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While the holy grail for grabbing files on the iPhone would probably still be Apple-made iDisk support (as rumored), there are other options out there. Microsoft’s Live Mesh is supposedly going to be the very definition of cross-platform once they mange to get all of their clients done — but file access for the iPhone is pretty much limited to the browser right now.

Add one more “Securely sync your files to a 3rd party server and then get them on your iPhone” option to the mix: Sugarsync. They have clients for Mac, PC, Windows Mobile (though that one isn’t great), Symbian, and now: a Sugarsync client for the iPhone (App store link).

Although Sugarsync would like to say that their iPhone client supports pushing files to the iPhone, that’s not quite the case. Your files are pushed from sync’ed folders to Sugarsync’s cloud, waiting for you when you want to access them from your iPhone. Good enough, we say, since local file system access on the iPhone is still not really available.

Basically the only limitation here is the iPhone: it can view but not edit and it can only view a relatively small set of files, but that whole local file system bit. One nice bit: you can share any file on your Sugarsync cloud.

The service is $25 a year for 10 gigs, so it might be a viable option for those of you rocking a few computers and an iPhone yet hate MobileMe. For those of us who are shelling out for MobileMe already, it would be nice to think iPhone iDisk access won’t be too long in coming.

Folks who’ve transitioned over from Windows Mobile (or BlackBerry) to the iPhone (or folks who, like me, are dual-wielding) take heed: one of our favorite IM apps from those other platforms has finally made its way into the App Store. It’s Palringo (iTunes Link) and it’s free. Palringo is an instant messenger app that’s able to talk to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, etc. It will also let you send media files (like photos). There is one downside — you do need to set up a Palringo account to get it all going, but for now at least, if you want multi-client IM, Palringo’s your best option.

That’s good stuff, but the better stuff is coming: Palringo’s custom ‘Vocal IM,’ which is somewhere between sending audio files and VOIP chat. We’re also hoping that Palringo will be able to add background notifications when the iPhone supports it.

I’m downloading now, but I tell ya, I’m excited for this app. Seems like an excellent idea for a lightning review, don’t it?

Now that we’ve successfully giving away over a thousand dollars in iTunes Gift Cards and an iPhone 3G, it’s time for us to take a breather. Thing is, the way we take a breather here at TiPb is to start up another way for you to get what you want for your iPhone. Here’s the deal:

Head on over to our new “iPhone App Lightning Reviews” forum and, you know, post a review of an iPhone app. It can be native or web, legit or jailbroken. Be sure to include some screenshots as attachments — on iPhone 2.0, you can just hold down the home and powerbutton briefly and the screenshot will get saved to your camera album. Keep it around 500ish words, be fair, and try not to all review the same apps — though reviews after major updates are always a good idea. Give it a rating out of 5 stars and a couple pros and cons at the end too, for those crazy skimmers.

…Why would you do all that? Every so often the TiPb staff will be picking our favorites and promoting them to the front page. We’ll thank you by giving back to you. More after the break!

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Here at the Providence, RI Mall, the halls are filled with lost souls as of 5:45 am, wandering in a state of limbo, unable to queue up because of a short security guard with delusions of importance. Nevertheless, Randyman was kind enough to kick our local line off with the following photo, Will was here at 3:45 am, and the other 6 us are alternately sneaking around the halls or sitting here in the parking lot, waiting for the overzealous security guard’s wristwatch to read 6am.

How’s your line going?

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Splashdata - the company that has given unto the smartphone-and-pda-user world such iconic titles as SplashID, SplashShopper, and SplashMoney on numerous popular platforms - has jumped head-first into the iPhone world with two of the three aforementioned apps in the iTunes App Store.  Both SplashShopper and SplashID are currently available for purchase and download, each at $9.99.

SplashMoney, their popular money management app, is soon to follow, according to Kevin Doel of TalonPR. Keep checking the App Store because SplashMoney could arrive as soon as tomorrow.  Following it’s release, you can find a full review right here on TiPB.

The response to our iPhone 3G givaway has been tremendous. We love all the new action in our forums and we fully expect it to continue after this week — which is to say that The iPhone Blog adores you and will continue to treat you right, stay tuned for future contests in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the time has come to announce the winner of our contest as chosen randomly via random.org. It’s iLoveiPhones! Check your inbox for an email from me and we’ll set you up with the $400 Gift Card we promised so you can be all set for Friday. Happy? Happy! Joy? Joy!

The air of contest finality is thick and we’re going to make it thicker still: this is our final Wait-a-Thon post: comment here for your last chance to win a $100 iTunes gift card. We’ll be sending out the final gift cards tonight (yes, it’s still tough what with Apple’s limit to the # we can buy in a month, but we figured out a workaround).

So congratulate iLoveiPhones (a username so good it’s gotta be kismet) and let us know: once the iPhone 3G is really and truly out, what sort of stuff do you want TiPb to cover in the coming weeks and months? Are apps king? Shall we pit the iPhone 3G against every other darn smartphone out there, one by one? Should we continue to bring you tips and tricks? What’ll it be?

Update: Looks like we made somebody’s day.

I’m never gonna forget this day. Thanks so much to everyone here at the iPhone forum and the staff at the iPhone Blog. Couldn’t have done it without you guys. Being someone who’s never won anything, this is quite a day!

In our forums, dhp1080 asked an important question: since the iPhone 3G comes out on the 11th and whoever wins is surely going to be the sort to go out and buy one that day, doesn’t it make more sense to hold the drawing for the winner of our iPhone 3G giveaway a bit earlier?

Yes, yes it does.

So we’ll be holding our drawing for the iPhone 3G givewaway the morning of Wednesday, July 9th. Since Apple capitulated to the standard operating procedure for activating phones, we can’t just pick one up and send it to ya. So instead we’re going to do the following: overnight a gift card to an Apple Store (or AT&T store, if necessary) for 400 smackers. That will cover most of the necessary bases: people eligible for upgrade that want the 16gig device, people ineligible for upgrades, etc.

All of which means you have six days left to get yourself up to 20 (non-garbage) posts in our forums in order to qualify for the drawing. Get your full contest details here. Meanwhile, this also means that this week and the next are the last weeks for the iPhone 2.0 Wait-a-Thon giveaways as well.

We will wait-a-thon this post too. We already asked you what your plans were for July 11th. Now we want to know: Are you Exchanged-up at work? If so, will your IT Overlords put your iPhone on the network? If you’re not, will you be going push with Mobile Me? Will you forego push altogether?

If you haven’t heard, we’re planning on giving away an iPhone 3G as soon as it’s available. You can find the full details of the contest here, but the short version is this: if you made more than 20 posts¹ in our iPhone Forums before July 22nd, we’ll enter you in the random drawing. Of course, Apple decided to throw us a curveball by requiring in-store activation — so we’ll either try to buy it the old fashioned way for ya or if push comes to shove we’ll get a way for you to get it on your own on our dime. Shame on your Apple.

The other thing that didn’t get released yesterday? The iPhone 2.0 software update. That means that the iPhone App Wait-a-Thon continues! Anytime you see a post tagged “Wait-a-Thon,” comment on it for that week’s drawing for a $100 iTunes gift card. Full deets on that contest are here. Plus we have new winners²:

• Darrin
• Bill

You may have noticed this is a Wait-a-Thon post. So it is and here’s what we need to know: The new activation requirement isn’t all that great? What else isn’t all that great? Curved back got ya down? Does the lack of Cut and Paste cut you to the bone? Let us know to enter for the $100 gift card and go register and start chatting in the forums for a chance at the iPhone 3G!

¹ Posts most not be spammy and worthless — at our discretion. This isn’t a democracy!
² For those of you still waiting on your cards, we’ll get them out today (we hope). Turns out iTunes limits the number of Gift Cards you can buy in a day month!. Who Knew? Time to open up another account, we suppose.

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.

iPhone firmware 2.0 was detailed in WWDC with some rumored features finally seeing the day of light. Features include:

• iWork and Office document viewing
• Save images from E-Mail directly to photo library
• Contact Search
• E-Mail/SMS Bulk Delete & Move
• Scientific Calculator when switched to Landscape Mode in Calculator
• Support for a TON of languages including Chinese, Japanese

Firmware 2.0 will be available for iPhone users come ‘Early July’ for free and for iPod Touch users at a reduced fee (compared to the last update) of $9.95.