2008: Yearly Archive

Now that 2.2 is upon us, you can get your TiPb fix in yet another way: grab our Podcast over the air!

It’s simple. Just turn on WiFi (necessary because all of our podcasts are over 10 megs), head into iTunes on your iPhone, and search for “Phone different.” It’ll pop up right quick (and includes the feed for our iPhone Live! Podcast to boot!). Then head in, tap download, and away you go!

(Speaking of the Phone Different Podcast, we have this week’s in the bin. It should be edited up and ready for you to grab tomorrow)

Ok, so here we have yet another update on the Dev Team’s blog. This time they tell us everything we want to know about the 2.2 firmware and jailbreaking.

So, as anticipated our friends the misfits have recently released the long awaited 2.2 update. We can confirm that this update SHOULD NOT be applied using iTunes if you want the chance of a soft-unlock in the near future. If you want to keep that option of a ‘soft-unlock in the near future’ available but you want the new features of 2.2, you will be able to update to 2.2 using a PwnageTool created custom ipsw file that disables the baseband update. You will be able to do this using an updated version of PwnageTool that will be released sometime soon.

Notice the “to be released soon” part? Yeah, so did we. For a full list of facts regarding the firmware and jailbreaking please proceed to the Dev Team post. The most important fact to be aware of is if do update to 2.2 right now and are jailbroken you will not only lose the jailbreak but you will not be able to jailbreak 2.2 until they release their new PWNage tool. So, proceed with caution out there.

Of course, when they do release said 2.2 PWNage, you know we’ll be all over it.

[Via blog.iphone-dev.org]

[This is an official Smartphone Experts Round Robin post! Every day you reply here, you're automatically entered for a chance to win an iPhone 3G, Case-Mate Naked Case, and Motorola H9 Bluetooth Headset! More below!]

Google’s Android is the future of smartphones. At least, it’s one of the possible futures. Alongside the iPhone, it’s the OS I’m most intrigued by, and that the two companies have chosen such different strategies in tackling the future only makes it ever so much more exciting.

The iPhone is an ordered, iconic device made entirely by Apple, with all the integration and fit and finish — and frustratingly capricious omissions — that only a single guiding mind can achieve. Android, by contrast, is chaotic and communal, designed by Google to free developers and fit a multitude of tastes and form-factors — with all the possible confusion and derivation open source has to offer.

Which one is “better” is a ridiculously impossible question to answer — each platform has its strengths and weaknesses and each user their own unique needs and preferences. Frankly, we’re fortunate to live in a time where there are so many truly awesome devices from which to choose. (Even a few years ago — and yes, I’ll say it, pre-iPhone shockwave — things were far, far more bleak.)

For my part, all I can really do is tell you how I use a smartphone, and how well the Android G1 fits that usage bill.

I really need to point out, up front, that the G1 is a beta device. There, I said it. Unlike Windows Mobile or Blackberry OS, which have been on the market for years and years, and the iPhone OS which is already on 2.x, Android has just hit the market with all the promise and problems that inevitably go with that. The Android device I experienced this week will absolutely and without question be blown away by whatever Android device(s) hit the market next year. So, it’s not a fair comparison for Android from the get go, and I beg everyone to remember that when I lay… er… get into it below the fold.

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The BodyGuardz Protective Skin for iPhone 3G is available now in the TiPb Store for $24.95. It is a thin, clear, protective film that covers almost the entire body of your iPhone 3G - screen, back, top, bottom, and sides, yet still gives your iPhone the “naked” look and adds virtually no bulk while offering protection against scratches and scuffing. Read on for the full review and see if it’s right for YOUR iPhone 3G.

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Conor sent us a note about the new game from Redwind Software. They’re coming from a .Net background, and this is their first attempt at Cocoa Touch and the iPhone, and it seems from the video they’re embracing the differences whole heartedly!

Movie Challenge is a trivia/quiz style game at its core, but so much more when examined in detail. Rather than the simple question after question after question, leveling up to meaningless levels that seems to be the norm in most trivia games on the platform we have strived to provide more. There are multiple categories, multiple game types, accelerometer action, touch screen drag and drops, power ups and the list goes on.

If you’re a movie trivia buff and you decide to meet this challenge, let us know how you do!

In similar fashion to the patent for a today screen, Apple Insider is reporting Apple’s new filing shows a way of displaying icon-like status indicators on the iPhone’s display even though the phone is locked with the backlight not turned on. Apple seems to be paying attention lately to alerts/notifications and that is great news!

Apple proposes the implementation of a dual backlight system, where a secondary, low-power backlight system would be positioned behind the primary backlight system. The always-on light provided by the secondary backlight system could then be projected through one or more transparent or semitransparent regions of the primary backlight system to reach the display even when the primary backlight is turned off.

The lack of a feature similar to this is one of the current iPhone’s biggest complaints. You leave your iPhone on a table and you walk out of the room for 5 minutes… during that time you get a email or missed call… you get sidetracked and don’t turn your phone on… you never know that a message is waiting for you. No blinking LED, no second audible alerts (unless it’s a SMS message), nothing. That is a major gripe that I hear over and over regarding the iPhone.

So as soon as this is actually a reality, it will give the haters one less reason to complain. It’s just too bad we will all have to wait until a future iPhone to see this feature.

[Via Apple Insider]

WE CAN HAS IT! iPhone 2.2, 246.4MB of Google Map goodness, podcast OTA downloadiness, Line-out-ified, Emoji-con’d, latest update to Apple’s universe denting, storm-breaking mobile computing platform is now available via iTunes!

Just remember, if you’ve jailbroken, or if you ever want to unlock the 3G, DON’T DO IT.

For the rest of us, let us know how big it is, how fast it’s downloading, how long it’s taking to install, and what — if any — secret features you’re finding when you’re done!

(Thanks to everyone who wrote in to let us know it was live!)

[Dieter: After the break, Apple's official list of updates!]

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Harbinger of things to come? Or just coincidence? You decide. But while you’re deciding, head on over to Apple Software Update and grab yourself a copy of iTunes 8.0.2 and its quality, connectivity, and accessibility fixes.

(Though if you’ve jailbroken, or intend to Unlock when it becomes available, AVOID as we’ve already seen that the new MacBook lineups have jailbreak unfriendly iTunes builds, and this could be more of the same).

Got it? Gotten it? Let us know if you find any tantalizing iPhone hints!

Macrumors is quoting Spiegel.dewww. as saying that both a new security flaw has been found in iPhone OS 2.1, and that a patch will be included in iPhone OS 2.2 due to drop… tomorrow?!

[A] newly announced iPhone vulnerability that can force a (potentially expensive) phone call to be made simply by visiting a webpage in Safari… SIT reports that they notified Apple of the issue a month ago and that a fix will become available on November 21st through a firmware upgrade.

We’ve already run down the other new features rumored to be included in 2.2, so now we just sit by iTunes, hit the Update button, and wait (unless you’ve jailbroken, then remember to steer clear!)

I have a funny feeling that sometime shortly after the 2.2 firmware drops, we will see the iPhone 3G software unlock in the next version of the ever so popular PWNage tools from the Dev Team.

They just updated their blog with more good news, the ability to spawn background tasks. Which is great and means they have everything they need for the unlock except for the implementation. Watch the video above for more details.

Keep up the good work guys. Everyone here at TiPb appreciate your work!

[Via blog.iPhone-dev.org]