The PhoneBoy Blog » iphone

The iPad 2–What I’ve Been Missing

PhoneBoy — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:25:07 +0000

As implied by my review of the Hammerhead case for iPad 2, I am now the proud owner of an iPad. Yes, I successfully resisted the siren call of Steve Jobs long enough. However, a funny thing happened: I spent a few days on the road with Kellman and saw how he used his. That pretty much sold me on the utility of the iPad.

Kellman did a number of really cool things:

Had ubiquitous connectivity thanks to the built-in 3G modem. This isn’t so much of a concern for me when I travel in the US, but when I travel outside the US, it’s very much an issue. The iPad 2 is unlocked so I can easily swap in a SIM card from a different operator. I can also easily sign up for a prepaid data package right from my iPad (though I haven’t tried this yet).
Did a presentation from his iPad. You can get a cable for your iPad that allows you hook up to a VGA projector, use Keynote to give the presentation, and control the presentation with an iPhone! No laptop required!
Accessed a number of computers remotely using LogMeIn Ignition. While this is a rather pricey app at $29.99, it gives you the ability to control any number of PCs or Macs from your iPad using the well-known LogMeIn service without any additional charges. I recently tried this out with my computers and it works well.
Flipboard. I had heard about it, but until I actually saw how it worked with my own eyes, I didn’t really get it. Now I do. It integrates Twitter, Facebook, and a number of news/information sources from the web and presents it in a magazine-based format that is very compelling.

Given the above, the fact I already had a significant investment in the Apple universe (having purchased an iPhone 3GS two years ago and an iPod Touch for the family last year), and the fact that none of the Android tablets I looked at were nearly as compelling, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is was the closest, I pulled the trigger and bought one. It wasn’t cheap, that’s for sure, especially since I opted for the 64gb version with 3G.

Once I got it home, and given my recent experiences with the Nokia E6 and Nokia E7, I began to understand why people really love the iPad. The software is one aspect, of course. Then again, as an iPhone/iPod Touch owner, I already knew this. What made it more compelling was, quite honestly, the larger screen.

It’s not just to see the content better, though I certainly found that to be one reason to like the iPad. The screen size also enables one to utilize a touch interface either. This point was driven home to me when I was evaluating the Nokia E6 with its small but touch-enabled screen. Having the real estate to actually perform the various touch actions is very important. The iPad has that. In spades.

The other obvious benefit to having a large screen is you can have an even larger battery. 10 hours is quite a lot of battery life. While I haven’t been able to get anywhere near running the battery down, it certainly will last a normal day. Considering I frequently fly to Israel, which takes me almost 24 hours, having a gadget that can last the entire journey without having access to a power plug is certainly desirable. I’m putting this to the test as I type this.

The iPad 2 has both a front-facing and rear-facing camera. The camera quality is nothing to write home about, of course, though I can find uses for this. I have smartphones to capture higher-quality pictures, anyway.

In any case, I am very happy with my iPad purchase. I wish more of the apps I had previously purchased previously were iPad enabled. I had to spend some money to buy iPad-enabled versions of many of the apps I was actively using, which is far preferable to using iPhone apps in the emulation mode.

Comments

11 July 2011, Kyle writes: Good idea to see how a device can be used in the real world but could you have been equally swayed if your buddy was doing cool tricks on an android tablet instead?
11 July 2011, PhoneBoy writes: The bottom line is that Android, at least in the tablet space, has not proven itself yet. I did see a Galaxy Tab 10.1 up close and personal. The hardware was excellent, in some ways better than the iPad 2. The applications, at least the ones I saw, were also pretty good. There wasn't enough of them, or at least enough of the right ones. Also, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 did not have an integrated 3G modem. While it's not something I will use that much traveling domestically, it is something I plan to use when traveling Internationally.
12 July 2011, Ed writes: After I posted previously on your phone entry, I purchased the Galaxy Tab 10.1 the day it came out. I thought it was great to see it the same size and weight as the iPad2, and Live wallpapers are neat for a bit, and of course the messaging is excellent. I really struggled on Apps. iPad has an excellent refined interface, with plenty to choose from. Android (Honeycomb) has a good interface, but awful at app selection. Some of the Apps that came up were in Chinese, or incredibly cheesy, making the experience very ho-hum. Not to mention that when Android hangs a bit, or the screen doesn't come up properly, my instant reaction is that it's cheap, and not in the same class as the iPad. I've had a few issues on iPad, but the slick clean interface is the best. My stance is that right now, iPad is the best, and one google figures out how to pull everything together on one platform, one OS - then the real competition starts.
12 July 2011, PhoneBoy writes: The Android ecosystem is not tablet-friendly yet. This is the conclusion I came to. I have no doubt they will catch up like they did (mostly) on phones but it will take time.

This work originally came from The PhoneBoy Blog and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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T-Mobile Prepaid and an Unlocked iPhone 3GS

PhoneBoy — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 22:29:03 +0000

Something I’ve been meaning to try out for a while, but haven’t had the chance to, was to see if I could make my iPhone 3GS on iOS 4.2.1–jailbroken via PwnageTool 4.2 and unlocked via ultrasn0w via Cydia–work on a T-Mobile prepaid SIM. Specifically, on Pay As You Go, not on one of their data plans.

There are some obvious limitations with this: namely T-Mobile’s coverage, lack of compatible 3G on frequencies that my AT&T iPhone can use, and, well, being jailbroken. Considering how little in practice I actually need data outside of the range of WiFi, the pricing–$1.49 per 24 hour period–makes it a limitation I can deal with.

Jailbreaking and Unlocking your iPhone is a bit outside of the scope of what I’m writing, but you can look at a somewhat dated (but still relevant) guide from The iPhone Blog Forums.

After unlocking, you’re going to want to turn off 3G since the iPhone is not compatible with T-Mobile’s 3G. This can be done in Settings > General > Network. Also here is the Cellular Data Network settings, which you will need to set as follows (note if I don’t list the field here, assume it is blank):

Cellular Data:

APN: wap.voicestream.com

MMS:

APN: wap.voicestream.com
MMSC: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc
MMS Proxy: 216.155.165.50:8080
MMS Max Message Size: 1048576
MMS UA Prof URL: http://www.apple.com/mms/uaprof.rdf

There’s one other thing you are going to want to download in Cydia in order for MMS to work correctly. Type Manage > Sources > Edit, then Add. The APT URL you want to add is http://cydia.pushfix.info. Then click on Search and look for T-Mobile US MMS Fix. Download and install this, which will reboot your phone.

After this, MMS sending and receiving should work. To use EDGE data service, you will need to fire up a web browser and ensure you are not on WiFi. Any web site should redirect you to a page telling you do not have data. You should be able to click through and order a daypass, which gives you 24 hours of data access.

I tried a number of applications: maps, email, Twitter, Boxcar, and of course a web browser. They all worked well, albeit slowly on EDGE. I confirmed I could send and receive MMS between an AT&T and T-Mobile SIM also.

There’s some verbiage in the terms and conditions about being throttled if you use more than 30MB of data in a 24 hour period. The reality in this case is, it’s EDGE. It’s already pretty slow.

Comments

29 March 2011, tom writes: at least in my experience EDGE never gets throttled. using a daypass on a phone such as the HSPA+ mytouch 4G will result in a major slowdown after 30MB of data, but turning off 3G/4G and using EDGE instead brings a significant speed boost. users of daypass in USB data dongles have also noticed this.
29 March 2011, PhoneBoy writes: Since none of my phones use T-Mobile's 4G network, I will always be using EDGE. I figured they can't throttle EDGE too much since the top speed is already pretty low anyway.
11 April 2011, Internet móvel pré-paga por apenas USD 1.49/ dia nos EUA writes: [...] através do site. Infelizmente, assim como acontece na AT&T, se você usar iPhone terá que alterar as configurações do APN, caso contrário, não irá funcionar. Outra coisa chata é que só vai rolar EDGE (nada de 3G), [...]

Cases, Cases

PhoneBoy — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:12:17 +0000

I received a MacBook sleeve and a iPhone 4 keyboard to review. They are both essentially cases. Let me explain.

The MacBook sleeve, in this case, is a 17″ SeeThru Satin case made by Speck that GearZap sent me. It’s black and covers my mid-2009 era MacBook Pro quite nicely. It feels good, is “see thru” in the sense that the glowing Apple shows through on the top and the blinking power light. I haven’t battle-tested it with a trip anywhere, but I suspect it will hold up quite nicely.

Meanwhile, I also got a TypeTop Swivel Mini Keyboard for iPhone4 from Mobile Fun. The tiny keyboard, about as thin as an iPod Touch and as big around as an iPhone 4, comes in a case that can carry both the iPhone and the keyboard together. The case can swivel around so that it looks almost like a mini laptop!

Unfortunately, I still don’t have an iPhone 4, so I cannot try this case as was intended. However, I can say the keyboard paired nicely with my iPhone 3GS. The lack of instructions on how to pair the keyboard was annoying, but it didn’t take long to figure out. Just a little tiny button at the top of the keyboard by the blue light.

Even without the case, the keyboard, which can be easily removed from the case, is small enough that it could easily go in my travel bag. It charges with an included MicroUSB cable.

How We (Don’t) Use Smartphones

PhoneBoy — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:13:33 +0000

I recently chatted with a local reporter about my smartphone usage, which was featured in this Kitsap Sun piece on how Kitsap-area residents use their smartphones. Of course, we talked about a lot of things other than what got featured in this story.

For me, the smartphone has been an indispensable tool for years now. It has served as my camera, my GPS, my source of information and entertainment, and so much more–instantly, from almost anywhere. While the iPhone and Android devices are the “gold standard” today, there were plenty of other devices that predated these from Nokia that could serve a lot of the same functions, and did for me.

The Rise of the Smartphone

Despite smartphones having been around for a while now–heck I had a smartphone back in the early 2000s in the form of a Nokia Communicator 9290–I think I understood why smartphones finally started becoming popular (in the mainstream sense0 after I bought my iPhone 3GS last year. It’s the user experience. Apple improved it. Substantially.

Clearly when the iPhone launched, it could barely be called a Smartphone. It was an over glorified feature phone at best, but it had a pretty user interface. The iPhone didn’t really become a smartphone (in my mind, anyway) until you could install applications.

In addition to redefining the user experience for phones–smart or otherwise–Apple made normal people aware of what these phones could do. The other phone makers, including my employer at the time Nokia, were quick to point out that they, too, could do all these clever things along with all the other things the iPhone could not do.

This, along with the rise of Android, has catapulted the smartphone into the mainstream. Every day I go out into the real world, I see people using their smartphones for more than just making calls. Clearly not everyone is using it, yet, but enough that I don’t consider it uncommon anymore.

But At What Cost?

Over the years, I’ve been extremely lucky to have had access to a lot of great devices (at least when I worked at Nokia) and paid-for service to use with them. This makes using these devices a complete no-brainer–even if I have to buy the handset myself, which I did with the iPhone 3GS last year.

Meanwhile, my wife has wanted an iPhone for a while now. The problem is: it costs too much. Not for the handset itself, but for the recurring monthly cost. The cheapest plan we could get from AT&T is about $65, and that’s with the 200MB data plan (which I suspect even she will exceed). Our current mobile phone cost? About $10/mo thanks to T-Mobile prepaid.

Is there $55/mo of value in having an all-capable smartphone at her beck and call? Not really. There’s also a lot of extra hassle involved in keeping the battery charged on a daily basis, though for me it’s more like twice a day.

Despite the increased costs and additional overhead of having a smartphone, clearly more and more people are using them for a variety of reasons. It’s not uncommon for me to see people checking into Facebook (or some other social network) from their mobile phone.

What Are The Social Implications?

A comment on the Kitsap Sun article I appeared in raises an interesting question:

This just shows how sad we’ve become when people can’t survive or go through withdrawls when they lose or forget their phone. The constant need to twitter/facebook, myspace etc…. shows how narcisistic we’ve become as a society.

This speaks to the potential for this kind of connectivity being addictive–like crack. Of course, even before most people knew what smartphones were, mobile phones became essential items you left the house with. It’s especially important in today’s world where finding a payphone is increasingly more difficult. Thus it seems likely that as more people get smartphones, more people will be carrying them with them.

One of the qualities of being addicted to something is not being able to do without it. It certainly seemed that way for one person I observed trying to post a Facebook update in an airplane–while the plane was taxing for takeoff–but I think that’s more of an exception than the norm.

The more pertinent question for anyone carrying a smartphone is–when is using it in a social situation ok? When is it not? I think it depends on whether or not the people you are with are also smartphone users.

That said, I think everyone can–and should–put down the smartphone sometimes. There’s a whole world going on around you. If you’re looking at your smartphone all the time, you might miss something.

Comments

30 August 2010, tom writes: how about clean used iphone for your wife with a prepaid SIM for voice on cellular and WiFi only for data. i sell used cell phones and and prepaid for voice + wifi only data is a very popular option for GSM phone buyers that many are very happy with.
30 August 2010, PhoneBoy writes: I've discussed that with her, but the iPhone doesn't really "stay locked" if you, for example, accidentally upgrade it. She also wants real data also, just not at that price...
12 September 2010, Things Teachers can do with a Smartphone: Part I ~ Chanatown writes: [...] functionality. We'll take a look at more of these in a future post.Related articles by ZemantaHow We (Don't) Use Smartphones (phoneboy.com) Posted by David Chan at 9/01/2010 06:02:00 AM Email This [...]

Apple Stopping Jailbreakers? Please.

PhoneBoy — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:26:36 +0000

While I am sympathetic to people who would like some of the functionality that jailbreaking your iPhone provides–heck, I wouldn’t mind some of it myself–anyone who is calling upon Apple to “call off the dogs” on jailbreakers clearly doesn’t understand what they are asking Apple to do.

Jailbreaking is a process by which you can run programs on the iPhone that did not come from the App Store–apps that are not Steve Jobs approved, so to speak. Seems fairly straightforward, right? I mean, who is Apple to tell me what I can run on my phone, right?

The problem is: every single one of these jailbreaks is performed by exploiting a security vulnerability in the phone’s software. Every single one. The most recent example of this was the Jailbreak Me website that, by simply visiting a web page and sliding a slider, would trigger an exploit in your phone that would cause it to execute the necessary code to jailbreak the device.

Of course, if the jailbreakers can cause your phone to execute arbitrary code, so can a bad guy. And that’s the point behind Apple “stopping” the jailbreakers. It’s not really to stop them, it’s to stop the bad guys who can use the same vulnerabilities to do worse things.

Instead of being critical to Apple for stopping jailbreakers, how about we be critical to Apple for not allowing us to run software of our choosing on our own device, even if Apple doesn’t approve of it? That’s the real problem, and that’s what we should be focusing on.

Why Apple Should End Its Fight Against iPhone Jailbreaking (jkontherun.com)
To jailbreak or not to jailbreak: That shouldn’t be Apple’s decision (zdnet.com)
iPhone Dev Team won’t be jailbreaking iOS 4.0.2 as “the only winning move is not to play” (mobilecrunch.com)
How To: Keep Your Jailbreak Whilst Patching The JailbreakMe Exploit (thenextweb.com)
Use JailbreakMe to One-Click Jailbreak Your iOS 4.x Device [Jailbreak] (lifehacker.com)

Comments

29 August 2010, Louis Wheeler writes: "Instead of being critical to Apple for stopping jailbreakers, how about we be critical to Apple for not allowing us to run software of our choosing on our own device, even if Apple doesn’t approve of it? " This already occurs; you can run plenty of apps which Apple doesn't approve of. They are called a Web Apps. True, Web apps can't screw up an iPhone the way that a native app can. You can't brick an iPhone that way. Apple's policy has much to do with the limited hardware of the iPhone. When the batteries and processors improve, Apple can afford to be more lenient.
29 August 2010, Art Vandelay writes: Its not about stopping malicious hackers. Its about Steve Jobs wanting to exert Hitler-like control over the device that you bought and paid for. Apple's customers should be incredibly offended, but instead they lap it up like dogs. I prefer to use an Android device because I like freedom.

Inbox Liquidation, Part 56: A Mobile Phone Bonanza!

PhoneBoy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:11:09 +0000

My personal inbox is getting bigger than my work inbox, so it must be time for an Inbox Liquidation Post.

Truph0ne News: Having made use of Truphone Local Anywhere on my last trip abroad, I’m certainly interested in seeing it expand to other markets. They recently announced planned expansions of their “local markets” to The Netherlands and Spain (i.e. markets where you can get “local” numbers and pay “local” rates). Unfortunately, it’s not immediately, it’s “months.” On a more positive note, their iPhone app now supports iPhone OS 4.0 multitasking, so you can receive Truphone calls on your iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 while running other apps.

iOS4 (or rather iPhone OS 4): I’ve actually been playing with iPhone OS 4.0 for the past few months. I had the “golden master” release on my phone for nearly two weeks now and I’ve been fairly happy with it. Unfortunately, to take advantage of the multitasking feature, your apps need to be updated to support it. Why Skype did not launch their updated app the day iOS 4 became generally available, I’ll never know. My prediction: we won’t see it until after my kids get back into school in September.

Tomi Ahonen Takes on the US Wireless Industry: I am reminded of what my tour guide in Jerusalem told us: never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Former Nokia executive Tomi Ahonen gets a couple of facts wrong in this epic rant about the state of the US mobile phone industry, but most of what he has to say is spot on.

Unlimited Mobile Data in 25 Countries: I’ve gotten a couple of press releases from XCom Global about their offering where they will rent you either a wireless USB modem or a MiFi like device on a per-day basis. The pricing is pretty good, given what I paid for WiFi in Europe. Unfortunately, it only works if you’re traveling to one country. Wonder how they’d handle that situation?

MAXroam Goes Global: I had a press release in my inbox about MAXroam’s special plan for people going to the World Cup. I figured it might be a bit dated by now, so I went to see if it was still being offered. To my surprise, their website had changed and they have launched their “Global SIM” cards. This was the “Holy Grail” SIM card I used on my last International trip . You can buy reasonably-priced bundles of minutes and/or megabytes of data to use in 41 European countries. These SIMs “just work” without the usual trickery involved with global SIMs.

Positioning Without GPS or WLAN: I like the idea of not having to fire up the GPS or WLAN to get location. The mobile phone is already talking to multiple cell phone towers and it is possible to use the information from those towers to triangulate your location. It may not get as pinpoint as a GPS can, but it can certainly get close enough (does 7-12 meters work–indoors no less?) where a regular GPS can’t easily. I really hope GloPos and the technology they are building around this gets some traction because it sounds like the right idea for a lot of reasons.

Comments

24 June 2010, Jake writes: MAXroam Global SIM the Holy Grail? You must be kidding. The price per minute is 3 to 4 times higher and there are fewer roaming partners than before. I may be trying to get one of their old classic SIMs, but this new service is completely useless for me.

Desk Genie Non-Slip Charging Desk Stand

PhoneBoy — Tue, 18 May 2010 06:40:17 +0000

The folks from MobileFun sent me a rather novel iPhone stand for review: the Desk Genie Non-Slip Charging Desk Stand. It charges a number of different phones, including iPhones. It also includes a two-port USB hub and an 8-in-1 memory card reader.

The non-stick surface is a kind of rubbery pad that your mobile device can rest on. It seems to support my iPhone with case quite nicely as well as a number of Nokia phones I tried. The pad does occasionally lose it’s “stickiness” but it can easily be restored with a towel dampened with water to clean off any dirt or debris.

The most confusing this about the device is the instructions, which were clearly written by someone whose first language was not English. The device plugs into your computer with a USB cable. There is also a port on the back of the device where you plug in a different cable that has an end where you can plug in a number of different ends (which are included). The upshot of this is that you can charge a number of different devices.

For phones like the iPhone where you might also want to sync your phone to your machine while charging, you should use your regular USB cable instead of the supplied charging cable. The upshot of this arrangement is that I can also use this device to charge my Nokia E71. Unfortunately, the Nokia 2mm tip included in my set did not reliably charge my Nokia E71. Unfortunately, this is a rather common issue I have ran into with chargers not made by Nokia. Fortunately for me, I had a similar tip provided with a different charger that seemed to work ok.

All in all, a worthwhile item to purchase as it combines a number of different items in a small space. With the current USD to GBP exchange rates, it’s not a bad deal, though it might take a while to arrive.

Nokia Loses An N8 Prototype. Media Reaction? Meh.

PhoneBoy — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:24:07 +0000

The new Nokia N8 was announced today. I have to say, it looks like a really nice phone. Hopefully the 12 megapixels camera will be less noisy than the typical mobile phone camera and the new Symbian^3 OS will be a step-up from the previous Symbian releases. People are already complaining about the lack of a replaceable battery. The fact the phone seems to support both European and US 3G bands (both T-Mobile and AT&T) can’t be overlooked.

While I don’t know for sure, I’m guessing the fact that a pre-production unit fell into the hands of Eldar from Mobile-Review.com who posted a review of the Nokia N8 had something to do with the fact they officially announced it today. But it does bring to mind something that I believe is worth pointing out.

It’s actually not all that uncommon for Nokia to lose a prototype device. Regular readers of the mobile phone gadget blogs will attest to that. When I worked at Nokia, we got fairly regular reminders about letting information out about our pre-release handsets. They often came out shortly after a “flagship” device got prematurely exposed to the outside world.

When an Apple engineer accidentally left an unreleased iPhone device in a Redwood City bar, that was all anyone could talk about for days. Hell, it’s still in the news. Meanwhile, Nokia won’t get a whole lot of press out it. Sure, they’ll get some from a few hardcore Nokia bloggers and it might get a perfunctory mention on the gadget blogs and podcasts, but that’s it. It will cease to be a story in 24 hours.

I realize Nokia sells more phones in a week than Apple sells in a year. I realize Nokia is bigger outside the North American markets. I know many more ways that Nokia is better than Apple. But it goes to show you how the technology press cares more about anything coming out of that secretive little company in Cupertino, CA than they do for the things that come from that company in Finland. Just saying.

Nokia N8 running Symbian^3 is the suck (mobilecrunch.com)
Nokia asks ever so nicely for return of missing prototype (go.theregister.com)
Nokia N8 Given the “Thumbs-Down” (phonereport.info)
The Nokia N8: Imaging champion with a five year legacy (allaboutsymbian.com)
Nokia warns on profits as it delays much-needed ‘iPhone killer’ (guardian.co.uk)
Nokia N8 To Be Announced at MWC with Symbian^3 (techie-buzz.com)

Comments

28 April 2010, Tom Raftery writes: Nokia used to make half-decent phones - for all I know they probably still do but as long as they continue with Symbian, they are on a long slow decline which is painful to watch. Apple aren't the only ones on the ascendancy. HTC, which has aligned itself with Android, have also become the darlings of the press and seem to have no problems attracting publicity. The common thread - both HTC and Apple have highly functional, extremely desirable, consumer friendly devices. Back in Sept 2007 I told Nokia in a prod dev meeting that what they needed to do was license the iPhone OS. The writing was on the wall even then.
28 April 2010, Auch Nokia "verliert" einen N8 Prototypen writes: [...] [...]
28 April 2010, PhoneBoy writes: We all know Apple will never license the iPhone OS to anyone :) But clearly Nokia needs a fresh start on the OS. They also need a fresh approach to how they put out phones. They have far too many handsets and far too many variants of those handsets. They need fewer, more clearly differentiated handsets and better software on those handsets that is easier to update.
29 April 2010, Vic | Brochures Printing Online writes: I agree, Nokia has a huge army of cellphones models, which is not surprising since they are a mobile phone company to begin with. However, I think this can also be their weakness. They have segmented their users too much that they ended up developing too many models.

Apple Can Kill Your Phone Remotely?

PhoneBoy — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:42:25 +0000

There’s been a lot of discussion today about the “new iPhone” that was discovered because some git left it in a Redwood City, California bar. (Un)fortunately, it made it’s way to the folks at Gizmodo and it’s now a topic of discussion all over the Internet. Given how much Apple likes to control the information about their products, I can’t see them intentionally “leaking” the device prior to the official announcement.

There is some benefit to this “leak” in that it cranks up the hype machine to 12. However, this allows a lot of potentially mis-information to be propagated–unchecked by Apple. In general, though, mobile phone manufacturers do not like their products leaked before they are ready for one simple reason: it gives the competition a head start in responding. At least that was the corporate line given to us at Nokia when I worked there

The one piece of information that nobody is mentioning in their coverage is, I think, the most scary. According to the Gizmodo piece, Apple was reportedly able to kill the leaked prototype device remotely. While I can see why such a feature would be beneficial (and maybe Nokia will take the opportunity to copy that feature “with pride”), it raises all sorts of questions: Can Apple remotely kill any iDevice it chooses, not just prototypes? Is the data on the phone recoverable? How “hackable” is this mechanism (i.e. can someone discover this mechanism and hack it for their own purposes)?

As usual, enquiring minds want to know.

Update #1: Numerous people have pointed out both that Apple can remotely disable applications as well as the Remote Wipe functionality that can be activated when a device synchronizes through a Microsoft Exchange server. What I’m talking about is the possibility that Apple can, without a connection to an Exchange server, issue a remote wipe to a device. It’s possible that with this prototype device, this did happen through ActiveSync. The thought that Apple could reach into my device and either disable applications or Remote Wipe the device without my knowledge or consent does not sit well with me.

Update #2: And yes, MobileMe does this remote wipe thing as well. So clearly Apple has the capability to do this. It still makes me nervous that a device I’ve purchased could be wiped at the touch of a button by the company who sold me the product.

So, Which Apple Employee Is Getting Fired For Losing The New iPhone In A Bar? (businessinsider.com)
This Is Apple’s New 4G iPhone… (9to5mac.com)
Gizmodo Gets Hands On New 4G iPhone (wired.com)
This Is Apple’s Next iPhone (Gizmodo) (techmeme.com)
Here’s Apple’s Next iPhone (businessinsider.com)
This Is Apple’s Next iPhone (apple.slashdot.org)
Apple’s next iPhone – Revealed at Gizmodo (chromewalker.com)

Comments

19 April 2010, Juergen writes: Mind you, for a phone that may be used for commercial email (and a phone in this league would be the usual gizmo of management-level execs...), the fact that a remote kill-switch has been MISSING for such a long time is the real story. Blackberry has had this for ages, IIRC Microsoft is working their way towards it - if you want to sell a smartphone to corporate customers, you MUST have a remote kill feature.
19 April 2010, Michael Graves writes: I'm told from some folks (developers) who should know that Apple can kill any given app on your handset remotely. If that's true then it makes perfect sense that they can also remotely cripple the handset.
19 April 2010, PhoneBoy writes: Actually remote wipe has been there for a while (if you use Exchange). That's different than "brick the phone," which makes it completely unusable.
20 April 2010, Vic | Brochures Printing Online writes: You made a good point and yes I agree, having this issue in mind, Apple should answer these concerns (like how hackable a unit can be?. Definitely this will be concern of its future and present owners. Apple should release a press release regarding this topic and end this asap.
23 April 2010, tom writes: perhaps they could remotely remove a jailbreak without having to update through itunes. if apple were to start doing this i would certainly be a deal breaker for me. i would not be able to live with my iphone if it were not jailbroken.
27 April 2010, Bob writes: I am not sure I understand the issue you are raising. This iPhone was an Apple owned device and Apple was the the subscriber. It wasn't a personal phone. I don't think anyone knows if Apple did it directly or called AT&T to do it. It's a feature that a company can disable a corporate phone that was lost. I don't see a problem here.
28 April 2010, PhoneBoy writes: My concern, Bob, is that Apple could potentially do this for any device they make. Perhaps this device wasn't on Apple's Exchange server and Apple used some "secret" method for remote wiping the device--a secret method that they could use on production iPhones or some 1337 h4x0r could come across by mistake and start randomly wiping people's iPhones.

Is There Any Benefit To Going iPhone 4.0 Before It’s Released?

PhoneBoy — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 01:13:55 +0000

After seeing all the cool new goodness in the iPhone OS 4.0 that’s due to be released this summer, I decided I wanted to try it. Short of paying $100 to be in Apple’s developer’s program, there are ways to get your phone’s UDID attached to a developer so you can try out officially released beta firmware. I did it through My iPhone Activation. It was a fairly quick and painless process to get into the program.

Getting your iPhone to 4.0 is a less than pleasant process. The My iPhone Activation folks document the steps you’ll take but the process: namely the restore process, is slow. In fact, I had to restart it a few times. It was also taking so long to install apps and copy content that I left it overnight to finish. It did crash during one application install, too.

Now my iPhone is running the 4.0 beta 1 code. What benefits do you really get from this? Is the pain of upgrading worth it?

Multitasking

One of the biggest features in the iPhone 4.0 is a feature that I’ve had on my Nokia smartphones forever: the ability to run multiple third party applications simultaneously. Even in this release, Apple still doesn’t allow full-on multitasking, but they do provide ways for applications to do certain tasks in the background–namely play music, handle VoIP calls, or use the GPS. They also support a task switcher (double-click on the home button), allowing you to switch between recently launched applications.

Along with a sort of “suspend and restore” for applications (when you switch out of an application, it “suspends” and then when you switch back it “restores” to the previous state), you get a lot of the benefits of multitasking without a lot of the overhead associated with it. I give Apple points for extreme cleverness, but–and herein lies the rub–the applications needs to be specifically written to support this.

Today, the only apps that properly support the multitasking and “suspend and restore” type functionality are the built-in native apps. No third party apps support this. This means you really don’t get any benefit from this feature. Even without multitasking, the task switcher is still nice because it provides a convenient way to relaunch recently launched applications.

Bluetooth Keyboard

There are times when I want to do some heavy-duty text input but don’t want to drag around a full computer to do it. A bluetooth keyboard would be a nice compromise for those situations. Unfortunately, Apple did not previously permit Bluetooth Keyboards to be used with the iPhone.

Until now. This was a feature mentioned for the iPad, so it makes sense that iPhone 4.0 has this as well. Once I figured out how to get my Think Outside Keyboard into pairing mode, I was able to use it with the iPhone. When you’re paired with the Bluetooth Keyboard, the onscreen keyboard does not come up when you touch on the screen in a text area.

This feature alone almost makes it worth the trouble. Almost.

Other Miscellaneous Things

Some other things I’ve noticed include:

App Folders: Haven’t used this yet, but I can see how I would use this to reduce the visual clutter in my home screens.
Disable Cellular Data ( In Settings > General > Network): Nice feature if you’re not on an unlimited plan
Wallpapers: You can actually set a wallpaper for your home screen and not just your lock screen. They can be the same image or different images.
Backups: For whatever reason, backups are disabled when you try and sync your iPhone. Just be aware of that.
Stability: I haven’t noticed any serious stability issues, but I’ve had audio stutter a little on playback of MP3s.
Battery Life: I’ve had an inordinate number of phone calls over the past 24 hours, so getting a general sense of battery life has been difficult. My general sense is the battery life is worse, but I’ll have to confirm that over the weekend.
Can create playlists in the iPod App: Nuff said.
New Mail app: I only have one mailbox, and it’s GMail over IMAP. I haven’t seen any difference in the app so far, though it was one of the major things they supposedly updated in this release.

Conclusion

Since the ecosystem necessary to support all the new features isn’t there yet (i.e. the apps), the only thing you get by upgrading is some minor usability enhancements and a slightly less refined user experience in some areas (i.e. other areas where they have made some minor changes but haven’t tied down the user experience). I would argue that for most people, you’re better off waiting until iPhone 4.0 is released rather than going through the pain of upgrading. What do you think?

iPhone OS 4 Hands-On Video (AAPL) (businessinsider.com)
iPhone 4.0, iAd and Other Big News From Cupertino (domainmacher.com)
Summary: Apple showcases iPhone 4.0 features (macworld.com)
What iPhone OS 4.0 means for the iPad (macworld.com)
Apple Announces Availability of Multitasking in iPhone 4.0 (thenextweb.com)

Comments

11 April 2010, tom writes: looking through the features i now have a very clear image of my dream mobile device from apple. here goes: an ipod touch(or could be called an iPad nano) with the same built in 3G data option that will be offered on the iPad. i want pay $30/month preapid no commitment for mobile data on a device that fits neatly in my pocket. i could than either chose to use skype or another voip app or just carry a seperate very simple cell phone for voice/texting. of course it would also be sweet if we could see some pocket sized devices on other mobile platforms(android, webos, etc.) sold with built in wifi and as needed prepaid 3G data but no voice/text service.
11 April 2010, PhoneBoy writes: The $30/mo prepaid data-only option has been something I've wanted for a long time. Having that option on an iPhone-like device would be awesome!
14 April 2010, Jeff writes: What exactly did you have to do to pair your keyboard with your iPhone? Is there a special driver necessary or does it just work? I'm SO pumped to finally be able to do this.
14 April 2010, PhoneBoy writes: No special drivers needed, it just recognized the keyboard as discoverable device. Getting the device paired was a challenge, but not because of the iPhone OS ;)
14 April 2010, iPhone 4.0 beta 1 is a One Way Ticket « The PhoneBoy Blog writes: [...] warned that if you try and do the iPhone 4.0 beta 1 update I did a couple days ago, you may find your iPhone cannot be downgraded to 3.1.3 again. This is because the new beta [...]

Choosing a Smartphone Presentation

PhoneBoy — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:00:59 +0000

As this post goes live on the web, I am giving a presentation on How to Choose a Smartphone at the West Sound Technology Association meeting. I’ve actually been working on this presentation since November. Nice to finally give it. You can watch me give the presentation on ustream and/or download the slidedeck:

The presentation covers the various things that go into choosing a smartphone, which unfortunately includes a lot of other things than the phones themselves–the operating systems they run, the network operators that sell them, and so on. It is specific to the United States and the major operators (Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile). Smaller operators are not included because they are not available in this area. Prepaid operators aren’t included because, quite frankly, none of them are selling smartphones yet

One of the challenges I had with doing this presentation is that the information relevant to making such a decision changes almost daily. The phones change, either because new ones are introduced, old ones are discontinued, coverage changes, or even available software updates for existing phones. It’s hard enough for someone like me who tracks the industry to sort through it all, much less someone less informed who’s just trying to make an intelligent decision about what they should buy.

The problem is, no matter what you buy today, there’s always going to be something better tomorrow. Thus, whatever you choose to buy, buy the phone for what it can do today, not what you think it might do tomorrow.

Comments

19 March 2010, tom writes: not only are the smaller prepaid operators not selling smartphones but several that allow users to bring their own phone have recently starting banning activation of certain models(essentially blackberries, palm and anything with WinMo or android.) this has destroyed the business of a few small shops i know that had built a business almost entirely of activating used high end smartphones on carriers such as pageplus. mostly the customer would get voice and text through the carrier and data over wifi. this it seems is a quite acceptable setup for many. i do believe that it is the underling carriers(such as verizon) that instituted this new ban and not the decision of of the prepaid MVNO's. i do have to say though that i have a bit of a seroius problem with an actual phone model requiring a specific rate plan as opposed too a plan for certain feature. any phone should be allowed activated on any plan just without full functionality.
19 March 2010, PhoneBoy writes: All the operators are now requiring data plans for smartphones. Makes sense they would push this requirement down to their wholesalers also. I am not a fan of this policy myself. I wanted to cover the prepaid operators in this preso, but there's actually a lot of them. This preso ran long as it is ;) Also, since was more a Smartphone focused preso and the prepaid operators don't typically sell the smartphones, they weren't a good fit. MetroPCS and Cricket don't offer service in the Seattle area.
16 April 2010, Anonymous writes: [...] http://phoneboy.com/3294/choosing-a-smartphone-presentation [...]

Will the iPad Change Anything?

PhoneBoy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:30:09 +0000

Just before I was giving my presentation at Sales Kick Off yesterday, Apple began unveiling their new iPad. A few people in the audience were looking at the emerging details on their iPhones. I took a quick scan of my Twitter stream later on. It was a topic of discussion throughout the day. I eventually read a small amount of the coverage.

The general complaints I saw on Twitter were related to the lack of a camera or the fact that it had data service only through AT&T. What I see is the biggest failing of the device, quite honestly, is the same downside as for the iPhone: the fact that the device is tied to iTunes.

The iTunes app itself is a bloated, monolithic application that does far too many things. Aside from that, it means you cannot manage content on the device from more than one Mac or PC. I suspect this “limitation” has something to do with how Apple implements DRM, but even Apple has to realize that people own (or use) more than one computer these days and should figure out a way to handle this more gracefully–at least with non-DRMed content.

With this in mind, Apple has clearly created a device that is not a replacement for your primary computer. It’s a big iPod Touch. That’s great for consuming certain kinds of content, but given the limitations of iPhone OS, it won’t be replacing my laptop in my bag anytime soon.

Perhaps the next iPhone OS will remove some of them. Maybe it will add Bluetooth keyboard support, multitasking, and the ability to manage content from more than one computer. Maybe it will do a better job managing battery life or remove the stupid limitations about downloading larger than 10mb files over 3G.

Will the iPad change the world? We don’t have the whole story yet. The rest of it will come when they announce the next iPhone OS, presumably before the iPad actually ships. Then we’ll know the true capabilities of the iPad and just how game changing things will be.

Meanwhile, Apple has ramped up the hype machine by announcing the iPad prior to shipping. The fanboys will continue to drool over the hardware. The rumors will continue to spread until the iPad ships.

Me? I’m happy with my iPhone. It’s already changed my world. Will the iPad change my world? Maybe, but I’m happy to wait and let the true story unfold.

iPad lifts off to much iHype (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
iPad Specs Price and Features (mwd.com)
Can Apple Live Up To The Hype? (timelliott.us)
Are Apple’s iPad Shortcomings Real or Perceived? (chris.pirillo.com)
Apple iPad: Everything You Need to Know (everyjoe.com)
A close look at Apple iPad (taragana.com)
5 Reasons to Wait for iPad 2.0 (readwriteweb.com)

Comments

28 January 2010, Lonnie writes: "I’m happy to wait and let the true story unfold. " Sage advice.
28 January 2010, Marc Abrams writes: I don't entirely agree with iTunes = 1 PC or 1 Mac. In my house, we setup Home Sharing and it works amazingly well. My son has a Windows 7 netbook and my wife has a Windows Vista laptop, and I have a MacBook Pro and we easily share music and movies between them. I could see the iPad docking with my MacBook Pro and pulling my son's Thelonious Monk songs from his netbook. I've been thinking about the role the iPad plays with a corporate user. I make a LOT of presentations and use the current version of Keynote. I want to try the iPad version before making a decision, but if it works the way it looks like in the videos, and saves me time in making and editing all these presentations, that will be my killer app for the iPad. marc.
1 February 2010, kenvernon writes: For the millions of iPhone and iTouch users, the iPad UX will allow a seamless user transition to a middle road device that allows them to consume content quickly and easily. Where Apple takes the iPad from here is the really interesting question. With a major OS upgrade, the iPad could easily become a laptop replacement for many and a valuable tool for content consumption for others. As you, I am happy to wait and see.
4 February 2010, Philippine Outsourcing writes: My first impressions of the device are largely positive. Apple has once again built a product that looks good and feels great in the hand, and the familiar user interface, borrowed from the iPhone and iPod touch, is perfectly suited to the bigger screen. The iPad whizzes along, opening applications, re-sizing web pages, and zooming in and out of maps almost instantaneously. It's a great, fun gaming platform, and it's lovely to view full-size web pages while browsing the internet. Developers, no doubt, are already rubbing their hands with glee about the apps and services they could tailor specifically for this device. - Jaime
15 February 2010, Mike Rogers writes: I think the iPad changes things quite a bit. It continues the shift from multi-purpose PCs/Macs which are advanced content creation tools. The very first PDA, the palm was so successful because it was focused on 4 tasks, Address Book, Calendar, To-Dos and Notes. The iPad represents the next step in that. Simple, purpose built machines.
18 February 2010, Faith | Postcard Printing writes: Same way here, IPhone had a huge change in my life. Almost everything is a click away from me and it is a big thing for any online marketer like me. I'm not that interested with the new Apple product, the IPad thing but I am waiting for its review to see what difference would it make to IPhones. We'll see. LOL.

Keeping the iPhone Charged

PhoneBoy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:30:21 +0000

While I was in San Diego for the past few days, perhaps the biggest challenge–aside from never having more than 10 minutes to myself at a stretch–was keeping my iPhone’s battery charged. The Sales Kick Off meeting we had for Check Point had us anywhere but near an easily accessible AC port. I attempted to plan for this, and I normally have an external iPhone battery for this purpose.

Unfortunately, on my recent trip to Israel, the connector on my latest battery acquisition from eBay broke. That’s what happens when you get the cheap ones made in China. Either way, I did not have time to acquire something better before I left for this trip to San Diego.

I searched through my gadget stash and found an old Solio charger. While I wasn’t counting on it’s ability to get juice from the sun, it was able to receive a charge from USB. When fully charged, it was able to provide some extra juice to my iPhone. It certainly didn’t give the battery more than an extra 25-30% or so, but it was enough. It also fit in my pocket (albeit not comfortably) along with the iPhone.

I also took some other measures to conserve battery power as well: I dropped WiFi and Bluetooth. While there was plenty of WiFi around, I could not always use it nor did I necessarily want to. I only enabled it when I know I wanted to use it. That alone cut my battery drain to a fairly managable level.

The other thing: I forgot my iPhone’s AC adapter. This meant I need to plug into a Mac/PC to charge. It also meant that I was not able to easily charge my iPhone the night before I left San Diego. I had a very early morning flight and made the mistake of not leaving my MacBook turned on but not logged in. This meant my iPhone barely got a charge overnight.

The Solio came to my rescue again. I had wisely charged it the day before, so I was able to use it to provide a boost on the flight back to Seattle. The Solio did require some significant fiddling to get it to charge the iPhone without receiving the dreaded “charging with this accessory is not supported” message on my iPhone.

Meanwhile, I’m in the market for a mobile charging solution for my iPhone. Preferably something that will fit comfortably in my pocket with my iPhone 3GS, is durable, easily rechargable, but not insanely expensive. I realize that’s a bit much to ask, but any suggestions from the peanut gallery on this?

Comments

28 January 2010, bostonphoneguy writes: Duracell Instant USB charger or Mophie Juicepak Air are two solutions that I own.
28 January 2010, asd writes: PowerMonkey or PowerMonkey Explorer - https://powertraveller.com/
28 January 2010, Lonnie writes: MiLi Power Pack; and don't forget your AC adapter next time.
31 January 2010, Hamish MacEwan writes: This might fill the bill: http://www.powerstick.com/new/home.php Hamish

Inbox Liquidation, Part 52

PhoneBoy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:49:39 +0000

It must be time to clean out the old inbox once again, which this time also includes random observations and other things that aren’t necessarily in my inbox.

Google Chrome: I’ve started using Google Chrome on my Macs and Linux boxes. I have to say, it’s quite peppy! I’m still waiting for extension support on the Mac, though I can always run Chromium, which does offer it. Google already pwns all my data, so I’m not too concerned about using their browser

CallGuard for Nokia Devices: The folks over at SymbianGuru have a neat little app that provides a whitelist and blacklist for calls at specific times. Calls from certain people can be “rejected” complete with an SMS to the number or ring through as you configure the app. I haven’t had a chance to try this out, since I primarily use an iPhone these days, but it’s worth checking out. 10 days to see if you like it, if so, pay $12.95.

HiDef Conferencing Beats Holiday Stress: While I do appreciate the reduction in mental processing that occurs when you have a conversation over a wider band medium, such as provided by HiDef Conferencing service, I find conference calls themselves stressful. Granted, they tend to take less time than the typical business trip, but there’s only so much one can do over the phone. As stressful as those business trips are, they are necessary.

TruPhone Cuts The Price Of Calling This Holiday Season: If you’re a TruPhone user, or are looking for an excuse to try out this calling service on your Nokia, Blackberry, iPhone, or Android), here’s a nice offer. From Christmas Day until the 5th January 2010, calls made on Truphone to 30 popular destinations worldwide will be charged at 50% off the TruStandard rate – allowing friends and family to talk longer for less this holiday season. In addition, calls to all listed destinations will be free of charge on New Year’s Eve (or rather 12:01 pm GMT New Years Eve to 11:59 am GMT New Years Day).

TextPlus 2.1 Launches With Personal Communities: I’ve always thought SMS was a ripoff. The operators charge way too much for too little. Several applications on the iPhone look to reduce or eliminate your dependence on SMS by pushing your short messages through their service. The only one I find compelling is TextPlus by the folks at Gogii. The main reason? It interoperates with regular SMS. People not using TextPlus on their iPhone (and soon the BlackBerry) can send messages through the short code 60611. TextPlus also allows you to do “group” messaging, sending the same message to up to 50 people. And yes, that feature works with folks not on TextPlus (yet).

VoIP Supply Reclaims Your Old VoIP Gear: This is a bit like taking your old video games down to the GameStop or similar store, trading them in for new games, or getting some cash. Except this is with VoIP gear. Maybe I should send them my list of VoIP gear and see what they’ll give me. I suspect it will be like GameStop does for old games, you won’t get as much as you’d like, but you’ll get something. At least the equipment won’t end up in a landfill somewhere.

Tweetings: I ran across this client on my Twitter stream for the iPhone and I have to say, it’s quite good. It looks a lot like Tweetie, actually, but it’s slightly cheaper ($1.99 versus the $2.99 for Tweetie 2), and for that price, it even supports push notifications of @ replies and direct messages! It’s also the first Twitter app I’ve run across that actually uses oAuth, which theoretically means you don’t have to give the application your password! However, you still need to enter your password into the app anyway if you want to use any of the media sharing services (or push notifications, for that matter).

Comments

22 December 2009, tom writes: if you do not want google to pwn your data you can use srware iron instead of chrome. windows and linux version are out now and mac should be coming soon. with chrome i was clearing my browsing data every couple days because it was slowing down so much. iron is working much better. http://www.srware.net/en/index.php
23 December 2009, PhoneBoy writes: Still no Iron version for Mac yet. As I said, I'm not terribly concerned, Google already pwns my data :)

iPhone–I Accept It For What It Is

PhoneBoy — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:39:57 +0000

When I think about my iPhone and compare it to what I gave up on my Nokia phones, I realize that, in many ways, I had tried to make my Nokia phones behave in ways that they were not really designed for.

You might find it ironic that Nokia Nseries phones don’t do multimedia well, even though it is something they are designed to do. It is adequate, but small things like the speed of syncing with your computer or keeping track of play counts or ratings make for a less than stellar experience.

Mac integration is another sticking point for me. While Nokia gets kudos for Nokia Multimedia Transfer, which helps a Nokia device tie into the Mac ecosystem of iTunes and iPhoto, not to mention iSync plugins to sync calendar and contacts, there’s no PC Suite type app and no way to update the firmware from a Mac. Not to mention that Macs are not always supported when various Ovi services are launched.

And yet, with my iPhone, there are things it can’t do–multitasking perhaps biggest on the list. I knew going into the iPhone that this was going to be a limitation. I came to terms with that long before I gave up my credit card number and ordered the device, though.

The inability to load apps that Apple hasn’t approved is another issue. People get around this by jailbreaking the device. I am not going to pass judgment on those who decide to go that route. I’ve done it myself, not to install apps, but to unlock the device so I can use it with other (non-AT&T) SIM cards. It can be restored to Steve Jobs approved state easily enough.

While I like the flexibility that a Nokia device offers, I have decided that, for me, a mobile device that is reliable is also important. I have had too many instances where my Nokia’s aren’t reliable–even when sticking to built-in apps! The iPhone gives the right balance of both functionality and stability.

I was listening to MacBreak Weekly some weeks ago. The panel was discussing, among other things, the merits of Android versus iPhone. Andy Ihnatko made an excellent point that stuck with me throughout the day, though it was best summarized by Merlin Mann (also on the show that day): Once you accept how a device is put together, your mind operates completely differently.

Trying to treat an iPhone like a Nokia–or vice versa–is a waste of energy. While even today I am occasionally stimied by the lack of multitasking of the iPhone, I can now generally work with the limitations. The same can be said for the limitations of a Nokia device: I am familiar enough with the platform that I can generally work within the limitations. The mindsets needed to operate both are different, but one is not inherently “better” than the other.

For the functions that I use regularly, the iPhone wins, hands down. For those situations where an iPhone doesn’t make sense, I can always take my SIM card out and put it in a Nokia device.

Nokia Booklet 3g (theworldison.blogspot.com)
Nokia’s Smartphone Aspirations (markevanstech.com)
Apple Is Said to Be Close to Buying Music Start-Up (nytimes.com)
Stocking Stuffer: YoGen Mobile Charger ($40) (crunchgear.com)

Comments

5 December 2009, Bob writes: One thing that doesn't get said when discussing "multitasking" on the iPhone, it supports the most important form of multitasking, one can run an app at the same time as making a phone call. What it can't do is run two app at the same time. That makes the limitation less severe that it would be otherwise. This also makes the iPhone more usable than CDMA phones where you can't have voice and data at the same time.
5 December 2009, PhoneBoy writes: That kind of multitasking--in a call and running an app--does work nicely. I've used it a few times. It's also nice that the 3G network lets you be on a call and use data at the same time. Unfortunately, the 2G network of AT&T doesn't allow that.

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