iPhone - page 414

Wired Mag Editor Chris Anderson has posted a tasty rumor on Twitter: he claims that a T-Mobile manager revealed to him that they would be getting the iPhone 3GS by the end of the year. Granted, we shouldn’t put too much stock on the word-of-mouth hearsay of an anonymous store manager… but in actuality, other networks getting the iPhone 3GS, but not the iPhone 4, would make a lot of sense.

Here in Germany, for example, the rumored end of T-Mobile’s iPhone exclusivity was heralded with other networks suddenly being allowed to stock the 3GS. In other words, T-Mobile’s “iPhone exclusivity” was shifted to the exclusive sale of the iPhone 4… and even that exclusivity seems likely to end soon.

If Anderson’s nameless manager is right, then, we might see something similar happen in the States: AT&T becomes the exclusive carrier of the iPhone 4 for a time, while other carriers are allowed to sell the 3GS. If this coincides with a rumor of a January CDMA iPhone 4 for Verizon, we might conceivably start next year with an iPhone on every network.

[via 9to5Mac]

Apple has updated its Game Centre overview page today to provide details on which devices will be supported when the social gaming network goes live on Wednesday with the release of the new iOS 4.1 update.

The list of supported devices includes the second-, third- and forth-generation iPod Touch models, along with the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS. Unfortunately for those still clinging on to their trusty iPhone 3G, Game Centre is another feature you’ll miss out on in iOS 4.1.

Look, we’re four generations in. If you still crave a physical hardware keyboard on your iPhone, you’re basically barking up the wrong tree: hey, look over there, there’s RIM, a succulent hydrant for you to whiz upon. Apple’s just never going to be there for you.

That said, there’s scarcely an itch the constabulary of third-party accessory makers won’t scratch for you, given enough dosh. So here, have this Mini Key case for the iPhone 4, complete with sliding, backlit QWERTY. It adds significant bulk, no batter life, and will cost you $60 when it’s released at the end of the year. You’re welcome.

Nike has released its Nike+ GPS app in to the App Store this morning, and it allows users with a GPS enabled device to track their runs without the $19 Nike+ shoe sensor accessory. Record your pace, distance and the route you ran using just your device’s built-in GPS and accelerometer.

It’s a $1.99 app and it does a whole lot of impressive stuff: motivational messages from Nike’s top athletes aim to push you further to improve your workout and reach your goals, while your personalized ‘PowerSong’ is designed to give you that extra boost.

Voice feedback as you run to tells you how you’re doing and when you’ve finished, you can upload your stats to your Nikeplus.com account (free) to compete with friends, join challenges, set goals and connect with the rest of the Nike+ community.

At just $1.99, the athletes among you will save themselves a small fortune by not having to fork out for the shoe sensor running accessory.

Nike+ GPS is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the iPod Touch (2nd generation and above), running iOS 4.0. Get it in the App Store here.

This week’s must-have iOS games include the graphically stunning Epic Citadel that was recently introduced at Apple’s music event, adrenaline-fuelled sprinting across rooftops in Mirror’s Edge for iPhone, using your powers as Spider-Man to save the city of New York, and a whole lot more to keep you entertained this weekend.

Check out a few of our favorite games from the past week after the break!

This week’s must-have iOS apps include the universal release of the official Twitter client, a fun and unique way to make music, and an app that turns your device in to a USB memory stick.

Check out a few of our favorite apps from the past week after the break!

As an iPhone user I have always shied away from cases as I have never found one that enhances the design of the iPhone rather than devaluing it. But the latest version of Grove’s Bamboo case for iPhone 4 is a game changer. It is hands down the best case I have ever used or reviewed.

That is a bold statement I know, but here’s why:

It’s official: the iPhone has joined the ranks of iFurniture.  Yesterday brought news of another iPhone coffee table, which joins a proud history of Apple-inspired furniture throughout the years.  In another Geek Trend, some members of the Cult of Apple can now kick their feet up both with and on their iDevices while lounging at home.

The findings of a recent survey by Coupons.com has all the trappings of some sort of offensive, stereotypical joke… but without the punchline.

Analyzing the findings of how both users on both the Android and iOS operating systems use their website, Coupons.com came to some interesting findings as to what separates the two.

iPhone users? According to Coupons.com, they can best be described as “feminine-smelling, chicken-eating, entertainment-reading fish owners.”

Android users, though, are “manly-scented, pork-eating, news-reading bird lovers.”

These results certainly don’t seem to apply to me. On one hand, I fall into the Android category as far as my pheremonal stink and budgerigar ownership are concerned, but I certainly prefer chicken to pork, and I use iOS exclusively… which according to Coupons’ research, makes me some sort of weird, fish-stroking girl. And what about pork-abstaining Android users, Hassidic and halal alike? There is more research to be done here methinks, Coupons.com.

[via Gizmodo]

Steve Jobs confirmed in his press conference today that iOS 4.1 contains several bug fixes, including a fix addressing the poor performance of iOS4 on the iPhone 3G.  Alas we have to wait another week for the update to be released.  It will be hitting my iPhone as soon as iTunes says it is available.

I think it was notable that Jobs addressed this point very early in his presentation; the bugs mentioned are all major issues and need to be resolved.  The new Gaming Center and real-time graphics rendering of the A4 chip are impressive, but we 3G laggards are just looking to be able to send email and make calls again!

No comments about whether iOS 4.2 will support the 3G and older iPod touch models, the presentation merely included an asterisk that noted *not all models.   I think a cutoff at iOS 4.1 is appropriate for these devices if the performance problems are finally fixed.

According to Apple, there’s no problem with the iPhone 4’s antenna… or, at the very least, no problem it doesn’t share with all of its competitors. But are they being disingenuous? According to a new rumor, Apple is very much hard at work on an updated iPhone 4 that alleviates the signal attenuation problems once and for all.

The rumor comes via the admittedly questionable source of a spokesperson for Mexican wireless carrier Telcel, who says that Apple will release an updated iPhone 4 by the end of October… a date which will closely follow the end of Apple’s own iPhone 4 Bumper program, which is Cupertino’s current PR band-aid slapped over the problem.

It’s an interesting rumor, but I think it’s a bit spurious. Apple’s said over and over again there’s no problem: they can’t reverse course on that without reopening the debate, and possibly making themselves even more liable in class-action lawsuits. If Apple significantly redesigns the iPhone 4’s antenna, there’ll be a name for it: the iPhone 4.

Danish illustrator Mads Peitersen has been painting a series or really imaginative pictures showing the anatomy of technology. His guts of an iPhone pic is particularly cool.

“Smartphones today are soo advanced and good they almost behave alive. And becomes an extension of your body,” he writes.

Via LaughingSquid.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2F4O0QIzC4&feature=player_embedded

Embedded in a long and informative (but badly Google-translated) link to a breakdown of Apple’s A4 CPU, we noticed this intriguing video of all four iPhones — the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 — pitted head-to-head in a performance test.

There’s nothing really shocking about the results here: Apple has improved the performance of the iPhone with every single release. As each test app is launched — including Plants vs. Zombies, Google Earth, Seadragon and Safari — it always fully loads quickest on the most recent iPhone, with every preceding iPhone lagging incrementally behind. Reboot is the same.

That said, we found something rather soothing about watching this video in this last day before the calm of new Apple product announcements. Perhaps it’s the cheery, burbling music. Either way, it’s an interesting look not only at how far the iPhone has come over the last three years, but in actuality, what a great smartphone it was in the first place.

Open source devotees, iPhone users and hedonists unite! News today that low cost, OpenBTS GSM cell phone service is being tested at Burning Man in a true trial-by-fire fashion:

Today I bring you a story that has it all: a solar-powered, low-cost, open source cellular network that’s revolutionizing coverage in underprivileged and off-grid spots. It uses VoIP yet works with existing cell phones. It has pedigreed founders. Best of all, it is part of the sex, drugs and art collectively known as Burning Man. Where do you want me to begin?

“We make GSM look like a wireless access point. We make it that simple,” describes one of the project’s three founders, Glenn Edens. [Network World]

The economic and environmental potential of the system is promising, particularly for remote and under-developed areas.

Blamed on everything from a software bug to greasy ear canals, the iPhone 4’s overly sensitive proximity sensor was supposed to get fixed with the release of iOS 4.1.

Don’t hold your breath, though, says Apple’s Australian mouthpiece Fiona Martin. According to Martin, the company has yet to fix the proximity sensor issue, with no other information given as to when we can expect the patch.

In our own tests, we found that iOS 4.1 Beta 2 fixed all of our proximity sensor issues, and Steve Jobs himself promised the fix next update. Either our own anecdotal experience with the 4.1 Beta fixing the proximity sensor was wrong and the nature of the issue remains unidentified to Apple or a hardware design flaw, or Miss Martin misspoke. Wednesday should tell all.

Cult of Mac has been going nuts with iPad and iPhone app giveaways lately, and today is no different! Today, we’ve got some great apps for your iPhone and iPad. We’ll pick 5 random winners to win 4 great apps. If you want a chance to get your hands on some of these sweet apps this week, then follow the instructions carefully below:

1. “Like” Us On Facebook (you must do this, if you’re not a fan of us, we can’t contact you if you win).
2. Post a link to your favorite Cult of Mac article from the past week on our Facebook Wall. Make sure you post it on OUR wall, not your own.
3. Your wall post will be your entry into the giveaway, only ONE entry is allowed per person, and the giveaway will last until 11:59pm tonight. We’ll contact the winners later this week and explain how to get the codes!
4. Optional step: If you want to go the extra mile, you can post it in your Facebook status and status tag us. Do it ’cause you love us.

Special Thanks to Appular for helping us put together these app code giveaways! If you’ve got a mobile app that you’d like marketed effectively, contact the good folks at Appular!

Here’s a look at the apps we’re giving away:

China Unicom is the only authorized and official carrier of the iPhone 4 in China, but apparently, that doesn’t mean they are content to tow Cupertino’s anti-jailbreaking line: recent advertisements for the carrier indicate that they are more than happy to jailbreak an iPhone or iPad for customers for a price.

Translated, the circled portion of the signage reads: “Supported Service: Free SIM-trimming, jailbreak, installation of more than 10 hot apps.”

How odd. Leaving aside why China Unicom would jeopardize its relation with Apple by selling jailbroken iPads and iPhones, why are they being so cheerfully helpful in allowing their customers to migrate to other networks.

We suspect that this is ultimately about censorship and warez. The promise to install “ten hot apps” is the tip-off there: by offering to jailbreak customers’ phones, China Unicom can profit from their own customers’ desire to install apps not only without paying for them, but which also haven’t been censored for the local market.

[via 9to5Mac]

The iPhone 4’s incredible retina display boasts pixels so small and tightly packed that they are almost indistinguishable to the human eye…. but if a new technology created by University of Michigan researchers ever hits the market, the Retina Display might end up looking as antediluvian as VGA.

Using nano-thin sheets of metal with precisely spaced slits that act as resonators, the team of researchers built a tiny high-definition display with pixels eight times smaller than those on the iPhone 4. These nano-resonating displays are incredibly green-friendly, since they don’t require the chemicals needed to make an LCD; better, they’re far more energy-efficient to boot.

Need proof? The above image of the University of Michigan logo might look blurry, but that’s only because it’s magnified up from its original size, which is just nine microns wide. Six of these logos would fit in the width of a human hair.

If this technology ever hits the market, a fully high-definition 1080p display could be fit in the area of a postage stamp. Don’t be surprised if half-a-decade down the line, a grizzled and hunched Steve Jobs holds aloft the iPhone 9 and introduces the world to their hot new marketing buzz term: Nanoresonators.

Not quite sure what you’re looking at? These seven Escher-esque airplane propellors were captured by iPhone photographer Soren Ragsdale, and while the resulting image is a bit mind-bending, no genius would find anything wrong with his iPhone’s camera sensor. Instead, the photo is just a trippy (but terribly neat) demonstration of the iPhone’s rolling shutter.

Here’s how it works. Unlike a film camera — which quickly opens its shutter and burns the resulting image into the ensconced film strip all at once — most digital cameras have a rolling shutter. An iPhone doesn’t take the picture all at once; instead, it works more like a scanner, starting from one side and — line by line — moving to the far end of the photograph.

Usually, this all happens so fast that you can’t tell the difference, but when you start adding in photographic subjects that spin faster than your iPhone’s camera can scan them, you get the weird reality bending of the image above.

The iPhone’s not alone in exhibiting this behavior: you’ll see this sort of sampling on pretty much every CMOS sensor camera on the market. A nightmare for professionals, surely, but for a consumer interested in Dali-fying his iPhone photos without downloading an app, it’s a pretty cool side effect.

[via Gizmodo]

When we reviewed ID8-Mobile’s sneaky little MoGo Talk XD a month ago, we mentioned that it was only available for the 3G/s, but ID8-Mobile said they had an iPhone 4 version in the works. Turns out they weren’t kidding.

The iPhone 4 MoGo Talk — which hides a thin Bluetooth headset in a sleek case —  is a little lumpier than its predecessor due to the fact that they’ve dropped the problematic flip-up charging port in favor of a port completely housed within the case; on the other hand, the case is still better-looking than a bumper.

At $99, the iPhone 4 MoGo Talk XD is $30 less than the older version; current owners of the older case can upgrade to the iPhone 4 case for $20 through the company’s website.

Apple’s long history of design consolidation is obvious at every level, from the no-button Magic Mouse and Trackpad, to the adoption of MiniDisplayPort, to the iPhone’s iconic home button.

But Cupertino doesn’t want to stop there: a new patent filing, Apple is now exploring ways to combine the headphone jack with the microphone on their iPhone and iPod Touch.

The patent says that “”in addition to using housing real estate, sound input apertures and electrical connectors introduce openings in the housing and breach the barrier that protects components inside the housing.”

In other words, drop a hole from an iPhone and you have less risk of dust and moisture making its way in. The advantages don’t seem to lie just in hardware reliability either: apparently, the two-in-one design would also enhance voice quality through a noise-cancelling technology Apple’s calling “audio beamforming.”

We’d say this one’s a lock: it’s not a pie-in-the-sky patent, but a natural extension of Apple’s predilection for the utmost in simplicity.

[via Gizmodo]

The iPhone Dev-Team will not release a jailbreak for iOS 4.0.2/3.2.2.

“With FW 4.1 still in its beta stages, it makes no sense to escalate the ‘cat & mouse’ with Apple for FW updates that only fix the jailbreak holes,” the Dev Team says on its blog. “To quote WOPR, ‘the only winning move is not to play.'”

Here’s the Dev Team’s full statement:

The light at the end of the tunnel seems to be glowing ever brighter for iPhone 3G owners running iOS 4.  In addition to Steve Jobs’ recently publicized email claiming a software update coming soon to fix the problems, the Blogosphere and Twitter are also carrying reports of big performance improvements with recent betas:

Tests with a beta version of Apple’s iOS 4.1 on a well-used 3G suggest that the new OS has increased the phone’s responsiveness. Indeed, apps load much more quickly, text entry is much smoother and the phone no longer slows down beyond the point of usability when more than one browser window is open. [The Next Web]

These have been among the most widely reported problems.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that a Dallas man, Vincent Hunter, who was visiting relatives in Hartford, Conn. watched the in-progress burglary of his home after receiving an alert from his iCam app (iTunes link) running on his iPhone.

The app warned him that motion had been detected in the house. It turned out that two burglars were attempting to get into the man’s home and eventually made entry into the home by throwing a brick through a glass door.

He immediately called the police and officers were immediately dispatched to his home. The app alerted him to the arrival of the officers and as he watched via webcam they made entry into the home with guns drawn.

The story wasn’t clear about whether or not anything was stolen, but the combination of iCam, some webcams, and the iPhone certainly did their job — advising the home owner of the in-progress burglary.

Longing for the gaming arcade but stuck at your desk?  Well, the Pinball Magic [app]cessory from New Potato won’t fool you into thinking you’re at the real thing, but it looks like a cute way to kill both time and disposable income.  Slide your handheld iDevice into the mini pinball machine and Tilt Away:

Get ready for iPhone and iPod touch entertainment that’s in a class by itself! The Pinball Magic [app]cessory creates realistic and engaging gameplay, bringing classic pinball machine cabinet design and fun to iPhone and iPod touch. Pinball Magic, just like the classic cabinets (only smaller), works with the free Pinball Magic app to create a portable arcade experience, complete with flipper buttons and ball-launching plunger.

Perfect for entertaining miniature coworkers or family members.  Available soon at Best Buy for $40.

[via TUAW] [Chip Chick]