Search Results for: iphone

Fring has updated it’s iPhone 4 app to allow 2 way video calling on the iPhone 4. What makes this update stand out is the ability to use Fring to do 2 way video calls from the iPhone 4 to other devices over 3G or WiFi.

Features include…

* Face-to-face video calls with friends on their Droids, Nokia (Symbian S60) and other iPhones
* Video calls over 3G or Wi-Fi (Performance over 3G is subject to mobile operators’ 3G coverage & quality)

What makes this version stand out is the ability to call across platforms. With FaceTime from Apple [AAPL], you are restricted to WiFi and iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 to make use of it. With Fring, those restrictions are gone making it way more handy than before. [Read more…]

Reports are showing that those who updated their iPhone 3GS to iOS 4 have been suffering with a shorter batter life when compared to iOS 3.1.3.

A Norwegian journalist asked Steve Jobs by email if any deterioration should happen when iOS 4 is installed to which Steve simply replied “Nope”.

Over on the Apple forums a thread has started with a number of people (26 pages worth of people) reporting that they are also having problems with battery life with iOS 4 on their 3GS.

It isn’t clear if there is a problem that a software fix can fix. Ideas on the forum include closing out multi-tasking apps that are still running as well as lowering screen brightness and disabling push notifications. It isn’t clear if those will fix it enough to return to 3.1.3 levels and it isn’t clear if all users are experiencing a drop in battery life. [Read more…]

Finally T-Mobile decided to join the party and reveal the iPhone 4 UK price for those wanting to buy one on their network. Right now the iPhone 4 isn’t ready for sale on the network but it expected soon.

All contracts for the iPhone 4 are 24 months on T-Mobile with monthly costs starting at £25/month and going up to £60/month in £5 increments to £45 and a jump up to £60/month after that. Only the 16GB iPhone 4 is available for free on the largest price plan. The cheapest you can get a 32GB model for is £99 on the £60/month plan.

The data offered on each plan is not spectacular either with T-Mobile offering just 500MB on the majority of plans with the £45/month plan offering 750MB and the top plan offering 1GB of data. [Read more…]

Last week, Apple [AAPL] responded to the iPhone 4 signal/antenna problems. Their response kind of skirted around the real issue in that a problem was identified, but not the problem we were thinking of.

Apple basically said that the 5 signal bars that represent signal strength were being shown incorrectly. When signal was low the meter was still showing a good signal or maybe 3 or 4 bars when in fact, it should be just 1 bar showing. This error in calculation was due to the formula being used where the signal strength had smaller gaps on the higher bars (ie, a slight drop in signal could lose all bars).

What the fix will do is correctly represent the actual signal in bars with linear spacing between each bar. If your signal is low it will show 1 bar rather than the 3 or 4 bars you see now in low signal areas. [Read more…]

If you have an iPhone then it would be worth you checking out the Babylonian Twins game. The game is free today to download and features a number of levels and challenges for you to work through.

Think The Prince of Persia meets The Lost Vikings with a twist: You control two characters, the twin princes of Babylonian, one at a time and each with different skills, to solve challenging puzzles in a fast-paced action and smooth scrolling in a unique historic atmosphere derived from history texts.

[Read more…]

Check out this for a cool wallpaper. The Pac-Man wallpaper has been designed for the iPhone 4 and surrounds the apps on your iPhone home screen while the gaps are filled with pellets, ghosts and Pac-Man himself.

Setting the wallpaper as a background is simple in that you just need to go to settings > wallpaper and then select the image that you just saved on your iPhone.

As this is iOS 4 it is unfortunately unplayable and is just a static background. Either way, it’s quite cool and a good reminder of the early days of computer games. [Read more…]

iFixit are well known for their detailed teardowns of smartphones and other devices. However, the iFixit images are static whereas the TechRestore images form a stop-motion animation which looks rather good.

This time the iPhone 4 gets torndown in stop motion and then put back together quickly at the end. It’s an interesting video and shows you the amount of detail and attention that has gone in to building the iPhone 4.

The stop-motion video was created by capturing 1784 still images of the teardown and rebuild and has been put in to a video 3:35 in length. [Read more…]

When returning the iPhone to an Apple [AAPL] store, you would normally incur a 10% restocking fee. However, it seems like this restocking fee is being waved for the iPhone 4. The information comes from the letter that Apple published yesterday that says users can take their iPhone 4 back for “a full refund” within 30 days of purchase. Normally you’d be charged $19.90 to return the 16GB model and $29.90 for the larger 32GB model.

ComputerWorld contacted an AppleCare support rep who confirmed the ditching of the restocking fee. [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…]

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…]