Every week I will be bringing you what I think are the week’s biggest stories and articles. Let’s get started, after the break!
September 2008: Monthly Archive
As opposed to “push” style ActiveSynch, MobileMe, or Yahoo! iPhone mail, traditional POP or IMAP accounts, like Gmail or ISP mail, needs to “fetch”, or check the server on a certain schedule to see if there are new messages.
Reader Mike wrote in pointing us to a thread on the Apple Discussion Forums about “fetch” email being broken with iPhone 2.1. I only fetch mail from Gmail, and Gmail IMAP is a strange and buggy implementation which gives me considerable problems beyond the iPhone, so I can’t say whether anything is really broken or not in 2.1.
Reader Steffen, however, after thinking the problem could just be undocumented IMAP IDLE behavior, decided to run some tests:
Finally, I had some time to look into this thorougly. I dumped IP traffic all night to see what iPhone does. My iPhone is set to retrieve data every hour. Here’s when the iPhone actually connected to my IMAP server:
09:36 PM, 10:44 PM, 11:02 PM, 12:36 AM, 06:36 AM, 09:38 AM, 09:45 AM, 09:57 AM
Looks like everything but an hour to me… Oh yeah, forgot to mention… I’ve turned off everything except for GSM radio do be sure to get all traffic. The last three connections occurred when I started to play around with the iPhone this morning. So, the effect that lead me to the assumption of IMAP-IDLE on the iPhone seems to be something else. It appears that the iPhone will contact IMAP more often while using it and somehow random while idling… So, no IMAP at this time, but maybe interesting as well…
Definitely interesting! Thanks Steffen!
Any other readers out there got “fetch” problems? Wacky behavior? Please let us know!
I’ve gone ahead and followed Jeremy’s excellent iPhone Jailbreak instructions for one specific reason: the ability to install PdaNet on my iPhone for tethering. PdaNet let us know, along with reader Lawton, that they’ve given up waiting for App Store approval (which will likely never come anyway) and have gone ahead and released their application for jailbroken iPhones. You can get the full skinny here.
PdaNet for the iPhone is heads and shoulders above their other offerings in that it doesn’t require any software on your laptop. You simply need to set up an ‘ad hoc’ WiFi network (here’s how) on your laptop and then have your iPhone join that network. Then, boom, you’re online.
PdaNet will also work in the background (yet another reason to Jailbreak — real background apps), although they caution that you’ll want to make sure that you get back into the app relatively quickly so it doesn’t idle. They’ve also implemented another neat accelerometer-based feature: set your phone face-down and it will turn off the screen, saving power. Truth-be-told, though, you should probably leave it plugged in, an active 3G connection and WiFi connection isn’t going to be very good to your battery.
One last note: over-usage of PdaNet’s tethering is likely to draw the eye and the ire of AT&T, so use with care!
Thanks to Lawton for the tip!
Apple has made a vital change to the App Store, in order to review an app you now have to actually have downloaded it first. All I have to say is… it’s about time!
This brilliant idea (that should have been in place since day one!) means we no longer have to read reviews from people who have never tried the app out — or don’t even own a iPhone or iPod Touch!
Now all we have to get rid of are the thousands of reviews that simply say “How do I uninstall this?” That is so sad, not only because they give it a rating of 1 star but the person has no clue how to uninstall a app! Is a 1 star rating simply because you can’t uninstall the app fair to the developer? I think not.
Your thoughts?
(Via DaringFireball)
FutureShop is actually owned by Best Buy (which is why they typically build the stores across the street from each other — nothing like being your own competition!), so when their big US brother started selling the iPhone 3G, we supposed it was only a matter of time before Canada got some big box love. Says MacNN:
Canadian retailer Future Shop has announced it will be selling the iPhone starting in October. Customers will be able to purchase the phone at fifteen different locations initially. The phone will still be on the Rogers network, where it has previously been available directly, or at The Telephone Booth and Wireless Wave stores.
FutureShop already sells all sorts of phones from Rogers (and subsidiary Fido), Bell, Telus, etc. so this is just one more page in their flyer.
But hey, at least it’s not Radio Shack, eh?
Who said iPhone’s “don’t hit back”?
The Boy Geniuses Report that while China may be eunuch-izing their iPhone, the special administrative zone which is Hong Kong will be getting the full on 3G, and unlocked to boot. So any Mainlanders dreading the “just no internet” model are only a hop, skip, and ferry away from “freedom” (and the US$692/$794 price tags that goes along with it).
Do-Tse, Apple!
Anyone planning on picking up one of these little dragons?
Wired’s blog picked up a story from iPhone Atlas today about a minor MobileSafari browser UI change that sees the (defaults to Google) search box surfaced right on top beside the URL address box (currently it only pops up when the top box is activated to save on vertical real estate). To compensate, the Refresh button gets demoted and tucked inside the refresh box. Not sure about the usability on this change yet…?
The more interesting speculation is about cut and paste, which Wired claims NO specific info on, but offers this as part of the ongoing search for some reason why Apple hasn’t yet implemented this seemingly core functionality:
It’s possible that Apple is taking so long to implement copy and paste not because it is difficult, but because Apple is reinventing it. Imagine a system-wide menu added to all applications which, instead of shuffling items off to a clipboard, lists all the places you can send that file (or text string). This would be like the existing “Open with” option available in the Mac’s right-click menu — each application effectively reports to the OS exactly what kind of files it can handle and the OS remembers this. Thus a picture could be sent to not only the Photo app, but to any other photo program. Text could be sent directly to any open dialog box in, say, Safari.
Sounds good to us. What about it, Joz?
Today on the forums we have a few interesting poll threads for you.
The cat is out of Apple’s bag regarding the 2.2 beta firmware and we want to know exactly what feature you most want to see added??? Take a look at the options and make your vote!
In the next poll we want to know how you spend most of your time on your iPhone? Browsing the internet? Talking on the phone? Emailing perhaps? Let us know!
Are you still on the fence about jailbreaking your iPhone? hermdog started a thread that lists a few good reasons why you should jailbreak! Jailbreaking really does open your phone up to another world. So if you know of any good apps that not many people are aware of, please post it up for others to check out.
Join our growing community and get in on the conversation!
See you on the forums!
With all the hubbub surrounding the App Store these days, the blogophiles among us may forget that, for casual users, everything is pretty sweet. Browse. Tap. Download. Launch. For mobile gaming fans this is especially true. Check out the Top Apps list, and you’ll routinely see games hogging most of the spots. Don’t think this has escaped attention either. Says Block Breaker Deluxe (available via the iTunes App Store) developer Gameloft:
With some competitors due out next year, Apple is looking to capitalize on their virtual monopoly of these types of games, and with the success of their iphone games so far, they look certain to sustain a strong share of the market for smartphone games for some time to come.
As if to prove their point, Block Breaker Deluxe looks to be a bright, innovative take on the classic genre, and will no doubt appeal to the casual gaming audience the iPhone (and Apple) is hitting so well with as of late.
Whether the push from Android Market eventually forces Apple to change their current developer relations process or not, in the gaming space at least, everything on the iPhone is apps!
Did Apple finally bring the hounds to the old iPhone jailbreak/unlock cat and mouse game?
Maybe. It’s been over 2 months and while the miraculous iPhone DevTeam has jailbroken the iPhone 3G, unlocking the device to work on any carrier has thus far eluded them. Likewise, the brand new iPod Touch — which might be a sign of things to come with the next iPhone as well — has proven more resistant to Jailbreaking. Says the DevTeam:
the 3G iPhone soft unlock and iPod Touch 2G jailbreak are still relatively new challenges (compare them with the timeframe of the iPhone challenges last year). We’re making slow advances on both fronts, but it’s not the sort of thing that can be easily described in a blog like this. But, to maybe show how interlinked these challenges are, this weekend we’ll be trying some hardware based ideas on the iPod Touch 2G jailbreak
It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as the DevTeam also elaborates a little on iPhone 2.2 “Timberline”, confirms it’s still vulnerable to pwnage, and shows it running Terminal.app.
Clever.
