As you all know by now, we’re still watching for iOS4 updates that crop up in the app store, and as always, if you guys see interesting ones, feel free to let us know. Here’s the ones we found in the last week or so, and if you haven’t checked for updates, go check that update tab and let us know if you caught something we didn’t!
Osfoora
Osfoora has taken the place as my favorite Twitter client (for now anyways). They received an iOS4 update we covered a few weeks back, but this one is even better. It adds full retina display support for the iPhone 4 and boy is it pretty. The whole app got somewhat of a facelift as well. The text really pops and the main menus have been revamped. So if you haven’t updated, go for it, or if you are looking for a Twitter client, Osfoora is definitely one of the best around.
Agendus is basically an all-in-one app for all the important information on your phone. It basically intertwines your contacts, calendars, and apps into one native app. If you’ve always wanted something that would do this, Agendus is more than decent. The new version adds iOS4 support as well as a new high res icon.
Reeder is one of my favorite RSS clients. If you don’t have one and want a full featured one with Google Reader integration, there’s a good chance Reeder will do what you need it to, and then some. This update adds support for the iPhone 4 retina display. The icon just looks so fancy on my homescreen now, as well as all my articles being incredibly sharp. Good job on this one guys, it’s an awesome update.
AT&T just pushed through an update to their MyWireless app that adds retina support for the iPhone 4. This app basically allows you to view usage, manage features, and even pay your bill via the app. I’ve been using it to pay my bill for quite a while now. Pretty convenient. If you’re an AT&T customer, go ahead and pick it up, it’s free.
Pano is an awesome app to stitch together pics on the go. It’ll save them directly in your camera roll. The interface is dead easy to use and once you snap a pic it’ll give you guides to line up your next shot with the previous one. This update fixed several bugs and crashes. Mine was continuously crashing under iOS4 but it doesn’t anymore. If you guys noticed anything different than iOS4 compatibility in this one, let us know!
TiPb iPhone Forum user shaolinfinest let us know last night, and many others have since confirmed, that Best Buy was starting to give away InvisibleShielf protective side films for iPhone 4:
I’m not sure if this has been discussed but Best Buy is starting to receive Zagg kits called “iPhone 4fix” or something like that. Basically Zagg sent us a bunch of invisishield sides to put on customers iPhone 4’s and they are free. The only disclaimer on the kit is that it says shield and install is free but install is up to the associate if they want to put it on or not. Before going in, call your local Best Buy if you are like me and don’t want to put a case on it. I installed the sides today and it was easy to put on and feels ok so far.
Whether or not InvisibleShield provides any protection from signal loss if you’re prone to such things in your area is debatable, but it’s interesting to see how other retailers are competing with Apple’s free bumper program.
We’ve also started to hear that folks are receiving their free Apple bumpers, in some cases a month or more ahead of the previously suggested delivery date. Those who asked for 3rd party cases instead haven’t had any such luck so far.
Of course, Apple’s free bumpers are pretty much restricted to black, and the TiPb iPhone 4 store has more cases in more colors than you can shake a gyro at, so check out Leanna going red, or pick out a color all your own.
See Apple and Best Buy, you don’t get to have all the fun!
[Okay, that was snarky enough to earn a "sponsored" tag]
MediaMemo is saying Time Inc. is having trouble setting up their own subscription service for a Sports Illustrated iPad magazine app:
Last month, the publisher was set to launch a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad app, where consumers would download the magazines via Apple’s iTunes, but would pay Time Inc. directly. But Apple rejected the app at the last minute, forcing the Time Warner (TWX) unit to sell single copies, using iTunes as a middleman, multiple sources tell me.
First, at the iPhone 3.0 event in 2009, Apple showed off App Store subscriptions for magazines alongside in-app purchase, but while in-app purchases are now fairly common, I’m hard pressed to find a showcase example for App Store subscriptions. What happened to them? Are publishers not eager to embrace them or has Apple not provided the mechanism?
Second, it looks like Time is trying to go around the App Store for subscriptions, kind of like what Amazon and Audible do for users who buy books via Mobile Safari on the web but can then download their library in-app. Is Time trying to do something similar to that but not getting their app approved?
So what happened? The Time Inc. insiders I talked to don’t have a clear answer, presumably because they can’t get one from Apple itself. One theory: Apple is concerned about the publisher’s plans for the consumer data it would collect with each subscription. A darker one: Steve Jobs loves the idea of digital magazines and wants to control the market for himself.
“Darker” certainly scores the melodramatic points, but Apple had no problem rolling out iBooks while still allowing the aforementioned Amazon Kindle app and a host of other competitors. They’ve let streaming music and video apps in to vie for music money against iTunes.
Due to the opaque nature of the App Store approval process, and Apple’s secrecy surrounding unannounced features and technology, there’s never an easy way to tell if a delay is political, business related, or because Steve Jobs will be announcing some new magazine-focused API for subscriptions in September.
These are huge companies, there’s a lot of money on the table, and a critical amount of personal user data behind it. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of foot stomping and fist shaking, and press leaks to spin the story. I’m sure we’ll hear cries that evil Apple is denying big publishers their control, and big publishers are gouging users for digital copies. Fine. At the end of the day I want what I think most end users want — an easy, secure, privacy-protecting way to get my magazines (and comics!) on my iPhone and iPad at a fair price. Apple wins. Publishers win. We win.
The Belkin Max Sleeve for iPad not only does a great job of protecting your iPad, but it gives you a little extra room to stick some of your accessories in as well. The case is made of a fabric material that is pleated on the front. This is what allows you to have a zipper compartment in the front to stick your other gadgets in.
The inside of the case is a foamy white mesh material. It’s extremely soft so you don’t have to worry about it scratching your iPad. It’s also a loose fit, which means you won’t damage your iPad while taking it out and putting it back in the case. There’s always a down side to a case not fitting snugly though, and that’s if you forget to zip it and pick up the case by the wrong end, it’s very likely your iPad could go crashing to the floor. We didn’t have this happen with this case, but I could see that being a problem as the material on the inside doesn’t offer any grip.
The way we cast that fear aside was to put a silicon case on the iPad and then put it in the Belkin Max Sleeve. The silicon provides the grip and solves the issue. I know a lot of people wouldn’t want to buy 2 cases so it isn’t an ideal situation. My advice? It’s a great case worth the money, just be careful how you pick it up, or make sure you always zip it up.
Other than the sliding out of the case issue, this is a great case and well worth the money. It offers superior protection in an unobtrusive form factor. Even though it’s small, it still lets you stow away other objects, which is nice. If there’s any girls out there like me that hate carrying around a laptop/iPad bag and a purse, this is awesome. Simply throw your phone, credit cards, etc in the front pouch and you’re good to go. You can purchase the Belkin Max Sleeve for iPad from the TiPb Accessory Store.
Pros
Allows for extra storage room in the front pocket
Material on the outside is easy to grip on to
Material on inside won’t scratch your iPad
Cons
Inside material is a little slick so forgetting to zip up could cause an iPad to fall out
Zipper on front pocket is sometimes a bit hard to pull
An iPhone 4 user’s experience with the Android 2.1 powered Samsung Captivate on AT&T
I’ll preface this by saying before this review, I’ve hardly laid hands on an Android device, let alone considered throwing my iPhone aside to completely delve into the OS and see if I could actually survive without my iPhone. In my time with an Android device, the short answer would be that Android would be a perfectly passable everyday phone. But would I make the switch and ditch my iPhone 4? Hit the jump to find out as well as see tons of videos and a gallery chock full of comparison pics!
Coming to the decision to give Android a try was the easy part. Then came the tricky part, picking an actual Android device. With the iPhone it’s simple, the best model is typically the newest model, and with Apple’s current product cycle, there’s only 1 a year to choose from. Along with that, in the US you have one carrier choice, AT&T. (Unless of course you want to unlock and use an iPhone on T-Mobile sans 3G.) I decided the easiest solution would be to stick to AT&T and check out their Android selection. This proved to be an easier decision on AT&T opposed to other carriers such as Verizon, which carries an abundance of Android powered devices. My choices were between the HTC Aria and the Samsung Captivate. Both of which run Android OS version 2.1. I’ve never been a huge fan of HTC hardware, so I went with the Captivate, and I’m glad I did.
The most obvious thing about a phone, and the first thing you notice is the physical design. Both of these phones are built extremely well. When comparing specifically the iPhone 4 and the Captivate, both feel solid in your hand. The back of the Captivate is a brushed metal with glossy bands on the top and the bottom while the iPhone 4 is a solid slab of glass on the back. To me, the back of the iPhone 4 may look better, but in everyday use, I somehow feel more comfortable setting the Captivate down on a bare surface naked and not worrying whether or not it’s going to scratch. One of my only peeves with Apple products are hairline scratches. The plastic backs of the iPhone 3G and 3GS held up well as far as the white version went. The black version was a fingerprint magnet and you could see any tiny imperfection. The iPhone 4 in black holds up better in my experience than the previous models as far as blemishes, but the fingerprints still madden me. As far as feel, the iPhone 4 still feels more solid in my hand than the Captivate.
The Camera
Both phones sport a 5MP camera. Neither have too many options. I’m making this short because in all honesty, I didn’t see too much of a difference. The iPhone 4 pictures appear to be a tiny bit warmer than the Captivate’s, but besides that and the lack of a flash on the Captivate, they were about even. I find myself not using the flash on the iPhone 4 unless it’s extremely dark and I’m forced to. It seems to make everything look washed out in my opinion, so I avoid it whenever I can.
Compatibility
When you use a smartphone, you really have to choose a phone that suits your needs. What do you do everyday? What are you going to use the device for? For me, I look for a solid e-mail app, an awesome calendar app, social networking support (and more importantly, the choices you have when it comes to networking applications). After that comes entertainment value. And before anything else comes system compatibility.
I remember back before the iPhone when I used Blackberrys and we had to keep a PC laying around solely so I could back up my Berrys and be able to upgrade to the latest leaked OS, as well as sync my content. Eventually 3rd parties picked up the slack for RIM, but it still wasn’t the most ideal solution. Eventually RIM came out with a Mac client, but it was too little too late in my opinion.
I was hoping this wouldn’t be the case with Android. But alas, I could not find an easy way to get my contacts and media on the Captivate. I eventually asked some trusty folks on Twitter. Instead of taking several hard routes, I created a new Gmail address and imported my contacts to that address for wireless sync. Workable but not the most convenient method. For media, several people recommended DoubleTwist. It got the job done, but it was somewhat maddening that I had to go through a few different processes just to get content onto the device. There are also programs like Missing Sync that work well, but a $40 price tag just to have better sync with Mac is somewhat ridiculous. I understand that several years ago Mac users were a niche group and less than 2% market share. This is by no means the case anymore, so software manufacturers need to stop leaving out Mac users. By now, we should have compatibility right out of the gate.
With my iPhone 4, I sync to iTunes and I’m done. I’m also a MobileMe user so I’ve never had to worry about that content being lost when switching from iPhone to iPhone. I also found no easy way to get my iCal events onto my Android device. To me, if I wanted to use the phone in the way I intend, it almost forces you to use not only Gmail but GCal as well. Since I am a Mac user, the iPhone 4 obviously wins hands down as far as compatibility goes.
Battery Life
We all know iPhones don’t have the best battery life in the world, and I’m not sure about other Android devices, but the Captivate battery life was a little disappointing to me. I’m a pretty heavy user and receive a lot of e-mails (Rene is an e-mailing machine) and I found it hard to make it through a whole day. My iPhone 3GS typically stayed on the charger while I was at work just for simplicity’s sake and so I didn’t have to worry about a dead battery, but my iPhone 4 seems to get much better battery life and I don’t worry about it quite as much. With the Captivate, I found myself wishing I invested in a second charger to take to work and ended up carrying the cable back and forth after 2 days of it being dead by the time I left work for the day. I’m sure part of that is thanks to the screen. It’s a sacrifice you’ll have to make if you want 4” of AMOLED goodness I suppose.
This is one area I enjoyed exploring. The Android Marketplace really DOES have tons of apps. No, they don’t have the same ridiculous number Apple has, but I disagree with Apple’s representation of apps. When I look at the number of apps a platform has, I want to know how many “quality” apps that platform has. Leave out all the junk and apps that should have never been approved in the first place, and I’d say the iTunes app store has less than 40,000 quality apps.
I was pleasantly surprised with the selection Android users have. Any type of app I could possibly want, I have at least 3 choices or more, which in most situations are more than sufficient. The only area I saw a pretty poor selection in was Twitter clients. This is probably just me though. I have more Twitter clients on my iPhone than you can shake a stick at. And I switch between them – frequently. I’m flaky when it comes to Twitter clients and I get bored. For any normal person, Android’s growing selection would accommodate most non-mutants just fine.
Now let’s talk native applications. Google put a lot of thought into basic everyday apps like the phone and texting app. I absolutely love how you can swipe left and right in your contacts to call or message someone. That’s ingenious and a really quick way to interact with your contacts. I’m not sure if these features are unique to Android OS 2.1 or not, but they’re pretty frak’n sweet. Clicking on someone’s picture within their contact card also gives you additional ways you can interact with that person. The message app is also very easy to use and overall, I really enjoyed the interface of all the core apps. The only thing I really did not care for was all the trial and bloatware that comes pre-installed on the device. I spent 30 minutes clearing out junk before I actually dug into the marketplace and loaded the phone up with things I actually wanted. This reminds me of the shiver that runs down my spine when you boot up a new PC and see a desktop loaded with nothing but crap. Hey, maybe Best Buy can start offering Android optimization services as another form of highway robbery. (You can thank me later for the idea Best Buy, just know I’ll be expecting my royalty check every month.)
Once all the bloatware was thrown into a fiery hole of despair, you are left with a 4” canvas of AMOLED goodness to tweak and customize until your heart’s content. And that leads me to my main focus of this article…..
The OS is probably the single most important factor when choosing a phone. In my experience, I’ve found things about Android that I really like, and then things that I really don’t like.
The main screen on Android OS is pretty much a blank canvas for you to do what you will with. You can drop icons and reorder them just like you would on the iPhone, but you can also create widgets and customize until your heart’s content. This is one area Apple really has fallen behind. My biggest gripe with iOS is the lack of a decent notification system. In that area, Android wins by a landslide.
The Android OS also gives you a few choices when it comes to keyboards. I was pretty excited to get to try out Swype. While it seems to be pretty quick, it still has its quirks. No matter what keyboard I chose, I found myself lagging behind how quickly I can type on my iPhone. But to be fair, I have been typing on an iPhone keyboard for over 3 years now.
Android offers a lot of cool gestures and shortcuts in general I wish Apple would take a closer look at. But there’s also certain things that seem to be overdone. It seemed I spent a good amount of time figuring out alerts and sounds, as well as configuring general settings. It seemed a little overwhelming that I could pick alerts for every little thing. The option is nice but the settings panel is a little confusing. Sometimes I felt like I didn’t really know what settings I was changing, I had to experiment. It reminded me somewhat of the 80 billion alerts Blackberry users are presented with. To me, it was a little overkill.
Conclusion
All in all, I’m glad I decided to give Android a try. My honest opinion is that it’s a platform that’s got a ridiculous amount of potential. I think the ideas are all there, but the implementation isn’t quite there yet. My iPhone does what I want it to do seamlessly (and I know being a Mac user gives me a leg up on PC users in some cases), but either way – the iPhone is so dead easy to use. I’m basing my conclusions off of iOS 4. If I were comparing previous releases of iOS to Android, that would be a much tougher decision. Even though I’m sticking with my iPhone, Android is definitely a platform to keep a close eye on. And here’s to hoping Apple will step up their game too when it comes to iOS 5 and beyond. Even though I may be staying on the iPhone side of the fence, I now have a new respect for the platform as well as its users. Just as I prefer my platform, I can see why tons of power users would choose Android as well.
Thanks to my boss who took tons of excellent hi-res pics for me since I’m too cheap to break down and finally get a DSLR. And a special thanks to @kasperapd as well for lending us some iPhone 4/Evo4G comparison shots (apparently that phone IS rarer than a unicorn!) And as always, we encourage you guys to chime with your comments and thoughts!
The TiPb forums are naturally a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven’t already head on over and register now!
The Library of Congress’ DMCA exception for jailbreaking is big news for our community. The new ruling basically says that jailbreaking or unlocking devices is not illegal. But I think the bigger question on most people’s minds is what that’s going to mean for end users and the jailbreak community in general. So what does this ruling mean for you, jailbreak ninjas? Read on to find out.
Now we all know the iPhone has its shortcomings. Every smartphone does. In the iPhone world, we jailbreak to compensate. Android users may root their phones to side load apps. We also have a big issue (mainly in the US) where unlocking your phones is frowned upon. Users have cried foul for a long time. Logically, if you buy an iPhone outright in the states, you should be free to take that phone to whatever carrier you’d like. Yet they’re still locked down to AT&T for state-side users.
Today’s ruling is definitely a step in the right direction and a huge hurdle for groups like EFF, but how it will effect end users right “now” still remains somewhat unclear. Now keep in mind, as of now, this is strictly my opinion. What I’m taking from this is that Apple or any other phone manufacturer will not be able to sue you or take legal action for jailbreaking or unlocking your device. Does that mean they have to be okay with it or aid you in doing it? Absolutely not.
What about warranties?
In my opinion, I don’t think anything will change (as of now). Apple will still have the same stance on modifying your iOS devices and the risks involved. I can’t image it would be hard for apple to play off a software malfunction on user error or the fact that you downloaded an application that was not approved or isn’t supported by them. What if you have a hardware issue? That should be a little different. Apple shouldn’t be allowed to deny you hardware repairs solely based on the fact that you are jailbroken. I’ve read in forums several times that users would attempt to exchange white iPhones for hairline cracks and get turned away because their device was jailbroken. I’d really like someone at Apple to explain to me how being jailbroken caused a crack in the casing. Other users have said they swapped their phone just fine. I’m assuming this probably depends upon what store you go to and how much the genius really pays attention to the phone before performing a swap. Either way – I don’t see this ruling changing the way Apple handles servicing jailbroken or unlocked devices.
Unlocking
Users have long been unlocking devices and taken them to other GSM carriers such as T-Mobile. If this becomes a common practice, I’m curious to see how carriers will handle that. Honestly, I don’t think they will. They’ll refer you to the manufacturer. And if that carrier happens to be Apple, if you don’t have a valid AT&T SIM, I still think you’ll have a hard time getting them to service your phone.
If unlocking becomes a standard practice are users can buy unlocked devices to take to whichever GSM carrier they’d like, then Apple would not have the software argument to hide behind, nor would any manufacturer. AT&T offers unlock codes to users who have been on contract for a specified period of time for pretty much every device in their lineup, except the most popular ones. And obviously, that includes the iPhone.
Cat & Mouse
The Dev Team and jailbreaks have long played the cat and mouse game with Apple. A jailbreak is released, a couple months later, an update to iOS is released, it breaks the jailbreak or patches the exploit. Jailbreakers go back to the drawing board and find yet another exploit. And the cycle continues. I don’t see any end to this either. Apple may not be able to sue you, but they sure don’t have to like it or condone it.
Conclusion
So my opinion? I don’t think a thing will change for end users, as of right now anyways. Apple can still choose not to honor warranties, they just can’t take legal action, given you aren’t using a jailbreak for unlawful purposes. Around these parts, we fully support the jailbreak community, without supporting those who use it for illegal purposes. It’ll be interesting to see how Apple and other manufacturers respond. But in the mean time, what do you guys think?
Chain Link is based on the concept of creating as many links as you can and dragging them into the vortex in the middle of the screen without disturbing any other types of links. The game starts off fairly easy and gets harder pretty quick. There’s also support for OpenFeint to share your scores with your friends and other Chain Link users. I found the game pretty addicting after a while. Hit the jump for more screens and a walkthrough.
When you first open Chain Link, you’ll be asked to choose a game mode. The differences are that in easy mode (static), the pieces won’t move by themselves. They stay in one spot, where in arcade mode, they’ll move around, making it harder to avoid collisions. Whenever pieces collide with another piece that isn’t a like kind, instead of creating a chain, the pieces that collide will shatter. You’ll also lose one of your lives. You get 3 lives. After your third collision, game over.
Besides having regular game play modes, you can also choose timed modes. The pieces will float up from the bottom and down from the top and you’ll have to try and coordinate chains as quickly as possible and drag them to the center.
All in all, Chain Link is a pretty decent game to kill time with. It gets hard pretty quickly and there’s tons of game play modes to keep you busy. There’s nothing more depressing than beating a game you like in a couple days and either having to wait for an update to add more levels or just retiring it altogether. Especially when it’s a game you enjoy. I don’t see this being the case with Chain Link. There’s a lot of different game play options to keep you busy for quite some time. I think adding a few more options and maybe more visually appealing menus could improve the user experience.
It’s cool that Apple is willing to give us free bumpers and cases, but their system may be a little “flawed” to say the least. After the announcement went up, I immediately downloaded the bumper app and typed in my iTunes password, it brought me to the selection screen. (By the way, is anyone else only seeing black bumpers? Where’s all the colors?!?) Seeing only black was available, I went ahead and got a black. My order processed no problem. Unless you count the ridiculous 3-5 week shipping window.
Here’s where the problems begin. We have 2 iPhone 4s in our house, both linked to the same iTunes account, which I’d assume isn’t that uncommon for couples and spouses who obviously share joint bank accounts. Well,using the other iPhone 4, we downloaded the app, launched, typed iTunes password, and it told me I already had an order placed. D’oh!
I called Apple to ask them what was going on and their solution was for me to just make another iTunes account for the other iPhone. To me, that’s not a solution, that just creates more of a hassle for me. It’s something I shouldn’t have to do to begin with. What would have been wrong with a process where you just enter your iPhone 4 serial number in order to redeem? Then users could do this online or from their phones. That would have been pretty fool proof in my opinion. Doing it by iTunes account is just a bad idea in general.
Anyone else having this issue? Or is their system just wigging out? Apple didn’t seem to have any idea what was going on. I’m still expecting an e-mail back from a rep at Apple as to whether or not they can just process my second order for me. I’ll update if I hear anything further.
Update: Apparently you don’t have to log in with an iTunes ID, it can be an Apple ID too. It does appear they are checking the serials as well. (Obviously to prevent people from logging into multiple iTunes accounts or Apple IDs on the same device to get more than one free case). I’m still curious as to why or if they’re checking iTunes accounts as well, as there really is no need if they’re going off serial.
Update 2: It looks as if a lot of users are saying their orders went through just fine with the same iTunes/AppleID – perhaps it was a glitch that got worked out or a bug? Who knows, but be sure to let us know if you have issues as well. Mine eventually went through ok but we did have to use a different AppleID for the second phone.
We’re still keeping our eye out for great iOS 4 apps that take advantage of the new APIs and features available to developers under iOS4. We’ve found a couple more good ones to share with you guys, and as always, if you see any good ones, drop ‘em in the comments so we can check them out too!
Foursquare
Even though Foursquare has already received a general update for iOS4, it seems they’re still adding new features. Along with several needed bug fixes, they’ve added support for in-app sms and e-mail as well as more support for iPhone 4 retina display. I was pretty disappointed in Foursquare for quite a while as far as the GPS refreshing and multitasking but it appears this version fixed most of my complaints. It’s nice to see they’re taking an active role in improving the overall user experience.
I took a look at this app about a month ago. It’s still got a ways to come functionality, but its hands down one of the most gorgeous RSS apps available for iOS. I’ve found myself using Pulse for quick reading and using Reeder when I actually want to sit down and catch up on any missed RSS feeds I hadn’t had time to read. This version adds support for the iPhone 4 retina display as well as adding some speed enhancements. It also adds a cool feature where you can bump phones with a friend that uses Pulse and share your feeds and articles. Beats e-mailing them a link for sure.
The Paypal app got a much needed update a few months ago that added more core functionality, but since then, it’s somewhat sat stagnant beyond minor bug fixes. It appears this version adds iOS4 support but Paypal hasn’t elaborated on exactly what that entails. I don’t believe there is retina display support (at least it doesn’t look any sharper to me). I’m assuming basic enhancements such as multitasking and better compatibility is what they’ve added. I had a few crashes with the Paypal app on iOS4 but since the update, it appears to be crash free.
I know there’s tons of translation apps out there, but iTranslate still remains one of my favorites. It’s simple and clean. This version adds support for the retina display for iPhone 4 users as well as fast app switching and in-app SMS. If you’re looking for a simple translator, it doesn’t get any easier than this app. There’s also a plus version and in-app purchase available for text to speech.
I’ve been a fan of the eBay mobile app since it came out. It’s been nice to be able to browse through auctions quickly on the go. This update adds support for fast app switching and high resolution images for iPhone 4 users. It also addresses some issues as well as adding an easier Paypal solution in-app. If you haven’t picked it up yet, it’s free. Check it out!
Hope you guys are having as much fun with iOS 4 as we are! Let us know your thoughts on these updates as well as anything you guys may stumble upon that we missed!
Steve Jobs mentioned almost in passing during the iPhone 4 press conference last week that iPhone 4 would be available on July 30 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and Switzerland.
That’s all well and good but it’s also now less than a week away and at least in Canada Apple still hasn’t updated its online store to say anything other than “coming soon”, and their carrier partners Rogers, Bell, and Telus have little more than the date.
No pre-orders have been offered. No FAQs or “blogger guy” videos on how carrier upgrades or subsidies will be handled. Apple will also be selling iPhone 4 unlocked for the first time in many of the above countries but for anyone willing to pay full price there’s still the small matter of getting a MicroSIM to go with it and having that MicroSIM activated with a new or existing account. For those not eager or able to cut down their old MiniSIM, no information on that is available either.
Apple has a lot on their plate right now. They’re selling iPhone 4 as fast as they can make them and if they’re having trouble supplying the few countries already launched, 17 more could be tight beyond belief. Negotiations with carriers might also be ongoing. It’s even possible Apple is trying to make sure carriers dig deep to offer early upgrades and keep data open and affordable. All of that could be going on in the back corridors and boardrooms up until the 11th hour.
But it stresses consumers. A phone is a big purchase, a contract a huge commitment. Sooner is better.
We’d like to know, frankly, so we can get on with the crazier aspects of impending Apple launches — will the antenna be tweaked, will white models be available? Will Apple Stores be opening early? Who’s going to have what in stock where?
If you’re in one of the above countries and waiting for iPhone 4 to launch next week, let us know if you’ve been able to get any information yet. If not are you buying no matter what, or holding off until you hear?
AppleInsider is reporting that Jeff Williams, who’s been at Apple for over a decade, has just been promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations and tasked with making sure Apple products meet “the highest quality standards”.
It’s hard not to imagine this as anything other than a response to “antennagate” and other iPhone 4 problems, though there’s another theory afloat:
It’s believed Apple is grooming Williams to take on Cook’s role as chief operation officer in the event that Cook takes over Steve Jobs’ role as the company’s chief executive. Cook has been profiled as the most likely successor to Jobs when Apple’s iconic chief chooses to step down.
Either way, it’s great to have a targeted set of eyes in ops. Congratulations and here’s wishing him every success.
Follow along with TiPb as we listen to and comment on Apple’s Q3 2010 financial results conference call. We’re not live-blogging this, just posting highlights so you’ll need to refresh from time to time to see new notes.
If you want to listen while you read, head on over to Apple.com for the audio stream.
Now on with the highlights:
Waiting on additional participants to show up
Starting now, IR person reading safe harbor provision
Tim Cook (henceforth TC), Peter Oppenheimer (OP) on tap, no Steve Jobs announced
OP: introducing results, began shipping iPad in 10 countries, launched iPhone 4, shipped iOS 4, new record for Mac sales
OP: Mac sales. Short version — they did very well.
OP: 9.4 million iPods. Declining. iPod touch 48% growth. Mix-shift to iPod touch 12% up, revenue growth 4% up. Share over 70%. Top selling MP3 sale, gaining share.
OP: iTunes exceeded 1 billion dollars. App Store 225,000 apps, 11,000 just for iPad. 5 billion apps downloaded.
OP: iPhone 8.4 million, 1.7 million iPhone 4 in 5 countries. 61% year-over-year growth. Customers loving new features, FaceTime, Retina Display, glass and stainless steel
OP: 5.53 billion for ancillary sales, up over 70%.
OP: 154 carriers in over 80 countries, Asia, Europe, Japan increasing
OP: Over 100,000,000 iOS devices sold. iOS 4 very favorable, people loving new features.
OP: iPad off to good start. 3.27 million iPads sold in 10 countries. 9 additional countries on July 23.
OP: Apple retail still growing.
OP: [Talking financial details about why their usual conservative numbers were exceeded. Again. Seriously]
OP: 48 billion on hand, up 4 billion. Still preserving capital, short dated, high quality investments
OP: Outlook to Q4. Offering free cases to all customers who purchased iPhone 4 until Sept. 30. Deferring revenue on those cases. Should cost 175 million.
OP: Expect 18 billion, 35% gross margin in Q4. Sequential decline due to higher mix of iPhone 4 and iPad which have higher cost structures, also free cases. Back to school promotions as well.
OP: In closing, they’re thrilled!
Now starting Q&A
Q: What are you hearing from corporations, adoption?
TC: iPhone now in 80% of Fortune 100 piloting or deploying, 60% of Fortune 500. 400 higher ed institutions as well. iOS 4 was a help.
TC: iPad in first 90 days. 50% of Fortune 100 testing or deploying. Incredible.
OP: Higher iPhone and accessory sales than they anticipated.
Q: Supply/demand breakdown, constraints?
TC: iPod, none. iPad and iPhone are different, both iPad and iPhone 4 had backlog couldn’t fill, still selling as fast as they can make them. High demand is never a problem. Planning 1 million a month capacity was a bold move, analysts predicted 1 million in sales for years. Did that in 1 month, still doing that. Apple is increasing capacity as fast as they can. Confident they will be able to do it.
TC: Just started ramping iPhone 4 in June. Limited days, only 4 days in Q.
TC: greatly reduced iPhone 3GS sales around June 7. Didn’t launch iPhone 4, new 3GS on June 24. Result was significantly lower sales after June 7 until June 24.
TC: 250,000 more units if they’d held inventory flat.
Q: Why are there supply problems? Rumors Apple does that on purpose.
TC: Would rather market move quickly to new products. How they want to manage it. Don’t purposefully create shortages for buzz. Not their objective. Would like to fill every order as quickly as they can. Demand for iPhone 4 absolutely stunning.
TC: Returns for antenna issue are very small.
TC: Pleasantly surprised how fast iPad has gotten going. Much faster to 1 million than iPod. Not following typical new product curve where it takes a long time to go mainstream after early adoption.
OP: Won’t reveal iPod Wi-Fi vs. 3G split, but demand for all of them have been amazing. Average $640.
Q: Will iPad cannibalize other product lines? Any thoughts?
TC: Discuss it internally, only selling 3 months. To early to tell. Thrilled they recorded best Mac quarter ever even with iPad sales. Jaw dropper.
Q: iAds business?
OP: Just launched in July. Will learn a lot this calendar year. No further specifics.
Q: Datacenter coming along?
OP: On schedule. Everything going fine. Expect to complete by end of calendar year.
Q: Cannibalization of iPad on iPod touch?
OP: iPod ASPs down $7, driven by start of back to school promotion, stronger US dollar. Mix up on iPod touch.
Q: Impact of bumper give-away?
OP: Will need to defer revenue for iPhone 4 they sell where they’ve not delivered bumpers, not heard from customers wanting to place order. Revenue accrual with no cost, will expense cost when shipped to customers.
Q: Android shipments increasing, competition to iPhone family?
TC: Haven’t seen Android results, sum of several companies. iPhone up 61% despite drawdowns and transition, growing faster than market.
TC: Selling every unit they can make, looks good in every country they’ve launched it in. Anecdotally growing faster than early adopter, faster than any product he knows of. Doesn’t know what competition will do. Everyone working on something. Apple extremely happy with position and business model. Affordable rate structure, starts at $15, no commitment, aggressive device pricing. Yes, someone could jack up rate plans, subsidize. Not sure people will want another contract. If someone tries it, both learn.
Q: iPhone software developers have complained not about App Store rules but about arbitrary nature. Apple done anything?
OP: Always looking to make developers happy, 225K apps, 5 billion downloads, 1 billion in payments to devs, iAds a second stream. Care deeply. Want to have great apps. Success is unparalleled.
TC: Vast majority of apps approved within 7 days. Many that aren’t have bugs, re-submitted, approved. Want to ensure pornography, graphic scenes don’t come on platform. Not everyone agrees, but that’s how they’re doing it.
Q: Dev concern misplaced?
TC: Value their concerns, modify when appropriate. Won’t say every concern misplaced. Value their feedback.
Q: Move to mobility?
TC: Long run, will see portables grow.
Q: FaceTime, industry standard, how will it role out? Windows, Mac?
TC: Sticking to financials for today.
Q: iPhone strong in Asia, Europe, Japan. Why not North America?
TC: Not law of large numbers. Phone market will increasingly become smartphone market. Steve said that long ago. Lots of domestic, Americas opportunities. Mac, iPhone, or iPad growing faster internationally. See that in revenues as well. Perspective, Americas growing 40% so this is huge number, just international numbers are killer.
Q: iPhone growth has come from broader carrier distribution. Broaden within countries, emerging markets like China, India, pre-paid?
TC: Extraordinary opportunity. Mac as example, AsiaPC Mac grew 73%, phenomenal. In China, grew 144%. Korea, 184%. HK almost 200%. Even in difficult economy like Spain, grew 59%.
TC: iPhone space doing well in all key markets, expanding that, learning what they learned with exclusive deals, looking market by market, opening Spain up. Will go from exclusive in Spain to 3. More countries remaining. Increased distribution, market, move to smartphone. All in iPhone favor. Sees enormous opportunity. Biggest challenge is determining which to deploy resources.
Q: Will there be iPad halo?
TC: Agrees, most people external to Apple focus on cannibalization, internally focus on synergy between. iPod historically people at Apple felt iPod created halo for Mac. Will see about iPad, doesn’t want to predict it. Mac share still low. Still enormous opportunity to grow. Might be some synergy. iDevices -> Mac, iPad < -> iPhone. This is where it’s great to have lower share. If iPad cannibalizes PCs, fantastic for Apple. Big market.
Q: Impact of wage hikes from sub-contractors?
TC: Don’t want to get into terms of commercial agreements, competitive info.
Q: Expand carriers to tap domestic demand, or enough with AT&T?
TC: Very happy to be partner with AT&T. Been first class partner, pioneered smartphone growth from network POV in US. That’s all.
OP: Best iPhone they’ve ever shipped, higher cost structure.
Q: Gap iPhone, iPad supply and demand? How many units?
TC: Don’t know. Only know if you have enough supply. Don’t have it.
Today MOG (Music on the Go) [iTunes Link - free download] has been released into the App Store. For $10/per month you will get access to over 8 million songs with the ability to store the MP3 files (up to 320Kbps) directly on your iPhone/iPod touch to listen to them whenever and wherever you want. Keep in mind this is purely an app that allows you to store the music locally on your iOS device and not actually keep or transfer the files.
Unlike some of the streaming music apps such as Pandora, with MOG you get ad-free music from favorite artists with no limit on the number of consecutive tracks by a single artist. The one big pitfall is the current lack of multi-tasking support. On a positive note we were promised that this will be added within a few weeks time period.
Be sure to check out the video after the the break and if you give MOG’s free three-day, no commitment trial a go let us know what you think in the comments below!
That Magic Trackpad/Magic Slate that we expected to be announced back at WWDC finally seems to have gotten the green light from the FCC and received approval. As Engadget points out, Apple generally keeps all of their device filings with the FCC locked down and with this filing being released there is great possibility we may see this new device hit the stores later this week.
This new Magic Trackpad/Magic Slate has long been rumored to be a large, flat surface with iPhone/iPad-like capacitive multitouch input to the Mac. Possibly supporting the full range of gestures that the iPhone and iPad currently support. If you look at page 45 of the FCC test report you will see the device is described as a “Bluetooth Trackpad”. Something even more telling about the test report is the fact it was completed back in October of 2009.
Why would Apple be holding this device back on us for almost a year now?
The TiPb forums are naturally a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven’t already head on over and register now!
With all of this antenna talk going around we are going to revisit the iPhone 4 Reception Issue thread. Has this issue been blown out of proportion or is it really a major concern?
Need a place to show off some of those high quality photos you have taken with your iPhone 4? This is the place to do it: Show off your iPhone 4 pictures here.
Wired has a great article up detailing the borderline relationship between Apple and AT&T, how both feel the other has failed them, and how both just can’t leave.
The two corporations have argued about almost everything. Jobs has been apoplectic about the state of AT&T’s network and what he views as its slow-footed upgrade efforts almost since launch day three years ago. One Apple source says that Jobs has discussed dropping AT&T at least half a dozen times.
AT&T executives aren’t so crazy about Jobs, either. They complain that Apple hasn’t accepted its fair share of the blame. They say — and Apple sources confirm — that the software running the iPhone’s main radio, known as the baseband, was full of bugs and contributed to the much-decried dropped calls. What’s more, Apple had chosen to source the radio from Infineon, whose hardware was used widely in Europe but rarely in the US, where cell towers are placed farther apart and reception is therefore less forgiving.
There are lots of zingers, threats of escalating to Steve Jobs, threats of Jobs screaming at AT&T CEO de la Vega, and threats to go to Verizon. Scott Forstall and an Apple team reportedly examined the Verizon option from a technology point of view, and collaborated on that hybrid Qualcomm GSM/CDMA chip we heard about back during CES.
For their part, AT&T is spending billions, building out their network, while at the same time capping data and introducing tiers that seem comfortable now
but will become a huge constraint as LTE/4G and wireless video and other data-heavy technologies take off.
Check out the full article via the link below. Well worth the read.
[Wired, thanks Doug and everyone who sent this in!]
And the quadfecta is now complete, with Samsung responding to Apple over the iPhone 4 press conference’s demonstration of the death-grip causing signal loss on an Omnia II.
“The antenna is located at the bottom of the Omnia 2 phone, while iPhone’s antenna is on the lower left side of the device. Our design keeps the distance between a hand and an antenna. We have fully conducted field tests before the rollout of smartphones. Reception problems have not happened so far, and there is no room for such problems to happen in the future”
Apple must be ecstatic. Any company that stayed quiet would have ridden out the story pretty much uninvolved. Any company — now all of them — that spoke up guaranteed their phones a bump in YouTube demos and/or free case requests.
And that “problems in the future” bit? Sigh. Early reports already indicate Samsung’s new Galaxy S-class Captivate and Vibrant are having the same problem. Here’s a sample from InformationWeek:
I have both a Samsung Vibrant and Captivate on hand for testing purposes. In both phones, the internal antenna is apparently located on the back of the phone, towards the very bottom edge. When gripped around the bottom of the phone (with either hand) the signal strength drops almost immediately. The Vibrant went from three bars to zero bars in about five seconds, and the Captivate went from four bars to zero bars in about six seconds. When I let go, the signal returns immediately.
Sure, death-grip isn’t the same as iPhone 4’s single-point touch, but in a media frenzy no phone is safe.
Update: video of the Samsung Galaxy S suffering from death-finger after the break [via DF].
Bloomberg is reporting that “someone familiar with the matter” is claiming Apple’s very own antenna expert, Ruben Caballero, warned the company of possible flaws that could have created the issues so many of you are currently experiencing – dropped calls and reception problems.
The report also includes a separate source claiming a particular unnamed carrier also voiced it’s concern to Apple over the newly designed antenna system prior of it’s release on June 24th. This news all coming in within just one day prior to Apple’s last minute iPhone 4 press conference.
Apple has declined to comment and is refusing to grant any interviews with Ruben Caballero.
Earlier this afternoon Apple released the very first beta for iOS 4.1 along with the software development kit (SDK) to all developers. Unfortunately, there has been no word on what changes have been made within the software from Apple. If you are a developer and notice anything worth a mention, be sure to let us know.
According to the Sun, Apple has purchased Quebec-based Poly9, a mapping API provider for Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo!, MSNBC, and NORAD.
Poly9’s website has been shuttered, their employees moved to Cupertino.
Last year, Apple bought PlaceBase, a company that specialized in API for layering data sets over maps.
Since there’s only a few companies that actually own the maps themselves, Apple still isn’t going into the map business — but they certainly look to be doing a lot to make their implementation of maps better and more powerful.
Twitter lit up this morning with signs that an iPhone 4 jailbreak and unlock is definitely on it’s way. On the other side of things, original iPhone Jailbreaker, GeoHot (George Hotz) has apparently deleted his Twitter account and made his blog private. What’s going on? Keep reading.
I noticed this morning @planetbeing had posted a tweet saying a soft unlock had been achieved. He’s followed up by posting pics of an iPhone 4 running Cydia and a pic showing the phone running on Canadian carrier, Bell. This is definitely good news for all you iPhone 4 owners itching for your jailbreak and/or unlock. For end users, a jailbreak may still be a month or two off, but for developers and hackers, this is great news and major progress. @Comex had reported a userland jailbreak not that long ago. Using that, himself and @planetbeing are making great progress.
Now on to GeoHot. He posted up an article talking about his jailbreak for iPhone 4 and what he had posted over the weekend. I showed a little skepticism about whether or not it was real. In the past, geohot had always given us a little bit more “actual” proof than what he gave this time. Apparently in his last blog, he commented that the screen shot actually wasn’t real.
“Sorry, this post was probably a bad idea. Next time I won’t say anything. I miss when this blog was actually about technical things(I’ve been reacting too much to the feedback, which led it to the place it’s in now). I didn’t fully realize most of the current scene don’t care unless they are getting something. Now I do. It’s late tonight, I’ll think about what to do about this in the morning.The real reason behind no release isn’t technical. It’s just that it will never stop, after blackra1n, people demand unlock, after blacksn0w, people demand untethered. I miss the days when jailbreaking and unlocking were difficult, it attracted a much higher caliber crowd.Also, to the haters, the picture is quite obviously fake ”
Geohot got a lot of heat on his own blog and all over the Twitter-verse for his post over the weekend. Many people calling foul and saying his ego had gotten way too large for his own good. I somewhat see his point about it never ending. He’s never charged for his work so people waiting with their hand out can probably get a little irritating at times. Maybe he didn’t handle it in the best manner, but he’s made up his mind (for now anyways).
So to @planetbeing and @comex, congrats and thanks for all your hard work, we’re all just as excited as you are! And to geohot, maybe we’ll see you around again soon?
The class action lawsuit against AT&T’s US iPhone exclusivity has been certified, which means a judge thinks it meets the legal requirements to go forward. If you remember back, The crux of suit states that customer contracts are 2 years, but the AT&T exclusivity is 5 years — so customers were falsely lured to AT&T for 5 years, not 2 — if they want to keep iPhones, that is. The lawsuit seeks to include all current AT&T iPhone customers.
Now, whether or not that original 5 year exclusivity has changed over the past few years is anyone’s guess — the only people who know that for sure are the AT&T and Apple higher ups that sign the contracts. In this day and age, contracts change constantly.
My opinion? I don’t know if a court will buy this as falsely leading on customers. Most carriers don’t ever specify how long their exclusivity deals are, it’s all hearsay until they announce it. Yes, the iPhone deal is unique in length (I don’t believe any carrier has ever had an exclusive anywhere even close to the length AT&T scored with Apple), but I don’t necessarily know if I believe it misleads customers. When the first iPhone was released, the 5 year deal was already publicized, even if it was hearsay, and people still bought iPhones. And honestly, if you get an iPhone, no one’s forcing you to get another one. If you upgrade and lock yourself in, that’s pretty much your decision, your hand isn’t forced.
We’ll watch this one but I personally don’t think it will go very far.
Geohot has updated his blog to let us know that he’s apparently jailbroken his iPhone 4 in less than one day. There’s a little caveat though — he’s said he probably won’t release it. Well I guess my question is, what’s the point in posting it up then? Most people are familiar with Geohot’s blackra1n and purplera1n jailbreak tools. They were simple and downright easy.
He also took the time to mention the rumors of limera1n.com — basically stating that it’s no more than a waterdrop on the web and he’s never mentioned it before, so don’t read too much into it. My opinion? A picture of Cydia on an iPhone 4 is pretty unconvincing. He certainly has the skills and the record to find an exploit and jailbreak iPhone 4, but why no video, and why no seeming interest in releasing it?
To say the least, the reason for the post is confusing.
As for now, we’ve got PwnageTool 4.0.1 for iOS4, but iPhone 4 users are going to have to wait a while longer. I guess we’ll see what the Dev Team and Spirit developers come up with.
Tweetings for iPhone is a full featured Twitter client complete with push notifications. Last week we looked at the iPad version of Tweetings, so this week we’ll look at the iPhone version. In many ways, it’s very similar. The layout is extremely similar and it also offers things such as push notifications. The iPhone version also adds themes into the mix as well.
It’s definitely a worthy contender against the big guys like Twitter for iPhone (formerly Tweetie) and Twitteriffic. Read on for screens, a feature run down, and how you can win a copy of Tweetings for iPhone from TiPb!
Much like the iPad version of Tweetings, the iPhone version includes features such as list support, combined direct messages, support for iOS4, push notifications, now playing support, and FaceBook integration. It also adds themes into the mix. There are a total of seven themes to choose from. They are silver, carbon (dark), plain, speech bubbles (glossy), speech bubbles (matte), shadows, and shadows evolved. I’m a fan of shadows evolved as it’s simple but clean. It adds subtle gradients. Themes are, of course, a matter of personal preference. I’m a fan of simple and clean. I’ve never been a fan of the themes within Twittelator Pro as they seem to always be overdone. Even making my own, I can never get something quite “simple” enough for my liking. It may just be the layout that doesn’t do it for me. I just want to be able to access what I need, when I need it without having to search or dig through menus.
For those of you who didn’t read my iPad review, Tweetings has built-in push notifications. I tested this against Boxcar and the results were pretty good. At some points Boxcar would chime in a little ahead and vice versa with Tweetings sometimes pushing to me quicker. My conclusion was that it probably just depended on how loaded the servers were. They were pretty much neck and neck.
You also have support for services like Instapaper, you can configure them right from within your settings. Your settings panel can be accessed either within app or through your general iPhone settings.
Viewing user’s profiles within Tweetings is simple enough and allows you options like follow and unfollow as well as showing you their bio and their location (if they’ve chosen to share this).
Another feature I like about Tweetings is combined timelines, which allows you to view a conversation between any 2 people you choose. If someone tags you in a tweet and you aren’t sure why, you can always use the combined timeline feature to figure out where you came into the conversation.
Overall, Tweetings for iPhone is an incredibly decent Twitter client with an awesome developer that completely backs their work. You can always contact the developer with questions or concerns via Twitter via the handle @Tweetingsapp.
Pros
Built in push notifications
Great developer support
Frequent updates
Good theme selection
Pull down to refresh
Cons
Sometimes a little laggy when scrolling (most of these seemed to be fixed in the last update, only when scrolling rather quickly does this happen)
Some clients out there are just as good for a bit cheaper, if Boxcar hadn’t of went free, Tweetings would be ahead due to native push
Sometimes crashes after changing a theme or using the nearby feature, hopefully this will be fixed in an update
Overall, I think the iPad version is a bit more polished and stable, so hopefully the iPhone version will receive the same polish in a coming update. The developer is very supportive and seems to update often. If you’re looking for a good Twitter client (or you’re like me and are completely shallow about Twitter clients), give it a shot (but first enter our giveaway to see if you can get your hands on one courtesy of TiPb and Tweetings!). If you do, or already have it, let us know in the comments.
Giveaway!
Alright, last week we gave away 5 Tweetings for iPad promo codes and this week we’re giving away 5 Tweetings for iPhone codes! How do you go about getting your hands on one you ask? Just leave a comment. Yep, that’s it. It can be why you want a copy of Tweetings or what Twitter client you’re currently using, anything you want really, or just to say hi! Just make sure you use a valid e-mail address you check when leaving your comment. Next week we’ll pick 5 of you randomly to receive Tweetings code. And keep in mind, this week’s codes are for the iPhone version only, not iPad. Good luck and happy tweeting!
[US iTunes App Store account required to redeem Promo Codes -- Apple's rule, not TiPb's -- and they expire so if you get one, use it quickly!]
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