Recently I got a new Mophie Juice Pack for my iPhone 3GS. I was excited to try it as I have had to turn off my 3g to get the power to last the whole day. All went well the first time I used it, but the second time, the phone charged for a few minutes and then stopped. I pressed the button on the back and the Juice Pack reported no lights, it seemed to think it was flat. I got home and recharged it and immediately got 3 lights and the 4th flashing. It now seemed to think it was almost fully charged, very odd.

I put the iPhone back in the pack and the same thing happened again. I got on to Mophie tech support and were happy to send me a new one. I didn’t even have to send the old one back. This was very handy as I live in the UK. The new one arrived in a few days. I charged it for the 8 hours recommended and then tried again. I was shocked to find this one did the same thing.

Was it faulty again, or was it the phone? I tried it on my wife’s 3G and it did the same thing. I got back on to Mophie and they agreed to send me another one. This time I charged it again, but gave it to a friend to try. Again the same thing happened. He got about 20% extra charge and it stopped, and the lights went out. Charged it again, 3 lights, 4th one flashed. So it wasn’t my phone.

I got back on to Mophie and they offered me a refund. I explained I would rather send them back so they could look into it. I liked the product, I really wanted it to work. After some emails back and forth Mophie are now upgrading me to a Juice Pack Air. Hopefully this will work better. I think you can tell more about a company when things go wrong than when all is rosey. Mophie’s support has certainly been excellent.

Tags: accessories , batteries

I stumbled across Run Chart for the iPhone yesterday. It took my eye as my Garmin Forerunner 305 has died, again! As I have my phone will me when I run, I was looking for an app that would keep time and be able to track of how I am doing. Run Chart fits the bill. It doesn’t use GPS which is a shame, but does keep running even if the app is closed. You can listen to your music or podcast at the same time.

It has some nice graphs and has a lovely user interface. It is 1.0 at the moment, but you can see it certain has potential. I look forward to seeing what happens to it in the future. It costs just £1.79. A real bargain. You can watch a video demo here.

Tags: iphone application

This has been playing on my mind for awhile. The iPhone has been released in the UK and the Mac Macs have bought it. How is Apple going to compete going forward? I have to admit, I don't know how the American phone market works, but here in the UK, it seems based on price. I have never heard anyone say, I am saving up for my new phone. The contract they have will come up for renewal, they will look at the phones that are free and pick the best free one.

In the past, I have seen phones that I like, but by the time my contract was up, they were no longer available. I picked the best free one I could get at the time of contract renewal. The Nokia N95 would seem to me, to be the best phone around. It is free on all networks. These are some of the deals I could find.

Three has it for £35/month with 300 free minutes and 150 free video minutes.

o2 has it for £30/month with 400 free minutes.

Vodafone has the latest 8gb, N95 model for free on some tariffs and £100 on a £35/month tariff with 500 free minutes.

So, how is Apple going to compete with this? They aren't going to give away free phones, this would just kill iPod sales. Can Apple prove that if you buy an iPhone they will come up with such great ideas in software updates that you can keep this phone for years? You would basically be getting a new phone and features every few months.

I have a brave idea and I wonder if Apple would consider it. They already have a business model in this space that others weren't brave enough to try. The iPod Touch is £199, the Nano is £99. What if all iPod Touches were iPhones, but the functionality was turned off? When you were ready for your new phone, you could sync it with iTunes and pay to have your iPod Touch be an iPhone.

As prices come down, the iPod Touch might come down to £150, or even less. Could it come with Nano functions and you pay to turn on the wireless functions and then the phone? Of course this would give the hackers a real target: Unlock the phone feature without paying Apple anything.

I wonder how many people have iPod Touches and now wish they had the phone, but aren't going to pay twice. With this model, Apple don't have to give away free phones, they encourage you to buy cheap iPod's and the phone is there when you want it.
.

Tags: phone, mobile