AT&T Selling Refurbished iPhone 3G’s for $99

Apple will start Selling iPhone 3G at Walmart Stores on Sunday, Dec 28

Quick App: Bow Cam for iPhone

An app that barks at a dog to get it’s attention so it can then snap the dog’s picture? Now that’s some cunning canine camera creativity right there. We imagine, however, a barking dog might get the attention of all sorts of other snap-able subjects.

Bow Cam comes from Appliya, a Tokyo based iPhone developer house. We’re hoping to see more from them, but we’ve also heard that waiting in the increasingly long line for app approval is even more problematic internationally, with some iTunes branch reps simply telling devs to contact the US for support (regardless of language differences.)

Let’s hope the post-holiday season slows down a little, Apple adds both staff and a modicum of transparency, and the process as a whole matures into 2009, b’okay?

Tried Bow Cam on your pooch? (or prowler?) Let us know how it worked for you!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: Bow Cam for iPhone

AT&T Begins Selling $99 (Refurbished) iPhone

Several readers have noted that AT&T has started selling refurbished iPhone 3Gs as low as $99.

While AT&T has intermittently offered refurbished iPhones in the past, the $99 price point is noteworthy given the recent rumors that Appl...

$99 iPhone 3G Not from Walmart but Refurb from AT&T!

Now they don’t celebrate Boxing Day in the US (think Black Friday the day after Xmas), but it seems no one told AT&T! Why else would the carrier race Walmart to the bottom and offer $99 iPhone’s: 8GB refurbs (and $199 16GB refurbs as well!) according to Engadget.

Since those rumors of Walmart selling them that cheap didn’t pan out (according to BGR, they’ll be putting them on sale — new — for a couple bucks below retail on Sunday), and you still haven’t gotten an iPhone (or several) of your very own, will this finally get you to take the plunge?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

$99 iPhone 3G Not from Walmart but Refurb from AT&T!

Review: Television for iPhone

Television does serve a useful purpose as a reasonably well-organized clearinghouse for TV news. But it suffers from some limitations that show just how far developers have to go before getting video on the iPhone and iPod touch right.

Forum Review: Touch Physics for iPhone

Touch Physics Forum Review by cjvitek (For msbaylor’s take on it, check the link. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Touch Physics is a strategy/puzzle game, where the goal is to get the purple circle to touch the yellow star. As the game progresses, you are presented with an increasing array and diversity of obstacles in your path that you need to navigate the purple circle around. The circle is moved by forces of gravity, friction, and elasticity. For example, if a large object falls on the circle on the left side, the circle will move/roll/bounce to the right.

So how do you get the large object (or planks, or whatever you want)? Simple - you draw them. You get to add the objects that interact with the circle (and the rest of the obstacles, for that matter). You can draw straight lines, you can draw cirlces or polygons, just about any shape you have in mind (with a few exceptions - see below). These object are subject to the same laws of gravity, friction, and elasticity as the rest of the object in the game.

One especially cool feature of this game is that you can also adjust the various physical interactions. Increasing or decreasing gravity will influence both your objects and the movement of the circle, for example. Because of the various ability to actually adjust the physical parameters of the world, this becomes a much more interesting game - you can replay the same game multiple times with various changes to the physical constants.

This is an interesting concept for the game, and I like the interface. It looks like you are working on a simple paper background, and the images you “draw” look like they were drawn with a crayon. Settings can be changed in the settings menu (not within the game itself, one minor complaint), and there is a nice musical background that is playing as well.

My main problem with this game is the interaction - specifically, dawing shapes. Unfortunately, the game engine does not allow for the drawing of any sort of complex shapes (with multiple obtuse or acute angles, for example). If you try to draw one of those, the game “simplifies” it for you, often times negating the strategy you might have had when drawing the shape.

Other than that, however, the game is fun, and can be quite challenging. I like the interaction between what you draw and the obstacles in the way of the purple circle. I do wish you could save you progress within a level, instead of simply starting the level over, but that is a minor flaw. Shaking the iPhone to start a level over is a fun way to vent frustrations and begin anew.

Pros:

• Nice interface, good game concepts

Cons:

• Complex shapes not allowed

Conclusion

All in all, this is a cool game for the money, and if you like strategy puzzle games, this might be worth your money. The interface is clean and simple, the controls are easy to learn, and the game play can be radically alterred by adjusting the physical parameters of the “universe”. For $1.99 (on sale now for $.99) it is worth the money.

Forum Review Rating

[Touch Physics is available from the iTunes App Store.]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Forum Review: Touch Physics for iPhone

SimCity for iPhone: A week later

Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, iPod touch

Last week, Electronic Arts finally released SimCity for the iPhone. Like Rolando, which came a day later, SimCity was an eagerly anticipated game with a lot of high expectations. On the surface, it looks fantastic. The graphic capabilities really shows off what the capacity of the iPhone is capable of and it's very addicting.

One reader comment stated that our initial review wasn't really a full-on review, and that it only scraped the surface. In a way, he was correct. A game like SimCity is something that you play over time on the iPhone, and you actually can dedicate a lot of effort to it. Last week's review was based on observations after only a few hours of play. SimCity is a game where certain effects on the system can't be felt until you've played it longer than a day. In this case, it's been eight days since my previous review, and a lot of the game's faults have started springing up during that time.

So, what's the game like after a week?

Continue reading SimCity for iPhone: A week later

SimCity for iPhone: A week later originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SimCity for iPhone: A week later originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The best iPhone apps not in the App Store

All week long, Macworld editors have picked their favorite App Store offerings. But Christopher Breen notes that some very useful apps don’t have Apple’s official seal of approval. Here are the top applications for jailbroken iPhones.

AT&T letting go of 8GB refurb iPhone 3Gs for $99 on contract

Ha, you or someone you love just paid full retail for an iPhone 3G a few days ago, didn't you? We've always heard that the best deals come after Christmas, but people just never learn. All smack talk aside, those who didn't get a new cellie under the tree, but did acquire a Benjamin or so courtesy of cash-stuffed holiday cards, can certainly score a big deal today. AT&T is now offering the 8GB iPhone 3G in refurbished form for just $99 with a two-year agreement, while the 16GB refurb is $199 on contract in either black or white. Call us crazy, but we don't foresee these hanging around in stock for too awfully long.

[Thanks, Brenson]

Filed under: Cellphones

AT&T letting go of 8GB refurb iPhone 3Gs for $99 on contract originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: iHunt for iPhone

iHunt is a simple shooting game that features three distinct shooting experiences: deer, pheasant and clay pigeons. It uses the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer to adjust your sights, and touchscreen buttons provide the ability to change your view and fire.

Patent Watch: More Multi-Touch Gestures for the iPhone

MacRumors brings word of yet more Apple patents passing through the system, this time focusing on multi-touch gestures. How can you patent a gesture? Don’t get us started. The USPO has raised the bar on ludicrous so high a giant could now safely run under it. The particulars of this one is interesting to anyone interested in the iPhone interface, however:

For example, erasing and basic punctuation insertion, directional swipes (also referred to herein as “swipe gestures”) over the alphabetic keys can be used as an alternative to striking certain keys. Because the Space and Backspace keys are quite frequently used, they are logical candidates for the rightward and leftward swipes, respectively. Leftward and rightward swipes intuitively match the cursor travel caused by these symbols. Following this cursor movement analogy, the Enter/Return may be invoked by a downward swipe, and a Shift/Caps may be invoked by an upward swipe. Alternatively, as the Enter and Shift functions may be less frequently invoked, these may be substituted for other functions as well. One alternative mapping for the upward swipe, for example, could be to activate an alternative numeric and punctuation keypad or a particular punctuation symbol like an apostrophe or period.

Our question? Where’s the cut/copy paste gesture already?!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Patent Watch: More Multi-Touch Gestures for the iPhone

Citrix Strikes Again: Windows Receiver on iPhone a Go!

Citrix has been warning… er… teasing Windows for the iPhone for a while now, but their blog (via Gizmodo) was recently updated to reflect some updates:

As we have announced here on the Citrix Blog ( still no Press Release though … ) we are actively developing a Citrix Receiver for the iPhone that will bring the world of millions of Windows apps and developers to the iPhone. As part of our testing and demonstrations we are looking for examples of compelling applications that will not run natively on the iPhone, however if the app was hosted on XenApp and delivered to the iPhone it would provide a great visual example of the power of Citrix and the iPhone.

They cite examples including IE-only apps (ActiveX?), Flash apps, medical apps, and cut and paste (?!)

While other remote desktop and VNC clients exist for the iPhone, Citrix comes from a background deep inside the Windows kernel and are thus unique situated to develop a killer solution.

So, anybody really want remote access to Windows on their iPhone, and if so, what do you want most from it?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Citrix Strikes Again: Windows Receiver on iPhone a Go!

Wal-Mart to Sell iPhone Starting Sunday

Image from SkippyThorson
Wal-Mart officially announced that the company will start selling Apple's iPhone on Sunday, December 28th. The news confirms multiple reports about the impending sale. The report also confirms that rumors of ...

Wal-Mart to start selling iPhone on Sunday

The retail giant confirmed rumors that it would join Best Buy as an independent reseller of Apple’s iPhone 3G. The 8GB and 16GB models will sell for a $2 discount at Wal-Mart.

Round Robin: Smartphone Experts Roundtable Podcast II!

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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!]

Join us for the second of two special Smartphone Round Robin Roundtables! This week, Casey, Kevin, Rene, and Dieter discuss the final two devices in our Smartphone Round Robin: the T-Mobile G1 and the the HTC Fuze. Plus, they answer your questions live!

Music: Our Slanted Voices by DoKashiteru

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Round Robin: Smartphone Experts Roundtable Podcast II!

iControlPad for the iPhone Gamer Cometh

Thought that big honking box under the tree was a PSP? Psyche! It’s an iControlPad, the gaming add-on Casey linked up back in August that makes your iPhone pretty much the same size! Says http://www.tuaw.com/2008/12/24/icontrolpad-goes-into-production/:

Engadget thinks they need some official Apple support, but all they’ll really need is developer support in the App Store (they say they already have strong support from the jailbreak folks).

So, any hard-core iGamers out there eagerly anticipating this d-pad and button strewn power up?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iControlPad for the iPhone Gamer Cometh

Get more iPhone games out of that iTunes gift card

Peter Cohen offers some suggestions for games to buy for your iPhone and iPod touch using that iTunes gift card you got for Christmas.