Spotify has launched an update to their Spotify iPhone app that allows you to play music in the background. The update requires iOS 4 if you want to play music in the background while using other apps.

Spotify say that listening to music in the background is the most requested feature and thanks to the release of iOS 4 on the iPhone, it now has made it possible.

Several new features have been added to the application which includes the already mentioned multitasking support (only works on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 3rd Gen). [Read more…]

Three in the UK has launched The One Plan. The One Plan is described as being the simplest and most competitive tariff ever offered in the UK.

The One Plan offers a lot of free minutes, free texts and 1GB of data as well as more minutes for calls kept on the Three network.

For £25/month you get 2000 any network minutes, 5000 Three to Three minutes, 5000 texts and 1GB of data. There are no “unlimited” mentions here and you simply get a lot of everything (perhaps not data, but more than enough for the majority of peoples needs). [Read more…]

We hear rumours all the time about Verizon [VZ] getting the iPhone 4 or any other model for that matter. Some people comment that the iPhone for Verizon hasn’t been built yet although John Gruber has a different approach.

He strongly believes that a CDMA ready iPhone 4 is actually ready and that the hardware has been developed and just need to go in to mass production. The main hold up he believes, is the contract between the companies. Gruber says that he wouldn’t be surprised if an iPhone hit Verizon a year ago or in 3 years time. It’s just negotiations and getting the right timing and deals. [Read more…]

Owners of the HTC DROID Incredible will be getting an OTA update soon that will bring some new features to the device. The new update will bring 720p HD video recording as well as a mobile hotspot feature that lacks at the moment.

It isn’t clear at the moment when the updates will hit the DROID Incredible and of course, this information doesn’t come from an official source, so it there’s a chance it might not actually happen. But, from evidence we have seen over at Droid Life, it certainly looks promising. [Read more…]

Apple [AAPL] has put out a formal letter regarding the signal problems on the iPhone 4 although it tackles the issue from a slightly different angle from what you might expect and Apple won’t actually fix anything with the signal other than how signal strength is reported.

What the problem seems to be (according to Apple) is the signal meter that sits at the top left of the screen. Apple admitted that they have used the wrong formula to calculate signal strength that reports the signal being a lot higher than it actually is. The meter actually reports a lot more signal than it should and when there is a slight drop in signal, it can look a lot more dramatic than it actually is. This reporting method and formula was used on all generations of the iPhone and a fix is being sent out in a few weeks to report the signal correctly. [Read more…]

Chase bank in the US has created an iPhone app that allows you to deposit checks by simply taking a picture of the front and back of the cheque. All you do is load up the app, log in to your account, capture the front and back of the check and submit it to the bank. This saves you a trip down to the bank.

It’s a good step forwards and a nice time saver for those who still deal in the older method of banking. Limits of $1000/day and $3000/week apply which for some might be a problem, but for most should be just fine. [Read more…]

We’ve heard quite a bit over the last week about the iPhone 4 and antenna problems that it has. We have seen a few problems ourselves although overall the experience is better than the 3GS in terms of signal. We only find it drops where signal is bordering on being dead but in those situations the iPhone 4 is still able to keep a call running.

Anandtech decided rather than writing about general observations and trying to summarise it in words, like we have and many other places have done, is in fact, use technical data to see how it actually performs. Using the iPhone 4 and writing based on observation just doesn’t get the same message across as facts do.

The tests were conducted by holding the iPhone 4 in various ways such as a strong grip over the antenna joint, flat on the palm and a more casual hold. Signal strength was then recorded for the iPhone 4, 3GS and the Google Nexus One. [Read more…]

The iPhone 4 bumper case is simply a bit or plastic or rubber that stretches around the outer edges of the phone and protects the glass from touching surfaces as well as protecting the edges of the phone.

The Vapor4 is exactly the same in that it covers the edges of the iPhone 4 and protects it… but the difference here is that the Vapor4 actually looks amazingly nice.

As well as looking good, it will also fix the antenna issues with the iPhone 4 when in bad signal areas. It achieves this by lining the insides of the aluminium casing with a material that prevents the antenna from touching the casing, thus your hand cant break the signal. In tests the company found no interference. [Read more…]

Google [GOOG] is already working on the next version of Android believed to be version 3.0 and codenamed Gingerbread. Some details have started to appear about the new Android indicating what kind of hardware specs a smartphone will need to have to run it.

Phones will require at least 512MB of RAM and a 3.5 inch or larger screen. Processor wise, at least 1GHz will be needed. By detailing the specifications Google allows people to know before hand if their device will be eligible for the upgrade or not. [Read more…]

Some users reported to Apple [AAPL] that their iPhone running iOS 4 was struggling to connect to Exchange servers. This isn’t something we have noticed ourselves here and we use Exchange server for email, contacts, calendar and tasks (separate app). However, Apple has provided a quick update that essentially just changes the idle timeout. Users are reporting that this does indeed fix the problem.

Immediately after updating to iOS 4, some users may notice that Exchange ActiveSync Mail, Contacts, or Calendars do not sync, or sync very slowly. In addition, some Exchange Server administrators may notice their servers running slowly.

Products Affected

iPod touch, iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS

Resolution

To work around this issue, users should install a configuration profile from Apple that increases the amount of time the iOS 4 device will wait for the Exchange Server to respond to its sync requests. For best results, the profile should be installed on as many iOS 4 devices at your company as possible.

The update is simple to install and can be found here. Download it or view this page on your iPhone and click the link within the article. Alternatively you can just email the file to yourself and install from the mail app.

You then need to install it and ignore the “profile is not signed” message. Once installed which takes less than a second, just restart your iPhone and you should be good to go.

Back in May, Mozilla previewed the Firefox Home app saying it was soon going to be sent to Apple [AAPL] for approval to hit the app store. The application has now been submitted and the company is just waiting for Apple to give the go ahead.

Firefox Home is an application that lets you sync your bookmarks and open tabs up from your desktop or laptop computer with your iPhone so that when you are on the move you can easily pick up from where you left off at home. The data about tabs and bookmarks on your computer is automatically synced to the cloud which allows the iPhone to then grab that data when the free application is loaded up. [Read more…]

Facebook has finally updated their iPhone app to be iOS 4 compatible as well as iPhone 4 compatible. By iOS 4 compatible we mean that Fast App Switching is now available which works on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. By iPhone 4 compatible we mean that the icons have received an update and have been made higher resolution to look better on the retina display.

Other features include Russian and Korean localizations as well as a few minor bug fixes for the app. [Read more…]