iPhone

Apple iPhone less stable than Windows Mobile

Paul Mah — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:41:12 -0400

The Mobile Gadgeteer of ZDNet, Matthew Miller, rants about a number of issues he experienced with his recently purchased iPhone. Probably the chief among them would be "major issues" relating to the native Safari web browser that "I never see on Internet Explorer Mobile or Opera Mobile on Windows Mobile."

Other issues include various problems related to the installation of applications. Miller went on to lament on the number of resets he had to do on his iPhone 3G to get it working stably. If you have ever been a Windows Mobile user like I was, you will know that is saying a lot by itself. Still, it is really only Apple's second mobile device out the door. It's not like Microsoft's Window Mobile was perfect a few years go either. Let's just sit back and see what the iPhone 3.0 will offer.

For the low-down on the iPhone 3G:
- check out this ZDNet blog

Google Translate for the iPhone

Paul Mah — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:36:25 -0400

With the heat being turned up on Apple's iPhone and Google's soon-to-be-released Android-based devices, seeing "Google and iPhone" in the same sentence caused me do a double take. As it is, Google has released an iPhone version of its Google Translate web service for translating languages. Apparently, you can get between 200 and 400 translation per 1MB of data download. Interestingly, the project came about due to a Google engineer requiring this feature on his iPhone. I suppose he'll have to switch to an Android device once they come out. Anyway, if you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you can point your browser over to translate.google.com.

To read more about Google Translate for the iPhone:
- check out Google's Mobile Blog

Apple finally restores MobileMe

Paul Mah — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:42:00 -0400

Apple admitted to problems with its sync service, saying it has restored full email service to the 1 percent of its total subscribers who had been locked out of their accounts for more than a week. Some users dispute Apple's claims though, saying that they were still unable to access their accounts despite being told that their email service had been completely restored. The new problem also left some customers with missing contact and calendar data from their iPhones and iPod touches, though not from their personal computers or MobileMes. This issue appears to have been fixed too, though users in some cases will have to follow these instructions to reset their data before their devices will work properly.

For more on the woes over at MobileMe:
- check out this MacWorld article

Nokia removes BlackBerry Connect from E71 and E66

Paul Mah — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:40:26 -0400

Citing RIM as a competitor, Nokia has chosen to eliminate the BlackBerry Connect application from its new E71 and E66 smartphone offerings. What it means is that customers will not be able to use these devices to access BlackBerry-enabled corporate email systems. Somewhat ironically, E71 owners will still be able to sync the phone with Microsoft's Mail for Exchange, Nokia's own Intellisync, and various other consumer e-mail accounts such as Gmail and Hotmail. Not surprisingly, the primarily reason appears to be that Nokia is having a hard time penetrating the BlackBerry-dominated North American market. The recent launch of Apple's iPhone 3G, which is being pushed by AT&T, couldn't have made things any easier.

For more on Nokia's decision to drop BlackBerry Connect:
- check out this InformationWeek article

iPhone with hardware keyboard on the horizon?

Paul Mah — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:30:07 -0400

According to The Register, Apple has sent working prototypes of iPhones sporting hardware keyboards to senior executives at some wireless operators to garner their feedback. Undeniably, the lack of a hardware keyboard has made it a harder sell to certain groups of users, such as those hooked on to text messaging, as well as a fair portion of businessmen. Of course, there are those who are skeptical that Apple will ever come out with a hardware keyboard for the iPhone. Explaining, Tom Krazit over at CNET wrote, "But Apple has invested so much in the software that runs the iPhone that I would be surprised if it changed the game so early in the life of the product." What about you; what do you think?

For more on Apple's iPhone:
- check out this article from The Register

Could the iPhone better the Kindle?

Paul Mah — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:34:21 -0400

Greg Sandoval of CNET News.com posed this very interesting question. An avid reader of digital books, he had his eye on getting the Kindle, the cool ebook reader from Amazon that features E Ink technology that provides for a paper-like reading experience. However, temptation comes with the recently announced 3G iPhone, with its gorgeous 3.5-inch and 480 by 320 resolution display. Though the Kindle will probably still come ahead in terms of readability, it will be more than evenly matched against the plethora of software that will be written for Apple's Smartphone. So what do you reckon it will be: Amazon Kindle or Apple iPhone?

For more on the iPhone as a digital book reader:
- check out this CNET News.com article

Related Article:
Amazon's Kindle gets reviewed

Analyst: 3G iPhone not ready for the enterprise

Paul Mah — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:23:17 -0400

Analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates has criticized Apple's move to position its iPhones to be more enterprise-centric with the announcement of the 3G version of the iPhone. He noted that "I don't hear a lot of anything new, to be honest." The issue has to do with the lack of on-board encryption on the iPhone compared with competing smartphones like RIM's BlackBerry and Microsoft's Pocket PC. Another glaring gap has to do with device management, of which Apple appears to have no credible solution at the moment. In the past, analyst Jack Gold also was harsh on earlier versions of Windows Mobile for not offering on-board encryption.

For more on the 3G iPhone:
- check out the The Register article

Google extending dominance to mobile search market

Paul Mah — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:21:52 -0400

Research data from Nielsen Mobile shows that search giant Google managed to capture a staggering 61 percent of the mobile search market. Yahoo and MSN were ranked and third in that category with 18 and 5 percent of the mobile search market.

Amazingly, part of the reason behind Google's stellar showing might actually be related to the fact that mobile searches from iPhones are 50 times higher compared to other handset. Google is set as the default search engine on the iPhone. But how does that square with MSN's poor showing, given the sheer number of Windows Mobile devices out there. The answer could be that other browsers, such as the popular Opera Mini--which has Yahoo set as the default destination--are easily installed on a Windows Mobile device.

For more on the mobile search market:
- check out this Ars Technica article

Apple unveils 3G iPhone

Paul Mah — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:38:42 -0400

As expected, Apple unveiled the long awaited 3G version of the iPhone. Dubbed iPhone 2.0, it will come with Microsoft's push mail technology, a longer battery life and integration with an application store. The iPhone 2.0 software for the iPhone 3G will be available as a free upgrade for the older model, though iPod touch owners will need to pay a fee of $9.95 for it.

Perhaps the move that surprised observers the most was the substantially lowered prices. The 8GB version of iPhone 3G will sell for just $199, with the 16GB flavor going for $299. The new iPhones are expected to arrive in the United States, as well as in 24 other countries, on July 11.

For more on the new iPhone:
- check out this the Washington Post blog

Nokia: New E-series phones due in Q3

Paul Mah — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:39:37 -0400

There is no let-up at the world's largest cell phone maker, Nokia. The company is scheduled to start selling a new range of its popular, business-centric E-series smartphones in Q3. Though Nokia declined comment, industry speculation says the models are the new E66 and E71. Both phones are expected to come with features such as a built-in GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and 128-megabytes of memory.

Nokia also will start selling its top-of-the-line N96 multimedia phone, first unveiled back in February. It will replace the best-selling N95, of which 6 million units were sold. In other news, American Technology Research downgraded Nokia's rating from "buy" to "hold" in lieu of "a competitive response from Nokia" to Apple's 3G iPhone announcement.

For more about Nokia:
- check out the mocoNews.net article