Calling

You know someone at iPhone Life had try making their own micro SIM card so I took the plunge and decided to sacrifice a T-Mobile card I had to give it a try in my iPad 3G.  You can certainly do this with the iPhone, but you’re going to have to jailbreak and unlock it if you want to use a carrier other than AT&T.  The iPad 3G comes unlocked, except in Japan.

The Chinese word for Challenge also means Opportunity.  I kept this in mind when my cable modem Internet connection stopped working today.  Fortunately, I have a review unit of the Novatel MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot.  It's basically a wireless 3G modem.  I was planning to seek out a remote location to test it.  But suddenly not having any Internet here in the suburbs proved to be an opportunity to test out this device in the comfort of my own home, and get some work done!

The Novatel MiFi 2200

As our intrepid Editor, Hal, blogged earlier, he and I shared some quality time together, via FaceTime.  Although "quality" may not be the right word.

While it was great to be able to quickly and easily conduct a video call, there are numerous limitations.

First, the wireless networks on both ends must be state of the art.  Otherwise, the video is choppy and can abruptly dropout altogether.  No wonder Steve Jobs wanted everyone to turn off their WiFi devices at the keynote!

I should know better, especially because the Apple Genius told me to do this, but I was so preoccupied with other features...

If you have upgraded from an older iPhone, and done a Restore using iTunes, FaceTime will NOT be activated even though it is active by default on a new iPhone.  The act of restoring turns it off.

To remedy this, go to Settings -> Phone and toggle the switch for FaceTime.

Now I'm ready for my closeup!

It may just be launch day media hype for the massive iPhone 4 release today, however some reports are starting to trickle in on what could be a significant issue with the phone's reception.

Owners are reporting that by holding the iPhone normally in the hand, the bars that indicate reception strength begin to quickly drop until the phone loses all reception. Conflicting information on whether the iPhone actually loses all reception or the indicator that shows reception is buggy. Some owners report that when they try to place calls after the signal drop, they were unable to do so. Others report that they could still make calls, and still other owners report no such problems exists with their iPhone 4 at all.

AT&T.  Nothing inspires more conversation among iPhone owners than those few letters.  AT&T has benefitted from their exclusive contract, but their coverage has been an easy target for competitors and late night comics.  What is an iPhone road warrior to do?

I had the chance to try the Sleek from Wilson Electronics, Inc.  ($130 MSRP).  True to the name, the Sleek is smaller than Wilson’s previous models and more portable than hardwired models.  I had always been hesitant to try any device that needed to be permanently wired into my car or that worked exclusively with one phone.