We can all expect another feature to hit the iPhone 3G soon–speech recognition.

Now as exciting as that sounds, don’t get too excited yet. This is not speech recognition in the normal sense of the term. No, you can’t say “Mom” and the iPhone will automatically dial your mother’s number. Not going to happen. And the reason why is AT&T is developing the feature to run as a web feature. So when you speak, the data is sent to a remote server, then comes back to perform an action on your handset.

The service, called Speech Mashups, is web-based, so iPhone first gen users will probably be out of luck if stuck with using the EDGE network.

And even though voice dialing won’t work with this brand of speech recognition, it will work for a few other nifty things. There’s a video online showing a man dictating a city and type of business in YellowPages and how Speech Mashups does all of the footwork for you. Pretty cool, but voice dialing would be even nicer!

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/speech-recognition-coming-to-the-iphone-233285.php

Posted on July 24th, 2008 by admin
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Those of you who haven’t installed the 2.0 firmware on your iPod touch or first-gen iPhone will be interested to know that 3G connectivity isn’t the only thing making the iPhone 3G faster than before. Despite being pretty buggy and prone to random crashes, the iPhone 2.0 software’s new version of the Safari browser is significantly faster than 1.1.4 or 1.1.5.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball has compared an iPhone running software version 2.0 with the same tests from 1.0.1 and 1.1.4. Here are his results (the smaller the bar, the faster it was):
According to his tests, it was no less than 1.7 times as fast in most cases. You can get more of the nitty-gritty at Daring Fireball.

Posted on July 22nd, 2008 by admin
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The iPhone Dev Team has released version 2.0 of the Pwnage tool. This tool allows you Jailbreak (add unofficial 3rd party applications) the original iPhone, the iPod Touch and now the iPhone 3G. The tool also allows you to SIM unlock the original iPhone, which allows it to be used on any GSM network. Owners of the iPhone 3G will have to wait for a future release before they are able to unlock their devices with the tool.

In summary, this release supports:

iPhone (1st Gen) with 2.0 - Activated, Unlocked & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications).
iPod Touch with 2.0 - Activated & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications).
iPhone (3G) with 2.0 - Activated, Jailbroken (with support for third party applications).

Posted on July 21st, 2008 by admin
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iPhoneAlley notes that AT&T has once again posted information on their website indicating that all iPhone customers have free access to their more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots access across the U.S., including Starbucks locations:

AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation’s largest Wi-Fi hotspot network with more than 17,000 hotspots, including Starbucks*. Now users can relax and access music, e-mail and web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their favorite location.

AT&T provides an online tool to find a Wi-Fi spot near you.

We had first reported on this topic back in April when AT&T had turned the feature on at hotspot locations across the U.S. This was quickly disabled just a few days later. Another week after that, AT&T advertised the new feature on their iPhone website, and again quickly removed it. When the service was active, AT&T simply required you to enter your current iPhone phone number as authentication.

There was some speculation that the delay was due to the fact that they had not yet completed their Wi-Fi deployment at Starbucks. AT&T had won the Starbucks contract from T-Mobile in February and is already offering free Wi-Fi access for their DSL and business customers.

via http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/18/atandts-free-wi-fi-hotspot-access-for-iphones-finally-announced/

Posted on July 18th, 2008 by admin
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some information regarding how much the new iPhone 3G really cost Apple. Based on their calculation, Apple seems to be making roughly fifty fuve percent profit margin. While iSuppli did not count into research and development cost, the number is quite interesting.

Stripping off the new iPhone 3G for component lists and price them individually, iSuppli determined that a 8GB iPhone 3G costs $173.33 to build. AT&T is rumored to be paying Apple $300 subsidy on each iPhone 3G sales, that put the iPhone 3G total prices to $499 for the 8GB version and translate to the fifty five percent margin stated above.

“iSuppli believes Apple aimed for a more cost-effective design for the 3G iPhone compared to the 2G, in order to lower the retail price - which will allow the company to seed adoption and to capture maximum market share now - while the company still has buzz and a perceived differentiation relative to its competitors.”

If this number hold any truth, Apple’s one million iPhone 3G sold during the weekend should put its quarterly earning higher than before.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/iphone-3g-costs-173-to-build-giving-apple-an-estimated-55-percent-profit-margin-163019.php

Posted on July 17th, 2008 by admin
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If you’ve been aggravated at your iPhone or iPod touch in the past for its inability to play back WAV voicemail files from home phone services like Vonage or AT&T (synergy foul! yellow card), you may now breathe easier. TJ Luoma was 95% through building a rather elaborate script to convert incoming WAV voicemails to MP3 for iPhone playback (and, while he was at it, add some reverse lookup magic) when he discovered that the 2.0 firmware now includes the ability to play back the particular flavor of WAV file used in these voicemails. Problem solved.

Posted on July 17th, 2008 by admin
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I’m happy to say that my new iPhone 3G is working great, however, it seems that other people’s phones are feeling a bit…yellow. That is to say that their display has a slightly yellow tint to it. Check out the comparison pictures below.

While I can certainly see a difference in the colors of the two phones, I think it is possibly explained by simply a different color temperature, rather than a faulty screen. With that in mind, I wish I had an older 2.5 model around for a side-by-side comparison since I don’t see an issue with my screen.

Are any of you guys noticing this yellow hue? I’d be interested to hear just how many of you are noticing this, and whether or not it quite as visible without being next to an original iPhone.

Posted on July 15th, 2008 by admin
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Stories about cell phone unlocking and resales have hit the news recently. TracFone sued numerous resellers who (legally) bought inexpensive subsidized units, unlocked them and sold them overseas. In the iPhone world, the story differs. Rather than leveraging subsidized prices, the way the TracFone defendents did, iPhone resellers added value on top of the unsubsidized units. The bought the phones, unlocked them and sold them for a profit.

The story gets more interesting with the current generation “no commitment” iPhones. The latest 3G “no commitment” iPhone pricing appears to include an extra $200 profit margin on top of the $200 subsidy.

TUAW reader Adam Jenkins offers proof. In Massachusetts, purchasers pay tax on the full unsubsidized phone price regardless of subsidies. The 5% sales tax for his new 16GB 3G iPhone came to $24.95. Clearly Apple and the State of Massachusetts believe the unsubsidized 16GB price is $499, not the $699 “no commitment” price. That extra $200 offers a nice cushion on top of the unsubsidized sale, providing pure profit.

What’s the opposite story of resellers taking advantage of cell phone subsidies? Seems to be the 3G iPhone.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/14/unsubsidized-iphone-prices/

Posted on July 15th, 2008 by admin
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If you’re looking to dismantle your iPhone 3G but you’d rather have some pieces slightly larger than dust left over at the end of the process, than iFixit should be your first port of call.  The famed strippers - by which I mean they strip down gadgets to their constituent parts - have already taken out their screwdrivers and splayed out the second-gen iPhone’s guts for all to see.

There’s some good news in there too.  For a start, Apple have learnt from making the iPod Touch and refrained from bonding the glass and the LCD together.  In the original iPhone those two pieces were fixed, making repairs expensive.  The display itself now connects directly to the main board, rather than having numerous other components attached to it.

Further inside, and it turns out that the iPhone 3G’s battery isn’t actually soldered in place.  That’s not quite as useful as a user-replaceable battery, but it does mean that if you’re reluctant to send your cellphone off to Apple and pay them $86 to swap it out, you’ll not need a soldering iron to do it yourself.  If you’re interested in the specific chips used, iFixit are listing them as and when details emerge.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/iphone-3g-dismantled-display-glass-separate-battery-not-soldered-113006.php

Posted on July 14th, 2008 by admin
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If you’ve been looking to get the Apple Bluetooth headset for your iPhone (really, it works on any Bluetooth enabled phone/device/computer) then now is the perfect time to buy. That’s because Apple has lowered the price by $30 (US). So you can now pick up a Bluetooth headset for $99 instead of the previous $129.

However, Apple did make some sacrifices to get the price down: they no longer include the Dual Dock that allows you to dock both your iPhone and Bluetooth headset for charging/pairing. This is a huge bummer seeing as the Dual Dock now sells for $49.

Apple does still include the docking travel cable, which allows you to charge your iPhone/headset, however, it is definitely not as nice to look at as the Dual Dock.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/13/apples-bluetooth-headset-gets-price-reduction/

Posted on July 14th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, iPhone bluetooth headset | No Comments »