TEXT REFLOW SEEMS STANDARD FOR ANDROID OS… WHY NOT iOS4?

“Text Reflow”, or the function of word wrapping text when you zoom in on an article using your smart phone browser, seems to be a normal feature on Android smart phones these days. But this is lacking on the iPhone iOS4 platform. I am a heavy article reader, and I rely on my iPhone 4 to keep up-to-date with trends within the fields that I do business.

A major annoyance to me is the need to scroll horizontally to read articles when zooming in using the Apple’s Safari browser. When I pick up an Evo 4G or a Droid X, the text automatically re-wraps itself beautifully when you zoom in on an article or document. This is especially handy for those that like to speed read. In fact, you can download several programs on the net that basically provide the function of flashing text in groups of 2 or 3 words at a time to facilitate rapid reading. When you zoom in using an Android device, you can increase the text size as much as you want and it will reformat the text to allow vertical reading. You can easily flick down the page and rapidly read any article much faster than you could be scrolling sideways.

The folks over at Apple seem to think that text reflow is not necessary because the Retina display is so clear that you don’t need to zoom in on text to ease reading. I don’t understand this argument, and I think it’s an excuse to get around the fact that the Android platform has outdone iOS4 in this one single area. It doesn’t matter how clear the screen might be. If you can’t read tiny text on a printed document because of poor eyesight, you’re not going to be able to read it on a Retina display either. So you are left to zooming in to a decent size, and having to scroll back and forth horizontally to get through an article. It is very cumbersome to say the least.

Text reflow is almost a deal-breaker for me. I absolutely love my iPhone 4, but I would consider trying to get out of my contract and sell my device just to be able to have a device that I could use to speed read information in the manner that text reflow allows. I’m not a programming expert or software developer, but I would have to assume that this is an easy fix (or addition) for the Apple developers. In order to stay ahead of the competitors (who seem to be catching up rapidly), why not put the Apple ego aside and get this done?

I have started a blog page dedicated to drumming up support for text reflow on iOS4. If you are an iPhone user and you see the benefit of having text reflow for reading purposes, please click on the link and post a response on my blog page. I want my iPhone 4 to be my primary reading device, and I’ll do just about anything to have this feature!

Carlton Flowers
Techno Geek

http://carltonzone.com/blog/iphone-text-wrapword-re-flow-discussion-page/

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REPLACEMENT IPHONE DIGITIZER CALIBRATION ISSUE

A few months ago, I dropped my iPhone 3GS and destroyed the glass display. It still worked, which was a miracle, but the glass was shattered with cracks running throughout. I decided to look into replacing the broken glass display, which is called the “digitizer“, on my own. I ran into problems, and found that there wasn’t much information that I could dig up on this issue on the Internet. I’m starting this blog post to provide people with my findings and share what I found to be the problem.

I purchased a replacement digitizer on Amazon.com for $11 including shipping. I was not expecting to be able to get one that cheap, but they are evidently selling a pile of these things and are able to price them cheaply. All of the replacements that I found claim that they work on both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS.

I watched several of the videos available on YouTube that show you how to disassemble the phone and install the new digitizer. All of them claim that the process is easy, and only takes around 20 minutes to a half hour to complete. Being that I am an experienced computer builder and hacker, I thought this would be an easy task to take on.

I received the replacement digitizer in the mail within one week, and I was ready to attempt the replacement. I made a couple of big mistakes. First, I tried to pry the iPhone apart from the antenna seam, NOT from the glass display at the surface. I ended up damaging the speaker, and killing the phone’s vibration capability, but it still worked otherwise.

The second mistake I made was not being careful enough when prying the digitizer away from the sensitive LCD display. If you put too much pressure on the LCD with the prying tool that comes with the replacement digitizer kit, you will ruin it. I pried too hard and ended up losing about a one inch square’s worth of display space when I reassembled the phone and turned it back on. I would caution anyone to be extra careful when removing the digitizer glass from the bracket and LCD display. The videos did not stress this enough.

As a side note, I have to mention how difficult it was to remove the old digitizer from the bracket that holds it inside the phone. You have to use a hair dryer to blow heat on the glass for about 10 minutes to get the glue soft enough that will allow you to pry the glass off of the bracket where it is glued on the top and bottom portions of the screen. That was not an easy task, and it was a very disconcerting feeling trying to pry it apart after heating it up. But getting back to the story…

After reassembling the phone and seeing that I heavily damaged the LCD, I did not notice the impending problem I was going to have with the touch screen not being in sync with my finger. I had to order a replacement LCD panel from Amazon.com for about $35. Once the new one came in, I put the phone back together with the new digitizer. I fired up the phone and had a perfect display, to my great excitement! But the celebration didn’t last long when I noticed that I couldn’t get the slider to move across the screen to unlock the phone. I fiddled with it for several minutes until I noticed that I had to touch the screen 1/2″ above the slider button to get it to “grab”. Once I got the phone unlocked and on the home screen, I noticed that all of the buttons were off-base. You’d touch one icon, but it would activate the one to the right, and up one row. All of the icons were off, and there is no way to calibrate the screen to fix this. I also noticed that the bottom row was off, but in a different way. Instead of being out of sync to the right and up one notch, it was just to the right. The bottom home row evidently is handled in a different way than the icons as far as iOS works.

I searched and searched on the Internet and found only 2 or 3 obscure blog posts where others had described having the same problem. I surmised that the digitizer was no good, so I sent it back for a replacement. The replacement came in, and I had the same exact problem. That’s when I really started to dig. I found exactly one post on a blog that a person made reference to what could be causing this problem. The person stated that the digitizer for the 3G is not compatible with the 3GS version. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it is the only possible answer that I have found to date.

I got frustrated with trying to find a solution to the problem, so I packaged up my 3GS, all of my accessories, the 2 replacement digitizers, and sold it all on eBay for $180. The broken digitizer still worked, so I took off the replacement and put it back on so the buyer could get the phone loaded and jailbroken. The buyer had plans to unlock the phone and use it on the Verizon network. I used the proceeds to cover my cost of an early upgrade to the iPhone 4, which I absolutely love.

Since going through this ordeal, I have come across several people with cracked iPhone displays asking me for advice on replacing them. I’d like to find out more about this calibration problem before I recommend a course of action for anyone. If you have had any experience in repairing iPhones, or if you know of a person who has some insight on this syncing issue, please post a reply below. I’d really like to get a good discussion going on this!

Carlton Flowers
Techno Geek Extraordinaire

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PANDIGITAL CRANKS OUT A SUB-$200 MULTIMEDIA E-READER

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MY REASONS FOR UPGRADING TO THE iPHONE 4

My social media pal Loukas Koufodontes (@Koufie) presented a good question to me via Twitter. He asked, “Carlton, did you find that you needed to upgrade to the iPhone 4? I can upgrade as well, but don’t know if it would benefit me.” I thought this was a great question, and an opportunity to summarize my answer in a blog post!

I currently own an Apple iPhone 3GS. It’s a great device, and I have had the best use out of it. I did manage to crack the screen, but I am in the process of fixing it. However, I broke the speaker prying the phone apart from the wrong seam. So that is unfixable. Great reason to get a new phone. There are several other reasons that motivated me to get the iPhone 4. instead of replacing my device with a cheaper 3GS. They are as follows:

HD Video

I have hosted a local access TV show in the past, and i am planning on kicking off the show again this fall. With the iPhone 4, I can shoot video in 720 HD. This means I can use my smart phone for shooting television show. I will be able to use the iPhone 4 instead of spending $500 to $600 on a new video camera that has HD capability (my current video camera is a Hi-8, not great for television quality).

The $4.99 Video Editing App

Not only do I love the HD video capability, but I will be able to edit videos right on the phone and upload them straight to social media sites. For five dollars, I can download a powerful app that will let me add titles, transitions, and even background music to my videos. Instead of relying solely on my desktop computer and video editing software, I’ll be able to upload a lot more quality content by using the iPhone 4 for short videos.

Camera Flash

I’ve been waiting for the camera flash for 2 years. I didn’t purchase a 3G iPhone due to lack of video capability and lack of a flash. I bought the 3GS for reasons that other features along with the video capability showed up, but I still missed the camera flash. With the new 5 megapixel camera (up from 3) and the addition of the camera flash, my picture taking will be a much higher quality. I would rather have this capability on my smart phone than to buy a separate camera.

Front-Facing Camera

This feature is beyond awesome! I could not wait to call my brother-in-law for my first “Face Time” conversation! It was everything I expected it to be. This is “Jetsons” technology that I have been waiting on for years on end. I am easily entertained, I’ll admit, but this is a feature that is well worth the cost of upgrading for.

The Flat Base

One of the biggest annoyances with the 3GS version of the iPhone for me was the irregular base. The back of the phone is curved. When you place the phone down on a table to text or write an email, it rocks and wiggles due to the curvy back. I had to put the phone in a hard case to solve that problem. It was either that, or hold the phone in one hand and text with the other. This causes the antenna problem to surface. Just as it is on the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS also drops signal when you touch the antenna that surrounds the phone. But with the new model, I can at least set the phone down on a table and type to my heart’s content.

Those are the biggest reasons why I felt it was worth spending another $200 to upgrade my phone after 1 year. What are your thoughts? Did you decide to upgrade, or wait it out and continue using your current device? Post your comments below!

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CABLE VERSUS DSL – WHICH FREEWAY IS FASTER?

Last week, I moved my family into our new home in Jefferson City. One of the first things that a tech geek like me had to do was decide on which high speed internet service provider would be the best choice in terms of price and bandwidth offered. My choices were Mediacom Cable Internet service and Century Link DSL service.

It was a tough decision, and I wish it were more clear-cut than it was. But after analyzing the pros and cons of both styles of broadband internet services, one company edged out the other.

In my previous house, my only option was a 1.5mb DSL service. It was horribly inadequate and rarely ran above 0.8mb in speed. But at my new home location, the fastest speed of DSL service was available. I could opt for 10mb service at $39 a month with one line, or even go for the new 20mb bonded line option at only $69 per month. Century Link’s main selling point was the fact that their broadband is not shared among a group of people in a neighborhood, as is the case with Mediacom’s cable internet service. The rated speed that is advertised is the speed you will get alone. This was a big plus. The only negative aspect I could see with the DSL option was the fact that 10mb could be approaching the limit of maximum future speed due to the smaller size of the phone lines which carry the signal.

Mediacom was offering a 12mb service bundled with extended cable for $59 per month, and $79 per month after the first year. This was an attractive price. But once again, the Internet is shared across a group of people in the neighborhood. With everyone using the Internet at the same time, speeds could be lowered depending on how much bandwidth was being downloaded. But the plus side of this was the fact that Mediacom’s highest rating was 2mb faster than the DSL package for one phone line, plus the company plans to raise the top speed to 15mb this fall at no additional charge.

This was a tough decision, but what tips the scale to the favor of the winner boils down to the greater upside potential of cable Internet access. Let’s face it… the “big fat wire” with the copper middle has more throughput potential than the thin telephone line. We are much closer to the maximum amount of data we can cram through existing infrastructure (all things being kept equal) for telephone lines than we are for cable wire.

Something else worth mentioning, the bandwidth speed draw down during peak times for a cable modem is not nearly as bad as what the phone company wants you to believe. As you can see from the picture above, my speed during a peak time today (around 7pm) was 8.3mb. At other times, I run at speeds 11 to 12mb. So clearly this is not a major issue.

I am absolutely excited to have my cable Internet access back again, and I will probably stick with it because it meets my needs. What are your main uses of your high speed Internet access, and which type of service do you subscribe to? What are the pros and cons that affected your decision, and how satisfied are you with the customer service you have received? Sound off below!

Carlton Flowers
Techno Geek

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TOSHIBA LIBRETTO W100 SET TO HIT MARKET IN AUGUST 2010

Is there anyone paying attention to what has transpired over the past few moths with the disappearance of the Microsoft Courier concept tablet device, and the mysterious appearance of the Toshiba Libretto W100? I find this to be very suspicious!

For months on end, we were teased by the prospect of the breakthrough Microsoft Courier (see my previous post and video) with its dual touch screens and proprietary Microsoft touch screen interface that was based on the Surface project. After much hullabaloo, Microsoft announced that they were dropping the project and postponing its introduction indefinitely. This was very distressing news to me.

I had my heart set on this device. This represented the only tablet concept that I would chose over the Apple iPad. I loved the idea of the dual screens, and all of the extras that you don’t get with an iPad. I also loved the concept of the “tuck” feature, whereas a user can transfer pictures and images from two different applications running on either screen by dragging and tucking that image into the fold. Some of the gestures featured on the Courier device, which come from the Surface, are not offered on even the iPad.The operating system was to feature Windows 7. It would have USB, a camera, a micro SD slot, and Adobe Flash capability, which represents a big draw to me as a PC user. All of these features had my mouth watering, and my piggy bank savings were growing in anticipation of an early 2011 release.

But lo and behold, the announcement came forth in late winter of 2010 that Microsoft was abandoning the project for no apparent reason. I was surprised that they would allow Apple, who surpassed them this year in market capitalization, to take center stage and dominate the new tablet market. To my shock, the new Toshiba Libretto W100 dual screen tablet concept was first reported in June of this year. It has striking similarity to the Courier tablet.

Even more surprising, they are planning on an August 2010 release. It has the same display dimensions and basic features of the Courier, all but the pointer device, and even runs on Microsoft Windows 7. Has anyone caught this but me? Are you as surprised as I am that the Courier, which was not due to enter the market until 2011, would come popping back on the scene, somewhat reincarnated, as the Toshiba Libretto? Is this the same device as the Courier, only more of a realistic production version and not vaporware concept?

I’d love to hear your comments if you know more about this than me. I’d also like to know your reaction, if you have been following the whole Microsoft Courier developments. The entry price of this device is supposed to be $1,099, and depending on features, could sell for $1400 on the higher end. This device, in my opinion, would be more useful to me as a heavy PC user who does not want to purchase a laptop or netbook. What are your thoughts? Comment below!

Carlton Flowers
Gadget Geek Supreme

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CHECKING THE WEATHER – 2010 STYLE

This is how you check the weather forecast using an iPad. Thanks to my pal Jason Piper for demonstrating on his new iPad! Enjoy!

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PRE-ORDERS FOR ARCHOS 7 HIT AMAZON

Archos 7 Home Tablet is available for pre-order through Amazon for only $199.

This looks like a pretty cool Android tablet concept, and the price actually surprises me! This device is hard not to consider at such a low price.

I’m not sure what they are offering as far as screen resolution, but I would bet that this is a Flash-enabled device with a USB port, headphone jack, and memory card slot.

Archos plans on bigger versions of their device, which will be released soon after the 7. Looking at the video of the device on the Engadget website, I was not quite as moved as I was when testing out the iPad, but what the heck… it’s cheap, portable internet access. Someone will find use for it, I suppose!

What are your thoughts about this device?

Carlton Flowers
Gadget Geek

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GOOGLE/HTC ANDROID-BASED TABLET LURKS IN THE SHADOWS OF VAPOR-WARE LAND

It amazes me that no company has stepped up to the plate to release a true iPad competitive device. I just don’t get it. Sure, we have the useless “Joo-Joo” (doo-doo, poo-poo, whatever) device, which was supposed to be the “Crunch Pad”. But what use is this over-sized tablet device when you can’t run any software on it? None. And yes, there are a couple of ugly holdover devices from the mid-2000’s that have been on the market ever since, but they are either busted ugly, way to bulky, or simply small laptops missing the keyboards.

In my opinion, the secret Google Android-based tablet device has the potential to tap the market that Apple has primed more than any other company. Google showed us that they can seriously contend, quickly, when they jumped into the smart phone market with the Nexus One device. There were rumors floating about that Google had intentions to release a device built by HTC, running on the Android operating system, sometime during the first half of 2010. But reports came forth early in 2010 that for some strange reason, they abandoned their plans and put a “who-knows-when” release date on their product.

With all of the Android applications coming onto the scene lately, I am inclined to believe that Android application development could become the next hot thing. I don’t see them overtaking Apple, but they certainly could start to pile up a considerable number of applications for their operating system. The philosophical difference between Google and Apple is quite attractive, in my opinion. If I had to choose between “open source” and “closed proprietary system”, I would probably have to go with the open-source system.

However, I must admit, I am an avid iPhone owner/user. This smacks in the face of my programming and computer-building past. I learned BASIC programming on a TRS-80 (for those of you old enough to remember), then moved on to a Commodore-64. Next, I learned the Macintosh “GUI” system and stayed with Apple until I learned how to install Windows 3.1 onto old 286 computers in order to sell them. That led to a 10-year stint as a computer system builder, expert-level troubleshooter, software nerd, and programming novice. All of this doesn’t add up to the type of person who buys an iPhone. So why did I jump on the iPhone bandwaggon? Because it’s the best smart phone on the market bar none.

But I digress… hang with me, I will bring all of this full-circle! On the computer end of things, I want to tinker. I want to modify. I want to create. I want to break it down and build it back up again. I don’t want a system that does all the thinking for me. That is why I am attracted to the idea of an Android-based system, even more so than a Windows-7 based system. Heck, I’d even be happy trying out a Chrome-based system. And Google is in a prime position to tap into the market of people who are just like ME.

My question is, how long will it be before Google and possibly HTC come out of hiding, and share with us a projected date for a tablet based on Android? How many fence-sitters will grow impatient and purchase an iPad because they are sick of waiting for a contender? How many people will grow wary of the whole tablet craze, and opt to purchase a high-powered laptop computer before we see their flagship tablet product come to fruition from vapor-ware land?

Post your thoughts!

Carlton Flowers
Impatient Techno-Geek
(photo credit to www.gizmodo.com)

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FORMAL BLOG POSTING VERSUS “GOING NATURAL”

I’ve been reading up on blog posting style. This weekend, I read a post on someone’s blog that basically said you should blog like you talk instead of being too formal. So that is what this post is going to be about, and it is not going to be written in my perfected polished style with proper diction and grammar!

The reason I’m considering this idea is due to the fact that I have hit the proverbial brick wall on blogging. I’ve been at this thing for about 18 months now, and my original goal was to pump out one quality article a week. That turned into one a month. Then I started unloading stuff that I normally make people pay for, and all it has gotten me is frustration, writer’s block, and a lack of income. So instead of trying to make the most blogalicious business blog with all of the finest most well-thought-out business advice and information, I think I’m just going to shoot my mouth off about the things I like, an not worry one bit about how polished and professional it ends up looking!

I started blogging to market myself as a keynote speaker and seminar trainer. I’ve been doing that for about 15 years, and figured this would be a great way to get the word out. I then took a huge liking to Twitter and social media marketing, and decided to change my whole focus as a speaker and trainer to marketing with social media. 18 months and thousands of hours of research later, I have not profited a dime. Sure, I sold 2 or 3 seminar products, and I did have a smashing Twitter Turbo seminar in St. Charles, but I had planned on touring the country on a monthly basis and really taking the training thing to the hilt.

What I have come to find out is that there really isn’t a huge demand for this as of yet. I have an outstanding product for businesses and professionals who want to annihilate the competition using social media, and it saves them countless hours in learning to do so. But the number of people out there who even have the appreciation to understand how good this information is, well, that’s a very small percentage. So what has this got to do with blogging in a natural voice? Well, I’ll tell you…

Up until now, I wanted to make each and every blog post a work of art. I wanted it to have the voice and tone of something you would find in Business Week, or the Wall Street Journal (am I flattering myself?). I didn’t want to let a single post slip through that did not keep me looking 100% professional, for fear that it could hurt my consulting prospects. But being that picky has gotten me nowhere fast. In order for a blog to really do some damage, you need to be posting daily, or at least 2 to 3 per week. And the content has to be top notch. Well that can be exhausting! The question you begin to ask yourself is, “how long am I going to do this free of charge with no feedback?”

I can’t afford to continue doing that. But at the same time, I am a firm believer in the “Go Giver” philosophy (read the book by Bob Burg & John David Mann). If you don’t pay your dues by giving to the community, you can’t expect to extract money from it any time soon. This is a law, not just a rule. So how does this reconcile itself with my issue? I think I have figured that out.

You have to give, blog, write, shoot videos, and do audios about something you LOVE. If it is not something you truly love, you will burn out. I thought I loved the whole idea of social media marketing, but it’s not my passion (I can’t believe I’m actually saying that). My passion is custom automobiles, electronics, gadgets, art, singing, public speaking, entertaining, music, and family. Those are the things that I need to be blogging about! But how in the world will I be able to create a blog that has any consistency when my passions are so widespread? The idea that came into my mind was this: Use social media marketing to promote and advance these areas of my life, and start to build a resume!

The end result is this… I think I would feel much better about my social media marketing advice if I were to speak from experience. If I can say, here’s a couple of businesses that I grew and built by using social media marketing techniques, and here is how you can do that too, I’d be in my groove. There are so many people trying to become marketing experts who have never owned a brick-and-mortar business, and they come a dime a dozen. I am a former business owner (I had 3 stores) and I am about to jump back into the business arena again. This time, I will use social media to promote my business.

In the mean time, I could be blogging about anything and everything that excites me, instead of making perfect well-thought-out polished blog posts once every month or two about social media marketing. It’s going to be hard for me to do this, and I’ll need encouragement. But if enough people tell me, “go off the cuff and tell it like it is, Carlton!” then I’m going to do it! Once I have a few success stories to share, then maybe it will be time to start making “serious” posts again. Until then, this blog could become much more entertaining…

;o)

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