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The HTC Hero / T-Mobile G2 Touch Android smartphone review

2009-10-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

T-Mobile G2 Touch:

Physical Aspects:

The HTC Hero is a rather striking handset, currently available in either white or graphite color schemes in the UK, with a characteristic ‘kink’ in its body, giving it a distinctive chin at the bottom. In the UK, the color you get depends on the network you choose. Orange UK are exclusively offering the graphite version, whereas T-Mobile UK are offering the white/silver version that we have, but are calling it the ‘G2 Touch’.

Being the white version, our handset has the matte white finish that is coated with Teflon to help keep it clean. However, ours had pink marks on it straight out of the box, and ones at the HTC release event were tarnished as well, so it clearly doesn’t make the phone dirt-proof, just dirt resistant. The graphite version doesn’t have this coating, but due to the back and bottom area being black, it doesn’t actually need it. One curious side-effect of the finish on our white device is that the phone feels as if it’s made of a ceramic material.

The Hero is, by today’s touchscreen handset standards, a pretty average-sized phone, and measures in at 112mm x 56.2mm x 14.35mm (4.41in x 2.21in x 0.57in). It appears slimmer than it actually is, due to heavily sloped edges that also make it feel nicer in the hand. It’s not exactly a lightweight, at 135g (4.76oz), but it feels quite robust. The first thing you’ll notice about the HTC Hero, aside from the chin, is its 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen display that has a HVGA resolution (320 x 480 pixels). Bright sunlight legibility is pretty average with this display. Above the display is the earpiece grille, which has an ambient light sensor on one side and a notification LED on the other.

The are only six hardware buttons on the device, not including the clickable trackball or the volume rocker. The call send, home, menu, and call end buttons are all lined-up below the display on the silver fascia of the phone. The search key and back key are both contained within one larger button that resides on the chin of the phone, next to the trackball. The trackball itself is located dead centre in the chin and has the ability to illuminate for notifications, usually unleashing a barrage of flashes for a new message or incoming call.

The rear of the Hero features the lens for the device’s 5 megapixel autofocus camera, although it’s still missing any sort of flash, which is a shame. The rear is otherwise pretty spartan, with only a couple of holes for the loudspeaker and the lanyard fixing. At the bottom of the handset is HTC’s ExtUSB/mini-USB port for charging and data, plus a microphone pinhole. Atop the device is just the 3.5mm headphone port and a small slit for removing the rear cover with a fingernail. The rear cover will need to be removed for access to the microSDHC slot that is hidden beneath. The left side of the phone features a large volume rocker that is pretty much flush with the side of the phone, and the right side is completely bare.

3G iPhone could arrive overseas by early 2008

2009-04-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Even though its vanguard cellphone isn't yet out the door, Apple is allegedly preparing a quick follow-up model with 3G wireless installed.

After threatening to drop a large-scale cellular service contract based on concerns that it would lock itself out of a trade-up to the iPhone, a Swedish firm has received assurances from its liaison at the provider that the coveted gadget would arrive as soon as September -- and, startlingly, that a version of the handset with 3G (third-generation) wireless Internet access would be in the provider's hands as soon as January of 2008. The contact at the carrier was especially confident, sources said.

If true, the new model would signal a revision to the iPhone just seven months after its slated June 2007 launch. It would be an even quicker response for European customers, who were originally told not to expect the Apple candybar phone in any form until late this year.

Apple hasn't been especially shy in beating the drums for its long-term 3G plans, as Apple chief executive Steve Jobs himself mentioned 3G in his Macworld keynote and later had his story backed by Cingular (now AT&T) distribution chief Glenn Lurie.

Most cellular-based Internet access in the world today, including the AT&T EDGE network which the iPhone will first use, is considered second-generation (2G). Few would mistake 2G-level wireless for a truly fast connection. Downloads typically crest at a few hundred kilobits per second even under ideal conditions; uploads are regularly far worse, frequently hovering around just above dial-up access.

3G ultimately amounts to the addition of extra channels on a cellphone network to boost those anemic speeds, particularly in terms of uploads. Where downstream access rarely exceeds 800Kbps on present 3G networks, upstream levels are a much healthier 400Kbps. The technology smoothes out wrinkles in mobile Internet access that make some tasks impractical or even impossible on 2G networks, such as uploading large photos in e-mail attachments or video messaging.

Apple's choice of cellphone networks would obligate it to use a particular form of 3G known as High-Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA). At first, this would seem to be something of a misstep: the standard has barely lifted off the ground in the Cupertino-based company's home turf. Only a handful of US cities currently offer AT&T's particular brand of 3G to subscribers.

Attendees at January's Macworld Expo marvel over an iPhone prototype on display.

The situation was discouraging enough that Apple reportedly left out the technology in its inaugural phone due to the limited amount of HSDPA coverage in the country.

Thankfully, HSDPA also happens to represent Apple's best shot at selling the iPhone beyond American borders. In Europe, cheaper data rates and widespread 3G networks encourage Internet access from smartphones to the extent that many cellphone giants lavish more attention on their phone lineups for that continent than anywhere else. Nokia's range toppers, for example, are often badged as "multimedia computers" rather than cellphones.

It remains to be seen whether or not Apple will add any features to the Euro-friendly version. Most 3G cellphones outside of North America ship with front-facing cameras for video calls, but those phones released in the US (such as AT&T's BlackJack) have typically gone without added features beyond the extra speed.

Free Mobile Games: Gameloft Prince of Persia HD

2009-04-13T01:40:00.000-07:00

Work with your new partner to succeed in a fierce mission that would be impossible to conquer alone.

Features (may vary by handset):The official high-definition version of the new Next Generation console game from Ubisoft. New cooperative gameplay allows you to perform acrobatics and spectacular attacks. Spectacular 3D graphics: Characters, animations, and designs adapted from the next-gen version of the game. All New: Fight airborne enemies atop a dragon, swing on ropes, unleash special attacks, and more! Dive into the universe of 1001 Nights thanks to sumptuous 3D designs and dynamic lighting.

Do you like this Prince of Persia games? Please write some cell phone games reviews in the bottom comment form and we will try to get more and better mobile games for you!

Free Mobile Games: GameLoft Assassin’s Creed HD

2009-04-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

The direct prequel of the critically acclaimed console title Assassin’s Creed™.

Features (may vary by handset):

Perform stunningly powerful combos and slay your victims with silent kills.

Run, jump, climb to discover the 23 levels of a fully 3D-rendered medieval world.

Explore in time of day or night 4 cities of Middle East: Damascus, Jerusalem, Masyaf, and Acre.

Perform pickpocket maneuvers to carefully steal precious items from the crowd and make informants speak.

6 weapons for both close combat and long-range attacks: Swords, dagger, grappling hook and bombs.

Collecting orbs will upgrade Altair’s health and weapons

Do you like this Assassin’s Creed game? Please write some mobile games reviews in the bottom comment form and we will try to get more and better mobile games for you!

Mobile Games: Hummer Jump and Race 3D

2009-04-11T03:20:00.000-07:00

Fly high, ride low! This thrilling full 3D mobile game throws you behind the wheel of one of the most prestigious off-road vehicles known to mankind. Battle with your HUMMER® H2®, H2® SUT or H3™ against two other skilled and highly intelligent CPU drivers. Race on six unique off-road tracks with different routes and weather conditions. Drift around corners and collect nitro through wide and high jumps to boost your chances for a glorious victory. But that’s not all! Compete with players all over the world by uploading your high score online!

Features :

- Advanced 3D-Engine: All tracks, cars and objects are completely 3D animated and rendered.

- Real physics simulation allows thrilling jumps and drifts.

- Drive one of three licensed HUMMER® models.

- 6 unique tracks.

- Collect nitro boost through jumping.

- Adaptive AI opponents.

- Quick race and Championship.

- Online and local high score tables.

- 6 different languages in single game.

Languages : English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian

Support Nokia S40, S60v2, S60v3 Mobiles,Sony Ericsson Mobiles,MOTO Mobiles and Most of the Mobile for the Java games.

Screen Resolution For 176×208

Screen Resolution For 208×208

Screen Resolution For 240×320

Screen Resolution For 320×240

Screen Resolution For 352×416

T-Mobile G1 Themes : Aero JF1.42 RC9/RC33

2009-04-11T03:17:00.000-07:00

Recently ultra spikey post he new G1 themes: Aero JF1.42 RC9/RC33 (From: androidcommunity.com), and been meaning to put this up here…needs root.

UPDATE(4/1):

- Added version with gray statusbar.

- Added more icons.

TO DO LIST:

- Fix tray handle while in a call. It’s not supposed to stretch the way it does when in a call.

- Edit frames that go around the picture contacts while making/in a call.

- Edit folder images.

- (X) Put the “stock” battery icon back(with the percentage).

- (X)Release different versions that will have different color notification bars.

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Aero v1.2(BLACK) - RC33

Aero1.2-RC33_black.zip - 8.92MB

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Aero v1.2(BLUE) - RC33 (does not have custom lock screen)

Aero1.2-RC33_blue.zip - 8.76MB

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Aero v1.2(GRAY) - RC33

Aero1.2-RC33_gray.zip - 8.92MB

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Aero v1.0 - RC9

Aero1.0-RC9final.zip - 9.20MB

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Aero Wallpaper(also included a few of my favorite wallpapers)

G1Wall.rar - 3.32MB

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Click here for Aero Icon PSD template…

(Most IPhone icons will fit inside this PSD. Just drag it and drop it in photoshop. Then you will need to resize the image to 48×48 and you’re done.)

I will add more as I get them done. If you come up with some, send them to me if you want me to put them in with mine.

AeroIcon_template.psd - 0.07MB

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Official Aero icon pack(not complete. For use with Bettercut. Unzip all the icons to your sdcard, then user Bettercut to change icons.)

AeroIcons.rar - 0.22MB

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Icon pack by RainCrow(For use with Bettercut)

http://rapidshare.com/files/211288824/Aero_Third_Party_Icons.zip

Changelog

v1.1

- Make white/gray popups more transparent.

- Change Market icon.

- Edit “bottom_bar” and “title_bar.9″.(Top and bottom bars in some apps).

- Change keygaurd screen lock.(thanks to moonspoon/stericson)

v1.2

- Changed battery meter back to green.

Free Download T-Mobile G1 Games: Monopoly - Here & Now (EA)

2009-04-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

EA brings the NEW edition of MONOPOLY: HERE & NOW to mobile with a bang! The classic game with a modern twist features new locations from today’s world. Play with eight stunningly animated tokens including fries, labradoodle, a hybrid car and even a mobile phone! Use your millions and business skills to buy, trade and auction your way to success. Take on friends in four player pass and play multiplayer to see who can end up taking over the town and going home with the cash!

Features may vary by handset.

•The classic game of Monopoly brought into the 21st Century with modern locations, pieces and prices

•Authentic locations from all over the world

•Take on friends in four player pass and play multiplayer

Platform: Android OS (T-Mobile G1 Only)

How to Install:

1. Download the file.

2. Unzip the file.

3. Copy the monopolyherenow.apk file to your device

4. Use a file manager such as ASTRO (available for free in the Market) to navigate to monopolyherenow.apk and open it.

5. Install it.

6. Play it.

7. Enjoy!

Free Download Mobile Games: GameLoft Real Football 2009 HD

2009-04-08T23:54:00.000-07:00

Show the world who’s the Real Football Champ in the most detailed 3D football experience on mobile.

* 3D graphics give you a full 360° of realism - you’ll almost feel the rumble of the crowd.

* Create and train your own team in Real Football Manager Edition 2009, then export it to RF 2009.

* High-quality sound effects for greater immersion in the stadium atmosphere.

* Play as one of over 200 clubs and national teams in 6 different leagues.

* Experience the atmosphere of 6 great football stadiums including Milan, Manchester, and Madrid.

You can play a football game, or you can get real with stars like Cesc Fabregas from over 200 teams around the world. When you hear the roar of the fans, feel the thrill of intelligent opponents and find yourself in the middle of the most incredible football matches, you’ll know this is the most realistic football experience on mobile. With the easy controls, you’ll shoot, pass, defend, and perform the most amazing moves like a pro in minutes. Then show off your skills by challenging friends on compatible Bluetooth phones.

Football doesn’t get more real than this: Play with stars like Cesc Fabregas and 200 teams with lifelike graphics, sound, and challenging opponents.

Complete Nokia Pack List

Game For Nokia S60v2 Mobiles:

-Screen Resolution 176X208

Nokia 3230, 6260, 6600, 6620, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 7610, N70, N72, N90

(N70, N90 Version)

(Nokia 6600, 6630, 7610 Version)

Note: If Nokia 6600, 6630, 7610 version not working on your mobile. Please try N70, N90 version. i have checked this on Nokia 7610.

Game For Nokia S60v3 Mobiles:

-Screen Resolution 176X208

Working On N91, 3250

-Screen Resolution 352X416

Working On N80, E60, E70

-Screen Resolution 240X320

Working On N73, N75, N76, N77, N81, N82, N93, N93i, N95, E50, E51, E65, 5700, 6110, 6120, 6121, 6290, 6500.

Game For Nokia S40 Mobiles:

-Screen Resolution 240X320 - Series 40 3rd Edition

Working On Nokia 5300, 6126, 6131, 6133, 6233, 6234, 6270, 6275, 6275i, 6280, 6282, 6288, 6300, 7370, 7373, 7390.

-Screen Resolution 128X128 - Series 40 2nd Edition

Working On Nokia 2626, 2610, 5140i, 6030, 6822, 6235, 6235i, 6020, 7260, 7260, 5140, 6230.

Screen Resolution 128X160 - Series 40 2nd Edition

Working On Nokia 5070, 6080, 6070, 6103, 6102i, 6165, 2855, 7360, 6060, 6155, 3155i, 3155, 6152, 3152, 6155i, 6102, 6101, 7270, 6170, 6255

-Screen Resolution 128X160 - Series 40 3rd Edition

Working On Nokia 6165, 6111, 6086, 5200, 6085, 6151, 2865i, 2865, 6136, 3500 classic, 3109 classic

-Screen Resolution 208×208 - Series 40v2

Working On Nokia 8800, 8801, 6230i

Real Football® 2009 HD For Nokia:

-HD Version For N95 (N73, N76, N93i, 5700)

-HD Version For N70, 6630

Complete Sony Ericsson Mobiles

-Screen Resolution 176×220 (Like K810)

-Screen Resolution 240×320 (Like K800)

-Screen Resolution For W960i

-Screen Resolution For K750

Complete MOTOROLA Mobiles Pack

E770/E770V/W5/W510/K1/Z3/U6/V3/V3x/V3xx/V3xxv/L7/V300/V360/V500/V550/V600/V980/L6/

V235/V3xx/E1000/V1050/V1075/V1100/V3s/A1200

Complete Windows Mobile 5 & 6 Mobiles HD Pack (PPC)

ET280 ET560 ET960 P505 P50 CU928 A700 A701 696 696i 699 700 818 828 828+ 6515 MPX、D900、P51、E850、E860、N810、838、830、S1、M700、C858、9000、P860、P800、9100、9110、E806c、D802、D600、Touch DUAL、PDAL、PDAG、Atom、Atom Life、Atom Exec、Zinc、Argon、Helen、XDA Orbit II、ET600、XV6700、XV6800、XV6900、I718、I718+、I780、A701、A702、A501、HTC P4450、HTC P3450、P525、P527、P735、P750、P5500、P6500、6818、6828、612、Kaiser、TyTN IIO2 Xda Flame、LG KT610、i-mate 6150、i-mate8150

HTC Snap Phone Review - Features,Price and Specifications

2009-04-08T23:49:00.000-07:00

The most exciting news from HTC is HTC Corporation has just announced its latest QWERTY smartphone, the HTC Snap, which has a new function called ‘Inner Circle’ that sorts emails based on a user’s preferences. By pressing a button, the smartphone can bring emails from a preselected group of people to the top of the inbox — so users can read and reply to them more conveniently. This is very wonderful, no wonder it is has been loved by so many people in such a short time.

What’s better, HTC Snap Phone has an ergonomic QWERTY keyboard with extra-large domed keys and tactile feedback for easier typing. The Snap runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and integrates Wi-Fi, high-speed HSDPA Internet, Bluetooth, GPS, a microSD expansion slot and a 2.0-megapixel camera. Those people who are interested in taking photos will love this cellphone like crazy. I’m quite sure about this.

HTC Snap Phone runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard on a 528 MHz processor, and have 192 MB of RAM. It comes bundled with the standard suite of productivity and entertainment applications that are a part of this platform.

It includes high-speed 3G HSPA connectivity for Europe and Asia. HTC also plans to release an alternate, unlockedversion with N. AmericanHSDPA support (850/1900 MHz).

The most special thing is HTC promises HTC Snap will deliver up to eight and a half hours of talk time with the standard 1500 mAh battery. This is very cool. You know, I always hate that the battery runs out when I’m talking with people. Now with HTC Snap, I will be very happy about this.

HTC Snap Features

1) With the touch of a button, emails from a user’s “inner circle” rise to the top for quick access and streamlined communication

2) Update calendar, manage contacts and emails and stay organized with the familiar experience of Windows Mobile

3) Texting is faster and more comfortable than ever with the QWERTY keyboard with natural offset pattern and raised keys

4) High-speed 3G HSPA connectivity makes it quick and easy to send pictures to friends, access favorite social networking sites or download large files

With these cool features, people will love this phone more, just like you will love your girlfriend more if she wears more beautiful clothes.

We haven’t known HTC Snap Price, but it is said to be very affordable, so you guys don’t need to worry about it.

So what do you think about HTC Snap Phone?

Free Download Mobile Games: Asphalt 4 - Elite Racing HD

2009-04-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

Asphalt 4 - Elite Racing HD,it is so hot,I have try myself,so nice game:)

10 dream cars & bikes including the Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F430 Spider, Nissan GT-R, Ducati 1098.

*Race in 6 of the world’s hottest cities: Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, Shanghai, NYC, Dubai, Paris.

*Amazing 3D graphics providing breathtaking speed sensations!

*Tune your rides in your own luxury garage!

*Enjoy 5 extreme racing modes such as cop chase, drift, and beat’em all.

*Adapt your driving style to the weather conditions: Can you control your car under heavy rain?

Install: Just copy the .cab file to your device and install, its full retail so no serial is required (HD Game For PPC QVGA Version)

Free Download Mobile Games : THQ Wireless WWE Legends of Wrestlemania

2009-04-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

Step into the Showcase of the Immortals? as you relive, rewrite and redefine classic moments from the first 15 years of WrestleMania! Choose to play as one of 10 legendary WWE Superstars, and make your own history in the ring. Recreate classic matchups in exhibition mode, or create your own character and take on the greats in career mode. Do you have what it takes to become a legend?

Supported Devices

N91 8GB , Nokia 3250 , Nokia 5500 , Nokia 5700 , Nokia 6110 Navigator , Nokia 6120 , Nokia 6121 , Nokia 6290 , Nokia E50 , Nokia E51 , Nokia E60 , Nokia E61 , Nokia E61i , Nokia E62 , Nokia E65 , Nokia E70 , Nokia E90 , Nokia N71 , Nokia N73 , Nokia N75 , Nokia N76, Nokia N77 , Nokia N80 , Nokia N81 , Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia N82 , Nokia N91 , Nokia N92 , Nokia N93 , Nokia N93i , Nokia N95 8GB , Nokia N95

Free Download Here (176×208 3D)

Free Download Here (240×320 3D)

Free Download Here (352×416 3D)

Free Download Here (320×240 2D Nokia E71)

Free Download Here (176×208 2D Nokia 6600)

Free Download Here (176×208 3D Nokia N70)

Free Mobile Games Download: Guitar Hero III

2009-04-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

It Hands ON Mobile English, Frech, German, Italian, Spanish jar size: 3.60 MB

Screen resolutions:

128×128, 128×160, 176×220, 208×208, 240×320, K500, SE K800i

Tracks:

(1) Santana - Black Magic Woman

(2) Wolfmother - Woman

(3) AFI - Miss Murder

(4) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss

(5) Alice Cooper - School’s Out

(6) Pat Benatar - Hit Me with Your Best Shot

(7) Van Halen - You Really Got Me

(8) KISS - Strutter

(9) Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock

(10) Stone Temple Pilots - Trippin on A Holev

(11) Matchbook Romance - Monsters

(12) Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil

(13) Black Sabbath - Paranoid

(14) The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica

(15) Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane

Screen resolutions:

GUITAR HERO III 128×128.jar

GUITAR HERO III 128×160.jar

GUITAR HERO III 176×220.jar

GUITAR HERO III 208×208.jar

GUITAR HERO III 240×320.jar

Guitar Hero III K500.jar

Guitar Hero III SE K800i.jar

Guitar Hero III Review

Mobile phones and music games. The two don’t mix. When I heard Guitar Hero III was coming to the mobile market, it didn’t sound like the world’s greatest idea. After all, it hasn’t even been ported to PSP or Nintendo DS, whose technology is far superior to what you can get in a phone. Why bring it to mobile consumers but not the true gaming market?

Then I saw a few screens from the game. With 3D character art and a cloned (but scaled-down) version of the console editions, the GHIII looked pretty good. Of course, it was only a screenshot, which can be misleading.

Then I heard about the audio capabilities, which were touted as providing a truer Guitar Hero experience. I also heard about the promise of new songs, which are scheduled for release every month following the game’s launch on Verizon Wireless late last year.

All this hoopla made me wonder: could the game actually achieve what no other has? Could it manage to capture even a fraction of Guitar Hero’s essence and set a new standard for other mobile games to follow?

Rock On – The Go

Two characters (Axel Steel and Judy Nails), three venues, four guitars, multiple picks (achievements) and 15 songs are included with this downloadable package. The first set of tracks, titled “Opening Licks,” includes Woman, Miss Murder, Black Magic Woman, and Suck My Kiss. Once finished, School’s Out becomes available as the encore.

“Amp Warmers,” the next batch of tracks, contains Hit Me With Your Best Shot, You Really Got Me, Strutter, Cherub Rock, and for the encore, Trippin’ on a Hole. “String Snappers,” the final lineup, is made up of Monsters, Shout at the Devil, Paranoid, Jessica, and Rock You Like a Hurricane (encore). Additional songs are acquired at a rate of $4.49 for monthly access or $11.99 for unlimited use. The first bonus set is available now and contains Mother, Barracuda, and The Seeker. The second set, due February 1st, will contain Life Wasted, Pride and Joy, and She Bangs the Drums.

This is one solid lineup, but it’s the execution that makes them significant. Before creating the Guitar Hero series, Harmonix designed the Amplitude and Frequency music games for Sony. Those games are essentially Guitar Hero without the guitar peripheral, and that’s the best way to describe GHIII Mobile. Rhythmically, the gameplay content is very similar to Amplitude/Frequency.

You have just three note buttons: green (1, 4 and 7 keys), red (2, 5, 8 keys) and yellow (3, 6 and 9 keys). But the game is still pretty intense, though no longer difficult since you can use two thumbs to dominate the note patterns and chords, rather than the complex moves necessary to perform successfully with the guitar peripheral on the console versions.

GHIII Mobile supports PMD audio for BREW devices, allowing the game to retain much of its aural integrity. The songs are cut – you won’t get to play through any of them in their entirety. But the sound quality is extremely high. It’s almost as good as what you’d expect to hear on the Nintendo DS. That’s a huge step up from all other mobile games, which can’t even make it past (at best!) SNES quality. Most are below Asteroids and Pac-Man.

The high-end audio and decent note/control response times helped form the Guitar Hero style gamers are no doubt seeking. What’s most surprising (and rewarding) is that it actually worked. You won’t be blown away but you’ll most certainly be impressed. The note patterns are a perfect match for each song. You’ll be jamming on your phone like you would a handheld drum pad.

Three difficulty settings are offered, but none of them will have a Guitar Hero master in turmoil. Most players will beat this one in 30 minutes or less. You may not, however, make it to the top of the leaderboard – which tabulates the 100 top players – overnight. As of this writing, the lead player had 4,602,218 points. The 100th player wasn’t far behind, having 4,251,614 points.

But while the leaderboard is a cool addition, it doesn’t influence the outcome of the game. GHIII Mobile is fun, plain and simple, and is undoubtedly one of the best time-killers a mobile gamer could have. Verizon users can get it now – those with other services can text ROCK to 46966 to get a free Guitar Hero wallpaper and be notified when the game arrives on their carrier.

Free Download Here (All Resolutions Package)

Free Download Here (128×128)

Free Download Here (128×160)

Free Download Here (176×220)

Free Download Here (208×208)

Free Download Here (240×320)

Free Download Here (K500)

Free Download Here (SE K800i)

Google allowing tethering apps for non-T-Mobile users

2009-04-07T01:48:00.000-07:00

After performing a mass sweep of tethering applications from the Android Market earlier this week, Google have backtracked. Rather than a total ban, their suggestion is to leave tethering software available to “users outside the T-Mobile US network”:

“We inadvertently unpublished your application for all mobile providers; if you like, we can restore your app so that all Android Market users outside the T-Mobile US network will have access to your application” Google statement to WiFi Tether for Root Users developer.”

It looks as though, as we suggested, Google has a filtering system which allows them to limit Android Market content depending on carrier. It’s arguable whether that’s good news or bad; one perspective is that at least developers can promote Android software that, while perhaps falling foul of some carriers’ Terms of Service (ToS), would still be usable by those with unlocked devices on different networks.

However, a different view might maintain that by giving in to carrier pressure, Google has set a precedent which could significantly impact future software, such as VoIP apps. The layering of ToS and distribution agreements involving users, carriers and Google themselves makes keeping track of which apps will be permitted, whether partially or totally, difficult, and it’ll only get worse as more carriers sign up their own Android devices.

(Via Androidcommunity )

Free Download iPhone Games: X-Plane Extreme

2009-04-07T01:46:00.000-07:00

New data presented for the other guy: Gear, flaps, stabilizer trim, wing sweep, light-control deflections, speedbrakes, rotor-disc angle for the helos, afterburners and afterburners-angles for the jets: The works! This stuff is visible in the AI plane you fly against in racing and extreme and the multiplayer friend you are racing against in racing, or flying with in all other flavors of X-Plane.

Laminar Research has released their latest flying simulator for the iPhone in the form of X-Plane Extreme . The newest version contains “four of the most unusual, fast, maneuverable, or advanced planes ever made” according to the developer.

These include:

* F-22 Raptor - by far the most maneuverable and powerful fighter in the sky

* SR-71 Blackbird - the fastest airplane in the world, exceeding Mach-3, exceeding 70,000 feet

* B-1 ‘Bone’ Bomber - this huge ungainly bird still has terribly high stall speeds and limited roll rate due to it’s high weight

* B-2 ‘Jet’ Bomber - The B-2 has.. umm… no tail. At all. No vertical stabilizer. No horizontal stabilizer. And no flaps.

Touch-down skid is even realistic, tracking the moment of inertia of the wheel, tire friction with the runway, and touchdown force. In the real plane, a hard landing just give you the sound of a hard thump.

Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch and minimum requires is iPhone 2.0 software update.

Vesion: X-Plane Extreme 9.0.7 for iPhone and iPod Touch

Free Download Here

Nokia 5320 XpressMusic Review

2009-04-07T01:43:00.000-07:00

The Nokia 5320 XpressMusic is another model on the Nokia XPressMusic series, which is dedicated to the music lovers, and that can be seen not only by the name, but by the presence of dedicated multimedia keys on the case.

It presents a standard candybar design, with glossy surfaces and refined details. It measures 108 x 46 x 15mm, making it a very compact phone. The 2″ QVGA display has a resolution of 240×320 pixels and views more than 16 million colors.

Even though this model is geared to a multimedia use, the other features are also rather good. It’s a Quadband GSM, which means it works on the four GSM frequencies: 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz. The internet navigation is done through the WAP browser and the GPRS technology.

The data synchronization with other devices is done through USB cable or bluetooth. Other features related to the telephony are the built-in handsfree, voice recording, voice command, converter, calculator, world clock, alarm clock, agenda, chronometer and a phonebook with capacity for 2000 contacts.

Other features are the built-in handsfree, voice-activated calls, phonebook, agenda, calculator, alarm clock and many others. It also supports MMS, SMS and e-mail messages, with the text-to-speech feature that allows the phone to “read” messages.

Being an XpressMusic model, it also features many multimedia functions. Starting from the 2 Megapixel photocamera with integrated LED flash, 4x digital zoom, image editor and brightness/contrast settings. With this photocamera it’s also possible to record videos, while a second photocamera placed on the front part is reserved to videocalls.

The music features also include the FM radio with the RDS function for an easier station search and the Visual Radio that allows the user to interact with radio stations. The multimedia player is accessible through the dedicated keys on the case, and one of these is the My Own key usable with the Play and Say feature, that allows the user to play a song by simply saying its name. It’s also usable for N-Gage games.

The 5320 XpressMusic also features other applications such as Flash Lite 3.0, Windows Live (through download), Flickr, Yahoo Go! and Yahoo! Messenger. The internal memory has 140MB and it’s expandable through microSD cards, and a 512MB one is included on the package.

The package also includes, besides the 512MB microSD card, a battery recharger, the Music brochure, the CD with the Nokia software and the Nokia headphones.

The battery, according to the official data, should guarantee 3.5 hours in conversation modes, 250 hours in standby and up to 24 hours of continuous music playing.

Pros:

- Good quality screen

- FM radio

- microSD card included on the package

- UMTS support

Cons:

- Photocamera could be better

- Size

Conclusion:

The Nokia 5320 XPressMusic is definitely a high-quality cellphone that offers a great network coverage, advanced functions such as voice recognition and voicecalls, FM radio with RDS and Virtual Radio. The photocamera could have a better resolution. The fact that the microSD card is included on the package is also a plus.

Free Download iPhone Games: Yahtzee Adventure

2009-04-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Yahtzee! I remember saying those words while playing Challenge Yahtzee with my family while growing up. So I saw Yahtzee Adventure in the App Store, and decided to give it a try.

When you start up the program, you are presented with the option of enabling or disabling sound within the program. Let me just say, I love this approach, and wish more designers would use it in their games or apps. I love being able to disable sounds before the program actually starts - it is much easier than trying to turn down the volume, mute the phone, or try to find some configuration switch within the game itself.

Anyway, when you get to the first screen, you are presented with a menu of options: adventure, play now, custom play, extras, options, more games, help, and exit. This is the first application I recall seeing on the iPhone that has an actual “exit” option (instead of just hitting the home button) - I don’t really know if it serves a purpose or not.

The play now is for a quick, single player game of Yahtzee. I won’t go into detail here, but will just say that unlike some games, playing Yahtzee by yourself can be just as much fun as against somebody, as you can try ot beat your various high scores.

The “extras” button will let you look at your various awards (given in adventure mode), biographies of the characters you are playing against, the results of various challenges (from both adventure mode and regular game mode), and you overall statistics (highest score, % of games won, etc).

The “more games” button is just for an advertisement of other games. Unfortunately, you don’t get any demos of those games included (that would be great advertising) or any discount for buying them via the advertisement (again, great advertising).

Options lets you change the various options - music, sound, tutorial, shake to roll the dice, etc. And help mode is just that - helps you with the game.

So that leaves Adventure Mode and Cuustom Play. I will start with Adventure Mode first.

In Adventure mode, you go through various levels, competing against former students of the “sensei” who is teaching you how to play Yahtzee. Presumably, each student has a different style of play (although I couldn’t really recognize any difference) so you need to “learn” how to compete against each style. I don’t really know how effective it was - I never really changed my style of play, and I sometimes won, I sometimes lost (maybe I would have won more if I adapted, who knows). Eventually, you need to beat the sensei himself. After you beat each level, you are awarded a set of dice to represent that challenge you defeated. Once you have beaten the entire adventure mode (which can happen relatively quickly) you can go back and play any of the students at any time.

In custom play mode, you can choose the type of game you want to play (classic, duplicate, battle, or rainbow). I am not going to go into the differences of those game types, but they all have their fun points. You can choose the number of opponents, and if you are playing against the iPhone characters, you can choose them as well.

The game play is very straight-forward. The one problem I had was occasionally I would tap an area of the field to reroll the dice, when I really was trying to choose the dice to keep. But beyond that, there were no real problem wit hthe gameplay or the interface. It is a very polished game overall.

While you can play multiplayer, you are playing on the same iPhone. It would be nice to have some sort of wifi or networked multiplayer option (or even playing people over the web) but I am glad to see that there is some sort of option to play against someone. While playing yourself or the characters is fun, part of the fun is playing against someone.

Pros: Fun game modes, good interface

Cons: Nothing aside from some minor issues about multiplayer mode

Free Download Here

Blackberry upgrade their instant messaging clients

2009-04-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

Every day there are more social applications for BlackBerry and the native instant messaging are now updated versions that fix bugs and add features, but are not described on the website of RIM.

Now all your IM clients, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Instant Messenger, go to version 2.1.44 and can be downloaded via OTA from http://www.blackberry.com/instantmessaging

Free Download iPhone Games: Super Monkey Ball

2009-04-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

When SEGA announced at the iPhone SDK event that they were bringing Super Monkey Ball to the iPhone, I almost leapt off my chair with excitement, and when they then showed how similar in look and play it was with the console iterations, well, I almost fainted. In fact that presentation got everyone talking about how the iPhone could be, and will be a great platform for games.

I absolutely love the Super Monkey Ball (SMB) games, I mean what’s not to love about monkeys in balls?

SEGA first released SMB in Japan, in 2000, as an upright arcade cabinet called Monkey Ball (which featured a crazy banana-styled joystick!!). Later and more popular was it’s release on the Nintendo Gamecube as a launch title in 2001. It was a great fit for Ninty’s console and proved very popular, it has appeared on all of Nintendo’s recent consoles, such as the DS and Wii, and even appeared on PS2 and Xbox as Super Monkey Ball Deluxe).

The gameplay is a bit like marble madness. You manoeuvre your ball encased monkey around increasingly challenging courses until you reach the goal at the end, all under the pressure of a count-down style time limit. Later levels feature varying themes and landscapes as well as trickier routes and obstacles. You can play as four different monkeys; AiAi, MeeMee, Baby and GonGon. As well as the main game, the console versions included mini-games such as Monkey Billiards, Monkey Fight (a favourite of mine!), Monkey Target and Monkey Golf.

So, how does the iPhone version fair. Well, pretty successfully! It borrows its main gameplay mechanic from the recent Wii version, using motion control. My only control gripe being that there is no current option to calibrate the default rest position, so you are forced to play the game flat which can get a bit uncomfortable over time. The control of the ball is also a little on the sensitive side, so there might be a steep learning curve for beginners. I, however, like the challenge!

The graphics are great and really pop on the iPhone, featuring that great SEGA look they give all their games. The 3D engine works well and the framerate is pretty solid. However, I would have liked to see full 3D monkes in their balls instead of the 2D sprites.

The game features 110 stages over five worlds, which are further split over easy and hard modes. You unlock a new world after completing the previous ones on easy and hard. I would have liked to see the return of the mini games, and I’m a bit puzzled as to why SEGA left them out. Lets hope the next version of the game at least features Monkey Fight, or Monkey Target!

Presentation & Graphics: 9

Features the usual polished and arcady visuals from SEGA. Full 3D monkey’s next time please!

Sound: 8

Cheesy but fitting music, may begin to grate. But overall good sound work overall.

Gameplay: 8

Get the monkey to the goal. Simple, addictive and challenging all at the same time. A great recipe for an iPhone game. Controls work well, but may be oversensitive for some, and a calibrate screen would be a welcome addition.

Game life: 6

If you can complete the game, which I doubt! You may find enjoyment from revisiting the levels for faster times and points. But eventually it will get repetitive. The inclusion of the original mini games would have made this game great!

Free Download Here

(Size: 36.27MB)

Free Download T-Mobile G1 Themes: Dark Symmetry

2009-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

The uers name is Geo411m added his T-Mobile G1 themes at androidcommunity.com, named Dark Symmetry, and he said that:

This is my new theme called Dark Symmetry. It’s still a WIP so please post comments and/or suggestions. Fixed e-mail icon, dialer icon and a few other icons that weren’t shown anyway. Added metallic menus.

theme RC33: link (8.8MB)

theme ADP1.1h: link (9.4MB

If you like the theme go here and cast your vote.

How to Downgrade Your iPhone 3.0 OS

2009-04-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of us have been using the iPhone 3.0 beta full-time. Now we’re rolling back, because it is decidedly NOT ready.

Now, we’re not saying we’re surprised, or angry, or anything. It’s beta software, and beta software is by definition not ready for everyday use. But in the pursuit of the latest and greatest thing, we all have learned that a little bit of inconsistency or crashiness is often a fair price to pay for being on the cutting edge.

Not so in iPhone 3.0. It’s slow as hell, locks up on everything from launching an app to entering a phone number on the numeric keypad, sucks down battery life like an alcoholic who just found his first bottle of MD 20/20 in days, and so on. Add to that a lack of support for MMS as of yet and no apps to take advantage of the background notifications, and you have a fairly useless upgrade, right now. So let’s roll it back.

Note: Your iPhone 3.0 OS backups (your phone settings, unsynched photos, text messages, etc) will not be compatible with 2.2.1 once you go back down. So make sure you have a backup from the 2.2.1 days to restore from, or else you’ll be starting from scratch.

iPhone EDGE

If you’re running OS X 10.5.6, you’ll need to do the USB DFU fix outlined in our jailbreaking guide before proceeding.

1. With your phone plugged in, put it into DFU mode by holding both the power and home buttons for 10 seconds, then releasing power and continuing to hold down home until iTunes recognizes a phone in “recovery mode.”

2. Download the 2.2.1 firmware .ipsw file from Apple. Hold down option (Mac) or shift (Windows) and click on restore. Choose the stock iPhone 2.2.1 file you just downloaded.

3. Let it do its thing, and you should be in business. Restore your backup should you have one, and proceed to jailbreaking if you want to.

iPhone 3G

On the iPhone 3G, the 3.0 software flashes the baseband (the chip that controls voice and data network traffic), which confuses iTunes when you try to downgrade. So you have to jump through a few more hoops to downgrade your 3G, but it’s still easy enough.

1. Follow the first two steps above for iPhone EDGE, only using the iPhone 3G 2.2.1 firmware package of course. Again, OS X 10.5.6 users will have to do the USB driver switcheroo detailed above.

2. When it’s done restoring, you’ll get an error message that looks like this:

As long as it’s a four-digit error number like 10xx, don’t worry, that’s just iTunes telling you it’s confused by the updated baseband on your phone. Everything will work fine, but unfortunately your phone will be stuck in restore mode until you jailbreak it, which is what we’re doing next.

3. For Mac (Windows users skip to step : Download a utility called iRecovery. This tool forces your phone to reboot out of restore mode, which is necessary for the QuickPwn jailbreak software to recognize it.

4. Go to the terminal and change to the iRecovery directory, wherever it is on your system, and type these two commands:

chmod 755 libusb-0.1.4.dylib

chmod 755 iRecovery

5. Next, copy the “libusb-0.1.4.dylib” file to the /usr/local/lib directory on your machine (you’ll have to shift-command-G to go to this folder in Finder).

6. And finally, with your iPhone plugged in, go back to Terminal and type:

./iRecovery -s

You’ll get a prompt, where you should then type “fsboot” (no quotes) and hit enter. If nothing happens after 10-15 seconds, type it again and hit enter again. Your phone should boot.

7. Download QuickPwn and jailbreak your phone. Restore your 2.2.1 backup in iTunes, and you should be in business.

8. For Windows: After you restore to 2.2.1, you can skip straight to running QuickPwn to get your phone up and running.

And that’s it. Enjoy an iPhone free of horrible slow-downs until summertime.

Free Download and install iPhone OS 3.0

2009-04-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

Apple few days back made a major announcement with the iPhone OS 3.0 coming in few months and most of the dev guys have already grabbed a copy through Apple’s Developer Connection. Featuring much waited features like copy/paste, tethering and tons more, iphone OS 3.0 is looking great and could be the best firmware for iPhone till date.

But as you are not a dev and wouldn’t like to pay $99 for a year subscription. Here’s a chance to grab and checkout some cool features of iPhone OS 3.0 before its official release.

This is the Download Links:

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4780862/IPHONE_OS_3.0_leaked_

For How to install, you can view my other post here:

iPhone 3.0 Software: What’s New, How to Install - Everything You need to Know

iPhone Ringtones --Wake Up

2009-04-03T01:34:00.000-07:00

Alarming Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Birdsong Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Digital Watch Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Gentle Tone Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Good Morning Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Light Shake Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Moonrise Alarm Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Morning Flutter Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Morning Hymn Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Over Easy Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Rooster Alarm Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Sleep Walk Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Sunrise Alarm Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Tick Tock Jam Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

Time For Work Preview as MP3 Download as M4R iPhone Ringtone

iphone Games

2009-03-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Nowdays game plays an important role in people`s life,some of the countries take game as the leading industry, the game are growing fast,also game bring some happiness and enjoyment to us。Although it is a visional world,it is original from life,so it is amiable to us.Game is coming to different aspects of our life,include cell phone,TV,web,computer and so on.Iphone also include different kinds of games, i am also a player and interested in game.In order to meet the demand of iphone user,I have collected a lot of free iphone games, hope you can enjoy your game and get more happiness.

Sparkle: iPhone Gets Its First Completely 3D MMO

Top 5 Free iPhone Games!

iPhone Games Review: Crazy Tanks

Free Download iPhone Games: 7 Cities TD

Free Download iPhone Games: Asphalt 4 Elite Racing

Free Download iPhone Games: Aurora Feint II - The Arena

Free Download iPhone Games: Aurora Feint II - Tower Puzzles

Free Download iPhone Games: Hero of Sparta

Free Download iPhone Games: Zombie Mansion

Free Download iPhone Games: Venger

Free Download iPhone Games: Trism

iPhone Ringtones

2009-03-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

The sound make this world more wonderful,the Iphone become more lively because of the ringtones.You can listen to graceful music by your iphone when you have a rest,what a great feeling!Everyone has its own be-loved stars,you can have lots of songs in iphone. On travel or walk on road,no matter where you can enjoy yourself.Although i am not pop star,haven't get combined band,i can gather some download resources of iphone ringtones,hope you guys will love it.

iPhone Hacks

2009-03-29T00:12:00.001-07:00

Everybody who have played web games will know what is hack, of course, iphone is not the exception.Although it is encrypted,it was solved by a superior hacker.May be most of us are enjoying the vast of the high technology product.I am not a hacker,but i know many people are searching on the internet, and many station agent set a hot site which related to iphone hacks,also helped more users know more about iphone.Here,i collected some iphone hacks for iphone users.I am not aim to teach you how to hack,but help you enjoy more things from the high technology product. Here are some of my collection to iphone hacks:

I hope you can enjoy this iPhone Hacks,good luck:)

iPhone User Guide

2009-03-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

iphone is developed and launched from apple.In June 29, 2007 appeared on the market of the United States, it has been widely recognized by customers.For this new product, it is not only technically innovation, but also opened up a new era of mobile phone.A lot of my close Friends bought a iphone cell phone, for such a new product, I also felt a great curiosity.
In order to assist the user be able to master the use of thicker skills, I have deliberately collected many iphone User guide, I hope you are able to get more happiness and enjoyment from the iphone, but also like to thank those friends who compile the iphone User guide. Here are some of my collection to iPhone User Guide:

I hope you can love this iPhone User Guide,thank you:)

How to Copy Music to your iPhone

2009-03-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

The iPhone's multiple capabilities include the use of a music player that is comparable to Apple's iPod. Audio clarity is combined with the touch screen to create a mobile music experience. iPhone users can copy music to their iPhone through iTunes in a few steps.

Step1:Use the USB cables included with your iPhone to make a connection with your computer. You can purchase music online using your iPhone, but connecting to your iTunes
library allows you to bring past downloads with you anywhere you go.

Step2:Establish an auto synchronization between your computer and your iPhone. You can use the Summary field in iTunes to find the "Auto Sync" icon that lets you instantly upload new music to your iPhone upon connection.

Step3:Formulate playlists of your favorite music to make the music upload to your iPhone more orderly. You should compartmentalize albums and specific genres of music to avoid overloading your iPhone's memory.

Step4:Transfer items you have purchased through your iPhone to your computer's music library as a backup. You can click on the "File" icon at the top of iTunes and shift files using the Transfer Purchases function. You should do this every time you purchase something on your iPhone to sync up your computer and phone.

Step5:Delete music off of your iPhone that you have not listened to in a long time. You should clear out your iPhone library every few weeks so you can copy a larger number of new songs during the auto sync process.

Step6:Manage the sound level on your iTunes files before you upload music to your iPhone. The Preferences function on iTunes leads you to a "Sound Check" tool that lets you set the maximum sound level of every file that you copy to your phone.

Step7:Set the sleep timer on your iPhone to avoid letting your playlist run through while you are away from your phone. The "Clock" function on the phone leads you to an option called "Timer" that lets you set the amount of time the phone goes idle before music shuts off. The timer saves your battery capacity and lets it require fewer charges over the iPhone's life.

How to Change iPhone Themes

2009-03-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

Apple, the makers of the iphone,places restrictions on the themes available for display behind iPhone icons. But the iPhone Hack Toolkit, a creative software that's free to download and use, lets you hack into the iPhone system, "jailbreak" the iPhone, and change your theme. A number of sites provide iPhone themes for you to choose from.

Step1:Choose a new theme for the iPhone. There are several websites like PqDvd that provide themes for free download once you've hacked into your iPhone. The theme file you download will be in a .pkg format.

Step2:Install iTunes on the computer. You can find it on the Apple website. This software needs to be on your hard drive for the hacking program to work.

Step3:Download the iPhone Hack Toolkit. It's free from various sources around the Internet. Try Megaleecher.net to get the jailbreak started.

Step4:Connect the iPhone to the computer.

Step5:Open the iPhoneHackToolkit1.0.exe file.

Step6:Select the "Jailbreak" option. This unlocks, or hacks, the restrictions on the iPhone so you can substitute a theme of your choice.

Step7:Click "Import" and select the .pkg file for the new theme you selected for the iPhone in Step 1.

Sparkle: iPhone Gets Its First Completely 3D MMO

2009-03-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

TechCrunch talks about the first MMO to be developed exclusively for the iPhone (Sparkle, by Tokyo-based Genkii). Right now, the app can only connect you to a Second Life account, but the next generation (Sparkle 3D) will include a virtual world built from scratch.

The number of apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch is nearing the 30,000 mark but hardly any application takes advantage of the network effects that lie within the Apple ecosystem. Most developers simply ignore the fact that all iPhones and iPod Touches are interconnected globally and roll out stand-alone applications. This is one of the major reasons why the vast majority of fun apps lack stickiness and are easily forgotten after a few quick bursts.

But a Tokyo-based start-up called Genkii is building a unique app that has the potential to not only let a few iPhone users connect with each other, but thousands of them - at the same time or asynchronously. Sparkle is poised to become the first virtual world for the iPhone. What's more, it's being developed completely from scratch, exclusively as an MMO for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

The first iteration of Sparkle, a text communication app called Sparkle IM, actually went on sale yesterday (App Store link) and costs 4.99 USD. Sparkle IM basically brings Second Life communication to your iPhone, connecting you to Second Life (and OpenSim) grids. Users can send and receive IMs, chat, send teleport requests etc. on the go through their Second Life and OpenSim accounts.

But for the average iPhone user, Sparkle 3D will be much more interesting. Once finalized, Genkii says users will get a full-fledged virtual world in 3D (the company has a track record in virtual worlds development). Sparkle 3D will have its own economy, customizable personal spaces and avatars, social networking functions, virtual goods, games, streaming audio support, etc.

Have a look at some early Sparkle 3D screens and avatar designs below.

Crazy App of the Day: Foursquare, Friend-Finder, City Guide, Twitter with Benefits?

2009-03-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

Foursquare is mobile friend finder, meet n’ great game by the creator of DodgeBall, Dennis Crowley. DodgeBall was sold in 2005 to Google. Foursquare works as an iPhone app, via text or the mobile web. It’s kind of like, Twitter with benefits.

Members create a network of friends in the service. When friends arrive at a nightclub or other social hotspot, they “check in” to Foursquare via a text message, mobile web or the iPhone application. In other words, the way Foursquare puts it, “tell us where you are and we’ll tell your friends where to find you”.

Members earn points and badges. Frequent attendees to certain night spots get to be the mayor of the joint. Currently, Foursquare is available in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

The Foursquare website explains what they want this way:

“+ Think “urban mix tape”. We made a little system that allows you to track all the cool things to do in NYC - both the things you’ve done (your “Top 12″) and the things you want to do (your “To Do” list).

+ We’re not looking for reviews here… Think less “the food here is top notch!” and more “Go here, do this” or “Eat here, order this” (for example: “Go to Dumont Burger, order the Mac and Cheese”). Remember, you’ve only got 12 slots, so fill ‘em with the 12 coolest things you can think of in NYC. “

Lounge brings a rich Twitter client to iPhone and Mac OS X

2009-03-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Recently, Apple has unveiled the iPhone OS 3.0. However, iPhone’s current Internet connections are really slow and this has been a major drawback for Apple, although the smartphone has become the best selling phone in the US. According to some rumors, the next generation iPhone will come with a hardware upgrade that would provide better Internet access. Everybody knows that the iPhone is based on performance-limited hardware which supports only 3.6Mbps 3G, while 7.2Mbps 3G remains only a dream for users.

For the moment we don’t know if the iPhone will actually come with faster 3G or with faster Wi-Fi as the current 802.11 b/g supports 25Mbps therefore the latest Broadcom 802.11n chipsets will provide 50Mbps. Both are plausible, but 3G has an advantage considering the fact that Infineon is readying an improved 3G chipset which also improves battery life. Also, remember the fact that AT&T started trialing the 7.2Mbps 3G as of late-2008 and they will probably “release” the service later this year.

On the other side, better 3G would actually mean that better Wi-Fi. Why? Because 7.2Mbps is a must for the next-gen iPhone, and if users will get faster 3G speeds, then why wouldn’t Apple provide faster Wi-Fi?

We can say that we are almost sure that the next-gen iPhone will not support 4G because the LTE equipment will be completed in one or two years, however, what if Apple decides to release a new smartphone in one or two years? This remains to be seen, but it is more likely that the iPhone will come with faster 3G access.

Free iPhone Apps Review & Download: iSilo v1.31 for iPhone

2009-03-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

The iSilo application, whose earlier incarnations were much beloved of doctors, lawyers, and others who sought a way to carry HTML reference material on their PDA since time immemorial, was released for the iPhone platform back in August.

As I mentioned when I covered it then, I had been a heavy user of iSilo for PalmOS back in the day, since I cordially disliked the MobiPocket PalmOS application and iSilo was the only other convenient way to get Baen Webscription books onto my Palm, Visor, or CliÃ©.

However, I hadn’t used it since my last Clie bit the dust. There had been other ways to read those books, such as FBReader on my Nokia 770 and Bookshelf on my iPod Touch. When I downloaded the first version available from the store, I was fairly unimpressed, so I decided to put off reviewing it until it got a little better.

That time has come now. With the release of version 1.30-1.31, iSilo has moved considerably closer to ready for prime-time. It has added support for viewing a number of non-iSilo document formats (most notably PDF), and also supports loading documents with WebDAV rather than needing a sync conduit applicationâ€”an innovation I would like to see in other readers, such as Stanza or Bookshelf.

The iSilo document format

In order to convert documents from HTML into iSilo format, you will need to download the free iSiloX converter program. This program will allow you to convert any single page or collection of linked pages into an iSilo-compatible e-book.

Some websites, such as Munseys, also offer preconverted iSilo-format books for download. (It should be noted, however, that Munseys uses an older version of the iSilo format, which shows up double-spaced on newer iSilo apps, so you will get better results if you convert them yourself.)

iSilo is a format that has been evolving since shortly after the introduction of the original Palm Pilots. At its root, it is intended as a way to take text formatted in HTML and translate it to a form that can be read on a PDA, with as little human intervention as possible along the way.

In this respect, it has a couple of notable advantages over the other HTML conversion document format, MobiPocket. With iSilo, if you have a table of contents for a book in HTML format with links to all the chapters, all you need to do is point iSiloX at the table of contents and tell it to fetch that to a link-depth of 1. It creates the book for you, with the table of contents at the beginning”and links from the table of contents to other parts of the book work just as they would if you were viewing through a web browser.

On the other hand, I have never yet been able to make a MobiPocket-converted file with a built-in table of contents, even when I had that same table of contents HTML file.

This also makes iSilo a natural for mirroring websites. Just feed iSiloX the URL and link depth, and it will produce an archive file that can be browsed just as if it was the actual website. Of course, this was much more useful back in the PalmOS days when the presentation of the web on a portable device was much more limited.

The iSilo iPhone App: User Interface

Both having names that start with a lower-case “i,” it would seem that iSilo and the iPhone were made for each other. At $9.99 on the App Store, it is half the price of the iSilo client for other platforms (though this price may be raised at any time).

Like other platforms’ iSilo clients, the iPhone version is capable of reading iSilo-format documents. However, unlike the other versions, the lack of hardware buttons on the iPhone leads to some hard choices in the user interface.

Scrolling up and down can be done by dragging and “flicking” just as with other iPhone apps. But there are other functions that can be performed by single, double, or triple-tapping the screen at various points. (They can be edited from within the Options menus.)

Tapping in the very middle of the screen brings up a display of the single-tap commands, then tapping again in the same place switches to the display of double-tap commands (as seen at left), then triple-tap.

Thus, tapping twice in the lower left corner of the screen would move to the previous page in the document, or tapping twice in the middle top would page up. The interface is a bit clunky, with so many different locations and taps to rememberâ€”and if you are in the habit from using other applications of just tapping anywhere in the lower part of the screen, iSilo could be a little hard to get used to.

Configuration Menu

Another place where the interface is a little clunky is in the configuration menu (accessed by tapping the “More” icon at the lower right corner of the screen). This will bring up a list of all possible functionsâ€”File, Edit, Find, Mark, Go To, and Toolsâ€”in one single panel.

Some of the options are a bit unclear. For instance, if you want to change the font, you need to go to the “Edit” section and choose “Options”. (However, changing the font is frequently ineffective; see below.) The options for autoscroll, rotation lock (to prevent the screen from changing orientation if you flip the device on its side), and full screen display are under “Tools,” at the very bottom.

Thus, to engage full-screen mode (getting rid of the title bar at the top and the menu bar at the bottom), you must go into the configuration menu and scroll to the very bottom. (Also, if you attempt to page down with a tap, you will come right back out of it again, since it is turned off by tapping at the bottom of the screen where the menu bar would be.) There is room for improvement here.

Viewing Other File Types

Unlike other iSilo clients, the iPhone version of iSilo has been blessed with the ability to display several document formats in addition to iSiloâ€”most notably PDF, Word, RTF, unaltered HTML, as well as JPEG and other image formats. No conversion is necessary to load these documents into iSilo. Perhaps the iSilo people figured that these document viewing abilities might make the iPod iSilo more attractive to people who had never used it before.

Most of the PDFs I loaded as a test displayed adequatelyâ€”at least as well as they would appear in Air Sharing’s viewer. The only failures were a Wowio PDF (which only displayed the first couple of pages and everything else was blankâ€”perhaps this was due to whatever copy protection method Wowio uses) and my 153-megabyte Spycraft 2.0 PDF (iSilo churned gamely away for a couple of minutes trying to load it, then the iPod crashed to the silver-apple screenâ€”but then, I didn’t really expect it to work).

Loading iSilo: “I can do that, WebDAV.”

Once you have files in a format iSilo can read, it is necessary to load them. As with eReader, iSilo can pull down compatible files from any web server, including one on your own desktop computer. But unlike eReader (or BookShelf, or Stanza), iSilo offers the ability to load files into its memory without needing a webserver or any specialized PC-side conduit at all.

Like Air Sharing, iSilo has its own WebDAV server built in. This means that you can tell iSilo to set itself up as a file server on your wireless network which you can access with a URL. You can then add it to “My Network Places” on your Windows computer, explore to it, and move files into and out of it just as you would any network drive. In short, the app itself is also its own conduit.

This also means that you can use iSilo just as you would Air Sharingâ€”as a network hard drive utility to transfer files from one computer to another without ever wanting or needing to view them on the iPhone.

Loading files in this way is easy and fast, at least for me. It means no having to mess around with a conduit that may not actually work properly. I wish other e-reading apps would offer this function!

Text Display

iSilo books are displayed by default in a Verdana sans serif font. They can be viewed in either portrait or landscape; iSilo has a very smooth accelerometer screen-flip function. The documents look very much as they did in their original HTML format (making allowances for screen size), including italics, bold, links, and even tables.

The font is reminiscent of the fonts available on the old PalmOS devices where iSilo was born. Someone used to reading on those devices might see very little difference in how the document is displayed.

However, these days I tend to prefer reading in a serif font, such as Georgia, for the way it guides the eyes along. iSilo does have a font-setting dialogue under its Options menu, where the font can be changed to any that is available on the iPhoneâ€”but for some inexplicable reason, of all the documents I tried to change the font with, the only one where it stuck was the converted HTML Tor e-book of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: The Final Empire (as seen in the screenshot near the top of this review).

I am not sure whether something in the document’s HTML (or in my iSiloX conversion of it) is overriding my font choice, or if it’s something wrong with the iSilo clientâ€”but whatever it is, it certainly is annoying.

[Edit: I have since been informed that this has to do with the way that iSilo documents have a specific font family (serif or sans serif) set, and you must choose which font is displayed for each family. You can choose to set a serif font to be displayed for sans serif families, by turning "Set Defaults" on, changing "Family" to "Sans Serif," and then choosing the serif font, such as "Georgia". I tried this, and it worked. Still, it only serves as more evidence of the overall clunkiness of the application and its configuration options.]

One thing I have found while reading documents in iSilo is that sometimes the scrolling can be decidedly sluggish. Sometimes it will not even scroll at all, no matter how much I flick itâ€”and then it comes unstuck and immediately jumps several pages down.

Another mild annoyance has to do with the “soft” scrolling selection from iSiloXâ€”a format conversion option which is supposed to allow scrolling across boundaries between different webpages in the same iSilo file.

I used soft scrolling with Baen Webscription books (which are set up in a one-webpage-per-chapter format) when I was using iSilo on my PalmOS machines so I would not have to click a link to jump to the next chapter, just hit the down button again to scroll across the boundary. However, the iPhone iSilo client does not seem to recognize soft scrolling. (I wonder if it is because of the same API issue that makes BookShelf have to load books in 35K chunks?)

Conclusion

Back in the PalmOS era, iSilo offered an unparalleled ability to convert HTML documents to a form that could be conveniently carried on a Palm. Since it was the only game in town at the time (other options such as Plucker had not yet come along), it was immediately adopted by professions that relied on rapid access to significant amounts of reference materialâ€”most notably the legal and medical professions.

To this day, a number of medical and legal reference sites continue to support iSilo, and the lack of an iSilo reader had been cited by doctors or lawyers as an overwhelming reason why they could not switch from their old PDA to an iPhone. Happily for those doctors and lawyers, this has now changed. I would have no compunction at all recommending the iPhone iSilo to people who need to use iSilo professionally (or others who have a bunch of files already in iSilo formats).

However, due to its current clunkiness in comparison to the various other choices available,Now i am searched the iSilo v1.31 for iPhone free share for you! Enjoy it!

Free Download Here

iSilo 1.31 (5 MiB)

Password: www.ggiphone.com

iPhone Sales Hit 17 Million

2009-03-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

Apple has sold a total of 17 million iPhones — including sales of both the original iPhone and iPhone 3G — since launch, according to the company’s vice president of iPod and iPhone product marketing.

Speaking at the launch of Apple’s iPhone 3.0 software last week, Joswiak said the figure — which includes 13.7 million iPhones sold in 2008 — beat Apple’s target of 10 million by a wide margin.

Including sales of the iPod touch, Apple has sold 30 million devices running the iPhone OS.

Other successes including Apple’s iPhone developer programme, which boasts 50,000 members, while the number of applications available via the company’s App Store now exceeds 25,000. There have been 800 million total downloads on the App Store so far, Apple said.

Why no iPhone support for Firefox mobile beta?

2009-03-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

Mozilla just released the beta test version of Fennec, its mobile Firefox browser. The beta version is still slow and has a ways to go before it can compete with Apple’s iPhone-ized Safari browser, but these are forgivable shortcomings, given its beta status.

No, the real problem with Fennec is that it’s available only for one platform: Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet. Who cares about that device?

Seriously, while the rest of the world is experimenting first on the iPhone, why is Mozilla futzing around with a niche platform like Nokia’s N810? I don’t know a single person who has one, developer or otherwise. Even if Mozilla makes Fennec sing, who is going to care?

More to the point, who is going to help make it sing? Mozilla’s desktop Firefox browser has been impressive in its innovations, in part because it marshalls a massive community that enables Mozilla to take advantage of resources otherwise beyond its small staff.

I solicited comment on the choice of platform but have yet to hear back from Mozilla on the matter.

Yes, as CNET reports, there are emulators for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows to help developers get a head start on other platforms. But it’s not the same. And, frankly, it’s not really useful: Mozilla should be targeting the top platforms for its Fennec releases, not an obscure Internet tablet.

Early on, Fennec (nee “Minimo”) was available only for Windows Mobile devices, which further rendered it irrelevant to the crowd most likely to help develop it.

Sure, Apple is unlikely to welcome a competitive browser to the iPhone, but Mozilla is used to swimming against the current. You don’t achieve 20 percent market share on Microsoft’s Windows fortress unless you know how to build and deliver compelling value.

Ben Feldman, a software developer, noted to me in a Tweet that

Mozilla already said there won’t be iPhone or Android versions because of inability/restrictions on running code they need to use. If I remember correctly, it had to do with restrictions on run non-SDK code, and Android is all Java at the moment.

So maybe it’s Apple that’s to blame.

If so, Mozilla needs to up the public pressure on Apple to open up the iPhone to this sort of development. Firefox is the best browser for personal computers, even better than Apple’s Safari. iPhone users shouldn’t have to slum with Apple’s iPhone-enabled version of Safari if (or when) Mozilla creates something better. Put the pressure on, Mozilla.

USB tethering with iPhone OS 3.0 apparently works

2009-03-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

A developer has accidentally enabled USB tethering with a beta of Apple’s new iPhone OS 3.0. The feature appears to work, so it is just up to the carriers to determine whether they can handle the load when iPhone OS 3.0 is expected to ship this summer.

USB tethering—where a cell phone is used as a modem for a computer—is one of the most-requested features for the iPhone, and (half of) it has finally arrived in iPhone OS 3.0. Scott Forstall, Apple’s Senior VP of iPhone Software, stated on Tuesday that the feature is now built into the OS, but carriers will have to choose whether to take on all that extra network burden and allow access. As developers continue to tinker with the iPhone OS 3.0 beta, though, one has unlocked access to iPhone tethering and taken it for a spin.

Developer Steve Troughton-Smith has posted screenshots of his adventures in iPhone tethering to his Twitter account. Unfortunately, Steve has no idea how he did it, only tweeting that he was hacking around with APNs in the Carrier.bundle itcc file. Steve says the feature appears in the Network section of the Settings app, but while “tethering over USB seems to work,” it tends to cause a hard-reboot of the phone. Steve is in Ireland using O2, and testing over Bluetooth is next.

It is worth reiterating that the ability to tether an iPhone for data is not a technical challenge; it’s a network challenge. You probably heard that the iPhone is responsible for bringing AT&T practically to its knees this past week at SXSW in Austin, TX, and that’s just from tiny bits of mobile sites and the like. Computers can haul far more data down a connection, and many carriers are simply not ready to provide that large of a wireless pipe to 17 million iPhone owners yet.

Metal Gear Solid Touch: Released for the iPhone and iPod Touch

2009-03-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

Metal Gear Solid:Touch will be released today and can be bought at iTune App Store for $7.99.

The game covers the events of Metal Gear Solid 4, with gamers resuming their role as Solid Snake. The players can tap the screen to shoot enemies, slide your fingers to move the screen around, and use pinch gestures-two fingers sliding apart or close on the screen to zoom in and out.

The game features 20 levels with 45 minute of cut-scenes. In order to win each level, you must meet specific objectives in order to clear the stage. Along the way you earn “Drebin Points” which you can cash in for access to exclusive items - 15 wallpapers you can decorate your iPhone with.

Free T-Mobile G1 Themes Download: SkyTech (RC33 1.42 only)

2009-03-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

SkyTech themes only for RC33 1.42, have not tried/tested on any others, so not responsible for bricks and hangs, Looks really really nice on the G1 screen, so try it out.

Name: SkyTech ( A theme by Prash)

Icons by BloodyXu

Wallpapers by Jk2 (SimplyOrange) and pannpann (Ultra Ordinary) on DeviantArt

Info:

-made with/for RC33 JF 1.42 (ONLY). (I have not tested on anything other than RC33 JF 1.42 so only try at your own risk, I am not responsible for bricked phones)

-Uses default system fonts

-Customized every single System icon possible

-Customized superuser icon

-Customized system Clock

-Customized dialer icons in phone and contacts

-Customized unlock code screen

-Customized every single notification icons and system menu items (over 600+ images)

-Not many .9 file edited

Extras:

(Download 3 wallpapers and 40 icons: SkyTech-Extras.zip)

-Includes 3 PNG Wallpapers: SkyTech-Orange, SkyTech-Red (original) and SkyTech-UO (new screenshots)

[note: For maximum quality, download these into /wallpapers/ folder of your sdcard and use free market app "Wallpaper Set & Save" to set as wallpapers]

-Includes 40 PNG Icons to use with BetterCut (48×48)

To Install:

1) Start fresh with the default theme. (install it like any other update.zip file no wipes needed)

2) Download SkyTech.zip.

3) Move to sdcard main folder, rename file to ‘update.zip’

4) Turn off phone.

5) Hold HOME key and turn on the phone.

6) Alt+S to apply the theme

7) When its done press home+back to reboot

You should see the new boot screen, enjoy your new theme!

More info please go to: http://www.injun.org/themes/SkyTech.html

Android 1.1 update available

2009-03-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Google has issued an update for the unlocked version of the Android phone. The version is specifically made for developers.

Several bug fixes for issues that involve the alarm clock, device sleep, POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) email, and email notification are among the updates. Added to this includes the ability to save MMS attachments and voice search. As for matters of accessibility to applications, Google will only block those applications, regardless of whether they are free or paid, that use Google’s copy protection. Different from the consumer version which allows users to copy applications which are sold exclusively through T-Mobile’s Network. With this however, Google is blocking access to all copy protected applications, even for copy protected applications on the open device.

Dan Morrill, Developer Advocate for Android says “many developers are concerned about the unauthorized redistribution of their applications, developer phones like the ADP1 allow for unrestricted access to the device’s contents, making it impossible to enforce copy protection. If you choose to add copy protection when you upload your application to the Android Market, then you won’t be able to test it on the ADP1’s Android market client.” [via CNET]

Top 10 Free Music Based Games for the iPhone & iPod Touch

2009-03-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Music-based games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band have become wildly popular, so it only makes sense that similar games are being created for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Both devices have a plethora of gaming apps, but only a handful of those are free and based around music. Here are 10 - perfect for long hours stuck in airports, commuter trains, and so on.

What are some of your favorite music-based games for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and which do you wish existed?

Aero Drum Free

While it may not be as exciting as beating the skins of an actual drum kit, Aero Drum Free will still help you work out some of your frustrations by beating out a sick rhythm. Just follow the dots to play snare, cymbal and bass drum and try to beat the scores.

As with all of the “X Game Free” versions, this is a trial version, and there are more features in the paid app. (App Store Rating: 2 stars)

Aero Guitar Free

At some point or another, everyone has “played” air guitar, but with the help of Aero Guitar Free, now you can actually feel like you are accomplishing something! This free version of the app will allow you to sample the game before you buy the full one, and will teach you the basic of up strokes, down strokes and basic tapping.

Another rhythm action game, but at least it makes you feel like you are doing more than just tapping. (App Store Rating: 2 stars)

Aero Synth Free

Ever wish you had the mad skills of a club DJ? Well, more than likely you never will, but Aero Synth Free will at least help you live out that fantasy a bit more. Tap along as the electronic music plays and keep the beat going, but if you miss one of the bubbles in the four streams, the music goes back to its original intro until you are on track again.

The side scrolling nature of this game is a bit prohibitive as your hand can hide the lower streams. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)

Chrimbell

There is nothing quite like the sound of bells playing along with a Christmas carol, and with Chrimbell you can reproduce that sound to go along with some old time hits. Choose from Christmas carols like “Away In A Manger” or “Jingle Bells” and then choose your bell and get to playing.

It appears it does need the built-in speaker of the iPhone or iPod Touch version 2 to work as I couldn’t get any sound on my iPod Touch 1. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)

Mardo’s Music Trivia - Lite Version

Who doesn’t love to test their knowledge of trivial facts? With Mardo’s Ultimate Music Trivia you can see how well you do across a whole range of musical genres from punk to country.

The lite version is very lite, but it will give you a feeling for how the full version plays and if it will even interest you. (App Store Rating: 2 stars)

rePete Lite

Harking back to the days of the Simon electronic game, rePete Lite allows you to choose a playing grid of 4, 6 or 9 light boxes and then uses lights and sound to show you the pattern you need to remember.

As with most memory games out there, watch out for the addictive factor. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)

synthPond Lite

A fairly complex app, synthPond Lite allows you to place different types of nodes around the screen to create synthetic music. You can change their pitch, speed and a whole lot more.

While most lite versions of games really scale back on their features, this one seems to be complete in all the right places. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)

Tap Tap Revenge

Have a desire to tap your iPhone or iPod Touch screen to a rhythm? Then Tap Tap Revenge Tap Tap Revenge reviews is your answer. With a name obviously inspired by Japan’s mega-popular Dance Dance Revolution, the actual game play takes its cues from the addictive Guitar Hero.

While the music is generic in this version, that is what allows them to keep it being released for free. I personally find the game a bit frustrating, but then I have huge fingers and am not exactly known for my ability to keep a beat. (App Store Rating: 3 stars)

ThumbStruck Free

Compared to other rhythm-based games, ThumbStruck Live has you hitting the musical elemental balls on three bars instead of the usual one. Your thumbs will be dancing all over the board to keep up with this one.

This game definitely steps up the rhythm-based genre by requiring you to be a lot more agile and coordinated to hit all three sections of the board. (App Store Rating: 2.5 stars)

Xmas In Space: Play-a-Long Christmas Carols

Who knew they had Christmas on other planets? Well, according to Xmas In Space:Play-a-Long Christmas Carols, they do, and they have sent you a music app that allows you to play along with bells or harps to some of your favorite Christmas carols.

Though the game has no way to measure how well you did, the song mixes are cute, and the fire crackling sound is oddly comforting.

iPhone Apps For Designers And Bloggers

2009-03-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Now I’ll admit that I don’t have an iphone…but I do have an iPod Touch…which is the next best thing! I’ll go over some details of how I use the apps on my touch to help me design and keep my blog up to date!

First off…Just in case you don’t want to read all this I made a short crappy video of some of the apps that I use!

iPhone Apps For Designers And Bloggers from Niki Brown on Vimeo.

Kern: The Game

First off, I need to keep my typography skills in shape so I downloaded this game. The gist of the game is to position a missing letter in a word that is falling from the top of the screen. The more actuate the kerning the higher the score. Now this game seems simple and easy, but it has proven to be difficult! A fun way to sharpen your type skills and pass the time.

What The Font?

I know that I don’t have a camera on my touch, but I can stil save images from mail or safari and use this app. What The font attempts to identify fonts from your uploaded images. Very useful on the go (especially for iphone users.)

Analytics

If you run a website or blog odds are you have google analytics set up. This app provides an iphone interface to google’s less than desirable flash graphic interface. Good for checking out your website stats on the go.

Drop Box

While not necessarily an iphone app, the drop box website has a lovey iphone interface. I use dropbox on a regular basis to transfer files between computers. Very helpful if you have a multi-computer set up and need to keep some files synced.

Wordpress iPhone App

I ride the subway to and from work every day. This means I have about 30 mins to kill each way. The wordpress iPhone app is extremely usefull when I get blogging ideas on the train. In fact, many of the first drafts of my posts are composed on this ap!

Tweetie

If you aren’t on twitter now…well you might as well shut your computer down and go back to the stone ages. The design community on Twitter is HUGE! Tons of well known and not so well known helpful designers out there tweeting all sorts of designy goodness. How the heck do you keep up with it? IMO Tweetie is the best twitter app out there. Landscape keyboard, and easy search functions so you dont miss replies.

What Apps Dou You Use?

I’m interested in what applications you guys use - leave a comment and let me know!

The Top 10 iPhone Clone

2009-03-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

If you believe that we live in a world of illusions and there is no such distinction between the real one and the duplicate one, here are something that you may feel interested in. Beauty comes with the fear of being eyed too much. And it seems, iPhone is under it. There are many duplicates of iPhone available in the market. We have found out some of them. Want to know their capabilities and price? Stick to us.

1. Mini iPhone 3G+ Clone with Strong Java and 1GB Internal Memory

Triband GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz

Weight : 160 g

Display : 2.8 inch, 260 K color, 240 X 320 Resolution

Battery : 1000 mAh Lithium, 3-6 hours

Camera : 1.3 MP

1GB Internal Memory

Bluetooth, USB.

Price

$140

2. iPhone P168 Mini Clone Cell Phone with Dual Sim and 24k Golden Edge

Dual SIM

Max 8 GB External Memory supported, 256 MB provided

MP3 Shaking function

Weight : 160 g

Display : 2.6 inches Touch Screen, 260 K QVGA Screen, 240 X 320

Battery : 950 mAh Lihium, 3-4 hours talktime.

Camera : 1.3 MP

Bluetooth, USB

Price

$107

3. iPhone Quad Band Clone- Ciphohne T1 with Free Analogue TV Function

Dual SIM

Quad Band : GSM900/ 1800/ 1900 /850 MHZ

LCD display

3.2″ touch screen, 260k QVGA ; PX: 240*320

Weight : 160 g

Battery : 1250 mAh Lithium with 3-4 hours talktime

Camera : 3.0 MP

FM Radio without earphone

Max 8 GB T-flash memory supported, 256 MB provided

Bluetooth, USB

Price

$164

4. Wholesale Anycool i929 Quad Band Analogue TV Phone- Dual Sim and Dual Camera

Dual SIM

Quad Band : GSM900/ 1800/ 1900 /850 MHZ

Display : 2.8 inch touchscree, 260 thousand color; PX: 640×480px

Weight : 160 g

Battery : Lithium Batteries 1800mAh, Calling Time, 3-5hours

Camera : 640 X 480

FM Radio without earphone

Max 2 GB T-flash memory supported, 256 MB provided

Dual Bluetooth, USB

Price

$148

5. Build-in 4GB Music iPhone 3G-1 Clone Cell Phone with Java Function

1 : 1 iPhone Replica Design

Double Band : GSM900/ 1800 MHZ

Display : 3.5 inch touchscree, 16 M color; PX: 240 X 320

Weight : 135 g

Battery : Lithium Batteries 1000mAh, Calling Time, 3-5hours

Camera : 1.3

4GB Built in Memoy

Bluetooth, USB

Price

$195

6.iPhone 3G Mini Clone Cell Phone - Triband and Dual Sim

Dual SIM

Tri Band : GSM900/ 1800/ 1900 MHZ

Display : 2.8 inch touchscree, 260 thousand color; PX: 240X 320

Weight : 160 g

Battery : Lithium Batteries 950mAh, Calling Time, 3 hours

Camera : 640 X 480

FM Radio without earphone

Max 8 GB T-flash memory supported, 256 MB provided

Bluetooth, USB

Change MP3 by shaking

Price

$122

7. Wholesale iPhone 8GB 1:1 Clone with Obvious Apple Logo and Real 8GB Memory

Dual Band : GSM 900/ 1800 MHZ

Dual SIM

Display : 3.5 inch touchscreen, 16M color; PX: 240X 320

Weight : 135 g

Camera : 2.0 MP

FM Radio without earphone

8 GB internal Memory

Bluetooth, USB

Change MP3 by shaking

Price

$204.00

8. M88 Wholesale Quadband M88 Windows WiFi Java iPhone Clone

Quad Band : GSM 850/900/ 1800/1900 MHZ

Windows Mobile 6.0 Operating System

Display : 3.2 inch QVGA

Weight : 160 g

Battery : 1800 mAh

Camera : 2.0 MP Max 1600 X 1200

2 GB TF Memory Supported, 64 MB SD RAM, 512 M ROM provided

Bluetooth, USB

Price

$269

9. Unlocked Stereophonic iPhone 3G Clone with Mini Outboard Speaker and AOD Menu

Dual Band : GSM 900/ 1800 MHZ

Dual SIM

Display : 3.5 inch Touchscreen

Weight : 180 g

Battery : 1200 mAh Lithium talktme 3-5 hr

Camera : 1.3 MP

4 GB Internal Memory

Bluetooth, USB

Price

$208

10. V8+ iPhone Clone Cell Phone- Quadband Dual SIM and Analogue TV Function

Supports Analog TV all over the world

Quad Band : GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHZ

Dual SIM

Display : 3.5 inch Touchscreen, 260K Color, 240X320 Pixel

Weight : 160 g

Battery : 1250 mAh Lithium talktme 3-4 hr

Camera : 3.0 MP

FM Radio without inserting earphone

256 MB T-Flash card provided max 8 GB Memory supported

Shake to change MP3 function

Bluetooth, USB

Price

$151

But as they say, there is never a second chance to first impression, so Apple iphone rules. Originality rules because its original. You can try them too. They can give any sophisticated mobile phone a run for their money. And you can buy them because we had to gruel before we could find the top 10 models which we could present to you.

Gphone Wallpapers

2009-03-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

Free iPhone Themes---Part5

2009-03-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

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Jack Daniel's iphone themes

Lovely Picnic iphone themes

PS3 iPhone Themes

Sepia iPhone Themes

Super Mario iPhone Themes

Swirly iPhone Themes

Venom iPhone Themes

Free iPhone Themes---Part4

2009-03-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

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Cake iphone themes

Casio iphone themes

Collaby iphone themes

DeathNote iphone themes

FlashBlack iphone themes

Free iPhone Themes---Part3

2009-03-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

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Ornamental Redux iPhone themes

Pingu iPhone Themes

Portal iphone themes

Space Camtessa iphone themes

StarPunk iPhone themes

StarsWars iPhone themes

Vista Perfection 2.0 Lite iPhone themes

wow-Alliance iPhone themes

XBOX360 iPhone themes

ZIPPO iPhone themes

Free iPhone Themes---Part2

2009-03-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

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Aqua Flivor(338.9 KiB)

Gaia Styled SB(125 KiB)

GANT Halloween(350.3 KiB)

Hello Kitty iphone themes

3D Black ipod touch iphone themes

Leopard Reflection iphone Themes

Link iPhone themes

Lovely Picnic iPhone themes

Monokuro Boo iphone Themes

Music Pirate iphone themes

Free iPhone Themes---Part1

2009-03-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

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Aladar (2.4 MiB)

Amora (412 KiB)

Beauty Girl (459.9 KiB)

Big Comic (274.1 KiB)

Black (298.4 KiB)

Call of Duty 5(504.7 KiB)

Modern Zen V2 (248.3 KiB)

Collaby (681.6 KiB)

Collateral (1.1 MiB)

Cool DE3 (911.9 KiB)

Deep blue (229.5 KiB)

Dior (95.3 KiB)

EZ (1.3 MiB)

TiVo For The T-Mobile G1

2009-03-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

Now that they are finally putting some paid apps on the market, wouldn’t it be great if TiVo came out with one? I love TiVo and I’m an avid fan and user of the service and I think we need some absolutely to die for apps on the Android Market and an applications where we could edit our TiVo setting from ANYWHERE would definitely do be worth the buy.

A couple great features the TiVo app could have is to show listing of “Whats Hot” that’s going to be coming on the tele for example the Academy Awards and Oscars, movie listings, and more. It would also be cool if they had maybe a Top TiVo thing where you can see the most coveted shows that everybody is trying to get recorded.

But really now, lets get some killer apps out there developers. Even if you have to charge for them. The first person who makes a decent video recorder can charge 1 dollar for the app and I’m sure they’d rack up a few hundred thousand in the first night. So who’s going to be first to create a TiVo application for me? I’ll give you a dollar ?

Is Apple shipping out defective iPod iTouch 2G’s?

2009-03-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

I have been noting that people have been blogging and writing about problems with iTouch wifi access for a few weeks now and now I have experienced it personally. I just bought two new 2G iTouches for my 14 year old twins for their birthday. Right out of the box the first one simply connected to my home wifi. The second kept giving me a login error “”Unable to Join Network Failure (error -3)” connecting to Wi-Fi”. I saw an article online that said that removing the password security from the wifi worked and sure enough, i could connect. However, I couldn’t leave it at that, because I didn’t want to leave my network unsecured.

So I figured it had to be software. I looked it up on apple support and noticed several articles and tried all their solutions. I reset the phone, I reset the network settings, I reset all data and settings, I did a restore from iTunes, I did a restore to 2.1, I did a bootstrap restore from iTunes, I rebooted my hub, I updated the firmware on my hub — all to no avail. Finally I called Apple support. For the first 10 minutes the agent tried to tell me that they had never heard of the problem before.

Before I continue, I have to admit that I am not very good with support agents. I tend to lose my patience with them quite frequently. I took a breath and I told them about the numerous web sites, forums, and blogs where people are complaining about this.

It is the questions like “are you sure that your wifi is running? and Are you sure you are entering the right password? and Are you sure you are awake :)? that get me everytime. This guy even suggested I go to the local starbucks and see if I could connect and when I explained to them that they didn’t use a password protected network, so it wouldn’t help, he got really confused.

He put me on hold and came back and admitted that after doing some research that it was a known problem caused by a defect in the iphone and that I would have to send it in for repair. Another deep breath or two and at least one expletive, I had them switch me over to Sales Support instead and case number in hand, I asked for them to exchange it for me. I got a shipping label today and they very nicely promised to ship the new one as soon as they saw that package was received by FedEx.

I’m worried that I’ll get another defective one, since the last one I just got two days ago so chances are the next one is defective too. But if I do, I’ll guess i’ll just have to call support again.

Clipboard and Text Selection:iPhone:Arrow Keys:Original Macintosh

2009-03-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

1.

Clearly, the single most vexing shortcoming of the iPhone is its lack of text selection and clipboard features. (I group them together because neither would be very useful without the other.)

I am not alone in thinking this. It’s hard to find an iPhone review that doesn’t mention this. The need is so obvious that I don’t just hope that Apple adds these features in a future iPhone software update, I pretty much expect them to.

But, I not only understand why they’re absent today, I can even see the argument that — while they’re essential — it’s good that the 1.0 iPhone shipped without them. And therefore, alas, why it might be a while before they appear.

The analogy that comes to mind is to the keyboard on the original Macintosh, which had no arrow keys. The most commonly cited reason for this omission was that Apple wanted to force users to use the mouse, and not allow them to fall back on keyboard-centric habits forged on pre-Mac computers. But another reason was to force developers — including themselves — to design a system and apps that could be accessed entirely by mouse. Pre-Macintosh, how did you move up and down in a list? With arrow keys. How did you move the insertion point in a text editor? With arrow keys. By not even having arrow keys, there was no option but to design software meant to be used with a mouse.

I doubt there was any dispute that arrow keys were potentially useful and convenient. (Likewise for other prominent missing keys on the original Mac keyboard, like Esc and Forward Delete.) But sometimes if you can do without something, even something potentially useful, it’s worth it to try. Necessity is the mother of invention; constraints lead to creative solutions.

By giving users and developers only a mouse for movement, it forced them to learn the Mac way. The lack of cut/copy/paste on the iPhone likewise forces users, along with Apple’s iPhone development team, to do things the iPhone way, rather than the Mac way.¹ If you have something in app A that you want to use in app B, the Mac way is to copy it from A and paste it into B. (Or, to drag it from A to B, but drag-and-drop is really just a shortcut for copy-and-paste.)

The iPhone way is different. For anything you might want to use in another app, Apple has tried to anticipate the common cases and make them directly available. You don’t copy a picture you took in the Camera app, switch to MobileMail, and paste it into a message; you tap the photo to bring up the toolbar, tap the “do something with this picture” button, and then tap the Email Photo button. You don’t copy a URL from MobileSafari, switch to Mail, and paste it into a message; you tap the URL, then click the Share button that appears. (Which button really should be labeled “Email”, unless and until it offers sharing options other than sending an email.)

All of the above examples are more convenient and more obvious than using copy-and-paste would be, even if it were available. The lack of copy-and-paste on iPhone is only a frustrating irritation, not a fatal flaw. But these direct shortcuts only scale so far; copy-and-paste can be used in infinite different ways.

The analogy between the iPhone’s missing clipboard and the original Mac’s missing arrow keys isn’t perfect, however. When Apple decided the Mac did indeed need arrow keys (with the Mac Plus in 1986), the solution was obvious: make the keyboard bigger and add arrow keys.

Adding text selection and clipboard commands to the iPhone, on the other hand, poses some very tricky UI design problems.

2.

One problem with any touch screen is that your fingers, while convenient and direct, are not precise. Instead of the single-pixel precision of a mouse or trackpad pointer (really — just one pixel of the cursor acts as the hot spot for clicking), you’ve got a (relatively) huge circle of “hot spot” pixels when you tap or drag with a fingertip.

The two main pointer tasks in a scrolling view of items — text, icons, pictures, whatever — are selecting items and scrolling the view. The most obvious pointer gesture for both tasks is the same: click/tap-and-drag. Alas, one gesture can only mean one thing at a time. The most obvious solution the iPhone designers could have chosen would have been to mimic the Mac paradigm: tap-and-drag in the content area to select a range of items, and display scroll bars at the edges of the screen for tap-and-drag scrolling.

There are two problems with the idea of using scroll bars on the iPhone. First, screen real estate is precious on a 3.5-inch display; persistent scroll bars would consume screen space that would be better used for displaying content. Second, it’s easier to use a scroll bar with a pixel-precise pointer like a mouse than it is with a finger — unless you make the scroll bar really wide. Making the scroll bars extra wide would help eliminate ambiguous taps where part of your fingertip is on the scroller and part is in the content area — but that would only exacerbate the screen real estate problem.

Apple’s clever idea, solving both problems, was to eliminate scroll bars entirely, and instead use the tap-and-drag gesture for scrolling from anywhere in the content area of the screen. This makes scrolling easy, convenient — and, I swear, fun. It is, in fact, easier to scroll on an iPhone than on a Mac. You can do it with your thumb while holding the iPhone in either hand. It’s a huge Fitts’s Law win, yet leaves the entire screen available for the display of content.

The trade-off is that tap-and-drag is not available for selecting a range of text. I’m convinced this trade-off is worth it, if for no other reason than that I primarily use my iPhone for consuming — reading, viewing, listening, looking — far more than I use it for creating. Scrolling is important for reading; selecting is important for writing. Better for the iPhone to optimize for reading.

This is very similar to the trade-off Apple made regarding the keyboard: sure, a dedicated hardware keyboard would be better for typing than the iPhone’s soft keyboard, but take away the physical keyboard and give the extra space to screen, and you have a much better device for consuming. The iPhone keyboard is good enough, and the extra screen space is used to great effect for reading and watching video.

But unlike the keyboard trade-off, text selection on the iPhone isn’t just a little worse off, it’s non-existent. I’ve seen dozens of ideas regarding how it could be added, but still not one that jumps out for how it should. Best I can think of is some way to modify the tap-hold-then-drag gesture that currently brings up the magnifier for placing the insertion point. The other thought that’s occurred to me is that I’d be perfectly happy with word-wise, rather than character-wise, text selection on the iPhone. Even with the magnifier, character-level specificity is tricky with an imprecise finger for a pointer. Selecting words at a time — like you get with double-click-and-drag on the Mac — would solve most of my needs and would work much better with a finger.

And but then once you have a range of selected text, how would you invoke cut/copy/paste? On-screen squiggle gestures? Possible, but it strikes me as too pie-in-the-sky, and, if I dare say so just five weeks in, un-iPhone-like. My best idea is a dedicated clipboard button on the keyboard; tap it and it displays a panel with Cut/Copy/Paste buttons, as applicable to the current context. (I’d gladly accept slightly smaller space bar and Return buttons in the bottom row to make room.) There would also have to be a Copy button that appears when you select text in a read-only view with no keyboard; a simple inline button attached to the bottom of the selection, sort of like the tooltip-style button that you use for rejecting auto-correct suggestions, would do.

Whatever Apple comes up with, it doesn’t have to be spectacularly clever. It could even be an off-by-default preference, like the caps lock feature, so as not to clutter up the screen for typical users. The 80/20 rule says you spend 80 percent of your time using 20 percent of the features. The genius of the iPhone design is that they’ve already covered the common side of the 80/20 rule. But without text selection and a clipboard, the uncommon side remains out of bounds.

Mobile phone architect lists 10 iPhone problems

2009-03-22T18:26:00.002-07:00

On the authoritative 4G Mobile website, 15-year mobile phone architect Willie Lu posts what he says are 10 documented problems with the iPhone:

1. The current wireless system architecture is very closed. Basically, it is still the old coupling technology to put together multiple radio standards into one handphone which is a big question in terms of transmission performance and system performance. For the next generation iPhone, the wireless architecture must be open, and the key system modules should be extensible and upgradeable based on the open wireless architecture (OWA) platform.

2. The wireless transmission efficiency is very low. While it is limited somehow to the closed system architecture, it is also stucked in the radio resource management (RRM) layer. The swicth with GSM, EDGE and Bluetooth is based on an inefficient algorithm to make RRM even worse if the user wants to have high-speed data while the voice is in short-time inactive mode. Because of the current billing model, the service provider is reluctant to turn off the voice when the data service is being charged.

3. The current iPhone data service is easy to get Virus attack. Wireless data transmisison is different from wireline data transmission because wireless needs more repeated transmission and access control when the radio channel is not stable (called wireless propogation). The traditional anti-virus solution is on the high-layers (application and service layer) protection. But wireless hacker is more interested on the lower-layer attckes including link layer and access control layer. Also, wireless data transmission is more based on frame-by-frame (FBF) rather than Bit-by-Bit (BBB), so it is hard to detect such virus if the data package is too long. If one virus comes with a long data package to the iPhone, it can dig down into the link layer and access control layer to de-synchronize the radio channel to force the iPhone to request re-access to the basestation again, or request retransmission of long data traffic. This can consume the radio resource and increase the frame-error-rate (FER) which seriously degrades the wireless performance. The current iPhone does not have any good solution to stop such data service attack which becomes the bottleneck to deliver the iPod services to the iPhone user through over-the-air transmission. The same problem exists for Blackberry data services as well.

4. iPhone should not work with AT&T. iPhone needs a service-oriented mobility infrastructure to deliver the iPod and phone services over the air, and therefore it should work with a converged wireless and mobile services provider. AT&T is a very limited service provider of GSM and EDGE only, and especially EDGE is still a questionable technology. Furthermore, AT&T’s infrastructure is very out-of-date and of old technology, and is hard to provide a future-proven solution for the iPhone long-term roadmap. I would suggest T-Mobile or Verizon, etc which more fits iPhone’s strategy.

5. iPhone will face many legal challenges. iPhone is basically a Phone, a wireless phone, not just a iPod. In the wireless domain, Apple is nothing compared with leading wireless vendors. The iPhone business is based on a converged open wireless air interfaces where lots of patents have been in the markets as the prior arts to stop iPhone to move forward. I spent almost 3 years to list around 100 key patents which may block iPhone to sell in the US market as well as the EU market. The cost to deal with these legal lawsuits will be very expensive, and surprisingly high.

6. iPhone should not lock its phone by AT&T. Users like iPhone because of its simplicity and personality as an open phone. Therefore it should not be locked to AT&T only, otherwise it will kill itself. In fact, iPhone may attract more pre-paid mobile users, especially in Europe and Asia. iPhone should allow users to change simcard freely when users are moving everywhere across the board to stay in cost-effective services, especially for international travellers.

7. iPhone will face serious competitors worldwide. iPhone is too expensive because of three: expensive phone, costly service contract and deadly locked phone. Many vendors are now copying iPhone model with very low costs. For example, there is one Taiwanese company delivers a new phone including all features of iPhone, but the cost is only $150, with prepaid simcard, no contract, no phone lock. Another phone from Shenzhen of China is only less than $100, but works well like an iPhone.

8. iPhone knows little about mobile game rule. Mobile industry is different from other industries because of its mobility and roaming features. Hence, all mobile players, either vendors, providers or regulators, must be familar with the game rules and follow the set guidelines. If iPhone does not work with the mobile mainstreams (both traditional telecom industries and emerging computer/network mobility industries), it will become isolated and hard to contribute to the game rule. It is a stupid strategy to copy the iPod model to the iPhone model, trust me !

9. Watching the iPhone engineering team! Once an iPhone becomes a name of the industry, many companies are eying for the iPhone team. One iPhone competitor offered doubled pay to a lead engineer at the iPhone team, and more interviews are on the way. Like Motorola lost many CDMA engineers to Qualcomm in early 90s, Apple will lose talents to its competitors, though maybe partners before.

10. Research papers on iPhone is too rare. iPhone is a fashion phone, but more a hypo. If you search for research papers on iPhone in IEEE, EI (engineering information) and Google, there are very few papers (less than 10) studying iPhone. This becomes an issue if Apple really wants to move this business forward, otherwise more users will shift their focuses to other offerings by Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, HP and RiM, where a long-term R&D strategy is pretty clear for the future mobile phone development.

Which of these problems do you agree or disagree with? Any of them overstated or understated? Keep those Comments coming.

Problems with 1.1.3 jailbreak: try the new version and other fixes

2009-03-22T18:26:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week, the iPhone dev team released an automatic, graphical method for upgrading jailbroken 1.1.2 iPhones/iPod Touches to jailbroken 1.1.3 device without any host computer interaction. If you have any firmware version other than 1.1.2, or a non-jailbroken device with any other firmware, you need to follow our complete guide then replace the last step with the automatic jailbreak.

Several users are having significant problems with jailbroken 1.1.3 iPhones. We’ve outlined some of these problems and corresponding fixes (if available) below, but many of the issues can be resolved by using the new version of the Dev Team’s automatic jailbreak, named “Official 1.1.3 upgrader 1.1.3-2″ in Installer.app. Try applying the new version and see if it alleviates these issues (you may need to start the jailbreak process over from the beginning).

Also note that the original 1.1.3 jailbreak released by “Nate True” exhibits issues that are fixed in the Dev Team’s 1.1.3 jailbreak.

“Main Script Error” when attempting to install apps through Installer.app Make sure that Installer.app is updated to the latest version before applying the jailbreak.
Ringtones broken Download “Ringtone Fix” from Installer.app.
Inability to use the Google “Locate Me” function Try installing Navizon through Installer.app, running it once, then attempting the Google “Locate Me” function again. Or install “Locate Me” from Installer.app
Broken EDGE connectivity Tap Settings, Tap General, Tap Reset, Tap Reset Network Settings. This will cause your iPhone to restart, and will delete any stored Wi-Fi passwords as well as DNS settings and more. It may, however, restore your ability to pair with and use Bluetooth devices. If this fails, try resetting all settings.
OpenSSH broken Uninstall then reinstall this application and the BSD Subsystem via Installer.app.
Some third-party applications not working Some applications have not yet been updated to work with firmware/software 1.1.3. These include “Customize” and “SummerBoard.”

There are also a number of issues with non-jailbroken phones updated to software/firmware 1.1.3 that may be conflated with jailbreak problems.

iTunes 8.0.1: Problems Syncing the iPhone, iPod touch

2009-03-22T18:25:00.001-07:00

Several users have reported problems syncing their iPhones after updating to iTunes 8.0.1. The most common error message is as follows: “an unknown error 13014.”

As one reader writes:

“I just downloaded and installed iTunes 8.0.1 on my iMac running 10.5.5, and synced my non-3G iPhone. I immediately received an error message stating that “The phone ‘[my iPhone's name]‘ cannot be synced. An unknown error occurred (13014). Thinking I’d probably be able to fix it by resetting the phone, I did so.

“Now, 15 minutes into the reset, the phone is syncing nicely with no major issues, except that I’m still getting prompted that it can’t be synced about every 15 seconds or so. It’s even kind enough to queue up the errors so that if I ignore them for a few minutes I can go back and just click ‘OK’ half a dozen times and then go back to whatever I was working on. No idea of the cause, outside of the iTunes upgrade.”

Users are reporting similar issues with the iPod touch.

An apple poster Wade Dansby writes:

“I have the exact same issue with my iPod touch. As soon as I downloaded and installed the new iTunes update, all the problems started. Have tried restoring settings several times. To no avail.”

In some cases, simply restarting the host computer and restarting the iPhone can resolve this issue. In other cases, this procedure is unsuccessful.

Fixes for iPhone 1.1.3 Bluetooth problems

2009-03-22T18:22:00.002-07:00

One of the more frustrating issues with iPhone software/firmware 1.1.3, as noted yesterday, is the sudden incompatibility of some previously working Bluetooth devices — particularly GPS units from Garmin (StreetPilot C550, Nuvi 360, 760, etc.), some integrated car Bluetooth systems and more.

The fix for these issues has now been discovered, though its less than ideal: Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC then press the “Restore” button in iTunes. When prompted, choose the option “Set up as new iPhone.” Once the phone has been restored, re-attempt pairing with the problematic Bluetooth device. Unfortunately, this solution will result in the erasure of some custom settings on the phone.

UPDATE: A few less intrusive workarounds have been successful for some users:

Reset Network settings Tap Settings, Tap General, Tap Reset, Tap Reset Network Settings. This will cause your iPhone to restart, and will delete any stored Wi-Fi passwords as well as DNS settings and more. It may, however, restore your ability to pair with and use Bluetooth devices.

Toggle Airplane mode Turn Bluetooth off, then navigate to Settings, then slide Airplane Mode to On, wait a few seconds, then slide it back to Off. It seems that discontinuing and restarting the EDGE and WiFi components in the iPhone can restore connectivity.

iPhone Atlas reader Brian Dose, who experienced success with this workaround, writes:

“The restore option did not work for me when I tried it, however I found a way that worked for me that did not involve restoring at all. I turned the Bluetooth off. Then I went and put my Iphone into airplane mode. I then went back and reactivated the bluetooth. After picking re-enable, the bluetooth worked just fine and I didn’t have to do a restore. Hope this works for others as well.”

Best 12 ways to make your phone battery last longer

2009-03-22T18:22:00.001-07:00

Does your phone run out of juice too quickly between charges? Do your battery bars drop like a credit-crunched housing market? You may sometimes curse your mobile for its lack of staying power, but a few simple changes in how you use it could boost battery performance and cut down on your charging…

1. Close unnecessary applications

It’s easy to leave power-sapping applications, such as a music player, running in the background, particularly on a smartphone where there are plenty of functions you can flick between. It’s usually straightforward to check which applications are open, and to close ones that aren’t needed.

2. Switch off Bluetooth

You may think it’s less hassle to leave it on, but Bluetooth nibbles away at your battery power. So whether you use Bluetooth for a handsfree headset, transferring music or images, or one of many other Bluetooth applications, the rule is the same: when you’re not using it, go into the menu system and turn it off.

3. Unplug the Wi-Fi

Similarly, if your phone is one of those high-end handsets with Wi-Fi connectivity, don’t leave it running in the background - it will devour power.

4. Dim the screen

Whenever the screen’s on, battery power is being used up. Adjusting your phone’s out-of-the-box display settings can save power. Dim the brightness level to the lowest you need, and change your backlight-on and screen timeout to the minimum settings you require. You can find the display adjustment or power saver options in your phone’s settings menu.

5. Don’t fiddle

The more you have the screen on, the more battery power is consumed. So don’t keep checking for messages or missed calls, looking at your phone clock, checking out old messages, looking at pics or generally fiddling with the phone - it may pass the time, but you’re also sucking away your battery life.

6. Turn off 3G

Although 3G adds extra multimedia functionality, mobiles use more power maintaining connections and making calls on a 3G network than on 2G/2.5G GSM networks. If your 3G phone has the option in its network settings menu, you could temporarily switch from automatic network selection (or 3G/UMTS option) to an appropriate GSM option and extend your battery life significantly. Switch back when you want a faster data connection, or want to use other 3G functions.

7. Watch out for poor signal strength

The poorer the signal strength, the more power your phone will expend trying to connect to the network. While you can’t control network coverage in your area, try to avoid keeping your phone on standby somewhere where signal strength is known to be non-existent or very poor, such as in a basement, on the Underground/Metro, or even in a room in your home where you get bad reception.

8. Manage your music

When it comes to playing music, some mobiles are more power-hungry than others, but all will use up extra battery life. When playing tunes, be aware that you’re reducing your calling and standby time - and if you’re interrupted and have to take your earphones out, make sure you stop the music.

9. Switch to flight mode

In some situations where you want to listen to tunes or play games but don’t need the phone connected - travelling on the Underground/Metro, when you’re out of network coverage, or perhaps at night - you can save power by switching to ‘flight mode’. This automatically turns off the mobile phone’s radio transceiver and Bluetooth, reducing power consumption, but allowing you to use other functions. This means, though, you can’t make or take calls or receive texts, so remember to turn it back to ‘normal’ mode when you need to.

10. Reduce mobile internet browsing

Avoid unnecessarily long bouts of random mobile internet browsing; while it may be reducing your boredom levels, using a data connection will also be draining your battery.

11. Limit email checking

It’s great to stay connected with email on your mobile, but you could be unnecessarily eating up your battery life. With most mobile email apps, you can set how frequently your phone checks for new messages - but every data connection that takes place when your phone checks for email uses up a little more power. Think about how often you genuinely need to check for emails, and adjust your settings accordingly.

12. Know where your GPS is at

If you have a mobile with a GPS receiver built in for on-board satellite navigation, be careful that you don’t leave it active when you don’t need it. Also, be aware that using GPS-based satnav applications on your phone can rapidly reduce your juice, so use prudently.

About G Phone’s 10 Things That We Did Not Expect Until the Launch Event

2009-03-22T18:20:00.001-07:00

Now that the press event held by T-Mobile in New York is over (and they promise we’ll be able to watch the video from the event again later at the official website) I must admit that we have seen quite a number of surprises and unpredicted things about G Phone. There were good surprises when things we expected actually appeared to be better or something we did not expect at all was introduced. But there were also bad surprises when something we really hoped would happen was not even mentioned.

So let’s forget about our guesses and expectations - the device has been officially introduced and everything is more or less clear about it now. So what are the surprises?

Price - $179

This is no doubt the biggest surprise. The price announced today is lower than that of iPhone and lower than what we expected for T-Mobile G1 - $199. Instead they chose a lower price for the device - $179. I suspected pricing would be where Google, HTC, and T-Mobile would make some big surprise and this is exactly what happened with the price clearly intended for G1 to be competitive against Apple iPhone in pricing as well.

But there’s one unpleasant exception here: this price is only valid for new T-Mobile subscribers while existing ones will have to pay $299 for the upgrade. (UPDATE: $179 price is valid for all T-Mobile customers that are not bound by an existing contract.) But it does not stop T-Mobile subscribers from ordering the phones from the website now that the pre-ordering is open for them.

So while HTC CEO at the press conference constantly repeated his mantra about the power of mobile internet and the opportunities it offers to consumers, it is quite obvious that this low price is not about making mobile internet really affordable but about grabbing a market share from Apple and possibly Blackberry as well.

The device price is accompanied with two options for data plans (both affordable but anyway required on top of voice plan): $25 for unlimited internet and limited messaging or $35 for unlimited plan.

Official shipment date - October 22

We had two shipment dates predicted in the blogosphere - October 17 and October 20 with some people already making plans about when exactly they will need to arrive to their local T-Mobile stores to grab their G1 phones. Now the official date is announced and it is October 22, Wednesday, almost a month from now.

Existing T-Mobile customers can actually pre-order the phone on the website (for $299) to have it delivered when it is available in stores.

Anyway while we have not guessed the exact date, at least the expectation to see the phone selling in October proves to be the right one.

Quite reasonable launch dates on markets other than the US

The phone is scheduled to be launched in the UK in November and it will appear in other select European markets next year as well. So unlike with iPhone we won’t have to wait for ages to grab a device for ourselves as well - the main limitation to consider will be availability of 3G network that is the pre-requisite for G Phone to perform best (with WiFi connectivity winning in quality over both 2G and 3G, we are told).

And while there are no details about carriers HTC and Google will work with in Europe, we will sure start to get details very soon with the launch dates imminent.

Browser not exactly Chrome

We used to suspect that the primary purpose of Google’s Chrome browser would be for use on Android operating system. But what we have seen at the presentation as the browser is not actually Chrome and it hardly even resembles Chrome at all. So while we are told the browser can be dubbed Chrome mini, it has very few visual (or functional from what I’ve noticed) resemblances to Chrome at all - not even the icon we associate the browser with.

The similarity is that both browsers - the desktop Chrome and the mobile G1 browser - are also based on the same WebKit rendering engine. So this guess was also wrong - the browser is not exactly Chrome which must mean that Android and Chrome may have two very different destinations in the end.

No free email

We really hoped it would be true and we would see free access to Gmail on T-Mobile G1 as rumors had it. Better yet, I suggested access to all ad-supported Google applications could be free for users (and users could still opt for ad-free paid versions if they did not want any ads on their mobile devices). But no, this is a disappointment but it is here - no free access anywhere with a data plan required. But since the data plan is a requirement anyway and both options for a data plan stipulate for unlimited web usage, I guess it does not make sense to have access to any applications preferential and free - since you will have to buy a data plan and it will have to be unlimited anyway.

No Amazon videos

We already knew that the camera of the device would not support video capturing but we hoped that there would be some non-YouTube videos available for download by default - and the candidate to provide those videos was Amazon mobile application we heard rumors about. We suggested that a good idea would be to have Amazon’s Video On Demand service as part of the mobile Amazon application so that users could purchase and download movies and TV shows from Amazon when on the go. Unfortunately we are not seeing this happening and Amazon application will only be used to purchase mp3 music to play on the device.

Super accessibility of search

Google is a search company (at its core, at least), after all, so they have made sure that search is easily accessible on the device with just one key on the keyboard. This key will initiate the search process depending on what you do with the device at any given moment - for example, if you browse the internet, it will launch internet search for you while when you browse your contacts, it will start searching within your contacts instead.

Presence building using Gmail

At the press conference a new concept has been introduced by Google - online presence building. Gmail application along with Google Talk application running on G1 Phone (both the defaults) will work together to ensure continuous online presence for any user where you won’t have to be away any more.

While we don’t have details for now, it sure sounds intriguing - and a little scary as well. We’ll see what the concept actually looks like when in operation.

DRM-free content only

A user will only be able to use the device to play DRM-free music and videos. I believe it is part of the partnership with Amazon for music sales and an additional way to compete with iPhone with its default iTunes functionality.

Clear targeting at the general feature phones market, not smartphones only

This one may be the last (since it was the one I noted last) but it looks like the most important one for the market. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin made an unexpected and stunning appearance at the presentation themselves to share their own (understandably positive only) experience of using G1 phones. But the intriguing part was Larry describing how he admires the market of mobile devices with 3 billion existing devices and 1 billion new devices per year. And he did not mention his admiration with the size of smartphones market or anything similar at all. I believe these words are a clear indication that Google is not planning to limit Android for smartphones market to compete with iPhone and Blackberry only - the bigger game is in the regular feature phones that are purchased in much higher numbers.

Basically I think we should expect cell phone manufacturers announcing partnerships with Google one by one now that the first device is announced and almost ready to be shipped.

These are a few things that surprised me (some in a good - others in a bad way) at today’s press conference where T-Mobile introduced the long-awaited and much-hyped already G1 T-Mobile phone with Google. I am sure we will start getting more information now that the companies will be open for comments during the month preceding the shipment date. But even though we have heard some disappointed voices on Twitter already, we have also seen people pre-ordering the device when they can - and this must be a good indication of a good start of the marketing campaign that T-Mobile promises will be the largest campaign for a mobile device it ever had. We’ll see how it works but for now we have all the reasons to be excited.

Google GPhone Used by Linux power?

2009-03-22T18:19:00.001-07:00

Google’s first mobile phone will run a Linux operating system on a Texas Instruments “Edge” chipset, and will likely ship to T-Mobile and Orange customers in the Spring of 2008, according to unconfirmed reports. “GPhone” call minutes and text messages reportedly will be funded by mobile advertising.

News of the so-called “GPhone” or “G-Phone” broke quietly about two weeks ago in the island nation of Singapore, where Jennifer Tan of Reuters subsidiary Anian Research filed a report on July 12.

Tan cited “industry sources,” “U.S. sources,” and “manufacturing and component supply chain sources” in backing her assertion that after year-long delays finding a manufacturer, Google contracted Taiwan-based smartphone maker High Tech Computer (HTC) to design its phone hardware. HTC is best-known for its Windows Mobile smartphones, however, and Tan offered no conjecture about who might supply the phone’s Linux-based operating system.

Additional details reported by Tan include:

The G-Phone will have a large color screen with a predictive Qwerty keypad to simplify Google searching
A follow-up 3G-capable model (Edge is considered “2.75G”) will use a Qualcomm chipset
Scheduled for production in Q1 of 2006, the Google phone will hit retail shelves next spring
Call minutes and text messages are to be funded by “mobile advertising”
Google originally hoped to launch a phone this year, but was delayed by “difficulties in nailing down a deal with a handset maker”
T-Mobile will carrier the phone in the U.S., along with (possibly) Orange in other markets

Tan quotes Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Marianne Wolk as having said, “A mobile offering would be consistent with Google’s goal to make search accessible. We believe Google would design a solution to facilitate greater use of Google Search and other applications like Google Talk, Gmail, Google Maps, encourage wireless video, and leverage this usage to hasten the market for mobile advertising.”

Google itself has declined to comment on rumors it plans to produce a phone, Tan reported.

Tan’s coverage also includes an overview of Google’s financial outlook, and its prospects for success in the mobile phone marketplace.

Apple sold 5 million iPhone 3Gs in quarter

2009-03-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

One Apple follower is putting a guess on the number of iPhone 3Gs Apple will have sold during the current quarter: 5 million.

We already know that Apple sold 1 million iPhone 3Gs in the first weekend it went on sale around the world, and Piper Jaffray believes the company has added another 4 million units to that total since then, according to a research note released Monday. Apple will reveal the formal totals in about a month when it reports earnings for its fourth fiscal quarter.

Despite several launch day glitches and widespread bugs in the iPhone’s 2.0 software, enthusiasm for the phone seems high. The other big factor this time around, as compared to the iPhone’s early days, is the huge increase in the number of countries that are now officially selling the iPhone.

The main number to watch is 10 million: that’s the number of iPhones Apple has consistently said is its target for 2008. That number appears easily within reach if the 5 million estimate is accurate: Apple sold around 2.5 million iPhones during the first six months of 2008 as it ran out of the original model.

iPhone-like Linux phone ready for hackers

2009-03-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

A project to build an open, user-extensible Linux-based mobile phone has opened its online store for business. About 1,000 OpenMoko Neo1973 phones are available initially, primarily targeting hackers and developers, with general availability of a “mass market” phone expected in October.

The Neo1973 was announced last November, at the first Open Source in Mobile Conference in Amsterdam. Developers have been able to buy working prototypes since March. However, hardware problems prevended wider distribution, according to OpenMoko leader Moss-Pultz.

Like Apple’s newly launched iPhone, the Neo1973 eschews hardware buttons in favor of a touchscreen. Its 2.8-inch TFT touchscreen has a resolution of 640 x 480 (VGA) — double that of the iPhone’s 480 x 320 display.

Both the iPhone and the Neo1973 use Samsang processors based on ARM cores — a 266Mhz version for the Neo1973, compared to a 667MHz model for the iPhone. Whereas the Apple-branded Samsung part in the iPhone is actually a multi-chip module integrating flash and RAM in the same physical package, the Neo1973 appears to use a more traditional external memory arrangement.

Additional similarities with the iPhone are an integral AGPS (assisted global positioning system) receiver and a 2.5G quad-band GSM/GPRS radio baseband.

Other hardware features of the Neo1973 include:

USB 1.1, switchable between client and host (unpowered)

Bluetooth 2.0

Micro SD slot

“High quality” audio codec, according to OpenMoko

OpenMoko is currently in the process of spinning out from parent company FIC, a large Taiwanese PC and mobile device manufacturer — another cause of shipment delays, Moss-Pultz suggested late last month in an email to various OpenMoko.org mailing lists.

In his note to the lists, Moss-Pultz wrote, in part, “We absolutely, passionately, believe that something as fundamental to our lives as the mobile phone must be open. The [FIC] CEO and Chairman are the two greatest supporters.”

Availability

The OpenMoko.com website was launched over the weekend. An online store there offers limited quantities of a basic OpenMoko phone and a developer model. The Neo Base sells for $300, while the $450 “Neo Advanced” version adds a JTAG/serial board, development cables, second MicroSD slot, and industrial-looking plastic carry case.

General availability of a “mass market” version of the phone is slated for October, Moss-Pultz said.

Getting Inside Google’s GPhone

2009-03-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

Still coming to terms with Apple’s iPhone invasion, the cellular industry now finds itself bracing for yet another intrusion by a mighty outsider bent on altering the way wireless does business. This time it’s Google.

New signals and speculation about Google’s (GOOG) mobile initiatives emerge daily, but with no clear proclamations as yet from the Web search leader. One day there’s buzz that Google will follow Apple’s (AAPL) lead by introducing its own mobile device, the gPhone. Next comes word the company has developed its own mobile operating system or Web browser. Against this uncertain backdrop, providers of wireless service, handsets, and software have been left to guess anxiously at Google’s true intentions, not unlike children gathered about a campfire, scanning for monsters in the shadowy forest.

Google Platform?

So what’s really lurking behind those trees? A source familiar with the situation tells BusinessWeek.com that Google may be preparing a new mobile platform, a would-be rival to the Nokia-dominated (NOK) Symbian OS, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile, mobile Linux, Palm (PALM), and other operating systems.

The new operating system, which may be named gPhone, was developed in part with know-how Google acquired with a startup named Android in 2005. The platform is designed to enable lower-priced “smartphones” featuring more robust Web browsing and multimedia applications. Most importantly for Google, it will work hand in glove with the company’s mobile search engine and other Google applications that are already popular on personal computers. And it would allow Google to bring new applications to the wireless market faster. Google declined to confirm or deny this information.

A number of handset makers have already created prototypes of lower-cost phones based on the Google platform, the source says. These handsets, expected to sell for about $100, are being shopped around to carriers worldwide, including those in the U.S. On top of the lower price tag, Google also hopes to attract customers with the promise of lower monthly cell bills. But in Google style, that means users will have to agree to receive ads on their mobile phones, an approach that’s enjoyed some limited success in certain trials by other companies with far less clout than Google. In effect, Google will attempt to introduce not just a new platform, but also a new business model for the wireless-services industry.

Yahoo’s Mobile Search Success

This project marks just one of the many ambitious mobile initiatives Google has undertaken. The search giant has indicated it would likely bid in a federal auction to use new swaths of the public airwaves for wireless services. The plan would be to either build its own cellular network or to partner with another company to do so. All the while, Google keeps beefing up its arsenal of mobile applications. On Aug. 30, the U.S. Patent Office published a patent filed by a Google inventor for a mobile payment system designed to allow people to pay for goods and services via text messages. Consider also that Google currently has 67 openings on its Web site for mobile-related positions, mostly in wireless software development, and it becomes clear that something big is afoot.

It’s easy to see why Google is turning so much energy toward wireless. The company generated nearly all of last year’s $10.6 billion in revenue from online search advertising. But while it dominates that arena with a 62.7% market share, according to research by the consultancy Compete, the company is lagging Microsoft and Yahoo (YHOO) in mobile search and other applications for the cell phone.

More than 20 million devices will ship this year with either Mobile Windows or other Microsoft software on them, according to the Yankee Group. But Google—despite deals with handset makers including Motorola (MOT) and LG and carriers such as Sprint Nextel (S)—won’t come anywhere near to that sort of distribution, figures John Jackson, an analyst at Yankee.

Yahoo has also enjoyed more success in its wireless endeavors. Thanks to its new mobile search engine, oneSearch, Yahoo has actually stolen some business away from Google. In January, Opera replaced Google with oneSearch as the default search engine on its browser for mobile devices. Though Opera’s share of the mobile browser isn’t huge, such developments could spell trouble if, as some experts expect, Web searches on mobile devices begin to exceed those on PCs. To protect its core business, then, Google needs to carve its spot in the cell market now.

A Slice of Apple’s Approach

This might have been easier to accomplish had Google not forged a somewhat acrimonious relationship with big cellular carriers such as AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ). Even before Google revealed its plan to compete directly with them in the wireless auction, the company rankled the cellular establishment with its decision to build a Wi-Fi broadband network in Mountain View, Calif., and join EarthLink (ELNK) in constructing a Wi-Fi network in San Francisco (a plan that’s since unraveled).

Now, as it charts more of an independent course, Google may even use the gPhone as Apple has the iPhone, stoking discontent with the current state of mobile Web access. Today’s cellular providers, to prevent their customers from wandering the Internet freely on phones as they do on computers, herd users to their own branded mobile portals and a limited selection of approved partner sites—a model reminiscent of the “walled garden” that AOL thrived on a decade ago until customers rebelled. Thanks to such obstacles, while 15% of U.S. wireless users have browsed Web pages on their mobile phones, only 3% have used a mobile search engine, according to JupiterResearch.

Though its brand doesn’t generate the same passions among consumers as Apple’s, Google may hope its new platform will present an irresistible attraction to handset makers and carriers seeking the next “it” phone, replicating at least some of success the iPhone has managed since its U.S. launch through AT&T.

Google’s new, ad-supported business model may ultimately appeal to the carriers as they struggle to boost revenues in markets where the price competition is fierce and first-time users are becoming scarce. “The addition of new business models simply creates more opportunities for all companies in the industry to sell more products,” says John Starkweather, general manager of mobile communications at Microsoft.

Boost to Wireless Broadband?

While analysts have long frowned on the idea of mobile ads, Virgin Mobile recently reported that 330,000 of its 4.8 million subscribers have agreed to view ads in exchange for free calling minutes (BusinessWeek.com, 07/09/07).

When a small carrier named Revel recently gave 5,000 subscribers a one-time $10 discount for agreeing to receive ads on their phones for a 12-week trial, “the satisfaction levels were off the charts,” says Jon Jackson, CEO of Mobile Posse, the ad technology provider in the trial. In fact, Mobile Posse’s research shows that marketing on mobile phones can generate up to $40 in ad revenue per month—which isn’t very far from the $50-plus that carriers generate from monthly service plans. Mobile Posse says it’s now conducting trials with two other larger carriers, offering free text-messaging and mobile data access to users who’ll accept ads.

Meanwhile, if Google succeeds in bringing a lower-priced yet more robust phone to the market, the gPhone could have some broader impact than the iPhone, which still costs $400 after a recent price cut. “Today, the overall mobile experience, candidly, is not great,” says Shawn Freeman, chief technology officer at Handango, a provider of mobile content and applications. With better Web-surfing and search capabilities, such a handset could fill a void in developing markets where many people can’t afford computers. Elsewhere, by increasing interest in mobile Web access, Google also might speed consumer adoption of wireless broadband. “If they produce something that’s a good experience, the whole market will rise,” says Barry West, chief technology officer at Sprint. “Google is a big name on the Internet. This reaffirms that the Internet is going mobile.”

But the main goal for Google is to provide mobile phone users with devices that smoothly integrate all Google applications so that, at a push of a button, they can launch a search or use the mobile payment service. Today, carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless only provide access to a smattering of Google applications, such as Google Maps and YouTube video, and not on all phones.

Wireless Players Gearing Up

Yet by launching its own operating system, Google faces a disadvantage in terms of the limited number of applications that will be available for that platform. It will take time to build the sort of ecosystem that surrounds Symbian and Windows Mobile, where there are thousands of third-party applications to choose from and more being written by software developers every day. “If you have a smaller platform, it’s harder to get people to develop for it,” says Julie Ask, an analyst at JupiterResearch.

It is possible to build a mobile platform from scratch without having a ubiquitous operating system like Windows as your foundation. Symbian says it now commands a 72% share of the smartphone market. But it has taken 10 years and more than $750 million in investment to get there. “It’s fairly easy for someone to trivialize creating a feature-rich operating system, but there’s a lot of man-years involved,” says Jerry Panagrossi, vice-president of U.S. operations at Symbian.

Despite such hurdles, there’s no doubt that major wireless players are factoring in the potential game-changing tactics of Google and Apple as they compete with their traditional rivals. On Aug. 29, Nokia unveiled a new suite of mobile Internet services called Ovi. And at a recent investment conference, a Microsoft executive hinted that his company may be working on a phone version of its Zune music player. “Competition breeds innovation,” says Rich Nespola, founder of consultancy TMNG (TMNG). “If Google is planning on entering this business, everyone gets prepared.”

It’s important to remember Google’s end goal, though: changing the wireless business. “They want the carriers to open up,” says Handango’s Freeman. “This is another way to drive the market in the direction they want to go.”

There are Five Reasons to Be Super Psyched for Android

2009-03-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

The launch of Android is the most important event in mobile phones since the release of the iPhone. It could actually be more important, in the long run. Even if it doesn’t exceed Google’s wildest dreams to become a ubiquitous mobile platform, it’s sure to re-stoke innovation in mobile phones as platforms slug it out for supremacy. But besides all that, Android just looks pretty damn cool. Of course, Android isn’t all Google-y amazingness—there are some definite reasons to take a step back from the love-in. So here are five reasons why you should be absolutely hyped for Android on Tuesday, and five why, well…

1. It’s open! The single best thing about Android is that’s a modern mobile phone OS that’s also almost completely open, unlike some other locked down mobile OSes. (There are a few restrictions in accessing the hardware for security reasons.) It’s based on Linux, and once Google has released Android, most of it will be totally open source, so it’ll be incredibly easy to dive into its guts and mess around, which will help build a robust developer community, along with all of the other benefits of using open software. Most of its other awesome traits grow out of its openness, actually.

2. We’ll keep the Steve references to a minimum here, but Android will accelerate the process that the iPhone helped kickstart last year—the gradual devolution of carriers to open, dumb pipes. Before, carriers controlled every single facet of what a phone could and could not do. They still do to an extent, and it’s not completely “anything goes” on the iPhone and Android, but together they have and will make the mobile landscape change far more rapidly than before. As Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner told me a few days ago, just a few years ago, carriers thought that the idea of full internet access was ridiculous, not to mention dangerous, threatening the obscenely lucrative business they have set up around minuscule bits of data like text messages, crappy “web portals” and ringtones. Android phones will be constantly connected and totally revolve around the internet, incessantly sucking down ever cheaper data—a carrier’s worst nightmare not so long ago.

3. You’ll have tons of hardware options. Android’s designed to be versatile, so lots of manufacturers will be putting it on lots of phones—ones with QWERTY keyboards, touchscreens, T9, outrageously spec’d out phones, as well as ones that are kinda crappy in the spec department, actually. But this also provides a common platform for developers, making it easy to put their apps on millions of phones. It’s the benefit of any OS that runs on a lot of hardware—like Windows or Linux, etc. Of course, this is also the Windows Mobile argument against all of the other proprietary OSes like Palm and BlackBerry.

4. There’s even more potential for amazing apps than the iPhone, because developers are almost completely unencumbered by arbitrary rules and restrictions. So awesome apps like Podcaster or Instictiv Shuffle won’t be mercilessly killed for not fitting into a tightly controlled framework or navigating a byzantine approval process.

5. It’ll have the best Google apps experience of any mobile device, and play super nicely with Gmail, Gcal, Maps and everything else Google puts out. Or at least it damn well better, since you know, it’s Google’s baby. Simple, direct syncing with Gcal is tops in our list, since doing it on the iPhone requires sacrificing a goat while chanting from a book covered in the skin of baby unicorns.

Bonus reason: Not an iPhone. And our software geek sister Lifehacker has some more too.

1. Google can see into your soul. If you’ve ever been wary about how much Google knows about you, how are you going to feel when they’re all over your cellphone? While a lot of the reason Android came to be was just to get people really using the internet on their phone (because when people use the internet, they use Google), we won’t be surprised to see contextualized local ads, kind of like the sidebar ones you see offering you a date from hot local girls in Brooklyn or whatever hovel you’re holed up in. But this will be hot girls just around the corner, since the phone will know where you’re at.

2. It’s not on the US’s two biggest carriers, AT&T or Verizon. Statistically speaking, you’ve got one of them. But so far only the two runts of the majors, Sprint and T-Mobile are going to have Android phones. T-Mobile’s 3G network is pathetically tiny compared to the other three, and well, Sprint’s the only carrier actively losing subscribers, if that tells you anything. It’s possible we’ll see some Android action on Verizon’s mythical open network though.

3. Buuut, carriers still have the right to gimp Android to their liking, precisely because of its Apache licensing. So a Sprint Android phone could have its built-in “store” stocked only with, say, Yahoo! apps—or no store at all. In Verizon’s hands, the UI could still look like it fell in a bucket of gaudy red paint.

4. Android is designed to run on a ton of different of hardware—phones with and without touchscreens, with and without QWERTY keyboards, phones with amazing specs, crappy phones, and everything in between. While this is a strong point as mentioned above, it could also be a point of suckiness. That means there won’t be a consistent Android experience, and it’ll depend heavily on the device you’re using. Devs told us that you’ll likely see different versions of their apps, so that on weakass phones, you’ll have more diluted apps, which might be an issue for people picking up a cheap Android phone expecting to do everything a more expensive one will.

5. Relying too much on developers to fill in features could result in a phone that’s not quite totally seamless and consumer-grade across the board. For instance, from what we’ve seen in the SDK, there’s not a built-in, Google-made media player. It’s rumored that the excellent TuneWiki will be Android’s default player, which is great, but doing this for too many key features could make things a bit bumpy, since you’re talking several developers instead of just one.

Google Voice App finally out! Rohit’s Take On It…

2009-03-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

Friday - an anxious wait for google voice app, Saturday - frustration over it not being out, Sunday - the big question whether apple is deliberately holding back the release, Late Monday - the revolutionary product from Google is finally out! This pretty much explains the Google Voice App wait saga. The long wait process was indeed killing and with every passing minute, the rumor that Apple would nip Google’s cool voice app in the bud was annoying me. I couldn’t help but remember the fate of netshare, podcaster, castcather and a galore of other apps which had to face the axe from Apple. But a voice in me kept whispering that Apple couldn’t be naive to just turn down the Google Giants voice app especially when they have Google CEO, Eric Schmidt as a board member. So despite the rumours that Apple had killed the Google Voice application, I carried on my wait with bated breath. Was it worth it? Oh Hell yeah!

Before I mention about its fascinating features, an important thing you need to know is that you won’t find the voice feature the moment you open the updated Google mobile app. It’s turned off by default so go into the settings option and there you will find a Voice search on/off button. Besides this you also get to decide whether you want contacts, previous searches and websites to be included in your Google search. Then ofcourse there is a gallery of various Google Apps which we all love. (Wish these Google apps launched in an inbuilt browser instead of safari!).

Leaving aside all the features which come packed with the app, the real icing on the cake without a shadow of doubt is the Voice feature. I was a little skeptical as to how effectively it would work but I was fascinated with its easy usage and almost spot on voice recognition capability. However, it may get annoying some times and also there is an issue of lag in the recognition process. But one cant deny the fact that this is a giant leap in voice search and Google will only make it better from here.

All said and done, this truly is a brilliant app which deserves to be on your iPhone!

The Top 10 Web Platforms of 2008

2009-03-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

1. iPhone SDK

ReadWriteWeb named Apple as our Best BigCo of 2008, largely due to the iPhone platform. The iPhone truely reached a mainstream audience in 2008, when the 3G iPhone was launched to much acclaim in July. But more significant than the phone itself was the simultaneous launch of the Apple App Store. There were 552 applications available at launch and at time of writing that’s risen toover 10,000 applications. So in less than 6 months, the number and variety of iPhone apps has expanded greatly. Indeed, any startup worth its salt has an iPhone version of its web app - the ultimate proof of a successful Web platform.

For many years now everybody has been predicting that the next year will be the one that the Mobile Web breaks through. 2008 was finally that year - and it’s mostly thanks to the iPhone development platform.

2. OpenSocial

November was the first anniversary of Google’s OpenSocial, an open API framework for social networks and websites. During 2008 OpenSocial gained a lot of traction; statistics released in November stated that OpenSocial had reached 675 M registered users at that time and there were 7,500 applications.

Most impressive is the list of organizations who signed onto OpenSocial and are actively developing apps for it. That high powered list includes MySpace, AOL, Bebo, hi5, LinkedIn, Ning, Orkut, Yahoo!. Of course still missing from OpenSocial are Facebook and Microsoft, but at the rate OpenSocial is ramping up - they may not need them.

3. Adobe AIR

As we noted in our Best BigCo 2008 post, this was a year in which Adobe’s ‘Rich Internet App’ strategy bore some juicy fruit, with many compelling apps released that were built using AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime). AIR is a platform that makes it easy to build attractive Internet connected applications that live outside the browser. Last year we noted its potential - AIR was called ‘Apollo’ for much of its beta - but in February 2008 AIR was officially launched and soon we saw a lot of stunning apps emerge.

We’ve named it our number 3 Web platform of the year, because it breathed new life into Rich Internet Apps this year.

4. Twitter API

The importance of Twitter’s API to its success this year can’t be overstated. The number and variety of Twitter reader clients alone is amazing, let alone the many other ways Twitter’s data is being used (e.g. for e-commerce purposes). It must be said that Twitter has experienced much downtime and many technical glitches throughout the year, but even so it has continued to expand its API service. As Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said a ReadWriteTalk interview last September:

“The API has been arguably the most important, or maybe even inarguably, the most important thing we’ve done with Twitter. It has allowed us, first of all, to keep the service very simple and create a simple API so that developers can build on top of our infrastructure and come up with ideas that are way better than our ideas …

So the API, which has easily 10 times more traffic than the website, has been really very important to us. We’ve seen some amazing work built on top of it from tiny little mobile applications like an SMS timer that just allows you to set a reminder over SMS to call your mom or something like that, to more elaborate visual recreations of Twitter like twittervision.com, which shows an animated map of the world and what everyone’s doing around the world with Twitter. … The [Twitter] API has really been a big success for us, and it’s something that we want to continue to focus our efforts on, looking forward.”

5. Facebook Platform

Facebook continued to become more popular throughout 2008, reaching 140 million active users by end of the year and growing at a rate of 600,000 users each day. For that reason we gave it an honorable mention in RWW’s Best BigCo 2008 post.

However in terms of the Facebook platform, overall we felt that Google’s OpenSocial overshadowed it in 2008. As we wrote in our mid-year review, Facebook Platform: The Fanfare Revisited, when the Facebook platform debuted last year it was touted as the next big thing. You no longer needed to bring the audience to your app. Instead your app could be delivered to one of the largest audiences around the web. And not just delivered, but injected into a massive social network. But while it started great, it turns out things are not that simple. Three fundamental issues surfaced:

Technical: Should the app be just a teaser that leads users to their site or should it be a duplicate and have full functionality?
Business: If e.g. New York Times builds a Facebook app, will it be economic for them (since there’s little revenue in Facebook)?
Provider costs: Does it pay for Facebook to maintain the platform? As a business with a huge valuation, Facebook needs to maximise profit.

Despite these issues, Facebook’s platform shows no signs of slowing and many startups have ported their web apps to Facebook. It may not be the bee’s knees anymore, but it’s still a very effective platform for startups to utilize.

6. Android

Google’s open mobile OS platform, Android, burst onto the scene this year as a rival to Apple’s closed iPhone platform. Google spent a lot of time this year encouraging developers to create applications for Android - and rewarding them for doing so with cold, hard cash with the Android Developer Challenge. This led to many third party apps and multiple App Stores. The first Android phone - the “T-Mobile G1 With Google” - was launched in September, followed by a second Blackberry-like phone in December. Android apps are showing steady growth and we can expect to see this ramp up in 2009 as more handsets come on the market.

Android went open source in October, which starkly set Google apart from Apple’s controlled platform. While iPhone was our top platform in 2008, Google has the opportunity to challenge for this mantle next year.

7. Amazon Web Services

Amazon’s leading edge Web Services stack was first introduced to the world in 2006 and it continued to impress in 2008 - albeit with more of a business focus. Amazon Web Services basically became a more mature offering in ‘08 and it shored up its support services.

Amazon Web Services, led by Simple Storage Service (S3) and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), was the first major cloud computing platform and today it powers the backend for many startups. At the beginning of the year we noted that Amazon’s web services now accounts for more bandwidth than all of Amazon’s global web sites combined. Then in April, Amazon announced premium for-pay support packages for some of its core infrastructure services. S3, EC2 and Simple Queue Service (SQS) each received the gold and silver level support treatment. In October Amazon announced that EC2 was coming out of beta and that it now supported Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server (i.e. expanding beyond Linux distributions and OpenSolaris). At the same time Amazon offered a Service Level Agreement for EC2 and promised an availability of 99.95%.

8. Live Mesh

The Live Mesh service launched in April as an invite only “technology preview”. It is Microsoft’s attempt to tie all of our data together. Live Mesh synchronizes data across multiple devices (currently just Windows computers, but theoretically it will extend to mobile and other devices in the future) as well as to a web desktop that exists in the cloud. It can sync data across devices used by a single users, as well as create shared spaces for multiple users.

Essentially, Live Mesh is a collection of feeds (which can be expressed as ATOM, JSON, FeedSync, RSS, WB-XML, or POX). Every piece of data entered into a user’s Mesh — be it a file, a folder, a message, a user permission, or a new device — is rendered as a piece of information in a feed. The feeds are then synced with other devices that are part of that Mesh following rules for how to sync each particular piece of information (i.e., File A may sync with Users 1, 2, and 3, while File B may only be told to sync with Users 1 and 2).

9. Fire Eagle

Earlier this year Yahoo announced that the closed beta period for its location platform Fire Eagle had ended and that the service was now open for everybody. A number of high-profile services, including Brightkite, Movable Type, Dopplr, and Pownce have implemented Fire Eagle through the numerous APIs Yahoo provides for accessing the service.

As we wrote about Fire Eagle when the beta was first announced, it offers API kits in five different programming languages, it’s got user authorization protocols already available for web, desktop and mobile apps and it’s using the open standards community built oAuth to facilitate faster, more secure mashups. So this platform is leveraging universal open standards.

Note: also see our coverage of the Yahoo! Internet Location Platform, a collection of in-depth geo-location based APIs.

10. Mozilla Weave

This year Mozilla announced Weave, a new web platform that will store users’ browser metadata in a cloud environment for access anywhere. Weave is a “framework for services integration” that will, according to Mozilla, “focus on finding ways to enhance the Firefox user experience, increase user control over personal information, and provide new opportunities for developers to build innovative online experiences.”

The basic idea is that browser metadata (things stored in your Firefox profile like bookmarks, history, RSS feeds, usernames and passwords, etc.) is pushed into the cloud and stored on Mozilla’s servers. The data is available to users from wherever they get online and users can share information with friends, family, or third parties while retaining control over how, when, and if the info is shared.

IDG Holding Town Hall To Decide Future Of Macworld Expo

2009-03-22T18:08:00.001-07:00

After Apple’s announcement that they would not be attending Macworld after next week’s event, there has been a lot of curiosity among the diehard Apple fanboys and girls about what it will mean for the annual event. For those of you who are lucky enough to be going this year, IDG, the company who put on the event along with Macworld, is hosting a town hall meeting on Wednesday, January 7th, where you can voice your opinions and hear what others are saying. We’ll be there. Will you?

Maximizer Mobile CRM Now Available for HTC Google G1 Smartphone

2009-03-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

Maximizer Software Inc. (TSX: MAX), a leading provider of simple, accessible customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, again widened its applicability across smartphone platforms today by announcing that its mobile CRM solution is now available for the HTC Google G1 smartphone. The touch-screen Google G1, which debuted in late Q3 2008 with T-Mobile, is powered by Google’s Android, the first ever open source mobile device platform and operating system. Maximizer Mobile CRM supports the largest number of smartphones in the industry, including BlackBerry?, Windows Mobile?, Palm and iPhone(TM), as well as Nokia and many other handsets powered by the Symbian operating system.

By accessing Maximizer Mobile CRM through a wireless web browser, sales and service professionals who use the HTC Google G1 may now view and update critical customer, sales and service information in real-time, directly from the smartphone to the corporate CRM system. Maximizer’s wireless application enables on-the-go management of customers, leads, sales opportunities, service cases and document repositories.

“Maximizer’s support of the Google G1 smartphone highlights our commitment to making our mobile CRM solutions compatible with all the latest smartphones in this diverse and growing market,” said William Anderson, executive vice president of technology, Maximizer Software. “This gives our existing and potential customers more choices, as small to medium-sized businesses rapidly move towards mobilizing their organizations. Google’s Android platform is an exciting addition to the mobile market and we take pride in being the first CRM solution to support it.”

Availability & Pricing

In addition to its availability for the Google G1 smartphone, Maximizer Mobile CRM is available for BlackBerry?, Windows Mobile?, iPhone(TM), Palm, and Symbian-supported smartphones. Please call 1-800-804-6299 or visit http://www.maximizer.com/mobileCRM for further information and demos.

About Maximizer Software

Maximizer Software is a leading provider of simple, accessible, customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, providing the best value for small and medium-sized businesses. As a pioneer in the CRM industry for more than 20 years, Maximizer offers sales, marketing, and customer service staff and managers access to customer information through mobile devices, online, or the desktop. Maximizer’s solutions enable organizations to accelerate business growth by streamlining sales, marketing and customer service processes, while exceeding client expectations. Maximizer Software has sold over one million licenses to more than 120,000 customers, ranging in size from entrepreneurs to multi-national organizations, including: Siemens, Societe Generale, HSBC, TD Securities, Lockheed Martin, Brian Tracy International, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Oxford University Press, and Cathay Pacific. Maximizer Software is a global business with offices and over 400 business partners throughout the Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit: www.maximizer.com.

This release may contain certain forward-looking statements reflecting Maximizer Software Inc.’s current expectations. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, changes in market and competition, technological and competitive developments, and potential downturns in economic conditions generally. Additional information on these and other potential factors that could affect the Company’s financial results are detailed in documents filed from time to time with the provincial securities commissions in Canada. All trademarks or registered trademarks stated herein are properties of their respective owners.

Unbound Medicine Announces Download Support for iPhone(TM) and iPod(R) Touch Devices

2009-03-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

Today, Unbound Medicine, a leader in knowledge management solutions for healthcare, announced that the Unbound(TM) Platform now supports application download to Apple(R) iPhone(TM) and iPod(R) touch devices. Adding delivery of iPhone applications to existing support for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Palm OS devices strengthens Unbound Medicine’s position as a leading provider of point-of-care clinical information in the healthcare segment.

The first native iPhone application to become available on the Unbound Platform is Nursing Central(TM), the best-selling nursing application that provides up-to-date information on diseases, tests, drugs, and procedures. Designed to take full advantage of the iPhone’s exceptional visual and navigational support, Nursing Central also provides cross-links connecting related information and personalized bookmarking of favorite topics. Unbound’s unique interface takes full advantage of the iPhone’s outstanding internet capabilities by delivering frequent content updates, tables of contents from just-published journals, and citations and abstracts from more than 18 million medical journal articles.

“When I saw Nursing Central on my iPhone, the first thing I noticed was the elegant design of the application and how it makes the most of the capabilities of the device,” said Brent Thompson, RN, PhD, Associate Professor at West Chester University. “I was extremely comfortable navigating through the software and finding the patient care information I was looking for.”

Adding native application support for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch was a logical step in Unbound’s continued expansion into the growing smartphone marketplace.

“Although Unbound has supported the iPhone since it was launched, we are delighted to now support native applications delivered through iTunes,” said Bill Detmer, MD, president of Unbound Medicine. “By adding the iPhone to the long list of devices supported by the Unbound Platform, we can help busy health professionals answer questions that arise during the course of patient care and also stay abreast of the latest developments in their fields.”

Nursing Central is the first of many iPhone applications arriving soon from Unbound Medicine. For a demonstration of Nursing Central on iPhone or to learn more about upcoming releases, visit www.unboundmedicine.com/iphone.htm.

About Unbound Medicine

Unbound Medicine, Inc. (www.unboundmedicine.com) develops next-generation knowledge management systems for healthcare. The company’s handheld, wireless, and web-based technology platform and its information architecture services provide healthcare professionals with advanced systems for acquiring, managing, and sharing knowledge.

Sony Ericsson Ruriko Project, 1 GHz CPU and 12.1 Megapixel Camera, Perfect?

2009-03-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

We’ve shown you the Sony Ericsson Ruriko concept teaser before and finally we’ve got images of the “real” device, designed by the famous Esato board user Razec. This superb concept handset packs a 3.5 inch external AMOLED display with capacitive touchscreen surface, a Qualcomm QSD8250 1GHz CPU, 256MB RAM and 16GB Flash Memory.

There’s also a unique slide hinge included in its design, a brushed metal back finish, 1080p HD video support, a 12.1 megapixel camera (Exmor CMOS, 28mm wide Carl-Zeiss Sonnar, Xenon Flash, HD 720p video recording) and the Android OS v2.0 with Sony Ericsson GUI.

Ruriko also incorporates a second camera (1.3 megapixels), used for videocall and live chat, a 3.5 inch internal WVGA AMOLED display, touch sensitive multimedia keys, a QWERTY keyboard, a 4 way DPAD plus a 2.1 stereo subwoofer. Isn’t this Sony Ericsson concept a bit better than your Eee PC?

Next time we’ll have have a look at Razec’s concept interfaces for the Android OS.

iPhone finds: jailbroken

2009-03-22T00:22:00.002-07:00

I’ve got the jailbroken apps that everyone seems to have (PDANet, Winterboard, Cycorder…), but I’ve just found two others that rock my world.

First is iPhone Notes. It’s actually a Mac app; you don’t download anything to your iPhone unless you don’t already have OpenSSH (IOW, to get this app to work, jailbreak your iPhone and download OpenSSH from Cydia. THEN get iPhone Notes for your Mac). Fire up the app on your Mac, click the Save/Load button, log in to your phone, and either move your desktop notes to the iPhone or vice versa. No, no syncing. It’s overwrite one way or the other. If you change a note on the Mac and hit cmd-S, it overwrites the phone posthaste. Here is a shot of the Mac app:

As readers know, I’ve been on a mission to find a simple lists/to-do app that avoids the need for Web syncing and slow starts, and this may well do it. It’s the closest thing to using paper, which would be the method of choice if I could manage to avoid losing the paper, but I can’t, so perhaps this will do the trick. It transfers very quickly over a WiFi connection. Sync would be nice, but NOTHING out there seems to truly sync without causing major problems right now, so I’m not that upset about it. It’s donationware (yes, I donated!).

Aside: WHY can Apple not manage to do this natively? Palm had synced notes and tasks like 15 years ago!

All right. Second is biteSMS, available through Cydia, which I never tried before because I thought it was an SMS workaround that you had to buy SMS credits for. Well, it’s that too, but you can also just replace the built-in SMS app and send/receive SMS messages through your carrier (AT&T for us US folks). It’s so killer cool because you can compose SMS messages in landscape mode (without changing to another app):

Switch back to upright mode and other cool options become available. Swipe over the compose box and get the options to insert contact information or your current location:

Perhaps most titillating, you can swipe across a message and get the option to forward (yay! forward!) or delete the single message:

The biteSMS app is just flat-out free. Credit costs depend on the country/countries in question.

iPhone Christmas Wallpaper - Merry Christmas to you!

2009-03-22T00:22:00.001-07:00

Right click, “Save Image As…” to download, and save the image in a folder that you sync to your phone (check your iTunes sync settings).

If you’re on an iPhone, tap on the image and hold down your finger for a few seconds. Then, click “Save Image,” and select the wallpaper from within the Settings app.

More great iPhone wallpapers here (not iPhone optimized, but still festively cool).

100 Beautiful iPhone Wallpapers

2009-03-22T00:12:00.000-07:00

Few products have generated the kind of hype that the iPhone has. Its beautiful design and large multi-touch screen are irresistible. Although its interface is beautifully designed, some of us want to put a little something extra in it to suit our style, personality and profession and to further beautify this magical masterpiece.

Here, we proudly present the 100 Beautiful iPhone wallpapers, designed by some of the finest and most creative artists around. The wallpapers are 320Ã—480 pixels in resolution and are usable on the iPod Touch as well. In this post we cover typography, nature, retro and vintage, illustrations and artwork, Apple wallpapers, abstract, space. Other topics will be covered in next posts. All of the images are clickable and linked to their source. You can explore further artistic treasures and more wallpapers by using the links.

Typography iPhone Wallpapers

TypeNuts iPhone Wallpapers

A growing collection of iPhone wallpapers related to typography. by Veer.com. Registration is required to download the wallpapers

ILoveTypography iPhone Wallpapers

A growing collection of typography-related iPhone wallpapers.

Tylor J. Reimerâ€™s iPhone Wallpapers

A collection of various wallpapers, from TV shows and music to nature and abstract.

Poolga iPhone Wallpapers

A growing collectio of beautiful wallpapers created by various designers across the globe. Typographic wallpapers there are just amazing.

â€˜We Made Thisâ€™ iPhone Wallpapers

A series of iPhone wallpapers by Alistair Hall James White.

Veer iPhone Wallpapers

A growing collection of iPhone wallpapers by Veer.com. Registration is required to download the wallpapers.

Various typographic iPhone wallpapers:

Nature

AlliPhoneWallpapers

A huge selection of various wallpapers, and very beautiful landscape wallpapers.

Interface Lift iPhone Wallpapers

A growing collection of iPhone wallpapers, currently almost 400 wallpapers are available in the resoultion 320Ã—480 for free download.

Retro and Vintage

Cosmic Retro iPhone Wallpapers

A series of iPhone wallpapers by James White.

iPhone iTouch Wallpaper Pack

By GabO-GarabO. The vintage look rocks, baby!

Airbag iPhone Wallpapers

Two beautiful sets of iPhone wallpapers, created by Greg Storey.

The Antidote iPhone Wallpapers

Poolga iPhone Wallpapers

Very original, beautiful and creative iPhone allpapers from various designers across the globe. Very impressive.

Illustrations and Artwork

Duoh iPhone Wallpapers

LOV-E iPhone Wallpapers

Camilo Bejaranoâ€™s iPhone Wallpapers

lâ€™Amour iPhone Wallpapers

2 love-related iPhone wallpapers.

CMYK Lovers

Created by Guilherme Marconi.

Glennz iPhone Wallpaperse

A collection of very beautiful iPhone wallpapers (mostly illustrations).

Painting

A collection of cute painted wallpapers designed by Atelier 302.

Coffee iPhone Wallpapers

A collection of twelve 320Ã—480px Coffee Sketchtoon illustrations. These wallpapers are free for personal use on your iPhone, iPod touch or Palm OS device. Designed by Mike Rohde.

Vladstudio iPhone Wallpapers

A collection of original and beautiful iPhone wallpapers, designed by Vlad Gerasimov.

Smart iPhone Wallpapers

A couple of beautiful Smart iPhone wallpapers.

Pedro Daleâ€™s Collection

A collection of iPhone wallpapers related to art and culture.

Pixelgirl iPhone Wallpapers

67 various iPhone wallpapers, mostly cartoons and illustrations.

Iconfactory iPhone Wallpapers

86 various iPhone wallpapers, mostly cartoons and illustrations.

Various illustrations and artwork for iPhone:

Piktorama iPhone Wallpapers

Designed by Rodrigo Braga.

Target iPhone Wallpaper

Apple iPhone Wallpapers

Abstract

Sarah Franceâ€™s iPhone Wallpapers

iPhone Wallpapers Storytellin

30 various iPhone wallpapers.

Abstract Waves iPhone Pack

6 abstract iPhone wallpapers.

Fractal Wallpapers iPhone Pack

11 abstract iPhone wallpapers.

Abstract iPhone Wallpapers

A huge selection of abstract wallpapers.

Cosmic & Space

Space iPhone Wallpapers

8 space-backgrounds for iPhone/iPod.

Cult

iphone Wallpapers

2009-03-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

We offers hundreds of iPhone wallpapers to choose from and all without the annoying embedded watermarks. and we have created an album with our favorite iPhone Wallpapers for you to choose from.

Click the iPhone wallpaper you like. you will see a larger copy of the image. either "save as" or click the image again to see the actual iPhone wallpaper size(320*480), also Click Here to learn How To Download & Install Your iPhone Wallpapers.Select a category to view and download iphone wallpapers.