Best of Smartphone Experts, 20 Dec 2009

Week one of the Smartphone Round Robin is over and week two begins tomorrow. We’ve just scratched the surface here and already we’ve run the gamut from a Windows Mobile user examining webOS to a BlackBerry user having an encounter with the Droid. If you have a Smartphone need, we’re pretty confident that the Round Robin will help you find out how to fill it.

We could go on, but there’s egg nog to be spiked and presents to be wrapped, so hit up the updates page for a list of reviews by platform and hit this post up after the break for the best of Smartphone Experts this week.

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

Best of Smartphone Experts, 20 Dec 2009

AT&T Says Infrastructure Spending is NOT the Reason for iPhone Connection Problems

AT&T contacted TiPb with a statement refuting claims that their capital expenditures, specifically their investment in wireless infrastructure, has decreased while at the same time their data revenue is increasing.

To quickly recap, the claim about infrastructure investment falling as data profits rose was one of the most direct charges leveled by Newsweek’s Daniel Lyons (writing as Fake Steve) as part of his Operation Chokehold series, and repeated several times on TiPb and other sites.

In the statement (reprinted in it’s entirety below) AT&T claims they’ve increased network investment in 2009, and are taking other steps (like rolling out the 850 MHz band) to improve customer experience.

Remaining unaddressed: the actual cause of the iPhone-on-AT&T problem(s) in cities like New York and San Francisco, given that international users on other carriers do not report the same issues. Granted, AT&T users in those or other affected areas may not care why it’s broken. However, they likely do care deeply that it gets fixed and soon. (And so should AT&T given the increasing level of mainstream attention).

So, read the response below and then let us know what you think.

The metric you use in the phrase “While AT&T was content to increase data revenue while decreasing infrastructure investment all in the name of shareholder value” has been seen in a number of posts recently. However, it captures overall corporate capital expenditures for AT&T, which includes wireline investment as well as a number of items that are not directly linked to network investment (or performance) – including real estate, call centers and IT support. There is no way to calculate or even infer what our network investment is for any given period using those capex numbers. While we don’t break capex down to the level of network investment for competitive reasons, based on expectations for the full-year 2009, we anticipate that our wireless network investment will increase significantly compared with 2007 levels. And wireless capex increased significantly from 2007 to 2008.

Here’s a look at how we’re spending what’s expected to be between $17 and $18 billion in improvements in 2009 to our wireline and wireless networks, with billions on wireless:

• We are nearly doubling the wireless spectrum serving 3G customers in hundreds of markets across the country, using high-quality 850 MHz spectrum. This additional spectrum expands overall network capacity and improves in-building reception.
• We are adding about 2,000 new cell sites to our network in 2009, expanding service to new cities and improving coverage in other areas.
• We’re adding about 100,000 new backhaul connections, which add critical capacity between cell sites and the global IP backbone network.
• We’re enabling widespread access to our Wi-Fi network – the largest in the country with more than 20,000 hotspots in all 50 states – allowing customers to take advantage of the best available AT&T mobile broadband connection.
• We’re rolling out even faster 3G speeds with deployment of HSPA 7.2 technology and are preparing for field trials of next generation, LTE wireless networks next year, with deployment planning to begin in 2011. This schedule aligns with industry expectations for when a wide variety of compatible 4G wireless devices should be available.

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

AT&T Says Infrastructure Spending is NOT the Reason for iPhone Connection Problems

Developer spots usage record for iPhone 3,1 in iBART app

More than one way to stream Bluetooth

Filed under: Accessories, Tips and tricks, Bluetooth, iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic, Music

Continue reading More than one way to stream Bluetooth

More than one way to stream Bluetooth originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

More than one way to stream Bluetooth originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Count The Beats: Toyo from Amidio, Touch DJ and Noise.io

Filed under: Interviews, TUAW Interview, Developer, iPhone, Music

Continue reading Count The Beats: Toyo from Amidio, Touch DJ and Noise.io

Count The Beats: Toyo from Amidio, Touch DJ and Noise.io originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Count The Beats: Toyo from Amidio, Touch DJ and Noise.io originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Has the iPhone Changed the Landscape Of Holiday Shopping?

Quick App: Shaun White Snowboarding : Origins for iPhone and iPod touch

Wish you could be strapped in free riding down the mountain at any given moment? Now you can as Ubisoft along with Advanced Mobile Applications have released Shaun White Snowboarding: Origins [iTunes Link - $4.99] for iPhone and iPod touch.

With excellent 3D graphics and touch controls, you can choose from four different characters to snowboard with at destinations around the world including USA, Chile, Japan, and Spain. Each playable character has their own unique control, trick or speed specialties. Once you have your player selected you will be introduced to the snowboarding world with a tutorial by White and then you are on your own. 50 or so tricks can be pulled off, including ollies, flips and grabs. As you progress you can earn unlockable content, such as real-life snowboarding footage of White and friends by earning achievements.

To add a ton of replay value you get various game modes such as one freestyle option, and three that make use of a ghost feature. Now toss in leaderboards, and Twitter and Facebook connections and you have yourself a nice little game.

See you on the mountain…

More screen shots after the break!

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

Quick App: Shaun White Snowboarding : Origins for iPhone and iPod touch

ProSwitcher for Jailbreak Brings Safari Pages, webOS Cards-style Multitasking UI to iPhone

If you’re Jailbroken yet still frustrated that you can’t move between iPhone apps as easily as you can web pages in Safari (or Palm webOS users can in card view), ProSwitcher [Free beta - Cydia] is something to consider.

A front end to Backgrounder, which enables multitasking on a Jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch, duplicates the “Pages” metaphor in MobileSafari, including swipe-able switching and X-icon closing, and for good measure adds in the swipe-up-to-close gesture from Palm’s webOS “Cards” interface.

ProSwitcher is currently in free beta and available via Cydia at http://booleanmagic.com/repo. If you try it out, let us know how it works for you, and how badly you think Apple better add this in to iPhone 4.0!

[via JGold in the TiPb Jailbreak Forums, RedmondPie, and thanks Taimur for the pic!]

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

ProSwitcher for Jailbreak Brings Safari Pages, webOS Cards-style Multitasking UI to iPhone

SNL: Google phone to challenge iPhone by “making calls”

Filed under: Humor, iPhone

"It was reported this week that Google would soon launch its own cellphone as a challenge to the iPhone. Also a challenge to the iPhone? Making phone calls."

SNL: Google phone to challenge iPhone by "making calls" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SNL: Google phone to challenge iPhone by "making calls" originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SNL Weekend Update Roasts AT&T iPhone Network Problems

Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update sideswiped iPhone network problems last night, the latest in a series of mainstream reporting on the issue:

“It was reported this week that Google would soon launch its own cellphone as a challenge to the iPhone. Also a challenge to the iPhone? Making phone calls.”

Whether AT&T is to blame, or some combination of how AT&T’s network and the iPhone work together, we don’t know. While AT&T was content to increase data revenue while decreasing infrastructure investment all in the name of shareholder value, it’s perversely harder to ignore bad publicity than it is unhappy customers.

To quote Fake Steve, whose ill-conceived Operation Chokehold did succeed in bringing a lot of the current attention to bear:

AT&T, a huge wireless provider in the United States, cannot reliably connect calls in New York City. How can this be?

SNL video after the break!

[via Engadget]

[YouTube link]

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

SNL Weekend Update Roasts AT&T iPhone Network Problems

MacStories Christmas Apps Tree Giveaway - $10,000 Worth Of Mac and iPhone Apps to be Won

Turn Your iPhone Into a Universal Remote Control With Rē