iPhone 3.1 Bugs: Got Random Freeze or Shut Down?

Post one bug, and everyone demands you post another even more frustrating one. Our bad, should have had this up already. Seems iPhone 3.1 users, mostly iPhone 3G users from what we can make out, are experiencing random freezes and complete shutdowns of their iPhones, and nothing, not reboots, not restores are fixing it.

TiPb did hear a few accounts of freezes during the 3.1 beta on all versions of the iPhone, but that’s the point of betas — to identify and fix bugs before the software goes primetime.

Seemingly random, intermittent bugs, however, can be some of the toughest to figure out, especially for users, so if you’re suffering from randomly freezing or shutting-down iPhones, let us know which device, and any pertinent details like clean 3.1 install, restore from backup, etc. and if you’ve stumbled onto any fixes of the more-than-temporary variety, please do share.

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

iPhone 3.1 Bugs: Got Random Freeze or Shut Down?

iPhone 3.1 Bugs: Podcasts Out of Order

Instead of the iPhone’s built-in iPod app sorting podcasts chronologically up or down (newest to oldest, or oldest to newest), iPhone 3.1 users are seeing… no logical sequence that can be made sense of. Indeed, some of you let us know because the lack of order made you think your podcasts weren’t updating at all. Rest assured, it’s not you.

To be clear: You’re not out of order. Apple’s out of order! All these [redacted] podcasts are out of order!

If you’re having the same random podcast listings — or better yet, if you’ve come up with a solution or work around that’s better than just hunting for the blue “new” dot — let us know in the comments.

[Thanks to everyone who brought this to our attention]

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

iPhone 3.1 Bugs: Podcasts Out of Order

NAVIGON MobileNavigator North America Brings Traffic Live to iPhone Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation

NAVIGON North America [$89.99 - iTunes link], just let us know that, fresh off adding text-to-speech for street names, they’ll soon be adding real-time speed information from actual drivers on the road, traffic messages, road sensors and cameras, and historic traffic flow data to reroute iPhone users around problem areas.

Billed as NAVIGON Traffic Live, it will be available in October and sold as an in-app purchase to existing MobileNavigator users. The added functionality will run $24.99, but go for $19.99 special introductory pricing at launch. And as with the main app, there’s no monthly subscription cost.

Will iPhone users be willing to pay more to get more? That remains a question. We’ve asked before for premium apps, and said we’d pay a premium price for them, and this is certainly an example of that kind of App Store model.

However, by aggressively adding new features so rapidly, NAVIGON is setting the pace when it comes to turn-by-turn GPS navigation on the iPhone. Users of up-front, subscription, and even crowd-sourced mapping apps will all benefit from that.

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

NAVIGON MobileNavigator North America Brings Traffic Live to iPhone Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation

Free iPhone Keynote and PowerPoint templates help get you from thought to finish

Filed under: iWork, Developer, iPhone

Mockapp.com has created both Keynote and PowerPoint templates of iPhone UI elements, and has made them available as free downloads. Say you had a dream in the middle of the night about the most awesome iPhone app that, to your surprise, no one has thought of yet. Instead of waking up in a deep sweat and scribbling said ideas on paper, you could dream them up on Keynote.

After mapping out your concept on Keynote, you could then pitch it to others in a Keynote presentation. The Keynote and PowerPoint templates include alerts, the iPhone keyboard, arrow icons, buttons, as well as a host of other UI elements.

Free iPhone Keynote and PowerPoint templates help get you from thought to finish originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Free iPhone Keynote and PowerPoint templates help get you from thought to finish originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Racer for iPhone

Playing Racer, a beautiful and addictive casual racing game, will really make you appreciate the smooth control permitted by the iPhone's multitouch interface. The game is well-executed and, at $1, a great value.

Speed Test of New iPod Touch Confirms it is Up to 50% Faster

Live Traffic comes to Mobile Navigator

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store

It's coming! Navigon, maker of the iPhone Mobile Navigator app [iTunes link], will announce a live traffic feature tomorrow that will be rolled out next month. The update is only for the North American version of the software.

Our readers have absolutely lusted after this feature for iPhone navigation, and now, after already adding text to speech in an update earlier this month, Navigon has pulled ahead of the pack again.

According to the company:

The system 'uses real-time speed data from over one million drivers across North America including commercial fleets such as trucks and taxis but also regular drivers with a GPS system. So if for example several vehicles on a road report slow speed, the system recognizes congestion and provides an alternate and faster route.

The feature also uses an intelligent fusion of information from traffic cameras, speed sensors and conventional traffic messages coming through a radio network. In addition, the system includes historic traffic data to assist with the prediction of road conditions when calculating a route. This includes information about traffic conditions on certain holidays or yearly events, allowing the driver to avoid taking routes that traditionally are congested on a regular basis.

Navigon has announced that the traffic info, which they call Traffic Live, will be available as an in-app purchase for US$19.99 for the first 4 weeks it is offered, then it will cost $24.99 as a one time purchase with no other month to month service fees.

The software, which will run inside the $89.99 Mobile Navigator software, requires iPhone OS version 3.0 or greater.

Navigon has been very aggressive with this product, raising the bar every couple of weeks with some substantial free updates, and now some significant optional services. It will be interesting to see how Tom-Tom and some of the other navigation providers respond. The AT&T Navigator [iTunes link] app already includes real time traffic, but it is available only with a $9.99 a month subscription fee.

Live Traffic comes to Mobile Navigator originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Live Traffic comes to Mobile Navigator originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ntractive releases iPhone version of Elements

Elements CRM offers several of the key features found in Ntractive's desktop customer relationship management product. The free iPhone app requires an Elements CRM subscription.

iPhone Live! Tonight at 8pm ET/5pm PT – WMExperts Invades!

iPhone Live! comes to you tonight (Wednesday, September 16) at 8pm ET/5pm PT.

Our very special guest will be WMExperts news editor, and brand new Zune HD owner, Phil Nickinson! Oh, yeah. It’s on.

If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to address, let us know in the comments below or tweet them to @theiphoneblog.

Chat with you soon!

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

iPhone Live! Tonight at 8pm ET/5pm PT – WMExperts Invades!

How Badly do You Want a Physical Keyboard for Your iPhone?

Want a physical keyboard for your iPhone this badly?

[via Engadget Mobile. Thanks DazeEnd for the encouragement...!]

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

How Badly do You Want a Physical Keyboard for Your iPhone?

China Mobile iPhone killer will not be cheap

Lenovo Mobile is making handsets for China's 3G standard that will reach China Mobile's target price of $150, but its high-end iPhone rival will cost more.

Grand Central Dispatch and Open CL Bring Significant Performance Improvements for Optimized Applications

Hardmac reports on a performance comparison between Mac OS X Leopard and Mac OS X Snow Leopard from Christophe Ducommun, developer of MovieGate, a video encoding and DVD creation software package. Ducommun, who is optimizing his application to take ...

Excellent DIY iPhone Dock Using Card Paper

What will they think of next? A real keyboard for the iPhone

Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Peripherals, Odds and ends, iPhone

If there's one gripe I hear about the iPhone, it's that it doesn't have a "real keyboard." Sure, you can tap with one or two fingers (or thumbs) pretty quickly on the virtual keyboard, but it just doesn't have that nice tactile feedback that you get with, say, a BlackBerry keyboard.

Mobile Mechatronics, the same people who are bringing you the Blur Tripod mentioned on TUAW earlier today, will be officially announcing their iTwinge snap-on keyboard for the iPhone tomorrow. This is a cool little unit, at a price of US$29.99, that is likely to be very popular with the BlackBerry set. The iTwinge snaps onto the bottom of the iPhone, then allows you to use the keyboard for thumb or finger typing into any iPhone app that would normally use the virtual keyboard.

While you wouldn't want to keep the keyboard attached to your iPhone all the time -- it covers up almost half of the screen -- it would be perfect for those situations where you aren't near a laptop or desktop computer but still want to be productive. I'd love to have one of these to use with our blogging system so I could blog and edit from anywhere.

Mobile Mechatronics has begun taking pre-orders for the iTwinge, with shipping expected to begin on November 19th. I just wonder if the name has something to do with carpal tunnel syndrome or "BlackBerry Thumb" that you can get from overusing thumb keyboards...

What will they think of next? A real keyboard for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What will they think of next? A real keyboard for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google releases SDK for latest Android version

Developers can now start working with the next version of Google's mobile operating system Android, which is expected to be available on phones in October.

Review: Frogger for iPhone

This mobile version of the arcade classic takes advantage of the iPhone's controls (well, at least one of its control methods does) to produce a game that's sure to please Frogger fans.

New ‘Pub Finder’ app helps you find a Guinness

Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod nano, App Review

Some of us here at TUAW have been known to hoist a pint or two of a frosty beverage now and again. When doing so there's quite a few selections from which to choose to satisfy that urge for something cold and refreshing. One choice often made by me personally is Guinness. But what if I want a Guinness after a long day but can't figure out where to go and get one? Fortunately, there's an app for that: the Guinness Pub Finder.

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of Guinness on September 24th they have created a new iPhone and iPod Touch app that will, according to the company, allow "consumers of legal drinking age across the US (to) join the celebration and more easily raise a toast with friends in the future." Which, of course, sounds great unless you happen to live in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas or West Virginia where the app is forbidden by law from working. Yeah, I don't get it either.

Even if you can use this app for its intended purpose, it actually isn't just about helping you find a drink, although it does do that pretty well. Here's a breakdown of its main features:

o. Locate a Pint - uses GPS to locate the consumer and the pubs serving Guinness nearest to their current location. It then provides name, address and telephone number of the pub chosen, access to directions, and an email setup to invite friends to join.

o. Know Your Pint - provides a tutorial on the 6 Steps to Creating the Perfect Pint, and also includes a ruler that can be used to measure your pint's head.

o. Fun Extras - includes animated screensavers, a countdown clock to the "Arthur's Day" celebrations and a live feed of the latest news regarding the Guinness 250th Anniversary celebration

o. Responsible Drinking - Provides consumers with the DRINKiQ resource which shares important facts about alcohol to aid responsible choices.

The app is US$1.99 in the iTunes store and its available now.

New 'Pub Finder' app helps you find a Guinness originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New 'Pub Finder' app helps you find a Guinness originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Competition: Zune HD Hands-on

Our equal and opposite, Phil Nickinson over at WMExperts, has just provided the equal and opposite to our just-posted iPod touch G3 hardware review — a hands-on with the Microsoft Zune HD.

t’s my first foray into the Zune ecosystem, so I have a bit of a learning curve, and bear with me. But without giving away the farm, I’ll say this: If this is the direction in which Windows Mobile is moving, we all have much to look forward to.

Part 1 covers the desktop software, Quickplay (think genius), the apps, Zune marketplace, what’s in the box, the hardware, the screen, and teases Part 2 (of course).

Check it out, then remember to join us for iPhone Live! tonight, as Phil will be our special guest, and we’ll take the Zune HD one on one with the great one — the iPod touch.

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

The Competition: Zune HD Hands-on

BlueAnt V1 Bluetooth Headset for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS

The BlueAnt V1 Bluetooth Headset for iPhone 3G/3GS [$68.92 - TiPb Store Link] has been a pleasant surprise as I did not think I’d find another Bluetooth headset that I would prefer over the highly regarded Jawbone PRIME.

For the full scoop follow us after the break!

The first thing you will notice is the amount of goodies that BlueAnt has given you in the package. Along with the actual headset you get a rubberized metal ear hook, translucent ear hook, small and large rubber ear gels, small and large foam tips, gooseneck USB cable, USB adapter, USB car charger, AC power adapter, and last but not least the manual/quicks start guide.

With all of that said, lets get into the fit and performance of the V1. The V1 weighs in at a light .35 oz and is 1.5-inches long. Some headsets can just be flat out annoying after a long period of use, not the V1. It is honestly the most comfortable headset I have tried to this very day. It is so comfortable you may just forget you are even wearing it! BlueAnt claims you will get 5 hours of talk time along with 200 hours of standby. I’ve found that those times are pretty accurate but If you find that 5 hours of talk time is to low for what you need, you can always take advantage of all of the charging options you are supplied with. One thing I did notice was that when my headset was running low on battery, alerted by an audible tone, the person on the other end would claim they could not hear me anywhere near as clearly. It was an odd occurrence that would only happen with the battery drained.

Minus that particular issue, the V1’s dual microphones offer superb voice clarity. While it does not have that amazing background noise cancelation feature of the Jawbone headsets, the V1 does have DSP (Digital Signal Processing) that BlueAnt calls Voice Isolation Technology and it works well. The V1 provides outstanding noise suppression, wind noise reduction and echo cancellation. There are two modes available while you are on a call – Voice Isolation Standard and Voice Isolation Max.

The feature that really makes this headset stand out from the rest is it’s voice user interface which allows you to control most of the V1’s functions with your voice. Pushing one button activates the voice recognition technology and gives you control of all the functions of the V1. If you need assistance, just say “What Can I Say?” and the headset will tell you the commands you can use. When you have an incoming call you will be alerted by the V1 telling you who is calling via telephone number. Unfortunately it can not access your phones contacts to read back names but beggars can’t be choosers.

Overall, I found the BlueAnt V1 to be a high quality headset that is worth every penny of it’s low price. Sure you can spend $100 plus on other headsets such as the V1’s younger brother, the BlueAnt Q1, but why bother when they share almost the exact same features?

My Jawbone is now collecting dust as the BlueAnt V1 is now my new daily driver.

Learn more and purchase @TiPb’s Store >>>

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

BlueAnt V1 Bluetooth Headset for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS

iPhone photo news: tripods and water drop lenses

Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Peripherals, Odds and ends, iPhone

The iPhone has made photography fun for me again. I frankly hated the cameras I had in some of my other, older phones, and I don't like carrying around my big Canon digicam all the time, so having a fairly capable camera in my pocket has opened up my photo-taking horizons again.

When I got the 3GS this summer, one of my first tests was to take some macro pictures using the camera. Sure, the 3GS is better at macro photos than the original or 3G models, but it still isn't a "real" macro camera. What if I wanted to take close up pictures of a tiny insect or a detail of a flower stamen?

The Apple Press has a great little tutorial today on how to take better macro photos with the iPhone using alternative lenses. I'll leave reading the post as an exercise for our readers, but let it suffice to say that you can do a lot of really cool macro shots with an iPhone by putting a small drop of water onto the lens. The Apple Press also provides a link to Amazon for an inexpensive magnifier that can fit in your wallet, perfect for those who are a bit queasy about putting even a drop of agua on their iPhones.

Meanwhile, the geniuses at Mobile Mechatronics are now selling an inexpensive product designed to help you take better photos with your iPhone. The Blur Tripod ($US14.99) consists of an iPhone tripod adapter, a mini tripod, and an upcoming companion app called Blur Software that provides an adjustable delay to your iPhotography so that all vibrations in the iPhone / tripod combo are damped out before the photo is snapped. The app is going through the labyrinthine approval process right now, and will hopefully be approved by Apple in the near future.
In the meantime, I'm going to go out and take some more pictures and video with my iPhone. What's your biggest wish for iPhone photography? A telephoto lens? A flash? Leave your comments below.

iPhone photo news: tripods and water drop lenses originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iPhone photo news: tripods and water drop lenses originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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