iFones.com was created to bring you the latest reviews for Apple iPhone apps created with the iPhone SDK.
Starting April 1st expect to see frequent indepth reviews and commentary on SDK development and applications with general Apple iPhone Reviews as well.
If you have something you would like to see reviewed send your request to info@ifones.com
I have to confess that I still can’t get Xiaxue—the amazingly popular Asian blogstar who slammed the iPhone in favor of a Chinese knock-off earlier this month. At first I told Matt that I thought she was a completely dumbtastic bozo but, after seeing this, I think she may be the biggest toe-curling comedy genius since Ricky Gervais. There’s something awkwardly funny about her reply to the Apple fanboys’ flaming that made me laugh out loud. Wait until the end of the video and everything will make sense. Kind of. What do you think? Stupid moron or comedy genius? (Update: I just saw the previous episode on her series, a NSFW six-minute visit to a sex shop, including her take on toys and penis extender systems. She’s definitely funny.)
Here are the first—alleged—pictures of the Tube, the codename for Nokia’s response to the iPhone we talked about yesterday. It seems that these images were taken at the same developers conference in California. Looking at the second photo, it seems it will have stylus support.
According to Symbian Freak, the 16:9 three-point-something-inch phone is quadband, 3G-ready, has Bluetooth and integrated GPS with geotagging support. The camera is “better than the one that we can find on an iPhone.”
The interface design doesn’t seem finger-touch friendly, judging from the size of the “options” and “exit” items, which may also be controlled by the two buttons on the bottom of the phone. However, we will have to wait and see how the final interface is. Until when?
First quarter 2009, they say.
Too bad. And maybe too late. [Symbian Freak —thanks James]
Now hear this: voice memos on the iPhone? Doug, a fellow resident of the greater Boston metropolitan area, wrote in to ask about the state of voice memos on the iPhone. You’ve long been able to buy an add-on for your iPod that attaches to the dock-connector port and lets you record messages that are then transferred to…
Yes, you can has winpwn – for beta values of “can has”. Pwning an iPhone means preparing it to accept custom iPhone firmware bundles (ipsw files) in iTunes. Winpwn 99.1.8 Beta has been released for public testing (though keep in mind that this particular tool is for use with Windows).
If you’re wary of beta releases and not an early adopter, you’ll probably want to keep waiting. There is no 2.0 support. You may run into LIBUSB errors (apparently fine, meaning you probably just don’t have no ibooter). You must have 1.1.4 firmware loaded onto your unit in order to pwn it — whether for Mac or Windows. The developers strongly request that any new users start with this tutorial. For more help, check out the #winpwn and @winpwn-devel channels on irc.osx86.hu IRC server.
Golf Driving Range FORE! MyNuMo brings the classic golf driving range to the iPhone. Play for accuracy and move onto more difficult levels. No need to wait for t-times, just fire up the iPhone and swing away. Golf Driving Range features MyNuMos new “press to play” sports game system that makes iPhone gaming fast and fun. http://mynumo.com/iphone/golf/main.htm
The one feature that most of us iPhone owners want is native instant messaging. With the upcoming SDK release, instant messaging apps will most likely not be able to run in the background (in other words, they may not receive messages when the phone is sleeping or doing other things). However, AppleInsider is reporting on an Apple patent for instant messaging on the iPhone that was filed in August of last year, but just granted in March of this year.
The drawing included with the patent filing looks identical to the SMS application on the iPhone, with some key differences, one of which is word suggestions that appear as bubbles above the keyboard. AppleInsider also reports that this service could be used as a substitute for MMS (multi media messaging) which the current iPhone is lacking.
NBC Universal Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff: “We’d love to be on iTunes. It has a great customer experience. We’d love to figure out a way to distribute our content on iTunes.” Obviously NBC did, until they walked out. In order for them to come back, they want more money per show (still) to “reflect the full value of the product.” And for iTunes to block you from loading pirated content onto your iPod. Sounds insane right?
“If you look at studies about MP3 players, especially leading MP3 players and what portion of that content is pirated, and think about how that content gets onto that device, it has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software, which would be a convenient place to put some antipiracy measures. We are financially harmed every day by piracy. It results in us not being able to invest as much money in the next generation of film and TV products.”
What does that have to do with NBC selling shows through iTunes that would be appropriately locked down with DRM—thereby making money on those next-gen products? Ummm… we’re not sure. Just don’t count on seeing NBC Universal-produced TV shows back on iTunes for a while, since Apple’s probably not gonna cave on pricing and definitely won’t turn iTunes in a content filter/gatekeeper, ’cause that would kill the iPod. [Cnet via NewTeeVee]
iCalls iCalls allows logging and viewing of all phone calls. ( beta ) Version 0.6.1 The iPhone’s usage statistic is not perfect. It displays the total call time only. iCall can check the total incoming and outcoming call limit within the specific date range you choose. There are also more incoming and outcoming call details which can be found in […]
Euro-iPhone purchasers note: there’s something in the wind that says a 3G, revenue-sharing-absent and exclusivity-free iPhone may be on the way shortly for Italian (or iTalian) buyers. An article at La Repubblica indicates that the iPhone’s arrival in Rome may be accompanied by a new sales model: no revenue kickback from subscriptions for Apple, but a higher selling price on the phone, and a very limited or nonexistent exclusivity period for the telecom partner (Telecom Italia at launch during summer 2008, with other carriers onboard probably by the holiday season).
Sadly, my Italian is basically as nonexistent as the exclusivity for the iTPhone, so I’m depending on the machine translation here. If any of our readers can distill and inform based on the original, please do!
How many iPhones has Apple sold? Apple releases its quarterly earnings today in a ceremony the investment community has quickly embraced as Count the iPhones Day. You may recall that during Apple’s first-quarter earnings announcement in January, the company announced that it had sold 2.3 million phones during the three-month period, bringing total iPhone sales to…
Briefly: Belgium iPhone; 512GB SSDs in sight; Apple web traffic up Belgium is the latest nation rumored to receive an unlocked 3G iPhone by June. Meanwhile, Toshiba says it plans over the next year or so to quadruple the capacity of its flash-based solid-state drives (SSDs) while simultaneously reducing costs by as …
It was only a couple months ago that Starbucks announced that AT&T would take over hotspot services from T-Mobile. Now the WiFi hotspots are rolling out to some of the Starbucks stores. David Chartier, of previous TUAW and now ArsTechnica fame, recently posted an article on his personal blog about the portal and what it offers. He also took the picture that you can see above.
According to David, AT&T is giving WiFi users 2 free hours of access per day. But AT&T didn’t stop there — they designed an iPhone-specific portal to sign onto the service. A local Starbucks manager told David that all 7,000+ Starbucks stores in the US should be “finished by summer.”
I should note that this iPhone portal isn’t specific to Starbucks — every AT&T WiFi hotspot features the same interface — and all devices are eligible for the 2 free hours of access (not just iPhones and iPod touches). Any WiFi device should be able to logon to the service. It is nice to see AT&T finally giving connectivity away for free.
Pianist Pianist 2.0 builds on the initial Pianist app, a great piano app with a bunch of cool features, including: A complete four octave keyboard. Multi-touch. Up to 5 keys can be pressed at once allowing complex chords. Sounds like a real piano with realistic piano multi-samples. Animated piano keys react to your touch. Record your song and play it back. […]
This is either the best or worst iPhone review ever. Wendy Cheng is apparently the most popular blogger in Singapore. Before giving her the real iPhone, her producers tricked her into reviewing a Chinese knockoff. But she actually liked the fake, saying it’s “not bad for a shitass China phone.” The real iPhone? Only “mediocre,” and “I really don’t like the touchscreen…it’s fucking shitty.” Oh, that’s just the tip of this iceberg of awesome. [ClickNetwork.TV via Fake Steve]
Apple’s headed straight to the top with a bullet — they went from 159 to 121 in last year’s Fortune 500 ranking, and this year, they’ve pushed their way up to 103. On the list of the “20 most profitable tech companies,” they are solidly at number eight – Fortune says that the introduction of the iPhone and “record sales of Mac computers” have Apple on a rocket trajectory.
Of course, Google’s sitting upstairs at number 7, and you-know-who (not the Harry Potter villain, but close) is up at number one.
But yes, there’s no question that Apple has really been hitting it out of the park lately, and considering the future (the fruits of the SDK, another possible iPhone iteration, and whatever else they’re brewing up in Cupertino), the trends will continue.
Here are the first—alleged—pictures of the Tube, the codename for Nokia’s response to the iPhone 
The one feature that most of us iPhone owners want is native instant messaging. With the upcoming SDK release, instant messaging apps will most likely not be able to run in the background (in other words, they may not receive messages when the phone is sleeping or doing other things). However, 
NBC Universal Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff: “We’d love to be on iTunes. It has a great customer experience. We’d love to figure out a way to distribute our content on iTunes.” Obviously NBC 
Euro-
Apple’s headed straight to the top with a bullet — they went