Apple iPod Touch

Review | Features

Gadget Guy Review

Reviewer: Alex Kidman

Apple's finally made a revolutionary change to its iPod line - as long as you discount the iPhone - and the results are mostly good, although the comparative asking price and low battery life do detract strongly from the overall appeal of the iPod Touch.

Features

The iPod Touch features only two buttons - a top mounted button used for quickly switching the screen on and off, and a selector button located beneath the imposing 8.89 cm display. Everything else you'll do with the iPod Touch is, as the name implies, touch-based - from flicking your finger along the bottom of the screen to unlock it, to typing URLs in to the embedded web browser. It's actually not that new - the iPod Touch is basically a cut-down version of the iPhone, which at the time of writing was available only in the US, with Europe to follow shortly. For these Antipodean shores, the iPod Touch represents our first opportunity to play in the space that Apple feels the entire iPod line should be moving.

The iPod Touch does music and video playback, as do other iPods, as well as a slew of Touch-specific features, such as the Safari Web browser, direct YouTube video playback and access to the iTunes store. All of these functions are handled via the embedded Wi-Fi built into the Touch; you'll need a nearby open network in order to take advantage of these extra features.

Performance

The Touch's finger-based input strategy is one part inspired, one part annoying. It's undeniably very cool to use finger-based navigation, and even multi-finger input is supported for certain functions. The downside we found was when doing any data entry; even after quite a bit of practice, we kept hitting the wrong letters on the Touch's virtual keyboard. Nobody's ever going to write War and Peace on an iPod Touch, so it's not a killer flaw, but it can be annoying when you're trying to enter a URL into the Safari web browser.

The iPod Touch is rated for around 22 hours battery life for music, but we were disappointed to find it lasting less than eight in our tests - primarily, we suspect, because Wi-Fi was enabled while we were testing it out. Given that the wireless configuration is a touch (pun not intended) difficult to disable, it's a trap we figure many Touch users will fall into from time to time.

The Touch's video screen makes for an excellent video-viewing platform, although the same caveats about battery life apply even more here. It's easily the best platform for iPod video, although, annoyingly, once more Apple doesn't provide video conversion software with the Touch. This means you'll need to buy additional software to actually put 
video files or DVDs onto the Touch for playback.

Conclusion

So is the much-hyped Touch worth your money? It really depends on what you want out of it. It's undeniable that it is, in essence, a cut-down iPhone, and if the extra features (including Bluetooth, and unsurprisingly, telephony) of the iPhone appeal, then you'd be better off waiting - although that could be some time.

It's a cool gadget and an insight into the future of the iPod line, but at the same time, the asking price of the Touch could score you a couple of iPod Nanos with the same storage but far better battery life, or an iPod Classic with far more storage space. Choice is never a bad thing, and it's certainly an iPod with new features and oodles of style.

Official iPhone 3G pricing from Vodafone Australia

After a couple of false starts today, Vodafone have released their Apple iPhone 3G pricing.

It appeared up on their site briefly, but was then taken down. GadgetGuy has received official notice from Vodafone of their official iPhone 3G pricing - see below the information for personal and business users.

You'll notice the term MPP sprinkled throughout the information. This stands for Mobile Payment Plan, which allows dredit approved customers the opportunity to spread the cost of the device over the duration of their contract. The MPP is to be paid in addition to the minimum monthly spend for the applicable plan.

Protecting your iPhone

Not surprisingly, cases and covers dominate the accessories scene for the iPhone 3G. Like the iPod Touch, it's a finger smudge magnet, but it's also an expensive bit of technology that you'd hate to scratch. As with the iPod, the sky is virtually the limit when it comes to styles, from executive looking leather all the way down to shiny blinged-out plastic.

One thing to bear in mind is that, unlike most of the iPod range, the touch-sensitive screen that runs the iPhone 3G can't be covered, so most cases either leave this exposed, or come with a folio-style flap that protects the screen. At a more mundane level, several vendors, including Belkin and Philips/DLO offer plastic screen protectors that simply attach to the front screen, taking the scratches that you may give the iPhone 3G - say, by dropping it into your pocket right next to your car keys. They're certainly more replaceable than the iPhone 3G itself.

The apps maketh the iPhone!

Out of the box the iPhone is really good fun to use - and there aren't enough phones that qualify as "fun" in that sense - but that's not where the enjoyment and extensibility ends. It's possible to add software to the iPhone via Apple's 'App Store', which can be launched either from the iPhone 3G itself, or via iTunes. Applications vary in size, from 1MB upwards, and in price, with an average of around $10 per application. At launch, there were more than 500 applications on offer, with around 200 of those being free, which is quite impressive.

Certainly, you've been able to add applications to Windows smartphones for quite some time, but the process has been painful; you had to find the application, download it, sync your phone and hope it all worked, as there was no real approval authority. Moreover, you had to hit different sites to get different applications. The beauty of the App Store approach is that it's all centralised, pricing is clear, and in Australian dollars, and the installation procedure is extremely streamlined.

With over 500 applications at the time of writing it's tough to highlight every worthy contender. Certainly, casual games are proving popular, from classic titles like Tetris to Sega's addictive Super Monkey Ball, as well as more sedate pursuits such as Hold 'Em Poker. Total online junkies will appreciate embedded Facebook and Twitter, and those traveling may want to grab one of the free Talking Language phrasebooks, currently in French, German, Italian and Spanish. On the subject of Free applications, we found that the Free 'Moo' app is good for entertaining young children - it turns your iPhone 3G into one of those tipping cans that emit a loud 'Moo' sound when it tips. Silly, but fun regardless, and in any case it's free.

One of the best applications that Apple offers for the iPhone 3G also happens to be, like the best things in life, free. It's an in-house Apple app called 'Remote', which turns your iPhone 3G (or, if you've got one, your iPod Touch) into a remote control for Apple TV and iTunes library files located on the same wireless network. This gives you control over your music and video wherever you are, as long as your iPhone can see the wireless network (and after a very painless pairing procedure) you can search your libraries, play back files and even browse cover view for your albums. It's little surprise that it's consistently the most popular iPhone application available yet.

The iPhone internet experience

The iPhone 3G's Safari browser works surprisingly well for a mobile phone browser. It's not as full featured as the one on your PC right now, to be sure, but it's astonishingly close. It's undoubtedly a mile ahead of anything that anyone's put on a phone to date, both in terms of the way it renders web pages, and the way you can zoom between them, run multiple pages and even rotate the screen display to make some pages easier to view.

Safari supports secure HTTPS sessions, meaning it should support online banking (although we'd strongly suggest not doing so from a public Wi-Fi hotspot), but one thing it doesn't support yet is Flash-based websites, including YouTube. Yes, there's a YouTube link directly on the iPhone 3G interface, but that's due to wheeling and dealing between Apple and Google (owners of YouTube) that sees 'selected' YouTube content re-encoded in an iPhone 3G-friendly .H264 video format.

Internet use (along with email) will form a major part of most people's data usage, and with many web pages these days weighing in at the multiple megabyte level, for things like banking and online ticket ordering, combined with the somewhat expensive data plans on offer for the iPhone, it may well be worth using the phone's calling capabilities for some tasks that can be done quickly, rather than the web interface.

The iPhone's GPS capabilities

The iPhone's GPS capabilities are in what we can only describe as a curious state of flux. On a technical level, the GPS in the iPhone 3G is very good indeed. It uses a mix of GPS, mobile phone tower and even local Wi-Fi hotspot triangulation to get your position, a solution that's normally known as 'Assisted GPS'.

Typically, you'll get a very quick - within about five seconds in our experience - lock on your relative position, followed by absolute GPS positioning within a minute or so. The inbuilt Maps application uses Google Maps to provide either a flat 2D road layout, Google Earth's satellite view, or a hybrid of the two approaches. There are no spoken directions, but it is possible to plan trips. We'd advise having an incar navigator to read them to the driver, however, as the lack of a 3D view makes reading the GPS screen a touch tricky.

Where it gets more complex for Aussie users depends on your carrier and network quality, as all the maps have to be downloaded dynamically. Within a good 3G coverage area this isn't much of a problem, but if you do get into a bad signal area, or have to drop to 2G data, Google Maps struggles to keep up. In the interests of technical accuracy, we took an iPhone 3G connected to Optus' network for a drive up the F3 freeway outside Sydney, and can report that the data speed of the network is around 65Kph - as in, that's the fastest you can drive in a 2G area and still have Google Maps keep up reliably.

Where the GPS remains in flux is that the current Apple software developer's kit prohibits the development of 'Real Time Route Guidance' software - that's the kind of thing you'd find in the average Navman GPS, for the layman. That's Apple's current position, and we can only hope they reverse it; the iPhone's large screen and, say, TomTom's approach to simple GPS guidance (along with already downloaded maps) would make the iPhone truly excellent. As it is, the GPS is merely adequate, and that's a pity given the potential.

The iPhone: so much more than simply a phone

Talk is not the apple of your iPhone, writes Alex Kidman. Music, video, GPS and the entertainment delights of the internet are all just a touch away.

Apple's iPhone 3G ignited public interest in a way that no other mobile phone handset has done. As a phone it's entirely functional, and its online capabilities are pretty well documented elsewhere. It doesn't hurt that Apple's thrown its savviest designers at the thing, either; this is undeniably a pretty looking smartphone, and when you consider that the Blackberry is usually held up as the archetypal smartphone, that's somewhere where designers could really only go upwards. Still, beyond the basic telephony, there's a lot that can be done with the iPhone 3G that both enhances its functionality and its appeal.

Not all iAccessories are equal...

There's an issue with many mobile phones and external AV equipment; while it's often possible to output to other devices (most notably speakers), this often requires the use of a custom connector. Said custom connector does have accessories, but inevitably they're produced only by the phone vendor in question - so often, say, your Sony Ericsson phone will work only with the Sony Ericsson-supplied headphones, because they're the only ones using that connector.

The iPhone is technically no different in this regard, except for the fact that it uses the standard iPod connector dock, and as you're probably aware, there's no shortage of iPod docking equipment out there. If you do need to refresh your memory, our guide to iPod speaker docks is a good start.

AVL340 - AVLabs My Tube - $399.95

So, you might think, the iPhone 3G comes with an army of accessories, right?

Well, sort of. The connector is standard, but there are a few catches.

First of all, the twitchy issue of power. The iPod dock connector has two pins dedicated to power delivery; one USB based, and one using the Firewire standard. Firewire was the connection method of choice for video for many years and, critically, the original connection method for the original iPods. For manufacturing/cost reasons, quite a number of recharging units/battery packs use the Firewire pin on the dock connector, even if they never connect with an actual Firewire interface. But the iPhone 3G lacks that Firewire pin, and won't be able to charge from it.

We tested connecting up an older battery pack to the iPhone 3G, only to have a curt message pop up telling us it wasn't a compatible charger. What makes this difficult is that there's no easy way to tell if the dock connector uses Firewire or USB pins for charging until you plug it in. You can confidently expect that anything produced from now on with iPhone 3G compatibility should work - and certainly, if you purchased an item expecting this and making that expectation clear at the time of purchase, you'd be entitled to a refund.

In terms of speaker docks, we found everything that we chucked the iPhone into worked without a problem, but some reports online indicated otherwise. One thing the iPhone 3G will do when connected to many speaker outlets (including some incar FM transmitters, as we found during testing) is offer to switch the 2G/3G phone connectivity off in order to reduce interference with the speakers. If you've ever left your mobile on top of improperly shielded speakers and been assaulted by something that sounds all too much like Kraftwerk rather than the Mozart Piano Concerto you were expecting, you're probably aware of why.

If you're after new accessories in any case, we'd strongly advise you check for specific 'iPhone 3G' compatibility listings, as even the original 2G iPhone used the older Firewire power pins, and so something that just lists 'iPhone' compatibility might not work.

As for AV output, you're currently stuck with a singular connection choice - Apple's own $59 composite/component cables. Expect this to change very quickly indeed, though. With sales in excess of a million units in its first couple of days on sale, third-party AV vendors will be lining up around the block.

Telstra's network speed and exclusive applications for the iPhone

Telstra sources have said that its developers had been working on a range of exclusive applications for the iPhone, which they believe will be a major incentive for customers. "One of the most attractive features of the iPhone is the huge range of third-party applications that have been developed for the first iPhone. Telstra is committed to providing a range of unique iPhone apps that will make it the clear choice for consumers when considering which carrier to buy their iPhone from."

The source said that the Next G iPhone that Telstra would bring to market was now very competitive with other smart phones in the market and would be a viable alternative to corporate users who have relied on the Blackberry, HTC, i-mate and Treo in the past.

The new iPhone offers compatibility with Microsoft's Exchange Mail Server that rules the messaging world and would allow transmission of images as MMS, when the previous version of the iPhone would only allow images to be emailed.

Apple will use Exchange ActiveSync, a communication protocol that synchronises messages, contacts, calendar items, notes and tasks between a mobile device and an Exchange 2007 server. Unlike tethered sync, which the iPhone previously supported, the synchronisation happens over a mobile network or via a Wi-Fi connection.

The source also pointed out that Telstra and BigPond have been working on iPhone applications. "Games are a huge area of interest and several companies have already demonstrated beta versions of games for the new iPhone. Electronic Arts, for example, has showed a scaled-back version of "Spore", while business application developer, Salesforce.com, has demonstrated how it could push data from its software-as-a-service CRM application to the device."

The Software Developer Kit for the new iPhone has been available for several months and has provided developers access to the iPhone's gesture-based multi-touch screen, animation technology, storage space, the accelerometer (the small sensor that automatically switches between landscape and portrait display), the built-in camera and more.
So with some exceptions, it appears that the sky's the limit as far as what developers work up.

"Telstra has been very interested in the iPhone's mapping capabilities and we have been especially busy looking at ways to take advantage of Apple's new integrated iPhone technologies with applications such as Whereis, Citysearch, GoStay and BigPond Shopping," added the source.

In conjunction with the Telstra and BigPond software the new iPhone will use Global Locate Library software that abstracts assisted GPS commands. The feature should allow the new iPhone to locate its position far more accurately than current solutions and is meant to interface with a Global Locate chip built into a phone. This will also enable geo-tagging of photos taken from the phone's built-in camera, adding the longitude and latitude co-ordinates to a picture's metadata and allowing the photo to be accurately positioned on a map.

The Next G network

Telstra's Next G network covers 99 per cent of the Australian population, an area of more than 2 million square kilometres. The peak network downlink speeds of 14.4Mbps. The network has peak downlink speeds of 14.4Mbps, with plans to reach 21Mbps in 2008 and 42Mbps in 2009.

Telstra announces it will sell the iPhone 3G

By Peter Blasina

After months of speculation about which carriers would deliver Apple's iPhone to the Australian marketplace, Telstra has today revealed that the country's biggest telco plans to deliver the iPhone on its Next G (850 MHz) network, from July 11.

3G's faster data speeds delivers an important performance enhancement to the new iPhone and means that it will have speeds as good if not better than some desktop broadband connections. It will mean that functions like internet browsing, global positioning, music and movie downloads, MMS transfers and even email will happen at speeds that Australians have come to expect from their mobile phone.

The joint Telstra and Apple statement makes no mention of whether the device would operate at 3.6Mbps or 7.2Mbps. The current theoretical download speed of the Next G network is 7.2Mbs but promised upgrades could see this reach 42Mbs by the end of the year, making it the fastest 3G network in Australia, and the world, according to Telstra. As such, Next G could potentially be the most compelling local platform for the forthcoming 3G iPhone, which was announced earlier this month at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2008 in San Francisco by Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.

Pricing and availability

Telstra's also announced some details on its pricing plans. According to Telstra prices start at $279 for the 8 gig model and on a $30 plan, while the 16GB will be sold for $399. On the $80 plan there will be no cost on 8GB iPhone, while on $100 plans either the 8GB or the 16GB will be at no cost. The contract length on plans will be 24 months.

The press release makes no mention of data pricing but does reveal that free WiFi access will be available to Telstra iPhone customers at Telstra hotspots.

Customers can find further information and register their interest in iPhone 3G by visiting a nearby Telstra Shop, calling 1800iPhone or going to www.telstra.com/iphone

Other carriers

With the 2.5G version of the iPhone having sold more than 6 million units in the 12 months it's been on sale in the US, all local carriers are looking at the new handset to drive people to their networks and plump up revenues from mobile content services. Optus and Vodafone announced plans to support the 3G iPhone back in May, but GadgetGuy.com.au's source claims Telstra believed that Next G's coverage to 99 per cent of the population would be a determining factor for many customers when it comes to making a decision about where to buy.

"A key pillar in the design and functioning of the iPhone has always been its web-based applications. However, the slower speed of the AT&T's US network has been an issue and the iPhone has not really been able to deliver on the promise of 'the Internet in your pocket'. With Next G's superior performance, the iPhone will be able to deliver enhanced functionality and particularly tremendous performance," according to the source.

"The iPhone up until now has been restricted by virtue of that fact that it operated at 2.5G speeds. This made one of its key features - internet access - painfully slow. It should be a major driver for many Australian customers, looking for a stylish smart phone," says the source.

Vodafone and Optus have both announced that they will also be selling the 3G iPhone once it is released by Apple in Australia on 11 July. Additionally, a recently announced deal between Apple and Hutchison Whampoa to sell the iPhone in Hong Kong will most likely carry through to 3 Mobile in Australia. 3 should also be offering its customers the iPhone by the end of the month - 3 have also recently had customers petition Apple to allow it to add the iPhone to their network.

Up until this announcement, the iPhone had been locked to a single provider (AT&T in the US) and various other providers in European countries. Australia is the first country where the restrictions have been lifted, with 'unlocked' versions of the iPhone available to customers.

Get some big sound on your iPod or iPhone with a Harman Kardon The Bridge II docking station

Get a high-performance audio experience by placing your iPod or iPhone on Harman Kardon's new The Bridge II docking station. The Bridge II retains the smooth curved line of the original, with enhanced features for connectivity.

The Bridge II connects a compatible iPod model* to a Harman Kardon The Bridge-ready audio/video component. Once connected consumers will be able to access all the enhanced iPod capabilities allowing users to enjoy audio/video playback with the help of a home entertainment system, on-screen iPod menu display, remote control operation and charging.

Using just a single cable, The Bridge II connects to the new Harman Kardon AVR 355, AVR 655 and AVR 755 7.1-channel audio/video receivers and the new HK 3490 stereo receiver, or to current and previously available The Bridge-ready A/V receivers.

Price and availability

The Bridge II will be available from July 2008 for $129 recommended retail price.

Source: Harman Kardon

* Compatible with iPod models with docking connector; including iPod Touch, iPod Nano and all Click Wheel models
** The Bridge II is compatible with the following Harman Kardon components: DMC1000, AVR 55 Series, 47 Series, 45 Series and 40

Apple's MobileMe Internet Service

Apple today introduced MobileMe, a new internet service that delivers push email, push contacts and push calendars from the MobileMe service in the "cloud" to native applications on iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs. MobileMe also provides a suite of elegant, ad-free web applications that deliver a desktop-like experience through any modern browser. MobileMe applications (www.me.com <http://www.me.com/> ) include Mail, Contacts and Calendar, as well as Gallery for viewing and sharing photos and iDisk for storing and exchanging documents online.

"Think of MobileMe as 'Exchange for the rest of us,'" said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push email, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get."

With a MobileMe email account, all folders, messages and status indicators look identical whether checking email on iPhone, iPod touch, a Mac or a PC. New email messages are pushed instantly to iPhone over the cellular network or Wi-Fi, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads. Push also keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically pushed up to the cloud and down to other devices. Push works with the native applications on iPhone and iPod touch, Microsoft Outlook for the PC, and Mac OS X applications, Mail, Address Book and iCal, as well as the MobileMe web application suite.

MobileMe web applications are 100 percent ad-free and provide an incredible, desktop-like experience that allows users to drag and drop, click and drag and even use keyboard shortcuts. MobileMe provides anywhere access to Mail, Contacts and Calendar, with a unified interface that allows users to switch between applications with a single click, and Gallery makes it easy to share photos on the web in stunning quality. Gallery users can upload, rearrange, rotate and title photos from any browser; post photos directly from an iPhone; allow visitors to download print quality images; and contribute photos to an album. MobileMe iDisk lets users store and manage files online with drag and drop filing and makes it easy to share documents too large to email by automatically sending an email with a link for downloading the file. MobileMe includes 20GB of online storage that can be used for email, contacts, calendar, photos, movies and documents.

Pricing and availability

MobileMe, to be made available soon, is a subscription-based service with 20GB of storage for A$119 inc GST per year for individuals and A$179 inc GST for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each. Users can sign up for a free, 60-day MobileMe trial at www.apple.com/au/mobileme and current .Mac members will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe accounts.

iPhone 3G specifications

Box contents

• iPhone 3G
• Stereo headset with mic
• Dock connector to USB cable
• USB power adapter
• Documentation
• Cleaning/polishing cloth
• SIM ejector tool

Dimensions

• Height: 115.5 mm (4.5 inches)
• Width: 62.1 mm (2.4 inches)
• Depth: 12.3 mm (0.48 inches)
• Weight: 133 grams (4.7 ounces)

Display

• 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
• 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Colours and storage sizes

• 8GB model: Black
• 16GB model: Black or white

Video

Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats

Power and battery

• Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
• Talk time: Up to 5 hours on 3G. up to 10 hours on 2G
• Standby time: Up to 300 hours5
• Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G, up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi
• Video playback: Up to 7 hours
• Audio playback: Up to 24 hours

Cellular and wireless

• UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

Mac system requirements

• Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
• Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later
• iTunes 7.7 or later

Windows system requirements

• PC with USB 2.0 port
• Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
• iTunes 7.7 or later

iPhone 3G pricing and availability

US pricing and availability

iPhone 3G will be available in the US on 11 July for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T's retail stores and requires a two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers.

Australian availability

As mentioned above in the Apple press release, the 3G iPhone is coming to Australia on July 11. Visiting the Australian pages of the Apple iPhone site, it is, as for the US information, marked for a July 11 release. Click the Where to Buy button, and there are logos and links for store finders for Vodafone and Optus.

Apple have just now (5.31 am) put out a press release on behalf of Optus. Not much new information here, and no pricing information at all. There is a website where you can pre-register for an iPhone, for a refundable deposit of $100.

Oh, and here we are at 5.40 am, and there's a press release regarding the iPhone and Vodafone. Again, it's on sale July 11, and again no pricing information. According to Vodafone it will be available "on both prepay and contract price plans which will include great value data bundles". Vodafone customers will be able to pre-order both online and in Vodafone retail stores in the next few days.

No more rumours - the Apple iPhone 3G IS coming

After months of speculation and rumour, Apple have officially announced the upcoming release of the Phone 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking, that is twice as fast as the first generation iPhone, has built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK.

In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at US$199 for the 8GB model, and US$299 for the 16GB model (based on iPhone 3G 8GB and first generation iPhone 8GB purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.)

More speed, more countries ("legally", no need to crack)

iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries - Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US - on July 11.

"Just one year after launching the iPhone, we're launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. " iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year."

iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.

iPhone 2.0 software

iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone's groundbreaking Multi-Touch user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world's most advanced mobile platform.

iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.

Additional features available with the iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac or PC. iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback.

MobileMe - Apple takes to the cloud

iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe, a new internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online "cloud" to native applications on iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.

Colours and storage sizes

The 8GB model is available in black, while the 16GB model is available in black or white.

Next Gen iPod and iPhone Nano: Full Screen with TouchPanel at the Bottom

With introduction of an iPhone, Apple opened our eyes to the possibilities of full screen touch interfaces. But such interfaces have one drawback - there's a limit how small you can make it.

It would be difficult to put such an interface on iPod Nano - with your finger covering a better part of touchscreen, how would you operate it?

Don't worry, Apple now has a solution. Why not make a full screen iPod or iPhone Nano, and put an operational touchpanel on the back side?

This way you can have a full screen of Next Gen iPod/iPhone Nano for viewing. When active touchpanel on the back side is activated, transparent device controls appear, depending on the mode the device is in - scroll wheel, song list for music, alphanumeric keypad for dialing, QWERTY softkeys for messages.

The cursor on the screen will follow the position of your finger. You can slide the finger through the force sensitive touchpanel, applying pressure when you reach the desired control or symbol and selecting it.

Since the materials on the bottom touchsurface need not be transparent, haptic controls like VibeTonz can be easily implemented in the device, providing vibration touch feedback when controls are pressed.

There are still technological and ergonomic limitations of how small such a device can be. You should not expect to see 3G iPhone Nano anytime soon.

But a full screen iPod Nano with active force sensitive touchpanel at the bottom is a real possibility even today. And so is a little bigger 2-2.5G iPhone Nano with the same technology.

iPhone Nano is real

Few weeks ago we told you about Apple's patent application that describes possible iPhone Nano.

This patent application caused a lot of hoopla and speculation around the net, with JP Morgan analyst Kevin Chang confirming it's existence through his sources in supply channel and predicting the launch of iPhone Nano before Christmas. And don't forget Apple's patent for iPhone Nano with a touchscreen on the back.

Later JP Morgan said that they were unable to confirm the report through other sources and many news outlets considered it a retraction, deciding that there's no such thing as iPhone Nano. But it is premature to call second JP Morgan report a retraction. They never said that there's no iPhone Nano.

And in the latest patent application, filed on January 04, 2007 (just a couple of weeks before the official launch of first iPhone) Apple talks about exactly this kind of cheap and simple device. And clearly states that it is about a new cellphone in the patent application name - "Telephone interface for a Portable Communication Device" (download patent .pdf here, 3MB).

It looks like Apple decided that it does not even need any fancy touchpads or touchscreen at the back. Simple click wheel that you can find on any iPod and some clever software implementation will do.

As you can see from the drawings, the iPhone Nano would look very similar to your current iPod Nano. Probably just a bit longer, will have a bigger screen and a few additional text menu items for phone operation.

Everything else stays the same. Just when you select a phone mode, a rotary dial with numbers and letters appears on the screen. When you place a finger on a click wheel, the relevant number or letter is selected. As you move your finger around, highlight on a dial follows it. Press a finger and it enters the number or character for the names in address book. You can also switch between character entry and edit modes and give other commands by pressing menu, play, fast forward buttons.

With touch sensitive click wheel and some clever software tricks to differentiate between simple click and movement, overall operation of iPhone Nano can be made as intuitive as for any iPod.

And the same goes for SMS text messages:

Just scroll through the relevant letters with the movement of the finger on a clickwheel, use command keys to jump between different trays on the screen, ad some clever predictive text entry algorithms and sending SMS is even easier then on your current cellphone.

There you have it. Cheap and simple iPhone Nano.

Is it real? Yes. I think so.

Apple research department might just be exploring various avenues of phone design. But the whole idea revealed in this patent application looks too good and practical to pass up. The application itself too direct and complete for something to be put into the drawer and forgotten. And the whole trickle of the patent applications pointing in the same direction is too similar to the pattern we've seen last year with the original iPhone patents.

Will we see iPhone Nano this year? Probably not. Will it even be called iPhone Nano? I have no idea. What I am sure about now is, that we will see relatively cheap and simple phone/music player designed along the lines described here in 2008, latest.

Cheap and simple iPhone Nano for your Grandma

With more then half a million iPhones sold in the first few days after launch we know that it's a great device. It's a revolutionary phone, it's a full screen video iPod, it's an internet browsing device, it's an e-mail messaging device, it's a….. Well, it's a small computer that you can put in your pocket and do almost anything you want with it.

But what if you actually do not need all this stuff? What if you are overhelmed with all the available options? After all the success of the original iPod was based on it's simplicity. It did just one thing - made your whole music library portable. But it did it real well.

So what if a simple iPod with lots of storage is enough? And what if Apple just added a simple phone capability to it, so you don't have to carry two gadgets anywhere you go.

Yes. Nothing fancy or revolutionary. Just a simple iPod music player and a simple phone to make calls. Wouldn't that be a great device?

Apple thinks so too and may just have such a device soon in an iPhone Nano form factor, as it's recent patent filing called "Touch pad with symbols based mode" indicates.

It describes a simple touchpad that can display different symbols for different modes of the device and the ways to operate such a device. These different symbols are illuminated as different modes of the device are selected and are used to operate iPhone Nano in that mode.

And while the patent application talks about many great ways such a device might be used, the real drawings and examples boil down to a very simple thing. A portable device with just two functions - iPod music player and a simple phone.

I think Apple might be on to something here. While there is a huge market and a lots of happy potential iPhone users, the market for a cheap and simple device like iPhone Nano, that just makes calls, plays your music and does it really well, may be just as big.

Of course, if Apple introduced such a device before the iPhone, there would have been a huge outcry of dissapointment among Apple fans. But now, that Apple proved to the world at large that it can revolutionize the cellphone, it might just go and make the iPhone Nano phone/music player that your grandma will be comfortable with.

Apple “tax” for iPhone accessories may be in the works

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises to Apple that came with the wild success of an iPod, was the emergence of the vibrant ecosystem of various iPod accessories. Somewhat belatedly Apple moved to capitalize on this ecosystem by introducing 10% tax for the right to display "Made for iPod" logo on various add-ons.

As with all the taxes, not everyone was happy and not everyone complied. And there's only so much Apple could do to about it.

Things may be different for the iPhone. The recent patent filing shows how Apple can make any iPhone accessory maker that connects to the device, become a part of "Made for the iPhone" certification program. For a small fee, of course.

Patent application is really simple and describes:

…accessory detector coupled to the connector and configured to detect whether an external accessory coupled to the connector may interfere with wireless communication with the handheld device.

If implemented, the detector will analyze any accessory - power and data cables, hands free equipment, speakers, etc; - that you will connect to your iPhone and will decide whether it may interfere with the phone operation.

If the answer is yes, the iPhone will adjust for the maximum performance. But first it will start giving us warning messages like, you know:

"OMG! This thingy you connected right now will certainly crash your phone in a few seconds…"

Of course, like with the third party apps on the iPhone, it's all for our own good.

And the club such a detector gives Apple to herd all accessory makers into "Made for the iPhone" certification program, for a small 10% fee on each accessory, is just an accidental side effect.

Apple is thinking about having water exposure detector in iPhone

What is one of a pretty frequent reasons for your shiny new iPhone, or any mobile phone for that matter, to go bad?

I'd say spilling a coffee on it, or dropping it into a water somewhere. We all know that water is bad for electronics, but this sh$#& happens quite often.

Then, we may try to dry it and hope the whole thing works again. And, the less honest among us, may take the iPhone to the store, and claim that "… it stopped working and I have no idea why…"

Looks like Apple had a fair share of such claims. It is now thinking about installing water exposure detectors into the iPhones and iPods, so a technician can see what the problem is with a single glance, and tell you that the warranty is void, without even opening the darn thing.

The water exposure detector can be made to be seen by everyone, as a seprate opening in the device. Or it can be installed inside the headphone jack and require an additional simple tool to view.

Apple calls copy/paste function low priority feature for iPhone 3G

We all know how mad you are at the iPhone's lack of the very basic copy/paste feature that's been available in computers since 1995, but what does Apple think about it?

They think it's low priority, according to statements made by Apple product head Greg Joswiak. It was omitted simply because other features were deemed more important for the launch of the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 2.0 software update.

Also denying comments on David Pogue from the New York Times that the iPhone's GPS antenna was a tad too small for it to be an effective navigation device, Joswiak says there are "complicated issues" that have yet to be overcome.

Joswiak also hints that developers may be able to further help navigation on the iPhone in the future, saying, "It will evolve. I think our developers will amaze us."

Through these comments, Apple indirectly says that all the public's requested features are certainly headed our way. At the moment, though, we have to take the iPhone for what it is, and judge for ourself whether it's worth getting now or still deserving for us to wait.

iPhone Software 2.1 beta tester finds references to copy/paste, mobile radio

As a smartphone, the iPhone has lacked a very important feature ever since it first came out. It doesn't have copy/paste functionality. Also, as a music player it is kind of flawed by not having a native radio application. Both of these shortcomings might be remedied soon, however, as traces of commands regarding their application have been spotted in the latest beta build of iPhone software by a diligent dev.

Combing the beta iPhone 2.1 software build recently, one developer has been able to find references to a copy and paste feature under the 'Localizable.strings' file in the WebKit framework.

However, since the references are found in the web kit specifically, it could mean that those were merely carried over from the existing WebKit frameworks that are used for Windows PC and Mac application development.

The same developer also found references to an Apple MobileRadio, which theoretically could be the iPhone and iPod's long-awaited FM radio application.

Of course, all of this is just speculation at this point, and none of us here at UV are developers so your guess is as good as ours.

Apple MobileMe is officially a royal mess

Apple’s ambitious $100 a year MobileMe service has been receiving a lot of flak ever since its inception. The service that promised to bring corporate, BES-like synchronization of email, calendars, and contacts, to Windows PCs, Macs, iPhones, and iPod Shuffles has been quite a pain in all kinds of places for users of these devices and bloggers reporting on these issues have left no stones unturned flogging the flawed add on.

Wall Street Journal’s Walter Mossberg has dissed the service in much detail explaining how the exorbitantly priced service failed to deliver quality and frequently returned errors in syncing bookmarks, web-based file-storage and page loading. You can read the tech guru’s review here or you can catch him delivering his pained sermon in the video below.

iPhone's Internal Batteries

iPhone's Internal Batteries

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		iPhone 1400mAh Replacement Battery (p/n 1003605) Replacement, New Brand iPhone 1400mAh Replacement Battery $29.95
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iPhone Cables & Adapters

iPhone Cables & Adapters

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Select Adapters, Chargers, Splitters for your iPhone

		Apple iPod 30-Pin Charger to USB 2.0 Cable (p/n 1003220) Apple iPod 30-Pin Charger to USB 2.0 Cable Regular price: $19.95 Sale price: $14.95
		Apple iPod/iPhone AC Power Adapter with USB Charging Cable (p/n 1002405) Replacement, Apple iPod/iPhone AC Power Adapter with USB Charging Cable Regular price: $39.95 Sale price: $29.95
		Belkin's Headphone Adapter for iPhone/iPod (p/n 1003006) Headphone Adapter allows you to connect any headset to your iPhone/iPod $14.95
		iPod Mobile Cassette Adapter (White) (p/n F8V366-APL) - No Longer Available We apologize but this item is no longer available to purchase. The manufacturer has stopped making this item so we are no longer able to order it. Please select another brand or similar item to complete your order. Regular price: $24.99 Sale price: $22.95
		Retractable iPod USB Charge and Synch Cable (p/n 1002841) Ziplinq's uniquely designed retractable iPod DataSync and charging cable is a must for mobile PC users that require one of the most advance space saving technologies available. $14.99
		Audio Retractable Stereo 3.5mm to RCA Cable (p/n 1000740) This retractablecable Expands from 4" to 48", Connect the audio output from any 3.5mm source to the Stereo input on your component stereo or Amplified Speaker system. $8.99
		Retractable Stereo RCA (M-M) Cable (p/n 1000744) Perfect choice for connecting your CD, DVD, TV or any other audio/video components to your TV or receiver $8.99
		Audio Retractable Stereo 3.5mm, M-Mpin Adapter (p/n 1000738) Great for PC, Notebook, or Tape Recorder, CD Player or MP3 Player. Use it at home or on the road. Perfect for connecting your audio device to the aux. input of your PC or car stereo. $14.95
		Audio Retractable Stereo 3.5mm, M-F, Extension Cable (p/n 1000739) The perfect extension for a ZIP-LINQ or any other Stereo Audio cable. $8.99
		Zip-linq's Uniquely Designed Retractable USB Cell Phone Charger (p/n ZIP-CELL-M02) Charge in as little as one hour* from any PC or MAC USB port! Includes adapters for the most popular phones LG Mobile, Sanyo, Samsung, Kyocera and Motorola iDen! Regular price: $19.99 Sale price: $7.95
		iPod Retractable Stereo 3.5mm to iPod Dock Connector (White) (p/n 1000742) This quality retractable iPod Dock to 3.5mm stereo cable lets you play your music through your car stereo, PC, Notebook and other audio equipment $12.99
		Belkin's Mobile Power Cord for the 3G, 4G & Mini iPods (p/n 2522-MPWC) The Mobile Power Cord connects your iPod player to your car's power source and provides unlimited play and standby time. $19.99
		Belkin Mini-Stereo 6ft Cable for iPhone (p/n 1002459) Replacement, Belkin Mini-Stereo 6ft Cable for iPhone $14.95
		USB Travel AC Charger & Universal Power Adaptor (p/n 1004420) USB Travel AC Charger & Universal Power Adaptor $29.95
		PowerDock 4 Charger (p/n 1004442) PowerDock 4 Charger $24.95
		SmartTalk Headphone Adapter & Mic for iPhone (p/n 1004444) SmartTalk Headphone Adapter & Mic for iPhone $19.95