Archive for July, 2007
July 31, 2007
At the risk of turning into iPhone Battery Central, here’s something that might bring a ray of sunshine to the lives of those disappointed with the fact that the iPhone’s battery is not user-replaceable. The first third-party battery replacement kit has hit the market, courtesy of Brando (no, not the godfather himself, the Hong Kong company with a penchant for making all things USB).
The kit, which goes for $20, consists of a battery, a pair of tools—read: a plastic shim and a little screwdriver—for cracking the iPhone open and installing the battery, and a list of instructions. Now, while you might be tempted to save a pretty penny over Apple’s own battery replacements, this probably isn’t a process you should be attempting unless you’re supremely confident of your technical prowess (or willing to spend another $500 when you inadvertently brick your phone).
[via Gizmodo]
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July 31, 2007
The iPhone hackathon continues as the enterprising programmers begin putting together the first real third-party applications for the platform. While we last week saw the existence of an application that did nothing more than print “Hello World,” others have now built upon that foundation to produce applications that actually do something.
Justin Schwalbe has created a program called iDecorator that allows you to set the iPhone’s wallpaper. Big whoop, right? You can already do that. Ah, but at the moment you’re either limited to pictures taken with the iPhone’s camera, or those that you’ve synced with your computer. iDecorator lets you select any image from Safari on the iPhone and set that to your wallpaper.
It’s not exactly the smoothest app we’ve ever seen, as it requires running a fair amount of technical knowledge just to get the app on the iPhone, along with a multi-step process to get the wallpaper set correctly. But those are mere details, my friends. If nothing else, Justin has shown, as we predicted, that third-party apps that fill holes in the iPhone’s functionality are indeed possible without Apple’s blessing. The question now is whether Apple will look the other way or will actively try to hinder progress.
[via Wired]
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July 31, 2007
As if an Illinois class action suit about the iPhone’s battery wasn’t enough, New York State’s Consumer Protection Board has jumped into the fray with similar complaints. Yesterday, the organization sent a letter to Steve Jobs taking issue with some of the additional costs of the device.
Among their issues: that the battery costs $80 to replace, which includes a trip to Apple; that you have to pay $29 for a loaner phone; that a 10% restocking fee is charged if the phone is returned; and that there’s a fourteen day trial period. “A high-end cell phone shouldn’t have to have low-end customer service,” said CPB Chairperson Mindy Bockstein.
I’m not precisely sure what their problem with the last is—that it’s not long enough? It would certainly be nice if Apple would consider dropping some of the fees, but I wonder whether or not they’re really onerous enough to merit this kind of attention. No product, after all, is perfect, but the iPhone happens to just be more prominent than many. Charging a fee for the loaner on top of the battery replacement is a bit annoying; it’d be nice if that was bundled into the cost of the battery replacement service. And as far as restocking fees go, I’d be in favor of the industry getting rid of them as a whole.
Copyright Mac Publishing LLC. For personal use only.
July 30, 2007
It was only a matter of time before someone was taking legal action over the iPhone: the only question was, on what topic? I would have bet it was being locked to a specific cell phone provider—but then, I would have been wrong.
Gizmodo is reporting that a man by the name of Jose Trujillo has filed a class action suit in a Cook County, Illinois court because the iPhone’s battery is not user replaceable. The crux of Trujillo’s argument is twofold: one, that Apple did not explicitly tell customers prior to purchase that the iPhone battery was not user-replaceable; two, that “The battery enclosed in the iPhone can only be charged approximately 300 times before it will be in need of replacement, necessitating a new battery annually for owners of the iPhone.”
As to the first statement, Philip Elmer-DeWitt at Apple 2.0 has an excellent timeline of what Apple has said about the battery.
But as to the second, well, as we’ve reported, Apple has said that this is blantantly false. Four hundred full charge cycles will lower the battery’s capacity to 80% of its original, and most users are unlikely to go through that many cycles in one year (or, according to PC Magazine’s death clock, even two years). True, it would be nice if we could swap batteries in and out of the iPhone, but I’m not sure it’s an actionable offense. But that’ll be up to the judge to decide.
The moral of this story? Clearly, Mr. Trujillo should read our blog.
[Photo from iFixit]
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July 30, 2007
The online Apple Store was down ever so briefly this morning, and quick as a wink reappeared with only slight updates. While there was nothing brand new added, the availability of several products has been improved: iPhones, for example, are now shipping within 24 hours; Apple’s Bluetooth headset is shipping in 5-7 business days; and Shure’s Music Phone Adapter is apparently now shipping as well.
Most other accessories seem to be shipping within 24 hours as well, although a few are at the 5-7 day mark—I saw only one product that had a shipping time of more than a week. One month out, it seems like the launch rush is finally over, and we’re settling down into the halcyon days of iPhone plentitude.
Copyright Mac Publishing LLC. For personal use only.
July 30, 2007
It seems like only Friday that my colleague Jim Dalrymple was explaining how to put custom ringtones on your iPhone using an app called iFuntastic. But a lot can happen in just a few short days, and iFuntastic has seen a pair of updates that bring a slew of new functionality and an easier-to-use interface.
iFuntastic 2.1 lets you not only add custom ringtones, but also replace the carrier graphic in the top lefthand corner of the screen with a graphic of your own choice. No longer will you have to stare at that AT&T graphic taunting you. You can use an image of up to 65×20, though iFuntastic recommends a height of 18 pixels.
And, as if that’s not enough, iFuntastic even lets you rearrange the icons on your iPhone’s home screen, or even remove them completely. Tired of having Text as the first entry? Move it. Don’t need Stocks? See ya. Want to swap your iPod and Phone buttons, or move the Weather into that bottom row. Knock yourself out.
As always, the program comes with caveats: these alterations are performed at your own risk. In most cases, restoring your phone should fix any problems, though it’s always possible that, well, it won’t. Happy hacking!
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July 29, 2007
On the lead page of our Mac Beat section (and on the table of contents, too) of the current issue of Macworld magazine there’s a wire-service picture of a super-happy guy who was one of the first to leave the 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York with an iPhone.
Turns out it’s Vincent Nguyen, who happens to run a Web site devoted to the iPhone and other smart phones, My iTablet. The wire photo didn’t include any identification, so we couldn’t say who the happy guy was. But now we know: it’s a happy guy with his own web site devoted to that product he was holding in his hands. And now you know too.
[Hat tips: Vincent Nguyen and my itablet fanboy]
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July 28, 2007
Lately, one of the things I’ve really been getting into is NPR. It has now become part of my daily routine to wake up and tune into to WNYC for “Morning Edition,” and catch “All Things Considered” when I get home from school. But, I’m not always at a computer or near a radio when my favorite shows are on. So, when I got my iPhone, I thought it would allow me to get my radio fix anywhere I was. Not so true.
There are two major flaws in the iPhone which it keep it from playing radio. The first is the lack of certain iPod accessory compatibility. There are several iPod radio tuner add-ons, including Apple’s own (pictured at right). None of them work with the iPhone, which is not surprising as it could interfere with the iPhone’s WiFi and cellular radios. Yet still, the iPhone would be able to get Internet radio streams, right? Wrong. Audio stream file types, such as .pls and .m3u, will not play on the iPhone, even though standard audio files (MP3, AAC, etc. — really anything that will play in iTunes) linked to in web pages will work.
This flaw is a large yet still unchecked problem in the iPhone, and really should be fixed. I mean, it’s one of the many really simple software problems that could be solved with a little free update — all Apple needs to do is enable basic .m3u and .pls streaming in the iPhone’s iTunes. If Apple could just do that, iPhone users around the country — and soon to be around the world — may be just a little happier.
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July 27, 2007
As I said over at Macworld last week, carrying around an iPhone hasn’t yet freed me from the tether of carrying around my 30GB iPod as well. Since they’re about the same size, I often find myself slipping them into a pocket together, or laying them down on the desk next to each other.
Then I started to notice something odd with my iPod. I’d go to adjust the volume and the meter would jump all over the place. Once could have been a fluke, but after a couple times, I hit upon a realization: it only seemed to happen when the iPod was in close proximity with my iPhone.
It doesn’t happen all the time: my guess is that it’s when the EDGE radio is at its most active, transmitting either data or voice. Somehow, that appears to wreak havoc with the iPod’s touch sensitive scrolling, even from several inches away. Pointing the antenna end of the iPhone (the black plastic part) at it seems to make it fluctuate the most.
I don’t know much about FCC regulations, but I thought that devices weren’t supposed to cause harmful interference? This never happened with my old phone (a CDMA/EVDO handset). Anybody else noticed this with their iPhone, or with other phones?
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July 27, 2007
Last night I got a message on the iPhone that my Visual Voicemail was 92 percent full and that I should delete some messages. Being the daredevil that I am, I decided not to delete any messages and let the mailbox fill up and see what happened.
I would never tell my boss this, but I actually let a couple of calls go to voicemail purposely to fill it up. I know, I could have just called the voicemail myself, but that would be cheating.
Tonight my mailbox filled up and I found out that it works no differently than what my old AT&T voicemail did with my BlackBerry. If you call my phone right now, you’ll get a message saying “The mailbox belonging to Jim Dalrymple is full and cannot receive anymore messages. Please try again later.”
I was thinking that maybe the messages at the bottom would automatically delete or some other magical thing would happen, but nope, it just won’t take any more messages. And in case you’re wondering, it took 40 voicemails with a total time of 17:47 to fill it up.
