Competition

The dominant Application for skinning and changing even the most minute of the iPhone’s interface is the very aptly named “Customize.app” and while it’s the only good thing available, the folks behind Unsanity are aiming to introduce their sorely missed skills to the iPhone.

You might recall the massive crap storm that brewed when users found that the program Application Enhancer which interferes with the OS on a very deep level to change many aspects of the interface caused problems when users tried to install Leopard. While the problem was solved they’ve decided to apply their expertise (and I use this term lightly since I have yet to see any major GUI improvements from them, only from the community) to the iPhone in perhaps the most horrid way possible. And by horrid I mean on the levels of the school bully taking your lunch money except he pretends to be Jason Statham.

The proposition is $20 for six months to use an Application that lets you set your Springboard wallpaper to N-Sync’s lead singer. No, don’t write a comment wailing at me for not supporting the development community… more...

A group of speakers consisting purely of industry leader at the Mobile World Congress could not agree on why the iPhone was so popular amongst consumers. While we could flat out tell you it’s the interface that makes it so damn attractive, it apparently flew over most of their heads.

Adobe on the other hand was the only one to acknowledge that Apple hit a home run with the iPhone while others passed it off as a great time waster. Mike Yonker made a great point as to why the is iPhone is popular amongst consumers: users can get the content they want faster, The iTunes store and YouTube make it that much easier.

Via: iPhone Alley

In an ongoing attempt to cash out from the hordes of consumers offering up their wallets for iPod compatible accessories, 3rd parties have created every known addon to man and then released it about a couple dozen times. While you can buy cases, dock holders and even a bed for your iPod, we’ve yet to see this thrown at the iPhone with a raging desire for more opportunities to rebrand consumer goods with the almighty “Made For iPhone Label”.

DLO on the other hand disregarded everything and fused a pair of speakers to the iPhone in an abnormal fashion ruining an already good design. For $50 you can probably increase the iPhone’s loudness but to have the audacity of labeling these egg shaped oddities with the word “portable” makes about as much sense as using a lawn mower for flight. The possibility is there but should never be done lest someone in the marketing and design department decided that instead of bailing from a failing job created a horrible “Made For A Device That Starts With A Lowercase i” product to extract some sort of imaginary revenge.

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After Nate True went rogue and released a very clunky Jailbreak for 1.1.3, the Dev Team changed plans and released an official method. Luckily, the new way is a hell of a lot easier than the old.

The process is very straightforward but requires a lot of patience and knowledge of what you’re doing. Take it from me, it can be a very long process if not done right.

You can find multiple guides online but keep in mind that if you are hoping to Jailbreak 1.1.3, you’ll have to be on 1.1.2 Jailbroken already. You can downgrade but the process is very tedious and you’ll be mucking around with the Base Band. 1.1.3 upgrades the Base Band for Google Maps’ Locate Me feature, downgrading does not change the BB at all and changing the Firmware prevents you from calling until you upgrade back.

As always iPhone Atlas has a very detailed guide on the procedure and iClarified has a very thorough walkthrough for Windows, Mac and running it directly from your iPhone.

After their recent and bold statement at CES about considering a filter placed on their Internet services, AT&T is imposing a 5GB cap for data on mobile devices.

The cap although low is not meant to trap customers into paying outrageous fees or into void their contract but to warn customers that they’re overloading AT&T’s servers and that by paying more of an even more unlimited plan might be in order.

However, the cost of data plans should drop down to $30 which is the same charge for the BlackBerry Personal plan. Also, text messaging will be broken from data bundles allowing even more savings. These changes should supposedly happen in a few weeks.

Via: Electronista

A survey recently released by Net Applications shows that Mac usage on the web has increased alongside with the iPhone.

The statistics are by no means a representation of market share but a small sampling of web usage from computers and devices. The survey takes sample data from 40,000 that are connected to the research firm.The iPhone, according to Net Applications has grown in usage from 0.09% to 0.12% in November.

Via: Fortune: Apple 2.0

The iPhone went on sale a little over a month ago in France right after being made available in Germany and the UK. The numbers fall short compared to US sales: only 70,000 sold in the first month.

To put this in perspective, Apple sold over 100,00 units during launch weekend. It took 5 days during the French launch to sell 30,000 iPhones and then the rest of the month to round off 40,000 more for a total of 70,000.

The numbers are surprising but also says a lot about the target audience in the US and Europe. Advanced technologies already prevalent in European phones not found in the iPhone hamper sales.

Via: TUAW

The iPhone has played a top role in many “top product lists of 2007” but that hasn’t stopped ComputerWorld from playing favorites and cramming it anyways.
They cite the touch screen interface as being a big plus which we get and of course the heavy duty Spartan case.

Sadly, my iPhone seems to be lacking the testosterone antics of a real Spartan, spear flinging included. In my opinion I’d pass it more on being an iconic device. There are other Smartphones that beat the iPhone in some areas, the biggest being Internet speeds but by taking an already popular brand and applying it to a small but booming segment of the technology industry, Apple is effectively jump starting the mobile revolution and motivating manufacturers to keep up.

The list can be found here. Be forewarned that it’s a whopping 5 pages for little content (two pages at the most most in the realistic world).

Via: TUAW

There is a new site, found via Russell Shaw and ZDNet that faces off 2 pieces of technology to a battle to the death. Ok, well, it’s not to the death but you can still read specs on the devices and then vote on which is better.

When you hear gadget you have to think of the iPhone of course! In fact, the iPhone on Product Clash is featured on a number of battles including a clash with the Samsung F700, the Blackberry 9000, The Blackberry Curve, The Motorola Q, and the Blackberry Pearl.

Check out how the iPhone is doing and then vote for yourself.

The battle lines were drawn and the much hyped iPhone war was about to happen.  Verizon launched the Voyager as a direct competitor to Apple and AT&T’s iPhone. Only this is not much of a battle. In a nutshell, the Voyager is no competition.

I had the opportunity to test out the Voyager this weekend and compare it head to head to my iPhone. I must say, that I was excited at first about this competition. After all, the Voyager is a touchscreen! With a full QWERTY keyboard! It is on a faster data network! And did I mention its touchscreen?!!

Before I go on, if you are looking for a real review of the LG Voyager, read this one. This post is just some first impressions. I am no means an expert on mobile devices but I am an iPhone user and I know what I like.

I had gone to the Verizon Wireless store to hold one in my hand and it did not feel too impressive. When I first got my iPhone, it felt really heavy. But after feeling the weight… more...