iPhone 3G Tricks

Many who have searched the App Store for magazines notice a disturbing trend, you must pay by the issue. For example, a single digital copy of TIME will run you $4.99, about the same you'd pay at the newsstand.

Many of us have criticized Time Inc. for the outrageous pricing, but it seems that there may be much more going on behind-the-scenes than we originally believed. The magazine's publisher had planned on making the iPad edition available as a subscription, but it's said that Apple didn't approve it.

Supposedly, TIME has tried everything short of pulling their App from the store to get Apple to give them some leeway, but the company hasn't budged.

The bottom line is that Apple does not seem to want to give magazine publishers control of their iPad subscriptions, and they may make some enemies in the process.

My take? Just put out a downloadable online edition (like a PDF) and let users download it, because iBooks makes a great PDF reader.

via All Things Digital

iPhone, iSmashPhone

That's what China's Yosion Technology is promising with their "Apple Peel [Skin] 520."  It's an iPod Touch case that includes an Infineon baseband chip, extra 800 mAH battery, and slot for a SIM card.  Drop your SIM, microphone-enabled ear buds, and (jailbroken?) iTouch in, and bye-bye VOIP getovers! 

Allegedly.  Aside from a demo video, there's not a lotta evidence this hack exists outside of a one-off prototype, yet Yosion is promising availability in as little as a week for ¥300-500 (US$44-74).  Until that actually happens, take this 'un with a pinch of powdered ginger…

[Via Engadget]

iPhone, iSmashPhone

Here's today's sale apps pack. They are free but not for long. I would be fast if I were you.

Slap Game Pro (FREE only Today)

SLAP IT! HIT IT! KICK IT! TRIP IT! and SHAKE IT! Beat any level and earn the right to STOMP IT!

ImageQuest (FREE until 15 August)

ImageQuest is a new type of visual puzzle that turns the mental activity of image association into a fun and engaging game.

Pixel Assault (FREE)

Fight against the evilest monsters in the history of Pixel-games and protect the Triforce!!

StringMania (FREE)

An interesting, logical, non time consuming game which will be enjoyed by you, your children, siblings, parents but also your grandparents.

Pzizz Relax (FREE until the end of July)

PZIZZ, THE WORLD'S MOST ADVANCED RELAXATION SYSTEM, IS HERE!

Pzizz Sleep (FREE until the end of July)

It's like having Michael Breen, one of the world's top NLP Master Trainers, on call to help you sleep whenever you need him.

Gate-Keeper (FREE for the next 30 days)

Gate-Keeper is an intuitive app that stores lock combinations for just about anything.

iPhone, iSmashPhone

The home of power-trio Rush, back bacon, and Scott Pilgrim (the comic book and the movie) is poised to welcome a new resident: unlocked iPhones.

This Friday, when the iPhone 4 hits the Great White North, customers have the option of buying it subsidized and locked into the standard two-year-contract, or unlocked to let them find their best service deal.  Since Canada has THREE (count 'em!) cell carriers that support the iPhone — Bell, Rogers and Telus — customers can at least pick and choose, unlike their southern neighbors (meaning us) and the dreaded Death Star exclusive.

Needless to say, unlocking comes with its own (high) price: C$659 for a 16GB iPhone 4, and C$779 for the 32GB i4.  Wanna cheap out and stick with an 8GB iPhone 3GS?  That'll only set you back C$549.

Analysts are not optimistic that the unlocked i4 will be a hit, pointing to the high price (in Canada, as elsewhere, many people consider a phone price of $199 to be the maximum they'd spend) as well as the bad publicity generated by the new iPhone's raft of technical problems.  Canadian legislators, meanwhile, are discussing creating a law that would force cellphone carriers to unlock phones.

[Via CBC News]

iPhone, iSmashPhone

Users have been reporting that their free Apple Bumpers have been arriving over at MacRumors. I opted for the Incase iPhone 4 case instead of the black Apple bumper, and those don’t look like they’ll be shipping for another month according to ship status. 

In case you didn’t know, Apple has instituted a free case program for all iPhone 4 owners. Simply go to and download the iPhone 4 Case Program App to get your choice of free iPhone 4 case.

iPhoneNewsBlog

Crazy iPad sales numbers, Apple’s North Carolina Data Center, Free iPhone 4 bumper cases, white iPhone 4 delays, and much more on this week’s episode of We Have Communicators! Show notes can be found at iPhoneAlley.com/podcast. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, use the contact form at iPhoneAlley.com.

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Filed under: iPhone

According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is “looking into” reports of iOS 4’s poor performance on the iPhone 3G. Many iPhone 3G users have noted generally slow performance and glitches after installing iOS 4 that have rendered their devices nearly unusable. An Apple spokesperson told the Journal that Apple is aware of the reports and investigating solutions. That Apple is responding to the issue at all is certainly encouraging, but their response has been anything but timely — it’s come only after a month of irate posts on Apple’s support forums, parody videos on YouTube, and widespread reporting on the issue (including here at TUAW).

Some blogs, including us, have noted that iOS 4.1 beta provides better performance on the iPhone 3G. I initially experienced better performance under the beta, but only for a couple days after doing a DFU restore to the beta. Around 48 hours after installing the beta, all the old bugs crept back in: slow keyboard performance, glacial application launch times, app crashes, and random system-wide freezes when using Safari. None of the suggested fixes (some of which border on voodoo) have managed to get iOS 4 working properly on my iPhone 3G. I’ve tried everything short of wiping the phone clean and setting it up as a new phone, mostly because I don’t want to lose my application data, which includes 20+ hours of game progress in Final Fantasy and over a year of food and exercise data in Lose It. (Ed: Ouch!) (Update: a couple people have pointed out that Lose It! can restore data to an iPhone independently of iTunes, an awesome feature I had completely forgotten about. Sadly, that’s a feature not present in any of the 45 games I have on my iPhone.)

For now, our advice for those lucky few who haven’t yet upgraded an iPhone 3G to iOS 4 remains the same: don’t do it. For the rest of you iPhone 3G owners, if you’re an unlucky member of the “iOS 4 turned my iPhone 3G into an iPhone POS” group, things are looking up for you at last thanks to Apple’s official response.

[Via Macrumors]

Apple ‘looking into’ poor iOS 4 performance on iPhone 3G originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple ‘looking into’ poor iOS 4 performance on iPhone 3G originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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