Come this "summer", iPhone 3.0 — see our walkthrough — will allow iPhone users to enjoy new Bluetooth functionalityincluding stereo headsets, both the A2DP audio and ARCP control protocols. And if you’re a developer, you likely have this functionality already for testing purposes.

A while back I took a preview look at the Motorola S9 Stereo Bluetooth Headset for iPhone 3.0. Looks like they’ve gone and grown up! If budget is less of a concern to you than sound, and you want to enjoy your audio on the go, the Motorola MOTOROKR S9-HD (the “-HD” being the key — and really only — differentiator here!) are something you definitely want to consider (available now from our sibling store at WMExperts).

Note: This pre-review will not be focusing on iPhone 3.0 functionality, which is currently in closed beta. It will concentrate only on the headset itself. However, for those developers needing an A2DP headset for testing 3.0, it's our understanding this one works well on multiple units, over multiple carriers.

About that -HD

I’m not going to bore you with a re-hash review. This headset, as mentioned above, is almost identical to the non-HD version reviewed previously. The big difference, of course, is the “-HD” itself, and that’s what we’ll focus on here. Starting with: how big a difference is it?

BIG. The bass is bigger, the emersion experience is better, the depth and scope of the sound in general is brighter. They call it SRS WOW HD technology. Given that A2DP will never equal great wired earphones, and great wired earphones will never equal vinyl and vinyl will never equal great live music, as far as stereo Bluetooth headsets go, these S9-HD certainly nail the WOW.

Conclusion

The same sizing and form factor issues plague this headset as did it’s non-HD sibling. If your head doesn’t fall into the comfortable rang, and you want to be able to lie on your back while listening, these aren’t the headset for you. Likewise, if you value price over performance, look at those non-HD siblings. If you want this form factor and sound quality matters to you, these are top of the charts — easily.

Addendum: In the previous review, one of the commenters asked about glasses. I wear glasses, and while all glasses will vary in size and form factor, I had no problem wearing the S9-HD for lengthy periods. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

Pros

• Great sound
• Good battery life
• Light and comfortable
• Well suited for on-the-go use.

Cons

• May not fit all head sizes
• Not well-suited for lying down

TiPb Accessory Pre-Review Rating

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Pre-Review: Motorola MOTOROKR S9-HD A2DP Stereo Bluetooth Headset for iPhone 3.0

John Carmack has written an update on his Doom port for the iPhone, and he’s continuing the same candor he began with his Wolfenstein 3D post. What are we getting? A classic in almost every sense of the word:

Before I actually started coding on the project, I had visions of adding a lot of modern tuned effects to the core gameplay experience. It would certainly stay a sprite-and-sector based game, but there are many things that would be done differently with the benefit of a GPU and the wisdom of hindsight. Once I began actually working on it, it started to look like a bad idea for a number of reasons. I am trying to not be very disruptive in the main codebase, because I want it to stay a part of prBoom instead of being another codebase fork. While I can certainly add a bunch of new features fairly quickly, iterating through a lot of user testing and checking for problems across the >100 commercial Doom levels would take a lot longer. There really is value in ” classic” in this case, and there would be some degree of negative backlash to almost any “improvements” I made. There will still be a couple tiny tweaks, but nothing radical is changing in the basic play. It would be fun to take a small team, permanently fork it, and make a “Doom++” just for the iPhone, but that wouldn’t be the best first move. Maybe later.

Check out the full post for more on his experiences with iPhone game development.

[Thanks to Icebike for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Doom for iPhone Update

UPDATE: Per comments below, this only seems to be effecting some users and only on 3.0 Beta firmware. We’ve also added a poll in the forum so we can see what everyone thinks. Take a moment to vote, betas can and do change…

Original: Looks like Apple’s begun charging full price if you try to download an app you’ve already bought over the iPhone. This did not used to be the case — previously you’d be given a dialog stating you’d already bought it and you could go ahead and re-download it for free. Now the dialog says you can still re-download it for free on your computer (via iTunes), but if you want to download it again directly to your iPhone, you’ve got to buy it again.

What’s going on here? Not bandwidth control, since free apps and updates to paid apps are still free. Not device restriction, because you can still re-download for free via iTunes (though it’s not as convenient, of course).

We’re guessing that with the on-device account management coming to iPhone 3.0 — where you can log in and out of multiple iTunes accounts right on your iPhone — Apple is putting this in place to prevent the sharing of purchases between accounts. (Otherwise you could just log into 100 other iPhones with your account and give them all your paid apps right over the air).

We can understand the concern, but we’ll miss the functionality. For example, I personally used the re-download ability all the time for app management. E.g I bought a FedEx tracking app that I delete when I’m not expecting anything and re-download when I am. Now I can’t do that any time I want any more — only any time I’m at my computer. I’d much rather keep that and ditch multiple accounts.

What do you think, is multiple on-device accounts worth the loss of free on-device paid app re-downloads?

[Thanks Jordan for the tip, iPhoneDocked for added confirmation]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Now Charging to Re-Download Apps on the iPhone?

It’s time again for another From the Forums post, today we have a few good poll threads for our forum members to participate in. Not a member you say? Well all you have to do is register right here for free! After you take a care of that, check out the following threads!

Another image, floating around the internet this past week, shows the iPhone 3G plastic back casing next to the rumored 3rd generation’s matte casing . So this thread is pretty basic, Matte or Shine? So far the matte finish has a comfortable lead in the poll. What’s your vote?

Today’s second thread contains a couple images of the rumored next generation iPhone’s auto-focus camera, compass, etc… in action. Again this thread contains a poll - are the images fake or are they legitimate? You be the judge!

Next up we asked the question that pretty much all Apple fans have been asking, will Steve Jobs be attending WWDC in any way, shape, or form? As long Mr. Jobs is healthy and feeling up to it, TiPb sure hopes to see him make an appearance. What are your thoughts?

For our last poll of the day Rene asks who wants a glowing Apple logo on the next generation iPhone?! We are thinking this one will be split pretty much 50/50. At first I was against the thought of this but have since changed my mind. If used properly it could come in handy. What do you think?

See you on the forums!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

From the Forums - Poll Edition: Matte of Shine? Next Gen iPhone in Action? Steve Jobs at WWDC? Glow or No Glow?