Smart Phones of today

Apple has equipped some of its developers with the tools needed to begin authoring iPhone applications that can receive data over the internet, like instant messages, even when they?re not running.

The capability to produce these applications, sometimes called background apps, has been atop the wish lists of iPhone developers, mainly because Apple prevents the iPhone from running more than one application at a time.

That means that an instant message conversation in AOL?s free AIM app for the iPhone would abruptly terminate should a user receive a phone call. The user wouldn?t receive any new incoming messages until the phone call was over and the AIM application was relaunched. The same would happen if a user clicked on a web link sent via instant message, triggering the Safari app to launch and the AIM app to quit.

Apple?s argument against traditional background-capable applications is a sound one, and one that?s in the best interest of iPhone users. During the company?s recent developers conference, iPhone chief Scott Forstall noted that implementations of background applications on rival mobile operating systems are largely flawed in that they lead users to believe that they?ve quit applications when those apps remain open.

This in turn eats at battery life, where the iPhone 3G is already limited by power-hungry 3G and location services, and also weighs on processor performance with each additional application that continues to run as a background process.

To solve this problem, Forstall said Apple was developing an alternative to background applications known as a ?Push Notification Service? that developers could tap through a series of APIs, or easy to use programming functions, beginning in September. Instead of allowing potentially dozens of third party services to simultaneously access an iPhone directly, the push service would funnel all transmissions from developers? servers through a central Apple server, which would then relay the data to iPhones through a single persistent and well-managed background connection.
iPhone’s push notification service
Apple?s overview of its Push Notivation Service.

Through this technique, Forstall said developers can push badges to icons (like the email count indicator seen on the iPhone?s Mail icon), notification sounds, or pop-up text alerts like those that currently appear when an iPhone receives a text message. This management system was also developed to scale easily with larger apps, the exec said.

The first beta release of iPhone Software 2.1 last week whet the appetite of iPhone developers waiting on the push capabilities when it included some references to the feature. However, a second beta that arrived last night finally includes a rough implementation of the push services API, according to MacRumors.

?This is the second beta of the iPhone SDK targeting iPhone OS 2.1, including bug fixes to iPhone OS as well as an early implementation of the Apple Push Notification Service API,? Apple said. ?This API is not yet integrated with a live push server.?

Only a select group developers are reported to have received the latest beta, which as Apple noted, isn?t fully functional. Still, the iPhone maker has two months left to meet its self-imposed deadline to roll out Push Notification Service tools to its broader developer community. If it makes good on its promise, the first background-conscious iPhone applications should start cropping up on the App Store later this fall

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Apple has manufactured the telecom?s dream: a phone that will rack up a massive bill all too easily.

To begin with, we?ve got a phone that basically sells itself on its ability to surf the Internet and download data. If you?re with AT&T, you?re all good and dandy on that point (unless you?re on international roaming), but for most of us throughout the world?including the Australian company my phone is with, Optus?the included data is a joke and the price per kilobyte is exorbitant.

Then there are text messages, which are arguably more commonly sent and received than phone calls. The iPhone?s user interface for text messages encourages chat-like conversation, shooting the number of back-and-forth ?LOLs? and other noise sky-high. I hear that in the US that?s 15 cents a message (25 cents here).

If the average number of text messages sent per user in a month is 188 and we conservatively double that number for iPhone users, we have $56.40 on top of the bill.

$56.40 for a few bursts of text.

*If that figure worries you, just be glad you?re not paying the bill for a Korean teenager (unless you are): apparently they send an average of 60.1 messages a day.

And finally, we have phone calls. The interface is pretty slick and intuitive, so it?s not at all a hassle to whip out your phone and make a call. But on the iPhone, it?s also very easy to fall into some bill-boosting habits that simply aren?t readily accessible on most other phones. For instance, it makes holding your current call to answer another one a very easy and convenient option. Two calls ticking away at once, and you?re not even using one. Ouch.

It?s a great phone, but it sure can run up your bill.
Now for the ?Glass Half-Full? Perspective

But it can also significantly reduce the size of your phone bill in ways many other phones can?t if you?re smart about it. If you?re an iPhone user with a big bill problem, let?s look at paring that down.

In this article we?ll look at three problem areas: calls, text and data.

Cutting Call Costs with VoIP

While there is no official Skype app for the iPhone (I?m hanging for one, but doubt they?d let it into the store), Fring is an alternative that lets you make VoIP calls that are much cheaper than regular cell call rates. Fring is an app, not a VoIP network, and serves as a mobile channel for:

* SkypeOut/SkypeIn

* SIPNET

* EuteliaVoIP

* VoIPVoIP

* VoIPTalk

For most people, the SkypeOut/In option will be the most popular option. It?s certainly not as good as having free Skype-to-Skype, but still makes calling people a lot cheaper. You?ll need to:

1. Download the app using the Fring repository in Installer, which you can do by following these instructions.
2. If you don?t already have a Skype account, get one. If you do, top up your credit.

I?d much rather an option that lets you do free Skype-to-Skype chat, but we?ll probably have to wait until hell freezes over.

If all you want is SkypeOut, there?s a web-based app called IM+ for Skype. It certainly is less of a hassle than installing an app, and has no SkypeIn, but it?s an option.

Cutting Message Costs with Instant Messengers

There are a variety of instant messengers out there and regardless of whether you?re using wifi or data, this is definitely the cheaper option. Of course, if you?re in America it?s the cheapest option no matter what because of the unlimited data (I?m jealous, if you hadn?t noticed).

While I?ve noticed that many Skype users tend to open up the app only when they need to have a voice conversation (I?m one of those guys that keeps it open all the time), mainstream instant messengers are usually a different story. There are two main ?camps? of instant messenging networks and each is covered by a different app.

Palringo

The first camp is the MSN Messenger?er, sorry, Windows Live Messenger?and Yahoo! Messenger crowd. The demographic is usually pretty young, but I?ve met 80 year olds through these networks too, so who am I to generalize? If you?re an MSN/Yahoo user, this is the one for you, though it also supports AIM, Google Talk, Gadu Gadu, ICQ (people still use that?) and Jabber. Get it here (iTunes Store link).

AIM

I?ve noticed this ?second camp? of IM users seems to circle around AIM and .Mac (now MobileMe), probably because they?re all integrated in iChat. If you?re an iChat user, you?ll be able to talk with your friends from the AIM network, MobileMe, .Mac, and ICQ using the AIM iPhone app. Palringo does support AIM, but iChat users will have a mixture of AIM and MobileMe/.Mac users in their contact list. Get it here (iTunes Store link).
Smart Data Usage Practices

Note: if you?re on an AT&T unlimited data plan, this section only applies to you if you?re roaming.

The iPhone will always look for wifi first and cellular data networks second. Unfortunately, one of the common bits of advice to save battery life on the iPhone is to turn off the setting Ask to Join Networks, which means your phone will no longer actively look for new wifi networks to join.

If there?s a wifi network where you are and you can?t see it because of this setting, you might be wasting money on cellular data. So decide what you want more: longer battery life or a shorter bill, and then decide whether or not this setting should be off.

Another tip for saving battery life that actually does save data usage is turning 3G off. Of course your phone will just jump onto EDGE or GPRS, but since those networks are slower it takes longer to rack up the same data charges, meaning that your frustration will be mixed with a nice dose of frugal satisfaction.

If you travel overseas frequently, make sure you go into Settings > General > Network and switch off Data Roaming. Thankfully Apple included this feature in the 2.0 software?people have racked up thousands and thousands of dollars in data charges while travelling simply because this feature was lacking in firmware 1.0.

Finally, keep a close eye on your usage (Settings > General > Usage). Knowing how much you are using with your current habits is essential to making better choices in the future.

Enjoy your (hopefully) much shorter bill!

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1. Caps Lock

I don?t really know why, but a lot of people seem to have the urge to write in ALL CAPS. Personally I find it annoying but then again I guess that is a matter of taste (and maturity). So How do you activate caps lock on the iPhone? Simply double tap on the caps lock key anytime your in the keyboard mode. The caps key should turn blue and YOU CAN SHOUT ALL YOU WANT!

Not working for you? You might have to activate this functionality in your settings, they are off by default. Go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard and enable the caps lock function.

2. Take a screenshot

How do folks get all these nifty screenshots of iPhones up on their blogs?
The new iPhone 2.0 software has a screenshot functionality: Hold the Home button (the round one on the bottom of the front screen) and press the power button at the top. Your screen will flash and presto you have a screenshot of whatever you where looking at in that moment floating around your camera roll.

3. Appstore – New Apps

A functionality I?ve been sorely missing from the Appstore is the possibility to see new products or a list of updated software (as far as you haven?t installed it yet that is). Here the fine folks over at Pinch Media come in to save the day. They have an unofficial RSS feed to keep up with iTunes App Store additions. The categories are New Apps, Updated Apps, Top 100 free apps, and Top 100 paid apps.

4. Domain ending / TLD short cut

When you type a website URL in the address bar or enter an email address in mail, you can now hold down the ?.com? button to get a selection of 3 other domain name endings: ?.net,? ?.edu,? and ?.org?.

You can also get your local language specific top level domains displayed by setting your correct keyboard or keyboards. To do so go to General -> Keyboard -> International Keyboards and turn ON the desire keyboards.

You can then rotate through the languages by tapping the small ?globe? icon on the left side of the spacebar to select the language. After having selected the desired language you will then also get the most common top level domain for that country e.g. for Germany you will get .edu, .org, .de, .com.

5. Disable the auto-correction / dictionary function on the iPhone 2.0

This has been driving me absolutely crazy! I hate auto-correction since I like to communicate in a bilingual mish-mash and after typing half a mail/sms I usually see that my phone has auto-corrected every other word to some crap?

Now for the old iPhone software there was a very convenient little tweak called ?Kb application? that you just need to install and suddenly under the keyboard settings you had a little slider to disable the auto correction. Unfortunately such a tool doesn?t exist yet for 2.0.

However if you happen to feel adventurous then of course there is a way:

Step 1. SSH to iPhone
You need a jailbroken iPhone for this and you need to install SSHd via Cydia.
Then you can telnet to the IP of your phone. The IP address of your iPhone is listed under the WiFi connection you have established, press the blue > button for it under Settings -> Wi-Fi.

Step 2. Goto the directory: /System/Library/TextInput

Step 3. Rename ?TextInput_en.bundle? to whatever you like (e.g. ?TextInput_en.backup) and voila the auto-correction is disabled for that language. Obviously if you are using a different language/keyboard setting you need to rename that file, e.g. ?TextInput_de.bundle? needs to be renamed for German.

As usual if you go fiddling with your phone and don?t know what you are doing don?t come crying to me when it?s broke, otherwise I wish you happy hacking?.

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Seems like switching to the cheaper super indestructible plastic/ceramic/adamantium back for the iPhone 3G may not have been such a swell idea. There are reports spreading like wildfire through forums of stress cracks appearing, particularly in the 16GB white model. the black ones are doing it too. You just don’t notice as much because its black. The tech sites that have been “covering” it have shots of people showing the cracks under black lights on the black ones as well.

The six pages filled with similar complaints and photos prove that this is far from an isolated incident. Whether this is a problem with the black edition is unknown, presumably these cracks would be somewhat harder to spot on those, if it is occurring at all. With the rarity of the white iPhone 3G it may be tough to see if this issue has made it to the UK, but this problem is quite a concern and the last thing Apple needs.

iPhone 1.0 update – Might be old, but no cracks on my metal shell!

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The Samsung innov8 is Samsung?s latest multimedia phone that boasts an 8MP camera and pretty much all the other bells and whistles you can find in today?s multimedia phone. What sets it apart is, well.. A Samsung real estate finish so you really have to expect nothing less than elegance.

The Samsung innov8 is basically a trump card to Nokia?s N82 as it has all the features (except Xenon flash) and a huge memory boost. And yeah, this is probably built on Nokia?s S60 platform as well.

Some specs:

Huge screen
8MP camera
Music playback
3.5mm audio jack
FM radio
Bluetooth
WiFi
16GB internal memory + expansion capabilities

But wait, there?s more! Press Release says:

Samsung innov8 is also ideal for enthusiastic gamers. It comes pre-embedded with two of the world?s most famous games, Asphalt and FIFA 08. The handset has been chosen as the official phone for the World Cyber Games 2008, which begins on 25th July.

Interesting on many levels. Asphalt and FIFA 2008 are N-Gage titles and we know so well that Samsung licenses the S60 platform from Nokia.

All I?m saying is that if the N-Gage platform can extend to all S60 powered phones regardless of brand, then that would be really cool. It would also imply that the other features such as Share on Ovi can, in the future, be integrated with these third party manufacturers that have S60 built in as the operating system.

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