iPhone 3G Upgrade Articles

Thinking about buying or upgrading to the iPhone 3G?  Well, here are some articles that let’s you know what to do or expect.

One thing you should know: if you have the base iPhone 1G plan ($59.99/mo) and want the equivalent plan for the iPhone 3G, the cost is $74.99/mo – $10 extra for the 3G data plan and $5 extra for the 200 text messages (which was included in the 1G plan).

Personally, my girlfriend may buy my 1st gen iPhone.  If she does, I’ll upgrade to the 3G model.  Of course, if this occurs, I’ll post how the process went for us so you all know what to expect.

How to transfer 1st gen iPhone to someone else [AppleInsider]

Buying an iPhone 3G for current and new AT&T subscribers [AppleInsider]

How to migrate your iPhone data [Apple]

How to buy an iPhone 3G walkthrough videos from AT&T [MacRumors]

AT&T iPhone 3G plans and pricing info [AT&T]

What you need to buy an iPhone 3G [TUAW]

Filed under: Apple, AT&T, Cellphone, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone

iPhone SDK & 3rd Party Apps

Wow…some very cool details that Apple has released about the iPhone SDK (beta) today. I won’t go into the details since you can read them yourself (link below). The most important thing: an iPhone software update enabling 3rd party apps will be released in June, 2008. So, it looks like we have a few more months to go before we can start buying and installing 3rd party apps w/o jailbreaking our iPhones.

There were some very cool demos shown at the press event, too.

[via AppleInsider]

Filed under: Apple, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Mobile Software, Smartphone

New iPhone firmware released (v.1.1.4)

Apple has released a new firmware for the iPhone (1.1.4) .  Apparently, all the release notes say are, “bug fixes.”

I don’t know about you all but ever since I upgraded to 1.1.3 (released during MacWorld ’08), I’ve had Safari crash several times.  Prior to 1.1.3, Safari crashed only a handful of times in 6 months.  Maybe this new firmware will make Safari more stable.

[via AppleInsider]

Filed under: Apple, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone

How to get your iPhone $100 rebate

For those of you who purchased an iPhone (like me) before August 22, here’s how to get your $100 Apple store credit:

1. Go to the Apple iPhone Store Credit request page
2. Enter your mobile number and your iPhone serial number
3. Within 5 minutes, you’ll receive an SMS message with a store credit access code
4. Enter the access code on the store credit request page and you’ll get a printable store credit coupon

There were rumors that the early, early adopters (i.e., those of us who purchased before August 22) weren’t eligible for a store credit but I can confirm that I received it. And, I purchased my iPhone 2 days after it was released (July 2?).

Now, go get your $100 credit!

EDIT:  Forgot to mention that the deadline to submit your claim is November 30, 2007.

Filed under: Apple, Apple Store, How-To, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone

Get live doppler radar maps on your iPhone

Macenstein found a great website for iPhones that allows you to view live doppler radar maps from Weather.com. Very sweet. The site: iWeathr.com (there’s no “e”)…but don’t bother trying to view the site unless if you have an iPhone because the site is designed only for iPhones.

After you choose a city, iWeathr loads the latest doppler radar maps from Weather.com and plays those images in a loop (just like Weather.com does).

I accessed the site via EDGE and it can take 20 – 60 seconds for the maps to load but it’s worth it. So, if you have an iPhone, give it a try!

Filed under: Apple, Cellphone, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Weather, Wireless

AT&T has activated over 1 million iPhones

According to waitingforiphone.com, AT&T has activated over 1 million iPhones within the first week of sales:

According to reports leaked to waitingforiphone.com, ATT Mobility has fulfilled over 1 million iPhone activations since the device was launched in the US on June 29th. This news comes from a full-time staffer in ATT Mobilty’s Commerce Group who chose to remain anonymous. Wall Street analysists have placed initial iPhone sales between 500,000 – 750,000 units. First week sales of over 1 million would cement the iPhone as Apple’s fastest selling new product, and one of the hottest new technology gadgets in history.

If this is true, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that’s probably the most successful mobile phone/smartphone launch in the history of the cell phone industry.

Filed under: Apple, AT&T, Cellphone, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Wireless

iPhone Tip: How to type a period with one tap

If you own an iPhone or have been reading all of the reviews/comments, you’ll notice that typing a period is a pain in the ass. More specifically, it takes 3 taps to type a period. Not very user friendly, right? Well, David Pogue has posted instructions on how to type that period with one tap:

The iPhone doesn’t register most key presses until you *release* your finger. But Andrew discovered that the Shift and Punctuation keys register their taps on the *press-down* instead.

So here’s what you can do, all in one motion:

1. Touch the “.?123” key, but don’t lift your finger as the punctuation layout appears.

2. Slide your finger a half inch onto the period or comma key, and release.

Incredibly, the ABC layout returns automatically. You’ve typed a period or a comma with one finger touch instead of three. In fact, you can type ANY of the punctuation symbols the same way.

I’ve tried it and it’s pretty slick…and much easier. It’ll take some getting used to because my natural tendency is to tap instead of tap, hold, drag, and release. Nevertheless, it’s easier and quicker than tapping three times so give it a try!

Filed under: Apple, Cellphone, How-To, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Wireless

500,000 iPhones sold in 2.5 days

Damn, according to reports, Apple has sold 500,000 – 525,000 iPhones from 6pm, Friday, June 29 – close of business July 1. That is absolutely amazing.

Other interesting stats:

• 95% of buyers are opting for the 8GB model (including me)
• 50% of buyers are switching from another carrier (I’m switching from T-Mobile)

Plus, I’ve been monitoring stock at the Apple Stores in Massachusetts and other random states and, since Saturday, inventory has been depleting with a lot more Apple Stores showing no inventory.

Needless to say, the iPhone launch has been nothing but stellar.

Filed under: Apple, Cellphone, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Wireless

iPhone battery replacement: $86

As you all know, the iPhone’s battery cannot be replaced by us…it has to be sent to Apple to be replaced (yup, just like the iPods). It’ll cost you $86 and will require you to give up your iPhone for 3 days..oh, and all of your data will be erased (a simple sync with iTunes will restore your data).

According to the Apple site:

A properly maintained iPhone battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity after 400 full charge and discharge cycles. You may choose to replace your battery when it no longer holds sufficient charge to meet your needs.

Hmm, I don’t know about you but I don’t do a full charge and discharge cycle every day, week, or month so I wonder how long the battery will last when I mostly do full charges from a 50% discharge.  At the end of the day, I expect the lithium ion battery to last as long as your typical Li-on battery.  So, hopefully, I won’t have to spend $86 to replace my battery within a year.

Filed under: Apple, Cellphone, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Technology, Wireless

iPhone Scratch Test Video

Thinking about getting an iPhone but are wondering how durable it is? Well, check out this video from PC World. They scratched the screen with a key, vigorously shaked it in a bag with a bunch of keys, and dropped it on concrete multiple times. The end result: no scratches. Just some scratches on the chrome strip around the screen.

The iPhone looks like it should be coddled like a newborn baby but Apple was smart and designed it to withstand real world usage.

Btw, iLounge has a nice review of the iPhone and speaks to their findings in regards to durability.

Filed under: Apple, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Technology, Video, Wireless, YouTube

Got an iPhone

Well, I broke down, today, and bought an 8GB iPhone. To be honest, I was really trying to hold out until July 2008 because 1.) I have 1 year left on my T-Mobile contract and 2.) I wanted to wait for the 2nd gen iPhone with (hopefully) 3G.

Why did I break down and buy it? Well, I spent 20 minutes playing with it at the Apple Store and I was 110% sold. I was really concerned about the keyboard but it’s really not bad.

Btw, I’m very pleased with how Apple has been able to meet the demand (at least, thus far) and didn’t pull a ‘Playstation, Wii, or Xbox 360 launch’ Meaning, having (artificial) shortages to drum-up demand and press/hype.

Anyways, I’m in the middle of upgrading from OS X 10.3.9 –> 10.4. Once that’s done, I’ll be able to activate and use my iPhone.

I’ll post a review in a couple of weeks so stay tuned!

Filed under: Apple, Cellphone, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Wireless

Comments on the iPhone’s battery life and its slippery surface

There have been rumors circulating over the past month or so that the battery life of the iPhone would be pathetic but according to MacScoop’s inside source the battery life will “surprise us.”  According to Apple’s specs, the iPhone will have up to 5 hours talk/video/browsing and up to 16 hours of audio playback.  If MacScoop’s source is correct, then it sounds like the battery life will exceed the advertised specs.

Surprisingly, their ‘source’ is more concerned about the slippery feel of the iPhone:

Overall, our source found the iPhone awesome but he mentioned, as a sole negative point, that the material used on the device’s case makes it feel even more slippery than the iPod and will probably require the purchase of a protective skin or case so as to avoid unintentionally dropping it.

Interesting details…only a month or so to go until we all can get some hands-on time with the iPhone.

[via MacScoop]

Filed under: Apple, Cellphone, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Smartphone

Windows Mobile 6 for T-Mobile Dash coming on May 4?

Rumors have been circulating that T-Mobile will be releasing a Windows Mobile 6 Standard ROM upgrade for T-Mobile Dash owners on May 4.

If it does drop next week, I would caution that you make sure all of your 3rd party apps are compatible with WM6 before upgrading.

[via Smartphone Thoughts]

Filed under: Cellphone, Microsoft, Mobile Phone, Mobile Software, Rumors, Smartphone, T-Mobile, Windows Mobile, Wireless

Apple may offer $50 – $150 rebate for the iPhone

A Wall St. research report an Apple from American Technology analyst, Shaw Wu, says there are several sources indicating that Apple is seriously considering offering a rebate on the iPhone, which will retail for $499 (4GB) and $599 (8GB). Of course, if you want to take advantage of the rebate, you’ll have to sign a 2-year contract with AT&T.

Some other interesting topics in the report:

• Revenue sharing and bounties for Apple
• Recurring revenue from cell phone carriers

Personally, I hope they offer a rebate because $500/$600 is tough to swallow.

[via AppleInsider]

Filed under: Apple, AT&T, Cellphone, Cingular, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Rumors, Smartphone

Samsung BlackJack owners will get free upgrade to Windows Mobile 6

Good news: AT&T has publicly stated that all Samsung BlackJack, Treo 750, and Cingular 8525 owners will get a free upgrade to WM6.

Bad news: the AT&T/Cingular spokesperson would not commit to a specific date and only said, “later this year.”

If I owned one of these phones, I wouldn’t mind waiting since I bet a lot of 3rd party software is not yet compatible with WM6.

[via Brighthand]

Filed under: Cellphone, Cingular, Mobile Phone, Samsung, Smartphone, Windows Mobile, Wireless

iPhone to be released on June 11?

Word from a CNet blog is that a Cingular/AT&T customer support rep said the iPhone will be released on June 11, which coincides with Apple’s WWDC from June 11 – 15. This could be a bunch of b.s. since most of those CSRs don’t know jack.

All this said, I’m guessing Apple will formally announce it at the WWDC…and, hopefully, along with an update to the MacBook Pro.

[via MacRumors]

Filed under: Apple, iPhone, Mobile Phone, Rumors, Smartphone, Wireless

Daylight Savings Time bug with Google Calendar’s API

There is a bug with Google Calendar’s API – their API doesn’t account for the changes to Daylight Savings Time (DST). This is making life hell for anyone who uses 3rd party software to sync Google Calendar to their Outlook, Windows Mobile, etc. calendars. Don’t get me wrong, I love Google but they royally screwed-up on this one. According to Google Support, they’re hoping to fix this in April – April?! WTF!

I noticed this because I use GooSync to synchronize my T-Mobile Dash to Google Calendar. Things were working perfectly until the changes to Daylight Savings Time (DST) took effect on March 11. Post March 11, when I created an appointment on my Windows Mobile 5 device and synced it to Google Calendar, the time of the appointment would show up correctly. But, on a subsequent sync, it would push the appointment time forward by one hour.

If you’re a GooSync user, here’s the link to the post about the DST issue in GooSync’s support group. I gotta say, it’s nice that GooSync posted this note because I’m sure they got a lot of people bitching at them – thinking it was GooSync’s fault (at first, I thought it was their fault, too).

Filed under: Calendar, Cellphone, Daylight Savings Time, Google, Smartphone, Windows Mobile, Wireless

Upgrading to NewsBreak 2.0? Backup your RSS channels

I just upgraded to NewsBreak 2.0 and everything went smoothly. However, backup your list of RSS channels before upgrading. Even though Ilium Software calls it an “upgrade,” it’s more like a reinstall because none of my settings were preserved and, at first, all of my RSS channels were gone. Here’s how I got them back:

1. After the “upgrade,” I went to Menu –> Options –> Data Storage
2. I checked the “store data & podcasts on card” checkbox
3. Upon doing so, NewsBreak displayed a message stating there is already a list of channels on the storage card and asked if I wanted to overwrite those channels – I chose “no.”
4. Then, all of my channels were back

Apparently, NewsBreak just needed to be pointed to the location of my RSS channels. Thankfully, it didn’t automatically overwrite the data on my storage card during the installation. Now, I’m not sure if NewsBreak would overwrite your channels if you had them stored on your device so backup your channels *before* you upgrade to v2.0. I received confirmation from Ilium Software that the reinstall will not overwrite your channels that are stored on the devic. But, I would still recommend backing up your channel list – just in case if the upgrade/reinstall fails.

So, when upgrading to NewsBreak 2.0, you need to do two things: backup your channel list and, after upgrading, reconfigure all of your settings under Menu –> Options.

The page where you download the 2.0 installation file contains instructions on how to install the upgrade but it doesn’t tell you how to get your RSS channels back. I’ve emailed this feedback to Ilium Software so, hopefully, they’ll add some verbiage to this page.

Update (3/19/2007) Post has been updated since Marc, from Ilium Software, has confirmed that the reinstall will not overwrite any RSS channels that are stored on your device. Thanks, Marc!

Filed under: How-To, NewsReader, RSS, Smartphone, Software, Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile 6 demo in Flash

Microsoft has released a 38 MB Flash-based demo of Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition for download. Interestingly, the demo shows a T-Mobile Dash/HTC Excalibur. It’s worth a quick look if you want to see WM6 in action instead of screenshots.

Some cool things the demo shows are:

• Ability to send a Contact card via text message
• Calendar ribbon
• Viewing call history in Contact cards
• Support for HTML e-mails
• Search your device by simply typing the search terms
• Viewing/editing Word & Excel files.

FYI, this demo is targeted to business users so it also shows a good amount of corporate-related features such as: out of office status, searching Exchange Server mailbox, ability to remotely erase data on the SD card, etc.

Filed under: Microsoft, Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Software, Windows Mobile, Wireless

NewsBreak: a Windows Mobile RSS reader for $8 (limited time)

If you’ve been looking for a great RSS reader or news aggregator for your Windows Mobile Smartphone/Pocket PC, look no further. I’ve been using NewsBreak for about 3 months on my T-Mobile Dash and it rocks.

IliumSoft – the makers of NewsBreak – just released version 2.0 and is selling it for a limited time price of $8. That’s a 60% discount since it retails for $20.

If you bought NewsBreak after December 6, 2006 (like I did), then the upgrade is free (woot!). If you bought NewsBreak before December 6, you can upgrade for $8.

Update:  Btw, NewsBreak v2.0 allows you to download and listen to podcasts and search for new feeds via Microsoft’s Live Search.  Geek.com has a positive review, too.

Filed under: Bargains, Deals, Mobile Software, Smartphone, Windows Mobile