Options for Trading in Your Old Apple iPhone
Considering getting one of the hot new iPhone 4 models with tons of great features, not to mention open-standard video calling? Having grown up watching The Jetsons TV cartoon, I’d buy two iPhone 4s for the video calling feature alone (and intend to), but there’s the question of what to do with an existing iPhone. As a mobile developer, I intend to keep my 3GS model, but if you’re inclined to upgrade come Jun 24th (for the USA and eight other countries), you can get cash on your iPhone. Yahoo! News has a writeup about five of the more popular trade-in sites that’ll pay cash for an older iPhone — as much as $320. (There’s also a tip on how to wipe your personal data before selling the phone.)
Now, considering that the newer iPhone 3GS 8GB model (available soon in select countries) is only $99, why would anyone want to buy an older iPhone? Lots of reasons. Some countries don’t have locked carriers like in the USA with AT&T. There might also be buyers who want to jailbreak the phone, or simply use it just like an iPod Touch. In fact, a 3G or 3GS has more features than an iPod Touch, so interested buyers are motivated.
Avatron link: Air Display.
Get More than 11 Pages of Apps on Your iPhone [Updated]
Who says you can only have X pages of apps on the iPhone (9 if you have pre-3.0 OS; 11 if with 3.x). The video below that I came across on YouTube describes a simple trick to get possibly unlimited pages without jailbreaking your phone. Read my caveat notes below the video.
I tried this and initially had two problems. The first I discovered when I had couple of apps with updates and did an “update all”. My new extra page of apps disappeared after that. However, I noticed that even after I went through the process in the video a couple of times, I couldn’t get things to work. Until I discovered that having my phone connected to my laptop triggered iTunes every time I rebooted the phone. As soon as I unplugged the USB cable and let the phone loose, I didn’t have the problem.
Warning: I now have 16 pages and growing, and am wholly addicted to adding loads of useless free apps while losing out on sleep. You can be too! You’ve been warned. Oh by the way, this may not work on the iPad since there’s no native “Voice Memo” app on it. Of course, when iPhone OS 4.0 comes out, any iPhone device that can upgrade to it (not all can) can take advantage of the new ‘folders’ feature.
Update: If you’re using iTunes 9.1, you could still lose all your added pages. Haven’t tried yet, and not sure how to get around it except to downgrade iTunes. Or simply not connect your phone to your computer for the time being. That means your apps are not backed up and if you have a phone problem, you could end up losing them anyways. For me it’s not a big deal since I need the space to try apps for review on CallStyle.
Have a mobile device, platform, application, service, accessory or related news or tips you want to share? Email info/ press releases to callstyleblog at gmail.com.
Contract-free iPhones Coming
Contract-free — but non-jailbroken — iPhones will soon be available. No AT&T 2-year contract is required, but you have to pay full prices ($499, $599 and $699 for 8GB, 16GB and 32GB models, respectively). Of course, you’re also not going to have 3G coverage unless you add it, and you can only do so through AT&T (officially) and T-Mobile (unofficially). Since AT&T subsidizes the phones, unless you’re planning to jailbreak a contract-free phone, this is a great way to waste $400. There’s apparently a limit on the purchase of these phones of one per person per day, to a max of 10 phones. (Seriously, who is going to buy 10 full-price iPhones, unless they run some sort of jailbroken apps lab?) You can read more at 9 to 5 Mac and Engadget. Techcrunch believes this is a sign of a new iPhone coming.
Have a mobile device, platform, application, service, accessory or related news you want to share? Email info/ press releases to callstyleblog at gmail.com.
Universal Mailbox Coming to iPhone?
A TUAW article suggests that a universal mailbox IS coming to the iPhone — something Apple’s Steve Jobs confirms. If you’ve used the email on the iPhone, you know that you can add multiple email accounts and access messages from each account, albeit separately. A universal mailbox would aggregate all those messages into a single stream, ordered by date & time. According to the TUAW article, you can also expect some kind of syncing of “office” type documents on the upcoming Apple iPad device.
Have a mobile device, platform, application, service, accessory or related news you want to share? Email info/ press releases to callstyleblog at gmail.com.
As Apple Lifts Restrictions, VoIP through 3G Now Possible in the iPhone
Prior to this, VoIP through cellular networks was not possible for the iPhone. Or should say, Apple did not allow the feature. For whatever reason, you can only make VoIP calls whenever your iPhone is connected via Wi-Fi. Sudddenly, Apple realized that it’s now time to lift this restriction and allow VoIP feature through cellular networks.
As soon as Apple updated the iPhone SDK, we now have the first iPhone app to make this possible – iCall. In fact, this app will go down into history as being the first and currently the only VoIP application that uses 3G networks for the iPhone.
So, now you make unrestricted free local and long distance calling vover 3G networks using your iPhone.
iCall is already available at the Apps Store as a free download. And iCall CEO is more than happy about the release of this app and applauded Apple for lifting the restrictions.
“I applaud Apple’s decision to allow iCall to extend its functionality beyond Wi-Fi and onto the 3G networks. This heralds a new era for VoIP applications on mobile platforms, especially for iCall and our free calling model. I hope that now more developers will begin using our VoIP as a platform to integrate VoIP into their applications.”
Here’s the link to iCall iPhone App at the Apps Store.
WhiteHouse.gov Jumps into the iPhone Bandwagon
Available now for free download from the iTunes Apps Store is the White House App. This iPhone app will bring in real-time dynamic content from the WhiteHouse.gov site to the palm of your hand.
The WhiteHouse iPhone app is loaded with great features, more notable of these is of course live video streaming capability. This means that after installing this on your iPhone, you will be able to watch President Obama’s public events at the White House, visit web chats with Administration official as well as witness other official events include key speeches and press briefing.
To kick off the launch of its iPhone app, The White House iPhone app will be streaming Pres. Obama’s State of the Union address scheduled next week.
Other features of the White House iPhone app include access to the White House Blog as well as from the Briefing Room, browse behind-the-scenes photos and watch on-demand videos. The White House app gives you instant access to full videos from the most recent speeches, speeches, press briefings and other special events.
iPhone 4.0 Features Leak Out, Apple Tablet to be Named iPad?
Following last week’s rumor that Apple is also announcing iPhone 4.0 during the big event that it is holding on January 27, rumored features of the said iPhone OS started leaking out. Boy Genius Report is running some of these iPhone 4.0 features.
Some of the more promising iPhone 4.0 features include:
- multi-touch gesture OS-wide
- new ways to run apps in the background (probably referring to multitasking capability as a response to Google Nexus One’s app multitasking feature)
- changes in GUI to make navigation easier and more efficient
- iPhone OS 4.0 update will be available only for iPhone 3G and 3GS as Apple aims to make these phones smarter than they are right now
- new ability to sync contacts and calendar apps
As for the Apple Tablet that will be announced on the same event. Another rumor surfaced indicating that Apple may actually name it iPad instead of the recent speculations that it will be called the iSlate. MacRumors is citing several patent applications for the name iPad filed by Apple’s dummy corporations in various countries recently.
So, there two new juicy rumors about the January 27 Apple event that is making everybody excited right now. Whichever is true among these rumors, it will certainly rock us all once again next week.
New iPhone with Better Camera and Touch Sensitive Casing to be Released in July?
Don’t count out the iPhone just yet. Despite Apple getting busy with the “possible” launch of its highly anticipated iSlate, it seems that Apple is not forsaking the iPhone yet. Rumor has it that a new iPhone may be coming out. Actually it’s a pretty reliable rumor that even Bloomberg is running a report about it.
According to an interview with Goldman Sachs Group, Analyst Robert Chen said that a new iPhone with a more advanced camera and a touch sensitive casing will probably be available as early as June. Chen said that Apple is going to put a lot of innovation in both the hardware and software components of the new iPhone. The new iPhone will have a new plastic casing that is similar to the Apple Magic Mouse.
Steve Dowling, spokesman for Apple refuses to give any comment on the alleged rumors and speculations though.
What is clear is that if Apple is really planning to come up with a new iPhone, a 5 megapixel camera or perhaps even better would be the most likely option to make it competitive with the Google Nexus One.
Mr. Chen also said that production for the new iPhone is about to commence by April to make it ready for release by June or July. And yes, the new iPhone will naturally come with a new version of the iPhone’s operating systems.
TweetDeck for iPhone Gets Updated with List and New ReTweet Style
Of all the Twitter apps that I have downloaded on my iPhone, TweetDeck is the one that I have constantly used. It’s one of the best and most robust Twitter iPhone app that I have used so far. In fact, I also have TweetDeck on my Mac. That’s how much I like TweetDeck.
And guess what, TweetDeck for iPhone has just been upgraded to version 1.3. With the version update are some great new features that you will surely appreciate including mobile retweets, Twitter lists, view on map, location features and more.
In brief, here’s what each of these new TweetDeck features can do:
- Keep up with your favourite Twitter Lists – add your own Twitter List or List you subscribed to on a new column
- Mobile retweets – lets you choose how you want to retweet a post, that is using the old style or new style of posting a retweet. TweetDeck remembers your first preference and maintains it in your succeeding retweets until you change your preference
- Location features – you can now geotag your tweets based on your current location; needs activation
- View on Map – takes all the geo-coded tweets from the column of your choosing plot them on a map, this helps you find out where all your Twitter followers are at the moment
Aside from those new features, TweetDeck did some tweaks and fixes.
If you have not downloaded a Twitter app for your iPhone, you might want to check out TweetDeck. [iTunes Link]
iPhone Apps for Business Productivity
Mashable.com has a great list of work productivity-related iPhone apps with a bit of an overblown title. These apps are ideal for the busy entpreneur, manager and others, and fall into the categories of virtual assistant, to-do/ reminder lists, flight updates, web meetings, password managers, expense trackers and a few others.
While most of the apps listed do cost money, a few of the valuable ones are free:
- AT&T virtual receptionist, which apparently includes a free toll-free number.
- Fuze Meeting, which is similar to WebEx but free, includes instant messages, video sharing, desktop sharing, conference calling. Did we say it’s free? Now you never have an excuse to skip a meeting. Ever. Unless your carrier doesn’t have coverage where you are, or there’s no Wi-Fi. Or you “accidentally” turn off your phone and “forget” about it.
- UPS Mobile. Got an account with UPS? Get an UPS ID (register online) and you can initiate pickups and deliveries, see rates and track your packages.
See Mashable for more info.