If you’ve been looking for a solid case for your iPhone 3G, you need not look any further. This $15 dollar Vroom tire tread case is made from 100% rubber and as we all know, rubber can bounce. This’ll not only protect your phone by cushioning the blow of impact, but it’ll also prevent your phone from slipping out of your hand. When it comes to protecting your gadgets, nothing compares to the power of Firestone Tir-wait, scratch that.
It seems like only yesterday I was using my 350 MHz HP desktop. It was the creme of the crop at the time and ran the original Half-Life like a champ. Combined with my 3DFX Voodoo 3 graphics card, I was set. Fast forward to the end of 2008 and Asus is unveiling a PDA phone with an 800 MHz Marvell CPU. You’ll also secure a 2.8-inch touchscreen, HSDPA 3G with GPRS/EDGE/GSM, 802.11b/g WiFi and a three-megapixel camera.
Come to think of it, this blows almost every non-Apple PC I’ve ever owned. I suppose Dylan was right when he said “the times are a changin’.”
After months of speculation and rumors AT&T CEO Ralph De la Vega has confirmed that both AT&T and Apple will officially offer the capability to use the iPhone 3G as a modem. How well Apple’s iPhone 3G will perform as a modem remains to be seen as does its availability.
If you’re one of the 3G users who’ve been patiently waiting for a first party tethering service as opposed to using alternatives such as iModem, then the wait will soon be over. There has never been a better time to be an iPhone owner.
Now here’s an iPhone application worth plunking down 99 cents for. It’s an Ocarina app that lets you play notes like a traditional ocarina by allowing you to hold down valves on the screen and blowing into the microphone. Sounds pretty creative. The best part is that it comes with a Legend of Zelda mode that turns it into, well, an Ocarina of Time. It’s amazing how video games transcend reality, isn’t it?
With T-Mobile just now rolling out it’s 3G network, it’s pretty apparent that the US is lacking in awesome technology. Japan and other Asian countries get to watch mobile broadcast television via DVB-T or 1-SEG, which can make a morning commute a lot more entertaining. Unfortunately, iPhone users have been left in the dark - until now.
Released in conjunction with a free iPhone application, this 1-SEG TV tuner will hook up to your iPhone and will provide you with up to three hours of TV viewing. It even has a built-in battery to help you get some extra life out of your iPhone. It’ll run you 10,000 yen or about $100. Not a bad deal for television on the go and a lot cheaper than the iTunes Music Store.
The talk about Google and T-Mobile’s upcoming G1 phone isn’t dying down anytime soon. However, in a very stupid move, T-Mobile had capped the phone so that after using more than 1GB of data over 3G, your phone would switch to GPRS-based ‘net and email access - significantly slower than HSDPA 3G speeds. Some speculate that the ‘Mo did this because it’s only starting to develop and expand it’s fragile 3G network. That’s changed though:
Our goal, when the T-Mobile G1 becomes available in October, is to provide affordable, high-speed data service allowing customers to experience the full data capabilities of the device and our 3G network. At the same time, we have a responsibility to provide the best network experience for all of our customers so we reserve the right to temporarily reduce data throughput for a small fraction of our customers who have excessive or disproportionate usage that interferes with our network performance or our ability to provide quality service to all of our customers.
We removed the 1GB soft limit from our policy statement, and we are confident that T-Mobile G1 customers will enjoy the high speed of data access over our 3G network. The specific terms for our new data plans are still being reviewed and once they are final we will be certain to share this broadly with current customers and potential new customers.
This is good….for now. We’ll see what happens come late October.
When the word “Continental” comes to mind, I tend to think of a shit dive bar in Manhattan where you can get 5 shots of any liquor for $10. Anytime. Yes, it’s amazing and here’s a limited edition iPhone to match. It’s an all black iPhone 3G encrusted with a combination of black and white diamonds. Think that’s rich? Each is hand made and is of course, limited edition. Better have the loot to back up your style, though. Continental’s iPhone 3G is going for about $6500.
We just can’t get enough of the goodies that keep showing up in the iPhone App Store. The latest rumored application is the iHologram by David O’Reilly. It creates a holographic-like effect on the iPhone by performing real time adjustments to the image based on rotation, similar to the fake beer app.
Seems pretty cool, huh? You’ll be disappointed to know it’s a fake. Yea, It turns out that the iHologram is faker than Steve Fosset’s death. Actually, we’re still not so sure about that one.
“The iHologram app was not real. It was an illustration of an idea I had which I believe could work with the technology (combining anamorphosis and motion sensing). Unfortunately I’m just an ideas person, I can show how things should look, but I’m no hardcore programmer.”
Only time will tell if this app or Steve Fosset’s body will show up in the App Store. If I had to choose what one would show up first, it’d have to be the body. With an attitude like O’Reilly’s, this app will never see the light of day.
Normally, we tend to stay away from the played out consumer electronics but this particular one deserved a mention. The reason? This is Sony Ericsson’s first cellphone ever on T-Mobile’s US network. Known as the TM506, it’s a decent clamshell phone that will feature 3G, one of the key selling points for T-Mobile since it just rolled out its US 3G network. UMTS, 2-megapixel camera, HSDPA, A-GPS that can be used with TeleNav, media suite and MyFaves support.
Overall, it looks like a decent phone and a great start for T-Mobile and Sony Ericsson’s relationship. In a weird PR move, neither SE or T-Mo have announced a price. I’m going to take a shot at around $149 with a one-year contract. Take it with a grain of salt.
Coming this fall is Palm’s Treo Pro. It’s also the first Treo to support tri-band HSDPA (faster net speed) for 3G access on AT&T and additional carriers. The American launch will start out with an unlocked, carrier-independent version at $549 that’ll feature a sleeker design than previous Treos as well as a touchscreen and a button to quickly switch its built-in WiFi on or off. Forget that slow imitation GPS system too. The Treo Pro uses true GPS for navigation, because we all know how much getting lost sucks.
Now the question is: this or the iPhone?
