I started noticing this right after I got my iPhone 3g about a month ago. Here’s the deal. Apple is downsampling images that are imported through iTunes onto your iPhone. I.E. they go from looking great on screen to looking grainy and slightly textured.

If you want to see for yourself save out a photo from your favorite photo manager and import it via iTunes onto the iPhone. It should now be located in your photos directory within the iPhone Photos App. Take a look at it closely in comparison with the original, you will see the result on the right (rollover for comparison shots).

Here’s my question, why is iTunes doing this to our photos? It seems like the iPhone has a good enough processor that it shouldn’t have trouble showing photo details. After all, this is the platform that plays video and 3d games. And even worse, it doesn’t seem to have this issue if you look at photos via Safari. In fact, I found that my image uploaded online and then saved via Safari to the camera roll looked a lot better than the imported version from iTunes!

What’s the deal Apple? I don’t want my photos and wallpapers to look like they came from 1996.

When I first got my iPhone 3g a few weeks ago I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to get a case. However, over the next week I found that the phone was slightly too slippery and nerve wracking to carry around naked (ohhh la la). So I started doing some basic case research. Checking out reviews at the Apple Store, Macrumors forums, and asking for ideas on Twitter. Eventually I settled on the Contour Flick. A fairly minimalist case with a supposed incredible look and feel.

Here are my first impressions after a few days of use:

First off, the price point on all iPhone cases is ridiculous. They should all be $15 or under. That said, if I have to spend over $25 I mind as well get the best looking and feeling case I can. The Flick comes in at $35, a bit steep but in the ballpark of many other hard iPhone cases. I have the white and contrary to what I read on some reviews the white matches the phone’s white pretty darn well. It’s not a complete color match but it definitely looks better than almost any case I’ve seen. Primarily because it’s super thin. The thickness has a trade off however because it isn’t a largely protective case. It’s probably enough that it might save your phone if you drop it once but I would still aid on the side of caution. One concern is the bottom edge of phone (by the dock connector) because the case offers no covering for the metal rim on that section. However, for me it seems worth the trade off for such a minimal body shell and natural iPhone feel.

If you want a minimalist case this is a good buy for sure. It fits snug, looks great (minus no apple logo showing) and seems durable for basic wear and tear. I.E. a night at the bars, a skid across the picnic table, or the occasional water contact. Over time I assume the white will look cleaner than the black in regard to prints and scratches. Still, dirt might be another story. The case does scratch fairly easily but can only really be noticed from an inch or two away. The rubberish clip hinge on the bottom for docking is secure and feels good. However, if you plan on docking it nightly I could see it wearing out and not fitting as well over the course of a year.

To summarize: I recommend the Contour Flick highly but want to emphasize that this is really a case for people that want some protection in that awful “oh… crap… I just dropped my baby on the concrete floor” type of moment. This case is not for the “I leave my phone wherever I want to whenever I feel like it” type of owner. And definitely not for construction workers, waiters/waitresses, or stunt men. If you have additional questions please feel free to ask them in the comments. Also, if you’ve had particularly good or bad case experiences we’d love to hear about them.

I’m a long time Apple fan, but the system they created for checking iPhone availability is a complete disaster. The way they have it set up sounds really great. You go online to apple.com/retail after 9pm each night and check your closest store and the next closest group for availability the next day. The problem is the stores don’t get shipments at the end of the day. They get shipments at some point during the day and put the phones on sale. Therefore when the website told me that my store would not have iPhones tomorrow, that was not true. Then they inevitably sell out of the phones before closing and once again at 9pm when you check the site it says they will have no iPhones the next day.

The situation Apple has created for themselves is that they only way to determine if your store has stock is to either go to the store, or more likely call them constantly to find out if they have gotten a shipment. This has got to be really fun for the employees at the store!

There is a simple fix for this situation. All the stores have to do is keep the shipments that they get during the day in the back until the following day. Then at 9pm the site would be correct in saying the the store will have iPhones in stock the next day. That way you don’t have to call the store, and if you really want a phone, you can show up when the store opens and your likely to get one. This is a simple fix. I would have expected more from Apple.

By default OSX has a nice screen capture feature which is invoked by hitting Shift-Apple-4. Sure, it isn’t the most intuitive key set but now you know. The default is set to capture all images as PNGs which is fine in most cases but sometimes a hassle if you are capturing the image for quick posting to a blog, in which case GIF or JPG would be useful and the file conversion is just another step.

So here goes:
Open up Terminal ( under Applications / Utilities )
Enter the following command into the Terminal
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type *FILETYPE*

Where the command says *FILETYPE* replace it with JPG, PDF, TIF or PNG.

Hit enter and you’ll be good to go!

Recently I’ve been receiving a bunch of flack for my iPhone signature “Sent from my iPhone.” For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, the iPhone places this line on the bottom of all emails which are sent from the iPhone. BlackBerry does the same thing with “Sent from my BlackBerry” but for some reason the iPhone’s signature has really been looked down upon.

I really believe the price and hype around the iPhone has contributed to all the negative comments about the iPhone’s signature. For some people, receiving an iPhone message which follows with the signature “Sent from my iPhone” indicates the following about the sender:

• “They are a pompous ass showing off their iPhone
• “They have way to much disposable income”
• “Wow, this person drank from the Apple punch bowl”
• “They are too busy to send me a real email”
• “This person really has the need to tell me they are working hard”

OK, those are just a few of the negative spins on the signature. If you want to read more about the negative takes on the iPhone read Mitch Wagner’s article in Information Week. Mitch believes anyone who hasn’t removed the signature is a doofus. Nice use of doofus, Mitch!

However, I’m going to flip this argument around. I’m 100% behind the signatures because they tell me a different story. When I see someone has sent me a message from an iPhone or BlackBerry I make the following judgments:

• “OK, they have a mobile device so they have zero excuse for not getting back to me within 48 hours”
• “If their email is short and has typos I know why”
• “This person obviously likes to stay connected”
• “There is a good chance I’ll be able to reach this person during off-work hours”

Yesterday during lunch this discussion came up and Bruce had a great insight, why not just say “Sent from my mobile phone.” This signature leaves out the brand name and the negative associations that others my read into BlackBerry or iPhone. Bruce is totally correct; however being an Apple shareholder I’m also about marketing the products, so for now “Yeah, I sent it from my iPhone.”