99 - iTunes link] came out, I thought I would give it a try. And boy, am I glad I did.

Labyrinth 2 takes the classic Labyrinth and builds a complex game from a simple concept. For those unfamiliar with the original ORIGINAL labyrinth, it was a wooden board with a couple of dials on either side. These dials would tilt the board, and your goal was to move a marble from the start of the maze, or labyrinth, to the end. My father actually had the original! The original iPhone version was basically the same thing, except tilting the iPhone was how you moved the balls. This new version adds some new levels and twists on to that concept.

First off, in addition to the "classic" style, you now have various obstacles that can hinder your movement – lasers, doors, canons, pinball bumpers, and more. These all make the mazes much more difficult to maneuver. You also have some mazes that are now "metal" style rather than the classic wood – it's okay, but I prefer the wooden style.

The new obstacles add a whole new level of game play – no longer is winning just a question of how subtle or precise you can be when tilting you iPhone. Different mazes now almost have a puzzle-like feel to them, as you try to figure out how to get from one end to the other (still with the subtle movement of tilting the iPhone).

In addition, there is now multiplayer via wifi or Bluetooth. In multiplayer, you are racing on the same levels to the hole, first one there wins. Unfortunately there is no online/internet multiplayer yet, but hopefully soon!

So you have finished the game, and want more? You can download user created levels, or create your own! Unfortunately the level creator is on a computer only (not on the iPhone itself? C'mon!). To create your own levels, you are given a unique username and password on the iPhone, then go to the website and get cracking. You can create individual levels, level packs, whatever you want. Have a great idea for a level when playing the game – go make it! Levels can be downloaded by anyone and then are rated by the general populace. My daughter has more fun creating levels (although she then insists I play them, and some of hers are literally impossible!). You can choose specific levels to download, or choose the most downloaded, search for a specific user ID, new levels, highest rated, etc.

The 3D graphics of the game are nice, but in an attempt to make the game appear 3D, they may have gone a little overboard. When you tilt the iPhone (and thus, the game) the maze walls shift a little bit as it you are no looking from a different angle. The shifting is not perfectly smooth on my iPhone (although it is close), so it looks computer generated rather than actually looking at a three dimensional wall. It's a nice touch to add, but I am not sure if I think it helps the game at all.

Conclusion

All in all, this is a really fun game. For $4.99, this game is a must purchase. Between the potentially unlimited content, the ability to create your own levels, the multiplayer options, and the added features, this game has a huge bang for the buck! The few minor features that I didn't like (the 3D rendering of the maze, the lack of an ability to create levels on the iPhone) don't detract from the game to any great degree. Four and a half out of five stars.

Pros:

• Multiple game modes
• Create your own levels
• Download other levels
• Multiplayer!

Cons:

• Odd attempt at 3D make me dizzy
• Level editor is internet only

TiPb Review Rating

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Review: Labyrinth 2 for iPhone

Twitbit [$2.99 - iTunes link] is the iPhone Twitter client that just won’t quit — pushing updates and new features almost as fast as notifications. The latest is Twitbit 2.3:

• Support for Twitter’s new retweet feature.
• Support for Twitter’s new geotagging feature.
• Support for Twitter’s new lists feature.
• Support for Twitter’s new user search feature.
• Trends tab.
• Trend explanations.
• Account management redesigned.
• Search bar added to timeline.
• User profile added to tabs.
• Connect Twitter accounts to iPhone contacts.

I’ve been lucky enough to have a beta to try out for a while and 2.3 feels really solid. Overall the interface is fluid and intuitive, the functionality is very well balanced with usability, and the Push Notifications are typically crisp and well-concatenated given the limits of the iPhone modal popup system. If you want a fast, friendly, and pushy iPhone Twitter client, Twitbit might just be for you. And if you’re not sure, give Twitbit Lite a try first [Free - iTunes link].

And this being Follow Friday, if you need anyone to try it out with, give Team TiPb a shout:

• @theiphoneblog,
• @reneritchie (Rene),
• @backlon (Dieter),
• @iChadman (Chad),
• @JFSikora (Jeremy),
• @jamesus (James),
• @llofte (Leanna),
• @GeorgiaTiPb (Georgia),
• @JHamilton24 (Josh),
• @justin_horn (Justin),
• @msproductions (Matt),
• @skeetobite (Chris).

Screenshots after the break!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Follow Friday: Twitbit 2.3 Edition

Dear Santa Jobs, all we want for Christmas iPhone 4.0 is… Well, grab your cocoa (touch) and take a long sip, because just like our buddy Derek, we’ve a bit of a list this year.

Don’t get us wrong, you revolutionized a lazy, arrogant smartphone industry with your UI in 2007, shook up mobile app delivery with your store in 2008, and re-defined the “budget” $99 price point in 2009, all the while pushing software updates and evolving hardware that forced your competitors to catch up or re-invent themselves completely. But if the merry little elves of the Round Robin have shown us anything, it’s that catch up they have. And more than that, even though we got stockings chock full of iPhone 3.0 cut-and-paste, stereo Bluetooth, MMS, and other goodies last year, there’s still a sleigh-full of things we’d love you to resolve in 2010.

(And yes, we’re aware almost all of these suggestions are straight out of Cydia and already available for Jailbroken iPhones. That’s not coal worthy, it’s a holiday miracle!)

Comfy? Good, because here’s the naughty and nice of it…

Multitasking

You worry about us, we get that. You don’t want to bother us with nasty little task managers like Windows Phone, or no helplessness in the face of crash dialogs like Android. But Palm webOS took a play from your own MobileSafari Pages and showed that background app managements can be handled elegantly. Sure, they have issues with lag, but they can choose to open or close their cards, and we’d like our iPhones to give us that option as well. Heck (can we say heck to Santa?), ProSwitcher and Backgrounder have done it for you on Jailbreak.

Limit it if you’re really worried. 8 Safari pages are it, maybe 2-4 background apps are more than enough for most people, especially as the iPhone 3GS is 2x as fast, and presumably the 4th generation iPhone will be yet more capable still. Push Notification is working great for many things, multitasking Pages would fill that final gap.

Notification System

Speaking of Push Notifications. Gifting us with that service in 3.0 was right jolly indeed. Binding it up in old-school 1.x model dialogs was pure bah, humbug. Why force us to deal with something immediately or lose it forever, and why have a new notification obliterate one that came in half a second earlier? Android hinted at how to handle this better in 2008 and Palm upped the ante in 2009. They both queue notifications without locking up the system, and both let you go back and see what you’ve been notified about later. You’ve got them, you’ve got Apps like Boxcar that place notifications into a list view, and you’ve got several Jailbreak options, including GriP that’s similar to Mac OS X’s Growl (which we’re still not certain why you haven’t bought out and integrated yourselves).

Full on Android or webOS-style services would be fantastic, but at this point we’d even settle for a Notifications App that we could go to and see all our alerts, like our missed phone calls, stored and ready for access when we want to access them.

Widget-ized Lock/Home Screen

All our friends over on Nokia and HTC (that’s who’s basically taking over Windows Phone and Android) all got these things called Widgets now, which we really thought we’d have gotten too, given you’re the same Santa Jobs who gave us Dashboard and Dashcode. But those Widgets are Apps on our iPhone, like Weather and Stocks, and instead of being glance-able they’re only launch-able.

And see, we’ve got this lovely large screen here that when it’s locked just stares at us anemically with the time and date and nothing else but boring, static wallpaper. Look at that lovelier, larger HTC HD2 screen and its animated weather. Look at the Nokia N97 (or even MotoBlur, if you can without turning to stone) and its Twitter and Facebook status bites. We know you could give us this too. You have the technology. And yes, Jailbreak has been doing this for a while as well. (Our friend James basically Jailbroke the equivalent of Sense UI onto his iPhone. Don’t give him coal!)

You could also do it with a Home Screen or several. We can already swipe left to get to Spotlight. Make widgets the default screen and let us swipe right to get to all the apps. It’s do-able. Do it.

Instant Access to Settings

The iPhone is wonderful for multi-touch. Everywhere except for the bar across the top. Sure, we can tap on it to scroll all the way up (and wonder why there’s no equivalent to scroll all the way down), but when we tap on the 3G or WiFi icon, we get nothing. Zero. Zilch. Certainly not a quick and easy way to toggle Airplane Mode, WiFi or Bluetooth on and off, or anything else. Palm webOS does have that. SBSettings for Jailbreak too. We bet you could figure it out. We’d bet milk and cookies on it!

Theming

To be honest with you, theming is not really our thing, but what’s even less our thing is theming not being available for those who for whom theming is their thing. (And they shouldn’t have to resort to WinterBoard or put up with obtuse Verizon commercials either).

Maybe the mere thought that someone outside Apple might change the “look” of your beautiful dock, but de-harshen that mellow. Let it go. Figure out some awesome theming system, elegantly package it and make it ready for developers to sell in packs on the App Store for the 30/70 split good of all.

Pull Down to Refresh

With Tweetie 2, that Spirit of UI Future that is Atebits introduced a “pull down to refresh” action that’s just so intuitive we end up trying to do it in Mail, in Safari, in every application that pulls and presents net-based content. And it doesn’t work. Fix that, would you?

Back

Right now most apps implement a soft “back” button, but it’s not consistent across all apps and it’s not that intuitive. Other platforms have a hardware “back” button. We know you probably think the iPhone has too many of those already, and we don’t want another one anyway. Still, you could better use the one “home” button you have. Holding it down activates Voice Over on the 3GS and Triple-tap can turn on Accessibility. Those are fantastic services for iPhone users who need them. For those who don’t, how about letting us customize what those controls do? For example, let us click “home” to go back, and double-click to go to the Home Screen SpringBoard proper. Or hold down. Whatever. You’re Apple, you can figure out how to give us “back”.

Palm even has a “back” gesture below the screen. Gesture areas are the new black (slab). They stole your rubber-banding. Steal their gesture area. We’d be fine with that. You could use it right-to-left for “back”, left-to-right for “forward” (hey, doesn’t the Magic Mouse do something like that already?), and maybe down-to-up for that notification service we asked for earlier?

Landscape Lock

It took you until 3.0 to give us pervasive landscape mode, and we’re grateful, really, even when we lie down to read and the screen flips back and forth like it’s dancing to Randy Newman. Actually, not really then. Then we really wish you’d stick a little toggle in preferences that let us lock the keyboard to portrait or landscape more. Sure it’s not dynamic. If that’s your concern though, think up a gesture for it. We’ll wait, honest. Even until 4.0.

Turn off Alerts

Last year the neighbor boy, CrackBerry Kevin asked you to let him turn off incoming email alerts while he was talking on his seldom-charged iPhone. You gave him coal instead and fair enough. This year, what with Push Notifications and everything, it’s gone from beep and buzz to worse. Now we can’t even hang up before dealing with dialogs.

Resolution Independence

Okay, we’re trying to sneak that in again, but you must be disassembling Droids and Nexus Ones and HD2s in the dungeons of Cupertino, so we know that you know that we want something BIG, something iPhone HD-esque next June/July. Sure, that’s way after Christmas, but we’ll wait. Promise.

Check it Twice

Okay Santa Jobs, that’s it for our list, but we’ve brought all these TiPb readers with us and they might just have a demandment or ten of their own to hit you up for on the holidays. It could include Google Latitude baked into the Maps app, podcast subscriptions, those nifty iTunes LP and iTunes Extras Apple TV keeps talking about, real, honest-to-Rudolph push Gmail via IMAP IDLE, 720p (or 1080p) video out, working AVRCP for our little Bluetooth stereos, Lala streaming iTunes, and Chad still has a huge list that just says Mobile iChat over and over and over again!

If there’s anything we missed, or anything we didn’t ask for strongly enough, we’re sure they’ll sort you out.

Happy holidays!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Dear Santa Jobs: All We Want for iPhone 4.0 is…

So you were nice enough for Santa to leave a shiny new iPhone 3GS or iPod touch G3 in your stocking, and it’s unwrapped and charged and… you need to know what to do next?! Relax, TiPb’s got you covered. Here are some helpful tips and tricks, apps and accessories, and reviews and overviews to get new users on their way. (Or, if you’re already a pro, to send to those new users who would otherwise be bugging you all morning for help).

Know Your iPhone (or iPod!)

There’s a lot you can do with an iPhone or iPod touch. More than often meets the eye. If you’re having trouble figuring out all the features (or just having trouble!), here’s where to start:

• iPhone OS 3.0 Walkthrough
• iPhone OS 3.1 Update
• iPhone 3GS Hardware
• iPod touch G3 hardware
• iPhone Help and How-to Guides
• Jailbreak and Unlock Resources

ABCs — Apps, Bluetooth, and Cases

Got your iPhone or iPod touch sorted? Good, now get it tricked out. Whether you want to keep it safe, talk it up, or just figure out those 100,000 apps, we’ve got a guide for that:

• TiPb’s Top 5 Must-Have iPhone Accessories
• TiPb’s Top 5 Apps Series
• TiPb’s Staff Picks of the Week Series

Finally, the Forums

Need personalized help? A place to talk about your new iPhone or iPod with newcomers and old pros alike? Or just want to check out the best smartphone community on the internet? Dive in, the chat is fine:

• iPhone and iPod touch Discussion and Help Forums

Now enjoy your new gear, and happy holidays to you and all of yours!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Get a New iPhone or iPod touch for Christmas? Here’s What You Need to Know!

Santa was kind to MacRumors.com, gifting them with discovery that Apple has owned the internet domain name iSlate.com since 2007, though it’s been hidden away much of that time:

it seems Apple’s name was temporarily exposed as the actual owner of “iSlate.com” for several weeks in late 2007. It was changed back within a few weeks, but MacRumors has found the historic record proving Apple ownership of the iSlate.com domain.

Hey, didn’t Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times reference an Apple slate two months ago?

"I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate…"

Hmmm…. TiPb’s just been calling it still unannounced device the iTablet, others have called it the iPad, but how does iSlate grab you?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Owns iSlate.com, Let iTablet Name Rumors Commence!