By Richard V. Burckhardt

The LG Optimus (photo from actual shipping box) is the phone available for the Republic Wireless beta program.

I’m an original iPhone user, grabbing one of the 2G iPhones when they first came out. And, I love my iPhone (currently on a 3GS) but what I don’t love is being forced into a data plan that costs more than my home broadband, especially when my data use is primarily over Wi-Fi. I have frequently wished I could get a good smartphone that didn’t require a data plan, but relied on Wi-Fi alone.

That’s where the idea of Republic Wireless comes in. Their plan, currently in beta, is basically opposite of what most mobile phone plans offer. Wi-Fi is the primary carrier with cellular the add-on. They expect their users (their “community”) to offload the majority of their phone use to Wi-Fi. When Wi-Fi isn’t available, cellular talk and data kick in. They call it “Hybrid Calling.”

For someone like me, who works from home and is covered by Wi-Fi something like 70% of the time, this is brilliant! I’m currently paying for two iPhones with rarely used data plans that cost more than my cable Internet (plus being slow and limited). With Republic Wireless, I pay $19 per month (plus tax) for each phone, covering talk and data. It’s so low because the majority of use is over Wi-Fi. If you go over your target offloading to Wi-Fi (expected to be 60% or more) you get notified of your overage and, if you continue, I’m guessing you are asked to leave the “community” nicely (this IS a beta, but I think that’s the idea).

You do have to purchase their modified LG Optimus phone for $199. It’s currently the only phone available, but more are apparently on the way. The Optimus includes auto-switching between Wi-Fi and cellular, though the ability to walk out of your office Wi-Fi and continue your call seamlessly on cellular is still in the works.

The Optimus is a nice Android phone, though as an iPhone user, I find the OS less polished than iOS, but still nice. And, the apps selection is huge these days, so if giving up my iPhone for it to save something like $100 per month (in my case), I’ll go for it.

The phone and data service are Sprint, which is fine with me as I’ve been considering ditching AT&T for a while (and, my contract just expired!). I’m already finding better signal quality on the service in a number of buildings here in the Palm Springs area where I get no signal at all on my iPhone. I even jail broke and unlocked my original iPhone so that I could put a T-Mobile SIM card in it as an emergency backup at one point. I could get a T-Mobile signal in a lot places where my AT&T iPhone was useless. As with all cellular services, signal strength will vary by location.

Naturally, before considering  joining the Republic Wireless “community” you would want to check the Sprint coverage maps for your area.

What about the quality? It sounds like a great idea to offload voice and data to Wi-Fi but does it really work? For me, it does. My voice calls over Wi-Fi have been just as clear as cellular calls have been. I know some folks in the “community” haven’t been so lucky. Maybe their Wi-Fi doesn’t get along with the phone for some reason. In my case, this is amazing. I loaded up the Optimus with Skype, a SIP app (for my work VOIP number) and synced it up with my Google Voice account. I get personal and business calls using a single device, though it can get a little confusing when a call comes in and the options are to answer using Google Voice or without. That’s new and taking some getting used to.

Since this is a beta, I wouldn’t recommend trying to port your number over or making this your sole telephone. Not yet, anyway. But, if you wanted to port your number to Google Voice and have calls to it ring on your new Republic Wireless number, well that’s definitely an option.

For now, I’m using Republic Wireless as a second line (at least until it’s out of beta), but I’m forwarding calls from my iPhone over to it. If my first couple of weeks are any indication of things to come, I will probably say goodbye to my iPhone as my primary phone and AT&T as my carrier. The savings potential is enormous for me.

This is a post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Review: Republic Wireless Beta Hybrid Calling is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

Made the 2½ hour drive over to San Diego after work yesterday for my partner’s chemo procedure at Sharp Hospital scheduled for Friday. Drove up to a dark hotel where we were told all of the San Diego area was without power, something like four million people. That meant no gas, no restaurants, no hotels, in some areas no water. It was like a really bad Syfy TV movie (of course, ALL Syfy TV flicks are bad). Kept waiting for the flying mutant Squidshark to appear…

Screen capture from a previous post about how a jailbroken original iPhone 2g works with a T-Mobile prepaid SIM card.

Went to the hospital to find out what to do. As we pulled up, we discovered a voice mail that all medical procedures for Friday were canceled (the phone never rang, the voice mail just appeared). Went into the hospital, which had emergency power, to see if anyone knew how far this thing went inland. Were told it went as far as some parts of Palm Springs. As usual, my AT&T iPhone was useless. Not even a signal. Pulled out a jailbroken original iPhone I stuck a T-Mobile prepaid sim into and, voila, it worked. (I am so canceling my AT&T when the contract expires).

Called the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, where Jim (my partner) works, and they had power. Since they are only a few minutes from where we live, we took a chance on our remaining half a tank of gas and headed towards Palm Springs and home, passing a lot of cars on the side of the road, obviously out of gas. Mercifully, we found gas an hour or so into the drive home. It took a 45 minute wait for a pump, but it was worth it as the remaining drive was through the mountains.

Got home at about 11 pm last night.

So, who wants to talk TV movie rights?

This is a post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

+Richard Burckhardt

San Diego Power Outage: Like a Bad Syfy Flick is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

The Native Union Moshi Moshi 05 Solo Handset is aimed at cell phone users who want the feel of a regular, old fashioned telephone handset. It features a sleek design that fits comfortably against your face and even cradles up against your neck and chin easily like we used to do in the old days.

The Moshi Moshi Solo 05 Handset

The handset features noise reduction, is supposed to eliminate over 99% of phone radiation and work with most mobile devices (phones, tablets, laptops, etc.).

The Moshi Moshi 05 Solo handset weighs about the same as my iPhone, which leads me to wonder why anyone would want to use this with most mobile phones (unless you are worried about radiation from your phone). It’s actually heavier than many and, unless you have your phone anchored securely to a charging base or maybe in your pocket, you run the risk of dragging the attached phone around as you swing in your chair or get up.

Although marketed for mobile phones, I really see this handset as being better with a PC, laptop or iPad. With the included adapter, I plugged it into my laptop and desktop computers and used it with Skype and X-Lite to make VOIP calls and it worked very nicely.

But, what I really liked was using it with my original iPad. Though I have a drawer full of bluetooth headsets, NONE will work for VOIP with my iPad. I am told there are one or two out there that will work with it, but I haven’t tracked them down. So, when I have wanted to use the iPad for VOIP, it was usually with the ear bud headset that came with my iPhone.

Using the Moshi Moshi Handset with an iPad

I have the original iPad case from Apple and found that the Moshi Moshi handset fits it like a glove! I set the iPad in landscape mode and prop it up with the cover like I’m ready to type. When plugged into the iPad, the handset, which is covered with a rubber coating so it doesn’t scratch, looks like it was made for the iPad! Using a VOIP app like Whistle Phone (which works in landscape mode), the iPad/handset has the appearance of a modern telephone and works very nicely. Alas, not all VOIP iPad apps will work in landscape mode. The Talkatone and Whistle Phone apps work in landscape mode. Annoyingly, everything else I tried would only work in portrait mode. Hate apps like that!

So, I give the Moshi Moshi Solo Handset a thumbs up, though I doubt that I will ever use it with a mobile phone.

This is a post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

+Richard Burckhardt

Review: Native Union Moshi Moshi Solo Handset is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

First, I just have to say that this bluetooth was a life saver for me, so I guess you know what kind of review I’m giving it!

The Jabra Extreme Bluetooth Headset for PC’s with Skype Certificationis a two-piece set including the ear piece and a USB adapter that plugs into your Windows XP/Vista/7 PC. It is Skype Certified and includes up to two hours of SkypeOut talk time (depending on where you call), which is a nice bonus.

Set up was a breeze. After charging the headset for a bit, I plugged in the USB adapter into my laptop, pushed a button on the adapter, turned the headset on and, boom, automatically paired.

This was such a HUGE relief! I work remotely and use a VOIP client on my laptop as an extension on my company network, so my laptop IS my phone. The laptop has bluetooth built in and I have a drawer full of headsets and dongles that I have tried to get to work. Most would connect (with a bit of effort), but I got nothing but complaints from folks on the other end of the line regarding call quality – lots of static, garbled audio, etc. I had given up and was using a corded headset as it was the only thing that seemed to work well, but is a pain to wrestle with constantly.

I’ve yet to have a complaint with the Jabra Extreme Bluetooth Headset. The headset itself is comfortable and comes with a detachable and bendable USB charger. Audio quality is very clear.

And, you can connect to up to eight devices, meaning my iPhone and laptop can both be connected to the headset at the same time!

What more can I say? I love this bluetooth headset!

This is a post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Review: Jabra Extreme Bluetooth Headset is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

Original iPhone 2g with T-Mobile prepaid SIM card.

To be honest, I am researching ways the I might be able to use my old iPhones. I love the “i” part of the iPhone, but with the “Phone” part, the service has been extremely spotty. For example, my partner has liver cancer and we have spent a lot of time in medical offices and hospitals over the past two years, here in the Palm Springs area, Dallas, Los Angeles and in San Diego. A common occurrence in all of these buildings has been low to zero signal on my iPhone, yet other folks walk past me left and right talking on their cell phones!

Argh! I’m paying for a cellular plan PLUS $30 a month on top of that for a data plan for this?

I found that to do what Danny was discussing with a SIM from any AT&T phone, dumb or prepaid, the original iPhone required unlocking, unlike later models which apparently don’t. It took a lot of research to find this out. If I just popped in the alternate SIM, I would get stuck in iTunes with an “Activate phone” screen.

Since this article isn’t really about unlocking and jailbreaking (I’m an SEO, not a hacker), I’ll just say that I used redsn0w from the iPhone Dev-Team.

And, it turns out T-Mobile uses the same type of SIM that AT&T does.

In a nutshell, I bought a T-Mobile SIM with ten minutes of included talk time off of eBay, popped it in the unlocked original iPhone, rebooted the phone and, voila, I had T-Mobile on the iPhone 2G (voice, not data). I took this and my iPhone 3GS over to a local hospital where I get little or no signal on the 3GS. The T-Mobile enabled iPhone bounced between three and four bars inside the building. The AT&T iPhone 3GS sometimes showed zero bars and sometimes one bar, not enough to make a call.

Definitely not a scientific test, just an observation. It might just be that T-Mobile has better service in the area (but both iPhones showed four bars outside the building), or AT&T just couldn’t seem to penetrate the walls of the medical center where T-Mobile could.

And, of course, one iPhone was a 2G model while the other a 3GS.

Again, this is just an observation. I’m not claiming that T-Mobile’s service is better than that of AT&T. In running around my local area, I definitely have come across places where AT&T had better coverage. In this particular case, however, AT&T’s coverage couldn’t make its way INSIDE a building.

At any rate, I think I’ll keep the prepaid T-Mobile service on the old iPhone for a while. I’ll test it out in some additional locations and update this post as I discover new things. What’s cool is that I also have the fring and Skype apps on this iPhone for VOIP, so I’ve got options for wi-fi phone and prepaid services. Just consider this my independent iPhone.

Now, if I could just make calls using the Gmail calling feature (c’mon, Google!) on an iPhone.

This is a post from The Web Optimist – SEO in The Desert.

Observation: T-Mobile vs AT&T in Unlocked iPhone 2g is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

I recently upgraded from the original iPhone to the iPhone 3GS so that I could take advantage of the increased speed, both hardware and Internet-wise, because some of the apps that I had installed, many purchased, just weren’t working well on the old phone.

For instance, the TVU Networks app, which lets you watch a lot of Internet based TV, was just too much for the old girl. The picture would freeze and the audio and video would be completely out of sync, even on a fast wi-fi network. Other apps like Last.fm and Pandora would sputter on the Edge network while I was out on my daily walk in the Palm Springs sunshine.

Anyway, it was with much anticipation that I brought home a brand new iPhone 3GS to play with. The apps worked ever so much better!

The battery in the phone was a totally different story, however. With the new 3GS phone, I would find myself recharging two or three times a day as the little power bar would start plummeting after just a few phone calls or other use. I was getting frustrated and firmly believe that Apple should be ashamed to have introduced a phone with such sucky battery life. Apple will tell you to disable all of the things you got the phone for to prolong the battery – 3G, bluetooth, etc. Lame!

Fortunately, someone heard my cries of dispair and I was given a Mophie Juice Pack Air Case and Rechargeable Battery for iPhone 3G, 3G S (Black) as a gift. This little jewel effectively doubles my battery life with just a small bit of added bulk to the phone. This is especially handy if you are traveling or out of the office all day and have no way to plug your phone in to charge it.

The Mophie Juice pack is a two-piece holder for the iPhone. You take the top off, slide the iPhone in and slip the top section back on. As you see your battery draining down to nothing, you flip a switch on the bottom of the Mophie and the external battery starts charging the phone while you continue to use it.

I give the Mophie Juice Pack three out of five stars. I have to knock two stars off for a couple of reasons. First, the Mophie has its own charger, so don’t plan on slipping this baby into your iPhone crade. I generally just charge the Mophie on its own and slip the iPhone into it as I need it.

Second, the top of the Mophie that slips off so that you can insert the iPhone is a pain. It’s awkward to slip it back on when you place the iPhone in the battery pack case and it’s difficult to remove while the iPhone is there. It would have been much better for the Mophie Juice Pack to be designed as a flip up case (like the original Star Trek communicator) where you just flipped the cover up and slipped the phone into the open slot. This would be so much easier and provide protection for the screen, something missing now.

But, I am extremely happy with this battery pack. Apple claims that the battery life for their new iPad will be ten hours! Must be the bigger battery. My iPhone would never give me close to that on its own.

It can now.

Mophie Juice Pack and Rechargeable Battery for iPhone 3G, 3GS is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

Griffin 9696 AirCurve Acoustic Amplifier for iPhone (Clear) is only $14.99 with free shipping as I write this. A deal in my opinion!

See all of my Amazon.com reviews and videos online.

Review: Griffin 9696 AirCurve Acoustic Amplifier for iPhone is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

The beauty of the new Skype app is that it can be used to make calls over wi-fi anywhere that you have access to wi-fi. If the access requires a web login, you’re covered because the iPhone allows you to login with a browser, something the “Skype phones” lack.

Calls can only be made through wi-fi, not through Edge or 3G, but I’ve read that the chat function will work through any connection.

And, for you iPod Touch users, you now have an instant wi-fi phone because word is that the app will work for you, too.

So, I highly recommend heading to the iTunes Apps Store on either your iPhone or through the iTunes software and downloading this slick new piece of software. It’s free!

I absolutely love it!

Skype Finally Releases iPhone App is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

Unfortunately, I no longer have that luxury as I have moved to a place with a much smaller bathroom. Remodeling is not an option and with no cable or power outlet convenient, wireless is my only option.

I’m a big fan of the discontinued Sony LocationFree LF-X1 12 inch portable television. That baby came with a portable flat screen TV (shown) and a wireless base that also functioned as a wireless-G Wi-Fi access point. I still have two of them, though I wish there was some way to upgrade the built in web browser, which is basically useless these days. I love these and really wish Sony would come out with an upgraded version (at an affordable price).

Problem is, although they are rechargeable, they don’t use standard TV wall mounts and the original wall mount that was made for these doesn’t seem to be available anymore. Also, taking the TVs down constantly to charge them (since I don’t have a power outlet in the right location) is a pain. And, the bathroom counter I use is tiny, so there’s no room for one of them to sit on the counter.

I’ve been a fan of Orb for quite a while, too. This is a free service that lets you watch TV streaming off of your TV tuner-enabled PC at home by way of the Internet. You just install the Orb client on your media PC, login to your Orb account at the Orb web site and you can watch TV, view videos or images on your PC or listen to your music from any Internet connected browser anywhere. No extra hardware needed.

My iPhone would be the perfect size for viewing TV on my bathroom counter, so the first thing I tried was logging into Orb using the Safari browser through my home Wi-Fi connection (I have the original iPhone, so no 3G). I could stream my videos, listen to music and look at my pictures over the iPhone, but darn it, no live TV option.

Orb has come to my rescue with their Orb iPhone App. They offer a free version, but it’s basically useless so spring for the full version at $9.99. Just install it on your iPhone, provide your user name and password and you’re up and running.

One problem is that watching your iPhone in the sideways position gives the largest video image, so I found a simple metal mesh business card holder at Staples to set mine in. It’s a perfect fit.

Yes, you can plug your iPhone into a wall jack for power if you use an adapter with your USB cable. I don’t have room for that, so I just use battery power. It’s not as though I’m watching this standing at the sink for hours.

The Orb iPhone App provides settings for optimizing the video stream for Edge, 3G or Wi-Fi. I didn’t even try Edge and I don’t have 3G, but the Wi-Fi viewing was very good.

Naturally, this killer app opens me up to using the iPhone for TV wherever I have a Wi-Fi connection. Eventually, I’m sure I’ll upgrade to the 3G iPhone, making me even more of a TV addict.

Hey, who wouldn’t want to watch “Oprah” while sipping java at Starbucks?

iPhone TV: or How to Watch News While Shaving Without a TV is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO

I gave the new interface and videos a try and have to admit, they are pretty slick…when the technology cooperates. For instance, although I watched some fun Best of YouTube videos that offered nice quality on my iPhone, I still had some hesitation and pregnant pauses in the video stream. It could be my wireless-G network, I just don’t know. Other times I couldn’t get the videos to do anything at all. I tried Fox News Flash several times and never could get the thing to work.

The interface is slick and simple. When you first go to the Flytunes Player in your mobile device, you get a bar simply asking “What do you want to do?” with a down arrow on the left. Touching it opens a window on the bottom that lets you scroll through several options – Radio High Bitrate, Radio Low Bitrate, Video, Podcasts, AccuRadio and Settings. I’ve been listening to the radio stations a bit and enjoyed them.

Next you are asked to “Select a genre” and then “Select a station” for your chosen category. For instance, select Podcasts, Technology and then something like Diggnation and you’ll get some flashing “Loading” messages before a menu of podcasts comes up.

Sound quality is good and I must say I’m impressed. When it works. So far, my iPhone experience with it has been hit or miss. As I mentioned, it could be my Wi-Fi connection that is causing the sputters (works fine for my PCs, though). Flytunes is apparently gearing up for the iPhone broadband that is coming.

Flytunes says there are now 350 channels available, which is a lot and, they change the interface constantly as they add new features. Right now, it’s simplicity at its best.

Give it a try with your iPhone or iPod. It’s free!

Flytunes Updates Interface, Adds Video is a post from: SEO in The Desert | More about Palm Springs SEO