$99 iPhone: They'd Sell A Bazillion

Wal Mart isn't my favorite store. In fact, if I didn't live in the sticks and had a choice I'd be doing all my shopping at Target (I know, big difference). Anywho, MacRumors is running a rumor that Wal Mart will be selling 4GB iPhones for $99 and a two year contract starting on December 28th. If true, I can hear collective sigh of surrender over at RIM. I know I'd buy one for my Wife to replace her 1st. Gen iPhone and I also know about 15 other people who'd be lined up at the Wal Mart iPhone counter on December 28th ready to dump their other phones in favor of the 3G iPhone.

It's a rumor so take it with a grain of salt.

Joseph Henry

Storm iPhone/iPod Touch Backup Battery

Looking for a backup power solution for your iPhone or iPod or another stocking stuffer idea for your iPhone/iPod using loved one? If so then check out our Storm Backup Battery review over in the review section. We think it's a winner and sure to please just about anyone. Continue reading after the jump...

iPhone 3G Case Review Part 5: More-thing.com's Noel Collection Metallic Series Case

Just in time for Black Friday, the next installment of our Fall iPhone Case Review has been posted over in the Reviews section. This time we take a look at More-thing's Noel Collection Metallic Series case. To see how it fared, continue reading after the jump.

iPhone 3G Case Review Part 4: Speck SeeThru

We've posted the next installment of our Fall iPhone Case Reviews over in the Reviews section. This time we take a look at Speck's SeeThru. To see how it fared, continue reading after the jump.

Apple Offering "iPhone Your Life" Website

Apple debuted a new website Friday designed to help new iPhone owners get the most out of their phones. The "iPhone Your Life" site offers up app recommendations for:

• Around Town
• World Travel
• At Home
• Getting Things Done
• Fun and Games

There are also links to an iPhone Tips and Tricks section, App of the Week and Top Apps.

If you've owned your iPhone for awhile you probably won't find anything new and startling here but it seems like a pretty nice place for new owners.

Invoking Google Maps Street View

How do you invoke Google Maps Street View? Do you know? We do and we're not telling. Just kidding! We'll tell you but you have to take a trip to the 3G Survival Guide to find out.

Apple Releases iPhone And iPod Touch Firmware Version 2.2

Unless you're living under a rock you know Apple released iPhone/iPod Touch Firmware version 2.2 on Friday. The update brings enhancements to:

Google Maps

• Google Street View.
• Public Transit and Walking Directions.
• Share Location Via Email.

Mail

• Resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email.
• Improved formatting of wide HTML email.

Safari

• Improved stability and performance.
• Rearranged menu bar to included both the Google Search box and the URL address.

Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages.
Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes you to the first Home screen.
Preferences to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard settings.
Direct downloading of Podcasts from the iTunes Music Store.

For all the details and a list of undocumented 2.2 features and enhancements read the MacRumors article.

Our favorite feature is the enhancement to the Home button. When you have app spread like we do this is a welcomed addition indeed. Below you find a few screen shots of the various enhancements, and if you haven't already done so, get to downloading version 2.2. We've experienced no downside to the update.

New Item In The 3G Survival Guide

Just a quick FYI: we've posted a portion of yesterday's Bulging Laptop Batteries And My iPhone Battery Tale Of Woe article (the part about the iPhone battery) in the 3G Survival Guide. There are some good tips in there which have dramatically increased my battery time so head on over to the guide and check them out.

Bulging Laptop Batteries And My iPhone Battery Tale Of Woe

Bulging Laptop Batteries

While perusing the iTunes app store the other day we stumbled upon a new app from Consumer Reports. The app is free and as we’ve so often mentioned, free is good so we downloaded it straight away.

Upon launching the app for the first time, however, we were shocked and dismayed to find the first article about “bulging” Apple laptop batteries. Apparently this isn’t an isolated issue and many MacBook and MacBook Pro owners have experienced similar issues.

Consumer Reports reported the issue to Apple and after a fairly lengthly customer service call to Apple they were authorized an immediate overnight shipment of a new battery.

Aside from the long call, this speaks to why Apple tops our annual survey on computer tech support.

states Consumer Reports.

Oh and the free Consumer Reports is kind of cool as well. Check it out on iTunes here. If you want to read the online version of "Apple's Bloating Batteries" check it out over at Consumer Reports.

iPhone Battery Tale Of Woe

Speaking of batteries, my iPhone has been suffering progressively worsening battery life. I’d start the day off fully charged and by supper I’d be at or getting close to 20% left. This was odd as I’d not overly taxed the phone. I’d probably use an hour or so of Talk Time, checked my email every hour or so and brought up iCal 10 or 15 times. I'd also take a trip to Twitterland via Twitterrific (now replaced by Tweetsville by the way) and maybe use a few other apps along the way but did nothing that I felt should be running the battery down that fast.

A visit to Apple’s support forums has hopefully nipped this issue in the bud. Seems that although lithium-ion batteries like the ones in iPhones and iPods don’t suffer from “memory” problems like NiCad batteries do (we all knew that) they do benefit from completing complete charging cycles. Apparently this tunes the charging circuitry so that your phone knows when it’s fully charged and when it needs charging.

That day I let my phone discharge completely, to the point that it was at 5% and would only offer me the option to make an emergency call or charge the phone. I plugged the phone into a wall outlet for 5 or 6 hours and now everything seems to be back to normal.

Here’s a link to the myriad battery charging threads in the discussions forums. Apple also posted this interesting and useful lithium-ion battery tips page as well as this iPhone specific battery tips page. I believe much if not all of this info is contained in one of my many owners manuals but who reads those things?
Er, maybe I should. Nah!

For those too lazy to click on links, here are the iPhone specific tips Apple suggests. The ones in bold and underlined were news to me:

• Minimize the use of location services
• Fetch new data less frequently
• Turn off push mail
• Auto-check fewer email accounts
• Minimize the use of third party applications
• Turn off WiFi
• Turn off Bluetooth
• Use Airplane mode in low or no coverage areas
• Adjust brightness
• Turn off EQ
• Turn off 3G

Ok, lets get real. The reason I own an iPhone is solely (almost, I do use the phone for "phoning" people occasionally) for using third party applications so that one is just ridiculous. Also, putting the phone in Airplane mode kind of defeats the purpose of having a cell phone, doesn't it?

Anyway, the tips are good and along with following the monthly charging cycle tip I'm hoping to get more out of my iPhone's battery. One more little tidbit I hadn't even thought of:

Make sure your computer is on while charging iPhone via USB. If iPhone is connected to a computer that’s turned off or is in sleep or standby mode, the iPhone battery may drain. That's

a quote straight from the iPhone Battery tip page. I knew it wouldn't charge when the computer is turned off (duh!) but didn't know about the sleep or standby mode thingy. That's some good info!

iPhone 3G Case Review Part 3: Clear Naked

We've posted the next installment of our Fall iPhone Case Reviews over in the Reviews section. This time we take a look at Case-mate's Clear Naked. To see how it fared, continue reading after the jump.

And Yet Another Twitter App For Your iPhone: Tweetsville

It had to happen sooner or later. I finally paid for an iPhone Twitter app. I'm not sure which is more disturbing, that I paid for an app that has many, many free alternatives or that I'm tweeting at all. First, generally speaking, I don't mind ad supported apps especially Twitter apps. I've been using Twitterrific and I've tried both Twitterlator and Twitterfon. I'm getting good at tuning out advertising. For whatever reason, though, today I just had to pay for an iPhone Twitter client.

The weird part of this whole thing is that I'm still Tweeting after I swore, not 5 months ago, that I'd never become a Tweeter and that I thought it was probably the biggest waste of time yet conceived by mankind. Seriously, does anyone really care what I'm doing right now? I sure as heck don't care what you're doing so don't Tweet it.

Twitter, however, grows on you. Sort of like ear hair. You don't really know why it's there but you still end up paying way too much attention to it. I vowed back in July to give it a try for a few weeks and I'm happy/sad to say I'm still Twittering. Worse, I'm buying Twitter apps.

Anyway, Tweetsville is a nice Twitter iPhone app and goes for a reasonable $3.99. I'm finding that I much prefer it's UI over Twitterrific: it's a very clean and standard iPhone UI. The search option is handy as well and something that Twitterrific is lacking.

If you're ready to make the leap to a paid Twitter client for your iPhone, I'd highly recommend you take a good look at Tweetsville.

Joseph Henry

iPhone Number One "Handset Purchased By Adults" In The Third Quarter

Whew! I was worried about that: the iPhone being the leading handset purchased by adults in the third quarter that is. Really, I was losing sleep. Ok, in all seriousness, the iPhone overtaking Motorola's Razr is pretty big stuff and a testament to what a great piece of technology the iPhone really is. We already knew that the iPhone was crushing the Blackberry in satisfaction among the business crowd. Add this latest Razr tidbit to the mix and you've got definitive proof that the iPhone is already the technology and smart phone of tomorrow, and we lucky Apple iPhone users clutch it in our sweaty little palms today.

This news won't come as a surprise to anyone who actually use an iPhone everyday. After Apple fixed all the problems associated with the 2.0 debacle the iPhone, at least mine, has been nothing short of stellar. I've not experiences a single Silver Apple of Death screen since and I've not had to do even one restore and reset. Woo hoo!

If you look beyond the 8,000 Tip apps, 200 million Sudoku apps and the 225 "I have to take this call and oh by the way I need to leave" emergency bad date call apps the iPhone and the iTunes apps store have been an astonishing success. There is only one company that could've pulled this off and it's Apple. Don't argue Windoz fan boys you know it's true. Just as Microsoft brought affordable computing to billions (okay, the Windows experience can hardly be called computing) Apple has brought an amazing smart phone and application infrastructure to the masses. So go suck eggs Balmer!

The iPhone platform based on Leopard is truly a revolution. All hail the revolution (gratuitous Blue Oyster Cult link)!

Joe Henry

The Onion Now Offering ONN Video On iTunes

The Onion is now offering it's ONN video content on iTunes. You can subscribe here (iTunes store link). According to the Onion News Network (Video) podcast page "The Onion News Network is the 24-hour cable TV news choice for billions of viewers in 811 countries. Now the hard-hitting, award-winning news you need is available anytime and anywhere you want."

In case you haven't had the pleasure of reading the Onion or watching Onion video, it is without a doubt the funniest fake news outfits there is. The Onion's satire and parodies will make you laugh out loud and possibly even double over in pain from laugh cramps. It's seriously funny stuff. Seriously.

We here at AYAAW are regular readers of the Onion's online version including ONN videos. Now we can even enjoy ONN content on our iPhone! What could be better then that?

Our favorite clip of all time has to be "Breaking News: Series Of Concentric Circles Emanating From Glowing Red Dot". It's truly hilarious! So Onion readers what's your favorite? Post it in the comments. You mom always told you it's good to share.

iPhone 3G Case Reviews Part 2

FYI, we've posted the second iPhone 3G case review over in our Reviews section. This time we take a look at PDO's Sleek Crystal polycarbonate case.

iPhone 3G Case Reviews Part 1

If you remember back in October we promised to bring you the most complete iPhone 3G case review ever. That was a pretty lofty goal and we’re not sure we can live up to it. It’s the whole “ever” thing that we may have a problem with. Besides, trying to review a whole slew of cases at once, well we just weren’t using our noodle. So what are we going to do about it? Instead of all the cases all at once, we’re going to break it down a bit and spread the reviews out over the next few weeks. In the end we hope to come down to a couple of favorites and we’ll tell you why.

To get the low-down on the first case we're reviewing head on over to the Reviews page and check out Griffin Technology's Clarifi.

Numerous News Outlets Reporting iPhone Tethering Soon

AppleInsider, among others, is reporting that "AT&T Mobility chief executive Ralph De La Vega has disclosed that a carrier-sanctioned method of using the iPhone as a 3G modem for notebooks will be announced soon." The news came during an interview with De La Vega by TechCrunch's Michael Arrington. De La Vega stopped short of providing any details about the plan including pricing.

Tethering has long been a no brainer for the iPhone, after all it is arguably the most advanced device of it's kind and AT&T offers tethering for it's Blackberry customers for an additional $30 per month. Now that the iPhone is capable of 3G speeds it's only more so of a no brainer.

Earlier this year NetShare by NullRiver was pulled from the iTunes App store because it enabled iPhone tethering. AT&T sited that too many iPhone users trying to tether their laptop with the phone would overextend their network without having to pay any additional fees.

Griffin Announces iTrip Auto for iPhone

Yesterday, Griffin Technology announced the availability of iTrip Auto for iPhone.

The iTrip Auto simply plugs into the dock connector of the iPhone and offers high-quality audio, intuitive controls and Griffin's trademark station-scanning feature, SmartScan. SmartScan makes setup and operation nearly automatic -- it seeks out the best FM frequencies available, then selects the best of the best for use in transmitting the music to the car's FM stereo.

iTrip Auto automatically optimizes output volume, and the user can select stereo or mono modes for best-quality audio. Listeners can control speaker volume from the car stereo controls, eliminating the need to look at the touchscreen to adjust volume level, and features a large, easy-to-read backlit LCD screen for quick, easy reference on the road.

Simple, one cable design combines easy-to-use FM transmitter and auto charger for iPhone

Plugs into the 12V auto power outlet and charges the iPhone as it plays

Power switch with 3-color charge indicator

Save frequencies to four presets; uses any FM frequency from 88.1 to 107.9

Compatible with: iPhone 3G, iPhone, iPod touch (2G), iPod touch, iPod nano (4G), iPod nano (3G), iPod classic, iPod nano (2G), iPod with video (5G), iPod nano (1G)

For more info see the full press release at Griffins website (although we pretty much copied and pasted the full text) or visit the iTrip Auto's web page. We've never used this type of auto audio adapter before so if you have any experience with these kind of set ups let us know. Either post a comment or fire off an email to AYAAW.

Griffin Announces iTalk for iPhone & iPod and iTalk Sync for Mac

On Tuesday, Griffin Technology announced the availability iTalk voice recording app for iPhone and the iPod Touch. Griffin also announced the immediate availability of iTalk Sync, the desktop companion app to iTalk.

Griffin iTalk turns iPhone or iPod touch into an ultra-mobile, super-compact recording unit. This two-part app allows users to create high-quality recordings, and then transfer the recordings to a Mac or PC. Users will appreciate the one-touch recording controls, and the ability to pause/resume recordings and even append to previous recordings on the fly. iTalk is a two-part software application.

Download the iTalk app from the iTunes App Store and install it on your iPhone or iPod touch, for mobile recording and playback. Its companion program, iTalk Sync, runs on your computer to transfer recordings from iPod or iPhone for editing and sharing. iTalk Sync connects to your iPod touch or iPhone wirelessly via your local Wi-Fi network, and makes transfers a snap: just drag the recordings from iTalk Sync's list and drop them onto your desktop. Recordings are saved as high-quality AIFF files, playable in iTunes and most other media players.

High-quality handheld recording

Easy, convenient user interface and controls

Drag and drop file transfers wirelessly to your computer

User-selectable Good/Better/Best sample rate

Pause/resume and append to existing recordings on the fly

Recording on 2nd gen iPod touch works with the addition of Apple's iPhone headset, or with Griffin's updated TuneBuds Mobile and SmartTalk mic/control solutions

For more info see the full press release at Griffin's website.

For a limited time Griffin is giving both apps away free. They don't say how long the "limited time" is so if you want a pretty decent voice recording app combo for your iPhone or iPod Touch and you don't want to pay for it, download them both while you can. There is a small ad that displays across the bottom of two of iTalks 3 screens so perhaps Griffin is testing this as an ad supported app. The ad is very small and unobtrusive so don't let that stop you from trying it out.

Both apps are very intuitive and using them went without a hitch. Syncing via iTalk Sync was painless other than having to turn on Wi Fi on the iPhone. When the app store first opened I immediately purchased nFinity's QuickVoice and it's desktop companion app for the then special introductory price of $9.99 for both. QuickVoice has been a nice app and now nFinity is giving away the iPhone/iPod touch app. You still have to buy the companion app which is currently priced at $14.95 (nFInity's QuickVoice PC page says the regular price is $25). QuickVoice PC is certainly a more full featured app than iTalk Sync. In fact the only thing you can really do with iTalk Sync is wirelessly sync with your iPhone and then drag and drop your recordings to your Mac. iTalk and iTalk Sync are free, however, so they'll no doubt give the QuickVoice combo and all the rest of the voice recording apps on the iTunes app store a run for their money.

Oh and one more thing. Although the iPhone version of QuickVoice works well and has some pretty cool features (upside down mode for when you want to point the iPhone mic away from you) I can't get the desktop app to import any of my recordings. I go through the motions and it does import something but for the life of me I can't figure out where they go. Add to that the seriously ugly interface and OS X 2002 feel and the desktop app just seems like a bad port from a Windows version. I've filed a support request (there is a serious lack of documentation with the desktop app) so hopefully nFInity will be able to help me figure this thing out. We'll see....

In the mean time check out the iTalk & iTalk Sync screen shots below and the QuickVoice shots below that.

iTalk Sync

QuickVoice iPhone App

QuickVoice Desktop App

November iPhone 3G Case Round Up

We know you care about your brand-spanking new iPhone 3G and would hate to see anything happen to this beloved wonder of modern electronic gadgetry. Obviously you're going to buy a case for it, right? The problem is there are just so many to choose from. What's a new iPhone 3G owner to do? Stay tuned for AYAAW's mega iPhone 3G case roundup and review, that's what!

Hopefully, sometime in early November your favorite Apple site (AYAAW) will be running the most complete iPhone 3G case review ever. We say hopefully because we're still waiting for a few of the cases to show up. They're on their way but who knows how long it'll take them to get here. The roundup will happen in November but exactly when is still a little unsure, hence the "hopefully".

Here are the cases that we'll for sure be reviewing:

Marware: Flexi Shell with Screen Protecter
PDO: Sleek Crystal Case with Screen Protecter
Griffin: Clarifi and Nu Form
Case-mate: Clear Naked case
Speck: See Thru and Pixelskin

We're still waiting to hear back from these manufacturers:

Belkin: Clear Acrylic Case
Incase: Slider Case
More-thing: Mono Series Silicone case
Seidio: Innocase II Surface
Agent 18: Clear Shield
IvySkin: XyloT3 Clear Case
Scosche: KickBack

Hopefully we'll get review units for most, if not all of them. Have you seen or read about a case that you'd like to see reviewed? Post it in the comments to this article or fire off an email to AYAAW and we'll do our best to get the case and include it in our roundup.

TTFN

Tracy Chapman Crashed My iPhone!

You heard it here first: Tracy Chapman can crash an iPhone 3G. Okay, maybe Tracy had nothing to do with it but "Give Me One Reason" was the song that was playing on my car radio when Shazam brought my iPhone to its knees. My phone froze harder than Lake Bemidji in January and I couldn't even reboot holding the power button down. Eventually, after leaving my phone alone long enough for it to go to sleep, I was able to reboot using the power button and things were back to normal after that.

Speaking of Shazam, if you haven't tried it out yet you really should. It's a pretty amazing free iPhone app. Shazam allows you to "Tag" music you hear from your car radio, the TV, the theater, pretty much everywhere. All you do is tap the "Tag Now" button and Shazam will start listening to what ever music is playing. It records a sample (12 seconds is the default) and then sends that off to Shazam the company. Within a few seconds it returns the name of the song, album, artist, label, genre, album art, links to the song in iTunes (so you can buy) and links to any related YouTube videos. It's like magic! You can also attach a picture to the tag (Shazam calls this "Capture the Moment") and share the tag via Mail. Shazam works amazingly well and of the 20 or so songs I've tagged only 1 failed to return a result. It was an old 1950's song that I'd never hear before.

So, the next time you just absolutely have to know the title of the song you're listening to in the elevator, Shazam it. Just make sure it's not a Tracy Chapman song or your iPhone will go wonky. You've been warned.