Mobile Devices - Page 189

So, Apple released its latest version of the iPhone OS version 3.1 recently. At first glance the new software looks like it has a number of improvements. However, it has come to our attention that many people are very unhappy with this new release and not just the jailbreaking/unlocking crowd.

Reports are popping up that OS 3.1 has a negative impact on battery life, SMS/MMS performance, random shutdowns, mobile Safari crashes and breaks exchange support on older generation iPhone's.

The problem has sparked an increasingly response from iPhone 2G and 3G owners on the Apple support forums. This latest issue flies in the face of the current statements by Apple that OS 3.1 is a major improvement over previous ones.

So, what is the problem? Well, if you really want to know it has quite a bit to do with Apple trying to prevent jailbreaking. Apparently their attempt to limit access to the OS is causing some major problems with the way the phone operates. This is increased if you are running on AT&T's outdated network as the extra overhead from certain network checks are causing the decrease in battery life (more edge or 3G transmissions eat up that battery).

Still have no fear that the Dev Team, GeoHot, Saurik, and others will find another hole. In fact according to a recent tweet by GeoHot in response to Saurik. "@saurik is so right, apple fails at challenge response :-)"

After all the 3.1 OS has been broken for the 2G and 3G, it is just the 3G S that is still being worked on.

The Zune HD launched today. This has been one of the most anticipated media players since the iPhone 3G S. I know that sounds really odd. But it is absolutely true. You see people are actually looking for someone to compete with Apple. Even current iPod/iPhone owners.

So what does the Zune bring that the iPod does not have? Well for starters it has an nVidia Tegra 600 under the hood. This new SoC has 8 cores that can dynamically adjust power to provide the longest battery life possible. It does this by powering down unused and unneeded cores to almost zero power usage.

But the Tegra also brings Open GL ES 2.0 720P playback and a host of other features. This is combined in the Zune with HD Radio, Wireless Sync (over WiFi) an AV dock that allows connection to an HD_TV through HDMI, native gaming support (this is nVidia we are talking about) and multi-touch.

When you combine this with the clean and simple user interface and DRM music from Zune you really do have the potential for an iPod competitor.

Many feel this is one of the reasons that Apple rushed to get the new Touch out without the camera instead of waiting to fix the rumored issues and releasing it later in the year.

It will be very interesting to see just how MS handles this new product. If they market this very nice product properly then Apple has every reason to be concerned.

Ah the iPhone, we are regaled with commercials and other PR gimmicks that tell us that "there's an app for that" but the one thing that the iPhone or iPod Touch has yet to be able to do it to really provide any high-quality (graphics wise) games. I mean there are some good ones (Zombieville USA is a favorite) but nothing spectacular.

That is until someone managed to show Crysis being played on the iPhone. Yep, that's right Crysis has been made to work on the iPhone. Now before you get all excited about picking up Crysis in the App Store, I need to tell you that the iPhone was not doing the work. Instead it was all done by OTOY using a render farm.

The frames are then sent out to the client over the internet making a (according to OTOY) playable high-resolution and high-performance game available on just about any platform. This if it can be done at a reasonable price is an amazing step forward.

But, as with all things that sound this good, there is a catch. That catch is bandwidth. You see for low resolution games (like on the iPhone) you do not need a large amount of bandwidth. Yes it is more than the Edge or even 3G can handle but if you connect to your WiFi and have a 2MB+ connection you are in very good shape.

However, when you try to run at higher resolution; say 1080p the bandwidth requirements for full motion lossless gaming is 20MB. That is a big chunk of bandwidth. Considering the market this is probably going to be aimed at I do not see it coming off very well as most people with lower end hardware that would benefit from this are also not going to have a 20MB internet connection.

Today is pretty much all about Intel's Lynnfeild. You will be inundated with reviews and articles about this new (and impressive) CPU. However as this is my first day back from a long 3-day camping trip, I wanted to start things off with some other news.

In the world of small portable electronic devices there is nothing quite as trendy as the netbook. At least that was the "In" thing until the e-book reader hit the market.

Now just like the netbook, everyone has one. Including it would seem Asus. The interesting thing about the Asus offering is that it just might ship with dual color LCD screens. If this is the case it will offer something that no other e-book reader currently has. This is the ability to allow someone to actually read an e-book like a real book.

Color LCDs aside this is one of the big things that I do not like about the current crop of e-readers. They all are single screen and very boring. When I read I like to move from left to right on one page and then move to the next page at the top. It is a habit and what you are used to doing when (if) you read.

Other uses include a pad for notes, a bowser, and more. There is even talk of a camera and mic (with included WiFi) for Skype calls.

So if the rumors are true (and we will be asking Asus) then the new Eee Reader could make quite an impact on the world of the e-book. Especially if they can get the pricing right.

So remember how Apple would not let Google have Latitude because they said people might get is confused with the existing map application (already from Google). Well...it seems that the confusion thing might not have been the full reason that app was rejected.

A new app called Loopt actually performs a similar function and is possibly much more intrusive. It is capable of updating your location all the time. This means even if you have the application shut down it is still logging your every move.

The concept is one straight out of Minority Report. In that movie ads and services were custom tailored to you based on where you had been and what you bought previously. Well Loopt wants to do that too. They want to create a life track so that they can force ads on you based on where you have been. of course this is not a free service you actually have to pay $4 per month to be tracked all the time. This is probably why Google's Latitude did not make it. Google wanted it to be free, so Apple and AT&T were not getting anything for the extra bandwidth usage.

Man no more lunch-time visits to the topless bars for me...

Ok, I just had to write something about this one. We all have read that France is holding Apple accountable for the issue with the 12 or so exploding iPhones.

Well Apple apparently is saying that there is no problem; there are no issues with the batteries overheating...nope nothing at all. They instead blame something they refer to as "External Pressure".

I have to wonder if we will see an advisory about how tight you can hold the iPhone soon. After all they released a ridiculous advisory about operating temperatures. That piece of CYA work pretty much told you to stay inside with your iPhone with the AC on High.

You know, I really wish that Apple would get the hint with this. It is ok to have problems with a product. Really, you can have defects, security issues, everything. It is NOT ok to try and sweep them under the rug or ignore them.

It is my hope that the French Government does do something about this. It may very well set a precedent and force Apple to actually deal with these issues. If they would do that and not take their stance that their products are flawless they would gain a lot more respect.

Yesterday we heard about the new Nokia Booklet 3G. There was not much detail at the time so we did some wishful thinking.

Well today we have more information about the new Book. One thing we know now is the price. This comes in around $799 and makes this about the most expensive netbook I have ever personally seen.

The Booklet 3G will also have an Atom Z530 (1.66GHz) 3G capability, WiFi, SD Card reader, swappable SIM cards (for use worldwide), a 120GB HDD and a few other nice features.

Yesterday we heard that it will have native HD support and that the screen would be HD ready as well. There is still no word on what is pushing the HD support but since we now know the CPU that will be under the hood we can rule out Pinetrail.

Nothing like a good Apple rumor. SO here it is... it looks like despite what people are saying now the much dreamed of Apple iTablet might not see daylight until the middle of 2010.

This will have many who were envisioning themselves kicking back with a 10-inch stylish Apple Ebook reader, reading Steve Jobs' memoirs and listening to them in synchronicity through the built in HD iPod are going to have to wait.

There are no specific reason given for the delay just that the rumored September launch will not likely happen.

Of course there is the little fact that Apple is planning an event (again so the rumors say) in September that could indicate the 2010 launch for the iTablet is not correct. Or that event in September could be just to hamper Microsoft's Zune HD Launch.

Ah Hypocrisy at its best. You all know that Palm has been playing cat and mouse with Apple over iTunes sync. When Apple fixes this hole Palm finds another one.

They even advertised that you could sync the Pre with iTunes. This is all good from their end, no harm done right? Well it might be all good when Palm does it but do not let them catch you using their name, images, or any other IP.

You will get a very seriously worded letter demanding that you stop.

This is exactly what happened to the people that made a Palm Pre theme for Android. They received a letter accusing them of selling the theme (it is free) and demanding them to stop.

Here is the most hypocritical part.

"we are concerned that the use of the name "Palm Pre Android Theme" for your product is likely to cause people to erroneously assume that your application is sponsored, authorized or has been approved by Palm, or that you have, or your company has, a relationship with Palm. Creation of such consumer confusion would constitute an infringement of Palm's well-established trademark rights."

Nothing like telling people you have iTunes syncing at all right? No one would confuse that or think that Palm has a relationship with Apple...

There is more news in the world of Zune HD. After the leaked shots we told you about this morning it seems that Yahoo! tech got to spend some quality time with the new PMP from Microsoft.

They loved the browser (despite being base on IE mobile) where they said that it was able to handle full HTML without skipping a beat. Zooming in and out of pages is similar to the iPhone's "pinch" method.

The keyboard also appears to be similar to the iPhone with the larger letter that pops up when you press a key. Music controls were good with an easy mthod of skipping tracks (simply touch either side of the screen)

There are a number of features of the Zune that will make this a contender for your PMP dollar not the least of which is the tiny yet powerful nVidia Tegra under the hood. 720p HD video support, WiFi with WPA and WEP encryption. Full HTML capable browser and an OLED screen.

Still despite its looks (it has been described as the sexiest Zune ever)and power, MS has an uphill battle there are many similarities between the new Zune and the iPhone/iPod touch this will bring the fanboys out of the woodwork screaming that MS stole the ideas from Apple again. Plus let's not forget that Apple's marketing department is one of the best out while Microsoft's has been lagging a little behind

Developing new and interesting ways of charging phones is going to be a booming business in the near future. After we saw the birth of the Palm Touchstone we knew that there would be other companies that would do their own take on this concept.

Of course, who better to get the contact charging system than the Apple iPhone. After all if you believe Apple, the iPhone charges everything it touches so it stands to reason that this phone should pull power from the very air itself.

Now while the WildCharge contact charging system for the iPhone 3G S does not pull power from the air. It does enable contact charging. There are a couple of cons to this. The first is the pad itself; it is not the most attractive item out there. The next is that you have to use the iPhone case they provide. So, if you have one you already use (like my OtterBox Defender for iPhone) you either have to give it up or constantly swap cases when you want to charge your phone. The case has small "nubs" embedded into the back that need to make contact with the charging pad to work.

If you are looking for wire-free charging this is a decent start and a bundle with both the base plate and skin case is about $80 US.

Source

This is a good one, apparently the deletion of the book 1984 is having unforeseen consequences. These consequences are in the form of a lawsuit from a student that purchased the book for the Kindle in order to use it for his homework.

Of course the book was removed due to, according to Amazon, the publisher not having the rights to the book. So when that happened is when 1984 was no longer on the Kindle the student claims that all of his notes were rendered useless.

I think this has got to be one of the most ridiculous claims I have ever heard. The copy of the book on the Kindle is the same one that can be found for free in a public library, bought in a book store (cheap at a used one). As the file containing the note remained it could have been fairly easy to recreate the work with a physical copy of the book.

I say nice try kid but, this is the same as claiming you cannot do your math home work because your calculator batteries went flat.

Now, on the other hand what Amazon did was wrong, very wrong. But I do not see how they can be sued for money over this issue

There is a lot of talk recently about the rumored/possible tablet from Apple. This is the 10-Inch book that many are now calling the iPad. I have heard that it is going to be everything from a media player to an e-book reader to a netbook.

I guess the real questing that needs to be answered is what does Apple feel it is missing in the market? We know they will not enter the budget system market just as they will not enter the netbook market.

No they have very important niches they tend to cling to. Take a look at their product line and you will see a tremendous amount of overlap. Each product touches the functions of at least one other. The iPhone, iPod, iPod touch, etc if you look you can see this repeated all over Apple's line up.

So where would a tablet fit in? It would not be an add on to their laptop line. It simply could not be powerful enough. But where it fits in perfectly is the e-book reader with multi-media access. Sort of like an iPod on steroids. Apple noted the success of applications like the Kindle reader for iPhone and the relative success of the Sony e-book readers. This, I am sure set off a light bulb and made them realize the need for something like this.

But I can see this being more than a simple e-book reader; I see an iPod function, mobile versions of iWork and even a trimmed down version of iLife. Can you imagine the impact something like this would have if college text books could be put on them?

No matter what this turns out to be (if it is real at all) I am sure that it will be another layer in the Apple line up touching multiple products.

Apple went on record saying that Jailbreaking could cause cell tower crashes, was the favorite of Drug Dealers and caused bad breath (Ok I made that last one up). All of this in a effort to prove that Jailbreaking should be illegal. They claim they have protection in place to prevent the type of mass chaos that jailbroken phone could bring.

So, I guess they are looking pretty foolish right about now. According to Forbes, there is a way to HiJack an iPnone with a simple SMS message.

What make matters worse is that once infected it can infect other phones simply by texting them from your iPhone's Address book. Yep that is right. The secure phone OS from Apple is just as insecure as all the others. But there is a greater potential for infection, after all they advertise that it is secure, encrypted and a host of other things.

The new attack vector will be discussed at Black Hat by none other than Charlie Miller. Once the phone is infected it can be completely taken over by the hacker. They will have the ability to dial numbers, browse the web and even take pictures remotely. Miller informed Apple of this issue but as of this writing Apple has not offered or even discussed a patch for this flaw. The SMS message will show up as a single square character. Miller says that if you see this you should shut your phone off immediately.

Miller will also talk about a few more SMS attacks that relate to Windows Mobile and Android.

We told you this morning how Apple rejected Google's Google Voice app.
Apple's reason was that the Google App mimicked features already present on the iPhone. Well, this has not prevented it from existing.

It has been ported and out up on Cydia for download. That is right; once again the jailbreak crowd has found a way around Apple's iron fist.

To get this you will need a jailbroken iPhone (either using Purplera1n or redsn0w) once you are finished with that make sure you have the MMi repository. From there just grab the App and be happy with your new freedom.

The people over at Mod My I have been careful to note that this is not a product of Google but it will allow you to use the features of Google Voice.

Of course there is a downside; Google Voice is not available to all areas. According to Google's site it should be up in a "matter of weeks".
But for those that already have an account this is good news

Yeah, more Apple rumors! We have been hearing rumors and denials about Apple's plans to make a tablet for about two years now. Ever since the netbook came out people have been speculating that Apple will have to release their own version to compete in the small, low-power and inexpensive market.

However, when anyone has asked Apple they have always replied that they cannot make an inexpensive device that is not junk. (Which is actually funny when you really look at the cost of the parts though.)

All that aside, there has been some rumblings again about a possible new Apple tablet. First is was Apple buying small 10-inch multi-touch screens, then is was a large flash memory purchase, after that it was a carrier saying they would subsidize one if it were made. Now we have a financial paper claiming that Apple might release one in September.

They cite Apple's recent deals with recording labels for new interactive features for purchased music and movies as a sign of this happening. They also claim the new tablet will run the iPhone OS, and connect through WiFI only (just like the iPod), and could have an e-book market place.

Rumors are fun, but I am not sure about this one. It is possible that Apple is trying to enter the e-book reader market. And some signs point to this, like the Kindle App for the iPhone. Time will tell if this is another fairy tale or if there is truth in this.

Apple might have gone a little overboard in their description of how secure their iPhone 3G S is. I know this will come as a shock to no one (except a few very hardcore Apple Fans). After all Apple continuously claims that OSX is not vulnerable to crashes, viruses, hacking etc.

The rub is that on Apple's website they state

Amazon can take back your content without your consent. That is the message that is perfectly clear with the recent removal of George Orwell books from their new Kindle platform.

According to numerous reports around the internet the Book Animal Farm and 1984 were deleted from users' accounts and books after the publisher decided they no longer wanted to offer them through the Kindle service.

Now in the world of print this would mean that the book could no longer be purchased from the store. If you bought one before they pulled it would still be yours.

On Kindle, Amazon deleted the book and refunded the money. This is an amazingly disturbing trend. I will give Amazon full marks for the refunds but the idea that they can remove content at will from someone is not good at all.

So far Amazon has not responded to requests for comment on this and there is nothing (that I have found) that shows that they have this right to being with.

So you have your new iPhone with OS 3.0 and have been enjoying tethering for the last month due to a couple of handy little hack out on the web.

Not wanting to take the plunge and dive into jailbreaking you just made a slight modification in order to get what has been advertised from Apple.

It should come as no surprise then that Apple is working very hard to take this option away from you. After all they do not feel you should have it without paying (a ridiculous amount) for the service. According to testers of the new iPhone OS 3.1 Beta the trick that allows for tethering has been removed as has the MMS hack.

The reason they are working to pull this? Well it seems AT&T has not been able t work in a fee schedule for tethering on the iPhone just yet. This is the same problem they are facing with MMS. I mean come on; you are only paying for "unlimited" data. But that unlimited is really limited in the minds of AT&T. They feel that despite being marketed and sold with a data plan (that you cannot opt out of) you should pay more to experience things that are available on even mundane phones.

So while the new OS 3.1 that is supposedly due out this month will bring some fixes for real user issues it will also tighten the noose on users in the US where exclusivity is still a cool thing and carriers (much like Apple) get to control what "unlimited data" really means.

Just weeks after launching the iPhone 3G S, Apple is receiving numerous complaints about the battery life of the new phone.