Google Latitude on iOS 4 update

Posted by Ub3rG33k on Aug 20, 2010 in Apple, Application, iPhone

Now don’t get me wrong Latitudie does what it says on the tin, but boy…does it drain the battery. I also found that the only way to turn it off was to stop the background app from running, and then disable the location service for it.

The setting I used for background were, Best location, periodic updates when not moving…off. With these settings, a full battery would last around 8 hours on my iPhone 4, and around 6 hours on C’s 3GS.

Now suprisingly I would have expected to App store to be over saturated with Google latatide apps, however I could only find one other, called Device Locator.

Device Locator like Latitudie will track your position, and update the latitude servers, however does so much more.

You initially need to create an account on the Device Locators site, download the app, sign into the app, then your good to setup.

Via the website you can configure how you want your phone to update. The range is as follows

Cell Tower Switch
2 Hours
1 Hour
30 mins
10 mins
1 min (emergency)

Now I’ve been running at the 10 minute interval update, and it’s hardly touching my battery, my battery was fully charged at 8am this morning, and when I write this 3 hours later, my battery is on 99%, which is a vast improvement over Latitudie, this would normally be in the low 80%.

The website also give you a small google maps preview showing you currently location of device, and a history down the left hand side. There is even a graph to tell you how much battery you had at the last poll.

There is also the option to send a text message to your phone (if somebody has swiped it), or set the alarm going (assuming you can’t find your phone).

Now granted, this app is £2.99 however it’s a small price to pay in comparison to the mobileme account which does a very similar job. Judging by the website, this is still in the very early stages (no css on the site as yet), however it works very well.

Tags: 10 mins, 3gs, apps, cell tower, comparison, configure, Download, drain, emergency, google, google maps, graph, iphone, iphone 4, job, last poll, latitude, left hand side, location, location service, Locator, Locators, minute interval, mobileme, option, periodic updates, phone, poll, servers, sign, store, switch, text, text message, tin, Via

The MacBook Pro Unboxing.

Posted by Ub3rG33k on Jan 10, 2009 in Apple

Gotta love the apple packaging

What’s underneath the MacBook Pro

The stylishly designed document holder

The multi ended power supple cable (which if you didn’t know is held onto the Mac with a magnet, so no fear of breaking off the end of the power adapter if you were to trip over the cable, Clever I know !)

Well, in true geek style, I thought I’d take shots of the unboxing of the MacBook Pro.

btw, forgot to mention in my previous blog “Apple Day, Hurray !” , that we went to the Apple store, because the one I had ordered, was due to turn up on Wednesday, and I’m just far to impatient, got home, only to find it had been delivered and left with the neighbour ! I know, the irony ! However it did mean that both myself and C could start the Apple learning curve together.

Below is the shiny new one from the Apple Store