Jim Gresham

Editor at iDownloadBlog.com since 2012, Jim Gresham curates the finest wallpapers and customizations for Apple devices, enhancing user experience through visual creativity. With a keen eye for design and a passion for personalization, Jim helps readers transform their screens into stunning displays. He spent his younger years tinkering with computers, reading about technology, and watching Star Wars, while being teased by his peers at school for nerdy tendencies. Since 2008, he has worked on improving his Apple arsenal and spends his free time researching the latest gadget trends, trying to find the next awesome iDevice accessory for review. A native of the Commonwealth of Virginia, he enjoys the stiff crease on a well-ironed dress shirt and dons a bow tie on a regular basis.

Premium and Stylish Phiaton Bridge MS 500 Headphones [review + giveaway]

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Headphones are one of those device categories where more money does not necessarily equate to a better quality product. Many branded, read "designer," headphones cost extra simply because they have a celebrity backing them. There is a single branded headphone line that gets most of the attention and offer a high price tag for entry.

There are ways to more intelligently choose a pair of cans. Make sure the sound is superior quality. Of course, pay attention to build quality, but sound is paramount when purchasing headphones. Start with plastic. If the entire headphone is plastic, start second guessing your purchase. Pulling the Phiaton Bridge MS 500's from the box was quite a rewarding experience, complete with machined aluminum, perforated leather, and red stitching.

Interstellar wallpapers for iPhone and iPad

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

There are only a few movies over several years that make a lasting impression on the viewer. Movies are created, launched, watched, and forgotten. However this season's Interstellar continues to grip audiences worldwide. The three-hour space odyssey piques the imagination and is arguably one of the most well written blockbuster movies in many years.

To fully enjoy the experience, I went to see the film in IMAX. The stunning visuals were all wallpaper worthy shots. I try not to toss around this word lightly, but Interstellar was epic, from the story and character development to the cinematography.

Selfy case kinda turns your iPhone into a GoPro

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated February 3, 2015

Where do I even begin talking about selfies? Everyone loves a good selfie. They are wildly popular across the world, even causing South Korea to ban "unregulated" selfie stick sales. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, SnapChat, and other forms of popular social media channels are completely filled with selfies. What caused our self obsession will never be explained, but the selfie is here to stay.

The selfie stick was one of the first hardware selfie assistants. I saw them around touristy places when I traveled, but didn't think much of them about a year ago. Now, they are increasingly popular and being utilized in everyday places. Several iterations of selfie-inspired accessories cropped up and iLuv is capitalizing on the fad. Launching "selfy," iLuv guarantees you will always have a quick way to snap a selfie and includes a laundry list of add-ons to assist.

Cover your iPad with a professionally stylish felt sleeve

Jim Gresham ∙ December 6, 2014

Living a conflicted life, I am an iPhone nudist but also a hardware reviewer for iDB. As you can imagine, the struggle comes when reviewing accessories that cause the user to obfuscate the design and detail of an Apple iOS device with unnecessary appendages. I do not like bulky cases, even if their primary function is protection. I do not even like screen protectors because it stands between my finger and the glass.

When Inatek approached me about a sleeve, I jumped at the option. Sleeves are one of my favorite accessory genres because they allow the device to be used naked, while still providing protection for travel and day-to-day carry. The Inatek TPB-IM sleeve fits the bill.

Perfectly cradle iPhone in leather with Nodus Access case

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

It is rare to find a case I adore. Most of my hesitation stems from being an iPhone nudist, which I mention in most of my articles. Further complicating matters is my disdain for overly complicated designs or cases that interfere with the look and feel of iOS devices.

Many case companies get most things right. The protection level is perfect or the look and feel is spot on. Everyone does their thing. However, running into my third year of accessory reviews, most of the marketed cases are boring to me. In fact, my hardware review articles are quite infrequent due to the lack of truly new cases. Many companies are in their third or fourth iteration of the exact same case, merely updated for the newest iPhone form factor.

Standing in stark contrast to the mundane daily cases, Nodus introduced me to their Access collection. Even before holding the product, I thought to myself, here is a company that is doing it all exactly right. Shortly thereafter, I pillaged my mailbox looking for the iPhone 6 Plus Access case.

Declutter your life with the NeatConnect cloud scanner

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

In a recent attempt to go paperless, inspired by our own Jeff Benjamin, I began the search for a solid document scanner about this time last year. Thankfully, December is the month before CES and I hunted for a solution at the world's largest end-user computer conference.

Finding the right scanner was not particularly important, because I had no idea what should accompany a scanner purchase. What features does one need when it comes to scanning? Other than using primitive scanners back in college or a full blown office scanner, there is no personal benchmark for home-use that I could rely upon. In my quest through confusion, I stumbled upon the Neat team members, who promised a scanning option that did not require tethering to a computer. The NeatConnect is a powerful desktop tool without the requirement of annoying USB cables.

Wallpapers of the week: snow frost

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated December 28, 2017

Continuing our simple nature series, including mountains and lakes, the next images feature winter snow and frost. Ending November in the northern hemisphere means winter is coming. This year, it seems winter is arriving more quickly than previous years. Living in the south eastern US, I experienced my first snow in early November.

With Thanksgiving passed and temperatures plummeting, it is time to switch the Lock screen over to match the occasion. For an unknown reason, winter snowy wallpapers are my favorite genre. Consequently, find four wallpaper images below.

Wallpapers of the week: lakes

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Considering the popularity of last week's mountains Wallpaper of the Week post, this week we are featuring another set of naturally beautiful wallpapers. Although, to contrast mountains, the included images salute the water.

In particular, lakes offer stunning vistas often incorporating mountains based on their geography. The lakes featured past the fold are all captured by photographers whose work can be found on Interfacelift.com. We gleaned some of the best and are highlighting them for iPad, iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6.

Mountains wallpapers for iPhone and iPad

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Some of the most downloaded Wallpapers of the Week are still photography. Compile that will one of our top preferred genres, mountains. Finally, readers have loved the galaxy images as well. Today, we are going to receive all three and there are iPad versions of each. Step inside for a cross between several reader favorites. The images included are featured for iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Retina. Of course, they are backwards compatible to any smaller iOS device screen sizes.

iOS 8 style flowers wallpapers for iPhone

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Today we feature a set of wallpapers in the iOS 8 style. While the flower images pushed by Apple in their latest software version received some criticism for their non-masculine appearance, the vibrant colors accentuate the new Retina HD displays. The new curved glass screens on iPhone 6 melt with the aluminum housing and the dark black background rolls away, only leaving the flowers to pop.

Honoring design features of the existing wallpapers, the selection today honors the details of the stock iOS 8 flower wallpapers. Whether you want to argue over masculinity is your choice. Either way, the wallpapers look magnificent.

Vivo Xplay conversions wallpapers

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Sunday is wallpaper day on iDownloadBlog. The section is quite popular and is a running compilation back more than a year. Despite posting more than 75 individual wallpaper posts with more than one image per post, I have yet to feature a specific genre of images.

In an effort to completely "fanboy" our wallpaper section, the curated posts never blatantly featured wallpapers from another device. It felt like featuring wallpapers from other devices somehow would shine a jealous light on iPhone. If we love our iPhones, why do we need wallpapers from other devices? Well, it doesn't really matter where the wallpapers are from as long as they are esthetically pleasing.

The mysterious iPad Air 2 wallpapers… for iPhone

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Over the past couple weeks, many folks tracked me down on Twitter hoping I was able to find the images used to market and advertise the new iPad Air 2. Originally on the iPad Air 2 web page, the included images were used as Lock screen splash images. Many people were excited about the new walls, but unfortunately, they did not ship with either iOS 8.1, iPad Air 2, or iPad mini 3.

The Lock screen images were originally on the website with different iPads, but seem to now be pulled down. If searching in the right place, you can still find the image pictured above. However, a blue-green variant is now seemingly removed. In an effort to support those folks looking for these images, we made them our Wallpapers of the Week.