Just Another iPhone Blog

The saying is actually “a penny for your thoughts” and not “a penny for your iPhone case”, but whatever, I’ll take three.

Default Case is having a 99% off sale on their iPhone 3G/S and iPhone 4 cases, and there doesn’t seem to be any catch, aside from the shipping costs. I picked up three cases for 12.00 USD just last night. I’m not expecting all that much, but if these Default Cases approach the quality of my excellent Griffin + Threadless case, then I’ll be very, very happy.

You can pick up your own case from DefaultCase.com — each case costs $0.01, but you will get slapped with a $3.99 shipping charge for each case in your cart, so don’t go too case crazy. There are really only two designs (one for each iPhone model), but each one comes in six colours.

[thanks to @lgreenberg for the heads-up]

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iphone case

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

This may well be my favorite iPhone wallpaper ever, ever, ever.  It’s called simply Landscape 01, and it’s by Paul Isabella.   I spotted it because it is featured on the excellent Poolga.com site today, along with another lovely grey landscape wall by the same creator.

(...)
Read the rest of Featured iPhone Wallpaper: Landscape 01 (61 words)

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cool iPhone wallpapers

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

MusicBarExtended is a skinnable iPod controller for jailbroken iPhones that sits in the status bar until summoned by an Activator gesture. Once activated, MBEx acts a lot like the native pop-up music controls that have been around since iOS 1.x — except a lot more customizable. I bought this extension for the requisite $1.59 on Cydia because I was a little curious, but something about it just doesn’t feel right to me, and I’m not using it as much as I thought I would.

I’ve tried a few of the available skins (MBEx Verendus, MBEX Dman, and the default skin, MBEx Recon) but none of them have really stuck. I think it comes down to the actual buttons feeling far too small, and the animations a little too faint, so that the interface never really feels as “real” as the native alternatives. The status bar is a great place for small icons, but not for small buttons, and I still prefer the pop-up or multitasking iPod controls to the MBEx renditions I’ve tried thus far.

Don’t get me wrong: I think this extension is a great idea, but I think I’ll wait for more advanced skins to pop up before I give it another shot.

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPhone jailbreak apps, iphone music, ipod controller, ipod controls

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

I had a different sort of Apple event experience today. When these events roll around, I’m usually at home munching on some food with my teeth and watching the event with my MacBook. This time around I was in Chinatown finishing up some errands and rushing back home in a cab to see the event. Then I remembered that Apple was streaming the whole thing live to Macs and iOS devices, and — to my surprise — it worked beautifully. I watched about 20 minutes of the keynote while on the street or in a cab, and the quality was quite amazing.

Then there were all of the goodies that Steve announced:

(...)
Read the rest of So what did Apple talk about today? [Big ol' roundup] (186 words)

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Apple event

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Epic Citadel is the tech demo that was shown at today’s Apple Event. It’s based on the Unreal engine, which powers triple A games like Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, and Mass Effect. Oh, and it’s drop-dead gorgeous on the iPhone. There’s not much to do in Epic Citadel, but it’s absolutely incredible to see such a detailed landscape rendered in real-time on a smartphone.

There are a few frame rate hitches on my iPhone 3GS, but it works beautifully for the most part. Epic Citadel is a real achievement on iOS and I can’t wait to see what kind of gameplay Epic can bring to our devices with such an amazing engine already in place. The whole download is about 80MB, but it’s definitely worth a look!

[thanks to @Cocoia for the heads-up]

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPhone Games

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

It just wouldn’t be an Apple event without a little boasting about the latest crazy numbers indicating the astounding success of the iOS platform and the App Store. Here are a few that stood out today:

– 6.5 billion apps downloaded total from the App Store – 200 per second!

(...)
Read the rest of Crazy App Store and iOS Numbers from Today’s Apple Event (76 words)

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crazy App store numbers, crazy iOS numbers

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Steve Jobs announced today that the next major update to iOS for the iPhone – iOS 4.1 – will be released next week.  The two big new features for it, as Thomas posted on earlier, are HDR photos and Game Center.

For many iPhone users, the even bigger news about iOS 4.1 is that it promises to fix a number of major ‘bugs’ …

Proximity sensor, Bluetooth bugs, iPhone 3G bugs — “All the bugs we get mail on.

(...)
Read the rest of iOS 4.1 Coming Next Week, Promising Some Major Bug Fixes (80 words)

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ios 4.1, iPhone 4 proximity sensor issues, iPhone Bug Fixes

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Calling it “the strongest lineup of iPods we’ve ever had“ Apple CEO Steve Jobs today announced redesigned models of the iPod shuffle, nano and touch with the iPod classic not even getting an honourable mention. More on that later.

Here’s what’s new:

Apple’s baby iPod, the iPod shuffle, is priced at $49/€55 and features buttons, Voice Over (press a button to hear song title or name)  and a clip. The squared models come in silver as well as pastel blue, pink, green and orange.

Square seems to be the new black as the iPod nano also gets major redesign. Colours are similar to the shuffle, with the addition of dark grey and red. The square nano is now touch-based, allowing the user to pinch and swipe. It also features a built-in FM radio and clip. Pricing is set at $149/€169 for 8GB and $179/€199 for the 16GB models.

(...)
Read the rest of Behold! Apple’s fall iPod lineup (303 words)

© aliciabankhofer for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad, iPhone, iPod, ipod touch, nano, new models, news, shuffle

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Game Center shown on the new iPod Touch 4G

Honestly not too much more to say here, aside from what the headline clearly states. Game Center will be built right into the OS so it should be a little easier for developers to implement, and it will also have a Springboard icon so it should be easier for users to find and configure.

One of the first reactions I had to Game Center when it was first announced was “what will happen to other networks like OpenFeint, Crystal, and Agon Online?”. However, it turns out that OpenFeint is heading to Android OS, so I’m not entirely sure that Game Center will find it all that easy to knock its competition out of the park. We’ll see over the coming months what the specific advantages of Game Center are…

[news via Apple Live Stream]

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

pic from Engadget live blog, click on pic for link

I know a couple of apps on the App Store that aren’t going to like Apple’s new feature: HDR photography. Instead of requiring a separate app to combine an over- and under-exposed picture, all you have to do is tap a button at the top of the default Camera.app and the iPhone will do everything for you. If this works right, we can say bye to overblown backgrounds and underexposed foregrounds and even more radiant pictures — especially on the iPhone 4’s kickass camera.

We can look for this soon when iOS 4.1 comes out next week.

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iphone camera

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

If you’re a fan of the NFL and fantasy football, then the HuddleHub Fantasy Football 2010 app may be one you’re going to want to look at.  It lets you manage your fantasy teams from ESPN and Yahoo, and watch live fantasy scores that automatically update during NFL games.

Here is the app’s brief (but charming) set of features:

• Manage your Yahoo! and ESPN teams on your iPhone
• Watch Live Score Updates for your ESPN or Yahoo! fantasy football team
• Add, drop, or bench players

I haven’t played fantasy football in a few years now, so this one’s not for me – but I’ll be keen to hear what any of you who are keen fantasy players think of it.  You can find it in the App Store now, and it’s a free app.

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: HuddleHub Fantasy Football 2010, iphone apps, iPhone fantasy football apps

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Apple has announced that they will be live streaming their special event tomorrow (September 1) at apple.com.  The event is set to start at 10AM PDT, 1:00PM Eastern. 

Apple® will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac® running Safari® on Mac OS® X version 10.6 Snow Leopard®, an iPhone® or iPod touch® running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad™. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.

(...)
Read the rest of Apple Will Live Stream Tomorrow’s Special Event (131 words)

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Apple events, September 1 special event

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Gameloft are set to release Spider-Man: Total Mayhem on the App Store tomorrow, September 1.  Although it’s not my style of game at all, I have to say the trailer looks quite good.  Here’s a little piece of their description for the game:

THE ONLY SPIDER-MAN GAME ON IPHONE!

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man battles to save his beloved city! Spider-Man will need to use all of his great powers to save New York from the worst breakout of Super Villains the city has ever seen. Fight against time to stop the madness and mayhem created by the Super Villains who want to take over the city and disperse a poisonous virus! Spider-Man: Total Mayhem captures all the action, humor and fun of the Ultimate series in state-of-the-art gameplay and animations.

I’m amazed that this is the first Spider-Man game for the iPhone (assuming that’s accurate).  Anyone planning to grab this one tomorrow?

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPhone SpiderMan game, Spider-Man: Total Mayhem for iPhone

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

I’ve had Air Video for months now, but have been struggling to find anything more interesting to say than “it works, and if you want to stream videos beautifully over wi-fi, you should remove $2.99 from your local money container and throw it at Air Video”. However, I’ve also hesitated to give it a rave review because I simply couldn’t get over-the-air streaming to work over 3G — well, until today, that is.

(...)
Read the rest of Quick Look: Air Video for iPhone (394 words)

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: air video, iphone video streaming

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

148apps.biz has a great page up offering a summary view of some major App Store statistics.  As always with the App Store, quite a few of the numbers are eye-popping.  The daily and monthly totals for app submissions (shown above) definitely caught my eye.

Over 600 submissions a day, and nearly 20,000 per month.  If my math is OK, that’s very close to 250,000 submissions a year.  I guess those Apple app reviewers are earning their pay eh?

A couple more stats that grabbed my attention: Books is the most popular category and the current average app price is $2.88 (higher than I would have guessed). Check out the whole page at 148apps.biz to see all the crazy, ginormous App Store numbers:

http://148apps.biz/app-store-metrics/

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crazy App store numbers

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

There are no official images yet -- just mockups, so here is my own über clever image

I really hope this app isn’t released, because it will mean a merging of my two worst habits at the moment: the bloody iPhone and stupid Starcraft II. The RTS Gameboard for Starcraft II isn’t a port of the game, but actually a little remote control window, through which you can manipulate the mini map, control groups, and build queues (I do apologize if none of that makes any sense, but you should probably buy SC2 now).

It’s also, apparently, not a mod of any SC2 tools. It’s supposed to function like an external keyboard, so it should have a better chance of getting approved by both Blizzard and Apple…but we’ll just have to wait and see about that. The projected release date is some time this September, so it’s not long now until we see one of the two major R’s — release or rejection.

[via TUAW]

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iphone game controller

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The Firetask todo app received an indirect update yesterday in the form of a new Mac client (thanks to @Viticci for the heads-up). This means that Firetask users who own both clients will enjoy local wi-fi sync, as well as the ability to manage tasks on either Apple platform.

I’ve visited Firetask’s website intermittently over the past few months because I found its appearance intriguing, but I haven’t actually tried it out because it seems like far too much Manager for my piddling number of Tasks. According to the website, Firetask is based around creating tasks that are linked to projects. That’s actually alright by me, but it’s the iTunes screenshots that scared me off. There seem to be quite a few fields to fill out when creating a task, and while I’m sure you don’t have to fill these fields out, I already feel like they’re getting in my way. I still think I much prefer 2Do’s more stylish, shortcut-based interface for quickly adding details to tasks.

However, if you’re looking for a heavy-duty task manager with a great looking Mac client, then by all means, head to the Firetask website. Just be forewarned that, while the $2.99 iPhone app may be quite cheap, the $50 Mac client really, really isn’t.

How come all of these beautiful task manager clients are always so darn expensive?

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iphone task manager

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Predators – the iPhone game based on the recent movie of the same title – has had a major price drop.  It’s dropped from $2.99 to $0.99.  Here’s a slice of its App Store description:

These humans are the most dangerous killers on the planet…but it’s not their planet. This planet is a game preserve and they are the prey. Pit your incredible Predator strength, stealth, and alien technology against the killer instincts of the nine deadliest human begins alive. Prove you are the ultimate Predator. Begin the hunt and end their lives.

YOU ARE THE PREDATOR
Play as the fearsome Predator in this officially licensed game based on the latest chapter of the hit franchise PREDATORS â„¢ presented by Robert Rodriguez. Hone your killing techniques to lethal precision as you earn full membership in the Predators clan by tracking down and eliminating packs of human killers: mercenaries, assassins, death-squad soldiers, cartel, enforcers, black ops sniper, and more.

You can find Predators in the App Store now, at its new 99 cent price. 

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Predators for iPhone, Predators iPhone game

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Wow.  I think lots of us have been noting recently that alerts from the BNO News iPhone app have been very sporadic.  I guess now we know the reason why – they are discontinuing their iPhone app, and offering refunds to anyone who purchased within the last three months.  Here’s a little on the reasons why, straight from BNO’s report on this:

BNO News today announced it will further expand its focus on business-to-business services and will as a result end its iPhone application.

The iPhone application was launched over a year ago, in early August 2009, in addition to the popular “@BreakingNews” Twitter account that BNO News managed until December 2009, when it had nearly 1.5 million followers.

Sorry to see it gone from iOS.

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: BNO News, BNO News iPhone app

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Version 2.0

For those of you who read my Epic Follow-Up Review of Navigon MobileNavigator a couple of weeks ago, I will invoke a little Monte Python before I begin: “And now for something completely different.” For the sake of comparison, if MobileNavigator is considered to be a dependable, luxurious, but expensive high end model luxury car, then Waze is more like an old MG-Styled cloth top convertible kit car: customized, do-it-yourself, cheap (or in this case, free), and lots of fun.

However, like working on a kit car or restore project, there are some aspects of Waze that can bring the fun to a screeching halt. There are going to be glitches and breakdowns. That is inevitable. You should know a little bit about what you are doing, and you have to realize the limitations of what you are working with. It helps if you put in a little work of your own to make it better. If you aren’t willing to do these things, then the frustration you will undoubtedly encounter may outweigh the fun you will have. However, if you keep what Waze is in perspective, you also may find the whole experience quite rewarding. So, what exactly is Waze? Follow me after the link to find out.

(...)
Read the rest of Review: Waze for the iPhone (4,719 words)

© jhrogersii for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: app store, Apple, free apps, free GPS apps for iPhone, free turn by turn navigation, iPhone, iphone app update, iphone apps, location-based social networking, Social Networking, Waze, Waze 2.0, Waze for iPhone review, Waze review

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh