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The move is dee...
Filed under: Multimedia, Portables, Internet, iPhone, iPod touch
The folks at Flickr have released some good news today. Specifically, their mobile site at m.flickr.com has been improved to include, among other things, video support for the iPhone and iPod touch. Flickr videos now iPhone compatible originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Flickr videos now iPhone compatible originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Hardware, Peripherals, Hacks, Odds and ends, Internet, iPhone, iPod touch
While you're geeking out with your techie friends building battle bots or pumpkin cannons, why not give your dog a little love at the same time?Woof! An iPhone-controlled dog treat dispenser originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Woof! An iPhone-controlled dog treat dispenser originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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David Pogue blogs a follow up to his scathing review of the BlackBerry Storm, and notes:
I’ve always thought that that vocal sub-population of Mac fans make up the world’s most watchful, most hostile grass-roots lobbying arm.
But now I see that I was wrong. There’s an even nastier one: the BlackBerry nuts.
So this is how they want to play it, eh? The iPhone starts beating the BlackBerry in sales (and Windows Mobile in market share!), so they put out the Storm to rain on the touchscreen parade, AND go after the title of craziest cult fanbase?
Think the cult of Apple will really let them get away with that? 
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Apple Passes BlackBerry in Sales Share - BlackBerry Passes Apple in Nut Share?!
This relates to the use of one or more proximity sensors in comb...
A while back we posted about the iPhone 3G coming to Wal Mart. BGR originally said to look for it to hit the retail store on November 15th, and more recently to look for it early next year.
Well BGR is back with yet another Wal Mart rumor, this time that a $99 4GB iPhone 3G will be available. Keep in mind that price is with a 2 year service agreement. Also, take this rumor with a very large grain of salt as BGR does not sound too convinced by the “source”.
A lot of people were expecting a 32GB to drop in the new year, not a 4GB… So what say you? Is it worth going back to a 4GB iPhone just to save a hundred bucks? Sound off in the comments!
[Via Boy Genius Report]
(Thanks to The Reptile for the tip!)
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Wal Mart Revisited: $99 4GB iPhone 3G Coming Soon?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone
Apple saw the iPhone's market share triple over the past year, capturing 12.9 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, according to a new Gartner analysis.
For the quarter ending September 30, iPhones accounted for 3.4 percent of the market in 2007. That figure was more than 3x higher on the same day in 2008.
Nokia is the leader worldwide in smartphone sales, with 42.4 percent of the market. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion comes in third with 15.9 percent. In North America, Apple is in second place behind RIM, with iPhones accounting for over a quarter of all smartphones.
Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza also noted that this quarter marked the first time iPhone sales exceeded those of Windows Mobile devices; that's pretty astonishing when you consider how many flavors of WM handsets are out there.
[Via Macworld.]
iPhone triples market share in Q3 2008 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone triples market share in Q3 2008 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone
Devicescape has released Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T (iTunes link) a new iPhone application designed to streamline logging onto the now free AT&T wifi hotspots. The old way required you to join the network, which would then bring up a page in mobile Safari to enter your AT&T phone number. A few seconds later you receive a (free) text message from AT&T containing a link. Click on the link and you're connected to the internet.Easy Wi-Fi for iPhone simplifies logging onto free AT&T wifi originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Easy Wi-Fi for iPhone simplifies logging onto free AT&T wifi originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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David Perry of Didev Studios wrote in to tell us about Bugz for the iPhone, and was kind enough to send along some interesting insights into the game, developing for the iPhone, and the App Store.
On the origins of Bugz as a PSP game:
Bugz was originally conceived about 2 years ago as a PSP game. It took me around a year of coding, design, graphics and audio work before I made a release into a competition that was being run at the time. Bugz was well received in the competition and received first place. The public seemed to like Bugz and it’s quirky cuteness.
On moving Bugz to the iPhone:
Recently I decided to look at iPhone development and Bugz was an obvious choice as a first project. The initial version of Bugz for the PSP only had 17 levels – this would obviously need expanding for the iPhone version. Whilst contemplating the iPhone port of Bugz, I asked a friend to join me on the project, he accepted and Didev Studios was born.
On the re-development:
The port to approximately 5 weeks and I use the term ‘port’ loosely. The game was pretty much re-written specifically for the iPhone, only the original graphics and audio were retained. The iPhone really is a great device for developers to create for. The SDK is feature packed and comes with great documentation and samples – all that a developer could want.
On the App Store and marketing for the iPhone:
I’m happy with the way things have gone so far, Bugz sales are increasing slowly and feedback from users has on the whole been great. The one thing that is hard is marketing your app. Any released app is quickly lost in the App Store and external marketing is a must in order to get potential users interested.
Bugz is available in the iTunes App Store.
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
David Perry Talks Bugz for iPhone: Gaming, Development, and App Store
Filed under: Retail, Rumors, iPhone
Your source for all iPhone-slash-Walmart news, BoyGeniusReport, has a whopper for you: Walmart might offer the 4GB iPhone for $99 when they start selling the handsets after Christmas.
Even they're skeptical, though: Their tipster isn't one of their regulars, and so they can't say with any certainty that it will come to pass.
The discount makes sense, in a way. Selling the low-end iPhone at a ridiculous price will turn it into the new Motorola RAZR. Apple would love everyone in the country to own one, I'm sure. It's not clear who will eat the discount, though -- Apple, AT&T, or Walmart -- but my guess is that it's mostly Apple. Apple has other revenue streams for the iPhone, such as the App Store and iTunes, and AT&T still has its spendy two-year contract. If this is what Apple needs to do to make this the ubiquitous handset to have, then it may be worth the cost to them.
On the other hand, as many commenters at BGR have pointed out, with ubiquity comes rejection. Suddenly, the iPhone isn't the cool status symbol to have anymore. This doesn't bother me one bit, but to some people -- for whatever reason -- it's important to them. (I have special names for those people.) Nevertheless -- will it impact sales? How much is the "hip" coefficient driving purchases?
In any event, consider this one of those situations where the Internet is writing checks that Walmart's butt might not be able to cash. But pretty sweet if it does.
BGR: Walmart to sell $99 iPhone? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
BGR: Walmart to sell $99 iPhone? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! Full contest rules here!]
Our video preview is done, our final review is posted, but you had Palm Treo Pro questions and so we’ll try to provide some answers… After the break…
deathscaller Says: Does the Pro’s Internet speed compare to the iPhones at all?
3G is 3G, but the cpu speed and software engine can make a difference. Web browsing on the iPhone seemed much faster, which I chalk up to MobileSafari’s WebKit foundation (well known from back in it’s Linux Konquerer days for its sheer speed). Email is much lighter than web rendering, and iPhone does HTML email, where I only saw mobile email from the Treo Pro, so that’s not a fair comparison, but both were snappy (though Gmail IMAP still gives me fits on every platform)
Justin Says: I’m curious to know your thoughts on the email set up. I had a hell of a time when I used the Treo 750, and that was ultimately what drove me away.
I won’t lie: it’s fairly hideous. Then again, Windows makes you set up Exchange in Control Panel rather than Outlook, so my expectations have been trampled. I couldn’t get Exchange to work due to the failure to allow custom certificates to be accepted (on the iPhone, you can just ignore the warning). Gmail set up, but defaulted to POP, not IMAP. It did do a decent job of auto-detecting Gmail’s settings, however.
Mike M Says: How well does it do things the iPhone is lacking? Cut and paste, to dos, mms, etc. And would you even consider switching just to get these features? I know I wouldn’t, but I’m sure there are people out there who are on the fence who would like to know.
I really wanted cut and paste, but on both the Treo and Android I ended up not using it much. It was too annoying. On the iPhone, if I want to send you a webpage I’m looking at (or location, or photo, etc.) I just hit the + button, pick your address, and boom, email is sent and I’m back in on the web. Having to manually fiddle with highlighting tiny, irregular text blobs, going through menu gymnastics, manually switching apps, etc. just slowed me down and made me think it wasn’t worth it.
MMS is useless to me as I don’t have any friends or family using it either, and everyone else I just email the stuff to right off the iPhone. It’s device independent, which I prefer.
If Apple really nailed implementations of these features, I’d certainly be really happy and probably use them when I had to, but if they did it badly (no Storm jokes!) I’d be even more annoyed. So no, I wouldn’t switch.
Anthony Martinez Says: How’s that keyboard. I picked up a Palm in a store once and thought it was way too small. But then the iphone keyboard is small in portrait mode too. What are your thoughts?
Material is better than the 6xx/7xx series, but the narrow width takes that step forward back a notch.
Jeff Says: What have you missed most from the iPhone that the Pro doesn’t offer?
Without a hint of sarcasm: joy. The iPhone is just a pleasure to use. The Treo Pro was powerful but a lot of work. I didn’t enjoy the experience, even when it impressed me. User experience on the iPhone — every little detail from app flow to stretch and bounce animation effects — is just so well polished.
PRIMECHUCK Says: Does the phone stream live events
Qik style? According to WMExperts, yes it does.
Mike M Says: How close do you think palm and the iPhone are from being incomparable devices? Palm doesn’t seem to be much of a contender anymore, how long before they drop out of the competition?
I hope never. While Apple is amazing at competing with themselves (see the iPod space), everyone does better with strong alternatives pushing innovation.
Jason Says: Is the touchscreen very important to navigation/data entry/etc? Most other phones are either all keys or all touchscreens…
I’m used to using touch screen on Palm devices (insert stylus humor here), so for me it was very easy to default back to. Crackberry Kevin, by contrast, likely never went near it.
Rey Says: What’s the best and worst thing about it?
Best is that it’s a really great WinMo device with excellent hardware. Worst is that it wasn’t a Palm Treo.
Touch Me Says: The tiny 320 x 320 screen on the Treo looks like a big disadvantage compared to the iPhone’s 480 x 320. How does that affect its use? Or does not needing screen real estate for a virtual keyboard and menus make it a wash?
It felt cramped, which is amazing since the previous gen WinMo Palm had 240×240. And when the default soft keyboard popped up, not only was it tiny and stylus-compelling, it usually covered the field you were supposed to type into.
BLUELINE Says: What is of like haveing a phone with both touch and physical buttons for the ui. Do you think it is better or worse then a all touch or no touch phone?
I like having the choice, though I won’t know for sure until I’ve used a completely non-touch device like the BlackBerry Bold. However, I’m increasingly coming to believe that hard keyboards — for some types of users like myself — are a thing of the past.
Jason Says: Has palm changed anything about the Windows Mobile OS to make it their own? Sort of like the panels on the SE Xperia or the Fuze…
Not this time around, far as I could tell, though that keeps WinMo smoking fast (if heinously ugly).
Jeff Says: what was the learning curve like on the keyboard going from the iphone to the pro?
I used to have a 680, so not too bad. I did find it annoying that the hard keyboard wouldn’t change to reflect state. With the iPhone, I’ve gotten used to pressing “shift” and seeing upper case, pressing 123 and seeing numbers, etc. Especially in password fields, I was never sure what I was typing (even with the little icons on screen).
Jason Says: With the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, would you use the Treo Pro (or AT&T Fuze and T-Mobile G1) as much for music/videos?….I can’t imagine using the connectors
Treo Pro has the 3.5mm headphone jack, it’s the Android G1 and HTC FUZE that don’t have them, and yes it’s even more egregious than the original iPhone 2G’s wonky 3.5mm (because it needs an even more annoying adapter).
Jeff Says: How about battery life?
It was great! It lasted more than a day, however because I couldn’t get everything working, I did far, far, far less with it than I typically do with an iPhone.
KLutes Says: I am curious as to how robust the device feels as a whole in comparison. More solid less solid or about the same build quality. I see lots of cracked glass iphones on my college campus and I am curious as to how bang up prone this little gem is.
Both the iPhone 3G and the Treo Pro have had reported problems with micro-cracks in the plastic casing, but Dieter’s Treo Pro is still pristine! Build quality is superb, with a ton of fit and finish. However, it’s plastic, not glass, and was a little creaky around the battery cover. The iPhone has no removable battery, so it’s as close to a solid slab as you can get.
Bela says: Do you feel that this phone compares to the Android ?
Android is still very much a beta/technology preview, while WinMo in its current incarnation is a relic, so as the former rises and the latter falls, they could be comparable during this brief slice of time. What Android 2.0 and WinMo 7 look like is a far more important, and difficult question.
Thanks everyone for sending in your questions!
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Round Robin: TiPb vs. Palm Treo Pro Q&A!
Looks like Google isn’t the only one making sure that when a user talks, the iPhone listens. Vlingo wrote in to tell us that their well-known BlackBerry app is now available for the iPhone, and it sure looks like they’ve been listening as well!
Vlingo lets you:
Google works pretty well, but doesn’t include contact search (and seems to have trouble with British, Southern, or anything other than TV-ized North American accents.)
Vlingo does search contacts, and does a good job of it (and even suggests alternatives, which is welcome when it has trouble distinguishing between individuals with close-sounding names). However, unlike Google (which uses forbidden API’s to access the phone-like “lift to your ear and start talking” functionality) you have to press a button, then talk, then press a button again when you’re finished. There are helpful tutorials included to get you used to the process and on your way.
Gallery after the jump!
This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
Quick App: Vlingo Voice Powered Search for iPhone
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Apple, Walmart to do $99 4GB iPhone? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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