Swype Review

I've been using Swype for just shy of two weeks now and while there are a lot of things I like about it, there are just as many things I can't stand about it. Here are a few of my likes and dislikes about this virtual keyboard app. (I tested it on a Motorola Droid smartphone.)

Pros
* After the first day or so with Swype, you realize you actually do type faster when using it. I'd say I'm at least 25% faster with Swype than my otherwise hunt and peck typing.

* It's fun to use. For me personally, that's a huge plus. The iPad is just a tablet, but it's fun to use. Android is just another smartphone OS, but it's fun to use. Likewise with Swype. Swiping your finger across a virtual keyboard is a lot more fun then tapping along a virtual keyboard.

* It makes typing with one hand simple. Huge plus!

Cons
* Your fingers must to be dry to use Swype. While that may sound obvious, let me explain a bit. It's currently summer in NYC with temperatures rising up to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. If your phone's screen (or your finger) is even the slightest bit humid or damp, Swype will be a pain to use because your finger won't glide on the phone's surface. It'll just smudge along. Likewise if there's a mist in the air or if it's slightly drizzling and your screen gets even the slightest drop of rain, Swype will be annoying to use.

* Although Swype supports different languages, you must set the keyboard to that language for it to recognize certain words. This is a huge setback because I text in both English and Spanish and having to drill into the settings and toggle between languages each time I want to type in a different language is tedious and a major drawback.

* Swype is quick when you type words that are already in its database. If you like inventing words or abbreviations as you text, you'll find that Swype slows you down. This to me is the app's biggest flaw. When you type a word not found in its catalog you have to thumb through suggestions the app thinks you're trying to type, but if none of them are correct, you then have to type the word out yourself and save it so that the app remembers it. I constantly make words up, so I found this very annoying. You're essentially typing the word out twice. Once to see if it's in Swype's database, and again to insert it into Swype's database if it's not.

Overall, I like Swype. It's a lot of fun, and depending on how you text, you'll find it does speed up your ability to text. But for me personally, I invent new words with every e-mail I send and having to "save" those words in Swype's catalog slows me down to the point where I might as well just continue with my hunt and peck typing. I'll give Swype a few more days before uninstalling it for good.

Deal of the Day: eBook Reader Edition

Barnes & Noble kicked off the week with a big surprise. The company announced a price cut on its nook eBook Reader slicing the price from $249 to $199. In addition, B&N announced a new Wi-Fi only nook that will sell for $149. Personally, I find that $149 nook very tempting. I got the chance to play with the nook back at CES and although I didn't like the interface, B&N has updated the firmware and I'm hoping it's gotten better (and faster) since then. Regardless, $149 is still a great price for a name-brand eBook reader.

Not to be outdone, Amazon quickly reacted to B&N's price cut with a price cut of its own, slashing the price of its Kindle 2 to $189 (a $70 price drop). Not only did Amazon steal B&N's thunder, but they also managed to undercut them with a $189 3G and Wi-Fi eBook Reader.

Like I said, I personally find the $149 nook reader more appealing and here's why. Both the nook and the Amazon Kindle 2 are entering their silver years and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a Kindle 3 or nook 2 for the holidays. As a result, I'm less inclined to spend over $150 on an aging eBook Reader. Nevertheless, you can compare the two (and some other) eBook readers in our eBook Reader Cheat Sheet.

OpenTable: Eating out on the cheap?

Living in NYC, it'd be a sin not to take advantage of all the restaurants the city has to offer. Only bad thing is that living in NYC also means eating out can get expensive very quickly. So I decided I'd try a little experiment. I'm going to use OpenTable to try and rack up as many rewards points as possible and see if that makes eating out any cheaper at all.

OpenTable is a free online service (there are also iPhone and Android apps) that lets you make reservations at select restaurants in select cities via the Internet. You can make them in advance or in real time (the latter is kind of cool, 'cause it lets you search for restaurants with no wait time while you're out and about). The other cool thing is that OT offers a rewards program for frequent users. You get 100 points for standard dining reservations, or if you make reservations at select restaurants you get 1,000 points. What do those points earn you? You get dining checks, which you can then use when you eat out. Here's how the rewards system works:

2,000 OpenTable Points = $20 OpenTable Dining Cheque
5,000 OpenTable Points = $50 OpenTable Dining Cheque
10,000 OpenTable Points = $100 OpenTable Dining Cheque

OT is not new and there are plenty of other ways to save money while eating out, but I figured I'd start off with OT since a friend told me they saved a good amount of money via OT. I'll follow up in a month and see how many (or little) OT points I've managed to collect.

Deal of the Day: Swype Beta for Android for free

This one is for all you Android fans out there. Swype is offering a beta of its app for free. Swype is a new way of using your virtual keyboard. It lets you spell words by simply tracing your finger on the corresponding letters without ever lifting your finger from the virtual keyboard. A lot of people say it helps them type faster. I got a preview of this at CES and I gotta admit, I was and still am very skeptical about this app (why do I want to re-learn using my keyboard), but I downloaded the app anyways.

A few minor things you should know before installing Swype:
1)After registering online, it might take a few minutes to receive the Swype e-mail (which contains the download link).
2)You'll have to allow your Android phone to install 3rd party apps to DL Swype (you can switch it back after).
3)You'll have to set "Swype" as your default keyboard.

Otherwise, the download is quick and easy. So far, using Swype has felt like playing a geeky "word" game, which is a good thing. I'm not as fast with Swype as I am touch-typing, but I've only been using it for 10 minutes. We'll see how this goes.

Deathwatch: Boxee Box

Last week, the folks at Boxee announced that their Boxee Box — which was shown at this year's CES and set to debut this month — is being delayed till November. While it wasn't one of my favorite CES streaming devices, I did have my eye on it because I liked the updates Boxee had been making to its software and of course, the more options people have, the easier it will be for them to cut cable.

But now with this delay and the Google TV announcement, I fear Boxee will be DOA. Making matters worst is the fact that the Boxee app itself has taken a turn for the worst this past month. (At least it has in my opinion.) It still runs smooth and it's still nice to look at, but I'd say more than 75% of the app/channels available are channels I don't care about. Onion Network, Justin TV, College Humor, LoL Cats, these are channels I never want to see on my living room TV. And you're going to charge me around $200 (that's the price point Boxee is giving) for this? No thanks! I'll stick with Roku.

As horrible as this may sound, I feel that Boxee is going the way of Joost, and we all know how that turned out. Furthermore, if Boxee does indeed ship its Boxee Box in November, it will go head-to-head with Sony, Logitech, and Google as they roll out Google TV. Boxee vs Google & Co. — that match won't last a day. Not to mention Microsoft and its Xbox 360 is getting a nice overhaul and some new content (ESPN3) around that timeframe too.

Unless Boxee can get their stuff in order, get some good solid content, and ship their device before fall, I'm giving up on them. Google, Hulu, and Roku are just a few of the companies you're competing with, and so far, Boxee hasn't given me any reason to wait it out for them.

Price Trends: Blu-ray Players

Chances are, when you think of cheap Blu-ray players you think of models from Insignia, Memorex, or Curtis Mathes. And while these manufacturers do indeed make the most affordable Blu-ray players (some of them hitting as low as $50), big-name manufacturers like Samsung and Sharp are also pumping out affordable Blu-ray players, many of which easily fall under the $100 mark. And these Blu-ray players aren't their first gen players either, but rather players with BD-Live and Netflix streaming.

3D Blu-ray players on the other hand are still prohibitively expensive. March marked their debut on dealnews, but even the best 3D Blu-ray player deal is still at least $100 more expensive than its non-3D counterpart. (3D players are marked in red in the above chart.)

So unless you own a 3D LCD TV and are thirsting for 3D content, there's absolutely no reason to jump on the 3D Blu-ray player bandwagon. Instead, time your purchase and you could get a solid Netflix-streaming model for well under $100. Check out our Blu-ray player deals here.

iPhone 4 = Meh

It's official, the new iPhone 4 was announced during yesterday's WWDC keynote. Almost everyone is praising Cupertino's latest smartphone, but I'm not sold on it. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed. I haven't had any hands-on time with it (maybe that will change my opinion), but here's a rundown of the phone's main features and why I'm meh on them:

Apple A4 Processor
The brains behind the iPhone 4 is the same processor (or a close relative to) the CPU found inside the iPad, the A4 Cortex processor. This is great news, as many people love the iPad's speedy responsiveness. However, I'm baffled as to why Apple is being so tight-lipped about the CPU's specs. We know that the Samsung Wave runs a very similar chip to the iPhone 4, but that's pretty much it. I'm just curious to know how fast this CPU can run. Regardless, the A4 on the iPhone 4 is a good thing.

Retina Display
I have no doubt that the iPhone's new display is better than the 3GS', but hearing Steve Jobs call it a "Retina" display makes me feel like he's selling me snake oil. Ok, so it has a 960x640 resolution (4x that of the iPhone 3GS) packed inside the same 3.5" screen. Personally, I'd rather have a larger screen than one with more pixels. Bragging about this new display feels like bragging about a 32" 1080p LCD. (Yeah, it's 1080p, but on a screen so small, will you notice the difference?) Your photos and text may look sharp on the new iPhone, but will you notice a difference on video or will the phone simply upscale video to 960x640?

Battery Life
Standby time: Up to 300 hours
Internet Use:
Up to 6 hours on 3G
Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 10 hours
Audio playback: Up to 40 hours

When it comes to smartphone battery life, only one thing matters — how long will this smartphone let me surf the Web? If Apple's specs are reliable (they tend to be conservative with their battery ratings), then this is pretty damn nice and a huge plus for the iPhone 4. But again, there are so many factors that contribute to a phone's battery life. A smartphone that can last 2 full business days on one charge with a fair amount of use would definitely impress me.

HD Video Recording & Editing
The iPhone finally got a front-facing camera for making video calls. The feature is called FaceTime and it will only work via Wi-Fi from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4. (However, the door is open for other companies to develop apps that could make it work with other non-iPhones.) In addition, the rear camera got an LED flash and bump to 5MP. It can also do 720p video at 30fps. For an extra $4.99, you can download the iMovie app, which will let you edit your videos directly from the phone. Definitely welcome upgrades, but nothing we haven't already seen or nothing to wow about.

Design
I don't see why people are so excited about the iPhone's "new" design. Don't get me wrong, I've liked the iPhone's looks since day one, but the new iPhone doesn't look that much different than the 3GS. Sure, it's thinner (which is great), but otherwise, it looks like an iPhone.

Personally, I'm just not sold on the new iPhone 4. Is it a horrible phone? Of course not, and I would definitely recommend it if you're trying to consolidate gadgets or if you have an iPhone 3G. Otherwise, I just don't see what all the fuss is about.