Well there have been a few more pieces of news tricking out about 1.1.3. Top of the list has to be the fact that it kills EDGE data for GoPhone users. When Christopher wrote in and said he’s been without data for 48 hours and counting my iPhone wailed a bit for him. There’s other oddities too, like SMS messages appearing out of order. It appears that I spoke too quickly when I said that Apple had the best ROM update method EVARS over at WMExperts.
But 1.1.3 also has some good surprises - the max number of SMS messages an iPhone can hold has been lifted from a crazy-low 1000 to around 75,000. That might be enough. You can also finally manually manage your music and movies for finer-tuned control of what goes on your iPhone. Of course, there are also all the previously discussed benefits.
In the mixed category - 1.1.3 switches Gmail over to IMAP access automatically. This is good news for most - IMAP is clearly superior to POP. But the change happens without telling user that deleting Gmail email on the iPhone acts is going to be a little different now. On POP, “Delete = Archive,” so you could use delete to clear our your inbox Willy-Nilly. On IMAP, “Delete = Delete,” so use a little caution.
The iPhone FAQ is reporting that the issue we’ve seen with the earlier leaked 1.1.3 ROM update holds with the official ROM update. To wit: if you decide to downgrade your iPhone back to 1.1.2 (or even earlier), you’re phone will think that your SIM is invalid no matter what. You’ll quasi-brick your iPhone. I say “quasi” because it does seem you can safely upgrade to 1.1.3 again.
Anyway, the advice that Phone different has given you again and again still holds true: if you’ve done anything non-standard to your iPhone, stay the heck away from new updates until the hackers have had a chance to put it through its paces. Then again, the new location featureis super sweet, sweet enough that even if you do love Lights Out, it’s probably worth it to upgrade. After all, the SDK is getting released next month.
Macally just announced the FlexTune, which is one of the very few iPod docks available right now that is also fully compatible with the iPhone. That’s to say, it doesn’t suggest you go into Flight Mode to protect the speakers from GSM interference. Otherwise it’s a fairly standard set of iPod speakers - charges and is compatible with all iPods, medium-to-medium-low quality sound and volume, has a line-in on the back.
The FlexTune’s trick is that its speakers slide out - meaning you can mount the iPhone vertically or horizontally. It’s a little wonky to slide the speakers out and insert the iPhone, but not too bad. That wonkiness might be that Macally had a pre-production unit on the show floor — the real deal will be available in February for the fairly low price of $59.99
As expected, Jobsy took center stage at San Francisco’s Mascone Center, pouring glasses of Kool-Aid to a thirsty yet doe eyed audience. MacWorld, for those of you unfamiliar, is Apple’s annual conference and keynote that is part State of the Union address, part infomercial, and part Renaissance Festival (minus the period costumes and jousting) all rolled into one. Jobs gave his usual PT Barnum performance with product announcements and demos to wow the crowd. This is MacWorld after all, so iPhone took a backseat to a major new product added the portable line, MacBook Air. More on that later.
The new 1.1.3 update to the iPhone’s software is pretty incredible. As we just mentioned in the Liveblog of the Steve Jobs Keynote, there are several new features that were announced:
Maps with Location
Webclips on your homescreen
Customization of your homescreen
…and more, including lyrics, support for iTunes movie rentals, and the ability to SMS multiple people at once.
We got the jump on the iPod Touches on the show floor to get a firsthand look at the new features. After the break, our hands-on video with the new iPhone software (as seen on the iPod Touch).
We grabbed a quick look at the ultrathin MacBook Air, just released during Steve Jobs’ 2008 Macworld Keynote. The MacBook Air is a pretty sweet little guy - it’s ridiculously thin yet full-powered. Our only regret is that it has only 1(!) USB port. Oh, and the little fact that you can’t replace the battery. Isn’t that kind of a must for a laptop? We smell an accessory opportunity.
Otherwise - the hotness, even at $1799. A quick video of the gigantic crowd fondling the device above.
The MacBook Air is “the world’s thinnest notebook.” It’s ridiculously thin - .76 inches on the back and .16 inches at the front. It fits inside a manilla envelope - Jobs has one in an envelope now! It is INSANELY thin. UNNATURALLY thin. It has a full sized keyboard and display.
it has a 13.3, LED-backlit display. There is, of course, a built-in iSight camera. There is also a full-sized keyboard, “perhaps the best notebook keyboard we’ve ever shipped.” And yes, it’s also backlit.
The “very generous trackpad” now supports multitouch. There are even short videos explaining how the multitouch trackpad works on the MacBook Air.
It does indeed sport a hard disk - a 1.8″ hard drive, same as in the iPod. It has an 80gig as standard, you can also get a 64gb Solid State drive. The electronics, “a complete mac on a board” are tiny. The processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.6GHz is standard, you can go 1.8 GHz as well. The chip is 60% smaller than a standard 1.6GHz chip, and so Jobs has invited Intel CEO Paul Otellini to thank him for that incredible chip.
New feature: Remote Disk — allows you to use another computer’s optical drive to install software over the network. It’s an incredibly neat idea. Otherwise you can buy a USB superdrive for $99.
Apple claims that under medium to heavy usage you can get five hours of battery life.
3 pounts
.16 - 0.76 inches
13.3 LED display
full sized, backlit keyboard
Multi-touch trackpad
iSight
1.6GHz Core 2 Duo standard
2 Gigs memory standard
80 Gig Hard Drive
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
…..$1799, available in 2 weeks.
..That’s it folks, Randy Newman is coming on stage to perform for us now!
Jobs notes how everybody has tried and failed to get movies off the internet onto a widescreen TV. He admits that Apple TV was a miss as well, that people really want Movies, not an accessory for your computer.
“Apple TV Take 2: No Computer Required.”
You can rent movies directly on Apple TV.
Movies will be available in DVD and HD quality!
Audio and Video podcasts
Grab photos from Flickr and .Mac
An entirely new user interface
The HD movies are a dollar more to rent.
The new interface on Apple TV is really slick - the shopping experience of looking for movies, music, and TV shows on your television seems very intuitive and fun. You can also browse and download any podcast in the iTunes podcast directory. Browsing photos is easy too - despite the fact that Flickr refused to serve up photos for Steve.
It’s a free software upgrade! …..AND they’re droped the price to $229. It will all be available in 2 weeks.
Jm Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, has announced that going forward, their DVDs will come with a “digital copy” that you can use in iTunes or on your iPhone.
They’ve sold 4 Billion songs, 125 million TV shows, and 7 million movies. However, that 7 million mark is lower than they’d prefer. So today, Jobs has announced iTunes Movies Rentals.
On board - every major movie studio! Steve presented them with a “and by the way.” They will launch with 1000 films by the end of February. They will be on iTunes 30 days after their DVD release. You can watch on iPhone.
You can also start watching within 30 seconds of downloading. You have 30 days to begin watching, then once it starts you have 24 hours to watch it. You can also transfer even as you’re watching.
Older titles will be $2.99, new releases are 3.99. It launches today and free software updates are available for all compatible devices (iTunes, iPods, and iPhones)!
Movie rentals will also be available in HD quality for $1.00 more (That’s $3.99 for DVD quality and $4.99 for HD quality). You can also shop for these movies directly from your television with Apple TV 2.
The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
It is INSANELY thin. UNNATURALLY thin. It has a full sized keyboard and display.
