I can’t deny the fact that Mophie knows how to make stylish accessories for the iPhone, but after a lackluster experience with the original Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G I’m wondering if the air will fair any better.
Quick Version: The Juice Pack air has an added bonus of being not only a reserve battery pack, but also a hard cover for your iPhone 3G. It doesn’t add too much extra girth to the svelte device and comes with an on/off switch (located at the base for the reserve battery.
Extended Version: If you’re looking for gobs of extra battery life then you needn’t look here. When my iPhone 3G’s battery dipped under 10 percent I placed it into the air and got enough juice to hit the 85 to 90 percent mark. As I recall, the original Juice Pack managed to give me close to two full charges when battery life was under 20 percent. But that had an 1800 mAh battery while the air only has a 1200 mAh battery.
On the flipside, the air is a pretty nice case that more or less doubles the thickness of the iP3G, which might not be acceptable to most, but with the added value of extra power, I’m inclined to accept its portliness.
The top piece can be removed if you don’t feel like encasing your iP3G altogether and the overall size of the air was drastically reduced thanks to the microUSB port and smaller battery. Yes, it still connects to iTunes just like the original. And it still comes fully charged out of the box.
But at $80 you have other options that offer more battery life and functionality. For example, the iV from Fastmac offers at least two full charges, an LED flash and the added bonus of USB slot to charge other gadgets. Sure, it’s ginormous and doesn’t fit in your pocket, but it’s perfect for your gear bag and offers more power.
If you don’t care about such things and just want something that looks pretty, fits in your pocket, adds a bit of protection and offers emergency power then the air is should do you just fine. It comes in black, white and purple and starts shipping tomorrow.
We've known for some time that China Mobile was planning to launch the KIRFy OPhone from Lenovo. Now, with word on the street that China Unicom has snagged the iPhone in that provider's home turf, a report from DigiTimes is suggesting that China Mobile might be trying to undermine the competition's supposed June iPhone launch by dropping the OPhone a month earlier. That sounds sensible enough, but are people there so eager for iPhone they'd jump on the imitation rather than wait another month for the real thing? We'll find out soon enough.
It's a new year and NetBlender has a new change of gear, pairing with BluFocus to bring last year's BD Touch software -- and its BD-Live enabled Blu-ray player to iPhone / iPod Touch connections -- up to version 2.0, featuring crossplatform capability with other WiFi enabled handhelds like Blackberry, Android and Palm Pre. While going iPhone exclusive hasn't hurt some apps, hopefully we'll see wider adoption of the technology, which can enable things from making the phone a remote control to using it as a keyboard, downloading files from the disc or playing games, now that it supports more than one platform. More info should be available once it hits the floor at NAB 2009 later this week.
Our corporate cousins at AOL Money & Finance just released their Daily Finance app for the iPhone, and since it's kinda cool when someone in the family releases a top-rated mobile app, we thought it'd be a good opportunity to sit down for a second and compare it to Stocks -- the built-in "finance" app that every iPhone owner has whether they want it or not -- and another top-rated finance app, Bloomberg. The screen shots tell much of the tale; read on for the quick take, but here's a preview of what we found: Apple should get out of this business and let the big boys play.
We're no Wall Street wizards -- we're more Kevin Bacon's character in his bike messenger days in Quicksilver than Vin Diesel in his Ferrari days in Boiler Room -- but in the final analysis, one thing's very clear: the iPhone's built-in Stocks app sucks, which you don't really come to realize and appreciate until after you've played with these heavier-duty options from AOL and Bloomberg. It leads us to wonder why it's there to begin with, and furthermore, why they've continued to work on it for 3.0 by adding landscape mode. Like the equally-weak Weather app, Apple would be better served by cutting Stocks out of the firmware and leaving it to companies that have the know-how and the vested interest in producing a quality product (like, say, The Weather Channel in place of Weather). As for the battle between Bloomberg and Daily Finance, they're both fantastically detailed with tons of options for tracking your portfolio, checking out a variety of chart time ranges in landscape view, staying up on corporate and world news, and keeping tabs on global indexes. Ultimately, we'd say they're neck-and-neck; since they're free, we recommend you download and try them both. We preferred the way that Daily Finance presented news for individual stocks -- on their own tab to reduce clutter -- and liked the fact that you have far more news categories available to you. On the flipside, we marginally preferred the high-contrast visual appearance of Bloomberg -- it seemed just a little more "professional" to us. Either way, though, do yourself a favor and relegate Stocks to some unused page at the very back of your home screen.
Combining two pretty great ideas in a way that is all kinds of illegal in the US, the China-produced NokiPhone N3000i looks to be a pretty straightforward iPhone ripoff with bonus N95-esque dual slider capabilities. The GSM smartphone's got 3.2-inch QVGA screen, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, dual SIM support, microSD slot, and video recording capabilities. Price of admission is $129 right now, which according to chinagrabber is a hefty discount from its $400 MSRP. Your move, NOKLA.
Just in case you've been trying to worm your way into your network-connected hard drive via your phone, the folks at Pogoplug have made their iPhone application available, free of charge. After you're done Skype'ing, you can check out some family photos. C'mon -- you know you need those files.
In a refreshingly open, straight-shooting interview with the Wall Street Journal, Verizon boss Ivan Seidenberg -- who has a reputation for being candid -- talked about virtually every hot-button topic facing its business today, starting with the love-hate relationship it shares with fellow partner Vodafone in its Verizon Wireless joint venture. Seidenberg reiterated that he'd love to take Vodafone's 45 percent off its hands, but admits that the prospects are unlikely in the short term; he goes on to say, though, that he's convinced they'll be willing to dump it once the wireless industry cools off. The next target of his ire is archrival Sprint, which he says will "self-destruct" by failing to meet capacity demand following the launch of the blowout $50 unlimited deal on its iDEN-based Boost subsidiary -- fightin' words from a guy whose ad campaign has revolved around a smug dork in a jumpsuit touting network reliability for half a decade. Finally -- and this is kind of juicy -- Ivan talks up the iPhone, saying that Apple had never seriously considered a CDMA version, but that he thinks the company will be much more receptive to talks once Big Red moves to LTE and everyone gets on the same page technologically. Of course, if AT&T has anything to say about it, it won't happen -- but it'll be a fun drama to watch unfold.
Months later we're still thrilled at the discovery that the original Dream G2 doesn't run the free and open Android OS, but instead a carefully built, stylus-driven clone. Well, SciPhone's Dream G2+ followup continues in that noble tradition, running with some tweaked looks and the addition of WiFi on top of what looks to be that same Android-cloning interface. It's pretty thrilling stuff, and not at all bad for the $185 asking price.
Do you like iPhone apps? If you have an iPhone, it’s probably safe to assume you answered “Yes.” So do we. You know what else we like? Our readers. That’s why this morning, we’re holding our first ever iPhone App Giveaway Spree.
Starting at 9 A.M. PST, we’ll begin giving away promo code after promo code for dozens of applications, each worth anywhere from 99 cents up to $30 bucks. We’ll be giving away one application (or package of applications) at a time - as soon as we’re out of codes for that prize, we’ll switch to the next one. You won’t know what we’re giving away in each round until it’s under way - so stay on your toes.
So how do you win?
All we can say at this point is that all of the giveaways will go down right here on this very page. Bookmark it. Check it in the morning. Check it at lunch. Check it when you’re supposed to be working. Just keep checking it - free things go fast, and you don’t want to miss an opportunity to win. Beyond that? It’s a mystery. It might be a simple first-to-comment contest, or trivia, or something else - it’ll change throughout the day.
Rules:
The only rule we have to make clear right off the bat is that it’s only open to US residents. We know that sucks, and we’re sorry. It’s not our choice; it’s the way the iTunes App Store promo codes work.
You can win more than once, but only once per round. If someone starts winning over and over, we might set a cap to make it fun for everyone - but we’re not too worried.
If you win. All promo codes will be sent out following the contest to keep things a bit less crazy.
Yeah - we realize how odd that headline might seem. Apple doesn’t exactly endorse jailbreaks, so the idea that any jailbreak method is “official” may seem strange. But with just about every major release coming from one group, certain releases inherently just have more cred.
The just released iPhone 3.0 Beta 3 has been cracked wide open, albeit not by the iPhone Dev Team - hence the “unofficial” bit. Early reports indicate that it seems to be working fine - but as usual, tread with extreme caution, and read before you leap. There are a few important things to take note of. For example: if you jailbreak using this method, you’ll permanently lock out the iPhone OS 2.1 jailbreaks you might want to use if you ever decide to downgrade.
More information (and the download link) available here.
Quick Version: You’re a fountain of useless knowledge and desperately searching for an outlet to convey your brain power. Sony Pictures Television has the perfect solution for you with two iconic game shows for your iPhone or iPod Touch: Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
(Editor’s note: By the way, we’ll be giving away copies of these games in the coming days as part of a much bigger iPhone App giveaway bonanza. More on that later.)
Long Version: It’s safe to say that we’ve all seen an episode or two from either of the aforementioned game shows in our lives, so you probably gist of things. I was never the biggest fan of Wheel of Fortune, but Jeopardy was right in my wheelhouse. SPT did a very good job of replicating the game show experience for handheld consumption and both offer countless hours of fun.
Wheel of Fortune:
Gameplay is strikingly similar to that of the actual game show sans Pat Sajak and Vanna White. The game is played in portrait mode and swiping from left to right spins the wheel. You have full control of how much you actually want to spin the wheel by swiping as little or as much of the screen as you want. You can skip ahead when other players are guessing letters or spinning the wheel, which is a nice touch. Who wants to watch a computer pretend to think? There are three difficulty modes and 12 trophies to be won. Trophies vary from winning a game in easy mode to winning the million dollar grand prize.
What I found to be really confusing and irritating about the game were some of the categories and their respective answers. For example, what the heck does “racing tip of the iceberg” have to do with “before & after”? There were a few other instances where I was perplexed by the answers to certain categories but I was too dumbstruck to take a screen grab.
I’d recommend the game to anyone who is a fan of the game show or has an endless bank of random facts. It’s also pretty good for stimulating the old noggin while taking the train or bus when you’d otherwise be dozing off, looking around aimlessly, or trying to figure out which person sitting near you smells like pee.
Jeopardy:
Like the Wheel, you won’t see a dapper Alex mocking you in the iPhone version of Jeopardy. Gameplay on this particular title isn’t as straight forward, though. This one is played in landscape mode and also allows you to customize your own avatar.
This, too, has three difficulty levels, but also has a single player mode. You’re pitted against two other players, but categories for each round of Jeopardy are limited to three.
Actual gameplay was a bit awkward for me. Switching from category to category could be disastrous if it’s a tight game and you can’t remember which category is what. You can’t see what the other two categories are without choosing a clue from another category. Maybe my short-term memory is just shot, but I found this to be annoying.
When an opposing player is in control of the board, you can still opt to answer or pass it along to someone else. That was another odd aspect of gameplay, but whatever works, I guess.
I’m not the biggest fan of how SPT ported this game to the iPhone, but I still play it on the train to keep my brain from going to mush. Despite the irregularities in gameplay from the actual show, I’d recommend you pick this one up.
It's a little silly just how hush-hush this whole iPhone-AT&T exclusivity agreement has been, but now it sounds like it just might be next century before any of you CDMA loyalists are able to indulge in the App Store. According to a fresh report in The Wall Street Journal, people "familiar with the matter" have suggested that AT&T is feverishly working to extend its exclusive agreement to carry the iPhone in America until 2011. Last we heard, the deal was stretched out through 2010, and considering just how many new subscribers are flocking over solely for this phone, can you really blame the guy for wanting another dozen months of bliss? Not surprisingly, an Apple spokeswoman had more to say about her personal life than on these rumors, but if you were really banking on snapping up a Verizon-branded iPhone at the end of next year, you should probably ask someone to blast you with a giant fire hose of reality.
RFID technology has turned up in plenty of surprisingplaces, but there hasn't exactly been the explosion of iPhone-related development that you may have expected. The lack of an easily accessible RFID reader may have something to do with that, but that doesn't seem to have stopped the folks behind the Touch research project, who rigged up a not-so-discreet RFID reader and put it to some fairly inventive tasks. That includes assigning various media to different objects, like a Bob the Builder video clip that's linked to a Bob the Builder toy, a clip of Chuck Norris kicking a car in the face that's linked to a Chuck Norris action figure (which doesn't even have an RFID chip), and a dynamically-updated MAKE podcast that's linked to a slightly nerdy fellow. Of course, all of this is primarily a proof of concept, and the researchers behind the project see plenty of potential for other applications, including everything from gaming to marketing. Head on past the break to check it out in action.
No details on what's new just yet, but iPhone OS 3.0 beta 3 has just hit Apple's servers for registered, card-carrying members of the Dev Center -- a nice release cadence since the new platform was first announced. More as we flesh it out!
If you’re a developer dabbling away with the latest builds (or one of those clever dastardly gents who managed to get access to the beta firmware through other means), you’ve got an update waiting for you. Apple has just pushed iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 3 out the door.
The changes seem minor, but here’s whats been noticed so far:
Obligatory performance improvements
MMS now works on T-Mobile in Germany, if you modify the carrier bundle
Spotlight now saves the last search
Spotlight search options (Want to only search apps, or everything but music?)
Minor UI tweaks
iPod Touches can now change the function tied to double tapping the home button
It’s a small one at face value, but likely fixes a number of bugs sneaking around behind the scenes. We’ll let you know if anything else pops up.
If you're looking for a quick way to stick it to AT&T, we might suggest an unlocked iPhone 3G running on T-Mobile. Not just any old pwned iPhone, though -- how about something a little more official? Buy.com is offering fully Apple-warranted, "never-locked" 16GB iPhone 3Gs for the princely sum of $799.99, which might very well mark the first time such a unit has been offered by a major retailer stateside. You'd be looking at well less than $800 for an off-contract unit from AT&T that's been unlocked the hacky way, but if you'd rather stay on the up and up, this looks like the way to roll.
The shady iPhone component news chatter is starting to heat up as WWDC inches closer -- today we've got China Times saying that Apple's already placed an order for four million new iPhones to be delivered by the end of Q2. That's a whisper that lines up nicely with those earlier reports suggesting Cupertino's trying to lock down 100 million 8Gb flash chips from Samsung and placing orders for other components in preparation for a June launch, but we're a little skeptical of this one, since it claims that a new EDGE model is in the works along with a 3G version and a China-only variant potentially running on TD-SCDMA. Not moves we'd ordinarily expect Apple to make, but anything's possible -- we'll be keeping our eyes peeled.
Don’t feel like dealing with jailbreaking you iPhone and killing iTunes updating? Got $799? Buy.com has an iPhone for you. The retailer is now selling the Jesusphone fully unlocked and with a full Apple warranty. It isn’t cheap at 800 bones, but think about what you get without all the legal worries. Finally, the iPhone can now legally work on the T-Mobile network and travel abroad too according to the Buy.com description. But why now is this fully unlocked iPhone available? Could it be an inventory clearing tactic before a new model launches. Probably.
The iPhone is due for an update and Apple likely has a bunch of the current crop stored in a warehouse. Sounds plausible, right? So Jobs & Co. - or Buy.com - must get rid of this generation before the new model launches soon. We’re not sure how AT&T feels about the unlocked edition, but the $799 price tag must carry a huge profit margin on the 16GB edition.
Free, unlimited live TV's coming to the iPhone for anyone who wants it one way or another, we just didn't necessarily expect carriers to be supporting the movement. Actually, it's a stretch to call Orange's new "TV from Orange" app "free" since you're only getting unlimited use on roughly 20 of the 60-odd available channels -- and even then, only if you subscribe to one of Orange's new Origami Star for iPhone plans starting at €42 (about $55) per month -- but it's a start. French subscribers should find the app in their local App Store, and if they'd rather pay on an a-la-carte basis, there are add-on TV packages available for €6 and €9 a month, data usage at 1 cent per 10KB, and session usage at 50 cents per 20 minutes, depending on the plan you're rocking. Orange says it'll work on anything from EDGE up (though we doubt the experience is that great on EDGE) and boasts "high definition mobile quality," which feels like a sketchy phrase. Your mileage may vary, naturally.
For those of us that rely on being but a series of digits away at all times, Google Voice is a godsend. Regardless of which phone I’m closest to, be it the home line, my iPhone, or any of the phones we’ve got out on review, I’m reachable. As helpful as it may be, it’s not perfect - at least, not right out of the box. Google provides a fantastic backbone, but some of the solutions they provide for basic functionality (such as making a call or sending an SMS from your Google Voice number) aren’t reasonable replacements for what we’ve all grown accustomed to. Dialing another number before dialing the one I actually want? Pft. Loading up my browser and waiting for the web interface to load to send a new SMS? No thanks. I’m a whiny iPhone user, and thus expect every product to have a companion App that caters to my every need.
Back when Google Voice was still Grand Central and lacked all of the features that the new name carried in tow (SMS, Voicemail transcription, etc), an application called GrandDialer was released which allowed iPhone users to dial out from their Google Voice number through an interface nearly identical to that of the default Phone application. Unfortunately, enough changed when a user would migrate from GrandCentral to Google Voice that GrandDialer no longer functioned properly. This, of course, resulted in deafening cries for an update from a userbase now once again stuck with the more tedious dialing process. Alas, there would be no such update - the day after Google Voice went live, GrandDialer was pulled from the app store, with its developer announcing that the project had been retired.
It wouldn’t be long before we started hearing about an app in the works, ready to step up and fill the shoes left empty by GrandDialer’s demise. In fact, there are now two applications (that we’re aware of) sitting in Apple’s moderation queue: RiverTurn’s VoiceCentral, and GV Mobile by Sean Kovacs. Both are ready to hit the App Store at any moment, and both are going for the exact same price. We’ve obtained pre-release copies of both and pitted them head-to-head - so which one should get your hard earned $2.99?
Note: It’s worth reiterating here that both of these applications were tested in their pre-release, freshly submitted forms. The versions we used for testing are very close to what we’ll see when they hit the App Store, though bug fixes and new features could have slipped in by the time they get approved.
Cost: Whether by pure coincidence or not, both of the applications are set to sell for $2.99 when they make their way to the App Store.
Important to note here, however, is that GrandDialer was free - but lacked much of the functionality found in either of these new applications. This is the App Store, where every third review on any given 99 cent application is complaining that said app isn’t free. GV Mobile will be releasing a gratis feature-for-feature GrandDialer replacement, called GV Mobile Free. It lacks the voicemail, history, and SMS of the premium version.
SMS:
If any one thing kept people from GrandCentral, it was the absence of SMS - what good is having one unified number if text messages sent to it disappear into the oblivion?
At the time of testing, only GV Mobile had support for text messaging. VoiceCentral’s developers tell me they are hard at work on SMS functionality, expecting to have it implemented within the next few days. Depending on when Apple gets around to giving it the green light, it may well have SMS support at launch.
Contacts:
Both applications allow you to dig through your iPhone’s contact list. VoiceCentral places a Contacts key in the static bottom navigation bar, while GV Mobile places a Contacts icon in the dialer and SMS screens. Of the two design methods, we prefer the latter; with the contacts icon off of the bottom bar, more space is available for other icons.
The contact screens of both apps are identical to that of the default Phone app’s screen, as it’s simply being pulled up through the API.
History: Both applications will show recent incoming/outgoing Google Voice calls. The build of VoiceCentral we used for testing does not currently have it built in, but the developers have shown us that it is ready to go in the next build.
Visual Voicemail:
Both GV Mobile and VoiceCentral support playback of voicemail messages left on your Google Voice account, and both feature easy to use Visual Voicemail interfaces.
In our test builds, however, VoiceCentral’s voicemail interface was much better than GV Mobiles. Both support playback (through the ear piece or the speakerphone), and message deletion. However, only VoiceCentral allows you to scrub to any point in a message, manually refresh the voicemail list, or create new contacts from the voicemail caller’s number. Voicemail is one place where VoiceCentral really shines.
Startup Time:
In our completely unscientific testing of start-up times (recording each app starting up 3 times, timing how long it took for them to fully load after the icon was tapped, then calculating the average), GV Mobile started up nearly a whole second faster than VoiceCentral, coming in at 3.7 seconds and 4.6 seconds respectively. It may seem trivial - but when you’re constantly clicking into an application to make calls, each second of load time feels like an eternity.
One thing involving startup struck us as a fairly notable difference: when GV Mobile starts up, it launches into the dialing keypad. When VoiceCentral starts up, it launches into the voicemail screen. Which is better is a matter of personal preference, though we’d imagine that most users would prefer the quick keypad access.
GrandCentral Support: For whatever reason, a number of people plan on stickin’ with GrandCentral until Google makes the jump to Voice mandatory. Of the two, VoiceCentral is the only one to support this legacy option. GV Mobile only plans on supporting Google Voice.
Conclusion:
It’s a bit tough to recommend one application over the other when what we’re seeing isn’t the absolute final release. However - judging solely on what we have in front of us, we’d recommend GV Mobile.
While VoiceCentral’s Voicemail screen is quite superior to GV Mobile, that seems to be its only real advantage. As mentioned above, it also has GrandCentral support going for it - but how many legacy users are only hanging on until applications like these make Google Voice as iPhone-friendly as GrandDialer made GrandCentral? VoiceCentral plans on implementing a number of features that would balance things out significantly - but GV Mobile has a drastic lead. We prefer a number of GV Mobile’s user experience choices, and the overall design of the application - so in the end, that’s where we’d spend our 3 bucks.
Whichever application you go for, look for it to hit the App Store within the next few days.
No details on what's new just yet, but 
Important to note here, however, is that GrandDialer was free - but lacked much of the functionality found in either of these new applications. This is the App Store, where every third review on any given 99 cent application is complaining that said app isn’t free. GV Mobile will be releasing a gratis feature-for-feature GrandDialer replacement, called GV Mobile Free. It lacks the voicemail, history, and SMS of the premium version.
