Smartphone Experts Roundtable Podcast #4 — CTIA 2009

Join Dieter, Kevin, Rene, and Phil as they discuss CTIA and the other big news coming out of the smartphone world in the past few weeks.

• 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.

• Phil Nickinson for WMExperts
• Rene Ritchie for The iPhone Blog
• Kevin Michaluk for CrackBerry.com
• and Dieter Bohn for PreCentral.net

WMExperts

• Snap! Hands-On Impressions, Video of the HTC Snap
• Marketplace Microsoft gives more marketplace details! Themes!, Upgrades to 6.5!
• Propel Pro Hands-on: Samsung Propel Pro

PreCentral.net

• Classic Classic PalmOS Emulator: Video Walkthrough
• SDK opened up a bit Web 2.0 Expo: Palm Reaches Out to Developers – Extends Invite to Apply for Early Access Program<
• Mojo Messaging Mojo Messaging Service for webOS: More than Just Push

CrackBerry.com

• App World Goes Live - http://crackberry.com/blackberry-app-world-goes-live
• Storm Discontinued - http://crackberry.com/blackberry-storm-officially-discontinued
• BlackBerry gets Shazam - http://crackberry.com/shazam-blackberry-app-world-surprise

The iPhone Blog

• Next Gen iPhone Taking Shape: 3.5mp camera, video recording, voice control, digital compass, and the leaks just keep on coming!
• Google Giveth Gmail and Gcal Goodness: New WebApps leverage advanced WebKit features
• (Google Voice Mobile App: looks pretty sweet as well)
• Music Prices Go Variable: iTunes changes to tiered music single pricing, but so does Amazon MP3 and Walmart.
• AT&T Cracking Down on iPhone users without iPhone 3G plans?

Nokia Experts

• Nokia E71x
• CTIA 09: Nokia release Point & Find beta for camera-enabled devices

Android Central

• Not big at CTIA — again! — what gives?

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 #4 — CTIA 2009

iPhone, Skype, and Dumb Pipes: The Future of Cell Carriers

Macworld has a great article up today about the arrival of Skype on the iPhone (and soon the BlackBerry) and what the widespread availability of VoIP (voice over IP) clients — which eschew the traditional phone lines to send talk via data instead — means for cell providers like AT&T, Verizon, O2, Rogers, etc. who’ve made tons of traditional money billing us all by the minute.

One common future seen for cell companies is that of “dumb pipes” — like DSL or cable companies that provide bandwidth but few if any premium services. Verizon shows how far (and foolish) they’ll go to avoid that fate:

“We have moved away from unlimited data plans,” Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam said at a question-and-answer session at CTIA. “The excitement of an over-the-top application like (Skype) in an unlimited environment means one thing to a customer. In an environment where you’re paying for every byte, that means something totally different.”

I wonder, tongue only partially in cheek, if McAdam used to work for the music or movie industry? Our own editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn, freshly returned from CTIA shared his thoughts:

Dear Verizon: You always become what you most fear. To wit: dumb pipes. Love, the inevitable.

Sounds good to me. Let’s make a deal, carriers. You supply the bandwidth, keep the bits open and neutral, and I’ll pay for the service same way I pay for my electricity and plug in whatever gadget I want. Deal?

Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, the iPhone’s US carrier, seems almost on a page with that already:

“The way the world is going, it’ll just be, ‘How much data do you want to buy?’ and you do whatever you want over that data.”

Check out the complete article at Macworld for more, and let us know what future you want for your data below…

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

iPhone, Skype, and Dumb Pipes: The Future of Cell Carriers

Video recording code/interface uncovered in iPhone firmware 3.0

Following weeks of evidence and source reports on Apple’s intentions to include video recording features in its next-generation iPhone, a new discovery within betas of the company’s iPhone 3.0 software has all but officially confirmed the plans. Separate hints at Voice Dialing features are also being reported. It showed an interface similar to the existing iPhone [...]

iPhone Skype may be tip of the iceberg for carriers

Mobile operators are pondering VoIP's dangers and opportunities as they move toward all-IP networks.

The Wolfenstick app can send and recieve data through the iPhone audio port

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, Software, Odds and ends, Developer, iPhone, SDK, iPod touch

This is interesting -- Alex Winston, Ltd. has come up with what they call the Wolfenstick, a little iPhone app that can control Wolfenstein 3D Classic with a second iPhone through the audio port. Obviously this isn't a very practical setup, as buying a second iPhone just to control games on the first one probably isn't in anyone's interest. But it does open up a whole slew of possibilities for how a connection like this might be used -- as you can see in the video above, not only are controls and the accelerometer able to be transferred, but even game and app information can be sent across the cable.

Of course, the 3.0 update casts a nice large shadow across ideas like this -- we know for sure that there will be more hooks for accessories to work with apps on the iPhone, so having to go through the audio port may end up being more of a novelty, as it'll likely be much easier to go through the connector on the bottom of the iPhone. But if you want to play while the unit is charging (or just want to connect two iPhones with nothing more than an audio cable), there's definitely some promise here.

The Wolfenstick app can send and recieve data through the iPhone audio port originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Wolfenstick app can send and recieve data through the iPhone audio port originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

TUAW Review: XRoad G-Map US

Filed under: Software, Reviews, iPhone, App Store, Road Tested

During the discussion earlier in the year about why Apple was blocking turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps for the iPhone 3G (it will be "legal" in iPhone 3.0), a reader pointed out that there have been a pair of turn-by-turn navigators in the App Store for quite a while.

Upon following the reader hint, I was surprised to find that XRoad G-Map US West (click opens iTunes) and East have the United States covered for navigation. These apps, US$19.99 each, don't have the voice prompts that most of us appreciate, but they do provide surprisingly accurate directions and a 3D navigation view that rivals the more expensive Garmin, TomTom, and Magellan dedicated navigators.

European and Canadian versions of the app are expected to be released by the end of this quarter, while Central / South America and Asian versions should arrive by the end of 2009.

Since I am the resident GPS geek at TUAW, I decided to give XRoad G-Map US West v1.3 a test drive and see how it performed compared to my Garmin nüvi navigator. While the XRoad product has some shortcomings, it's still worthy of a look if you're thinking about purchasing a navigation app. Click Read More to see how G-Map worked...or didn't.

Continue reading TUAW Review: XRoad G-Map US

TUAW Review: XRoad G-Map US originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TUAW Review: XRoad G-Map US originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Next Gen iPhone: Apple Gobbling up NAND Flash Memory Ahead

DigiTimes (via Engadget) is reporting that Apple is once again draining the world dry of NAND Flash memory chips ahead of an anticipated summer iPhone hardware refresh.

The iPhone 3G has one NAND Flash memory slot, currently maxing out at the 16GB density. So, if Apple is planning to take it to 32GB, higher density chips will of course be required. Will supply and pricing allow that by the summer? If it does, it also means the dual-slotted iPod touch could hit a whopping 64GB by its next refresh cycle in the fall.

Anyone out there itching to load that much data on a multi-touch device?

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

Next Gen iPhone: Apple Gobbling up NAND Flash Memory Ahead

Attack of the iClones Part Deux: Storm 2 Warning

Every spring, the interweb gadgeteratti turn their attention towards rumormongering Apple’s June iPhone release. So what does the BlackBerry world do? Try to wedge in a little next gen Storm chatter.

CrackBerry.com rounds up some rumors from Slashgear and BGR and appears to get confirmation from Tweakers.

The code name just might be “Odin”. The Storm, of course, first leaked as the Apple Killer (AK — yeah, that turned out well…) but was originally code named the Storm, then became branded as the Storm so was re-code named (code re-named?) as Thunder. This time fears that media disdain and user dissatisfaction may have reached levels where the Storm brand itself is radioactive could get it changed again. What’s with Odin? Father of thunder-god Thor (we get the connection!), one-eyed lord of the Aesir, gallows-god…

But what’s the iClone aspect this time? Why trying to tout a long missing feature as a big upgrade, of course! Sure, the little berry has long supported copy/paste and MMS, so no luck there. But — wait for it! — this one may actually have WiFi! (If Verizon doesn’t strip it out as per usual…).

Yeah, that should distract attention away from whatever little device Apple was planning for WWDC…

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

Attack of the iClones Part Deux: Storm 2 Warning

Video Recording, Compass, Voice Control etc. Found in Beta Firmware

Macrumors is reporting that since the release of iPhone OS 3.0 beta, code hackers have been busy scourging configuration files to find what Apple might have planned for us in the next version of the iPhone.Over the past few days there has been mention of the possibility of video uploading and editing ...

Is quality relevant?

According to Kotaku, the secret to creating a successful game for the iPhone is producing a product so simple it can be described quickly to someone else. The comment came to an audience at the Game Developers Conference 09. "I think quality is largely irrelevant," Adam Saltsman, creator of Wurdle, told ...

Apple Ordering Components and Flash RAM for New iPhone?

A couple of new reports indicate that Apple has started mobilizing parts for their next generation iPhone. A Commercial Times report claims that Taiwan-based component suppliers have started shipping parts for the new Apple iPhone that is expected t...

Review: iFood Assistant by Kraft

Kraft's iFood Assistant should be a better app than it is. But problems with its shopping list features make this a less-than-satisfying way to prepare a meal.