After carrying around my iPhone 4 for a few days I was starting to get pretty paranoid, not about the dropped calls, but about physically dropping or scratching it up. The bumper case, while not the most protective piece of plastic in the world, looked like a good fit and offered enough protection for me to feel better about setting it on a table or desk.

First, the bumper for the most part is a great little case. It’s hard to emphasize, but having external buttons on the side really make the whole thing feel like it’s a part of the phone. Unlike other cases I’ve used where you have to pinch your fingers into a hole to reach the buttons. Notice in the picture below how the volume buttons are actually on top of the bumper case, not wedged into a small carved out spot.

Okay, so the case for the most part is a nice addition to the phone. The “for the most part” is because of a few small issues. First, the headphone jack is a bit tight with the case, if you’re planning on plugging in a large headphone jack plug it’s not going to fit. Take a look at the default iPhone earbuds, if the plug is more than a few millimeters larger it won’t fit. Second, if you use 3rd party charging cord or car plugs you might not be able to plug into the bottom of the phone with the bumper on. I noticed this on older iPod plugs that have the two side pinchers. See image below:

Last, when I first got my bumper it felt a tiny bit loose. To be fair, I’m pretty picky and it’s possible others aren’t bugged by this. The fact is that the bumper, while fairly snug had a little bit of give on the sides (IE :I could slide it up and down slightly, maybe a few millimeters) and same with the top. After some reading I found information suggesting that heat might shrink the rubber and plastic just a bit. I briefly considered boiling my bumper, but decided against that. The second option was leaving it in my hot car for a few hours. So, the next day I took off the bumper and left it on my dashboard for four hours, it was about 90 degrees out. Low and behold when placed back on my phone the bumper was snug. Problem solved.

Now that bumpers are going to be given out for free I think this trick could come in handy for others. Let me know your results if you give it a shot.

A few of us here in the Imulus office have iPhone 4’s and we’ve all been able to reproduce the reception problem at our office location. You can see here the new update provides slightly different bar lengths and does seem to produce different reception expectations. Here is one office phone on 4.0.1 and the other on 4.0. We had them right next to each other laying on a desk. The one with four bars is the 4.0 version.

Further, we called the new 4.0.1 phone from the office landline and took a video. You can see the call is fine for a few seconds, then we apply pressure to the death spots and by 30 seconds in the call is dropped. Even though the phone never shows “no service” it still drops the call. Apple stated this update was just a reception formula fix, still, it shows that even with 1 bar of 3g being reported the call will still drop if those spots are covered.

Before I dive into this review, you should probably have some background information. First of all, as the title suggests, I am a graphic designer for a web design company. I spend 90% of my time on Adobe Creative Suite programs (most of that time is dedicated to Photoshop). Second of all, I am a female. This piece of information applies to this review because as a woman, I am genetically predisposed to have smaller hands than (most) men. Lastly, I have run through the gambit of Apple mouses since 2004. That being said, lets get started, shall we?

The good:

1. The size. I love the way this thing conforms to my hand. So much so, I feel like all other mouses feel too large and clumsy. I have read reviews where people have claimed this mouse is too small and light. I have not had this problem – however as stated previously, I have normal sized hands for a 5′8″ female which means they’re relatively small.

2. The scrolling. The predecessor to my Magic Mouse was of course the Mighty Mouse. One of the main problems I would have with the 360 scroll ball on the Mighty Mouse was it would become gritty and would stop being functional. This could always be cured by holding it upside-down and puffing can o’ air into the recesses of the 360 ball. Obviously this problem is cured by Magic Mouse. Please note – being a control freak while using Photoshop, I turned off the momentum scroll. I have been told this is a nice feature, but I can’t say that from personal experience.

3. The right-click. Although the right click is functional with the Mighty Mouse (as long as that is specified in the system preferences), I feel like the Magic Mouse’s right-click is more responsive and intuitive.

The bad:

1. The sensitivity. This is a double-edged sword. Sure, it’s nice when you WANT to scroll, but when you don’t it’s a pain. This rears it’s ugly head often when I am using Photoshop. An example of this is when I have the color picker window open. Notice on the screen shot the field next to the “R” (meaning red) is highlighted; this happens by default when one opens this color picker window. What happens when this field is highlighted is the scroll functionality on your mouse can easily add and subtract the color red. Many times I have barely brushed the top of the mouse and it will change my selected color without my consent. There is no clear area on your mouse where the scroll sensitivity begins, so just laying your hand on the top of the mouse can create a scroll with any slight movement.

2. The two finger swipe. This also goes back to the sensitivity problem. I had to turn this option off after I was working on code in our CMS and my fingers brushed the top of the mouse. The mouse somehow gleaned from this that I wanted to go back to the previous page in my browser, and thus losing all of the work I had just completed.

The conclusion:

After turning off the two finger swipe functionality, life has been easier along with learning how to deal with the problems in Photoshop. I haven’t yet ditched this mouse for the older Mighty Mouse (which is still in my possession), but that’s only after adapting to its downfalls. Basically my conclusion to this review is I would NOT recommend this product to a Graphic Designer, but I would recommend it to people who don’t use Adobe Creative Suite.

Note: I wrote this post on a personal blog a few years ago, but I think it still pertains to developers using Coda or any all-in-one application.

…Panic software (the makers of Transmit FTP) have released a new “all in one” web site management application called Coda. The basic goal of this app is to take a bunch of things needed to build websites and place them all together in one application. Now, pardon my skepticism and negativity, but the best part about using an operating system, particularly one like Mac OS X, is that I can easily use multiple simple or complex applications in a quick fashion to complete projects. And to put it in short, I just don’t get the point of putting everything together in one app, even if it is developed by some of the best software makers around.

In fact, the whole idea seems to go against all the benefits of running OS X, much less running multiple applications targeted to exactly what I need. Granted, some apps get a little intense and do more than I may need. For example, I can’t say I use scripting in many apps that support it, but that’s because I don’t have to. An application like TextMate gives me the opportunity to pick and choose exactly what I want from a text editor. It isn’t trying to do too much, particularly because if it did it would interrupt the way I work. The things I don’t use don’t get in my way, and the things I do use are easy to get to. Sure, there are applications out there .. iTunes .. hut…hum.. that do handle tons of tasks all under one umbrella. But guess what, advanced music creators probably don’t use iTunes to do the majority of their composing, editing, and refining. Even though it may have the capability to do some of these tasks. This is why Apple created iWeb for novice web builders, because it allows them to do what they need without getting drug into the depths of web development. The problem is, Coda is iWeb for pros, which is a paradox in and of itself.

Here’s the gist of what I am getting at — the ideal application should be great at handling everything you need to do and shouldn’t get in the way if you don’t use every feature it offers.

Coda, to me, doesn’t seem to follow this line of logic. Rather, it forces the developer to use everything it provides and it doesn’t give much leeway in one direction or the other. For instance, Coda comes with Transmit FTP built in. Which sounds great until you want to connect to a client’s site to update one tiny PDF file. Suddenly you find yourself launching the entire client web project just to make one tiny update, an update that won’t even require 80% of the tools that Coda brings up. It’s like using photoshop to casually view pictures, no one wants to do it! Having an application that does too much is like having a beautiful piece of jewelry that weighs too much to wear. It may look great but dealing with it first hand just seems like a waste of time and comfort.

Well, what a surprise, AT&T is now behind on MMS messages for the iPhone again. This time the delay is said to be keeping the service out of our hands until September. Not to mention rumors of a $55 upgrade fee for tethering ability with your iPhone.

The delays are frustrating, yes, but compared to the bullshit I deal with daily on AT&T’s network a two month delay for MMS is laughable. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I would sacrifice MMS altogether just to get some decent service from the company.

Let me recap briefly some of the issues I have daily while using AT&T as my wireless provider:

• Appalling 3g coverage – AT&T’s 3g network is horribly inconstant. It frequently drops in and out of reach, even in heavily populated areas. And, when it does work, the speeds are mediocre at best. I’ve used it on three different iPhones and a Sony Ericsson w600i. In comparison to Verizon or Sprint the 3g AT&T offers feels childish.
• Weird network restrictions – AT&T has a ton of network restrictions, some applications on iTunes can’t be used unless on wifi, iTunes store downloads over 10megs are disallowed, yet we as users pay a fee for 5gigs of data per month. Why should I be limited to 10megs per download if I pay $30+ dollars a month for 5gigs of bandwidth?
• Regular plain old cellphone coverage – It’s one thing not to get wicked fast 3g speed all over the city, but it’s another to simply not get cell coverage at all. I live in the middle of Downtown Denver, yet, I at this moment I have no service on my phone. In fact, if I want service I would need to walk over to my window in the other room and sit within a 10 foot radius. This isn’t just limited to my apartment though, it happened at my previous house, and still happens to this day at the Imulus workplace in Boulder.
• Dro…
• Dropped c…
• D…
• Dropped calls!!! – I’m not kidding, everyone I know on AT&T has calls dropped so frequently it’s literally become a joke. I recognize this would most likely be tied to cell service area, but I get dropped calls even at full bars. I swear if AT&T offered a land line it would still drop my call. I get at least 7 dropped calls daily. Daily!

The point is that AT&T is terrible when it comes to wireless cell service. It’s a travesty that the iPhone, which is an amazing piece of technology, is limited to such a terrible network. It’s like having a Formula-1 racer and only being able to use it on dirt roads.

The truth is if Apple doesn’t bring the iPhone to another network in the next year, I’ll honestly consider switching phones. Simply to get away from AT&T.