Several tweets this morning are indicating that a jailbreak for iOS 4.1 could come sooner rather than later. Could there be any better news you ask? Why yes! Jailbreaker @pod2g as well as other sources are indicating that this “particular” exploit would require Apple to flash to a whole new bootrom in order to fix it.
What does this mean for jailbreakers? It means they run less of a risk of accidental updates and what-not being so catastrophic. Apple can’t fix this exploit by simply issuing a software update. It would require a flashed version of the bootrom out of the factory. We may eventually see new iPhone 4s shipped with newer bootroms but any older ones would remain jailbreakable, regardless of any software update Apple may issue.
So if you’re like me and lost your jailbreak for 4.1 (darn prox sensor!), you’ll soon be able to have jailbreak goodness back again. How many of you still plan on jailbreaking and how many of you think iOS 4.x gave you what you needed? For me, notification systems are still a valid reason to jailbreak. What about you?
Update: A source BGR was in contact with has now stated that a flashed bootrom would not be sufficient. A whole new processor revision would be necessary. Jailbreakers rejoice!
iOS 4.1 is live, get to iTunes and hit the update button. If you’re already on the GM, you’ll likely need to hit restore instead of update. If you’re jailbroken, you might want to stay clear or you’ll lose your Jailbreak.
It’s reading as 589.9MB for iPhone 4. Build 8B117 (same as GM seed).
Waiting for iOS 4.1 to drop? What a better way to kill some time by visiting the TiPb forums 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!
Net Applications is reporting that iOS has passed Linux to become the third most popular platform accessing the internet. With a 1.1% share, they’re still behind big brother Mac OS X’s 5% and way behind Windows all-encompassing 91.3% share. However, for a mobile OS, especially considering the next most popular mobile OS, Android, is at 0.2%, that’s a fairly huge accomplishment. According to Vince Vizzaccaro, VP of NetApps:
“Whatever the sales are, we’re seeing iOS totally dominate the market on the Web. iOS has nearly a 6:1 advantage over Android.”
Eh. Given the high adoption rate of greeks and mainstream now, Android will probably catch up quickly. Linux probably won’t. Mobile as a whole is on a tremendous growth curve.
Apple introduced a new iPod nano this week with a multitouch screen, and a new Apple TV with an A4 chipset, but didn’t make clear if either or both were running iOS. Unlike iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, where they shout iOS from the rooftops, they’ve historically kept mum about iPod and Apple TV OS.
iPod nano looks like it’s running iOS. It has an iOS-like user interface with a subset of iOS-like built-in apps controlled by iOS-like gestures. There’s inertial scrolling with elasticity. You can even put icons into jiggly mode and rearrange them. In fact, when demonstrating that during his keynote, Steve Jobs said (emphasis mine):
Say… I want [albums] on the home page, I can just push down, jiggle it, and move it, just like I can with my other iOS devices
Not official confirmation to be sure, but think about it this way: given their focus on iOS of late, would Apple spend the effort to re-create that interface on the old iPod OS just for iPod nano, or to spend it getting iOS running on iPod nano hardware?
Apple TV on the other hand looks nothing like iOS. However, it’s running on an Apple A4 chipset which has, thus far, only been used for iOS devices. Again, given Apple’s focus on iOS, would they spend the effort porting OS X to Apple A4 just for Apple TV, or recreate the Apple TV UI for iOS?
I didn’t hear Jobs mention anything about iOS during the show but Daring Fireball’s John Gruber claims it’s definitely iOS.
I’d love to know for sure, but for now my guess is Apple sees iOS as their future and any effort they put in to new mobile or media devices is going to be put into iOS, including iPod nano and Apple TV.
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!
What didn’t we get from Apple during their 2010 special music event? The iPod touch line got an extremely decent refresh, as well as the Nano. iPhone is getting iOS 4.1 next week with some newly added features and some much needed bug fixes. The iPad will be getting iOS 4.2 – in November, but I’m sure some of us would have liked to see it sooner. And we got an overhauled iTunes. I personally wasn’t expecting a whole new iTunes, so that was the surprise of the day for me. AppleTV was pretty underwhelming in my book (as well as Rene’s). Click through to see what us here at TiPb would have liked to see and let us know in the comments what you would have liked that just didn’t make the cut this time.
iPhone
iPhone will be getting iOS 4.1 next week. Along with general bug fixes (proximity issues anyone?), you’ll get Game Center and some welcome additions to the camera. I know I wasn’t the only staff member excited by the edition of HDR to the camera, but I would have liked to see maybe some contrast and saturation settings added. I’ve especially noticed it on the iPhone 4, but sometimes pictures in low light settings come out a little too warm (yellow-ish) in my opinion. It would be nice to be able to tweak some settings. Game Center is a welcome addition, but I’m not crazy about the whole carnival-esque layout. I much preferred the original layout from the original 4.0 betas. I wasn’t expecting too much in the way of iPhone. There were rumors flying around of a new iPhone, but I think we all know better than that around these parts. Apple is predictable. As long as their current business model works, I don’t see them changing that pattern.
iPad
The iPad will have to wait for November for iOS 4.2 – next week would have been nice. Why the hold up? El Jobso really didn’t have a lot to say about the iPad at the event. He seemed a bit rushed. Deep down, I was really hoping to hear about a potential iPad refresh, but I figured that wouldn’t happen until January or so. Did you guys expect anything iPad wise that you didn’t get?
iPods
As far as iPods go, I really have nothing to complain about. I think the shuffle combines the best of both previous generations now. The Nano now has a touchscreen! It contains everything the previous generations had, but aligns better with its sibling product lines. Chad noticed the absence of video on the Nano. I don’t really know if that would both me personally, as I wouldn’t want to watch movies or video on that tiny little screen. To me, this is simply Apple positioning themselves in the market. If you want an iPod with video, you’ll have to step up to the iPod touch now. Makes good business sense to me. Only peeve I have with the new iPod line at the current moment is the back material on the Touch. For the love of everything Jobs, PLEASE pick a better finish that doesn’t scratch when you set it on a pillow? That chrome is just screaming “Scratch me!” How about a frosted material next time guys?
iTunes
iTunes 10! This was the one thing I was somewhat excited about today. I don’t get too excited about iPods since I have an iPhone, so I really have no need for one. Ping sounds like a good concept, but we’ll see if it will catch on. I also like the idea of top 10 lists created by your friends, but you’ll also have to be selective about what friends you have on there. I have friends who listen to death metal, and I don’t want that in my top 10 suggestions lists. To me, that doesn’t sound very intuitive. Some people would have liked to see cloud-based syncing or some version of iTunes in the cloud. We previously speculated that this was why Apple acquired LaLa. Maybe not? I would have liked to see some more intuitive ways to organize content. I love coverflow and sometimes even if you group albums the same, you see duplicates in different views. More than anything, I wanted to see more fine tuned controls. If anyone sees anything new in iTunes 10 as far as organization I haven’t found yet, let us know in the comments.
Apple TV
I pretty much have the same feeling’s Rene does on this one, so we’ll let him take it from there. But if you’d like to rant or tell us your thoughts, let us know in the comments. Needless to say, I’ll probably be getting one. That may sound odd, but I didn’t have the first generation, or any generation AppleTV. At $99, I can stream all my movies from my iMac to the TV and stop fiddling with burning DVDs or hooking up an output device. And iTunes rentals are cheaper than rentals from Comcast. I’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on a new media device for our living room as we’ve been putting it off forever. I’d still have liked to see a LOT more features than what we got. Anyone else picking one up?
I also would have liked to see an update to MobileMe or something along the lines of adding new features. Streaming would have been nice or the ability to store books or music wirelessly to your MobileMe iDisk. Other than that, I didn’t expect that many “One more things”.
That about wraps it up, let us know all your thoughts in the comments!
The new Apple TV is running on an Apple A4 chip, just like iPhone and iPad, and almost certainly running iOS, so where are the apps, games, and web browser?
We got Netflix, but it was built in just like YouTube. We got iOS under the covers but no iOS-style UI. We got AirPlay, so we can stream from iPhone or iPad, and presumably there’ll be an Apple Remote app to control Apple TV via iPhone or iPad…
… but I kinda wanted more.
Apple TV wins on ease of use, but for power and flexibility one of those new Mac Minis and the excellent Windows 7 Media Center are the nuclear option, and many also cheap boxes like Roku, Boxee, etc. arguably have more bang for the buck.
Could Apple have an Apple TV SDK in the wings, something to announce for developers at a late date? Or is it the most closed of the already closed iOS boxes?
I have to believe gaming on Apple TV is a gold mine, so my bet is we see apps… eventually. What’s yours?
If Apple announces that much rumored, all new, all iOS AppleTV/iTV this Wednesday at their annual special music event, what kind of apps would you want on it?
When Apple introduced iPad, they let it run pretty much every iOS app made for iPhone and iPod touch (absent camera and phone apps, of course) by boxing them or pixel doubling them. Depending on the exact nature of the app, however, the experience at 1024×768 and 9.7-inches varied from fine to dismal. Luckily there were 5000 or so iPad specific apps available at launch and that number has continued to grow.
Now iPhone 4 — and likely soon iPod touch 4 — have 960×640 displays but still only 3.5-inches. If iPad was a step up, iTV will be a leap. There’s an outside chance of 1960×1080 or the current 1280×720, both of which are probably workable just like they were for iPad… except TV screens won’t be multitouch and they won’t be in our hands or on our laps.
What made the 2007 iPhone a breakaway hit, what let it change the industry was its multitouch user interface. It disintermediated physical keyboards and styluses and let us touch and directly manipulate the UI.
Sitting 10 feet away, far removed from 30 to 70-inch screens, acting through some type of remote, wand, scroller, trackpad, or iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, what kind of apps make the most sense?
I can see a few categories.
TV/Movie apps. Whether or not Apple offers subscription or rental TV, the existing big name TV and Movie apps need to be there. Netflix, Hulu plus, ABC. HBO. All of them.
Game apps. Straight ports might not work, and games that depend on an iOS device as controller or secondary screen (like Scrabble for iPhone and iPad) might raise the cost of adaption, but big screen iOS gaming will almost certainly be front and center. And Game Center.
Interactive book apps. Not iBooks but apps like the Dr. Seuss or Toy Story books for kids, especially if taken to the next level, would be wonderful educational resources.
Reporting apps. The ability to display aggregated data about everything from the weather to all your and your friend’s location check-ins to looking through Facebook albums to route planning for your iPhone navigation app would really take advantage of the big screen and family view.
Web apps. I want Safari on my TV. If you can tether a BT keyboard, or use an iPhone or iPad as a keyboard, even email, twitter, etc. wouldn’t have to be read-only.
While iPad is often labeled a consumption device, iTV would be even more consumption oriented. You probably wouldn’t want to even try to knock out large docs or use complex productivity apps. It would be a grosser, more distant experience. But absorbing media and entertainment, information and analytics could be fantastic. Those are the types of apps I want to see.
Back in July we saw an Apple labeled 1.5″ touchscreen and wondered if it would be for a tiny, multitouch nano. Now some new cases, purportedly for the same device, makes us wonder much the same again.
Would it run iOS? Could it, with a screen that small? You could fit, what, 2×2 icons for a grid of 4 apps total? Web browsing probably wouldn’t be included, but could it have ports of all the usual nano music, photos, video, and other assorted functionality?
Apple has scaled up iOS on the iPad, and is rumored to be doing that again with Apple TV/iTV but would it work as well scaled down for the iPod nano?
Back in July we saw an Apple labeled 1.5″ touchscreen and wondered if it would be for a tiny, multitouch nano. Now some new cases, purportedly for the same device, makes us wonder much the same again.
Would it run iOS? Could it, with a screen that small? You could fit, what, 2×2 icons for a grid of 4 apps total? Web browsing probably wouldn’t be included, but could it have ports of all the usual nano music, photos, video, and other assorted functionality?
Apple has scaled up iOS on the iPad, and is rumored to be doing that again with Apple TV/iTV but would it work as well scaled down for the iPod nano?
Last week an Apple patent application was published and it described how certain activities performed on a iOS device could suggest “suspicious behavior” that could reveal unauthorized usage of that device. In particular – voice, facial, or heartbeat recognition could be used to confirm whether or not the current user is indeed an authorized user and should have access to the given device or not. Then depending on the authorization the user could be given full access to all data stored on the device or could be limited. And if you dig deeper into the patents details you will see Apple may have an alternative motive, namely jailbreaking.
“An activity that can detect an unauthorized user can be any action that may indicate the electronic device is being tampered with by being, for example, hacked, jailbroken, or unlocked,” the patent continues. “For example, a sudden increase in memory usage of the electronic device can indicate that a hacking program is being run and that an unauthorized user may be using the electronic device.”
So in other words, if your iPhone is not being used in way Mr. Jobs agrees with, he can deactivate your device.
UPDATE: Due to a technical error, this post sat in limbo for a week but we consider it interesting enough that we’d rather have it up late than never. Apologies for the tardiness but do let us know what you think about a future where this patent is in use on real devices.
The iPhone Dev-Team will not release a jailbreak for iOS 4.0.2/3.2.2. And that means if you purchase a new iPhone 4, which is currently shipping with iOS 4.0.2, you are out of luck in terms of jailbreaking. It is a never ending cat and mouse game between Apple and the jailbreak community and for current iOS software, the Dev-Team are choosing to sit on the side line and for good reason.
“No, there won’t be. FW 4.0.2/3.2.2 was only released to fix the jailbreakme hole. With FW 4.1 still in its beta stages, it makes no sense to escalate the “cat & mouse” with Apple for FW updates that only fix the jailbreak holes. To quote WOPR, “the only winning move is not to play”.”
They do go on to say that a future 4.1x FW jailbreak may be compatible with 4.0.2/3.2.2 but that it will be highly unlikely. For more jailbreak chatter be sure to visit our iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock forum.
Chad says we buried the lede: Bloomberg also claims Apple’s annual special music — and this time TV — event will be held September 7. That’s not official, of course. We’ll only know for sure when Apple sends out the invitations.
Remember those rumors of $0.99 iTunes TV show rentals? They’re back. This time with word that FOX-owner Newcorp is in “advanced talks” over the service. CBS and Disney (which has Steve Jobs as their largest share holder) are also rumored to be involved.
According to Bloomberg Apple originally wanted to offer subscription a la carte TV, which failed due to networks not wanting to put their relationships with cable companies in jeopardy. (Sigh).
While a la cart TV exists outside the US (I pay $20 for 20 a la carte channels on my provider) it hasn’t been adopted by existing American providers. Would $0.99 rentals be a good alternative? Just one show a day would average $30 a month, so even if it’s a step in the right direction, it’s a tiny little hesitant one. And it doesn’t even begin to address live sporting events.
In an ideal world iTunes and iOS would be a complete, non-linear, on-demand TV replacement. Absent that, are individual ABC, Hulu +, and MLB apps are better solution? Or do we really have to wait for the dinosaurs of old media to become extinct simply so that consumers can pay them to watch what we want, when we want, and where we want?
I’ve long dreamt of a world where, instead of launching Front Row’s movie interface or DashBoard’s widget screen on a Mac, I could just launch a version of iPhone/iPad’s iOS and use all my existing apps and games — and a newly discovered Apple Patent for a dual-mode iMac touch shows Apple might one day may that dream come true.
Or not. As with any patent there’s no way of knowing which will ever end up as real shipping products and which will live on only as doodles and descriptions. However, Apple is moving inexorably towards iOS and multitouch so perhaps this one has a shot?
What do you think? Is a world where you can slide away your keyboard and mouse Magic TrackPad, flip down Mac OS X, and start multitouching your way through IOS a world you want to live in?
We have good news for those of you not taking full advantage of Google Sync on your iOS device and prefer to use the Google Mobile App [iTunes Link - Free]. You will be happy to know that an update has been rolled out that allows for push notifications. You will now receive an icon badge that displays a message saying you’ve got new mail along with calendar event reminders that will appear on your home screen.
So now let us ask, do any of our readers actually prefer to use this application over Google Sync set up via Exchange?
Digg founder Kevin Rose thinks the upcoming $99, iOS-powered Apple TV/iTV will change everything when it launches this September:
iOS TV Applications: Expect to see an iPhone/Pad like marketplace for television applications. Video sharing/streaming/recording apps, interactive news apps, and of course games.
a la carte (app) stations: With Apple’s iAds, content producers (eg. ABC/NBC/etc.) can directly monetize and distribute their content. This will eventually destroy the television side of the cable and satellite industry, as your only requirement to access these on-demand stations will be an internet connection. Say goodbye to your monthly cable bill.
.Me Picture/Video sharing: At $99 your parents, grandparents, and friends will have an iTV. Sharing pictures/videos from your iPhone will happen with the push of a button. Imagine getting a notification of new family videos the next time you turn on your TV. My mom will love this feature.
The iPad will turn into one big badass remote control: The iPad will be the preferred input device for the iTV. You’ll be able to editing videos, control games, and extend the interactive television experience. Imagine watching monday night football on the TV while viewing/exploring other camera angles on the iPad.
Rose has mixed history on Apple rumors. He’s nailed some big scoops over the years, but he’s also been wrong on more than one occasion. Which is this, far out or far fetched?
We’re shifting our focus from iOS 4 compatibility updates to any iPhone or iPad app or game, new or updated, that seems especially awesome. So if you guys see anything you think deserves some special attention, let us know in the comments and we’ll look at including it in a future roundup! Continue on to see what we found this time!
Pandora
Pandora recently updated their current app to support hi-res images on the iPhone 4. It also fixes several issues with the last version of Pandora. This will also change control settings for volume control and fix crash issues. Since downloading this update, Pandora’s been a lot more stable for me. How’s it been for you guys?
Box.net is a great service for sharing files and viewing them on the go. They offer free accounts as well as paid accounts. There’s a lot of options for file storage and sharing out there, and Box.net is definitely a worthy competitor. This update adds fast app switching as well as some tweaks to the general UI. It also adds speed improvements for viewing files by adding caching. If you have it, grab the update, if you don’t, try it out and let us know what you think!
Cannon Cadets is a new game coming to us by the same people responsible for Little Metal Ball. (If you don’t have Little Metal Ball, check that one out too!) Most of their games are physics based games that require maneuvering and use of the accelerometer. This game combines a story into puzzles and 80 graphically awesome levels. Definitely worth a try. You can also choose an in-app purchase that’ll allow you to unlock all the levels if you want to skip around instead of playing in order. If you pick it up, let us know what you think!
Photoshop has long been a favorite of many graphic junkies, and while the iPhone and iPad (yes, I said iPad) versions of Photoshop won’t do you any good for hardcore editing, for on the go picture editing and adding fun little tweaks to your pictures, Photoshop Express is great. This version adds compatibility for iPad too! This version also allows native uploading to Photoshop.com and Facebook. The general UI seems to be revamped a bit as well as some of the workflow spaces.
This app is mainly focused on professionals in the medical industry. You can use voice controls in order to look up drug interactions, diagnosis information, and much more. It aggregates from some of the more popular databases on the internet. So if you’re a medical professional or student in the medical field, it may be an app worth a second look.
Digitimes, which should always be taken with a huge honking grain of salt, is reporting that Apple is readying CDMA iPhone 4, a 7-inch Cortex A9-based iPad 2, and only Jobs knows what else:
Apple is set launch an upgraded 9.7-inch iPad adopting a new ARM Cortex-A9-based processor and 512MB RAM in the first quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, the company will also launch a 7-inch iPad using the Cortex-A9 processor and an IPS panel with a resolution of 1024×768
As for the CDMA iPhone, Pegatron Technology is expected to start mass production in December and will supply to both US-based Verizon Wireless and China-based China Telecom
The CDMA iPhone’s back plate will be forged from metal materials and will feature an integrated antenna, according to Digitimes Research.
Apple is also set to launch a new Apple TV using AMD’s Fusion solution and will not include a hard drive.
ARM’s Cortex A9 is the next-generation version of the current Apple A4 chipset’s CPU used in iPad and iPhone. With multi-core capabilities, it’s an obvious upgrade to make. Verizon iPhone rumors have been on the rise again in recent weeks, though CDMA can mean different things in different regions. I still think Apple won’t fracture the brand new iPad market with a 7-inch iPad any time soon. It’s not about matching resolution, it’s about pixel density — a 7″ 1024×768 screen would need a whole new UI for the buttons and other UI elements to remain usable by fingers. Apple TV running iOS would be great — but why AMD’s Fusion and not Apple’s own chipsets?
Update: The server issues we mentioned now seem to have been corrected and you can now access the link freely.
Update 2: If you decide to run this jailbreak tool please note that Engadget has managed to brick their iPhone. So please, proceed with caution. Other users are reporting this breaking MMS along with FaceTime and that it is not working on the iPad.
For those of you who were patiently waiting to jailbreak your iPhone running either iOS 4 or 4.0.1, your wait is finally over as iPhone hacker Comex has released a tool to get the job done. It is a web based jailbreak so simply point your mobile safari browser to www.jailbreakme.com and your wait will be over. Heck, you can even use this tool to jailbreak your iPad running 3.2.1.
The servers seemed to be overwhelmed currently but keep checking the link above and let us know how it goes for you! If you have questions and want to learn more about jailbreaking be sure to visit our forum dedicated to the topic here.
Apple’s newly renamed iOS Developer News feed has released two notes today, one on exciting new features in iTunes connect, and the other announcing iAd for Developers — a great way to promote apps, in apps.
iTunes connect is gaining the following:
Using the new Version Release Control to choose when your new app version goes live on the App Store;
Delivering binaries using Application Loader;
New states for your app including Prepare for Upload, Pending Developer Release, and Processing for App Store;
UI Enhancements that indicate when you can edit your app information;
Game Center functionality for the setup of Achievements and Leaderboard Categories for sandbox testing purposes.
And for developers who want to get a little more attention for their apps:
The new iAd for Developers program is a great way for you to advertise your own apps to millions of users across the iAd Network. When a user taps on an ad for your app, they can download it from the App Store without leaving the app they’re in.
It’s easy to get started. Learn more about how you can drive more customers to your app with iAd for Developers.
Any devs out there liking either or both of these updates?
Could a next generation Apple TV not only run iOS, but also TiVo’s awesome DVR software? That’s what the rumors on the webs are saying.
It seems hard to reconcile both a new, tiny, solid-state Apple TV powered by iOS with the bigger, beefier needs of local HD video recording an playback, so I’m taking this with a grain of salt, especially considering Steve Jobs’ comments at the last D8 conference.
But at the same time the thought of iOS apps, iTunes streaming, and TiVo local recording makes me positively giddy with want. (And probably makes the upcoming Google TV slightly less competitive).
What do you think? Make Apple TV lean and mean and focused on the stream, or give it the TiVo treatment?
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 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?
To put the iPad numbers in perspective, Apple sold 3.3 million of them in their debut quarter, and they sold 3.5 million Macs during the same period — their best Mac quarter ever.
And while not all of these devices are still actively being used, theoretically each and every one of them can run most of the 225,000 iPhone apps on the iTunes App Store (iPad runs them boxed or pixel doubled), making a ginormous target for developers.
Those numbers will no doubt increase next year, perhaps adding an iOS Apple TV, an iOS layer on Mac to replace Front Row and Dashboard, and only Steve Jobs knows (and teases) what else.
