iPhone News

The smartphone smackdown is on, with Apple polishing its newest iPhone just in time to take on the latest version of the BlackBerry.

Apple is working on a software update for the iPhone that would address problems causing the handset to drop some calls, according to The Wall Street Journal. Users of the iPhone 3G, released July 11, have complained about disconnected calls.

They say you can tell a lot about a man by his apps.
Apple has opened up a wonderful can of worms by welcoming the development of anyone with time, skill, and innovation enough to program new applications for their iPhone and iPod touch. And just as they did with iTunes, they're acting as a gatekeeper between the producer and the user, and taking their share of every transaction (30%) while watching their hardware sales skyrocket.
It's an ingenious way to sell hardware: Make software, or in this case supervise the transfer of open development to the consumer, and everyone and their brother will want the manufactured device that it runs on.
The best part of this whole personal computing revolution is the idea of customization. Every user is different, and Apple has made it possible for everyone to enjoy their iPhone in their own way. Check out the list below and see where you fit in.

The iPhone became a more accep solution for the enterprise with Exchange support added in the iPhone 2.0 firmware update and now it looks like support for enterprise solutions is expanding. I just read on The iPhone Blog that Groupwise Synchronization is here via the NotifyLink solution.

My small company has been using GroupWise for several years and this would be a great solution for us, but we are actually moving to Exchange in the next two weeks so I won¡¯t be able to try it out myself. However, this is still a very welcome solution for many who no longer have to forward all of their emails to another account to view them faster. I did have access to a web-based interface, but it is a much better experience to have a solution that works with native applications.

iPhone Wallpaper

With over 3,300 votes from iLounge readers, our latest iLounge poll ¡ª ¡°Which one possible Fall 2008 Apple product has the best chance of winning your dollars?¡± ¡ª has ended. Readers were given a variety of options, including current-styled but upgraded iPods, a dramatically different iPod or iPhone, a new Mac, current offerings, or not buying anything.

CUPERTINO, Calif., Aug. 15 (UPI) -- iPhone 3G customers in Europe and the United States have been finding phone call connections suddenly failing, various sources said.

AT&T and Apple are working on a software-oriented remedy for the problem, which some analysts believe originates with German-made Infineon "chipsets" that allow the iPhone 3G to move from one network to another.

Truth be told, I've been writing a lot about the iPhone 3G lately because, despite the tone of my last entry, I'm still thinking about getting one. I need to replace the Q as early as next month, and, given my compendium of requirements, the iPhone remains at the top of the list. As I've noted before, the walled-garden approach isn't unappealing to me; I'm a computer-science major, but I have a business to run and a job to do. So the Mac is a decent platform to base it all on, and the iPhone goes hand-in-hand with the Mac. Is that great marketing, or what? And I'd be amazed if I ever downloaded more than two apps for the iPhone; I just need the basics for business use, and at the core that's a desktop-class browser. So I should be all set.

BusinessDespite being launched more than a month ago, long lines or shortages can make getting an iPhone 3G a difficult task. But enterprise customers can now skip these lines and purchase the smartphone on the Web.

AT&T is now selling Apple's handset on its business Web site for customers as part of its Premier Enterprise program. A customer can purchase an 8-GB iPhone 3G for $199 and a 16-GB version for $299. Either handset will require a two-year contract. The store estimates delivery time will take seven to 10 business days.

An oddly named product developed by an oddly named company, BunsenTech's Dynolicious is a very hip offering for people who own an iPhone or iPod Touch and are obsessed with excellence in vehicle performance. An automotive performance meter that uses no external wires, Dynolicious measures car speed, braking, lateral Gs, wheel horsepower and -- among other metrics -- estimated engine horsepower with results provided in real time graphs and speedometers. The software can be configured to compare results between different vehicles and different dates, making before-and-after modification measures a pretty easy task. I won't try to understand how this product works except to mention that there is an accelerator built into the iPod Touch and iPhone that senses motion.

Garafa's GPSKit for iPhone provides you with more advanced GPS functionality and tracking for your iPhone.
- Dashboard - see real time information
- Tracks - save your path, view in Google Earth or Maps
- Waypoints - Save points of interest
While GPSKit's solution is $9.99, there are other applications on the App Store that provide portions of similar functionality:
- GPS Tracker - real-time tracking service
- Speed - real time speedometer
- PathTracker - real time stats, save your path, also for runners/bikers
- Speedster GPS - speed and altitude in real time
- gpsCompass - real time stats
- Distance Meter - distance tracker
- iTrail - distance and path tracker for runners/bikers
- RunKeeper - track running/biking paths and stats