Apple Iphone Fun Site

The iPhone 3G’s official launch on June 11th is just over two days away, and several industry heavyweights have already offered their opinions on Apple’s next generation device, offering mostly praise, peppered with a few criticisms. Among the acclaimed technologists were Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, David Pogue of the New York Times, and USA Today’s Edward Baig. The three writers noted that the different pricing structure and 3G battery life were two small strikes against the new device, but ultimately considered the upgrade to be a boon. Mossberg felt that the 3G incarnation is “a more capable version of an already excellent device”, citing that the 3G browsing speed was between three to five times as fast as the 2.5G iPhone. He also observes that the phone has the same overall appearance, save for its curved, plastic backing, but weighs a tiny bit less. Mossberg notes that, while the phone can be synchronized with either individual computers or Microsoft Exchange networks, but cannot maintain both accounts without wiping out the personal account’s information.

In addition, he feels that despite the interface improvements to the OS (multiple email deletion, parental controls, et al), some features are still missing, such as copy-paste, MMS photo support, or instant messaging, among a few others.
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By Sam Oliver

Advertising regulators in the UK have ruled that one of Apple’s iPhone television commercials mislead customers and ordered it banned from further broadcast.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received complaints from two local viewers who took issue with a claim in the 30-second spot which stated that “all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone.”

That assertion was misleading, they said, because the iPhone does not support Flash or Java, two proprietary technologies that sometimes prove integral in the display of certain web pages.

When contacted by the ASA, Apple said it built the Safari web browser on the iPhone using open standards, and that it could not reasonably assure compatibility with every third party plug-in or technology on the market.

The Cupertino-based company also argued that the reference in the ad to “all parts of the internet” was simply aimed at highlighting Internet site availability, not to every aspect of functionality available on every website.

The ASA noted Apple’s argument that the ad was about site availability rather than technical detail, but considered in its deliberation that the claims “Youll never know which part of the internet youll need” and “all parts of the internet are on the iPhone” implied users would be able to access all websites and see them in their entirety. (more…)

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business-apple-infineon-dc

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Infineon chip could be at the root of complaints from around the world that Apple Inc’s new iPhone drops calls and has unpredictable Internet links, according to a research report from Nomura.

BusinessWeek also reported on its website on Thursday that the iPhone is suffering from faulty software on an Infineon chip, and that Apple plans to fix the problem with a software update.

Representatives for Apple and Infineon declined comment.

One of the key attractions of the latest iPhone, which went on sale in July and sold 1 million in its first weekend, is faster, third-generation (3G) Web connections when compared to the first iPhone that was launched in mid-2007.

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With the new 3G phone, Apple paints a bull’s-eye on BlackBerry.

Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, has delivered on the hopes for the next generation of iPhone: cheaper, faster, and more enterprise-friendly.

The new phone, which will go on sale July 11 in 22 countries, will run off the 3G network, which Jobs said would enable the phone to work 2.8 times faster than it does with the current E.D.G.E. technology.

Pictures of the new gadget displayed at Apple’s annual conference on Monday show it to be even thinner, with a black plastic back, solid metal buttons, and the same display and camera. The announcement that the new device would have a flush headphone jack and dramatically improved audio was greeted by roaring applause.
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Sales show that what’s been good for Apple has been very good for smartphone makers.

As Apple prepares to launch the iPhone 2 on Monday, competitors like Palm and RIM are not worried. On the contrary, they are licking their chops, preparing for a surge in sales, even though Apple expects to sell millions of new iPhones worldwide.

“The way I look at it is there are 1.2 billion cellphones out there, and we’re just scratching the surface,” said Mike Laziridis, CEO of Research In Motion, which makes the BlackBerry, the iPhone’s closest rival.

Steve Jobs is expected to announce the second version of the iPhone on Monday morning during a keynote speech kicking off Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference.
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Sam Gustin says: Talk about bad reception.

Apple has been slapped with a lawsuit over service issues plaguing its new iPhone 3G.

Jessica Alena Smith, of Alabama, has sued Apple with breach of warranty and unjust enrichment, claiming that her new phone — what she refers to as “Defective iPhone 3G” — has much slower service than advertised.

Referring to the ubiquitous television ads touting the device, the lawsuit reads, “Defendant intended for customers to believe its statements and representations about the Defective iPhone 3Gs, and to trust that the device was ‘twice as fast at half the price.’”

Smith, who is seeking class-action status for the suit, also complains of spotty 3G reception and dropped calls, something other iPhone users have taken issue with. On Monday, Apple released a software fix intended to troubleshoot the problems, but it seems the fix may have caused new issues with the phone.

The suit asks Apple to fix or replace all defective iPhones and pay for lawyers’ fees.

Between the activation issues that hobbled Apple’s iPhone’s launch, the issues with its MobileMe Web services suite, and now the iPhone service problems, this is turning into a rocky summer for the company — no matter how many handsets it has sold, or how big its market capitalization becomes.
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Though we can’t definitively say this will end up being the priciest iPhone 3G this side of eBay, there’s a good chance it will be. Word has it that Vodafone will be offering up Apple’s latest 8GB handset for a mind-boggling Rs 31,000 ($712), or Rs 36,100 ($830) for the 16 gigger. Why so serious high? Because neither Vodafone nor Airtel will subsidize the phone, and to add insult to injury, there’s not even a 3G highway up and running in India. Grey market operators to capitalize in T-minus 3, 2, 1…

[Via Cellpassion]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/20/iphone-3g-starting-at-700-in-india-lines-to-be-nonexistent/

Hopes were high that 2.0.2 would decisively crush the reception woes some iPhone 3G owners have experienced since taking delivery of their cracking beauties; dropped calls, latching onto EDGE reception when 3G (also known as “the good stuff”) is available, and general signal strength wonkiness have all plagued a select group of handsets since launch, making for a decidedly MobileMe-like user experience. Some upgraders are actually reporting just the opposite, though — for these lucky few, 2.0.2 seems to be making reception somehow worse than it already was, and what’s more, there are intermittent reports cropping up of broken third-party apps, too. With the 1.x line of builds having chugged along with relatively little drama for a year, here’s our question: what the hell is going on? Why does 2.0, after two post-launch builds, still feel like a beta? MobileMe took the lion’s share of the fall for Apple having spread itself too thin through the launch-heavy summer months, but did some of that fire-drill mentality trickle over to the breadwinner, too? Sound off in comments with your experiences putting 2.0.2 through its paces so far!

[Via Mobility Site]

Update: Apparently Steve Jobs, who should have his face buried in a developer workstation somewhere in Cupertino slaving away on iPhone bug fixes, somehow found the time to slack off for half an hour and fire off an email to some guy who wrote him complaining about third-party apps that are crashing on startup. Jobs allegedly says that the issue is a “known iPhone bug” and that it’ll be fixed in the next update come September — but frankly, we wish he’d let his assistants attend to this sort of needless communication so he could get back to, you know, writing code and inventing phones. Thanks, Alexander!
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