Panes is an iPad app that lets you easily multitask between Twitter, Facebook, RSS, the web, and more. All of your widgets can be found at the bottom of the screen, like a dock, so that the one you want to switch too is literally just a tap away.

The widgets included with Panes are Twitter, RSS, Facebook, weather, web, YouTube, tasks, notes, units converter, calculator, stopwatch, calendar, Google reader, Read It Later (now Pocket), stocks, clock, and Simple Note.

The UI is very basic and easy to use. Along the bottom of the screen is your dock of widgets, similar to the dock of apps on a Mac. What’s great about Panes, is that I actually don’t have much to say about it. It does exactly what you expect. Panes doesn’t run perfectly smooth, but still pretty good. Some of the widgets, like Stocks, could include a little more information, but since the idea behind Panes is to multitask, you probably don’t want want all the features of every service included in it. If you need more functionality, you can just hop over to a dedicated app for that and give it your undivided attention.

Although Panes does what it claims, and does it well, I’m not that compelled to use it. I guess I just don’t find it too difficult to bring up the multitasking bar by double tapping the home button and switching to the app I need, or better yet, just swiping with four fingers to my most recently used app. This is my personal opinion, however, and I understand how others may be very excited about Panes and its implementation of widgets.

The Good

• Widgets for Twitter, RSS, Facebook, weather, web, YouTube, tasks, notes, units converter, calculator, stopwatch, calendar, Google reader, Read It Later (now Pocket), stocks, clock, and Simple Note
• Switching between widgets is very fast

The Bad

• Boring UI
• Scrolling isn’t perfectly smooth

The Conclusion

If you’ve been desiring an app that lets you multitask between different services and task that you regularly do on your iPad, Panes does a great job.

$3.99 – Download Now

Instapaper, Pocket (formerly known as Read It Later), and Readability are all great ways to “read later”, or time-shift the Web articles and other content you don’t have time to read now. (Think of them as TiVo for the web.) Some are highly focused on text, others also prioritize photos and videos. Some are highly focused on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad only, others offer more cross-platform and Android support. Each one tries to solve the same problem — letting you enjoy the content you want to enjoy, when you want to enjoy it — but goes about it in a different way. So which one does it best, and for whom?

Note: Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability all have support for both iPhone and iPad but we’re focusing exclusively on the iPhone versions for this shootout.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Design & Interface

Reading is a personal experience for most of us, and one that should always be be enjoyable. More than likely, you’ll want to kick back and relax while catching up on the day’s stories. While content is king, the experience you get while interacting with that content can be just as important for most.

Instapaper for iPhone uses a standard list view for separating sections. Clicking into the Read Later section presents you with a list of articles. The main page also contains any folders you've created listed at the bottom. While useable, the interface is rather boring.

Instapaper approaches saving articles in a fairly straight-forward way — the table view and the file system. You can create folders on your iPhone to categorize and archive articles. Tap into the section you’d like to view and tap on an article you’d like to read. Your top tab, labeled Read Later, is where you’ll find all the articles you’ve saved to the service. Articles are displayed in an a stripped down format, devoid of ads and other cruft, and that makes them really easy to read.

Instapaper also integrates a feature called tilt scrolling that, as the name implies, will scroll the page up and down as you tilt your iPhone. Tab into font settings to switch from light and dark mode, change the font type (with some beautiful new typefaces to choose from), increase or decrease font size, change line spacing, and to widen or narrow margins. Overall, Instapaper does a good job of formatting articles nicely. I have run into a few issues with how it formats images or headers on websites which can be bothersome at times.

Readability's name is well suited as it's obvious that their main goal is to make articles as readable as possible. This includes making menus and navigation as unobtrusive as possible while you're reading content.

Readability approaches things a bit differently when it comes to menus and organization. The main home screen will aggregate a list of your saved content. Tapping on the reading list button will allow you to navigate to items you’ve marked as favorites or view archived articles.

Readability also allows you to switch between light and dark modes and change the font to customize the experience. Their font choices are beautiful but not always optimal for long form reading. Where Readability really shines, however, is how it makes sure the focus is on having a seamless reading experience. When you tap into an article all the menus and navigation options disappear, leaving you with nothing but the content you want in front of you. Tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the menus. Swipe to the right to bring up your main reading list again.

Pocket for iPhone takes a new approach with their re-designed and re-named application. The interace is very clean but colorful and useful at the same time. Organizing articles by tags, archiving or deleting them, and changing settings is straight forward. Pocket also makes it easy to switch between a scaled down and full blown version of a web page with the tap of a button.

Pocket has newly designed interface to go with its new name. Just like Readability and Instapaper, you can change the margins, fonts, switch from dark to light mode, and customize the experience. But that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

Pocket treats photos and videos as first-class citizens alongside articles. You can sort by articles that contain images, video, or just plain text articles. You can also bulk edit from the main screen. Simply tap the edit button and either trash articles, mark them as read, or tag them with categories.

When inside an article, Pocket allows you to quickly switch from a scaled down version and the full blown web version of a saved clip. And toggling between them is super fast. It’s also great at rendering inline images, and is really smart about what content should and shouldn’t be presented.

While all three have easy to use interfaces, their designs are very different. Instapaper is almost old-school in its presentation, but incredibly focused in its choices. Readability looks very good but the edge goes to Pocket which has the best mix of presentation of functionality. The ability to easily edit and sort articles is great and the interface is both powerful and accessible.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Cross-platform support

If you have multiple devices, whether it’s an iPhone and iPad, or iPhone and Kindle Fire, or some other combination, being able to access the content you saved on the platforms you use is important. Here’s what Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability support:

Instapaper

• iPhone
• iPad
• Kindle Fire

Readability

• iPhone
• iPad
• Android
• Kindle Fire

Pocket

• iPhone
• iPad
• Android
• Kindle Fire

Instapaper doesn’t provide official support for Android and none of them seem to officially support BlackBerry or Windows Phone. So for now, it’s a tie between Pocket and Readability as far as native mobile app support goes.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: 3rd party app support

In order for a “read later” service to be of service, it has to be readily available from the apps you use all day. Because Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability have all been around for a while, in one form or another, you can find support for all three services in many of the most popular Twitter, RSS, and similar apps.

Tie.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Desktop Support

Instapaper, Readability, and Pocket all provide web browser plug-ins to easily save content to read later, and all offer a web-based way to access this content when and where you want to access it. Just like the mobile apps, however, the experience will be different across each client.

Instapaper on the web sticks to the standard format of just listing articles on a page. You can click into them to view the full blown desktop version or view a text version as well. It gets the job done but it's nothing too exciting.

Instapaper’s website sticks to the standard table view of articles. Clicking one takes you to the full article. You can also choose to view a text version or to archive it. It gets the job done and does it well but just like the app, it isn’t very exciting to look at.

Readability on the web provides a simliar experience to Readability on the iPhone. The layout and icons are very simliar and easy to find. Each article also has sharing options directly underneath it.

Readability’s website also provides an experience that’s a closely tied to their iPhone app, and that makes it really usable. It doesn’t hide navigation the way the website does, but due to the bigger canvas they have to work with, that’s not a problem. You can find your main navigation off the to left and each article will have sharing options and edit options directly underneath it. Easy to use and easy to maintain.

Pocket provides an experience on the web that's a bit different. It looks almost exactly the same as the iPhone and iPad interface. The experience is seamless regardless what device you're reading on. Users will appreciate that.

Pocket’s website also tries to be as close to the mobile experience as possible. At least when it comes to layout and format. You can, of course, view full blown articles but the layout feels very simliar. You actually don’t even feel like you’re on a website for the most part. It feels like you’re browsing right from your phone but with the bigger screen real-estate of your computer monitor. Same functionality, same basic layout, just full blown articles.

Since the websites all mirror the apps to a greater or lesser degree, just like with the app, Pocket has the edge here.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Cost

If cost is a factor to you, you’ll be happy to know that both Pocket and Readability are available for free. (At least up front, at least for now.)

Instapaper costs $4.99 but it’s a universal app so you’ll only need to purchase once. There’s also an optional subscription service that offers additional functionality.

Readability also has a — now optional, still controversial — subscription service.

Some users will no doubt prefer the presumed security that comes from paying for an app or service, most just want free stuff, no questions asked.

Tie between Readability and Pocket.

Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability: Conclusion

While Instapaper vs Pocket vs Readability all have great native apps, fantastic web sites, and excellent services, they all come to the table with very different focuses and approaches.

Power iOS-only users might love Instapaper’s thoughtful functionality and no-frills design, while cross-platform users might find it too austere and limited.

New users might take a liking to Readbility’s good looks and high level of integration, while power users might find it a bit limited. (Their business model, which we won’t get into here, is also a turn-off to some.)

Cross-platform and multimedia users might enjoy Pockets wider device support, slick interface, and first-class handling of photos and videos. Dedicated iOS-centric, article-centric users might not like the broader focus.

So which is the best?

Pocket.

The re-design brought with it much greater attention to detail and it really shows. Pocket provides the best design and user experience for the broadest base of users, both on the app and on the website.

If you’re already all-in on Instapaper and video isn’t a priority for you, there’s no reason to switch to anything else. If you want more than articles, or you’re new to the whole idea of “read later” and time-shifting content, give Pocket a go. It’s free, so there’s no risk to try it out, and you may be surprised how quickly you start saving things you happen upon on the web.

If you’ve been “reading later” for a while and have a personal preference, let us know why in our iPhone apps forum.

Pocket – Free – Download Now

Readability – Free – Download Now

Instapaper – $4.99 – Download Now

A new accessory manufacturer called Buff Labs has been demoing a rather impressive transparent film for iPhone that can handle a ton of impact and scratch damage, including a ride behind a skateboard, hammer strikes, screwdriver thrusts, drops onto concrete, and yes, even a brick being chucked at it. The screen can take this thanks to four-tier construction consisting of an air bubble-releasing/repositionable silicon adhesive layer, a stretch resistant later, a shock dispersive cushioning layer, and a shock absorptive cushioning layer.

Want to buy one of these? Yeah, so would I, but there’s not a lot of information on retail availability. One can only assume that they’re working their way into retail channels now. Folks in the video comments are saying the skin is available for $20 – $30 on eBay.  Buff Labs made their big debut about two months ago, so one can only hope that these protectors will be available in stores soon.

Georgia, Seth, and Rene discuss the iPhone 4S six months later, widescreen iPhone rumors, widgets on iOS, best free iPhone apps, Draw Something updates, and furniture from the future! This is iPhone & iPad Live!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
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Meta

• How to take dreamy iPhone photos of your newborn baby
• How to replace the speaker assembly in a Verizon or Sprint iPhone 4
• Editor's desk: iTunes, App Store upgrades, Cocoaheads, wide-screen iPhone, features, and more
• New iPad vs MacBook Air: Which should you buy? [iMore TV]
• iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 FREE color conversion giveaway!

iPhone 4S six months later

• Celebrity iPhone 4S Siri commercials hit the air with Samuel L. Jackson, Zooey Deschanel
• iPhone 4S six months later
• iPhone 4S six months later: Community report card

Widgets

• Is iOS ready for more widgets?

Apps

• Best free iPhone apps
• Draw Something update lets you comment, share, undo, save, and more!
• Pocket for iPhone and iPad review
• Byword vs. iA Writer vs. Elements: iPad text editor app shootout!

Accessories

• Convergence: First our iPhone, now our furniture!
• Pad & Quill Contega for the new iPad review
• Blujoos handcrafted Antique Steampunk Case for iPhone review

Hosts

• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at oct@me.com

For all our podcasts — audio and video — including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

If you haven’t already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us!

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The classic wave defense game, Plants vs. Zombies, has had a big update to their iPhone and iPad apps.  There’s now an endless vasebreaker mode, which spans 9 levels of defending against zombies hiding in fine china. You only get one to start, but can unlock the others with coins you earn through gameplay or in-app purchases. There a a bunch of new achievements for Game Center, plus a smattering of minigames, such as a slot machine, “Portal Combat”, “Zombiquarium”, and “Beghouled Twist”. Finally, there’s a Zen Garden included if you just want to have a place to quietly tend to your various plants and pick up some coins along the way.

If you haven’t had a chance to play PvZ, you should check it out; it’s a goofy, but very tactical and fast-paced game. Basically, you get a wide variety of plants to protect your home from various fronts of zombie attack. The zombies come in waves, and have different gear to get around your defenses, like pole vaults to get over the first plant it bumps into, or screen doors to provide some extra protection. PopCap had a bunch of the zombies running around PAX East 2012 dancing and giving away iPads, which reminded me just how much I loved the franchise. Check out the video below.

$6.99 – Download Plants vs. Zombies HD

$2.99 – Download Plants vs. Zombies

Apple Stores gross more than 16 times the U.S. average revenue per square foot of retail space per year, according to new research by RetailSails. $300 per square foot annually is considered respectable, while the U.S. average in malls is around $341. Jewelers average around $600, while the median of the top 20 U.S. retailers sat at $787 per square foot. And what does Apple make? $5,626. Yowza. They’re also leading by growth, boasting 49.1% year-over-year increase, which is way ahead of lulemon’s second place with 24.2%.

Apple’s retail experience is unparalleled, despite being a relatively new venture. Other stores have definitely borrowed a few ideas from Apple Stores, including the recently-launched TELUS Next Generation store. With Apple intent on setting up shop in Wal-Mart stores, one can only expect their retail performance to increase in the forseeable future.

How much do you guys figure you’ve spent in an Apple store over the last year or so? Do you find it’s worth the travel to get to an Apple store, even if another retailer is closer?

Source: RetailSails via Asymco

Since January, Apple’s supply chain laborforce has jumped from 84% compliance with overtime standards to 95%, according to this month’s Supplier Responsibility report. Apple is also reporting that they’re now monitoring 800,000 workers, which is up from 500,000 previously. This follows on the Fair Labor Association’s report issued just a few short weeks ago claiming that excess overtime was a big problem at Foxconn’s production facilities. Apple has pledged that they’ll maintain income levels for employees who are limited within the 60-hour work week, but many laborers doubt that they’ll walk away with the same amount of money while working fewer hours.

Beyond overtime issues, Apple faces scrutiny over using underage workers to build iPhones and iPads. The average age is a relatively low 23 years, with between 3.6% and 5.5% aged 16 to 18, according to the FLA audit. On other fronts, Apple is getting flak for energy efficiency in their data centers, though they have been aggressively defending their eco-friendliness.

In any case, good on Apple for increasing overtime compliance so quickly. Foxconn is on a hiring spree, which should make up for the lost overtime hours and hopefully provide employees enough time to, y’know, sleep.

Source: TNW

For today only, the iMore iPhone Accessory Store has the Seidio Innocase II Surface for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on sale for only $16.95! That’s a whopping 43% off! Get them before they’re gone!

• Shop Seidio Innocase II Surface for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 now!

Crafted from a hard yet flexible material, the Seidio Innocase II Surface provides an amazingly thin layer of protection without adding the excessive bulk of other cases.

-The Innocase II consists of interlocking top and bottom pieces that fit your iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 precisely, and Seidio’s signature soft touch coating provides a great feel and better grip without attracting lint.

Features:

• 1mm thin case provides scratch protection without adding much bulk
• Crafted from a heard, yet flexible material with Seidio’s signature soft touch coating
• Unique slide-in design consists of top and bottom interlocking pieces that fit your iPhone 4S, >- AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 precisely
• Precision cutouts for ports and controls

Verizon has reported it’s first quarter, 2012 income and it includes the sale of 3.2 million iPhones, and $3.91 billion in net revenue. Their wireless business, which includes the iPhone and iPad, was up 7.7% in services, 8.9% in retail year-over-year. They added almost 3/4 of a million net new retail customers, almost half a million of which were postpaid. That makes their total reach now 93 million, of which 88 million are postpaid.

The iPhone numbers are down, of course, given the previous quarter included the launch of the iPhone 4S and the initial rush of immediate adopters has passed. Yet 3.2 million is still a strong number, and the iPhone still outsells every other smartphone on the network, combined.

Verizon, of course, continues to complain about the high initial cost of the iPhone, which it subsidizes and then earns back over the course of — typically high priced — two year contracts.

“Verizon delivered double-digit earnings growth and strong cash flow this quarter,” said Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO. “We built momentum coming out of 2011, and our results show that we continue to execute in the key growth areas of our business. Verizon Wireless produced both great growth and great margins, and we produced another strong quarter of FiOS growth. We are confident we will improve Wireline margins for the full year. Our repositioning of Verizon Enterprise Solutions has better aligned our strengths in high-growth markets, and we expect our enterprise business to contribute even more to overall Wireline revenue growth and profitability over time.”

He added: “We remain confident in our ability to take advantage of the growth opportunities we see, and we are focused on driving operating efficiencies. We are on track with our plans and expect to continue to deliver strong results.”

And here are the “wireless highlights”

Wireless Financial Highlights

• Service revenues in the quarter totaled $15.4 billion, up 7.7 percent year over year. Retail service revenues grew 8.9 percent year over year, to $14.9 billion, an increase of 110 basis points over fourth-quarter 2011 and the highest growth rate in three years.

• Data revenues were $6.6 billion, up $1.1 billion – or 21.1 percent – year over year, and represent 42.9 percent of all service revenues. Total revenues were $18.3 billion, up 8.2 percent year over year.

• Retail postpaid ARPU grew 3.6 percent over first-quarter 2011, to $55.43. Retail postpaid data ARPU increased to $23.80, up 16.0 percent year over year. Retail service ARPU grew 3.4 percent, to $53.66.

• Wireless operating income margin was 28.6 percent. Segment EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP) was 46.3 percent.

Wireless Operational Highlights

• Verizon Wireless added 734,000 retail net customers in the first quarter, including 501,000 retail postpaid net customers. These additions exclude acquisitions and adjustments.

• At the end of the first quarter, the company had 93.0 million retail customers, a 5.2 percent increase year over year, including 88.0 million retail postpaid customers.

• At the end of the first quarter, nearly 47 percent of Verizon Wireless’ retail postpaid customer phone base were smartphones, up from 43.5 percent at the end of fourth-quarter 2011.

• Retail postpaid churn was 0.96 percent, an improvement of 5 basis points year over year. Total retail churn was 1.24 percent, an improvement of 9 basis points year over year.

• Verizon Wireless continued to roll out its 4G LTE mobile broadband network, the largest such network in the U.S. As of today, Verizon Wireless 4G LTE service is available to more than 200 million people in 230 markets across the U.S. – more than two-thirds of the population.

• Verizon Wireless introduced five new 4G LTE devices in the first quarter 2012: the Droid 4 and Droid Razr Maxx by Motorola, the Spectrum and Lucid by LG, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. In addition, the Apple iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G became available from Verizon Wireless in mid-March.

Source: Verizon, The Next Web

Apple is trying to encourage users of its MobileMe service to switch over to iCloud by offering a free Snow Leopard upgrade DVD. Snow Leopard usually costs $29 from the Apple Store. In order to use iCloud on your Mac, it has to be running Lion. Apparently, some percentage of MobileMe users are still running on Leopard and haven't upgraded to Snow Leopard which is needed before you can upgrade to Lion.

Apple is recommending that MobileMe customers log in to their MobileMe accounts and fill out a form with their mailing information. Apple will then send out a free copy of Snow Leopard on DVD. Of course there is more to this than meets the eye. In order for users to take advantage of iCloud, Snow Leopard still doesn't cut the mustard. Once upgraded to Snow leopard with the free DVD, you then have to upgrade your Mac to Lion which will cost you $29.99.

MobileMe is due to be terminated as an Apple Service on June 30, so it makes sense to upgrade to an iCloud account as soon as possible. The offer of a free copy of Snow Leopard is due to expire on June 15, so it's a good time to at least save half the cost of your upgrade… if you are still running Leopard on your Mac.

Which version of OS X are you running? Let us know in our Mac and OS X Forum

Source: MacGasm

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to announce this week’s photo contest — and the winner of last week’s macro photography contest. Before I do, I want to congratulate everyone on their awesome entries. We’ve got some talented iPhoneographer readers here at iMore and it wasn’t an easy decision!

And the winning entry is…

…this awesome photo of a quarter by BuhdeeBoy! What made this photo stand out to me was strong focus on “In God We Trust”. He also did an awesome job of using the rule of thirds on this focus point. BuhdeeBoy used an iPhone 4S to take the photo and edited it with Snapseed for iPhone. The black and white conversion was also a nice touch. Great work BuhdeeBoy!

• Snapseed for iPhone – $4.99 – Download Now

This week’s contest: Panoramas!

With the end of one photo contest, comes the beginning of new one — this week we’re going to completely shift gears and take panoramic photographs! There is no restriction on the subject. However, we expect a lot of entries to be landscapes, so it may help you stand out from the crowd if you get a creative and produce a truly unique image.

Apps for panoramic photography

The iPhone is does not come with the required software for panoramic photography, so to enter this contest, you’ll need to head to the App Store and pick up an app for taking panos. Here’s a couple popular ones:

• AutoStitch Panorama (my personal favorite) – $1.99 – Download Now
• Photosynth – Free – Download Now

If you prefer a different app for taking panoramas, please share it with us in the forums!

The prize: a Glif!

In addition to a thumbs up from the iMore crew and all of us yelling about how great of a photo star you are, the winner of this week’s photography contest will have their photo converted into an official iMore wallpaper and we’ll showcase it on the front page of iMore! But that's not all! The winner will also receive a Glif tripod mount and stand!

The rules

The rules of entry are very simple. The photo must have been taken with an iPhone or iPad (we’ll check the EXIF data of the original file to verify) and any edits must have been done with an iPhone or iPad app. No Photoshop CS6! If you have external lens accessories you are more than welcome to use them. You can submit as many photos as you’d like, but remember, this is a contest, so make sure you submit your best work!

Resources

Now, before you run off to take your panoramas photos, remember that it’s not technical skill alone that will claim this prize. Even if you’re not the best photographer (yet!), a great eye and a great subject can still get you the win. However, a little help can never hurt, so make sure you check out these articles from our iPhone photography series for some tips.

• How to create stunning panoramic photographs with your iPhone
• How to make your iPhone photography more striking with the "rule of thirds"

How to submit

Submitting your photos is easy. Just head over to the iMore Photography Forum and post your photos to the official contest thread. Don’t forget to state which apps, if any, you used to edit your photo!

That’s it! Now go out and get those beautiful panos!

ENTER NOW

Found an interesting article you want to share with iMore? Have a burning question about that feature you just can’t figure out? There is ALWAYS more happening just a click away in the forums. You can always head over and join in the conversation, search for answers, or lend your expertise to other members of our community. You check out some of the threads below:

• iPad 3 in Jail … for client meetings??
• What’s the best weather app?
• Do you sort contacts by first or last name?
• An iPhone display that is so clear, it mimics real life?
• Merging contacts
• Unable to Jail Break After Restoring from iTunes

If you’re not already a member of the iMore Forums, register now!