About Iphone

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

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

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.

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

* 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/

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

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

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.

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/

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

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.

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.

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/