As part of the commentary on Jamie Zawinski leaving the Palm Pre for the iPhone (linked in the previous post), Daring Fireball adds:

Apple had a similar idea to WebOS for the iPhone, where certain apps would run as Dashboard-style widgets, written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Apple abandoned the idea in the six months between the iPhone’s January 2007 announcement and when it went on sale at the end of June, concluding that performance for such apps was unacceptable and that they should go native Cocoa across the board. And Apple was only going to do it for small apps, like Weather, Stocks, and Calculator, not the flagship apps like Calendar and Mail.

Of course, web technologies have improved since 2007, especially JavaScript rendering. Usability and performance complaints aside, Palm embracing web developers in order to incentivize adoption of their platform was a smart strategy. Still, it’s interesting to see Apple’s reaction to it back then, and their decision to go 100% native. (Especially considering they’re now being criticized for not having widgets).

Did Apple make the right choice, do we still want widgets on the iPhone, or is HTML5 and SQLite in Safari making them redundant?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Was Going to Use Palm WebOS-style Widgets for iPhone in 2007, Abandoned Idea Due to Performance

In an article over at Brighthand, Antoine Wright raised an interesting and thought-provoking point, that Apple should have ignored developer’s wishes and maintain their web app platform. He believes that Safari, one of the most capable mobile browsers available, could have paved the way for an even better web experience by offering very polished web apps. He lists examples such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and banking sites as those who have created great web apps.

Apple, with its own browser, Safari, and a fresh mobile platform, had the opportunity to really change the game when it came to making web applications. These could have become a standard type of software platform model for mobile devices. The company chose instead to listen to developers.

Though we at TiPb would have loved to see Apple make some headway in Web Apps and do see a future in it, we just don’t think straying away from Native Apps would have been the answer. Native Apps provide a distinct advantage, they work without an internet connection and offer a more immersive experience. Native Apps aren’t trapped to the confines of Safari and theoretically, offer limitless potential. TiPb’s vote goes to Native Apps FTW.

What do you guys think? Web Apps all the way? Or did Apple make the smart decision in admitting an error and allowing 3rd party native apps?

Read

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Did Apple Make a Mistake With 3rd Party Apps?

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!)

How to Install:

Design/Interface

There is minimal flair to the program because let’s face it, Google has proven that Search needs no bells and whistles. The folks who developed WebSearch realize that the best way to let you search multiple domains is through a quick and easy interface. Want to check prices on Amazon? Click and type. Who’s that actor in this movie? Fire up the IMDB widget and type.

Usability

This native app fulfilled my thirst to know things on the spot. Whenever I needed quick answers for simple questions on-the-go, I needn’t make a mental note to search on my Mac when I get home but rather was able to just fire up WebSearch and everything I used to search on my Mac was now easily accessible on my iPhone.

Because let’s face it, as great as Safari is, sometimes it is TOO good for its own good. Especially when on EDGE, I like to make my web browsing as text based and photo-less as possible, when searching eBay or IMDB without WebSearch, the process can take foooreever.

Criticism

Also, I used WebSearch a lot more before I figured out the usage of bookmarklets. We’ve covered Bookmarklets more than a few times here at TiPb, but its worth mentioning again. Bookmarklets are more useful than WebSearch because it is essentially embedded in Safari. I have Bookmarklets for all my necessary searches such as eBay, Wikipedia, and IMDB. Having to not wait for WebSearch to launch Safari cuts down on the seconds that matter for quick web searches.

Final Thoughts

For quick web searches on your iPhone WebSearch is a great tool. Because Safari is much too good a browser to use on EDGE, the searching process becomes kind of slow. With WebSearch, you get your answers as quickly as possible.

Pros

• Simple, easy interface
• Loads of search engines
• Customizable to your needs

Cons

• Has to launch Safari which adds time
• Bookmarklets are better

Final rating: 4/5

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Review: WebSearch, Native App-a-Week

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?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

WWDC 08: iPhone Apps Roundup

Before we hit the sure-to-be-craziness of WWDC, TiPb has some definite house cleaning to do. Meaning lucky for you readers, more roundups! With Rene handling every roundup possible for the iPhone 3G and beyond I thought it’d be a great time to focus on the device we’ve all been unconsciously neglecting: the iPhone!

Every few weeks, I’ll present you with a quick list of web apps, native apps, and games that should tie up any loose ends that we might have missed. Click on each link to learn more about the program and be sure to mention your experience in the comments or forums. Before we start, with the iPhone 3G just mere days away, make sure you participate in TiPb’s Wait-A-Thon-Tastic and give yourself a chance to win a FREE iPhone 3G!

Read on for the Rest of the Software Roundup!

Web Apps

HyperOffice promises to make your iPhone a mobile business collaboration and productivity tool. With HyperOffice, you can share your data with associates and clients. Also, you can access your data in Outlook and even remain in sync. HyperOffice is an award winning software that makes things easier for iPhone business users.

iZoho

Zoho is a web office suite that includes tools for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, etc. With the launch of 2.0, Zoho has completely revamped their web app, iZoho, for the iPhone. The new design introduces tabbed interface for easy navigation between Zoho Apps. I gave iZoho a twirl and couldn’t manage to edit my documents as promised, viewing was a cinch though. However, the interface is slick and I remain hopeful that the customizability of Zoho can translate to the iPhone.

Mobispine

Mobispine is a free mobile news reader that offers easy categorization and over 250,000 global sources to comb through. It’s a great way to streamline your daily blog visits and quicken the pace for how you read websites. The best thing is it’s easily customizable!

Widgetop

This web app allows you to run single Dashboard widgets from the Widgetop catalog without loading Mobile Widgetop Desktop. Essentially, it puts the widgets on the homescreen of the iPhone which allows for easier access to the widgets.

Games

A FPS that uses the accelerometer and multi-touch for controls is planned to be released very soon. There is a video of gameplay footage and graphic-wise it is pretty amazing. This is probably a first glimpse of many, many FPS to come to the iPhone.

Tribal

For jailbroken iPhones this game has a basic premise but is executed beautifully. The graphics and animation are definitely exciting but the gameplay leaves a lot more to be desired. The whole idea behind the game is to “shoot the targets that pop up on the screen”. As simple as it is, it’s a great time killer when waiting for the next appointment.

temper4iPhone

An old favorite for the oldies. Temper4iPhone is an emulator of TurboGrafx-16 also known as PC Engine for the iPhone. Which basically means, you can play Bonk on the iPhone. Emulators are a sweet way to gain access to incredibly vast game libraries rich with history.

Native Apps

This Native App for jailbroken iPhones allows you to post new web logs to your LiveJournal account. With a simple interface, it serves as an extension of your LiveJournal page and could be extremely useful for anybody who wishes to blog-on-the-go. Since it’s in the beginning stages of development there is still much more work that can be done.

RetroPhone

Ever wanted a rotary dialer for your iPhone? It’s trendy these days to use our advanced technology to recreate ancient technology, isn’t it? It’ll be available through the AppStore. Can’t wait for a developer to create a telegram machine for the iPhone..

And that’s it for this roundup! Hope you guys listened to Dieter on how to prep for WWDC. And be sure to be a part of TiPb’s Live Color Commentary Blog!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Roundup: Apps Aplenty, Games Galore, & Loose Ends

Monday we asked you “What’s the iPhone 3G Chip and When Will it Ship?“. Tuesday it was “What is the iPhone 3G Going to Look Like?“. Wednesday brought “What Surprises Will There Be in the iPhone 2.0 Software & Services?” Today we want to know what 3rd party iPhone SDK Apps might be ready to download come launch day?

EA, Salesforce, AOL, Sega, and a noble few were right there at the beginning, and since then dozens if not hundreds of others have been rumored if not confirmed, including titans like Microsoft, Sun, and Adobe. But who will be ready come game (and business!) day? Bioshock? Documents2Go? SlingBox? Flash?! What do YOU think?

To give you some help, here’s a HUGE roundup of all the iPhone SDK 3rd party apps rumors. Epic-style. Because let’s face it, roughly 0.01 seconds after Steve Jobs pulled the first iPhone from his pocket back at Macworld 2007, and someone, somewhere, put aside their childlike sense of wonder long enough think: “Nice! What’s the next gen going to be like?”

Complementary, contradictory, obvious, confusing, all but confirmed or from left field via outer space, the rumors have flooded the internet ever since. It’s become almost impossible to keep track of them all.

Four days from today Steve Jobs takes Moscone Center stage for the sold-out WWDC keynote, and according to everyone and their newsfeed, announces the iPhone 3G. In eager anticipation, every day this week, TiPb wil be asking you to tell us what you think the next generation iPhone will be, from 3G to GPS, release dates to price points, colors to casings, 2.0 software to .Mac .Me services, and this weekend we’ll wrap it all up with a look into the WWDC/iPhone 3G Crystal Ball, and a roundup of the very best of YOUR predictions.

So come on, let’s get in on!

WWDC -4 and Counting: 3rd Party SDK Apps

The Mac is an open computing platform. The iPod is a closed environment. The iPhone? At launch it was as closed as they come. Sure, a few courageous souls were willing to “jailbreak” (hack) their devices and load on unofficial and unsupported 3rd party apps, but that was it. At WWDC 2007, however, Steve Jobs introduced 3rd party apps — Web Apps, showcasing Web 2.0-style AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), and enraging developers. The iPhone was built on OS X, the same core that ran the Mac. It was a computer, and a new class of mobile device. Where were the real, native apps?

Let’s start there, at the beginning and work our way forward:

October 17, 2007: After months of all-to-typical Apple silence, Steve Jobs penned one of his famous open letters, announcing that an SDK would be in developers hands by February. But how open would it be, what kind of apps would it allow, and most importantly, would it make the iPhone a truly first-class smartphone at long last?

March 6, 2008: Apple held their iPhone SDK Roadmap Event.

Scott Forstall, VP of the iPhone Platform, introduced the SDK, including the Cocoa Touch development environment, which would enhance not only the business focus, but put Apple boldly into the mobile gaming space. Demos included Apple’s own Touch Fighter, as well as Salesforce, Epocrates, AOL Instant Messenger, Spore, and Super Monkey Ball.

With a Mac-honed development environment behind it, Xcode, debugging tools, and a learning curve that saw demos produced in a startling 2 weeks, it suggested that even if Apple failed to deliver everything it needed to in 2.0, there was a chance 3rd parties could step in to fill the gap.

The only new icon to make its way onto the home screen, Steve Jobs showed off the App Store, hoping to do for application marketing and sales what the iTunes Store had done for media: put it in front of millions of impulse buyers.

And to prove how serious they were, they pledged to provide free apps for free, and arranged to have $100,000,000 in VC funding thrown at developers to help drive interest in the platform.

March 8, 2008: John Carmack, long outspoken on Apple, gaming, and the iPhone, posted on Slashdot about pulling the id Software Quake/Doom trigger on the iPhone SDK, and his interest in the App Store.

There’d be unofficial Quake ports for jailbroken iPhones, but getting the real deal…?

Craig Hockenberry of Iconfactory and Twitterific fame, had developed for the jailbroken iPhone, and was quickly transitioning to the SDK. His early feelings? How would demos, betas, and paid upgrades work? And please charge developers more to keep them ultra-serious, and consumers less to set off a high-volume perfect app storm.

March 10, 2008: Sun Microsystems was one of the megacorps to try and horn its flagship — in this case Java — onto the iPhone via the SDK. Java VP, Eric Klein announced:

We’re going to make sure that the JVM offers the Java applications as much access to the native functionality of the iPhone as possible

A rival development environment famed for “craplets” littering feature phones, almost no one was excited by the idea.

DataViz, makers of the formidable mobile office suite, Documents To Go, weren’t committing to anything yet:

We are currently investigating the opportunity to develop Documents To Go, RoadSync, Passwords Plus and any of our other software titles for the iPhone and would appreciate your feedback.

At the same time, Ars Technica brought word that the SDK contained a beta of LLVM (Lower Level Virtual Machine) technology as part of the Xcode 3.1 beta. While on the extreme geek side of news, this held implications well into the future of the platform.

March 12, 2008: Makers of Vox, TypePad, and Movable Type, Six Apart revealed that they would be working on an SDK-compliant native TypePad app.

iambic software, veteran Palm and Windows Mobile developers of Agendus, SplashID, and other best-sellers, also weighed in:

[T]o clear up any doubt — yes, we started working on making titles available on the iPhone.

Rogue Amoeba, developers of Audio Hijack and Airfoil, however, expressed concerns about the SDK’s security requirement for “code signing” and the ambiguity around which apps, exactly, would be “disallowed”. Third party developers, they argued had before and would again fix things no first party could ever cover all on their own.

Of course, this didn’t stop Apple from announcing a web-server shattering 100,000,000 iPhone SDK Event views via streaming video, and an even more impressive 100,000 SDK downloads. They also listed more developers on board: Intuit (makers of Quicken), Namco (makers of Pac Man and other games), NetSuite (makers of SuitePhone), Rocket Mobile, Six Apart, PopCap (makers of Bejewled and other games), and THQ (maker of countless games).

Lastly, iFund venture capitalists joked that while they had bet on the amount of business plans they’d receive during the first 30-days following the SDK release, the number they’d bet on was blown past within 36 hours (!).

March 15, 2008: After a brief period of digestion, would-be iPhone developers realized the SDK license did not allow for multi-tasking, rendering apps like Instant Messenger functionally impossible. The outcry was long and loud.

March 19, 2008: Following the fiasco of false Flash rumors, Adobe’s denials, concerns of security and privacy, and Steve Jobs’ no-Flash-fits, Adobe’s CEO, Shantanu Narayen said we may still see Flash after all:

We believe Flash is synonymous with the Internet experience, and we are committed to bringing Flash to the iPhone. We have evaluated (the software developer tools) and we think we can develop an iPhone Flash player ourselves.

March 20, 2008: As has become increasingly common in the tech industry, (see: Gates, re: Windows 7) a company had to clarify their CEO’s “visionary” statements. Adobe wasted no time re-spinning Flash for the iPhone from a “yes” to a “huh? who? us?”:

[T]o bring the full capabilities of Flash to the iPhone web-browsing experience we do need to work with Apple beyond and above what is available through the SDK and the current license around it. We think Flash availability on the iPhone benefits Apple and Adobe’s millions of joint customers, so we want to work with Apple to bring these capabilities to the device.

News also surfaced that Apple’s iPhone SDK would not allow any access to the iPod application. No music. No media. This joined multi-tasking and the dock as things left unsurfaced in SDK API’s. (Though Apple maintained a separate Dock licensing program).

March 22, 2008: The debate over multi-tasking continued with Hockenberry, iChat developer Jens Alfke, and DaringFireball’s John Gruber all giving opinions on radio power requirements, notification overloads and collisions, and RAM limitations.

March 25, 2008: ActiveSync licensor and tech monopoly Microsoft jumped on the SDK bandwagon, Mac BU (developers of Office 2008 for Mac)-style when Tom Gibbons, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Specialized Devices and Applications Group told Fortune Magazine:

It’s really important for us to understand what we can bring to the iPhone. To the extent that Mac Office customers have functionality that they need in that environment, we’re actually in the process of trying to understand that now.

And the Adobe Flash soap-opera continued with interweb blaster Robert Scoble claiming that it was Adobe’s demands that Apple use their PDF renderer that was causing Apple to retaliate by withholding Flash support, with the media (and consumers) being manipulated by both sides against each other.

March 26, 2008: Fortune Magazine let it be known that Microsoft was also interested in bringing their TellMe voice recognition software to the iPhone SDK. General Manager Mike McCue said:

We’re absolutely going to get a version out there as soon as we can, get TellMe out there on the iPhone.

March 27, 2008: iPhone SDK Beta 2 is released by Apple, changing the release numbers from 1.2.0 to an official 2.0.

April 9, 2008: After besetting developers with mock-worthy “pink screens of death” when Beta 2 timed out, Apple rev’d the iPhone SDK to Beta 3.

April 16, 2008: Super Monkey Ball developer Ethan Einhorn gave to GameCyte a look at the app Sega famously showed off at the SDK Event. Confidence in the iPhone as a gaming platform? Soaring.

April 21, 2008: Netnewswire developer Brent Simmons brought attention to the stability problems that Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight caused by way of his error/crash logs:

I’ve said it before — one of my favorite things about the iPhone is no Flash. I will now add and no SilverlightPlugin.

April 24, 2008: iPhone 2.0 SDK Beta 4 hit, with Xcode IDE, iPhone simulator with Open GL ES support, Interface Builder, Instruments, frameworks and samples, compilers, and Shark analysis tool.

April 25, 2008: Digital Arts reported that Sun Microsystems was still trying to bring their Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to the iPhone SDK. And to hedge their bets, they were also working with alcheMo developer Innaworks, whose software could potentially let Java programs compile as native iPhone apps (!).

April 26, 2008: Simon Brocklehurst complained that the iPhone SDK seemed rushed, that Apple chose their own Objective C/Cocoa environment for iPhone development, and that programmers wouldn’t want to go near it. 3 strikes and he was out…

April 30, 2008: Apple Insider revealed a very interesting RIM job posting, seemingly targeting the iPhone SDK:

As part of a newly-created team, you’ll influence the development and design of BlackBerry software. This is a very confidential brand new team and a senior position within RIM so I can’t provide too many details. I guess you can figure out what it might be about though.

Blackberry Connect for the iPhone? They’ve done it for other platforms.

May 1, 2008: Apple Insider took a look at the hardware and SDK software support behind the iPhone, and determined it could give hardcore mobile gaming a run for its money.

May 2, 2008: Giving Adobe a run for its drama money, Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz sat down with Engadget Mobile to talk about his iPhone, his desire to get Java on it, and the problems faced:

Well I think the only difficulty will be what Apple presents through its EULA. But I think that I think EULA is a bit of an oxymoron to me. They’re end users, they have the freedom to choose what they’d like to do, so I think we are going to leave it up to users to decide how they want to use the technology

May 7, 2008: iPhone 2.0 Beta 5 landed with not much new, it seemed, but dev tools and tweaks.

May 9, 2008: Polarbit showed off an early version of their Raging Thunder car racing game running on the iPhone. General interweb reaction? Wow!

May 17, 2008: iPhone Dev Camp 2 was announced for August 1-3. The second event, this time focusing on SDK-enabled native apps, is once again set to be hosted by… Adobe!

May 28, 2008: Less than three months in, and Apple released iPhone 2.0 Beta 6, which now required both OS X 10.5.3, and a check for Application IDs. This could well be the final beta going in to WWDC. Any last minute surprises?

May 29, 2008: The $100,000,000 VC iFund announced its first “winners”: Pelago’s Wrll, a core-location come social networking app for finding places and getting recommendations from friends, and iControl’s Home Security, a home automation and security app.

They are also reportedly considering 10 additional startups out of 1700 applicants.

May 30, 2008: Pocket Gamer bumped into CEO Sean Malatesta who revealed that IG Fun wanted to port XBox 360 favorite BioShock to the iPhone.

June 2, 2008: Palm emulation software maker StyleTap announced they would be providing a way for the thousands of existing Palm OS apps to run via the iPhone SDK.

Your Turn!

So there you go, now it’s your turn. Tell us what 3rd party iPhone SDK apps YOU think will be ready to go at launch. Microsoft Office? Unreal Tournament? AOL IM? Java emulation?!

And after you’re done telling us, don’t forget to head over to our iPhone Blog’s super Wait-a-Thon spectacular where you could win an iPhone 3G of your very own, whatever it looks like, on the very day it’s released!

Go back and read Part 1: What’s the iPhone’s 3G Chip and When Will it Ship?
Go back and read Part 2: What’s the iPhone 3G Going to Look Like?
Go back and read Part 3: What Surprises Will Be in iPhone 2.0 Software & Services?
Continue reading Part 5: What Will the iPhone 3G’s Hardware Features Be?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

What 3rd Party iPhone SDK Apps Will Be Available Launch Day?! Countdown to WWDC Rumor Roundup

Can’t wait any longer for Native Apps? Me neither. (Late) June seems too far away? I’m with you. So why wait, when you can jailbreak! Over the next couple weeks before 2.0 is released, I’ll give you guys a glimpse into the jailbroken world of native apps every week. Plus: let’s face it, Jailbreaking isn’t going anywhere. The SDK is awesome, but some people won’t settle for anything less than full-on access to all the hidden bits of the iPhone.

In this week’s edition, we’ll take a look at a nifty little program called IntelliScreen. The idea behind this native app is smart, it creates a ‘Today’ screen for your iPhone’s unlock screen. Much like certain layout options in Windows Mobile and Blackberry, Intelliscreen offers a quick look at your calendar, mail, SMS, news, and weather. How well does this native app perform? Does it offer a great feature for users?

Read on for the rest of the review!

How to Install:

• Add Source: Intelliborn.com/repo
• Open Category: Intelliborn
• Install: IntelliScreen
• This particular program requires a reboot of your iPhone in order to properly function 

Design

However, the overall design of the native app leaves a lot more to be desired. The bubbles are decent at best, but because the screen doesn’t entirely replace the wallpaper, it looks very cluttered. Also, it would help if the bubbles were different from one another or if they replace the bubbles altogether. In this current version, the layout lacks the stylistic cues that make apps on the iPhone go ‘boom’.

Usability

There are also simple touches that I enjoy, like if you see something interesting in any of the bubbles, all you have to do is slide your finger to bring up a ‘Launch Mail/Safari/Calendar’ button. This feature is great to immediately access your Mail or quickly read up on whatever news you found interesting. Also, the program notifies you of updates within the program, which is quite different from other jailbreaking apps which only notify you through Installer.app.

A great feature to implement into Intelliscreen would be a to-do list. I could imagine IntelliScreen using a jailbroken app for its to-do list and to display in one of the bubbles.

I can’t fully recommend this program because it is still in the beta stages and still quite buggy. Though a simple reset of the iPhone did the trick, many users should be aware of the potential screen freezes. Most of the bugs occurred when I was trying to capture a screenshot of the program but there were still a few issues in daily use. Also, my battery seemed to drain a tick bit faster than it usually does, so proceed with caution.

Final Thoughts

This native app is a feature that is included with almost every other smartphone. This current beta iteration can be forgiven for its flaws in stabilitiy and boring design, but when it officially releases I can fully see this being one of the most popular jailbreak apps. When all the kinks get worked out, this may be the ‘killer app’ that iPhone users have been waiting for.

PROS

• Integrated with iPhone’s Apps
• Customizable to your Preference
• Great Idea
• Simple, Straightforward Settings

• Still Too Buggy (in beta)
• Doesn’t Play Well With Some Jailbroken Apps
• Very Average, Boring Design

Overall Rating: 3.75/5*

*Once the bugs are fixed, IntelliScreen has the potential to become THE app that convinces people to jailbreak

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Review: IntelliScreen, Native App-a-Week

The great thing about jailbreaking (and no, it’s not this) is that a lot of smart people take a look at the capabilities of the iPhone and wonder how come nobody made a (insert program here) yet? And then go and develop said program.

Case in point: A p2p client for the iPhone

iSlsk, developed by Eric Castro, is Soulseek in native app form for the iPhone. It uses the Soulseek network to let iPhone (+iPod touch) users share songs with one another. Once the songs are downloaded, iSlsk imports them into your iTunes library for seamless playback. There is a lot of promise in such a program, imagine being able to download whatever you want, whenever you want.

There are still a lot of kinks in the programming, in fact, I couldn’t even manage to start a download due to some bug. But reports are floating that Wi-Fi averaged 20 Kbps while the EDGE network ran about half that. Soulseek doesn’t have the install base of a Limewire and is more known for being a hot bed for indie artists but this is a great first effort into implementing a p2p client for the iPhone. Expect more updates soon.

ReadVia

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

First Look: iSlsk, p2p client for iPhone

A lot of people look at the iPhone, in its current iteration, and complain that while it looks good, it lacks customization and is in dire need of native applications. And there’s a lot of truth to that, Apple has restricted much of the features on the iPhone and has limited what you can and cannot do. As much as it falls in line with keeping the user interface clear and intuitive, making users become passive to development prevents Apple from fully realizing the iPhone’s potential.

You want to run 3^rd party apps? Safari and Web Apps is the only ‘official’ way. Granted that Web Apps have come a long way, it doesn’t give justice to the true power of the iPhone as much as it shows off the versatility of Safari.

Currently, the only answer to this dilemma is jailbreaking. After having mulled the jailbreaking option a few times before, I made the switch only a couple months ago. And my, if you want to get a true glimpse of what the iPhone can do, Jailbreaking is currently the only way to go. In this article, I’ll show you why you should strongly consider jailbreaking and what it offers for iPhone users.

Read On For The Reasons to Jailbreak!

Previous jailbreaking options left the users with complicated options, you could either rig your iPhone in terminal or jump through a bunch of hoops to reach the desired jailbreak. Though ‘bricking’ your iPhone used to be an issue, current jailbreaking programs almost eliminate that pitfall completely.

With jailbreaking programs like iLiberty+ and ZiPhone*, the process is essentially invisible. You connect the iPhone to your Computer (Mac+PC) and then run the program ZiPhone and it does all the tasks it needs to do behind the scenes. Well a lot of script is run on the iPhone’s screen but other than that, it’s as hands off as syncing your iPhone to iTunes. After a few clicks, you are ready to roll worry-free and don’t have to jailbreak again.

After running iLiberty+ or ZiPhone, the Insaller.app is brought to your Home Screen and that is where the beauty of jailbreaking lies. As mentioned before, the Installer.app is as polished a program as any on the iPhone and you are a mere few clicks away from natively running any third party app imaginable.

If you do happen to run into issues, a quick restore should do the trick. And when 2.0 is released, the jailbreakers will already be prepared. You can access the updates and sync your iPhone with no hitches.

The community nature of Installer.app allows an advantage that other phone ‘stores’ simply cannot offer. Any and every app is essentially available through the outlet of Installer.app and the apps are constantly being updated and getting better (not to even mention the improvements of Installer.app itself). Unlike 3^rd party apps for other phones where there are a gluttony of choices on how to install, everything in Installer.app is seamless and typically, error-free. Search for a program in Installer.app’s integrated search and immediately install the program. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

With jailbreaking, anything in your wildest dreams is theoretically possible. Do you want to make your iPhone into a graphing calculator? There’s iPlot. You want to have a ‘today’ screen that notifies you of appointments, emails and messages akin to something from WinMob and Blackberry? Well, there’s an app for that too. Even enhancing existing features on the iPhone such as the camera is possible. Snapture and Camera Pro add features such as digital zoom and a camera timer, among others.

Sure, apps like Pocket Guitar and Drummer don’t do much other than give you an excuse to start an iBand. In fact even one of my favorite apps, Sketches, is theoretically a gimmick program that lets you draw chicken scratch on photos. But claiming that it doesn’t increase the fun-factor of the iPhone by about a billion is short sighted.

There are games that the Web Apps try to emulate, but simply cannot be matched without jailbreaking. iPhysics is a great platform that serves as a blackboard for developers, there is an endless supply of level packs to ensure you’ll never get bored. You get to take advantage of multi-touch and the accelerometer to beat the game. Also, emulators for the NES and GBA are also available, sure you won’t break any records, but quickly firing up Super Mario while you wait for an appointment is a great way to pass the time.

What’s better is that almost all the programs I’ve used are free! Installer.app is a community that wishes to unleash the capabilities of the iPhone without charging you a dime. So the arguments against jailbreaking are dwindling—it increases the power, adds fun-factor, and is free!

One of the best aspects of jailbreaking the iPhone is that it gives you a crystal ball to see what apps could possibly be available in the upcoming App Store. Many of the developers who develop jailbroken programs are also planning to release programs in 2.0. So becoming familiar with programs in the jailbroken iPhone gives you the framework for learning what to expect in 2.0.

Jailbreaking also gives you a great look at what the iPhone can do. It makes your iPhone even more than the versatile device it already is, it offers a platform where developers can truly go wild over. Like I mentioned before, the world is truly your oyster—what you want, you can probably always get.

To fully take advantage and enhance the iPhone’s features, jailbreaking is a no brainer. Personally, I can no longer imagine using a non-jailbroken iPhone. Even when 2.0 and the App Store is released to the public, I’ll still be excited to see what the community of jailbreakers can offer me. Sure, Apple-approved apps are going to be fun to use but for everything Apple doesn’t want you to do, jailbreaking offers you the key.

The best analogy I can offer is that jailbreaking an iPhone is like completing a full course meal. The iPhone is a great dish in itself, but jailbreaking adds appetizers, desserts, sides, and a fine brew to make the dinner even more delicious. The iPhone is a great little device without jailbreaking, and I won’t deter you from keeping it the way Apple envisioned. But if you demand more from your devices, jailbreaking is the best option that offers much too many benefits without any obvious harm.

Hopefully you’ll consider the jailbreak option because here at TiPb we’ll constantly give you updates on the jailbreaking scene and continue to offer you guys weekly jailbreak app reviews even after the 2.0 update. Stay tuned to jailbreaking because when the update is finally released, it’ll demand the jailbreaking community to step it up another notch. We’re excited to see what’s in store.

*After initially recommending ZiPhone for our iPhone jailbreaks we are now supporting the use of iLiberty+. One of our astute readers, Bad Ash, has shown that while ZiPhone is the easiest way, iLiberty+ is the safer route to jailbreak and nearly foolproof. It uses a more sophisticated jailbreaking process that while takes a bit longer, is most certainly worth it in the end.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

The Case for Jailbreaking – Wait-a-Thon

Can’t wait any longer for Native Apps? Me neither. (Late) June seems too far away? I’m with you. So why wait, when you can jailbreak! Over the next couple months before 2.0 is released, I’ll give you guys a glimpse into the jailbroken world of native apps every week. Plus: let’s face it, Jailbreaking isn’t going anywhere. The SDK is awesome, but some people won’t settle for anything less than full-on access to all the hidden bits of the iPhone.

Designed by the folks over at Nullriver, Sketches puts a modern spin on a timeless classic. The premise of the app is simple: it turns your iPhone into a 21^st century etch-a-sketch complete with multiple colors, varying lines, shapes, and you got it, a little shake of the iPhone to erase. How does it perform? Is it more than just a gimmick program?

Read on for the rest of the review! (and remember you’ll need a Jailbroken iPhone to take advantage of this native app)

• Sketches is a ‘Featured’ program so it’ll be listed upon launching Installer.app. Just look for the icon that most looks like an Etch-a-Sketch!

The overall design of Sketches is great. It looks very much like anything Apple would create themselves. The setup menu offers different stationery to use as your canvas and basic on/off switches. In the main screen there are buttons for: Camera, Camera Roll, Setup on the top row and Undo, Color Palette, Shapes, Export, and Trash on the bottom row.

The look of the program is minimalist clean and straightforward and the app has come a long way into looking seamless with the iPhone (previous iterations had red borders, ugh). The color choices are thorough as well, giving you an option of up to 24 different colors and a spectrum of brush sizes.

In all, the clean interface allows for all the magic to happen on whichever template you choose. The design is at your fingertips.

Sketches is a program where you are thankful that Apple chose not to include a hard keyboard with the iPhone because the fun is in your fingers. Even the greatest artists artwork might turn into child-like fingerpainting but hey who would paint the Mona Lisa on an iPhone?

To draw squiggly lines simply begin using your fingertips. Multi-touching creates two points where shapes and straight lines form. The canvas is quick and responsive and I have yet to find a glitch. I do have one complaint, it’s hard to draw tiny marks or dot i’s because lightly tapping the screen removes the menu bars instead of creating what you want. I think it would be better suited if only the top portion of the screen brought back the menus rather than the entire canvas.

The program is well integrated with the iPhone, you can use the camera to take a picture and immediately doodle on it or you can bring up the camera roll to find a picture to draw a mustache on. Exporting your sketches is also seamless, I found myself e-mailing some of my sketches to friends and starting a ‘Sketch Battle’. Folks who love Twitter also have the option of sending it to their Twitter accounts.

Though the program is simple, it is a joy to use. Every feature seems so polished and intuitive that you are left wondering how on Earth could Apple ship the iPhone without a program like Sketches? Sketches shows the iPhone in all its multi-touch glory. Sure, the program is theoretically limited in the sense that is a ‘kiddish’ app, but hey, we were all better when we were kids.

PROS

• Extremely Fun To Use
• Well Integrated With the iPhone’s Features
• Exporting is a Cinch
• Perfect Interface
• Great Icon

CONS

• Hard to Dot i’s 

FINAL RATING: 4.95/5

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Review: Sketches, Native App-a-Week