Have you checked out our forums lately? The community is growing and the commentary is getting better and better each day. Unconvinced? I’ll bring out a thread, a post, a topic, or a comment directly from the forums and post it on TiPb’s front page every week to prove it to you. We here at TiPb love the interplay, quid pro quo, repartee with our readers, so step up your creativity and tighten up your diction, you could be next!
This week we have a tip from forum member, h22kai, on how to swap out your broken iPhone 3G for a brand, spanking new one at the Apple Store. We at TiPb have heard of more hardware issues dealing with the iPhone 3G than any other Apple product in recent memory, so if you own an iPhone 3G and are running into build quality issues, feel free to take a look at h22kai’s list!
It includes simple advice like restoring your iPhone prior to your Genius Bar appointment and more specific suggestions like removing any discount from AT&T.
Have you checked out our forums lately? The community is growing and the commentary is getting better and better each day. Unconvinced? I’ll bring out a thread, a post, a topic, or a comment directly from the forums and post it on TiPb’s front page every week to prove it to you. We here at TiPb love the interplay, quid pro quo, repartee with our readers, so step up your creativity and tighten up your diction, you could be next!
We’re going to start with Trevor’s post detailing reasons why the iPhone replaced his Crackberry. Trevor didn’t just blast his Crackberry into outerspace or dump it in the Hudson River, he provided reasons why his iPhone isn’t perfect as well. More than a few of his reasons supporting the iPhone have to deal with its role in the Mac ecosystem and I’d have to agree, the ‘it just works’ feeling is how technology should be.
However, Trevor, being a former Crackberry user, listed durability as a concern. No worries there Trevor! That glass screen is as resilient as it is pretty!
Sure, we’re hard on the BlackBerry here at TiPb, what with its aging operating system (it still has legs, sure, but one suspects they’re coming up on the limits of the OS’s capabilities), its tic-tac keyboard (although, honestly, I still prefer physical keyboard myself), and its sad little browser. One thing we haven’t touched on yet, though, is how RIM (like every other Smartphone company out there) has utterly missed the boat when it comes to 3rd party application developers. You probably know where this is going, but Apple’s App Store may just be the biggest deal of all the big deals that have come out in the past two weeks. Lest you think we’re totally biased, let us point you to this excellent essay by a (former?) BlackBerry developer: “Galileo and Apples.”
What Apple has done is for the first time ever successfully given a finger to carriers and torn down walls. And the net result? Users are loving it. And so are developers. Who would’ve thought…Oh yeah, that’s right we all did! It was patently obvious to every single mobile developer that if everybody just got out of our way and let us do our thing we’d be able to drive activations (device handset sales), device stickiness, and all around there would be rejoicing and everyone would profit. But nobody would listen.
They’re listening now though.
The App Store isn’t doing to grab developers just because the iPhone is going to become the #1 smartphone on the face of the planet and destroy all others in enterprise and the consumer space alike — because let’s face it, it won’t. No, what the App Store does it offer developers gobs of money simply because it’s the first way to purchase and download smartphone apps that doesn’t stink. As Neil Sainsbury writes, most folks with even a passing familiarity with the smartphone world have long thought that the faustian pact between carriers and smartphone makers has stifled innovation, progress, and profit. Apple’s App Store has proven us right.
Phone completely blocks free software. iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology. iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge. iPhone won’t play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora. iPhone is not the only option.
Sigh. Why is it those who demand freedom the most are usually the same ones who respect freedom of choice the least?
They go on to call Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, a snake-oil salesman who uses good design to pied-piper the dull mundane consumers into buying his shiny little toy, thus abandoning themselves drone-like to his evil, conspiratorial prison. Patronizing? Hypocritical? Black and white just one option too many for the FSF?
So I ventured out to an Apple Store yesterday hoping that since the iPhone 3G was a couple days old that I could easily grab one. No, not for me. For the girlfriend and my sister. I could have gone to the AT&T store only a few blocks away but whenever Apple releases a new product I prefer the full Apple experience at an Apple Store (Brea, CA); it’s just more complete that way. Expecting to get some hands on time with the iPhone 3G and pick up the Macbook Air again, I was pretty excited to get to the store.
As I cheerily walked through the mall eagerly anticipating the iPhone 3G, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was at least a 100-person line that stretched multiple storefronts! The Apple Store Employee ‘in-charge’ estimated the line to be a 5-hour wait! This was a Monday afternoon, didn’t people have work to do?
But it gets better (read: worse).
Read on for the rest of this very weird Apple Store Experience!
This is it. We’re in the home stretch. Golden goal, all or nothing, and Steve Jobs kicking it high and to the side. In 2 days we find out if Apple gets the world cup, the two-peat for smartphone (even gadget) championship, or if they send it flying over the post with their mostly evolutionary, not so much revolutionary, next generation handset.
Cheesy over-branding aside, you gotta be kidding me. That iPhone was clearly drugged first, then tied up. Try that with a fresh, free iPhone, and it would’ve dodged those we-know-what-they’re-overcompensating-for rifle bullets with Matrix-like moves that would have had Neo saying “Whoa!” Then it would be BOOM! Silver-bezel roshambo kick, faux-”hunter” goes down, and POW! multi-touch ground-and-pound! (The iPhone don’t need no stinkin’ guns!)
Remember, kids: Guns can’t kill iPhones. But vidtards with guns can kill our childlike sense of wonder.
(No iPhones — or iPhone Blog Editors — were harmed in the typing of the post)
This is it. We’re in the home stretch. Games in overtime, the shot clock is almost done, and Steve Jobs is soaring from mid-court looking for the slam dunk. In 3 days we find out if Apple brings down the net, the two-peat for smartphone (even gadget) championship, or if they bounce it off the rim (pun sorta intended) with their mostly evolutionary, not so much revolutionary, next generation handset.
Saturday we mentioned one big change: the fast 3G data chip. Sunday it was GPS. Monday we tackled the 2.0 Firmware update. Today we’re looking at the rebirth of .Mac: MobileMe.
Now word comes that, to accommodate New Zealand, which due to their time zone gets the iPhone 3G way before anyone else, Apple has announced that it’s really not 3 days to MobileMe — just one! That’s right, MobileMe goes live on Wednesday, July 9 between 6pm and 12am PST. Mark your calendars, then get ready to “push” sync them!
This is it. We’re in the home stretch. 5th round, time’s almost up, and Steve Jobs is slapping on the arm bar. In 4 days we find out if Apple scores the submission, the two-peat for smartphone (even gadget) undisputed heavyweight title, or if they gas out with their mostly evolutionary, not so much revolutionary, next generation handset.
Saturday we mentioned one big change: the fast 3G data chip. Yesterday it was GPS. Today we’re tackling the 2.0 Firmware update.
What is this and why should you want it? Read on after the break!
This is it. We’re in the home stretch. Third period power play, clock’s all but run out, and Steve Jobs is cranking back for the slap shot. In 5 days we find out if Apple scores the go-ahead goal, the two-peat for smartphone (even gadget) of the year, or if they bounce it off the goal post with their mostly evolutionary, not so much revolutionary, next generation handset.
Yesterday we mentioned one big change: the fast 3G data chip. The other big change? GPS. (Global Positioning System).
What is this and why should it matter to you? Read on after the break!
