Author: Alan

Review: ZeroChroma Teatro iPhone 4 Case With Built-in Stand

The ZeroChroma Teatro for iPhone 4 ($39) is a brilliantly designed, thin, hard-plastic, snap-on case with a flip-out stand that can rotate 360 degrees and prop up the iPhone in portrait, landscape, or anything in between. With a relatively high price tag, the Teatro is a tough sell, but the flexibility and usefulness of the rotating stand on its back makes it worthy of spending a few extra bucks on. It’s also compatible with the iPhone 4 and 4S.

Video Review:

The Teatro’s most impressive and useful feature is a rotating, flip-out stand on its back. The stand is attached to a circular piece of plastic that can be rotated 360 degrees and can hold up the iPhone in both portrait and landscape orientations. It can hold the iPhone at an impressive 42 angles (14 in landscape and 28 in portrait). When not in use, the stand lays perfectly flat in a recess built into the case, so there’s no awkwardness when not in use.

The stand offers impressive sturdiness for being such a small piece of plastic—we experienced no wobble on flat surfaces, even when tapping out notes on the small screen. The bottom tips of the stand are covered with rubber to help prevent slippage.

If you’re looking for heavy protection for your iPhone, the Teatro is not the case for you. Its thin hard plastic is mainly useful for neutralizing everyday wear and tear, but not protecting from accidental drops. The company’s website describes that case as having “interior rubber shock absorption,” but we no sign of rubber on the interior, or that the thin case as a whole has enough material to take on much shock absorption at all.

Another downside of the Teatro is there is no soft lining on the inside of the case. This could mean possible scratches to the iPhone if the case rubs against the iPhone over time. (Update: Teatro has released a revision of the Teatro, the Teatro-S, that added a soft lining.)

The Teatro somewhat improves your grip on the iPhone via two subtle design touches. The first is a dimple on the back that the tip of your index finger fits in to while you’re holding the iPhone one-handed. The second is a series of wavy indentations along the sides for fingers to rest in. A rubber lining framing along the back corners helps to improve grip.

The case offers excellent accessibility to all the iPhone’s ports and buttons. The areas around the volume buttons, headphone jack, sleep button, home button, and docking port are uncovered and left open, creating virtually no restriction of access.

In terms of aesthetics, the Teatro has a utilitarian look. Thin hard plastic cases can sometimes take on a cheap look, but the Teatro has nice build quality and a textured surface that gives it a neutral matte look. The stand on the back does create some awkward lines. It also is off-color gray that stands out against the black casing (the Teatro is also available in white/gray and pink/pink themes). In the end, we feel the the Teatro is a case that should be desired for its functionality, not its looks.

Conclusion

The built-in stand of the ZeroChroma Teatro ($39) is the best iPhone 4 case/stand solution we’ve seen yet. When not in use, the stand rests flat and out of the way. When in use, it offers a versatile range of angles to rest the iPhone at, supporting both portrait and landscape orientations. The downsides of the case are lack of protection due to its thin hard plastic, some awkward aestehtics, and an expensive price tag. But if you’re looking for the best iPhone case/stand combo, the Teatro is it. We rate the Teatro a 9.0 out of 10, highly recommended.

Review Summary

Price: $39

Art of the iPhone’s Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars out of 5)

Review Summary: The best case/stand combo solution for the iPhone 4/4S available due to its rotating stand and versatility. Not the most protective case, however.

Cost to Cancel a 2-Year AT&T Wireless iPhone Contract Early

Want to get out of your 2-year AT&T Wireless contract early? It’s going to cost you. How much? A fee high as $325 but probably less than that. The is a fee called an Early Termination Fee. Here’s how to calculate that fee:

1. If your contract was signed on or after June 1, 2010: $325 – ($10 x each full month of contract completed)

2. If your contract was signed before June 1, 2010: $150 – ($4 x each full month of contract completed)

How Do I Find Out When I Signed My 2-Year Contract?

1. Log in to AT&T Wireless at att.com:

2. Click on My Profile in the top right, then select User Information from the drop-down menu:

Step 2 Checking iPhone Contract Status

3. In the box labeled Contract Information, you’ll see your Contract end date:

Contract End Date for ATT

2 years before that date is when your contract began. To calculate how far along in your contract you are, count the months to that date and subtact that number from 24 (example: 24 months – months until contract end date ).

If you wish to see the terms of your contract, click on Contract (Wireless), which will open a PDF document showing your calling plan, contract activation date, and other important info.

Contract Info on ATT Wireless website

Here is the exact language on Early Termination Fees taken from AT&T.com’s Customer Agreement page:

If your Service Commitment includes the purchase of certain specified Equipment on or after June 1, 2010, the Early Termination Fee will be $325 minus $10 for each full month of your Service Commitment that you complete. (For a complete list of the specified Equipment, check att.com/equipmentETF). Otherwise your Early Termination Fee will be $150 minus $4 for each full month of your Service Commitment that you complete.

Review: iQueue Free, Netflix Queue Manager (Best of iPhone Apps)

iQueue Free (free) is a free app that lets you manage your Netflix DVD and Instant queues on the iPhone, which is something, for some bizarre reason, the official Netflix app won’t let you do. While iQueue Free won’t win any design awards, it does have a nice drag-n-drop interface that makes it a snap to manage your Netflix queues. Overall, iQueue Free has all the basics you’d want from an app to manage Netflix, and it’s the best free solution we’ve come across so far.

There aren’t many free solutions for managing your Netflix account on the iPhone. Our previous app pick for managing Netflix, PhoneFlicks, is barely better than using the website on the iPhone. But we recently came across iQueue Free, and we like it a lot, mostly for its drag-n-drop interface for rearranging your Netflix queues (both DVD and Instant). Other than that, the app is a stripped down, iPhone-friendly version of Netflix, without the ability to watch movies, of course. You’ll still need the official Netflix app for that.

The interface of iQueue Free follows a familiar template for iPhone apps: a navigation bar on the bottom with information showing on the top. The navigation bar features 4 options: DVD Queue, Instant Queue, Browse, and Search. The DVD Queue and Instant Queue options allow you to view those queues in a list form and tap on individual movies for more information. Movies can be deleted from the list by swiping left to right. A Reorder button in the top right of the screen opens a drag-n-drop interface where you can rearrange the order of your queue.

The Browse button is a way to find movies to watch. Tapping it brings up Netflix’s movie lists, including personal recommendations, Top 100, New Releases, New Watch Instantly, etc. You can add any movie to your queues by tapping a red Add button in the top right. If the movie is available in both DVD and Instant, a pop-up will let you select which queue to add it to.

The Search feature words just as you’d expect, allowing you to type in keywords to find movies and add them to your queues. The app also supports rating of movies using their five-star system. You can also rate movies within the app. Simply tap on the stars and a pop-up will ask you to rate the movies from 1-5 stars.

Conclusion

iQueue Free won’t win any design awards, but it gets the job done, which is giving you complete access to managing your Netflix account. Its best feature is its drag-and-drop interface, which makes rearranging your Netflix queues a snap. And it’s free, so can you really complain about? We like it enough overall to make it one of our Best of iPhone Apps.

Download iQueue Free from iTunes App Store.

CNN iPhone and iPad Apps Now Free

  • News
  • December 14, 2010
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The CNN App for iPhone is now free to download, having been lowered from a previous price of $1.99. Also introduced today was the CNN App for iPad, which is free to download as well. The CNN app garnered many positive reviews when it was first released in the fall of ’09, although there seems to be a lot of complaints lately in iTunes about ads and performance issues.

How to Search for Text Within a Web Page on the iPhone & iPad

The ability to search for a specific bit of text within a web page has long been a sorely missing feature on the iPhone and iPad. Thankfully, Apple added the feature in the iOS 4.2 update. Too bad the iOS browser gives no indication on how to use the feature. But we’ve got you covered:

How to Search for Text Within a Web Page

1. On the webpage you want to search, tap the “Google” Search Bar in the top right corner:

2. Enter the text you want to search for, but do not tap the Search button:

3. Look below the drop-down list, you’ll see text that reads On This Page (X matches):

4. Quickly swipe upwards on the screen:

5. At the bottom of the list that appears on the screen, tap the text Find “Your Text”:

6. Any text that matches your phrase will be highlighted in yellow:

7. Tap Next to travel to matching text. Tap Done when finished:

And that’s it! Not too obvious, huh? Be sure to check out more of our posts on iPhone Basics.

12 Best Free iPhone Calorie Counters (Diet Apps)

The fact that the iPhone is always with you makes it an ideal way to track your calories consumed and burned on a daily basis. And the best calorie tracker apps below make it easy to not only find and add up your daily calories, but to track your progress over time. And probably the best thing about using these apps is that, even if you stop tracking your calories after a while, the time you do manage to spend tracking helps you learn about those little habits that sabotage your weight loss—who knew that morning bagel had over 350 calories? Using these apps, even for a short while, will help you learn the right habits to help manage your weight over time.

The list below is of are 12 iPhone Calorie Trackers. My top pick (and the one I personally use), is MyFitnessPal, but Lose It! is another great app that many enjoy (and I’ll admit, it’s a little better looking). MyFitnessPal has an accompanying website where you can enter your calories and have it sync back to the app. There is also a community message board where people trying to lose weight can share their triumphs and struggles.

Free iPhone Calorie Counter Apps

1. MyFitnessPal 4.5 stars. Quick and easy tracking of calories. Database with over 525,000 foods. At-a-glance daily calorie count, including calories burned from exercise. Save favorite meals for quick tracking in the future. No Internet connection required. Track daily protein, carbs, sugar, etc. Syncs and backs up with MyFitnessPal.com website. Free account you can create within the app. Community forums with over 1,000,000 users. .
2. Lose It! 4 stars. Features a fast and good-looking interface. Large database of foods and exercises to quickly add calories and calories burned. Sync and backup with LostIt.com website. Export data to Excel. Save favorite meals for quick and easy tracking in the future. Track nutrients like protein, fat, carbs, etc.
3. DailyBurn 4 stars. Food database with over 350,000 entries, featuring food pictures, nutrition info, and macronutrient breakdown. Track calories, protein, fat, carbs, fiber, sodium, etc. Set personalized weight-loss goals based on fitness, age, weight, gender, and activity level. Get customized diet plans for weight loss, low-carb diets, low-fat diets, and bodybuilding. .
4. Calorie Counter
by MyNetDiary 		3.5 stars. Database features over 225,000 foods. Search as you type. Set up desired weight-loss pace based on your age, gender, activity level, etc. Built-in barcode scanner. Water tracking. 500 exercises. Internet connection required. Download.
5.Diet & Food Tracker by SparkPeople 3.5 stars. Features over 1 million foods in its database. Offers a quick-glance view of calories consumed and burned. Tracks exercises and calories burned. Charts show weight loss over time. Syncs with SparkPeople.com account. Free account. Access to articles on health and dieting.
6. Calorie Counter by CalorieCount.com 3.5 stars. Search and log nutritional data from a database of over 100,000 foods. Easy-to-use dashboard to navigate the app and visualize your progress. Compare daily calorie intake vs calories burned. Includes over 150 healthy recipes in-app selected by registered dietician. Record and chart your daily weight. Sync with CalorieCounter.com account. Supports limited offline logging.
7. Calorie Counter by ShapeUp Club 3 stars. Has over 400,000 foods in its database. Create your own entries for foods, meals, and exercises. Track calories, water intakes, and nutrition. See your dieting progress in charts. Write daily comments in a diary. Take “before and after” photos. Protect your entries with a password.
8. Calorie Counter by FatSecret 3 stars. Quickly find the calorie and nutrition info of your favorite foods, brands, and restaurants. Features a barcode scanner for quick entry of foods. Food diary helps plan and keep track of what you’re eating. Exercise diary for your calories burned. Track your weight.
9. Eat What? 3 stars. Set healthy eating objects like weight control, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. Establish a daily calorie budget. Record your calories from foods and those burned from exercises. Simple, intuitive interface.
10. Weight Watchers Mobile 3 stars.Uses Weight Watchers brand new PointsPlus program to help you diet. Must be a Weight Watchers Online member to use the points system tracker, otherwise there are basic features like accessing healthy recipes and shopping lists.
11. Nutrition Genius FREE 2.5 stars. Features beautiful user interface. Everything-at-a-glance calendar view. 75,000+ foods in its database. 540+ restaurant menus. 160+ exercises. No internet required, even for access to the foods database.
12. Calorie Master Free 2 stars. Track calories consumed and calories burned in a calendar view. Create a daily goal. Add custom foods and favorites. Includes over 100 exercises for tracking calories burned. Log your weight over time and view in charts. Password protection for privacy.

Review: TripIt Travel Organizer App for iPhone

Keeping track of important travel info like flight times, addresses, check-in dates, etc, can be a huge hassle when traveling. TripIt – Travel Organizer (free) simplifies things by bringing all your travel info together in one place. It does this by stripping information from travel confirmation emails that you forward to the service. It’s like having a secretary who creates a travel itinerary for you. Quick and simple with additional information like flight status and Google Maps, TripIt is a killer time-saving app for travelers.

TripIt has been around as a website for a while now, but like many such services, its usefulness really blossoms when brought to a mobile platform like the iPhone. TripIt offers a free account, which you can sign up for in the app and which I’m reviewing here. They also offer a Pro account that costs money but offers more features.

The way TripIt works is simple: whenever you receive an email confirming reservations for airline tickets, hotel rooms, Priceline.com, etc, just forward the email to plans@tripit.com (you’ll need to forward from the email address you assigned to the TripIt account). TripIt takes over from there, stripping out the important data and compiling it into a travel itinerary accessible in the app.
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Review: AutoStitch Panorama (Best of iPhone Apps)

A common problem with the iPhone’s camera is that, due to its small lens, you can’t fit enough of a scene you’re trying to capture into a single photograph. That’s where AutoStitch Panorama ($2.99) comes in. As the name implies, the app stitches together multiple photographs to create panorama photographs. But panorama means more than just those long, rectangular landscape photos you’d normally associate with the word. It also means capturing tall buildings or any scenes too wide and tall for the iPhone’s lens. Essentially, AutoStitch is the wide-angle lens for the iPhone that lets you capture these scenes, and overall, it’s an indispensable tool for anyone who takes photos with the iPhone.

What I found most impressive about AutoStitch is how simple it is to use. The only real work you do is selecting the photos to stitch together, everything else is automated by the app. After taking the photos (which you must do outside of the app), you simply launch AutoStitch and select the photos you took. Then tap the Stitch button. The photos don’t have to be selected in any order. You can even make a mistake by including a wrong photo, and AutoStitch will ignore it.

A panorama I made of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The resulting photographs are usually detailed and blemish free—the app does a great job of blending photographs seamlessly. It helps if you use proper technique for a panorama, which is to keep the iPhone in one place but rotate it as if on a pivot for each photo.

After stitching, the resulting photos are often oddly shaped, with curving corners and bulging sides. AutoStitch includes a nice auto-cropping feature that can automatically cut the picture into a perfect rectangle suitable for framing. If you’re not satisified with results, you can take over the cropping and cut as you please.
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Review: Speck CandyShell Case for iPhone 4

The Speck CandyShell ($16) is a glossy, dual-layer case for the iPhone 4 whose surface we found to be so easily scratched and scuffed, it took on a look of several years of wear in just one week of our testing. The case’s durability issues are a shame too, because the case provides otherwise excellent protection for the iPhone 4. But in the end, we can’t recommend this case, even at a bargain price.

The CandyShell had major durability issues.

The CandyShell is the type of case that greatly benefits from glammed-up marketing photos, with its glossy surface and smooth curves. But in real-life usage, we found the case too easily became scratched and scuffed from basic actions like laying it on a table or storing it in pockets. In fact, as if foreshadowing its durability issues, our CandyShell case came “pre-installed” with numerous lines of scratches on its glossy black exterior, right out of the packaging.

If the case could stand up to regular wear and tear, it’d be a good-looking case. Its exterior matches the iPhone 4’s gloss note for note, and the case has stylish trim made of silicone rubber. The silicone rubber also lines the interior of the case to prevent the hard plastic exterior from scratching the iPhone. The silicone peaks through the hard plastic exterior on the corners of the iPhone as well as sticking up a millimeter above the edges iPhone’s screen, adding some protection for the front glass should the iPhone land on that side.

Unfortunately for the CandyShell, it has another disastorous design flaw beyond its durability issues: the case makes the iPhone’s ringer switch nearly impossible to access. I had to jam my fingernail into the narrow opening the case provides to access the switch. And despite my effort (and some pain), I could still just barely flip the switch. When we experience a design element like this, we wonder if some of these manufacturers ever actually use their own cases.

The CandyShell does excel in at least one area: protection. It’s a dual-layer case that combes an interior silicone layer with an exterior hard-plastic layer. We think Speck has achieved the perfect thickness for the necessary compromise between protection and maintaining the iPhone 4’s thinness. Overall, the case offers exellent shock absorption. And, the case has a silicone rubber rim that sticks up a quarter of an inch above the iPhone’s screen, taking on some impact should the iPhone drop on that side.

Conclusion

The Speck CandyShell‘s ($16) glossy hard-plastic exterior is simply the most scratchable surface we’ve seen in an iPhone case. After just a few days of use, the case looked like it had been dragged down the highyway—the amount of scratches and scuffs it gathered from storing it in pockets and on tables was astonishing. Combine that with a major design flaw that limits access to the iPhone’s ringer switch, and even the case’s excellent dual-layer protection can’t lead us to recommend this case. We rate the CandyShell a 4.0 out of 10.

Review: Otterbox Impact iPhone 4 Case

The Otterbox Impact iPhone 4 case ($12) is one of the thickest silicone rubber cases we’ve reviewed, and while all that rubber may not give it stylish looks, it does offer superb protection and shock absorption. Overall, we found the Impact to be a solid all-around case, and one of the better protective choices for the iPhone.

The Impact is one of the thicker silicone cases we’ve seen for the iPhone 4, but that thickness is partly deceiving due to some clever design on the inside of the case. The case has two layers of silicone. The outer layer is solid rubber, but the inside layer is honeycombed. With less material, the case weighs less while retaining some of the shock absorption of a double-layer case.

The biggest benefit of all that rubber is impressive protection, particularly in the area of shock absorption. Otterbox has become known for its protective cases (see our reviews for their Defender and the Commuter cases), and the Impact maintains the reputation, offering some of the best protection we’ve seen out of a silicone case. The impact points of the iPhone (the four corners) are well padded, and a rim around the front screen sticks up about a quarter of an inch and should absorb some shock should the iPhone fall on that side. Overall, the case gives your iPhone an excellent chance of survival if you accidentally drop it.

In the area of accessibility, the Impact scores well, with all ports and buttons accessible and working as expected. The case leaves openings for the headphone and docking port as well as the ringer switch, back camera and LED flash, front camera, and light sensor. The case covers up the iPhone’s volume, sleep, and home buttons with its own simulated rubber buttons, but all work accurately when pressed. The buttons also have a nice soft feel that I’ve always appreciated when silicone buttons are done right.

The Impact offers a much improved grip over what you’d get with a naked iPhone. Besides the inherent grippiness of silicone, that case’s sides are textured to offer provide friction for your fingertips. The only downside in this area is the case’s thickness that small hands may find difficult to wrap around.

Otterbox’s protection-focused cases aren’t particular known for their looks, and the Impact is no different. But I wouldn’t call it ugly either. It’s a functional design, with a matte black color, textured sides, and a tasteful Otterbox logo stamped into the rubber on the back. The only aesthetic feature I disliked is the big round porthole on the back that shows off the iPhone’s Apple logo.

There is one minor flaw worth mentioning: a loose fit for the narrow strips of rubber that frame the right and left sides of the iPhone’s screen. These areas tend to bend and stretch with the slightest pressure. It’s a minor flaw that doesn’t affect use of the iPhone, but it gives the case a strange feel at times.

Conclusion

The Otterbox Impact for iPhone 4 ($12) is one of the thickest silicone cases we’ve reviewed and also one of the best designed and most protective. While it may not win points for style, the case is a highly functional case that won’t stand in the way of using the iPhone. We rate the Impact an 8.9 out of 10, highly recommended.

Links:

Official website for Otterbox Impact for iPhone 4

Amazon.com: Otterbox Impact $12