This app would fall into my hall of must-get-app for the year 2010.
It's simply amazing. It will replace your native SMS and MMS. The best part is, it is now available on iPhone, Blackberry, Android and even on Symbian. This would practically cover all major popular smartphones in the world. That is cross-platform enabled which in layman term would simply mean you can send messages from your iPhone to a Blackberry/Android/Symbian phones.
Current price in AppStore: $0.99
You can get this app from this link
To send and receive messages, WhatsApp utilizes your existing smartphone internet data plan, 3G/EDGE (or Wi-Fi when available) - that is definitely cheaper than sending SMS/MMS
On top of that, you can also send pictures, audio notes and videos.
Pictures extract below are taken from Whatsapp official website.
The big advantage in Whats app iss that you do not have to enter the username of the contact person individually unlike PingChat. In PingChat, you have to create an ID in which will be used for future communication with your other PingChat buddy (which he/she has to create a new ID as well).
In Whatsapp, it will request for your permission to scan your phonebook. What it does is that it scans your phonebook for numbers which has Whatsapp installed as well. This way, you will have a list of favourites contacts that already have Whatsapp installed. You can start communication straight away. No hassle of creating ID, adding contacts and sort of like that. How cool is that?
Obviously everything has it's negative side. This app depends on the Whatsapp server conditions. If the server is down, this app will be as good as useless. As the app is getting more and more popular, the server condition has much improved since it first launched.
Jailbreaking on 4.0.2 seems to be possible for iPhone 3GS but it's only for old bootrom. We are still not sure when it will actually be released to the world.
The jailbreaking is done via Snowbreeze 2.0.
Actually, there is no point of updating to iOS 4.0.2 as the only thing it does is to fix the PDF exploit problem. You can always fix it using "PDF Patch".
Saurik had just updated in Cydia the patch to prevent potential hackers via the PDF bug problem noted earlier..
Go to Cydia and search for "PDF Patch". It will automatically remove the "PDF Warner" if you had previously installed them.
Came across some interesting video comparison of iOS vs Windows 7.
Basically the video shows a pretty nice comparison in terms of useability. We know that the iPad can't pretty much replace a normal notebook or netbook but in terms of user interfaces and internet browsing, the 9.7" display is one of the current hottest gadget in the market.
How does HP Slate running on Windows 7 perform in this league comparing to iPad which is running on Apple native iOS?
Interestingly, the video shows mostly Slate outperforming the iPad. Nevertheless, Windows 7 is never designed for touchscreen flexibility on a 10" display. Check out the video and decide for yourself..
Lots of news have been circulating around saying that the iPhone is being risk of potential hackers due to the nature of Jailbreakme jailbreaking method.
Jailbreakme 2.0 makes use of a PDF vulnerability which is present in iOS Mobile Safari. With the same method, hackers can also make use of this exploit and make user donwload PDF file from Safari. The targeted PDF may contain malicious codes which could have potential of extracting information from your iOS devices. No permanent solution from Apple yet so far but we could expect it to be fixed in the upcoming 4.1 firmware.
Temporary countermeasure would be to install the package call "PDF Loading Warner". It actually warns you whenever there is a PDF file that you are about to download. Just make sure that you only download the PDF which you know is from a safe source. It is more like a pre-warning before you download.
You can get this in Cydia by searching for PDF Loading Warner.
This is a relatively simple jailbreak. I would say it's even much simpler than the previous Spirit jailbreak.
It works for iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 as well regardless of the bootrom.
Step 1:
Sync your iPhone with iTunes for backup purposes
Step 2:
Update your iTunes to the latest version (9.2.1)
Step 3:
Update the firmware of your iPhone to 4.0.1
Step 4:
Once the update is completed, go to Settings > Safari and make sure JavaScript is ON and clear History, Cookies and Cache (this is to prevent you from getting stuck at the purple screen later on)
Step 5:
Launch Safari and go to http://jailbreakme.com
Step 6:
The jailbreakme screen as above will be seen on your Safari. Just slide to jailbreak. That's bascially it. It will now download the Jailbreakme program and then jailbreak by itself. Once done, you will be prompted by a message saying that Cydia is added. Tap OK and look for the Cydia app on your phone. Done!
You can also look at this video from Redmond Pie for better illustration.
Fancy making your iPhone a table lamp?
I am not sure who will actually want that but take a look at the rendered picture of how the iLamp would be like on the flexible docking system..
Obviously this is not a real thing... will there actually be a buyer for this? Who knows..
$4 solution to the iPhone 4 antenna issue? All you need to do is stick it onto the deathgrip slot on your iPhone 4..
Obviously it's not going to have any "end calls" with that on it..
Even the almighty Apple is not able to talk it's way out from this antenna mess a.k.a antennagate
Releasing a new iOS 4.0.1 which is suppose to correct the wrongly calculated display of signals.
The short conference on 16.07.10 (roughly approx 30mins) starts off with a youtube clip singing about the deathgrip.
Next, Steve started by saying that Apple is not perfect and all mobile phones are not perfect either.
After that intro, he continued by comparing the deathgrip with 3 famous smartphone manufacturer:
Blackberry Bold 9700
HTC Droid Eris
Samsung Omnia II
Basically to conclude that all phones have the problem when gripped in a way that blocks the signal receiving capability.
Next, Steve introduces the state-of-the-art testing laboratory in Apple.
While comparing with the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 dropped < 1 more calls per 100 more.
Steve is concluding that this problem occurs in all smartphones and the iPhone 4 case is completely being blown out of proportions.
Now the interesting part, Steve announced that Apple will provide the bumper free-of-charge and refund to those who had purchased it earlier. Obviously Apple is not able to make the bumper fast enough to give it to the users, there will be other types of casing which will be available at the Apple website. All you need to do is select and Apple will ship them to you.
But this only happens up to September 30 suggesting that there could be a future updates that could help solve this problem. We shall see...
and if you're still unhappy.. you could get a full refund (no restocking fees).
Fancy a white iPhone 4? How about a white Diamond iPhone 4?
The iPhone 4 Diamond Edition frame and its solid platinum Apple logo at the back are encrusted with a total of approximately 6.5 carats of diamonds. It's a 32GB version. Designer for this is Stuart Hughes.
According to reports, it will be priced at $20,000.
So now, who's up for it?
As some of you guys would have been busy reading up some further new updates regarding the iPhone 4, I am pretty sure you will stumble into this recent problem regarding the reception of the new iPhone 4.
Apparently, there are lots of complains that the iPhone 4 reception will reduce significantly if you are holding next to the antenna band corner of the phone.
Just to recap, Steve announced that the new iPhone 4 has a state of the art antenna design which uses the stainless steel housing of the phone as the antenna.
Watch the video below for further demonstration.
Apple is claiming that there is no reception issues even though the display of the signal bars are dropping. They were claiming of wrong calculation in the signal bar display.
Here's the official statement from Apple:
Dear iPhone 4 Users,
The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple's history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.
To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by one or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop four or five bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.
At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?
We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.
Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays two more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display four bars when we should be displaying as few as two bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don't know it because we are erroneously displaying four or five bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.
To fix this, we are adopting AT&T's recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone's bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars one, two and three a bit taller so they will be easier to see.
We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.
We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same- the iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.
As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.
Thank you for your patience and support.
Apple
From the above statement we will only see a software updates and probably the updates will only show a weaker signal display than it currently is since the calculation was done wrongly to display more signal strength than it actually is.
Still unclear is the fact that there are people complaining of drop of signals when holding at the antenna band and there are also information from antenna expert throughout the world saying that the reception performance is no worse than the iPhone 3GS.
Anybody having such experience with the iPhone 4 with the grip of death?
At least nobody got the name right.. It's not iPhone HD or iPhone 4G.
In Apple, they call it iPhone 4 this time in the year 2010.
Video calling or the feature in Apple terms is call FaceTime. But for the moment it only works on WiFi. Probably they have not yet got the deal done with the carriers yet.
Higher resolution of 960x640 which they termed it as Retina Display. Apparently 4x the current iPhone 3GS. And it do have IPS technology (the ones that could have a theoretical view of up to 179 degrees).
and the multitasking with folders features..
Last but not least, HD video recording of up to 720p at 30fps. It does have 5.0 Megapixel camera with LED flash as well.
Enjoy the cut out clip of today's WWDC 2010 of the iPhone 4.
I've played several soccer games on the iPhone and this is one of the best with smooth graphics and contained lots of data of players and teams.
The name of the game is X2 Soccer 2010.
Current price is $6.99
There is also a lite version which is free. A demo version.
From the main menu, there are several options to choose.
Supports WiFi and Bluetooth multiplayers.
Key controls are also shown on the settings. Pretty simple. There are 3 touch buttons and a D-touch pad which basically sums up the whole key controls of the game.
Tips:
- Double tap on the screen, players perform tricks.
- Double tap on the pass button (bottom left), players perform 1-2 passings.
From the menu, tapping on Start Match will prompt you to select England vs Germany by default.
Some actions..
Verdict: One of the best sports game on touch screen.
