Ho-ho-hold on a minute, Verizon — AT&T’s not finding much to laugh about in those new anti-AT&T iPhone “map for that” commercials that show a teensy, tiny blue GSM/HSPA 3G footprint compared the ginormous country painted CDMA/EVDO red. In fact, AT&T is amending their original lawsuit to include those new misfit toys, Santa’s workshop, and blue Christmas ads.

"Contrary to the image presented in the Verizon ads, our wireless network is pervasive," said an AT&T spokesman. "It covers over 300 million people, or 97 percent of the U.S. population. Our fastest, or 3G, network covers approximately 233 million people, or 75 percent of the U.S. population….[Verizon's] use of white space is misleading."

In other words, AT&T is saying Verizon’s 3G coverage of mountains and lakes is impressive for the fish and eagles, but they think they have the humans and their “cities” covered just fine, thanks. (Though, again, NYC and SF might disagree…)

Digital Daily has the whole, amended, complaint for your reading pleasure. Let us know your take.

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

AT&T Demands Verizon Stop Airing “Misfit Toys”, Other Attack Ads

Much has been said about Verizon’s latest addition to their smarthphone arsenal, the Motorola Droid, some good and some bad. I decided to pick one up and decide for myself. It’s been a little less than a week that I’ve spent with my Droid and I must say, I’ve actually come away quite impressed. Now by no means am I saying the Droid is the best looking device on the market, nor is it the perfect smartphone — that simply does not exist. But what we have here is a very solid effort by Motorola. Sure Apple is at the top of the game in regards to UI, ease of use, speed, etc… but they have to play some major catch up with the release of their next iPhone — namely on display, notifications, and multitasking.

For the full run down follow me after the break!

Display

I want to start with the first thing that really pops out when you turn the Droid on — the display. I will admit I never had issues with the screen on my iPhone… until the Droid came along. The Droid’s display has a resolution of 480×854 and is 3.7-inches of pure delight. So much so that after using the Droid for almost a week now when I look at the screen on my iPhone everything on it comes across as being blurry.

Apple, we all beg of you, please make Rene’s dream of an iPhone HD come to life by giving us a better screen on the next version of iPhone. Pretty please…

Notifications

The way the Droid handles notifications is not something new but rather a staple of the Android OS. Like many of you, I feel the iPhone does a very poor job with any sort of push notification whether it is a incoming text message or a sports score. So poor in fact that if I receive a sports score and then a text message right afterwords I have no way of knowing the sports score ever came through! On the Droid I can get all the scores pushed to the device and have email, text messages, etc and a simple swipe down on the screen reveals every single notification. I’m not sure about any of you but how the iPhone handles push notifications is getting pretty old at this point.

Multitasking

According to our poll of what Droid feature would you like to see on your iPhone, many of you would like to see the ability to multitask 3rd party applications. Apple’s response to your request has been that multitasking will kill your battery faster than you could ever imagine. Are they correct? Yes and no. Multitasking will have a negative effect on your battery but it’s not as much as Apple claims it to be. Apple needs to let the consumer decide for themselves. If they’d like to take a hit in the battery life department to be able to multitask 3rd party applications, why not let them? Give us the option and make everyone happy.

Conclusion

So what does this all mean for Apple, and for me? Will I be ditching my iPhone for the Droid? No. I could never leave all of you behind. But I will be keeping the Droid as it definitely has my attention. I can’t say it’s the Verizon network as AT&T service is top notch where I live, but the three things I discussed above have me hooked and good. The Droid really is Apple’s wake up call in a sense. It’s finally a competitive enough device that it should force them to step up and greatly improve upon the iPhone next time around. While I would never tell any of you to do away with your iPhone I will tell you this, if you have a chance to pick one up and give it a whirl, do so as you are sure to enjoy it.

If you are interested in learning more about the Droid be sure to check out Android Central’s full hardware review as Casey knocked it out of the park. And if you’ve already tried the Droid, drop us a note in the comments and let us know how it treated you.

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

An iPhone Blogger’s Trip to the Dark Side with Verizon’s Motorola Droid

Today's TiPb Top 5 will be directed towards our iPhone and iPod touch wielding readers who love racing games, and It’s a follow up to last years TiPb Grand Prix. Just like our other TiPb's top 5 must-have posts, all of these applications are available in the App Store. For the full overview, follow us after the break!

Real Racing

I am biased, this is without a doubt, my favorite iPhone racing game. If you like simulation-style handling in your racing games, you will love this game. There are no real cars (other than the Volkswagon GTI) or courses. However, the attention to detail in-car and on the track is the best you will see on the iPhone. Now, with a new lower price [$4.99 - iTunes Link], you can’t go wrong with Real Racing!

• 4 classes
• 12 tracks
• Local Multiplayer
• Video replays on YouTube

Asphalt 5

Looking for a deep arcade racer on the iPhone? Look no further than Asphalt 5! There are plenty of “real” cars to choose from and lots of tracks. You can earn the ability to customize the look of your car too. The action is fast and pure arcade. The graphics have a “glow” to them, literally but are still good. Looking for an adrenalin rush, this is it! [$6.99 - iTunes Link]

• Over 30 real-world cars
• 12 tracks
• 8 different racing events
• Local Multiplayer

Rally Master Pro 3D

If you like the challenge of rally racing, then this is the only rally game to get in the app store! Plenty of cars and over 27 varied tracks! The controls seemed a little sluggish to be using the accelerometer, but I got used to them. Your car takes real-world damage as you drive (in one instance my hood flew off!) and you can repair your car in-between races. The weather simulation is great in the game too; rain and snow, and a voice navigator, it’s all there! [$4.99 - iTunes Link]

• Variety of game modes
• 27 varied tracks
• Weather enhancements
• Online leaderboards

Need for Speed Undercover

NFSU was one of the first games to have “next-gen”graphics on the iPhone. These graphics still hold true today! There are some fun innovations to like a slo-mo bullet time and auto-acceleration. You have some nice customization features for your car from spoilers to ground effects, not to mention color and vinyl. There is also a storyline to keep things interesting! $4.99 – [iTunes Link]

• 20 real cars
• 8 race modes
• Performance upgrades
• Slow-motion effects

2XL ATV Offroad

Looking for something different? ATV Offroad might be for you! smooth framerate and killer graphics make this one a keeper! The standout feature in this racing game is the ability to do tricks and achievements! Tricks can be done by tilting the device forward and backward while combining 6 preset stunt moves accessible on the screen. Couple this with some local Wi-Fi multiplayer and let the good times role! [$7.99 - iTunes Link]

• 16 tracks
• Career mode with achievements
• 8 opponents on screen
• Local Multiplayer

Conclusion

All of these game are great and well worth the price of admission. However, for what it has to offer, I have to go with Real Racing as my winner this year. I prefer the “real” style of racing. Though, it is not Gran Turismo, for a mobile game it is close enough for me. If this game was not available, second place would go to Asphalt 5. NFSU is close, but Asphalt ups the anti with its Burnout-like gameplay.

Winner: Real Racing

There you have it, TiPb's Top 5 Racing Games and our 2009 Grand Prix Winner. Did we miss any of your favorites? Overlook any killer racers? Drop us a comment and let us know your list, and your winner!

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

TiPb’s Top 5 iPhone Racing Games — Second Annual Grand Prix!

It’s not an iPhone-like slab, but it does ditch the Palm Pre slider (and Wi-Fi!) for a Centro-esque front-facing webOS form factor, and Dieter over at PreCentral.net has the full Palm Pixi Review up to prove it. His take?

The Palm Pixi is a tiny smartphone with enough features and elegance to woo even the most die-hard feature phone user, but current Pre owners will want to stick with what they have.

We’re figuring that will apply to iPhone owners as well, but for new buyers, could it be enough for Sprint and Palm to compete with a $99 iPhone 3G, and all its apps, on AT&T? Check out the rest of the Palm Pixi review and let us know what you think.

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

The Competition: Palm Pixi Gets Reviewed

So if you’ve jailbroken your iPhone, installed SSH, and still haven’t changed your password from the default despite our previous warnings about Dutch Ransomers and Australian Rickrollers? Maybe you thought those were just funny (as seen in this video from iPhoneMVP) and not worth worrying about? Well now things have gotten more serious — there’s a new attack making the rounds that just plain steals your data.

Same method of attack, the bad guy scans the local network for insecure SSH on Jailbroken iPhones, and when it finds it, begins to copy your contacts, messages, email, events, photos, media, etc. This could, of course, include passwords, financial data, and those pics you never got around to deleting…

If you haven’t already, go change your SSH password now. If you need help, go to the TiPb iPhone Forums and get it. Just secure your iPhone.

[Intego, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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

Jailbroken, Installed SSH, Didn’t Change Password? New Attack Aims to Steal Your Data

We’re huge security proponents here at TiPb, and that typically means recommending 1Password on the Mac and RoboForm on the PC. 1Password’s iPhone app has been available for long time already, providing on-device and Mac-synced bliss. Now, finally, RoboForm for iPhone [FREE - iTunes link] is here as well.

It’s a first release, and it’s not quite feature complete yet (on-device editing is a priority and coming soon), it requires an online account for syncing (a local Wi-Fi option to sync with the PC client would be nice as well), and there are some bugs (no 4 character master passwords — though you really should be using much, much longer master passwords!) security is so important we wanted to let you know about it right away, or if you already know about it, we wanted you to let us know how it was working for you.

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

RoboForm Password Manager for iPhone

Joe Hewitt, the developer who saw the Facebook App for iPhone and iPod touch to version 3.0, and the cusp of 3.1 (which promised/threatened push notifications), has thrown us the Twitter-equivalent of a curve-ball:

Time for me to try something new. I’ve handed the Facebook iPhone app off to another engineer, and I’m onto a new project.

Just to be clear, he’s staying with Facebook, just no longer working on their iPhone app. Does it have anything to do with his dissatisfaction with the iTunes App Store approval process?

According to the quote he gave TechCrunch, it did:

My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple's policies. I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process. I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.

(Hit the link above to read the rest of it). Some are no doubt happy to see such a high profile developer quit the App Store over the review process. Hey, we’ve complained about it quite a bit as well. Still, with the current process Hewitt was able to give us a pretty darn good app up to this point. Was it frustrating? No doubt it was, but many of us face frustrations on the job. The web is free, but it’s also often far from a premium user experience. Apple has thus far decided managing the App Store is, in their opinion, the best way to ensure their users’ experience (not just their noisy tech-blogging-and-commenting users’ experience, but the kids and moms and casual users as well). That the implementation remains capricious is another matter — one they need to be fixed and now. That the App Store should by all divine right and reason be as open as web development, however, is just another opinion, another option, and certainly not any more right or reasonable “just because”.

In any event, on behalf of TiPb, we thank you, Joe for all your hard work and the awesome app you’ve given us to date, and wish you well on your future endeavors.

And to the new developer, here’s wishing you the best, and the best for future versions of the Facebook app as well!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

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

iPhone Facebook App Developer Says Goodnight and Good Luck

Apple has just released desktop Safari for Mac and Windows to 4.0.4, which improves full history search performance, has the mandatory stability improvements, and security fixes, but the big news as far as we’re concerned is the number one item on the list — Improved JavaScript performance

Desktop Safari is the big brother of the iPhone’s Mobile OS X Safari, and they share a rendering engine (WebKit), and a JavaScript engine (Nitro), and improvements in desktop Safari and Nitro have traditionally filtered down to Mobile Safari with the subsequent iPhone OS update. That’s right, we’re looking at you iPhone 3.2 (where ever you are!)

Since the current iPhone 3.1 Safari is still outperforming even brand-new devices like the Droid, that may seem a little greedy, but we know Google’s Android and Palm’s webOS aren’t sitting still in the rendering race, and have updates of their own in the pipeline, so once again, competition benefits the end users. Bring. It..

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

Apple Updates Mac/Windows Safari to 4.0.4 — Raises Stakes in JavaScript Wars