Google blocks paid apps for unlocked G1 users

Apple Shareholder Meeting Notes: Directors Reelected, No Change in Jobs’ Plans

Review: BeejiveIM for iPhone

Live in Japan? Want an iPhone 3G for FREE?

And we thought $99 rumors at Walmart sounded cheap! According to Apple Insider, if you live in Japan and don’t mind signing a 2-year deal with official carrier SoftBank, you can take home an 8GB iPhone 3G for FREE!

No matter the exchange rate, zero is zero, so if you’ve been holding out for an iPhone of your very own, is this finally enough the sway you? And most importantly, what Emoji will you use to express your free iPhone feelings?

(For our non-Japanese readers think AT&T, Rogers, or any other carrier will match this deal any time soon..?

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

Live in Japan? Want an iPhone 3G for FREE?

Smartphone Experts Roundtable Podcast 3

Join Dieter, Matthew, Kevin, Rene, and Casey as they discuss Mobile World Congress 2009 — there’s a little bit for everybody in this gigantic cross-platfrom smartphone podcast!

• Download it directly with this link
• Subscribe via iTunes
• Subscribe directly to the Podcast feed with your favorite Podcatcher here
• Listen to it here with the player above

Show notes after the break.

• Casey Chan for Android Central
• Kevin Michaluk for CrackBerry.com
• Matthew Miller for Nokia Experts
• Rene Ritchie for The iPhone Blog
• and Dieter Bohn for TreoCentral, PreCentral.net, and WMExperts

WMExperts

• Windows Mobile 6.5
• My Phone
• Windows Phones
• HTC Touch Pro2 and Touch Diamond2

The iPhone Blog

• Turn by Turn GPS is shown off
• Docs2Go for the iPhone is incoming
• Adobe still doesn’t get that Apple’s just not that into Flash
• AT&T talks about the iPhone because “99.5 percent of the industry is trying to copy the iPhone“.

PreCentral.net

• GSM Palm Pre
• HTML5, Google Maps

Nokia Experts

• Ovi Store
• N86, E75 and N97
• Omnia HD

CrackBerry.com

• Happy Birthday CrackBerry.com
• SurePress - Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough
• BB Application Suite

Android Central

• Huawei Mystery Slate
• HTC Magic
• DocsToGo
• Excellent roundup here

Credits

Special thanks to gmz for the song Parametaphoriquement, licensed under the Creative Commons at CCMixter.org

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

Smartphone Experts Roundtable Podcast 3

From the Forums: Will You Purchase the Next iPhone?, Podcast Playlist?, Battery Life, iPhone 3G Bulid Quality

The forums are seeing a lot of action as of late and today is more of the same!

The rumor mills are just getting started about the next generation iPhone and you can expect that to increase by the day. Knowing that a new Apple phone is only 5-6 months away, will you be purchasing the next iPhone? Be sure to get your vote in and let us know why or why not!

The next thread comes to us from TiPb’s very own Rene Ritchie. He wants to know what podcasts are currently on your iPhone? I’m sure every single one of our readers already subscribed to iPhone Different and iPhone Live… right?

Usually the main question from someone who is looking into buying an iPhone is battery life. No different here, jstac wants to know about the iPhone 3G’s battery life. My answer is simple — all depends on how you use the device. It can be good and it can be bad.

Another question that gets asked a lot about the iPhone 3G is it’s build quality. While I personally have had no issues with mine since July 11th, other people have not been so lucky. How about you? Be sure to check out this ongoing thread on the build quality of the iPhone 3G.

To join in on the forum fun be sure to register! It’s a simple process that will only take a moment of your time.

See you on the forums!

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

From the Forums: Will You Purchase the Next iPhone?, Podcast Playlist?, Battery Life, iPhone 3G Bulid Quality

MobileMe WebApp Gets New Front Page Look

Login to MobileMe’s WebApp yet today? Well if you have, you’ve seen what we’ve seen — Apple put a fresh coat of paint to the front login page, shuffling the big icons off to the side and clearing some space for a little marketing front and center.

I like the new look, but I can’t tell yet if there’s anything changed under the covers? File sharing was the last update, anyone see anything else?

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

MobileMe WebApp Gets New Front Page Look

Safari 4 Tips, Tricks and Special Effects

Apple Annual Shareholder Meeting Today

Apple will be holding their annual general shareholder meeting today. The Board of Directors (including Google CEO, iPhone partner, and Android rival Eric Schmidt) is up for re-election, and management will supposedly be held to answer by shareholders, but Steve Jobs will not be in attendance (he’s still out on leave), and we don’t really expect much in the way of specific iPhone news.

Of course, if anything interesting does come out, you know we’ll keep you covered.

(via TUAW and Bloomberg)

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

Apple Annual Shareholder Meeting Today

CEOh-Snap! Microsoft’s Ballmer Says iPhone Has Mojo but WinPho Has Momentum!

Microsoft PR must hate it every single time CEO Steve Ballmer gets on a mic. Bloggers on the other hand…? From the latest analyst briefing:

“The truth of the matter is all the consumer market mojo is with Apple and to a lesser extent BlackBerry. And yet, the real market momentum with operators and the real market momentum with device manufacturers seems to primarily be with Windows Mobile and Android.”

Um.. Apple and BlackBerry manufacture their own devices there Steve, so while their internal momentum is enough to steamroll an industry, ODM’s can’t get their hands on iPhone OS X or RIM’s OS no matter how badly they probably want to.

Apple Insider rightly points out, of course, that this is the same line Microsoft used about the iPod when promoting their own PlaysForSure DRM platform (which later became closer akin to PlaysNoMore).

Check out Apple Insider’s full coverage to get Ballmer’s views on Apple’s Mac, Google, Android on Netbooks vs. Windows 7, and how Microsoft could be like RCA! (?!)

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

CEOh-Snap! Microsoft’s Ballmer Says iPhone Has Mojo but WinPho Has Momentum!

Review: NoteWorthy for iPhone

iPhone apps round-up: The iPhone goes supernatural

Keepin’ it real fake, part CLXXXV: the world-renowned GiPhone F5

Whoever put together GiPhone F5 seems to have done a pretty good job of mimicking the iPhone's UI, but other than that the deets are rather sketchy. This bad boy seems to be a 3G handset with a capacitive 3.2-inch multitouch screen, Bluetooth, "kinds of games," and up to 16GB internal memory. Sounds wonderful, sure, but don't give up your HiPhone just yet -- we're still trying to figure out where this one is available, and at what price. Video after the break.

Continue reading Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXXV: the world-renowned GiPhone F5

Filed under: Cellphones

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXXV: the world-renowned GiPhone F5 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple rejects South Park iPhone app

Band sells songs as iPhone apps

Review: iSignature for iPhone

Review: Air traffic control games for the iPhone

Opinion: Why iPhone service prices probably won’t budge

Mini vMac Ported to the iPhone; Allows you to Run Classic Mac Plus OS

Review: Krusell Hector Leather Case for iPhone and iPhone 3G

I’m a big fan of not using a hard case as doing so hides the beauty of the iPhone. So I tend to look for pouches, sleeves, and sometimes leather cases. Enter the Krusell Hector Leather Case for the iPhone and iPhone 3G which happens to be available in TiPb Store for $29.95. I’ve spent a good amount of time using this case, so read on for the full review!

Design

Lets start out by saying when you first see this case you probably won’t come away that impressed. But after a closer look at this side case, it might just make you change your mind. The first thing that you’ll notice is how the Krusell Hector Case is built out of a very soft, high quality leather. A lot of leather holster cases out there are very stiff but that is not the case with this Krusell. It is by far one of the most subtle leather cases that I have personally come across in a very long time.

On the inside, Krusell has lined it with a soft suede leather. So there is absolutely no reason to worry about this case scratching any part of your iPhone. On the outside, you have a magnetic flap keeping your iPhone securely in place along with an open slot underneath so you can push up to get the iPhone out with a great amount of ease.

On a negative front there is one thing that I found to be missing… a normal clip. All you get here are belt loops… More on that later.

Daily Use

Like I mentioned, I’m a big fan of not hiding my iPhone 3G in any way, shape or form. When my phone is not in use and is in my coat pocket or pants pocket it is always in one of my pouch cases to be kept well protected. So giving a new case like the Krusell Hector a try was a very welcome opportunity.

Right away I could not help but notice it’s one and only major flaw. It only has belt loops and it omits a regular clip! Seriously? While this may work for some of you, it is something that I just could not get past. When my iPhone is not in use it stays protected, whether it’s sitting on a desk, table or whatever it may be. In order for this to happen with the Krussel Hector case I would have to undo my belt. Not very convenient in my honest opinion.

Another gripe about the lack of clip is what if you don’t wear a belt one day? It pretty much renders this case useless. So note to non-belt wearers out there: This may not be the case for you.

Now for all of your who like having your iPhone attached at your hip all day long. This may just be the case you’ve been looking for.

When it is attached to a belt, it is actually more sturdy than a normal clip, which leaves you with less of a chance of actually leaving your device behind for someone else to pick up. That is obviously a plus. While wearing the Krusell on your side you will notice that it is reasonably comfortable and eventually you forget it is attached to your side. It’s also important to note that removing your iPhone is also a piece of cake. So no worries there.

Conclusion

The Krusell Hector Leather Case for the iPhone and iPhone 3G, available at TiPb Store for $29.95, is a good side holster case with one major drawback. Yes, you guessed it. The lack of a normal clip. Now if you are the type of person who likes to keep the case attached at your hip for your entire day, I suggest you give this case a try. You will not be disappointed in it’s build quality. It is very well crafted and it suits it’s purpose well.

Pros

• Superbly built with high quality leather
• Comfortable to wear
• Does a good job of protecting the iPhone while holding it securely

Cons

• Lack of removable clip!
• Did I mention belt loops only?

TiPb Review Rating

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

Review: Krusell Hector Leather Case for iPhone and iPhone 3G