After the first days of using the iPhone 2.0 software - which I use in combination with the MobileMe service - there obviously still are problems with the “push” service. At some point my iPhone doesn’t sync with the service anymore. The only solution is to reboot the phone. (more…)

I read and heard various opinions in the past few days since the “iPhone dev-team” released the updated tools for doing the things above. (Granted, unlocking the 3G iPhone isn’t yet possible.) Most of the people obviously think these things don’t matter anymore.

But they still do, maybe even more than before. It’s not about the new phone, but the old. Apple sold millions of these and they won’t go away soon. Especially the people exchanging their old for the new will want to sell their phones, for example on eBay. Are the buyers of these old phones going to use a new official plan by AT&T, T-Mobile, etc? They’ll probably want to stick to their current provider.

If they want to do this, there needs to be at least the activation and unlock, which now exists. Jailbreaking? Not so much. The App Store still has its problems, but once everything is working smoothly the jailbreak apps will only be a small niche market for apps that Apple doesn’t allow. But how long do you think Apple will keep the route of, for example, not allowing a video recording app? My guess is as good as yours, but with a growing user base the pressure for obvious applications like that will increase. The same goes for true navigation solutions like TomTom.

Unlocking will also stay important because of the growing number of business users who stay in various countries and have different SIM cards to avoid the crazy roaming charges. Or think about how many people you know who already have two phones. Why not use the 3G phone for surfing while you can save battery life on the old phone you use just for calls?

So, activation hacks and unlocks are here to stay. The phones will change owners who might want to change providers.

This post was written entirely on the phone using the WordPress app. It works but it’s not a great experience.

Just read this article on the german news site heise.de. Looks like Germany’s exclusive provider T-Mobile is already sending out their activated SIM cards, but without the actual phone.

This basically means you have to pay the contract fees although you cannot use the services. T-Mobile support suggests you use the SIM in another phone while the wait for your ordered iPhone continues. Doing this can get expensive because the included minutes and data plan - according to the footnotes - are only ticking when you’re using the SIM in an iPhone issued by T-Mobile (Update below!).

According to a spokesperson T-Mobile will supply these customers with extra minutes, but this still begs the question why they are sending out the SIM cards without the phone in the first place. Especially as the waiting time for an iPhone over here in Germany is rumored to carry on until October. This could possibly mean that people will have to pay for several months without getting the service they are paying for. This process also means that I have to get back to you and fight for the minutes that I have to pay for, because I have to use another phone. But what about those of us who don’t happen to have another phone lying around?

Why is it so hard for T-Mobile to package the phone and SIM card in one box? Stupid moves like this are the reason why people start hating your services, even though it might not be solely T-Mobile’s fault. This is also Apple’s fault, of course. They are the ones who apparently can’t deliver the phones. T-Mobile’s top priority should be to make the customer happy. If Apple really can’t deliver the phones T-Mobile has ordered, they should be the ones to pay and not the waiting customers.

The only conclusion of this is: Don’t leave the store without the SIM and the phone!

Update:
Obviously T-Mobile got aware of the problem and now allows the use of the SIM (including the minutes and data plan) with other handsets. Also T-Mobile will offer various credits (from 30 to 60 Euros).

Testing the new WordPress for iPhone app on my - guess what - iPhone. Looks good so far!

Update:
After the initial impressions you quickly realise the shortcomings and things that need to be done to the app until it does all the important things. For example moderating comments or being able to change things in your blog such as de-/activating plugins without the need of Safari.

Also I’d to be able to arrange my photos in posts how I want them to appear. Just like in the normal web interface. Oh, btw, anyone got a good gallery replacement? The stock 2.6 gallery which you can see below isn’t really nice.

But for a 1.0 release WordPress for the iPhone does the basic stuff right, which is posting an entry and inserting photos. The latter isn’t beautiful but it gets the job done. One more thing: using the Twitter tools plugin always creates the “New blog post”-tweet even though you haven’t yet published the post. So if you see random posts/tweets around the web containing “!$title$!” you know where they might be coming from.

The new iPhone PwnageTool for the iPhone has been released just a few hours ago. It jailbreaks and activates both iPhone generation. It unlocks only first-gen iPhones! It DOES NOT (yet) unlock the iPhone 3G.

Everything you do after this next line is totally up to you. I won’t take any responsibility if the iPhone eats your children or does anything else! PwnageTool 2.0 as of this moment is only available for Mac OS X. (more…)

Looks like Apple has removed all mentions about push mail from their MobileMe site. It has been removed from the MobileMe Mail features list too. Now your mail is “in sync”. But they forgot the mentioning at their enterprise site, where they are talking about Exchange push mail. Microsoft by the way doesn’t call it push mail per se, they call it “Direct Push“. Trademark on the name “push mail”? RIM, anyone? I couldn’t find anything on the fly about RIM owning that name. I’m trying to get in contact with Apple to find out what’s happening here. Screenshots after the jump.

(more…)

Over the past few days Apple launched MobileMe, the successor to .Mac, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone and iPod touch firmware 2.0. Let’s have a look at what happened the past few days in the Apple world.
(more…)

With the upcoming release of the iPhone 3G and the iPhone software 2.0, I talked to Zibri, the creator of ZiPhone.
(more…)

Well yeah, in just a few days the iPhone 3G will come out. Of course the usual suspects already had it for a few days and weeks now to give their opinion about it.

One of the first is Steve Jobs’ personal fanboy Walt Mossberg. Although this time around he isn’t that ecstatic as usual. For starters, the battery life doesn’t really do it for him. He got 4.5 hours of talk time from the new iPhone. The main reasons for him to buy it are the increased data speeds with 3G (say what?) and the lower entry price although the AT&T prices are more expensive than before. At least the T-Mobile prices over here in Germany stayed the same. The phone itself got cheaper of course.
(more…)

For all of you wondering how iPhone 2.0 will look on the PC/Mac and the iPhone itself including the App Store, wonder no more. Paul Thurrott got his hands on “near-final versions” of iPhone 2.0 and iTunes 7.7 and gave us a short preview of the things to come on July, 11th. Watch out for upcoming (p)reviews of MobileMe and the iPhone 3G itself!

Anyone want to place bets on how long it takes until the new software/baseband is unlocked and everyone will be able to do it again. For the old iPhone that is, doesn’t really make sense for the 3G since you now have to activate in the store rather than taking it home and “activating it there”.