Screen Shots: 1-3, Pandora Application. 4, Backgrounder w/ Pandora running.
If you've ever wanted to listen to an artist or category which you did not have in your iPod or wanted something new, Pandora Radio (iTunes) is the best solution. Begin typing an artist's name or genre of music and it will start bringing up matches. It will first play music by the artist you select, and then start to shuffle music that are similar and recommends music you may like--it's your own personalized radio. You can rate, bookmark, buy, email, or see more information on the song currently playing. It will even give you a reason on why the current song is playing in case you think it's out of place. Don't like the current song? Just press next.
Unlike your iPod which can play music while you send e-mails or browse the internet, Pandora Radio will terminate upon exiting to the home screen or another application, with the exception of the Phone, Mail, Safari, and iPod applications (which is why it's normally in the dock). It's not Pandora's fault, though; the iPhone has been put down against other smartphones for it's inability to run multiple applications. Backgrounder (Cydia) allows you to run multiple applications at once in the background. Simply by holding down the Home button when accessing an application, it will enable backgrounding, and minimize the application. By repeating that process again, it will disable backgrounding, and terminate the application. It's very useful for IM clients, fast access to social networking and media applications. Applications currently running are displayed with a small "loading" logo on the corner of the application icon (removable in the settings). There is also the option to always-enable and blacklist applications from backgrounding.
While Pandora Radio gave a close to flawless music application, it only works with an active internet connect to browse and obtain music which is not beneficial for my long subway rides underground. It's be nice to have an option to pre-stream or "download" several songs so in case you lose a connection and the current song is over, you are able to still have a few more songs in your playlist before going back to your iPod. Although backgrounding is now a possibility for applications, due to your current iPhone's hardware, too many active applications will bog down the iPhone and may cause them to crash.
Application Information:
| Pandora Radio (App Store) Category: Music Seller: Pandora Media, Inc. Version: 2.0.2 Price: FREE Rating: 5 out of 5 | Backgrounder (Cydia) Section: System Author: Lance Fetters (ashikase) Version: svn.r261 Price: FREE Rating: 5 out of 5 |
