About Iphone

Latest iphone models

2009-11-10T03:23:00.000-08:00

* Compatible with Apple iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS
* Available in 4 sparkling colors: Rouge (Red)/Dark Gold
Aluminium (Silver)/Royal Blue (Blue)
* Anodized plastic case with metallic finishing
* Slim fit grip case (clip-on style)
* Transparent logo protection film prevents the Apple logo
from scratches and dust
* Easy access to all controls and ports
* Prevents and shields your mobile from scratches, damages
and dust
* Crystal Screen Protector included (1pc.)
* Mirror Screen Protector included (1pc.)
* Clear Logo Protection Film included (1pc.)
* Mircofiber Cleaning Cloth included (1pc.)

More color options available at Eternity Collection.
Check out the reviewers from YouTube.

Google Earth for the iPhone and iPod touch

2009-09-19T01:06:00.000-07:00

Google Earth for the iPhone and iPod touch is the mobile version of Google’s justly acclaimed desktop app. Like its desktop-based counterpart, the mobile version offers a birds-eye, 3-D view of the earth, allowing you to zoom, via satellite photos, from Paris to New York to (literally) your own backyard. And since its debut on the App Store, the iPhone version of Google Earth has won rave reviews for the way it puts the whole world on your mobile device.

Look, I like the iPhone edition of Google Earth… to a point. It’s fun to go swooshing from one locale to another, and the ability to search for nearby businesses can come in handy if you’re a stranger in a strange land. But it’s a rough transition from the desktop to the iPhone, and Google Earth has lost some of the functionality that makes it such a pleasure to use on the Mac. Then again, the mobile version of Google Earth would do well just to match the functionality of the Maps app that comes included with the iPhone or iPod touch.

Apple iPhone 3G

Here’s how the app works. You can type in a location after tapping the search icon in the upper left corner of the screen; tap the location button in the lower left corner, and Google Earth will find your current locale anywhere on the planet, highlighting it with a bright blue dot. The standard touchscreen gestures work in Google Earth—double-tapping lets you zoom in as does a two-finger reverse pinch, while pinching the screen lets you zoom out. Drag your finger in any direction, and Google Earth will follow.

Google Earth orients itself based on how you’re holding your mobile device; turn the phone sideways for a horizontal view of the map. The app also takes advantage of the accelerometer by tilting the screen as you tilt your iPhone or iPod touch. It’s certainly a cool way of getting something other than a top-down view of an area, but I found that even a slight twitch of my hands would cause the map to tilt unexpectedly and keep tilting as I over-corrected my grip. I wound up turning the autotilt feature off by tapping the settings button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Once you’re fixed on a location, you can search the surrounding area for businesses or points of interest. Tap on the search icon again, and type out a search query—“restaurants,” say. A series of labeled circles will pop up on the screen showing you all the restaurants in your immediate vicinity. Tap on one of those circles, and you’ll get an address, a URL, reviews from assorted Web sites (if applicable), and, in many cases, a phone number. While tapping the phone number did give me the option of initiating a call, tapping any of the Web page links on the page didn’t seem to do anything. Tapping an Open in Safari button launched Maps, of all things.

Unlike the desktop version, the iPhone’s Google Earth doesn’t include driving directions. You can get them, but you’ll have to drill down to that Google search results page to launch the Maps app. That will take you out of Google Earth, which seems like a lot of effort to go through for a feature that probably should have been included in the mobile effort.

Typing search terms in Google Earth has its pluses and minuses. The app is tied into your contacts, so if you start typing a name, the contact will appear as it does in Google Mobile App, saving you from having to tap out the entire name. Unlike Google Mobile App, Google Earth does not bring up suggested or common search terms as you type. If you want to look up nearby restaurants, you’re going to have to pound out each blessed letter—at least for the first time you search. Google Earth does remember previous searches, however, so if you’ve searched for restaurants or ATMs or other generic businesses in the past, they’ll appear as you start to retype them. There’s a caveat, though—you have to tap the existing search term twice to actually perform a search. Tapping once merely highlights the term, and if you then hit the Search button, Google Earth will look up your partially typed search term instead. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve searched for “rest” or “r” when I thought I was looking up nearby restaurants, but it doesn’t get any less annoying when it happens.

While Google Earth on the iPhone remembers previous searches, it doesn’t allow you to add placemarks or pinpoints in the same way that you can store favorite places on the desktop app. This is a very significant omission that diminishes the usability of the mobile version.

Another difference between the desktop and mobile iterations of Google Earth is the limited number of layers available for the latter. On the desktop version, you can choose to show street names, places of interest, traffic, or other layers created by the vibrant Google Earth community. It’s one of the things that makes the desktop version so appealing.

The iPhone version of Google Earth lets you turn Borders and Labels and Terrain layers on and off. Its only other layers are limited to Wikipedia entries and geo-located photos from Panoramio. Tapping on either a Wikipedia entry’s W icon or the blue box designating a Panoramio photo opens either of those screens within Google Earth. But there’s no way to tell what’s on the other end of that icon or whether it’s worth your time until you tap on it—you’re forced to hunt and peck. Also, in popular locales like the Vegas strip or Disneyland, photo and Wikipedia icons can be layered on top of one another; even zooming in for a closer look doesn’t always provide enough separation for those of us with meaty fingertips so some icons wind up being untappable.

I realize that shrinking Google Earth down to size for a mobile device requires some sacrifices. I surely don’t expect to be able to install a KML file that allows me to superimpose defunct National League baseball parks on a map, as I can with the desktop version. But some layers are more than just eye candy—street names, for example. As you’re scrolling and tilting and zooming your way through a Google Earth map on your iPhone, it’s easy to lose your orientation without a street name layer to guide you.

With its location and search capabilities, Google Earth could be a valuable tool if you find yourself in a strange city and need to track down an eatery, ATM, or tourist attraction in your immediate area. Still, while Google Earth offers an undeniable Gee Whiz factor, Maps seems like an infinitely more usable tool. It gives you street names, driving directions, traffic conditions in some cases, and even street views if you happen to be using an iPhone. The views in Google Earth are certainly eye-catching, but they can’t match what Maps offers in terms of practical value.

I suppose it comes down to what you expect Google Earth to be. On the desktop, the answer is “whatever you want,” thanks to the variety of layers, the multiple search options, and the ability to customize the app any way you see fit. The iPhone version is decidedly more limited. Users who merely want to zoom around the globe from the comfort of their mobile device will find plenty to like here, and certainly, there's a value to that. But does that make for an indispensible? Not from my vantage point.

iPhone 3G Screen Protector

2009-09-19T01:02:00.000-07:00

Protect your phone from damage with the virtually indestructible and exceptionally clear Apple iPhone 3G InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector. This full body protective film is designed to prevent scratches on your Apple iPhone 3G and keep it as new as the when it first came out of the box. Made to completely cover your Apple iPhone 3G, the Apple iPhone 3G InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector features nano-memory technology, which gives it it's slight "orange peel" surface texture. This revolutionary technology gives the film damage resistance and self-healing properties that will ensure lasting protection no matter how many times your keys rub against it. The optically clear, transparent film is constructed of the same material used to protect helicopters blades from damage by the military.

Keep your Apple iPhone 3G protected at all times with the tough Apple iPhone 3G InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector. The film is optically transparent, allowing the beauty of your Apple iPhone 3G to shine through, while it keeps it fully protected from scratches, dents, abrasions, and nicks. Every inch of your phone is protected by the Apple iPhone 3G InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector due to its precision-cut design that covers the entire surface of your phone. The thin, yet extremely tough film allows you to use other accessories with your Apple 3G iPhone including a dock or a snap-on case for additional protection.

The skin is designed to remain on your Apple iPhone 3G for as long as you want protection. But, if you need to remove it, it peels off easily without leaving a sticky residue. The Apple iPhone 3G kit comes with 1 complete set of Apple iPhone 3G InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector, a professional rubber squeegee, application solution, instructions and *Lifetime Warranty against damage.

Apple iPhone 3G InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector Features:

Made of the same super durable, scratch-resistant polyurethane film as used on helicopter blades
Designed to cover the entire surface of your Apple 3G iPhone
Slim, transparent film, measuring 0.2 millimeters in thickness, allows use of other cases or docks and makes it the slimmest protective solution for your Apple iPhone 3G
Comes with: 1 Apple iPhone 3G InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector (including screen protectors), 1 rubber squeegee, 1 application solution, and instructions
Lifetime Warranty against invisibleSHIELD products that are damage while protecting your device

How to Unlock iPhone 3G

2009-09-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

Gadgets are an important part of our daily lives nowadays and an iPhone 3G is one of them. In general, many young people claim that they are able to unlock iPhone 3G, but it is not very easy to do it actually. It is very important to know how to unlock iPhone with or without software. Firstly, there is hardware able to unlock the iPhone 3G. SIM hardware can be installed easily. Besides, you do not have to mod of the SIM card or your iPhone.

In addition, it can work based on any firmware version. However, there is a possibility to unlock your iPhone using software. You can unlock iPhone 3G using the software suitable for the first generation of iPhone. Actually, it is easy to unlock iPhone and then you can install any third part application onto it. Fortunately, nothing happens if you cannot install them properly at the beginning thanks to the reversibility of this process. You can find here information related to how to unlock iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS, or how to re-lock it if you want to restore the iPhone to its factory settings.

If you want to unlock iPhone, using software the first step is to jailbreak it. It will let you install and change your iPhone code, in order to have it unlocked. Actually, this method is not iPhone 3G unlock software. As soon as this software is available for this iPhone type, anybody can download it from a specific page. Whenever you see on the internet an offer of unlocking software for iPhone 3G without being registered at unlock iPhone 3G it is a fraud for sure, therefore you must avoid this trap.

To continue with you can unlock iPhone using the SIM hardware. A little device can be slotted into the iPhone just like your actual SIM card. After you have applied it, you can use the iPhone everywhere regardless the network. It is not difficult at all, so everybody can do it and it is a reliable way to unlock your iPhone. There is a problem though. You must choose the right hardware SIM. There are plenty of ads online trying to attract customers for their products and obviously many of them are of low quality.

The qualities you must spot at hardware SIM are 3G issues, signal, reception, and clarity of phone call. Some of them may require cutting your old SIM card. Here you can find the best unlock solution, because hardware SIM versions have been carefully tested before releasing them for sale. You must look for those possibilities that do not require your SIM cutting off and you must check reception of signal before getting unlock hardware. If you live in a small country it is not a problem as our products can be shipped everywhere around the world and the price is affordable. Besides, there is a great advantage of hardware SIM. After you have it, you can have your iPhone unlocked without updating the hardware from time to time. Therefore, it is a permanent feature. The price of SIM hardware can include more facilities for you. You can have access to a shopping area where you can purchase wallpapers, themes, where you can download what you like or get iPhone software and you can have professional support if you need it.

If you need to unlock iPhone, our website is here for you. You can be one of the satisfied customers which can unlock iPhone 3G and benefit from our software.

Topple 2 Now On Sale For $.99

2009-06-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 26th, 2009, 6.48 am

The summer App Store sales just keep on coming, and ngmoco has decided to get in on action by placing their extremely popular 2009 Apple Design Award winning game, Topple 2, on sale for a limited time.

If you enjoyed the original Topple, you will absolutely adore Topple 2. The game features the same basic concept and fantastic controls, but it adds all kinds of new elements.

The basic idea of the game is to stack your tower as high as you can without it “toppling,” which is easier said than done because some pieces just don’t quite fit together. Topple 2, like the original Topple, utilizes the iPhone’s accelerometer, so you can tilt your device from side to side to try and keep your tower from tipping too far.

Topple 2 features 30 levels spread across six worlds, new game mechanics, versus mode using Wi-Fi or email, and the ability to free play all of the game modes.

Topple 2 is now on sale for a limited time for only $.99. The regular price is $2.99.

Dev-Team Says iPhone 3GS Jailbreak Possible Via 24Kpwn

2009-06-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 26th, 2009, 7.31 am

In less than a week after the iPhone 3GS launched, the iPhone Dev-Team believes that they already have a way to jailbreak the brand new device.

The Dev-Team is reporting that the 24Kpwn exploit that was originally developed for the second generation iPod touch may work on the iPhone 3GS as well.

About 5 hours ago (Thursday evening, less than a week after the 3GS launch), we were able to verify that the 24Kpwn exploit that the hybrid team used on the iPod Touch 2G is still applicable to the bootrom of the iPhone 3GS. That means we can use the same sort of technique used by our current redsn0w tool to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone 3GS.

This is great news, but how did it happen? Why didn’t Apple fix this in their normal cat&mouse fashion? Well it seems this bootrom was cut in about the August 2008 timeframe, so the unintended early reveal of 24Kpwn earlier this year didn’t affect the iPhone 3GS.

Apparently once the jailbreak is ready to go, ultrasn0w will work with the iPhone 3GS as well, which is great news for all of you unlockers.

The Dev-Team does make it clear, however, that Apple hasn’t given up on their cat and mouse game. They state that even though the bootrom is exploitable via 24Kpwn, there are other aspects of the jailbreak that will take some time to work into their current tools. Because of this, they have no time table for when the iPhone 3GS jailbreak will be available.

Apple Removed Hottest Girls, Nudity Not Allowed In App Store

2009-06-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 26th, 2009, 8.38 am

Apparently nudity isn’t allowed in the App Store after all. Yesterday Hottest Girls became the first ever app in the App Store to display nudity. Shortly after this news spread across the web, the app was hastily removed from the App Store. The story doesn’t end there, however. The developer of Hottest Girls claimed that he had to personally remove the app due to it being “sold out,” which basically meant that his servers had caved from all of the traffic. As it turns out, you can’t trust a developer who makes apps that display nudity.

According to TechCrunch, Apple PR has told CNN that the app was removed by Apple and that they will not distribute “porn” or any other inappropriate content:

“Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store.”

So this makes sense, at least in a way, because Apple’s stance on inappropriate content has never changed, even with the new parental controls. They still state that “porn” will not be allowed in the App Store. The thing is, some people may not consider general nudity as porn. It also seems odd that Apple has actually included nudity in their rating system, so it’s almost as if they don’t even consider nudity porn either.

The developer was obviously at fault here because of the way he went about adding the content to his app. Apple didn’t actually approve of any of it, it was just slipped in. The statement by the developer that was placed on his website yesterday is gone as well, with the website only displaying contact information. It seems he is guilty as charged.

What we can take from all of this is that nudity, porn, inappropriate content, or whatever you want to call it is still not officially allowed in the App Store even with the parental controls and app ratings.

Knights Onrush On Sale For $.99

2009-06-29T04:58:00.000-07:00

The App Store game sales continue! First it was Gameloft, then it was ngmoco, and now it is Chillingo who is slashing the price of their unique castle defense game, Knights Onrush.

Knights Onrush brings Pocket God-like interactivity to the castle defense genre. Knights Onrush allows you to interact with your oncoming enemies in ways you never imagined. You can flick them into the air, smash them into the ground, blow them up, freeze them, and even feed them to a dragon. The game also features tons of content, including 12 castles to defend, 11 types of enemies, endless siege and madness modes, and an online chat and leader board system.

If that isn’t enough to convince you, we have a full review of Knights Onrush available on our site.

Knights Onrush is normally priced at $4.99, but it is now on sale for only $.99. The sale will last for 36 hours, so don’t wait too long or you will miss out.

Unofficial iPhone SDK Feedback Project Begins

2009-06-29T04:53:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 26th, 2009, 12.00 pm

Developers are allowed to submit bug reports and feedback to Apple, but the problem with the current system is that it is opaque. The system doesn’t allow people to see if they are the only ones having a certain problem, or if others feel the same way about a certain silly rule that Apple has in place. That’s why Dan Grigsby has decided to start the Unofficial iPhone SDK Feedback Project. It is designed to help the iPhone community speak out about their issues and add “gravity” to them.

The logic behind the project is this: If there are enough people with the same issue speaking out together, there is no way Apple can avoid the subject.

Grigsby has set up a website to allow the community to vote on issues that they feel are important. The website lists all kinds of different issues from anyone and everyone who wants to submit them. The issues are then voted on by the community, and the ones with the most votes keep moving up to the top. This system, according to Grigsby, should accurately indicate what is on everyone’s mind. The catch is that people will only be given a limited number of votes, forcing them to make choices on the issues that they feel are most important.

Of course without votes and people submitting ideas, the system will not work. They need as many people as they can get, so at least give it a look.

If you would like to know more about why Grigsby started this project, you can check out his blog. He will also be highlighting new and interesting feedback activity on his blog.

Apps That Require iPhone 3GS Magnetometer Hit App Store

2009-06-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 26th, 2009, 1.07 pm

The iPhone 3GS is the only Apple device that sports a magnetometer, which is basically a fancy word for digital compass. Apple already ships the iPhone 3GS with a Compass app, but it is pretty basic and straight forward. Thanks to all of those hardworking iPhone developers out there, we are now finally starting to see some iPhone 3GS specific apps that take advantage of this feature in more unique ways.

A new app called Magnetism uses the magnetometer to detect magnetic fields. It is able to do simple tasks, like detect metal objects behind walls, or you can use it to see your friends influence on the Earth’s magnetic fields. It is also able to keep track of all of this data on an easy to read graph.

A+ Voice Compass is another interesting iPhone 3GS specific app. As the title states, it is compass app that tells you your orientation via voice. Simply launch the app and start moving, every time you change your heading it will notify you so you will never have to actually look at the app.

These are just two early examples of what the App Store has to offer, but of course there will be many others. We also stumbled upon some other basic compass apps like ezCompass, but they don’t seem to offer anything extra outside of what the built-in Compass app has to offer.

If you find any other worthy magnetometer apps out there, feel free to leave a comment below, because there is no doubt there will be many more to come.

Mass Effect Galaxy Price Drop

2009-06-29T04:45:00.000-07:00

Mass Effect Galaxy was only released on June 22, but apparently EA must have felt that $4.99 was just asking too much because they have already dropped the price of the game to $2.99.

Mass Effect Galaxy puts you in the shoes of Jacob Taylor, a biotic-powered super-soldier who must somehow stop humanity from being knocked off the galactic stage. The game uses a top-down view that allows you to see all of the action with ease. It also features some smooth animated graphics that should appeal to almost any gamer out there. The only downside to the game seems to be its basic control system. You control your character’s movement by tilting your device, but that’s pretty much it. The combat portion of the game is extremely simple. If you are in range of an enemy, your reticule will lock on to the target and automatically start firing.

Mass Effect in general has never been just about the combat, it is more about the story and that’s where the game shines. If you are a fan of the series, this one should help hold you over until Mass Effect 2 is released next year. According to AppGamer.net, there is also a reward that can be unlocked for Mass Effect 2 once you beat Mass Effect Galaxy, but they aren’t sure what it is.

It’s worth noting that we spoke with EA Mobile’s Craig Law about whether this was a temporary sale or a permanent price drop, and the best he could give us was a “guess” that it would be permanent. If you don’t want to risk it, I recommend picking Mass Effect Galaxy up now for only $2.99.

Review: Sally’s Spa

2009-06-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

Reviewed June 27, 2009 by Simone Luker
Price: $0.99

Overview:

Sally’s Spa is a fun, fast-paced, addictive game that provides a great time waster. Sally’s Spa is every girl’s iPhone dream. It allows users to run their own day spa with the touch of their finger. Users move Sally around the spa in order to complete her duties. The first level begins in Laguna Beach, California where you place customers into a series of spa facilities, such as a sauna, facial mask chair and massage chair.

The aim of the game is to keep all customers happy and relaxed so they will tip you more. Each customer has a series of hearts that display how happy they are, if you leave them too long or give them the wrong facial, you lose a heart. If you give them everything they need in a timely manner, they will leave glowing (literally).

The app has 5 stages within each city. When the 5 stages are complete and the spa is establish, you then move onto your next city, New York or Banff. From there the cities expand to Asia, Europe and Iceland. This app is going to provide you with a fun game with enough levels to keep you set on establishing your next spa.

Features:

Within each level, there are five steps toward establishing the spa. As the levels continue, there a lot of them by the way, customers increase in numbers and so do the facilities provided. As customer’s come in they can purchase goods such as shampoo, conditioner and body scrub from Nelly, a young sales associate. Sally’s Spa expands to include bathing spas and manicure/pedicure chairs.

Game Play - The actual playing of the game is simple and effective, with everything on one screen Sally can scoot around the spa and perform her activities with one single touch of the patient. Other than this, Sally must scroll through the different facials, eye brows or bath bombs to choose which makes the customer happy. It’s fast paced, because your trying to please everyone in a timely manner, but its simple, which makes it a great mix. What’s also great about this game is that you can go back and complete levels in order to make more money.

Characters - The characters in the game are introduced to you as the levels begin, for example you have a mother who is tired and needs to relax, but provides only a mediocre tip, but is very patient. You then have the business man who is impatient, but provides a bigger tip. You also have an old couple who must always be moved together. They are also patient, but not very good tippers. Generally the idea is to take care of those who give the biggest tips first.

Shopping Time - The shopping feature of Sally’s Spa is quite likely the most fun part of the game, depending on what stage of the game you are at and how much money you’ve made, you can buy anything from a candle that causes customers to give you more tips, to baths that have only the best water. Sally can even call on extra help by having a sauna assistant, massage assistant, bath assistant and tea assistant. As you purchase more, the more likely customers are to gain hearts and not lose them.

Music - The music in Sally’s Spa is what you would expect if you walked into the spa yourself. It’s calm and tranquil. But, for me who wanted to focus on the game at hand, making money, and not falling asleep, I generally muted it.

Breakdown

Overall, Sally’s Spa is a wonderful, simple game to play to pass the minutes. On iTunes of all the reviews, most of them had great things to say anywhere from “the game every girl needs” to “keeps your finger busily dragging and dropping, poking and popping.” Of those that were negative, they were generally minor details such as having to restart their phones or having to pay $0.99.

Good:

Sally’s Spa does a great job of making a simple game, fast-paced, fun and addictive. With no moving of the screen it’s easy to move Sally around the spa and make the most money you can, and the best thing is if you don’t ‘expert’ the level, you can always go back to do it again. It provides an entertainment level by having different elements of running the spa, shopping, keeping people happy with magazines and going global.

Bad:

Although there’s not many, Sally’s Spa has a few bad points. The hearts that show the customer’s happiness is at times hard to read on the screen. The music isn’t that great and sometimes the repetitiveness of the game gets a little boring. But, really, the good points outweigh the bad.

Verdict:

Buy this game, for $0.99 your getting great value for the money. It’s a fun simple game that just keeps on going with the simple touch of a finger.

Sally's Spa
Developer: Games Cafe Inc.
Category: Games
Released: April 08, 2009

Week In Review - June 27th Edition

2009-06-29T04:34:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 27th, 2009, 7.21 am

iPhone 3GS without a space

Even though the lines were short, the iPhone 3GS sold like hot cakes. In the first three days of availability, the speedy device was purchased over one million times! Because of the massive amount of sales, there was a bit of a delay in the activation process and Apple made up for it by issuing $30 iTunes gift cards to those who were affected. YouTube seen the iPhone 3GS affect with a 400% daily increase of mobile video uploads. Oh yeah, by the way, it’s iPhone 3GS, not 3G S. Trust me, it’s important.

Pushing like crazy

iPhone OS 3.0 finally arrived but only with a few push-capable apps, and none of them were chat apps. Apple broke their silence on the matter over the weekend, apologizing to developers and stating that there were a few bugs left to squash. The push-capable chat app floodgates did eventually open with AIM, BeejiveIM, and IM+. One developer, however, felt the need to point out that though the iPod touch is capable of receiving push notifications, it isn’t exactly the most useful feature for the device since it has a 15 minute delay while asleep.

Is nudity porn?

Hottest Girls made App Store history by being the first ever app to display nude images. Not long after this news broke, the app disappeared from the App Store, but the developer claimed it was because their servers just couldn’t take all of the traffic. Apparently you can’t trust developers who release apps with nude images because Apple came forward and said none of that was true, and that the developer had actually slipped the images into the app without permission. So, as it goes, the App Store still doesn’t allow nudity, porn, inappropriate content, or whatever you want to call it.

Dev-Team always wins

The iPhone Dev-Team is slowly getting there. They first released their iPhone OS 3.0 jailbreak, but it wasn’t available for the iPhone 3GS. Later on they released the carrier unlocking tool ultrasn0w, but once again it was unavailable for the iPhone 3GS because it still hasn’t been jailbroken. But don’t fret iPhone 3GS owners, the Dev-Team has discovered that their 24Kpwn exploit that was originally developed for the second generation iPod touch will actually work on the 3GS, so just hang in there a little while longer, your jailbreak is coming.

Get it for cheap

SGN started the week of sales with F.A.S.T., which was marked down over 50%. Gameloft got in the on the action by placing two of its popular titles on sale, Hero of Sparta and Real Soccer ‘09, for only $.99. Chillingo had placed Knights Onrush on sale as well, but only for a limited time. ngmoco’s award winner Topple 2 is on sale for $.99. Mass Effect Galaxy was released earlier in the week for $4.99, but was reduced to $2.99 only days after. AxoStudios made I AM NINJA available for free “until tomorrow,” but apparently tomorrow still hasn’t arrived.

The rest of the news:

Columns:

Reviews:

Flight Control v1.3 Adds Peer-To-Peer Multiplayer

2009-06-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 27th, 2009, 8.22 am

Just when you thought you may finally be able to kick your Flight Control addiction, Firemint reaches into their bag of tricks and pulls out yet another reason for you to keep playing one of the most addicting casual games available in the App Store.

Yesterday evening Flight Control was updated to 1.3, which a adds peer-to-peer multiplayer mode via Bluetooth. The new peer-to-peer multiplayer mode allows you to share Flight Control duties with a friend. One of you will only be allowed to land the red aircraft while the other will only be allowed to land blue and yellow, but the catch is that all three colors of aircraft will appear on both of your screens. Since you won’t be able to land all aircraft, you must direct those that you can’t land onto your friend’s screen, which will require you to work well together or you will crash and burn.

Peer-to-peer via Bluetooth is only available on the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the second generation iPod touch. The original iPhone and iPod touch do not support peer-to-peer multiplayer via Bluetooth.

Another addition to the game, albeit a small one, is that you can now purchase Flight Control merchandise via the “more” button. The products only consist of various Flight Control beverage containment devices at this time.

Flight Control is available in the App Store for $.99.

Apple Posts Online iPhone 3GS Availability Tracker

2009-06-29T04:25:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 27th, 2009, 8.50 am

If you are about to run out to your local Apple Retail Store to purchase an iPhone 3GS, you may want to check to see if the model you desire is available first, which should be quite easy now that Apple has posted an online iPhone 3GS availability tracker.

The tracker allows you to search for Apple Retail Stores in every state. It will then display which model is available in which store. The list is broken down by capacity and color, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding the exact iPhone 3GS you want.

According to MacRumors, the list is updated hourly. They also state that nearly 90 percent of Apple’s 200 stores have available stock of all four models, and only five stores are completely sold out of all models at this time.

Now go get yourself an iPhone 3GS!

Remember The Milk - First To-Do List App To Feature Push

2009-06-29T04:21:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 28th, 2009, 5.44 am

Apple is still slowly approving push-capable apps and app updates after the huge pre-iPhone OS 3.0 backlog, which has allowed Remember The Milk to race to the front of the pack to become the fist to-do list app to feature push notifications.

Remember The Milk is a popular free online task managing service. The service allows you to keep track of your appointments and to-do items, and it can even remind you of all of this via email, SMS, and IM. The free Remember The Milk iPhone app allows you to do all of this while on-the-go, and thanks to recent 1.1 update you will now be able to receive reminders via push notifications.

If getting all of this for free seems a little too good to be true, that’s because it kind of is. Remember The Milk is free to use online, but to utilize the iPhone app you must have a Pro account. A Remember The Milk Pro account is $25 per year, so this free app isn’t exactly free.

Even though Remember The Milk isn’t actually free, it is the first push-capable task managing and to-do list app and that’s worth something. You can check out this app and many other push-capable apps in our Apps That Push You AppList.

Blackjack Live Features Four Player Multiplayer Action Via Bluetooth

2009-06-29T04:11:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 28th, 2009, 6.29 am

Playing blackjack with your buddies just got a little easier thanks to Blackjack Live. Blackjack Live allows you to play blackjack on your iPhone right alongside your friends, so now you won’t have to physically deal or shuffle any cards, effectively freeing up your all-important beverage hand.

Blackjack Live is the first iPhone blackjack game to feature four player multiplayer via Bluetooth. The game allows to be the dealer by hosting your own game or you can join an existing game to relinquish the role. As the dealer you will be holding your iPhone just like a normal deck of cards and you can swipe your finger across the screen to deal out cards to each player. You are able to see each card as it is being dealt to other players’ iPhones. The game also features a solo mode for you to work on your blackjack skills.

Like all other peer-to-peer apps, Blackjack Live’s multiplayer over Bluetooth will only work on the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the second generation iPod touch.

Blackjack Live is available in the App Store for $.99.

Embedded below is a video demonstration of the multiplayer portion of Blackjack Live.

WordFu And Dr. Awesome On Sale To Celebrate Release Of Rolando 2

2009-06-29T03:46:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tyler Tschida on: June 28th, 2009, 7.15 am

Rolando 2 will be rolling into the App Store on July 1, and to celebrate the release of this highly anticipated platformer, ngmoco is having a $.99 sale on both WordFu and Dr. Awesome. That’s a ton of good news in one sentence.

Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid will feature dozens of new levels, four unique worlds, physics-based puzzles, and a whole bunch of new enemies along with a new 2.5D look that will really set it apart from the original Rolando.

There is some bad news to go along with all of this good news, however. According to TouchArcade, ngmoco has stated that they will be “making room” for Rolando 2 by removing the original Rolando and Rolando Lite from the App Store on July 1. ngmoco hasn’t stated the reason for doing this, but apparently this isn’t the first time they have done such a thing. The original Topple is also gone from the App Store, which was probably ngmoco’s way of “making room” for Topple 2.

We are unaware if all of these removals will be temporary or if they are permanent, but we will just assume the latter at this point. We will inform all of you if and when we find out more about this sudden removal.

Leave a Response

iPhone Wallpapers

2009-06-01T06:49:00.001-07:00

Simply click on a wallpaper, then right-click and save the image to your computer or iPhone. Here are the top 5 downlaoded free iPhone Wallpapers:

Prison Break iPhone Wallpaper

Lamborghini iPhone Wallpaper

Hulu App for the iPhone is near…

2009-06-01T06:47:00.001-07:00

I guess I should start off with explaining what Hulu is for those of you living under a rock. Hulu is a legal online source for television shows. You can watch full length episodes of the Thee Office, Family Guy, Fring, Saturday Night Live… and much more. The only downside with Hulu is that it is currently only available for people located in the United States… This means that Canadians are out of luck for the time being.

The Hulu app which is apparently in the works would allow iPhone users to have TV shows streamed to their iPhone or iPod Touch over WiFi, as well as over the 3G wireless network for iPhone users. I would guess that this app is still a few months away. It was orginally rumored to come out last year but that never happened and the prospect of the app was completely denied by Hulu. This time around the idea of a Hulu App ist far more realistic, with the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 software update, which lets developers embed streaming media into their applications. For Hulu, this means that the advertising could be stuck into the mobile stream and that users would be able to watch videos without leaving the application.

Diagram of the life of an iPhone App Store reviewer

2009-06-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

Now this we can appreciate! Looking at this, if you’re familiar with the seemingly random app rejections that were (and sometimes are still) happening, you’ll get a really good laugh out of it.

This writer especially appreciates the “sounds of flatulence” reference, and the “we feel threatened by it” bubble as well. We remain convinced that’s why the NiN app was rejected

the first time.

Based on recent rumors, Apple is looking to shore up their app review process soon, but for now, it almost remains a crap shoot at times whether an app will be approved or not.

This image was taken from here: http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1151.html
They do various comics based on aspects of tech culture, and some of them are pretty funny.

Austin GDC iPhone Games Summit accepting submissions

2009-06-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

The 2009 GDC Austin’s iPhone Games Summit has been announced and is now accepting submissions, following a similar call for the Indie Games Summit earlier this week.

Here’s the blurb from the organizers:
“The inaugural iPhone Games Summit (September 15-16) at the 2009 GDC Austin will bring together top game developers from around the world to share ideas, best practices and discuss the future of this revolutionary platform. A full two-day program will highlight the best of iPhone development, with an entire first day discussing the business, marketing, and key design tenets behind successful iPhone game

development. The second day will provide overviews and deep dives into technical aspects of developing on iPhone, from app optimization and touch interface lessons through iPhone OS 3.0 features, Objective-C tips, and much more.”

The speakers for the summit include local Austin-area iPhone developer Brian Greenstone, founder and president of Enigmo creator Pangea Software, as well as Snappy Touch’s Noel Llopis, a Game Developer magazine columnist and creator of notable iPhone app Flower Garden.

It’s an important event for the future of the iPhone for several reasons, but a whole event dedicated to iPhone gaming? Simply amazing.

Diagram of the life of an iPhone App Store reviewer

2009-06-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam now has an interactive city guide with 3D available for the iPhone and iPod Touch: the Amsterdam 3D Guide.

This is the first three-dimensional panorama travel guide app in the world, specially developed for the iPhone. Users of the Apple iPhone don’t have to use their old guidebooks for the Dutch capital anymore with the Amsterdam 3D Guide.

The Amsterdam 3D Guide is available now. iPhone users can download this brand new interactive 3D application via the app store. The application, which is made specifically for the very popular iPhone, is the first 3D city guide application ever created. It was completed within

nine months by the people who made www.eatdrinketc.com and it contains the latest information about Amsterdam’s restaurants, cafes, bars, coffee shops, hotels, museums and more.

This is how it works: locate yourself with GPS or select a preset location. Select restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc. Listings show the nearest places within the preset distance from your location. View a photo, review and details of each place, and even peek inside in 3D.

This could open up a huge market with detailed guides of other cities around the globe. The app is in the App Store now and will run you $5.50 USD or so.

New Chinese blog photos claim to show new iPhone’s camera and compass

2009-06-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

A Chinese blog has blurry photos that appear to show an iPhone — possibly the next-generation model — using autofocusing with its camera, movie recording and the digital compass.

The series of images from UMPCFever make side-by-side comparisons between an older iPhone and the device running the new firmware, which is claimed to be a new iPhone brought over from the US and deliberately shot with blurry detail to avoid confirming details of the physical design. The claim is suspected of being at least partly true as many of the shown features would simply refuse to run on an iPhone 3G, even with iPhone 3.0 firmware installed.

Autofocusing is the most obvious difference and works simply: as with many touchscreen cameras and

camera-equipped phones, it’s only necessary to tap a particular point of the screen to focus the camera on whatever object is in that point; an aiming rectangle helps confirm where the focus rests. The mode appears to work in both photo and video capture and has a very visible effect on certain shots, bringing text into focus that would otherwise have been blurry with today’s fixed-focused model.

Such a feature is expected not only to prove useful for better photos but to enable barcode scanners and other image recognition apps. These usually wouldn’t work with current iPhones as fine details are often unreadable.

Several blogs are now saying this appears to be legitimate. Here’s the site and photos (translated with Google): http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.umpcfever.com%2Fnews%2F%3Fpostid%3D2514&sl=auto&tl=en&history_state0=

New iPhone video download training program released; confirms rumor

2009-06-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

The iPhone 3.0 operating system release will include new support for direct downloads of movie and TV content from the iTunes Store, according to people familiar with Apple’s internal training materials.

Last week, a Salon blogger covered initial reports of a new iTunes Store interface for downloading movies and TV directly on the iPhone, including support for movie rentals.

Beta testers of iPhone 3.0 can already access the new interface from a special URL.

The new interface is mostly functional, although featured content blocks were marked with F.P.O (for positioning only) placeholder art and all attempts to download any video content return the error

“the item you’ve requested is not available.”

Now however, several sources have learned from people familiar with Apple’s training program that new self-guided training materials being distributed to familiarize AppleCare agents with the features of iPhone 3.0 software “definitely covered” the ability to directly download movies and TV shows on the device itself, rather than just syncing video content through iTunes.

Those people noted that the advanced training was unique, saying that “Apple never puts out product training this far ahead of a product launch.” This training material is roughly 6 weeks early, they said, having arrived in the form of a single training module on Tuesday.

iPhone used by Japanese school to keep track of students and their attendance

2009-06-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

If American school children have to resort to some special mosquito ringtone to use cell phones at school, a university in Japan is doing the opposite: giving cell phones to students. And not just any cell phone–the iPhone 3G.

According to Asiajin, about 550 students and staff members in the School of Social Informatics at Tokyo-based university Aoyama Gakuin received the iPhone 3G for free earlier this month as part of their study materials.

This is the result of a deal that Aoyama Gakuin signed with SoftBank, the exclusive vendor of the iPhone in Japan. The number of students using the iPhone is expected

to reach about 1,000. This is the first time a particular cell phone has been used on such a huge scale at a Japanese university.

The gadget will work as a study tool for students, but as it also comes with GPS, which the university plans to use to check student attendance. Truancy is a big problem in Japan, where regular attendance is an important factor in determining a student’s grade. Students often fake attendance by getting classmates to answer roll calls.

Several schools are now featuring the iPhone around the world in prominent and important roles, from studying to note taking to (now) attendance.

New Chinese blog photos claim to show new iPhone’s camera and compass

2009-06-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

A Chinese blog has blurry photos that appear to show an iPhone — possibly the next-generation model — using autofocusing with its camera, movie recording and the digital compass.

Autofocusing is the most obvious difference and works simply: as with many touchscreen cameras and

to reach about 1,000. This is the first time a particular cell phone has been used on such a huge scale at a Japanese university.

Several schools are now featuring the iPhone around the world in prominent and important roles, from studying to note taking to (now) attendance.

Barack is Getting a BlackBerry

2009-06-01T06:22:00.000-07:00

I just read that Barack Obama will be getting a customized ultra-secure BlackBerry 8830. The NSA is currently ensuring that its encryption software is up to code (no pun intended). It could take a few months before he actually gets it, but it looks like he will be using it for email, text and phone with other people who have special secure software loaded on their devices. The list of people who would have this software includes Michelle Obama and top white house aides. Obama has been known to use an older model BlackBerry as well as a special NSA handheld known as the Sectera Edge from General Dynamics Corp. The use of his current blackberry device requires it to be connected to the Sectera Edge, making for one big and ugly phone. The new blackberry 8830 will be easier to use, less bulky, and secure. I always pictured Barack as more of an Apple guy; oh well…

AT&T Says iPhone 3G Data Use Increase Less Than Expected

2009-04-22T06:34:00.001-07:00

He didn’t go into details on why they think the increase wasn’t as much as they were expecting, but there is suspicion that the connection issues causing some iPhones to drop calls or revert suddenly to EDGE data were possibly attempts to discourage the use of their data network.

Still, they claim that the iPhone 3G’s data use on average is high compared to other phones, and that high concentrations of iPhone 3G’s in some areas have pushed the company to upgrade their cell towers and behind-the-scenes infrastructure.

He also denied that they oversold iPhone 3Gs for it’s network, saying instead that they have taken their own steps to prepare for the anticipated demand.

They also noted that they don’t plan to introduce the futuristic Long Term Evolution (aka 4G) format to their network until 2010, and plan to let other companies adopt it earlier.

Hacker to break iPhone’s security via live webcast

2009-04-22T06:32:00.000-07:00

So how will he do it? The crafty hacker will use a custom firmware bundle to bypass the iPhone’s passcode lock and gain access to all the phone’s secrets. But the hackerific presentation isn’t meant for thieves and vagabonds. Rather, it’s intended for “law enforcement and anyone else who has a need to access the not-so-readily available data on an iPhone.”

This all shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering this is the same guy that programmed the NES.app and was one of the many responsible for cracking the iPhone for the first time. And though news of the recent iPhone security flaw where you could bypass the passcode lock just by double-clicking the home button makes it all seem rather simple, we’re assuming this hack is a bit more sophisticated. It probably assumes that simple flaw doesn’t exist.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/hacker-to-break-iphones-security-via-live-webcast-094667.php

Misspelling is faster on the iPhone

2009-04-22T06:31:00.001-07:00

I’m not sure that I quite agree with this in the wider scheme of things, but these examples are hard to argue with — apparently it’s easier and faster to just misspell words on your iPhone than to take the time to type them out in full. “We’re,” for example, is usually six hits on the iPhone’s keyboard — four for the letters, and one to shift to punctuation and another to punch in the apostrophe. But if you type “Weree,” just five hits, Apple’s little corrector will fix it for you, and you can keep on writing.

Normally, the little corrections made by the iPhone are more frustrating than anything else, but in this case, it could be a benefit — as long as you remember to misspell all the words with apostrophes while typing. Hopefully, any habits incurred while trying to save time on the iPhone won’t translate into anything else you happen to write — weree not responsible for any mistakes that might get made.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/08/misspelling-is-faster-on-the-iphone/

Google Exec Praises iPhone For Its Effect On Cloud-Computing

2009-04-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

espite Android, their highly anticipated upcoming mobile computing platform, Google executives have been consistently praising the iPhone for its innovative qualities. Matthew Glotzbach recently added himself to the list of iPhone-lovers to come from the company. This time it was for it’s impact on cloud computing.

“I’m a huge Apple fan, I’m a huge iPhone fan. It’s really opened up computing in the mobile world,” Glotzbach said. He mentioned his ability to do things like access email and documents, and even flip through a presentation he was set to give days later.

There are currently 500,000 businesses that use Google Apps, which includes their cloud-based business applications, and 3,000 more sign up every day. Could-based information and applications offer speed, security, and stability, and most of all, portability. “Obviously, the browser today is the gateway to the cloud,” Glotzbach said.

The constant public admiration of the iPhone from Google seems particularly unusual given that Google is preparing Android, their own mobile computing technology, which many believed would be in direct competition with the iPhone and iPhone 3G.

via http://www.iphonealley.com/news/google-exec-praises-iphone-for-its-effect-on-cloud-computing

Too Many iPhone Apps Cause iPhone Reboot

2009-04-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

Recently, TUAW has received numerous tips about near random iPhone boot loops that force users to restore their units. This forum thread suggests that these reboots may be due to the iPhone’s onboard watchdog system.

The iPhone has to create a new Application Map whenever you load or unload apps to the system. Should the time to create that map exceed two minutes, the phone enters an endless boot cycle.

The solution proposed on the thread isn’t of much general use — it requires jailbroken shell access. You may want to limit the number and scope of Apps you load to your phone (i.e. cut down on those tip calculators and sudoku apps that we know you’re secretly addicted to) to achieve the same, stable results.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/05/iphone-users-reporting-reboots-due-to-high-app-count/

Fewer apps mean a shorter time to generate that map and a better likelihood that your phone will work with greater reliability.

Google Android (HTC Dream) vs Apple iPhone 3G -A Comparision

2009-04-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

ld most probably be an iPhone 3G killer. In this article we try to pit Android based phones (the Dream, as of yet) against the Apple iPhone 3G.

As the HTC Dream’s hardware specs are not yet clear, we will mostly concentrate on the software and operating system front. Also, the hardware comparision between the Android based phones and the iPhone 3G isn’t fair at all as there will be many Android phones coming out in the next year from most of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, each with a wide range of hardware components so the iPhone 3G probably doesn’t even stand much of a chance on the hardware front. Still, for the sake of fairness, we try to pit the iPhone 3G against the HTC Dream when it comes to hardware.

Design:
When it comes to design, the iPhone 3G wins hands down against the HTC Dream. The leaked images of the HTC Dream reveal a kiddish design, with rounded edges and a hideous sliding QWERTY keypad implementation. HTC’s design team could certainly have done a much better job with the first Android phone. The Dream has evoked very similar reactions from across the internet. The build quality does seem to be decent though. Also a bigger display size would have helped it a lot. Also, the iPhone excels when it comes to hardware components, except for some drawbacks like the camera, but overall it is superb. What it lags in are the software restrictions. We would surely hand this one to the iPhone 3G.
Winner: iPhone 3G

Hardware:
Considering the specs of the Dream, it seems to have superb hardware, very much in the league of the iPhone - Capacitive Touchscreen, 528 MHZ Qualcomm CPU, 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM and probably some accelerometers and sensors thrown in. What adds to it’s appeal, is that the Dream will have a full fledged QWERTY keypad which is much more suited to text input than the iPhone’s touchscreen input. It should also probably have a 3.2 MP camera with erm.. video recording support. It should also support A2DP profile with Bluetooth. Having said all this, we would like to point out that the iPhone has superb hardware, no doubt. But the Dream supposedly gives us what the iPhone doesn’t - a QWERTY keypad, better cam, A2DP and much more.
This one, we feel, should go to the HTC Dream.
Winner: HTC Dream (Android)

OS and Interface:
The iPhone 3G has the best interface yet, when it comes to smartphones. It’s new MultiTouch interface completely revolutionized the way people look at touchscreen phones. It has superb animations and menu transitions that were unheard of in smartphones. However, looking at the several Android demos and videos online as well as studying the SDK Emulator closely, we can say that Android too excels in the interface department. It has various 3D effects and animations all strewn across it’s menu and settings. It closely matches the iPhone in this aspect, if it doesn’t actually surpass it.
Also, when it comes to the core Operating system, Android is way ahead of the iPhone OS X in terms of features and capabilities. Almost every setting is configurable and you can actually tweak and alter the internals of the operating system to your liking. This is very much a better option to the ‘closed’-ness of the iPhone 3G.
Winner: HTC Dream (Android)

Application Support:
The Android powered HTC Dream seems to be the clear winner in this aspect. It will have much better software support and availability than the iPhone thanks to its open nature. It will also have the much needed multi-tasking support which is missing in the iPhone. In direct competition to the hugely popular Appstore, the only means to get applications and games for the iPhone, Google has announced the Android Market for application distribution which functions quite similarly to the Appstore.
As Android is expected to be backed by many open source loyalists and developers, it will have better support communities and forums. This should prove to be a major boost to the whole software development and distribution process of Android. On the other hand, Apple is, in a way, restricting application development for the iPhone by screening the applications and approving only some of them by some shady criteria. Also, comparing the SDK’s of both Android and the iPhone, we feel that Android’s SDK is much better than the iPhone’s. Creating applications for Android is much easier as it uses a custom language very similar to Java, syntactically and conceptually. One more point for Android.
Winner: HTC Dream (Android)

Multimedia Capabilities:
In the multimedia wars, it should be a tough fight, with the Dream having a slight edge over the iPhone. We can safely assume that Apple would definitely take the crown easily from the HTC Dream in the sound quality department, it is an iPod after all. In the video department, both should perform almost similarly, with the iPhone 3G gaining slightly again, anyone can vouch for it’s video playback quality. Also, we would like to assume that the iPhone 3G should have a better display than the Dream. However, the Dream would definitely support a wider range of formats and codecs, and also offer a wider choice of audio and video players, while the iPhone is and will be restricted to it’s native formats and default audio and video players. This should level the playing field for both the giants.
Also, considering the larger picture, Android as a whole will definitely win this war, as it will also have multimedia centric phones being rolled out, but we give this one to the iPhone 3G for the sake of fairness.
Winner: iPhone 3G

Other Features:
The HTC Dream should give us most of the features that the iPhone 3G misses out on. As mentioned before, a QWERTY keypad, Bluetooth with A2DP and file sending support, a better cam with video recording and hopefully AF and Flash, multitasking capabilities and better internet capabilities. Agreed that the iPhone’s Safari is the best mobile web browser yet, but Android’s browser based on Webkit seems to be equally capable as well. It may even surpass Safari in some aspects, judging by the browser’s performance in the SDK emulator. It does support Java and should include support Flash as well by the time it comes out. Android will also support a version of Opera Mobile.
It will definitely support setting MP3 files as ringtones, and has much better graphic capabilities, both software and hardware. Also, we do hope that the Android won’t have any of the infamous bugs the iPhone 3G has - faulty chips, mediocre reception and security threats due to buggy software.

Adding to these reasons, Android will run on many phones, ranging from the cheap to the wildly inexpensive and cover a wide range of hardware. It will have built in support for most Google products - Gmail, Orkut, GTalk etc. By observing the positive response at the launch of Google’s Chrome, we can definitely say that this feature will be very well received.

Winner: HTC Dream (Android)

Overall Winner: HTC Dream - Android

Digg it:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/HTC_Dream_Android_vs_iPhone_3G_A_Detailed_Comparision

Conclusion: As shown above, the HTC Dream (Android) beats the iPhone 3G, 4-2. Many of the points mentioned above may seem to be biased, especially to iPhone fanatics. Please note that it isn’t possible to make a clear and unbiased decision yet as the HTC Dream isn’t out yet. We will surely make changes to the article when the Dream is out and also post a more detailed comparision. Leave a comment if you like this article or otherwise.

via http://androidgeek.blogspot.com/2008/09/google-android-htc-dream-vs-apple_9364.html

02 launch the first pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G

2009-04-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

A pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G will be launched later this month, allowing customers to use the device without subscribing to a long-term contract for the first time.

The prepay handset will be available from September 16, priced at an eye-watering £349.99 for the 8 gigabyte version and £399.99 for 16 gigabytes.

Although the initial outlay is steep, analysts say it will appeal to customers who want to stay in control of their spending, and those who make few phone calls.

They have also predicted that it will top the Christmas best-seller lists as teenagers clamour to have the latest technology now they, or their parents, are not required to sign-up to a contract.

It will also suit those who are reluctant to lock themselves into an expensive 18-month deal when the economic future is so uncertain.

Ben Wood, head of research at technology analysts CCS Insight, said: “This is huge. I think we’ll see people queuing up outside the stores for it. People are increasingly nervous about locking themselves into long term commitments especially in the light of the current economic downturn.

“The iPhone’s long contract length and expensive monthly contract charges have deterred a vast swathe of UK subscribers from buying one - that has all changed now.”

The phone deal, which will be available from Apple, 02 and Carphone Warehouse outlets, includes unlimited web-browsing and Wi-Fi for the first year.

After that customers will pay £10 a month.

O2 has exclusive rights to the Apple handset, and the pay-as-you-go version is available on any of its prepaid tariffs, from £10 top-up a month.

This year Apple allowed O2 to offer the iPhone free on contract for the first time.

However, the lowest price is £45 a month over 18 months for the 8 gigabyte handset - equivalent to £810 or alternatively £75 a month for the 16 gigabyte model, setting consumers back £1,350.

via http://www.telegraph.co.uk/digitallife/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/09/02/dliphone102.xml

Rumor:iPhone price may fall 15%

2009-04-22T06:16:00.002-07:00

* iPhone is here, but others are gearing up too

Apple may drop iPhone’s price by at least Rs 5,000, says Anshul Gupta, principal analyst with Gartner. “At current prices, we expect iPhone to sell primarily among those who cannot wait for Apple or the operators to cut prices,” he said. “It will be a volumes game then for the operators to clear out their stocks before Apple announces a new version of iPhone.”

* Apple iPhone: Beyond the hype

The 3G, or third generation, iPhone sells for more than triple its US price tag in India. The eight-gigabyte model of the phone, which includes a built-in iPod and a desktop-class web browser, sells for Rs 31,000, while the 16GB version goes for Rs 36,100. Amid the confetti and cheerleaders at its launch on August 22, the price was perceived to be a discordant note.There are an estimated 30,000 users of iPhone (first generation devices) in India, and the operators are hoping to get past this number with iPhone 3G. However, the price tag has limited Apple to an extremely small portion of the 260 million mobile subscribers in India. Airtel and Vodafone can between them theoretically carry iPhone to almost 105.2 million subscribers. However, iPhone falls in the smart phone category, whose market is estimated at 10 million by 2010.Meanwhile, the grey market (for both the first generation and 3G iPhone), has turned bleak. “Earlier in July, I had delivered 15 iPhone 2G handsets (priced at Rs 22,000) to my customers from all over Maharashtra and in August I had bookings for almost 20 iPhone 3G of which 10 customers have already cancelled their bookings,” said a dealer in Mumbai’s Heera Panna market. The customers, he says, are looking to buy from Airtel and Vodafone since the grey market price is only slightly lower.Analysts feel that both the operators are hoping to strike a stronger relation with their customers, by offering exclusive data plans. The industry’s average revenue per user has been on a decline each quarter. “As service providers penetrate deeper into the country, getting new customers who don’t spend more than $8-10 a month on their phone bills, they will rely on devices like iPhone to cushion their ARPUs in the urban areas,” says Girish Trivedi, deputy director (ICT Practice), Frost & Sullivan.

via http://anim.mypressonline.com/wordpress/2008/09/01/iphone-price-may-fall-15/

Rumor: China Mobile To Subsidize Apple’s iPhone

2009-04-22T06:16:00.001-07:00

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL, 941.HK) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) have decided to rely upon handset subsidies to bring Apple’s iPhone to China, reports China Communications quoting an insider close to China Mobile. The would-be mobile partners are nearing the end of talks that aim to avoid passing on the relatively high price of iPhones to Chinese consumers by having Mobile subsidize the phones, said the insider. The new plan is intended to replace revenue sharing models that left earlier talks at a stalemate. China Mobile president Wang Jianzhou initially revealed iPhone negotiations in November, 2007.

via http://www.pacificepoch.com/newsstories?id=130848_0_5_0_M

Apple admits to security flaw, fix on the way

2009-04-22T06:15:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, it came out that the iPhone has a serious security flaw that makes it so someone can hack into your phone even if there’s a password activated. But now Apple is coming out and confirming the flaw and stating a fix is on the way.

We can expect a fix sometime in September, though Apple isn’t all that concerned with it, calling it “minor.” This is because you can easily hide the flaw by setting your home button to take you to your iPod instead of your favorites.

Maybe Apple is just overwhelmed with all the other fixes people are calling for? Even so, if you ask me, it’s a bit discourteous to customers to dismiss the flaw so eagerly. But that’s just my opinion.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/apple-admits-to-security-flaw-fix-on-the-way-284544.php

24K Gold 3G iPhone

2009-04-22T06:14:00.002-07:00

While not yet available, the gold dipped iPhones will be the first with 24K yellow gold housing and bezel. Funnily enough, the makers even hinted that this time around the phones were a bit harder to dip because of the bad quality of the plastic casing. But I guess anything would seem poor to people that dip everything in gold!

Last minute tests are being performed now for people that may want customizations such as engravings. If you want one, you’ll need to e-mail Computer Choppers to find out how much they’ll cost.
Usually, if the price isn’t listed and you need to know it, you can’t afford it. At least that’s why I won’t be getting a gold coated iPhone anytime soon.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/24k-gold-iphone-3g-for-the-luxury-crowd-274519.php

Verizon’s anti-iPhone document gets leaked

2009-04-22T06:14:00.001-07:00

A new document from Verizon Wireless has been leaked, and it focuses on offering tips for their employees so they will be better able to answer just why the new iPhone 3G is not as good as people think. Of course we have to keep in mind that although this document was “leaked” we have not had any official confirmation that is came from Verizon.

Personally, I am inclined to believe it, after all a good salesperson should know about the competition, especially when its an item such as the iPhone 3G that is getting a lot of coverage. Not to mention, if I remember correctly they have a similar document following the launch of the original iPhone.

Anyway, based on the anti-iPhone document there are four popular myth’s that they are looking to prove to be untrue, which are as follows;

* 3G iPhone is now trice as fast
* The new 3G iPhone is now half the price
* iPhone Data Plan Covers All Data
* 3G iPhone Data Plan include more data at affordable prices!

Basically these “myths” seem to be nothing more than a rehash of the same issues that many other iPhone users have already brought up already. Of course (and at the risk of sounding a little fanboyish) it still does not change the fact that it is an iPhone. While I will be the first to admit the iPhone and the iPhone 3G are far from perfect, they do offer a nice user experience, and at least for my primary uses, email, text and web they have been great.

User Suing Apple Because of False Advertising

2009-04-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

knew it would happen eventually. It’s a lawsuit-filled world out there. Someone’s got to do it.

Some users have been experiencing some problems with the 3G on their iPhone 3G, and one new owner has decided to try to get her money’s worth.

A women in Alabama by the name of Jessica Alena Smith has filed a lawsuit against Apple for selling her a device that didn’t meet all the hype in the advertisements.

Smith purchased the device in response to Apple’s very convincing advertising. “One could barely turn on the television without hearing that the new iPhone 3G was ‘twice as fast for half the price,’” reads the complaint.

However, from day one her device’s data connection, e-mail, SMS, and other communications were slower than she had expected them to be.

Of course, she’s far from alone in her frustration, so many users are probably cheering her on. That is also why she asked for a class-action case.

Do you think she’ll be successful?

via http://www.iphonematters.com/article/user_suing_apple_because_of_false_advertising_234/

Two iPhone Control Pads?

2009-04-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

It seems gaming on the iPhone is about to get a whole lot more intuitive and a lot more versatile. At least that’s what those over at TouchArcade are saying. They’ve found evidence of two new iPhone control pads that could make it possible to use traditional gaming functions on your iPhoneThe iControl pad, pictured above, has four face buttons, Start/Select, a D pad and a light-up LED. this is just a prototype, but it’s definitely better than what we’ve got so far.

Another design is pictured below and it resembles a patent application. Even so, it seems to provide a bit more functionality and could be intended for games that require more precision in their controls. for instance, there is an analog stick in place of a D pad and Start/Select buttons. When the accelerometer isn’t enough for maneuvering in a game, this should do the trick.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/two-iphone-control-pads-on-the-way-254480.php

“Holographic” Application For 3G iPhone

2009-04-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

iHologram, which was created by David O’Reilly, works like this:

The application works by assuming a constant viewing angle (35-45 degrees), typical for when the device is placed on a tabletop. The 3d scene’s perspective is warped using anamorphosis, the same technique used in Hans Holbein’s painting The Ambassadors. This application does the exact same but updates dynamically.

I have no idea what this app is for, but it’s pretty darn cool, nonetheless.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/holographic-app-coming-soon-224454.php

Apple’s iPhone 2.0.2 software update didn’t fix much

2009-04-20T04:23:00.000-07:00

We’ve had very few problems with my iPhone 2.0 and subsequent 2.01 releases. But the Internet has been abuzz lately with people who are having lots of problems with the iPhone 2 software, especially overseas. Apple’s iPhone 2.0.2 update was supposed to help alleviate these problems….it didn’t. For me, it has caused more.

In fact, I am finding 2.0.2 to be the buggiest version of the iPhone software yet, including the 1.x versions. I’ve had to blow away my iPhone 3 times now - a few times because one of my 3rd party apps, which is over 100 megs, gets stuck in the middle of the update process. Another because it would just go at a snail’s pace even after a hard reset. It is still slow and clumsy.

via http://feeds.computerworld.com/~r/Computerworld/blog/121/~3/370051154/apples_iphone_2_0_2_software_update_didnt_fix_much

Steve Jobs has written a few users who are concerned about the stability of the software, saying that September’s 2.1 update should alleviate many of the problems. He even said that 2% of the iPhones had bad firmware that would be updated. Apple seems to have even pulled some planned upcoming features in the name of stability.

So I am waiting with a slow and buggy 2.0.2 iPhone 3G. Apple, bring on 2.1, my iPhone is waiting!

iPhone 3G reception issues said to only be affecting 2% of iPhones

2009-04-20T04:22:00.000-07:00

We have seen the recent reports that a software update will be coming soon to correct any of the reception issues that users are having with the iPhone 3G, but so far nothing official has come from Apple to confirm that.

This latest piece of the story is reported to have come from Apple, of course at this point I would consider it nothing more than an rumor, but it does at least fit with the previous reports.

At least one user claims to have received an email from Steve Jobs (more than likely someone on his behalf) claiming that they “hope to have a software update soon.” In addition it was also mentioned that the reception issues are affecting “around 2% of the iPhones shipped.”

Personally (knock on wood) I have not had any issues yet, but either way we can only hope that this email is indeed accurate, even with just 2% being affected that is a lot of people dealing with this issue. Certainly not what you want when you spent a few hundred bucks for the phone and tied yourself into a contract.

iPhone Firmware 2.0.2 Came Out

2009-04-20T04:21:00.002-07:00

A new iPhone software update just hit iTunes. Version 2.0.2 is described as a bug fix release with little additional information. As usual, a version can be downloaded directly from Apple’s servers or through iTunes. And, as always, this update will de-pwn your iPhone, should you have previously pwned it for command-line shell access and third-party Cydia applications.

How to restore your homescreen icons

2009-04-20T04:21:00.001-07:00

Rearranging the icons on the home screen of your iPhone is a part of the customization fun that Apple built in. However, if you rearranged your icons and want them back to factory specifications, it is as easy as a simple tap. Just navigate to Settings > General > Reset. Once there, select the “Reset Home Screen Layout” button. A dialog will pop-up asking for a confirmation.

Once you return to the home screen, you will notice that all the icons are placed just like they were when you first turned on your iPhone! Third-party applications’ icons will follow the default applications.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/08/17/iphone-101-restore-your-homescreen-icons/

What Happens if You Break Your 3G iPhone

2009-04-20T04:18:00.000-07:00

ehPhone.ca reader Stephen F found himself in a similar situation, here is his story:

I lined up on July 10, 2008 to get my iPhone 3G. I joined the line (in 3rd place) at 10:30 PM. It was a wonderful experience to get to know the people in line, but it was even more exciting to get my hands on my first iPhone. To be honest, I hadn’t even seen a 1st gen iPhone in person until someone pulled theirs out in line.

The past month using my iPhone has been amazing. It truly is a revolutionary device, and while the firmware is still a little glitchy, the iPhone absolutely changed the way I use a phone, and the way I use a computer! I was checking my email more often on my iPhone than I was on my computer…and I much preferred the iPhone Facebook app’s interface to the web interface.

However, my relationship with this particular iPhone ended last night. I had been up at a friend’s cottage the night before, and had been unable to find my iPhone during the day yesterday. Assuming I had left it at the cottage, I drove up late last night. I searched the cottage high and low, unable to find my phone.

Giving up looking shortly after midnight, I began driving home. When I stopped the car to close the gate to the lane which leads to the cottage, my worst nightmare came true. I saw my phone case on the ground. My iPhone was still inside it. When I removed the iPhone from the case, I could immediately tell it had been run over by a car.

I was devastated. I drove home immediately and went to bed.

This morning, I surveyed the damage. The phone was protected by a phone sock and a front and back BSE skin. The screen is cracked, but not shattered, and one side of the phone/chrome bezel is slightly bent/warped. It looks like the 3M skin material snapped spontaneously in a few places, but for the most part the phone is free of scuffs. I haven’t plugged it in to see if it still works yet, but I’m not particularly hopeful.

On a more intriguing note, I thought you might be interested to know that it is a white iPhone, and that even after being run over by a car (perhaps multiple times), the white casing is not cracked!

I’m fairly convinced at this point that the cracked plastic many have been reporting is limited to a production run (or perhaps several). I’m pretty impressed that the plastic isn’t cracked after being run over by a car.

What is the accidental damage replacement policy of Fido/Rogers? I know Apple had an accidental replacement policy for the first iPhone; have they continued this policy with the iPhone 3G?

Here are some photos of the unfortunate event:

Here’s an update on how the replacement process has gone thus far.

1. I called Fido. The customer service rep asked what had happened to my phone. I said the screen was cracked, and that it was most likely accidental damage, not covered under warranty. She indicated that she would have to speak to one of the technical support staff, as this was a new issue for her (I guess not too many people have broken their iPhones yet!). The customer service rep was very friendly and understanding, but unfortunately after spending 27 minutes speaking with CSR’s and on hold she indicated that for issues most likely not covered under warranty, Fido’s instructions are to have the customer contact Apple directly.

2. I called Apple. Hold time under 10 minutes. The representative was extremely nice and understanding, explaining that he loses his iPhone all the time, he’s just lucky enough for it still to be in one piece when he finds it. Surprisingly, he also asked whether I was calling about a 1st gen or 3G iPhone! He had me put the iPhone into restore mode by holding the home button while plugging in the USB cable to test if the internal components would be recognized in iTunes. No such luck. After a few tries, he indicated that it most likely was moisture damage, as opposed to the impact, that had disabled the phone. Either way, the damage would unfortunately not be covered under warranty.

3. However, all was not lost. He explained that Apple has a support plan in place to service iPhones that have expired warranties , or have been accidentally damaged and are not covered under warranty. He explained that the price to replace my iPhone would be $329 (for the 16GB model, $229 for the 8GB), and that I could make credit card payment right away, over the phone. He explained that they also have an advance replacement warranty option which costs $29, in which case they would ship me a new iPhone and a shipping box to return my old one in.

Here’s a link to the support article:

2009-04-20T04:17:00.002-07:00

http://www.apple.com/ca/support/iphone/service/faq/#warranty6

Suffice it to say that I was very pleased. Fido had mentioned that the cost of the 16GB iPhone (full retail price)was $730. Having Apple offer me a new phone for less than half of that price was very welcome
news.

Here’s some more pics:

—

If you are in a similar situation, let us know how things went for you. It’s nice to know Apple is looking out for us. They even gave me a free replacement when I had the cracking “>

Apple Will Fix Reception Issue of 3G iphone

2009-04-20T04:17:00.001-07:00

Users have been reporting unusually bad reception and an abundance of dropped calls on their iPhone 3Gs, leading one analyst to suggest that the Infineon chipset may be defective. Now a source of BusinessWeek corroborates the story, saying that Apple is aware of the situation and that the problem is in fact related to the chipset.

According to this source, Apple is planning to fix the issue in existing phones through a software update rather than something more disruptive like a product recall. It is said that software residing on the chip that lets it function is creating a problem, which they will fix in the update.

Another source says that Infineon’s technology is still too new and hasn’t been properly tested in high volumes.

Apple Sold 95 iPhones Per Store Every Day

2009-04-20T04:15:00.000-07:00

Piper Jaffray spent 25 hours observing sales at Apple stores around the US, and has concluded in a research note posted today that each store sells around 95 iPhone 3Gs every day. Based on this information, they estimate that sales of the device are set to increase forufold during their fiscal fourth quarter.

“Our 25 hours of counting iPhone sales in Apple retail stores throughout the country lead us to believe Apple is on pace to beat our previous estimate of 4.1 million iPhones for the September quarter,” analyst Gene Munster advised in the note.

From this information, he has changed his sales estimate for the fourth quarter to 4.47.

“We believe Apple will sell 1.78 million units at its U.S. retail stores, and 0.90 million phones at U.S. AT&T locations,” Munster wrote. “Our estimate assumes each of the 2,200 AT&T stores will sell an average of 5 phones per day from the July 11th launch through the end of the September quarter.”

However, it should be noted that they may shift their projections downward over time, as over the two-week span that the checks were made, sales began to slow down over the second week.

“We believe that our revision may be conservative and that Apple will meet our estimates,” he wrote. “The August 22nd launch in additional countries should provide another catalyst to sales.

via http://www.iphonealley.com/news/apple-selling-95-iphones-per-store-every-day?s=73db1872ec33dc45ca4ef0143b1eadc2

E Reader For 3G iPhone

2009-04-20T04:14:00.000-07:00

For the moment, the only e-books you can download through Stanza are those in the public domain and Creative Commons texts from Feedbooks. Even so, many a classic is in the public domain, making for a rather literary experience while on the go.

And while this will probably never happen, it would seem to be rather easy to sync up the Stanza app with Amazon.com, allowing seamless e-book purchases and downloads. Amazon would sell a lot of e-books but they’d cut out their Kindle, which doesn’t seem like a plausible move on their part.

Rumor:The Price of iPhone 3G will be Raised

2009-04-20T04:13:00.000-07:00

There is already a hearing-impaired plan from AT&T for the iPhone, but now that the iPhone 3G has been released, the plan got a bit of an overhaul, at least in the price department.

Prior to the 3G, the plan cost $40 a month. It included unlimited SMS and data transfer, and visual voicemail though phone calls were $.40/minute.

For the 3G, the plan has merely been raised $10–just like all of the other iPhone 3G plans. Not too bad when you get down to it, but for some the $10 difference can mean a lot.

Speech Recognition Coming to the iPhone

2009-04-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

We can all expect another feature to hit the iPhone 3G soon–speech recognition.

Now as exciting as that sounds, don’t get too excited yet. This is not speech recognition in the normal sense of the term. No, you can’t say “Mom” and the iPhone will automatically dial your mother’s number. Not going to happen. And the reason why is AT&T is developing the feature to run as a web feature. So when you speak, the data is sent to a remote server, then comes back to perform an action on your handset.

The service, called Speech Mashups, is web-based, so iPhone first gen users will probably be out of luck if stuck with using the EDGE network.

And even though voice dialing won’t work with this brand of speech recognition, it will work for a few other nifty things. There’s a video online showing a man dictating a city and type of business in YellowPages and how Speech Mashups does all of the footwork for you. Pretty cool, but voice dialing would be even nicer!

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/speech-recognition-coming-to-the-iphone-233285.php

iRinger = Free, Full-Featured 3G iPhone Ringtone Maker (Windows Only)

2009-04-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

Just spotted this one via a post over at Gear Diary, and watched a video demo of this new iPhone ringtone making application called iRinger.

iRinger looks like a very good free option for ringtone creation - offering a very easy to use interface and a good, complete set of features - even down to letting you choose to export a newly created ringtone direct to iTunes or using SSH to directly transfer it to the iPhone.

This one is a Windows only application for now, so I’ve not given it a try as yet (too lazy just now to get iTunes setup on Fusion) - but it looks awfully good in the demo. Here’s some of the highlights of its feature list:

Three Steps: Import, Preview then Export. Done.
Convert virtually any audio format into an iPhone ringtone
Extracts audio out of video
Choose which section of the audio you want to hear
Adjust ringtone length, volume, fade in, fade out and loop gap
Export to iPhone ringtone format and import right into iTunes
Export to iPhone using SCP/SFTP and skip using iTunes
Use audio effects: Delay, Flanger, Boost, Reverse, etc.

For more on iRinger, see its home page, or check out the demo video HERE …

via http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/2008/07/20/iringer-free-full-featured-iphone-ringtone-maker/#more-4017

iPhone 3G costs $173 to build, giving Apple an estimated 55-percent profit margin

2009-04-20T04:09:00.000-07:00

some information regarding how much the new iPhone 3G really cost Apple. Based on their calculation, Apple seems to be making roughly fifty fuve percent profit margin. While iSuppli did not count into research and development cost, the number is quite interesting.

Stripping off the new iPhone 3G for component lists and price them individually, iSuppli determined that a 8GB iPhone 3G costs $173.33 to build. AT&T is rumored to be paying Apple $300 subsidy on each iPhone 3G sales, that put the iPhone 3G total prices to $499 for the 8GB version and translate to the fifty five percent margin stated above.

“iSuppli believes Apple aimed for a more cost-effective design for the 3G iPhone compared to the 2G, in order to lower the retail price - which will allow the company to seed adoption and to capture maximum market share now - while the company still has buzz and a perceived differentiation relative to its competitors.”

If this number hold any truth, Apple’s one million iPhone 3G sold during the weekend should put its quarterly earning higher than before.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/iphone-3g-costs-173-to-build-giving-apple-an-estimated-55-percent-profit-margin-163019.php

How To: Stop Backup During iPhone iTunes Sync on 2.0

2009-04-20T04:07:00.000-07:00

Here’s another very small iPhone tip, but one that may hopefully prove useful for some who are finding iPhone syncing under the new 2.0 software to be unbearably slow.

A big part of how slow the syncs are under 2.0 - at least in my experience so far - is the ‘Backup’ section of things. I believe one of the reasons for this is that when applications are backed up, it is not only the install files, it is all data associated with every app. In any case, the backups are taking an awful long time.

So if you want to skip the backup portion of the sync - and greatly reduce the overall length of the whole sync - just hit the little ‘x’ to the right of the top Progress Bar at the top of the iTunes window - next to where it is saying ‘Backing up iPhoneName’ - as shown in the screenshot above. This will only cancel backup; the rest of the sync will carry on.

Of course it’s not a great idea to cancel out of the backup every time (that’ll come back to bite you for sure), but if you know you’ve already got a recent one (or more) done and are in a hurry, this is a useful quick kill for the backup process.

via http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/2008/07/14/how-to-stop-backup-during-iphone-itunes-sync-on-20/

Worldwide iPhone 3G wireless plans compared

2009-04-20T04:04:00.001-07:00

With the worldwide debut of the iPhone around the corner, nearly all of Apple’s official carrier partners have announced voice/data plan (tariff) details. While much has been made of Rogers’ exorbitant plan pricing in Canada, would-be iPhone 3G users in several other countries are no better off.

We’ve culled information on pricing (including device subsidization), data transfer caps and included minutes for iPhone 3G carriers in France, India, Norway, Canada, Germany, England/United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and Portugal.

The following chart displays roughly comparable plans in a handful of iPhone 3G-carrying countries, with all prices converted to US dollars. A number of factors – variable subsidized device pricing, outside-plan minutes, data transfer caps and the like – make exact contrasts impossible, but it’s clear that some users are getting a relatively raw deal.

via http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/07/09/worldwide-iphone-3g-wireless-plans-compared/#more-785

Online calculator for your iPhone 3G AT&T plan

2009-04-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

There’s a good chance that by now you’ve figured out which plan you’re going to get for your shiny new iPhone 3G. However, if there is some doubt in your mind that you’re not going to get the right one, there is a handy little tool over at BillShrink.

It’s pretty simple and straightforward. Just put in how much you’re currently paying, then specify how many minutes, text and how much data you use. You can also put in your zip code to see how many bars to expect. Honestly, it doesn’t really tell you much more than you probably already knew, it just puts it in a nice neat format.

First iPhone 3G Reviews: Mossberg, Baig, and Pogue

2009-04-20T04:02:00.000-07:00

Walt Mossberg / AllThingsD

- “it mostly keeps its promises.”
- “more capable version of an already excellent device”
- Battery drained much more quickly using 3G
- Greatly improved audio, much louder speaker
- Data speeds 3-5x faster than original iPhone
- Better voice coverage with 3G. “At my neighborhood shopping center, where the first iPhone got little or no AT&T service, the iPhone 3G registered strong coverage.”

Edward Baig / USA Today

- “iPhone 3G: The Sequel, is worth the wait.”
- Still no recording video, no stereo bluetooth or voice dialing
- Supports PowerPoint attachments; mass move or delete multiple e-mail messages
- 10-30 seconds to load popular websites on 3G.
- GPS was very accurate
- Speaker sounded better for both speakerphone and music.
- “started receiving low battery warnings toward the end of a busy work day; I found myself charging the device overnight, the same as with the older iPhone.”

David Pogue / NYTimes

- Sound is much improved. “In fact, few cellphones sound this good.”
- Feels better in your hand due to the curved back
- “According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example.”
- No voice dialing, video recording, copy/paste, memory card slot, Bluetooth stereo, MMS
- “the really big deal is the iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store, neither of which requires buying a new iPhone.”

via http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/08/first-iphone-3g-reviews-mossberg-baig-and-pogue/

AT&T Customers: 4 Steps to Become Instantly Eligible for iPhone 3G

2009-04-20T04:01:00.000-07:00

Current AT&T customers who don’t have a first generation iPhone, or who aren’t eligible for an upgrade, will have to pay an extra $200 to purchase an iPhone 3G. Sad, but true.

However, if you follow these simple instructions (instead of waiting until upgrade time rolls around, or impatiently throwing down an extra $200 for an unsubsidized iPhone) then you will be able to get yourself an iPhone 3G also.

All you need is a little help from a friend who already has an iPhone.

1. Grab a friend who already has a first generation iPhone.
2. Remove the SIM card from your friend’s iPhone and replace it with the one from your own phone.
3. Plug the iPhone into a Mac or PC running a recent copy of iTunes. (iTunes will recognize that the iPhone is loaded with a different SIM and begin the activation process.)

Note: You’ll literally need to sign up for an iPhone plan at this point, sign a new two-year contract… etc

4. When you’re done, you can return your friend’s SIM to the iPhone and your SIM to your phone.

Simple, eh? Word of this has been spreading all over the internet. Steve Jobs may reach his goal after all.

via http://www.iphonematters.com/article/att_customers_4_steps_to_become_instantly_eligible_for_iphone_3g_234/

iPhone 3G Commercial Airing on U.S. Television

2009-04-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

Numerous readers have reported that Apple’s iPhone 3G commercial has begun appearing on a wide variety of U.S. television stations. The commercial, entitled Hallway, debuted during Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9th and was posted to Apple’s site soon after. However, the commercial has remained conspicuously absent from television broadcasts until now.

The iPhone 3G launches this Friday in approximately 20 countries, with an additional 50 countries scheduled to begin offering the new iPhone later this year

via http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/07/07/iphone-3g-commercial-airing-on-u-s-television/

Speed Test Sites for Your iPhone 3G

2009-04-20T03:56:00.000-07:00

If you’re planning to get yourself an iPhone 3G in just around five days, one of the first things you’ll probably be wanting to test out is just how fast your 3G speeds are. I know I’ll be keen to test this out early and often with the new iPhone.

There are bound to be tons of sites around for this testing, but here are a few I’ve noticed that look good:

http://testmyiphone.com - the one shown above left - nicely iPhone optimized page

http://iphonespeedtest.com - shown above right - also well optimized for the iPhone screen

http://i.dslr.net/tinyspeedtest.html - iPhone section of the well-known Dslreports site - not very nicely done for the iPhone (requires a lot of pinching and zooming) but a well-established testing resource.

Time of iPhone 3G Launch Remains Unclear

2009-04-20T03:55:00.000-07:00

Unconfirmed reports claim that the U.S. iPhone launch will take place starting at 8am, July 11th at AT&T stores nationwide. A screenshot posted to our forums claims to depict the actual email sent to AT&T managers. Even if you accept the letter as true, it’s not entirely certain that the 8am time was sanctioned by Apple. When the iPhone first launched in 2007, there were multiple reports of AT&T stores planning on opening first thing in the morning, only later to find out the actual launch time was 6pm.

Apple’s own retail stores have not yet been briefed on the exact launch time of the iPhone 3G, though it had been previously suggested that it would again happen at 6pm. Apple has confirmed that the iPhone 3G will launch on July 11th, 2008, but the exact time of day has not been announced.

Apple is expected to brief their retail stores on July 6th regarding both the iPhone 3G and MobileMe, so more details should be available after that time.

via http://www.macrumors.com/2008/06/25/time-of-iphone-3g-launch-remains-unclear/

The porn-friendliest phone - 3G iPhone

2009-04-20T03:52:00.000-07:00

A recent article by Time magazine gained popularity by talking about the newest in technology, aka the iPhone, and porn sites being integrated easier into Safari on the iPhone. Currently Pornography websites have been integrating downloadable files into there database making it easy to copy onto your iPhone and watch on the go.

“It’s by far the porn-friendliest phone,” says Devan Cypher, representative for San Francisco–based Sin City Entertainment. As evidence of the gadget’s rocketing popularity in California’s capital, the San Fernando Valley, numerous iPhone-specific porn sites have been launched in recent months. “There are a few hundred iPhone porn sites now in use,” says Farley Cahen, vice president of business development for AVN Media Network, the adult industry’s trade body.

As the 3G release nears the adult entertainment industries prepare to launch sites that will be able to be accessed by the iPhone. With the overwhelming popularity of the iPhone this industry has seen an opportunity and gone after it with full force.

“Three out of four iPhone users are men with above-average incomes, and iPhone users spend heavily on entertainment. More than a third of iPhone users shell out more than $100 on phone and data charges every month, as compared with just one-fifth of other cell-phone users.”

One feature that will be included in the 2.0 release is the ability to set Parental Controls, disabling ever ‘accidentally’ stumbling accross a naughty site or two, or three, or four…

Apple receives $325 in subsidies from each iPhone 3G sale

2009-04-20T03:51:00.001-07:00

There has been much speculation as to just how much money Apple is getting from AT&T this time around. According to Yair Reiner at Oppenhiemer, they should be getting roughly the same amount of money from the carrier. The only difference is that they’re getting most of their money up-front this time.

Reiner suggests that AT&T is paying roughly $325 in subsidies on every new iPhone sold. What’s more is that he also believes that Apple is receiving a $100 bonus for every new customer that signs up at one of their stores. It sounds like Apple might have thought things through a little more this time around. Now they’re selling a phone that’s cheaper than the original (and will thus likely sell even better) and they’re getting their money up-front from AT&T. Well played.

Apple receives $325 in subsidies from each iPhone 3G sale

2009-04-20T03:51:00.000-07:00

Morgan Stanley predicts twice the demand for the iPhone 3G over the original

2009-04-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

I’m sure that everyone remembers the number of people lining up for iPhones last year, and the concern over supply versus demand. Can we expect a similar demand for the new iPhone 3G? Morgan Stanley says that it’s going to be even bigger this time around.

It’s pretty obvious why there will be a bigger demand for Apple’s latest headset. According to a representative of Morgan Stanley “We believe the market generally expects a doubling of iPhone units with the lower price point ($199) and we believe this is realistic, if not conservative.” They have even raised their price target on Apple’s stock up to $210, which is up $25 from their last target.

Carriers such as O2 in the UK and Optus in Australia are already receiving more interested customers than expected. Optus was taking $100 deposits from customers wanting to get their hands on an iPhone 3G, however, they have received so many that they had to stop taking such deposits. Looks like you’d better get lined up pretty early this year.

iPhone 3G and business rate plan discounts

2009-04-20T03:49:00.001-07:00

While much attention has been paid to AT&T’s consumer voice and data rate plans for the iPhone 3G, little scrutiny has been paid to corporate and business plans — and therein lies confusion. AT&T generally offers special employee discounts for corporate rate plans, including reduced device pricing, reduced plan pricing, and free trials, but whether or not such discounts apply to the iPhone is unclear.

Businesses often shop for discounted rate plans. Some of these plans are subject to specific calling plans, calling features, phones or accessories. Companies have the option of sharing these discounts with their employees through a sponsorship program. Employees are often able to get substantial discounts through these programs; discounts of between 15% and 25% are available on devices, services, etc. Some devices may even be free with a minimum two year contract and other incentives. AT&T has a business center for determining eligibility.

We visited an AT&T Corporate retail store, and were told that thee voice portion of the calling plan was eligible for discounts. During another visit, however, we were told that no discounts were applicable.

According to AT&T spokesman, Mark A. Siegel, who spoke with iPhone Atlas earlier this week, business discounts are handled on a case-by-case basis per the agreement between AT&T and your business. Currently there is no definitive answer as to whether or not the iPhone will be eligible for this program. Siegel indicated that as the July 11th launch date draws near, both this issue and other matters related to the AT&T plan pricing will become clear.

The first version of the iPhone was not eligible due to the agreement with Apple regarding revenue sharing, etc. However now that the iPhone is being sold in a subsidized fashion like other phones, the doors are open.

via http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/06/18/iphone-3g-and-business-rate-plan-discounts/

iPhone 3G - Release Date

2009-04-20T03:48:00.002-07:00

Apple announced their new model of iPhone 3GP at the WWDC Keynote on June 9th 2008. And the worldwide release date is July 11 2008, starting at $199.

July 11, 2008 - iPhone 3GP will release in following 24 countries

1. Australia
2. Austria
3. Belgium (French)
4. Belgium (Dutch)
5. Canada (English)
6. Canada (French)
7. Denmark
8. Finland

9. Germany
10. Hong Kong
11. Ireland
12. Italy
13. Japan
14. Mexico
15. Netherlands
16. New Zealand

17. Norway
18. Portugal
19. Spain
20. Sweden
21. Switzerland (French)
22. Switzerland (German)
23. UK
24. USA

First Look on iPhone 3G

2009-04-20T03:48:00.001-07:00

With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one - a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. iPhone 3G. It redefines what a mobile phone can do again.

New Features on iPhone 3G

2009-04-20T03:46:00.000-07:00

3G Speed - Surf the web and download email over fast 3G cellular networks.

3G technology gives iPhone fast access to the Internet and email over cellular networks around the world. iPhone 3G also makes it possible to do more in more places: Surf the web, download email, get directions, and watch video - even while you’re on a call.

iPhone 3G meets worldwide standards for cellular communications, so you can make calls and surf the web from practically anywhere on the planet. And if you’re in an area without a 3G network, iPhone connects you via GSM for calls and EDGE for data.

Maps with GPS - Find your location, get directions, and track progress along your route.

Find your location, get directions, and see traffic - all from your phone. Maps on iPhone 3G combines GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell tower location technology with the Multi-Touch interface to create the best mobile map application ever.

iPhone 3G finds your location via GPS or by triangulating your position using Wi-Fi and cellular towers. It also finds points of interest by keyword: Search for “coffee” and iPhone shows you every cafe nearby.

Get directions to wherever from wherever. View turn-by-turn directions or watch your progress with live GPS tracking. Maps on iPhone shows you live traffic information, indicating traffic speed along your route in easy-to-read green, red, and yellow highlights.

iPhone 3G: Can I activate it at home?

2009-04-20T03:42:00.002-07:00

There have been many rumors floating around about whether or not new iphone users will be able to go and buy their new iphones and activate it at home on iTunes. There was speculation from an article posted today that there may be a possiblity you can still activate your new iPhone 3G at home. Under AT&T you may be able to sign an intent to obtain a two year contract, and then take the phone home and activate it through iTunes.The only alternative to speeding up this activation process in the store would be the following:

“customers may be able to agree to terms and select a new rate plan at home before July 11th, and then print and bring with them on July 11th a document that AT&T and Apple reps can quickly scan and verify before handing over a new iPhone. This would speed up the first-day sales process and function similar to the $100 iPhone credit coupon offered following last year’s iPhone launch.”

Though nothing has been confirmed, many rumors will continue, AT&T is expected to release finalized details closer to July 11th.

Germans to get iPhone 3G for €1

2009-04-20T03:42:00.001-07:00

T-Mobile has released the iPhone 3G rate plans (link auf Deutsch) for Germany and it looks like our lucky friends in Deutschland are getting a major subsidy. The 8Gb iPhone will be available for as little as €1 with monthly plan of €69 while the 16Gb iPhone will be €19.95 with a monthly plan of €89. All of these plans include 3G data and access to T-Mobile’s wifi HotSpot network and require a 24-month contract.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/06/16/germans-to-get-iphone-3g-for-1/
Unfortunately, things are not so rosy for existing iPhone customers. According to the German iPhone Blog, existing customers will be on the hook for €10 per month remaining in their original contracts (or about €180 for the earliest adopters) before being eligible to sign up for the new 24 month plan. So it’s good news for new iPhone customers, but existing 2G customers are in for a blow to the Geldbeutel if they want to upgrade.

Gizmodo explains the iPhone 3G’s abilities, true cost of device

2009-04-20T03:41:00.001-07:00

We all know that the 3G iPhone is going to be fast, and that it will be running on AT&T’s HSDPA network. There are varying levels of HSDPA speed though, and in all fairness as opposed to overseas deployments, AT&T has a very slow network. This will of course limit speed the iPhone can achieve here, but just how fast can you get going?

The amount of factors that limits this speed are numerous. CPU speed, network congestion, proximity to the cell site, and of course network backhaul, or how much speed the site has linked to the actual network. There is a problem though, the iPhone could be limited to the 1.8mbps HSDPA network speed, not the 3.6mbps that AT&T’s network can theoretically achieve.The reason for this could be the faster you go through data, the more battery life you waste. This is a major concern that Apple has had with the device, and it makes sense for them to limit the speed for this reason. Hey, there is always WiFi though.

If you are a little let down by the potentially limited speed on the iPhone 3G, then at least you can be happy about this. The new iPhone over the course of a 24 month contract, costs less than almost any other device. As you can see in this comparison, the new iPhone may be the cheapest, but in close second is the iPhone 3G.

iPhone 3G Released

2009-04-20T03:39:00.000-07:00

In a keynote speech today, Steve Jobs announced the next version of the iPhone, complete with 3G networking, better battery life, a slimmer profile, and global positioning system support.

The phone features a black plastic back, solid metal buttons, the same 3.5-inch LCD display, and a headphone jack mounted flush with the enclosure (which should make third-party headphone vendors happy).

With GPS, the iPhone can be tracked across a Google map as a pulsating blue dot. The iPhone can still derive location data from cell phone towers and WiFi networks.

In terms of battery life, the iPhone 3G offers five hours of 3G talk time, 5 - 6 hours of browsing time, seven hours of video time, or 300 hours of standby time.

The new iPhone will be available in 70 countries over the next several months via a variety of carriers, including Canada, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and many others.

The iPhone 3G will start $199 for an 8GB model. The 16GB model will sell for $299, and is available in a black or white backing. It will be available in all countries starting July 11.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/06/09/iphone-3g-announced/

2.8 inch screen iPhone?

2009-04-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

Apple is already shrinking the screen size on the iPhone down from 3.5 inches to 3.2 inches, which is not that severe of a drop. It is just enough to allow the device to cut down on battery life a little, and to make it thinner. It is rumored that there will also be a miniature version of the iPhone, that will sport a 2.8 inch screen, which is almost an inch smaller than the screen on the current iteration of the iPhone.

There are advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that less screen to illuminate is obviously going to draw less power. This could help make up for the extra juice that the 3G chip and the GPS chip will suck up. This shot is a side by side comparison of the device sizes, which shows it will look the same as the current iPhone. Just think smaller with more features.

One negative thing about this photo, there is no hole in the face plate for a front facing camera. If this is the real deal it shatters the dreams of iPhone video conferencing. One thing that would not be so great about the smaller screen is that means a smaller interface, and smaller on screen keyboard. This could prove to be a big problem for iPhone users if the interface proves to be too tiny.

The Release of iPhone Firmware 2.0 is postponed

2009-04-20T03:35:00.002-07:00

We’ve all heard the rumors that the iPhone 2.0 firmware would be out at WWDC 08, but we have received some information that begs to differ. According to the information that we have, it will be released late June/early July. This is because of Apple’s deal with the cell carriers — currently, Apple has to give the cell carriers a “first look” at the new firmware before it can ship; normally this takes around 1-2 weeks.

According to our sources, the 2.0 firmware went gold master this week, which means it will be in the hands of the cell carriers for 1-2 weeks. If Apple doesn’t have to fix anything in the firmware, then it will be released to the public — otherwise, they will have to fix the problems and start the process over again.

TUAW has also learned that the original details of the iPhone 2 which were posted on Engadget are, in fact, real. The second generation iPhone will include 3G and GPS functionality and will come in a glossy-black case. We have yet to learn any details on pricing.

Update:this is still a rumor and should be treated as such. What we’re confirming is Engadget’s description of the new iPhone, but as pointed out in the original post the pictured item is most likely a third-party case.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/06/04/iphone-2-0-firmware-details-and-information-on-second-generation/

Softbank to carry 3G iPhone in Japan

2009-04-20T03:35:00.001-07:00

Same story, different Carrier/Country. Softbank announces that they will carry the 3G iPhone on their UMTS 3G Network later this year…

“この度、ソフトバンクモバイル株式会社は、今年中に日本国内において「iPhone」を発売することにつきまして、アップル社と契約を締結したことを発表いたします”

Since they don’t mention exclusivity, NTT Docomo, KDDI and the rest still have a shot - so don’t go dropping your current provider just yet!

via http://9to5mac.com/softbank

More 3G iPhone Rumors

2009-04-20T03:32:00.000-07:00

Today, a rumor about a 22% thinner 3G iPhone with GPS priced at $200 hit the Mac web. In looking back, however, this is not the first time we’ve heard this exact set of specifications. On April 29th, Scott Mortiz first reported on the possibility of a $200 subsidy from AT&T for the 3G iPhone. He said it would be priced at $399 (8GB) and $499 (16GB), but after a $200 subsidy, these prices would fall to $199 and $299, respectively.

Moritz also specifically said that the new iPhone will be 2.5mm thinner than the current iPhone, which happens to work out to 22% thinner (2.5mm/11.6mm), corresponding nicely to Kahney’s 22% thinner figure. Kahney and Moritz diverge on the capacity of the iPhone, however, as Kahney claims 16GB and 32GB sizes for the new iPhone. Regardless, this paints a picture of the following possible “thin iPhone”:

Thin iPhone
• $199 (8GB or 16GB), $299 (16GB or 32GB), possibly subsidized by AT&T
• 3G, GPS, 22% thinner
• Possible longer battery

However, it’s also clear that there’s another set of rumors circulating which are also consistent with each other. The so-called “thick iPhone” rumor started at Engadget and depicted in the XSKN case designs.

Thick iPhone
• 3G, GPS, slightly thicker
• Glossy black, rounded back
• Non-recessed headphone jack, additional sensor?

If you add in recent whispers of high end pricing of the 16GB ($499) and 32GB ($699) models, this introduces the possibility that these rumors together could represent a range of iPhone models.

Both Thick and Thin?
• $399 (8GB), $499 (16GB), $699 (32GB) retail prices
• Possible $200 subsidy bringing prices to $199 (8GB), $299 (16GB), $499 (32GB)
• 3GB, GPS, ? Video Conferencing
• Low capacity models thinner, high capacity models thicker

Of course, alternatively, one or none of these rumors could be true. As we’ve said before, Apple has been known to purposefully spread misinformation in order to confuse the rumor mill. Official announcements are expected next week during the Worldwide Developer Conference keynote which takes place on Monday, June 9th, 2008.

via http://www.macrumors.com/2008/06/02/3g-iphone-thinner-thicker-or-both/

3G iPhone Specs and Prices?

2009-04-20T03:31:00.000-07:00

MacRumors has heard some unconfirmed whispers about the 3G capable iPhone due at next week’s WWDC. Besides 3G support, the following features/specs were also passed along, mostly consistent with circulating rumors:

- Lighter weight
- Black + other colors
- Focus on Multimedia with Video recording
- Video Conferencing
- GPS
- 16GB $499
- 32GB $699

As with all pre-release specs, confirmation can be difficult and intentional misinformation may be common, so we provide it for interest alone. If released exactly as described, this would eliminate the $399 8GB iPhone, keep the $499 16GB and add a $699 32GB model.

WWDC kicks off on June 9th with a keynote address by Steve Jobs.

via http://www.macrumors.com/2008/05/31/3g-iphone-specs-and-prices/

25% of the buyers are waiting for new iPhone

2009-04-20T03:30:00.000-07:00

ChangeWave Research shows that 1 / 4 of the potential iPhone users are waiting for the purchase of next-generation iPhone.
Access to the 3600 survey feedback from users, 14 percent of the people waiting for a major revision of the new iPhone, 11% in the 3 G waiting for data to support - a desire to be in three weeks, will be able to achieve.ChangeWave said that the head, look forward to the next generation Apple iPhone support 3 G, is a good thing for Apple, which is Apple’s need to address the key issues.
Before the company’s investigations revealed that the iPhone users now, is the most complained about the slow speed of EDGE, the problem does not limit the iPhone in the Wi-Fi use.
By contrast, prices of third-party software support and only minor issues. IPhone prices were too high for the complaints, in October to March, 21% to 24%, attributable to the type of concerns the U.S. economy because the July 2007 listing, iPhone starting at 499 U.S. dollars, but the price is very user satisfaction.

via http://iphoneforest.com/25-of-the-buyers-are-waiting-for-new-iphone.html

3G iPhone in Canada next month with reasonable data costs?

2009-04-20T03:27:00.000-07:00

Only last month Rogers finally officially confirmed that the iPhone was Canada bound. Now electronista is reporting that sources inside the company are saying that the 3G iPhone will debut next month (presumably about the same time as the US launch) and will qualify for Rogers new reasonably priced $7 unlimited data plan. Rogers has long been notorious for high data costs, making the new plan particularly welcome for the data hungry iPhone.

Needless to say this is good news for our friends up north, and yet more fuel on the 3G iPhone fire (as if it needed any).

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/18/3g-iphone-in-canada-next-month-with-reasonable-data-costs/

Foxconn chosen to manufacture 3G iPhones

2009-04-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

An article printed in a Chinese news paper, The Commercial Times, is saying that the manufacturer Foxconn, Hon Hai Precision Industry, has landed the contract to manufacture the new iPhone. Foxconn was also the manufacturer of the original iPhone, so it is not too far fetched of an idea. The article says that the new iPhone should ship around June. We all knew that already though, didn’t we?

The Chinese Times article claims that their sources have been instructed by Apple to begin preparing to manufacture the new iPhone. The article says that the sources were told they need to “begin preparing material supplies by the end of May.” It also claims that the new iPhone should sell over three million units by the end of June.

That seems to be pretty generous estimate for just one month of sales. Potentially even less than a month depending on when in June it starts shipping, if at all. This is not the only number they are estimating. The article says that the new model would ship about 25 million units during it’s life span. It very well could; after all, 3G opens up a much broader market than it’s 3G-challenged first generation brother.

via http://www.digitimes.com/telecom/a20080428PB202.html

Apple iPhone Bluetooth Headset Unveiled

2009-04-20T03:08:00.000-07:00

A Flickr user has posted some unboxing photos of Apple’s iPhone Bluetooth headset, some of which are mirrored here.

Apple claims the $129 accessory can provide up to 72 hours of standby time and up to 5.5 hours of talk time on a single charge. While the Online Apple Store shows a 2-4 week lag time, it would appear that there is at least limited retail store availability.

Apple’s Bluetooth headset gets price reduction

2009-04-20T03:06:00.000-07:00

If you’ve been looking to get the Apple Bluetooth headset for your iPhone (really, it works on any Bluetooth enabled phone/device/computer) then now is the perfect time to buy. That’s because Apple has lowered the price by $30 (US). So you can now pick up a Bluetooth headset for $99 instead of the previous $129.

However, Apple did make some sacrifices to get the price down: they no longer include the Dual Dock that allows you to dock both your iPhone and Bluetooth headset for charging/pairing. This is a huge bummer seeing as the Dual Dock now sells for $49.

Apple does still include the docking travel cable, which allows you to charge your iPhone/headset, however, it is definitely not as nice to look at as the Dual Dock.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/13/apples-bluetooth-headset-gets-price-reduction

iPhone 3G dismantled

2009-04-20T03:03:00.001-07:00

If you’re looking to dismantle your iPhone 3G but you’d rather have some pieces slightly larger than dust left over at the end of the process, than iFixit should be your first port of call. The famed strippers - by which I mean they strip down gadgets to their constituent parts - have already taken out their screwdrivers and splayed out the second-gen iPhone’s guts for all to see.

There’s some good news in there too. For a start, Apple have learnt from making the iPod Touch and refrained from bonding the glass and the LCD together. In the original iPhone those two pieces were fixed, making repairs expensive. The display itself now connects directly to the main board, rather than having numerous other components attached to it.

Further inside, and it turns out that the iPhone 3G’s battery isn’t actually soldered in place. That’s not quite as useful as a user-replaceable battery, but it does mean that if you’re reluctant to send your cellphone off to Apple and pay them $86 to swap it out, you’ll not need a soldering iron to do it yourself. If you’re interested in the specific chips used, iFixit are listing them as and when details emerge.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/iphone-3g-dismantled-display-glass-separate-battery-not-soldered-113006.php

iPhone vs. gravity is no contest

2009-04-20T03:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

Apple’s MagSafe power cords have probably saved thousands of laptops from untimely impacts — too bad there’s no such insurance policy for the iPhone. Brett Peters’ phone had an unfortunate encounter with his young son and moments later, with the floor, and the result is as you see above. While the screen glass is shattered, Brett was able to lay a piece of clear packing tape on top of the phone and keep all the shards in place. You can see all the photos on Brett’s blog and here on Flickr.

Believe it or not, the phone is still functional; more surprisingly, except for the most seriously damaged spots, the touchscreen still works. Brett is considering a screen replacement via this procedure, but in the meantime I’m sure he’s having a heart-to-heart with his son about the facts of physics. 9.8m/s^2 — it’s not just a good idea, it’s the law

Starbucks iPhone Ordering Concept Design

2009-04-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

Multimedia designer, Phil Lu, has created some mockups of an iPhone application that he calls “QuickOrder”:

Surprisingly, the mockups were created before the publicized patent application in which Apple explores to-go ordering from the iPhone. The series of images show how such a system might work.

Top iPhone Wallpaper Websites

2009-04-20T02:59:00.000-07:00

Iphone does not need any introduction. In case you are an iphone user and want to have that exclusive and unique wallpaper on your geeky device then it’s all for you!

Here is the list of few websites and resources on internet from where you can download wallpapers for iphone. Everything from abstract to celebrity pics, its all up there for grabs.

1. Iphone Wallpapers on Flickr:There is huge collection of Iphone wallpapers on Flickr. Contributed by number of Flickr users, collection has more than 950 wallpapers to chose from.

2. iPhone Atmo Wallpapers:Very good quality and huge number of Iphone wallpapers to chose from. You can select wallpaper from any of the category like:Abstract, Babes, Cars, Males, Movies, Music, Space, Sports, Television etc.

3. 199 Wallpapers by DevianArt:Yeah about 199 wallpapers ready for download by DevianArt. Very nice collection!

4. Steve Diet Goedde:Iphone wallpaper collection of Steve Diet Goedde is all about beautiful babes in very classical and aesthetic poses ready to grace your Iphone. Very creative!

5. Needmore Designs: If you love nature, birds, lakes then this is the place for you to go. Needmore desings offer over 170 images ready for download.

6. Weston Hickey: This is strictly for animal and nature lovers. Very beautiful images of animals in wild, I love it!

7. Thememyphone: Another well categorised resource to download different types of iphone wallpapers. Lot of options to chose from. It also offer icon and ringtones.

8. Sciphone: Good resource for high quality iPhone wallpapers. Very clean layout to help you chose type of wallpaper among different categories on offer.

9. chrisglass Collection: Small but interesting collection of iphone wallpapers. Abstract, birds, cityview, nature its all there.

10. Freeiphonewallpapers: Huge and impressive collection of iphone wallpapers. Actresses, Actors, Anime, Animals, Sports, Musicians, Nature and much more available for download.

11. iphone wallpapers.us: Found this site very good for downloading iphone wallpaper of celebrities. Very nice and unique collection up for grabs.

12. Iconfactory: Very good collection of abstract and cartooned collection. If you are looking for really different iphone wallpaper, the check this website. You need to click on iphone icon next to image for the download.

Hope above weblink will help you find iphone wallapers. Incase you know any more interesting iphone wallpapers websites, please share with me.

Excellent “unaltered” iPhone Photo

2009-04-20T02:58:00.000-07:00

At 9pm tonight I saw the sweetest shot, so I pulled out my iPhone and took an iPhone photo. I just held it atop of my car and got an amazing reflection off of the roof. If it were a 5+megapixel camera, it probably would have looked more amazing, but hey were talking a 2megapixel phone camera. What can your phone do?

If you haven’t been keeping track of the score it is iPhone 4, your phone 0

Full-resolution iPhone interface screen shots

2009-04-20T02:54:00.000-07:00

Sources add that the AT&T iPhone supports Microsoft Exchange servers, adding that Apple has likely licensed Microsoft’s ActiveSync to accomplish that integration.

When asked about corporate email in a USA Today interview, Apple CEO Steve Jobs replied, “You’ll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks. We have some pilots going with companies with names you’ll recognize. This won’t be a big issue.”

Much commentary and speculation has surrounded the topic of the iPhone being a viable smart phone for businesses or whether the device will dominate only the consumer ranks.

The iPhone images show:

-
- Calendar List and Month Views

- Email account setup

- Alarm Clock, Timer, Calculator

- Sim Card Removal

- RSS Reader

- Movie / Cover Flow controls

First iPhone Banners At AT&T Stores

2009-04-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

AT&T / Cingular stores have started displaying banners of the iPhone which read “Coming June 29″. Forum user was able to get some iPhone photos:

The Apple iPhone has been announced to be available starting June 29th, 2007 but few details about how sales will be organized have been released.

First Photos Shot with iPhone!

2009-04-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

Somebody from MobileGuerilla claiming to have found the first photos from an Apple iPhone on the web.

He searched for “taken with an apple iphone” on Google for well over a month now and finally found a set of Flickr images tagged with the phrase. The phrase is automatically generated by Flickr based on the EXIF data from the camera itself.

The Flickr account however belongs to an individual who can be tracked down to a LinkedIn profile which reveals that they are a Program Manager at Apple in the Consumer Electronics industry.

Interesting EXIF info from one of the original images, submitted by Bill Baron:

* Camera Make = Apple
* Camera Model = iPhone
* Picture Orientation = rotated 90° (6)
* Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 14/5 = F2.80
* Color Space = sRGB (1)
* Image Width = 1600
* Image Height = 1200
* Unknown tag: Tagnum = 0xa500 ===> data = 11/5
* Compression = JPEG compression (6)

$176,400 Blinged out iPhone

2009-04-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Peter Aloisson’s passion for phones and diamond really shines through the “Princess Plus” – named after half of its 318 diamonds consisting of square cuts, instead of common round stones. The 17.75 carats of diamonds are set in 18 karat white gold around the edge of the iPhone, pushed the price to 120,000 EUR, or $176,400. This makes the “Princes Plus” the world’s most expensive iPhone.

There’s a round-cut diamond version for only $66,150, in case you can’t afford the “Princess Plus”.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/176400-blinged-out-iphone-172060.php#more-2060

Scratch (on) your iPhone!

2009-04-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah, your read correctly. Ever find yourself listening to songs on your device and thinking “bah, I could do better than these crap tunes — oh, if only I had the means!”.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, with mixmeister’s scratch (news via technabob) you can turn your Touch or iPhone into your own little itty bitty pocket DJ machine!

There’s just one hitch…the program’s not out yet. But you can keep tabs on development and announcement on mixmeister’s website, so for now let’s just concentrate on what our DJ names are gonna be…

via http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/2008/03/13/scratch-on-your-iphone/

Rumor: iPhone may get x86 processor

2009-04-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Inquirer isn’t just counting their chickens before they hatch — they’re counting all the feathers, the chicken feet, and even the eggs of those chickens, too. When we first heard that the slide you see above (reportedly from a CeBit presentation from Intel) apparently meant that Apple was going to put an Intel x86 “Moorestown” processor in the iPhone, we did a double take, and then a triple take (how is the iPhone not the one labeled “Premium Smartphone?”), and then we said, “they’re kidding, right?”

But no, apparently they weren’t: Apple Insider has jumped on the x86Phone bandwagon as well (granted, they originally jumped in December of last year). It took Apple about ten years to decide to switch its computer line to Intel chips, but if you’re willing to believe the reasoning on this one (and personally, I’m not), it’s only going to take a tenth of that to decide that the iPhone needs an x86 chip, too.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/12/rumor-iphone-may-get-x86-processor-and-pigs-might-fly/

iPhone Making People Crazy

2009-04-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Download this video by PQ FLV Downloader

The iPhone is a popular gadget, there is no doubt about it. As with all popular gadgets, people tend to get a little overenthusiastic. This enthusiasm can take multiple forms—like waiting in line for days to get the product, dressing up like the gadget for Halloween, selling cheap knockoffs or completely ridiculous accessories, or even building their own from scratchThe 10 images featured after the jump illustrate this phenomenon as it relates to the iPhone, and the video above shows just how much the new fangled iPhone technology can piss off a strung out old hippie.

via http://gizmodo.com/349001/10-examples-of-the-iphone-making-people-crazy

Katie’s iPhone Mix

2009-04-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

Ed note: Katie had her own reasons for stopping her column, but things ended amicably between us. This is a previously unpublished iTunes mix from Katie which will serve as her last post. - arn.

Katie’s iPhone Mix - Songs I love put into a playlist for easy iPhone in-car listening.

1. When Your Mind’s Made Up - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
2. The Bitch is Back - Elton John
3. No Hay Manera (Jason Roberts Remix) - Akwid
4. Hell Yes - Beck
5. Swollen Summer - The Bravery
6. Novotel - Adam Green
7. There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You - Ben Folds
8. Mess - Ben Folds Five
9. I’m Lookin for Someone to Love - Buddy Holly & The Crickets
10. Don’t Tell Mama - Original Broadway Cast
11. Boys Keep Swinging - David Bowie
12. Bruised - The Bens
13. Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
14. Ding Don Song (Almighty Mix) - Gunther & the Sunshine Girls & The Sunshine Girls
15. Kate - Ben Folds Five
16. Improper Dancing - Electric Six
17. The Strangest Secret In the World - London Elektricity
18. Work Song - Nellie McKay
19. Songs of Love - Ben Folds

via http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/01/28/katies-iphone-mix/

Clipalizer Custom Webclip Icons for Any Website

2009-04-17T06:16:00.000-07:00

Uneasysilence created a web tool called Clipalizer which essentially allows you to create custom Webclip icons for any website for use on your iPhone/iPod touch.

With Clipalizer you can easily create your own custom webclip icons for your favorite sites. All you need to do is visit Clipalizer put in your favorite sites name and URL and upload a 57×57 PNG icon. Clipalizer will then give you a shortened URL to plug into your iPhone which will then allow you to select your custom webclip. That custom link that you made will stay alive forever so you can always enjoy your custom icon.

This custom link is simply a redirect that also houses your customicon so the iPhone/iPod touch will use your custom icon. They promise that the service is free and private, with no personally identifiable information being collected.

About Iphone

Latest iphone models

Google Earth for the iPhone and iPod touch

iPhone 3G Screen Protector

How to Unlock iPhone 3G

Topple 2 Now On Sale For $.99

Dev-Team Says iPhone 3GS Jailbreak Possible Via 24Kpwn

Apple Removed Hottest Girls, Nudity Not Allowed In App Store

Knights Onrush On Sale For $.99

Unofficial iPhone SDK Feedback Project Begins

Apps That Require iPhone 3GS Magnetometer Hit App Store

Mass Effect Galaxy Price Drop

Review: Sally’s Spa

Overview:

Features:

Breakdown

Good:

Bad:

Verdict:

Sally's Spa

Week In Review - June 27th Edition

Flight Control v1.3 Adds Peer-To-Peer Multiplayer

Apple Posts Online iPhone 3GS Availability Tracker

Remember The Milk - First To-Do List App To Feature Push

Blackjack Live Features Four Player Multiplayer Action Via Bluetooth

WordFu And Dr. Awesome On Sale To Celebrate Release Of Rolando 2

Leave a Response

iPhone Wallpapers

Hulu App for the iPhone is near…

Diagram of the life of an iPhone App Store reviewer

Austin GDC iPhone Games Summit accepting submissions

Diagram of the life of an iPhone App Store reviewer

New Chinese blog photos claim to show new iPhone’s camera and compass

New iPhone video download training program released; confirms rumor

iPhone used by Japanese school to keep track of students and their attendance

New Chinese blog photos claim to show new iPhone’s camera and compass

Barack is Getting a BlackBerry

AT&T Says iPhone 3G Data Use Increase Less Than Expected

Hacker to break iPhone’s security via live webcast

Misspelling is faster on the iPhone

Google Exec Praises iPhone For Its Effect On Cloud-Computing

Too Many iPhone Apps Cause iPhone Reboot

Google Android (HTC Dream) vs Apple iPhone 3G -A Comparision

02 launch the first pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G

Rumor:iPhone price may fall 15%

Rumor: China Mobile To Subsidize Apple’s iPhone

Apple admits to security flaw, fix on the way

24K Gold 3G iPhone

Verizon’s anti-iPhone document gets leaked

User Suing Apple Because of False Advertising

Two iPhone Control Pads?

“Holographic” Application For 3G iPhone

Apple’s iPhone 2.0.2 software update didn’t fix much

iPhone 3G reception issues said to only be affecting 2% of iPhones

iPhone Firmware 2.0.2 Came Out

How to restore your homescreen icons

What Happens if You Break Your 3G iPhone

Here’s a link to the support article:

Apple Will Fix Reception Issue of 3G iphone

Apple Sold 95 iPhones Per Store Every Day

E Reader For 3G iPhone

Rumor:The Price of iPhone 3G will be Raised

Speech Recognition Coming to the iPhone

iRinger = Free, Full-Featured 3G iPhone Ringtone Maker (Windows Only)

iPhone 3G costs $173 to build, giving Apple an estimated 55-percent profit margin

How To: Stop Backup During iPhone iTunes Sync on 2.0

Worldwide iPhone 3G wireless plans compared

Online calculator for your iPhone 3G AT&T plan

First iPhone 3G Reviews: Mossberg, Baig, and Pogue

AT&T Customers: 4 Steps to Become Instantly Eligible for iPhone 3G

iPhone 3G Commercial Airing on U.S. Television

Speed Test Sites for Your iPhone 3G

Time of iPhone 3G Launch Remains Unclear

The porn-friendliest phone - 3G iPhone

Apple receives $325 in subsidies from each iPhone 3G sale

Apple receives $325 in subsidies from each iPhone 3G sale

Morgan Stanley predicts twice the demand for the iPhone 3G over the original

iPhone 3G and business rate plan discounts

iPhone 3G - Release Date

First Look on iPhone 3G