I managed to get out for a night out this weekend and whilst doing so thought it would be a good opportunity to test out Foursquare’s new offering, the Checkmate app. I had done some reading on the auto checking app prior on the Mashable site and knew at some point, someone would come up with the idea but I was skeptical it would/could work accurately. Not to be too scenical I bought in and thought why not?. It works on the basis of once set, automatically checks the user into a venue without their intervention (actually checks in at 50 metres currently). My first thoughts were it would undoubtedly ping ‘false positives’, or simply, nothing at all. It works using the phones inbuilt GPS. The application works on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 and eventually will add support for other checkin services.



I started by downloading the app at the AppStore (costing the princely sum of £1.19). It shows you all your current Foursquare checkin destinations (after you sign in with your Foursquare details) and allows you to add the ones you want the app, when on, to check you into automatically. You simply choose, save and switch on (like the image portrays). I chose the ones I knew I’d use for the night and after saving them, set the app running in the background whilst I waited for transport, nowhere near any of my checkins for a true test. In addition you have the same option with Checkmate as you do with Foursquare, the ability to share your destination with your Twitter & Facebook friends, inclusive of shouts (‘status updates’ for both, of the destination).

I’d only just got out of a cab in town to hear a ping and see a notification message – My first check in!. Ok, I wasn’t at the bar but come to mention it I wasn’t even near the door – I was on the street though!. I was a good 50 yards from said destination, so straight away it was a thumbs down. I mean I know it’s impossible to get it 100% accurate but it usually checks in at 50 metres which is some distance, especially if there are a number of your checkins nearby or on the same street. That was a huge catchment area and if it wasn’t maybe it’d have faired better. After all you could be just driving past on a weekday, sat at the lights on the way home from work to get checked it at the local bar. Totally inaccurate!. The good thing is, it will only check you into a venue once, inside 12 hours, so there’s no need to worry about multiple checkins for the same venue, say in the same night. Later in the night, I visited two more of my saved venues and.. well nothing!. I was right after all. After that I lost interest and will now just stick to manual checkins through Foursquare. It’s just better for me plus I’ll have more control over what information I decide to share with people. Battery usage also I found an issue as the app constantly runs in the background as you would expect. This led to some battering of my full battery.

Future Checkin is on the way though which differs by letting you adjust the GPS settings for more accurate or more battery-friendly automatic checkins. Both applications warn that by running location in the background, you risk draining your phone’s battery!.

Just my opinion – doesn’t work for me due to:

A nice concept but sadly no, it falls short of the mark!. Too many false positives and some destinations not checked into at all.
I like my battery too much to waste it on something about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

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Recently I’ve been trying out a few app’s as I’ve said in a previous post for the iPhone. I have also updated my OS to the new ISO4. As I said in that post, some apps impressed me and well others, oustanded me they got the development time!. I know, that’s just my opinion but here it is. The apps I disliked the most were the free ones (nothing decent is free after all) but from what I’ve seen very few free apps tend to be of any use in that category anyway. They seem more… gimmicky!. The ‘download and try and quickly become bored and uninstall types’. Currently I have a mixture of both that I’ve tried and sometimes use.

I have been after a sat nav now for quite some time and after borrowing other peoples and comparing prices on units and was still undecided in buying, thinking they would come down in price gradually and it was just a matter of holding out. One of the most popular models, with good alround reviews seems to be the TomTom1. Most here in the UK are priced around the £100+ mark with additional subscriptions. Although I use one occasionally, I didn’t have the usage to justify buying one myself, so hence my intrepedation.

After seeing the Co-pilot in the App Store I’ll be honest, initially, I was wary. It was an app after all attached to my phone which I couldn’t separate from the phone to use independently, so no one else could say borrow it and of course I’d need a kit for the car. All costs. My thoughts were it was too cheap (just under £20 for version 7). What about updates, cameras and additional maps and other add-on features costs?. How much would they be?. Easy answer, nothing. I downloaded it and have to say, I’m very glad I did!. It’s no different in any way, shape or form than the usual sat nav you can buy. Plus it has some other good features, including, allowing you to connect to your music whilst using the app (shown in the video below), allowing you to connect to Facebook and update your location, much like the Forsquare app does. You can also find places of interest and of course, places in an emergency like a conventional sat nav can but there’s also the option of calling the place (hospital, doctors, garage, restaurant or say places of interest) once you’ve found it in the listings!. After all this it’s a phone primarilyl. I have used the app many times and each time it works well and does exactly what it claims to – it’s even updated itself recently (with traffic cameras updates) and that’s where I thought the issue would be in that there would be undoutedly, an additional fee. There isn’t but there is a new version, improved version 8. Version 7 is fine though. I honestly couldn’t recommened it enough (no they are not paying me). The UK version (all I need) is available on the iPhone, iPad & the Android. For price alone it’s great and functionality is nothing short of what any user would expect from a sat nav with some little extras. Thus far no gripes!. Very cheap, useful and very easy to use for under £20!. What more could you ask for?.

Here’s a demo video of it being used…

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I’ve just received my upgraded mobile phone and was in the market for a smart phone and after enquiring about the Motorola Droid (Milestone as it’s known in the UK) purely for it’s multi tasking abilities and finding it difficult to get (only available on T-Mobile and some deals are rubbish), I rather reluctantly opted for the ever popular iPhone through 02. I knew I would it was enevitable. It’s Apple’s third phone in the series. I’ve heard recently whilst hunting deals for the iPhone there is an upgraded version on the way, including an upgraded O/S (V4) which will allow multi tasking. Hmm it’ll be interesting to see but sounds very appealing to me. I’m sure I’ll be able to upgrade the O/S on mine when the time comes regardless.I have the 3GS model.

I’d waited a while for a smart phone after having been locked into the usual 18-month contract with a fairly likeable and reliable Ericsson. I eagerly upgraded and now, have a 2-year deal with the new 3GS handset. The new planned launch of the newest handset I have found through research says changes really are expected to be the usual, upgraded processor and O/S as mentioned and undoubtedly, a more expensive contract deal. I pay enough so in my case it was a financial decision not to wait, then simply get this deal anyway later.

Initial impressions are very good. I like the styling, I always have. It’s very typically an Apple product in all areas and I like the smoothness & sleekness of the handset design. Mine is black and the other option was the rather feminine looking white one. Naturally, I declined that. I also have heard iPods/iPhones and I’ll bet the iPad touch screens are known for being easily scratched and fragile with day to day use. To avoid this, I also bought rather rashly some (overpriced from 02) screen protectors and will later invest in a cover too. Also, the phone automatically syncs with your PC/Apple Mac, including email account information, photos and music as soon as you activate and connect it via USB through iTunes. You’ll need to open a account with iTunes.

The free default apps installed are all useful, some moreso than others, some typical and some not so much. I have had a good look at the free ones online at the App Store and installed a few – like you do – the usual novelty of something new and useless to experiment with. I use mostly apps for, Facebook, Twitter, Natwest, and a rather cool car locater for parking in massly populated car parks and a bar code reader (UK version) to name a few. I like the bar code reader especially, as it scans barcodes and then returns product information including sites that stock that product and it also does a price comparison, allowing you to email the results to friends & contacts etc whilst on the move. At the App Store there are a multitude of apps, most decent ones aren’t free but there are a selection covering most categories most people would likely need and find useful and convenient. There’s a mixed bag of useful to terrible. There’s everything from games, to music to social networking and some to assist you with additional phone utilities. Most seem quite reasonabley priced to be honest.

As I am off work with an injury and at home a lot, I have ran the phone off the wireless router – that is an option given to you by default. It rather annoyingly asks you repeatedly via pop up notification until you allow it or, turn the feature off in the settings menu. Naturally, as apposed to the 3G option this method is much quicker when you’re at home. That said however, the 3G connection works well and I have had no problems connecting or accessing pages and content with any real delay or massive changes in speed when not at home. Its connection overall is very good.

The battery has baffled me somewhat and I find that the only immediate negative. It doesn’t last long as expected and novelty aspect says, initially you’ll play with it loads and before you know it it’ll die, right at a crucial moment!. Stands to reason. I charge mine at the end of each day and keep it in sleep mode when not using it as recommended. Also the alarm doesn’t work if the phone is off which I find odd (never known of that before). To work at it’s most efficient, it needs a good initial charge before the first use of the handset – usually it’s 16 hours I believe and unlike most phones, smart phones of this nature employ a sealed battery which is encased in the handset, connected directly to the motherboard as it cuts down on small parts, bulk overall and doesn’t affect the style (its actually attached inside with a strip of double sided tape I discovered after watching a tutorial in the complex task of replacing it). No changing it easily. As a word of caution, don’t do this unconfidently or unnecessarily, as you’ll void any warranty. From what I have read iPhone battery life overall tends to be ok so the need to replace the exitsing one I think would be rare unless maybe it developed an inherent fault.

This is the only Apple product to date that I own and Apple are known for their attention to style with no compomise in price. I like the products Apple sell but I think overall, some competitors offer better value for money despite them not being as sleek or maybe, as popular. I can’t comment on quality but naturally I expect they are durable. I bet my opinion will change in regards to the phone but my financial situation I can’t see doing. Thus far this phone works for me and I will get plenty of useage from it and my contract is at what I would describe as relatively affordable so overall I have spent wisely. Generally I like it but think maybe I’d have liked the Milestone(UK version)/Droid(US version) more. I am still finding my feet with it. I have a good working knowledge of the basics.

Lastly, as iTunes charges for tracks and there is no real immediate or obvious way of personalisng iPhone ringtones, here is a tutorial enabling you to be able to make your own ringtones using iTunes v8, coverting mp3′s to m4r format. It’s realtively simple.

What are your thoughts on this product?. Anyone who can offer some good suggestions of any good apps, free or otherwise would be very welcome.

The 4G iPhone sneak peek before the Spring launch…

This is the new 4G iPhone leaked photo – some wanna-be civil servant, left the phone in a bar after a night getting mullered!!. Upgraded, well of course and apparently running the new 4 O/S. Looks nice and the design is square as apposed to the conventional rounded iPhone design. Be interesting to see soon, what the critics have to say after launch (speculation is rife amongst the internet community with blogs galore discussing it). I think it looks nice and am sold now with this product!. I just hope the reviews are more favourable than than the ones a few months ago for the iPad launch.

For more information on the new iphone, click here to read more.

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