I’m here at a little pub in downtown Bradenton, sipping’ on a cherry coke.

Man was I pleasantly surprised to see that my Minimove iPhone boombox controls and remote controller are able to control Pandora, the same way it controlled the iPod app, now that iOS 4.0 is out.

What good thinking on Apple’s part, ya know? There are certain “API’s” that control what third party apps can control, and what third party hardware can control. Rather than make controlling third party audio apps a separate API, where old hardware controllers couldn’t control them, they simply make the operating system decide to control the new “iPod out” audio controls.

You know no other company would do it like this. They’d make any old hardware not work with the new software. Their excuse? “The old hardware only works with this old system, and only new hardware can work with the new system.” They would tell people “This hardware worked fine from 2007 to 2009, but it’s 2010 now and only products made in 2010 or later will work.”. People, consumers and tech journalists, wouldn’t question it much ‘cuz they wouldn’t realize that it doesn’t have to be that way. “The new [company name] product is great, though it doesn’t work with [hardware product] anymore. But that’s just what happens when new technology comes out.”

That is, if any other company even did any hardware controllers. Funny thing is, other smartphone makers don’t even have a hardware control system at all. (Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you Android.) None of them. And they don’t have any plans to make one. And if they do, it’ll probably be company A that does, it’ll be proprietary, patient protected, so that no other company can use it. Well then company B wants to be competitive and makes their own, as well as company C. Hardware manufacturers aren’t gonna’ support one vender over another, and they all have very small market share.

And if a group, say the Headset Open Alliance (which is basically Google’s pet project), creates a hardware controller open standard for Google Android devices, it won’t be regulated. After all, it’s an open standard. They don’t have to regulate the way their operating system or phone hardware works with it. And Google doesn’t regulate ANY apps on their app market, so of course there wouldn’t be any regulation of the way the app interfaces with the hardware. So the result wouldn’t be rock solid and reliable. It would be buggy or just plain broken. Certain phones would only work with certain hardware devices, certain OS versions wouldn’t work with certain apps, etc. I believe that’s why they haven’t done one and don’t have any plans on it. That, and I’m sure hardware venders won’t support it. Apple’s “iProducts” are the only thing out there that have functionality like this, baby.

Now I start to think about all the cars that have built-in controls for iPods and how awesome that is to just plug in your iPhone and start controlling Pandora or whatever. Of course you can only control the play / pause and next functions for Pandora, you can’t thumbs down to change stations from the controllers, but that’s why you got your iPhone there.

This is a real exciting time for iPhone and iPod touch owners. It’s like our hardware devices all got an upgrade.

Peace, JbB

I’ve got the Memorex Minimove sitting on my desk, usin’ it has a charger for the Neocell, and also as amplified speakers. It matches everythin’ really well. What’cha think?

Peace, J

Today I just bought a portable iPhone boombox, a Minimove by Memorex. So why’d I get it, and what’s my take on it (review)?

I got it because I’ve been eyein’ portable boombox-type devices since I got the first Neocell. The reason? Simple… for the ability to pump music out loud when out somewhere. The speakers of iPhones (especially the newer generations) are very impressive… but they can’t compete compared to an actual boombox or even small amplified speakers, for the simple fact that (of course) iPhones can’t translate bass frequencies.

So I’ve been wanting to get something that I can bring to the pool or to the beach (FYI, people who live in Florida never go to the beach) or bring with me if i know I’m goin’ somewhere with people. I mean, the new Neocell’s speaker’s very loud, but the loudest parts are the highs of a song, and if your far way or got something loud in the background, like wind from a car window, the only parts you can hear clearly are the highs. That, and if your out and about somewhere, you want something that can hold your iPhone upright and keep it safe. And not to mention, having a remote control is nice.

So what made me go with the Minimove? Well the price was nice… $50. That’s the first thing. I ain’t gonna’ pay **** for something if it’s near the $100 range. **** that. The next is, of course, battery power. It needs to be able to run on batteries, which this does (and plugs into the wall too). Then it comes to sound / loudness. I’ve tested out more expensive boomboxes, ones in the $70-$90 range, from places like Brookstone or whatever that place is called… and the Minimove sounds just as loud as them.

Those are the most important things, but then it comes down others. I’ll just start by what I dig about the Minimove. The looks for one… it’s gotta’ look good. Be a little funny to dock a $600-$700 sexy iPhone down into a boombox that looks cheap and crappy, ya know? I saw a boombox at Hhgregg or something (horrible store, full of comission hungry, lying salesmen) and it looked like something a child would use. It came in two colors, blue / white or pink / white. …Yeah… The Minimove looks like a countertop stereo, has a sexy build in handle that doesn’t shout “cheap portable device” and features digital buttons and a white LED back-lite screen. It honestly looks like a $100-$200 device.

Then there’s the way it docks. Some systems have a goofy method of docking and, worst, some boomboxes have a little adjuster thing that you gotta’ use to adjust the dock to your device. If the Minimove had that, I wouldn’t complain, but it doesn’t. It’s a top loading dock, like the standard iPhone dock, so all you gotta’ do is place it down there. It doesn’t really fall into place, like the iPhone dock does, but that’s because there are no sides to the dock. This is how they get away with having so many devices be able to dock into it. So, like I said, if you had to place your iPhone into it with one hand, let’s say while driving, it can be hard (no harder than any other boombox docks), but once it’s in, it says in pretty firm from side-to-side. But… because there’s no goofy adjusting device, your iPhone can fall out is the dock if the boombox gets tipped over or shaken up and down really hard (like if you were stupid and ran with it without securing your iPhone). Now here’s the deal… your gonna’ find the same issue with more than half the boomboxes out there. And those that do hold it more secure will also be much, much harder to dock… and may not even really dock right some of the time (I’ve tested out a lot of ****). So, as far as staying “in”, the Minimove is one of the best, but you do need to be careful in general with all boomboxes.

The remote is very, very nice. I’m really impressed with it. It’s the same quality of boomboxes costing $200 and more. And odd thing about the remote is that the bottom rests on a clip. It’s weird, until you realize “Oh, I can clip this onto things, including the power wire or my shirt.”. Very nice. The one thing it doesn’t have that some boomboxes costing more money have is a little storage area for the remote. But the fact it has a clip built into the remote more than makes up for it. The fact that this boombox, being the high quality it is, comes with a remote at all is surprising.

The buttons, controls and display are really nice. A lot of other boomboxes seem to have cheap feeling buttons and controls. Here’s one thing that is a bad thing about the Minimove… there’s a play / pause button on the remote, but none for the device itself. That’s really stupid.

Next is a really unexpected feature… EQ presets. Yeah, there are three or four EQ presets, including a flat setting.

It’s got an FM radio built in (not a feature I care about at all). Fortunately, all the controls for the radio are the same control buttons and nothing seperate. Some boomboxes add fugly, cheap looking radio controls. Most of the time, devices that have FM radio mess up the design / function of the device itself. What I’m talkin’ about is the antenna. Fortunately, the Minimove hides the antenna and retracts inside the body itself, and when it’s retracted, you can’t even tell it’s there. Good, keep that **** inside there.

It’s also got a line out (headphones) and line in, two very useful features. Wanna’ play audio through the speakers while using your iPhone? Simple, just connect it to the line in.

I’m really impressed with the Minimove. The only complaint is the lack of a play / pause button on the device itself. Other than that, I love everything.

Peace, J