Articles by Casey Chan
You know what the iPhone popularized? Not just iCloning. Not just multi-touch. Not just visual voicemail. What I’m talking about is watching video on your mobile device. Youtube was integrated into the iPhone from the beginning and well, most other mobile users were jealous.
But the iPhone has so much more video potential than just Youtube. As popular as Youtube is, there are other video sites out there. Take the webapp PocketVidz for example, they have thousands of videos available for your iPhone, sized and optimized for your viewing pleasure. What is the selection like? Should you try it out?
Read on for the rest of the review!
Safari on the iPhone is the best mobile internet experience in today’s market bar none. It is as much intuitive as it is pretty which makes for a superb user interface and browsing experience. But one complaint I had with Safari was the lack of quick search tools. If you ever used Sogudi or Saft on the desktop Safari, you know that it makes Safari an even more powerful web browser.
WebSearch on the iPhone comes from a similar mold. Because in Safari the default search engine is Google (you can also switch to Yahoo! in the settings) it kind of limits the specific searches you might need. Especially considering the slow pace of EDGE, quick searches in the wild can often be cumbersome. Well with WebSearch you are allowed quick easy access to the searches you want. How does it perform?
Read on for the rest of the review! (and remember you’ll need a jailbroken iPhone!)
Now that the iPhone 3G has been officially announced and the details have been released, we are holding the first ever: TiPb vs TiPb. In the two articles we will detail reasons why we SHOULD upgrade and why we SHOULDN’T upgrade to the iPhone 3G. No hard feelings, No blood spilled, just good old fashioned point-by-point debate.
More so than any other Apple release, the iPhone 3G was probably the worst kept secret in the history of Apple. There was plenty of speculation, some wild (video conferencing) and some tame (black casing). Some were right, some were wrong.
I flagrantly participated in the rumorpalooza. I was excited for every nugget of news even though it didn’t contain a kernel of truth. So maybe I hyped myself into thinking the iPhone 3G was going to be the be all, end all device that the iPhone was. After my initial excitement subsided, I realized, hey, the iPhone 3G isn’t a necessary upgrade! I could wait a little until all the kinks are worked out, so these are the 5 Reasons Why I’m NOT Upgrading to the iPhone 3G.
Read on for the 5 Reasons to NOT upgrade!
Here at TiPb we’ve covered 10 things we thought Apple needed to fix in the next iPhone. With the anticipation of the iPhone 3G, the rumor mill went crazy with things like video conferencing, different models, etc. all but confirmed at one point in time. We even ran a bunch of our own predictions.
And well the Jobsnote was yesterday, and though we got the biggies: 3G, GPS, flush headphone jack, and a $199 price point, but we also missed out on a lot of stuff we thought we would be getting already.
Read on to see what we didn’t get in the iPhone 3G!
Ready for developers to take advantage of the new features in the iPhone 3G, namely GPS? Well don’t worry, TomTom, makers of popular GPS units and GPS software, has already developed navigation software for the iPhone 3G. A TomTom spokesperson was quoted as saying,
“Navigation System runs on the iPhone already”There is no official release date or press release but be prepared for an onslaught of GPS software to take advantage of the GPS in the iPhone 3G and not just from TomTom. Who knows which will be best? Will it be TomTom, Garmin, or a totally unknown company? This should be fun.
Accidentally fall asleep when developers went over 190832 apps during the keynote? Numb your mind and index finger by maddeningly refreshing your browser? Miss all the apps that were showcased in the iPhone? Fear not, TiPb will give you a quick nitty gritty update on the lot.
- eBay – A fairly basic eBay app that didn’t really showcase any advancements from the basic web app. Sure it was nice and integrated but really, isn’t an eBay webapp good enough? Certainly, they could have gotten someone better to demo their app.
- Loopt – A location-based social networking application. Now this is kind of cool, it displays your friend’s location on a map and works with other platforms. Basically, I imagine it to be similar to Boost Mobile’s Where You At?
- TypePad – A mobile blogging app that is pretty straightforward. The interface looked similar to the iPhone’s E-mail client and well, at least you can add photos via camera or photo roll
- Mobile News Network – Basically enables viewing videos and pictures of news stories from various sources. It also allows you to directly report the news if you have a first hand account of something
- Band – This is a fun app, basically a collection of virtual instruments: piano, drums, bass, 12-bar blues ‘instrument’. I’ve seen iterations of ‘Band’ in the jailbreaking scene and it makes for good fun
- MLB.com – This app is nice! It gives iPhone users direct access to video highlights right after they happen! It also displays a live detailed scoreboard for quick updates on baseball games.
- Modality – A medical application used to easily learn names of body parts, etc. Mildly useful for me, incredibly useful for doctors I presume
- MIMvista – Another medical application that takes advantage of the iPhone’s screen to zoom in, out, and scroll around. Basically, an interactive way to view medical imagery?
Miss the iPhone 3G Launch? Want to see Steve Jobs work the crowd? Trying to test out how the RDF works on you? Well, Apple has posted the WWDC 08 Keynote for your viewing pleasure. It’s time to catch up on the biggest Apple-related news since the SDK event.
In the keynote, you’ll be able to see details of the 2.0 firmware, MobileMe in action, app and game demos aplenty, and the unveiling of the iPhone 3G. Not to mention, it’s always good fun to see Apple’s CEO at his finest and re-live the excitement in a Quicktime video.
Click the Read Link to watch the keynote
Sorry to rain on the iPhone 3G parade but it has to be done. Here’s some not so great news about the iPhone 3G. The iPhone 3G data plan is going to cost $30 per month. That’s $10 more than the current iPhone plan. On top of that, current iPhone owners will have to sign a NEW 2-year contract to use the iPhone 3G. Meaning, buying an iPhone 3G won’t be a seamless upgrade in the traditional sense. Granted, AT&T won’t count the remaining years on your current iPhone contract to the new iPhone 3G contract, the fact that you have to sign a new contract plus the added cost per month just doesn’t sit right with me.
Look at it this way, the iPhone 3G costs $199. Hip hip hooray right? Not quite. We have to add the cost of the added monthly fees. First we multiply the 10 dollars more a month by 24 months (the life of a 2 year contract) which equates to $240 dollars more to use the iPhone 3G’s data plan versus the original data plan. Now for the simple math, $199 (cost of the iPhone 3G) + $240 (cost of 3G data vs EDGE data over 2 years) = $439 over the lifetime of the contract. That’s actually a $40 dollar increase from the current iPhone, not quite the ‘half price’ that we’re being marketed to believe.
Also, it looks like AT&T will discontinue their pre-paid, GoPhone option meaning there is no alternative than being tied into a 2 year voice+3G data contract under AT&T. At least before, some users could choose to use the iPhone as a pseudo-data only device.
Perhaps its because the old revenue sharing model of the original iPhone is no longer in effect, but it looks like AT&T has taken back control of data plans and is positioning the iPhone 3G to increase subscribers and broaden market potential. The carrier subsidy is theoretically included in the $199 price, essentially AT&T is giving Apple the money upfront instead of through a month-to-month revenue sharing plan. Do we as consumers win out? Depends what your perspective is. The iPhone 3G is still a great phone and a steal, but AT&T & Apple are obviously not in the same relationship they were in just one year ago.
So when the iPhone 4G comes is AT&T going to raise our data prices to $40? Will it stop? What do you guys think of this? Does it change your perspective on the price of the iPhone 3G?
UPDATE: Gizmodo is also reporting that the iPhone 3G can only be activated in store via a 10-12 minute process. Also, a fine might be levied to those who don’t activate the iPhone 3G within 30 days. It seems like the iPhone no longer carries that unique badge of being separate from the rest of the other phones in AT&T’s lineup anymore..
Remember the iPhone 3G ad that they were reportedly filming at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store? Well it came to fruition at WWDC and it’s pretty slick. Not quite as epic as the 1984 commercial or as flashy as those iPod dancing ones, but the iPhone 3G “hallway” ad has its own appeal.
It starts with two security guards handling a silver lockbox and walking through an uber-modern, top-secret hallway. As the security guards walk, a voiceover says, “It’s finally here. The first phone to beat the iPhone.” As they set the safe down and it opens, the voiceover goes on to say “…introducing the NEW iPhone…3G”
How do you guys like it? Click the Read Link to watch the new ad.
You’ll probably hear from a lot of people who attended WWDC that the app demo section of the keynote was much too long and even :gasp: boring. But the games showcased at WWDC continue to prove that the iPhone is going to be a force in mobile gaming.
- Super Monkey Ball - First shown in the March Event, Sega has expanded on Super Monkey Ball including over a 100 levels and four classic Monkeys. The graphics in Super Monkey Ball for iPhone is on par with anything from the DS.
- Enigmo - A physics based game using reflectors to put water in a bucket. Ported in three days, looks like frustratingly mindless fun.
- Cro-Mag Rally - A racing game using the iPhone’s accelerometer as a steering wheel. Nine different tracks, 10 unique cars and looks really fun. That too was ported over in three days.
- Digital Legends Entertainment – They demoed a 3D fantasy game that displayed the graphical prowess of the iPhone. It probably didn’t reach the high end level of PSP but it only took two weeks to develop. Available sometime in September.
