From the Forums is a great way to see what all of the current hot topics are on the TiPb forums. In order to create any new threads of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is a simple process that will only take a few minutes out of your day, so if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now.

• It’s week 3 of our Smartphone Round Robin and this week Casey from Android Central needs your expertise. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
• What is an iPhone without all of the applications within the App Store? Apps are essential to our beloved device so this particular forum, iPhone Apps and Games, is a great place to visit for anything app related!
• If you are interested in the jailbreak process or perhaps you need to unlock an iPhone for a friend or relative, this forum is a must – iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock.
• It’s really great to see so many people leave their old phones for a new iPhone, especially when the user is leaving their old school BlackBerry behind. If you left the BlackBerry platform stop by this thread and chime in!

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: Help Casey from Android Central, iPhone Apps, Jailbreak & Unlock, Leaving BlackBerry for iPhone

Safety Light ($0.99 – iTunes link) riddles us this — can one of the App Store’s most maligned categories, the flashlight app, be redeemed by one of the iPhone’s premiere developers?

Along with fart apps and tip calculators, there’s little that’s been derided more than the humble “lets make a white screen and charge $1 for it” flashlight app. With Safety Light, the Iconfactory’s Craig Hockenberry, creator of Twitterrific, adds function to the flash.

• Bright flashlight
• Colored lighting effects
• Disco mode!
• SOS emergency flash

Like many, I’ve used the iPhone to light my way on more than one occasion, but Safety Light is the first time I’ve gotten all official (read: bought a flashlight app) for the purpose. But I’m a sucker for audacious design and development.

If you try it, let us know what you think!

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

Safety Light for iPhone, or Can the Flashlight App be Redeemed?

Who says gift giving is done? New Year is still to come and here’s a reminder if you missed it the first time — TiPb is teaming up with TeleNav to offer TiPb’s TeleNav AT&T Navigator Give Away! And since we’re already running the huge Round Robin contest in the forums, we figured this one would be perfect for the social networks.

How can you win?

1. Follow both @theiphoneblog and @telenav on Twitter
2. Become a fan of both theiPhoneblog and TeleNav on Facebook
3. Tweet from your Twitter account: “I want to win @theiPhoneBlog's Ultimate @TeleNav Travel Pack! http://bit.ly/8gan2b”

What can you win?

1. Grand prize: The first place winner will receive one grand prize consisting of the “Ultimate Car Pack” which includes one year of AT&T Navigator (Approximate Retail Value ("ARV"): $69.99), a dashboard mount for a cell phone (ARV: $25), a mobile phone charger (ARV: $20), a $100 gift certificate to the iPhone Blog iPhone Store, and a $100 donation in their name to Toys for Tots. – (Total ARV of grand prize: $214.99)
2. Second prizes: Two second place winners will receive a one-year subscription to AT&T Navigator. (ARV: $69.99 each) All prizes will be awarded.

It’s US only (AT&T Navigator requires AT&T after all!) but you only need to enter once, and winners will be announced on January 2, 2010 — so what are you waiting for? Ready, set, follow, fan, and tweet!

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

Reminder! TiPb/TeleNav Giveaway — One Year of AT&T Navigator, Accessories, TiPb Store Gift Certificate and More!

iPhone Twitter clients are best in class, point finale, but no one client can be great at everything which is why specialty Twitter apps like Reportage 1.5 [$1.99 - iTunes link] can be so valuable.

While the original Reportage impressed by virtue of concept alone, it had a few rough edges overall. Reportage 1.5 addresses those, baking in good browsing and replying to go along with the great reading.

If you ever find yourself getting lost in the timeline, following too many people who make too many tweets, Reportage and its “radio tuner” metaphor can be a great way to find just what you’re looking for. If you check it out, let us know what you think.

Screen shots after the break!

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

Reportage Twitter “Radio Tuner” Version 1.5

Nokia, massive if alien-to-North America, sued Apple for WiFi/GSM/HSPA patent violation, at which point Apple spun around and counter-sued for iPhone patent violation, and now Nokia has yelled the legal equivalent of “fire everything!”

According to PC World:

Nokia fired the latest salvo in its ongoing patent dispute with Apple, saying Tuesday that it has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission charging that Apple infringes its patents “in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players and computers.”

The complaint involves seven patents that Nokia says Apple is using to “create key features” in products related to the user interface and camera, antenna and power management technologies. Nokia wants the ITC to investigate its claims.

So, if we can piece the story together as we’ve heard it rumored, Nokia is supposed to license it’s pooled patents to Apple under the same equitable and reasonable terms as everyone else, but decided they wanted Apple to counter-license their iPhone patents to Nokia. Apple declined, Nokia sued, Apple counter-sued, and now Nokia is seeing them and raising the stakes — to the very roof.

Nokia is huge, Apple has billions, this could drag on for years and years. We’re guessing the execs don’t care and neither do the lawyers.

[Thanks Icebike for the tip!]

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

Nokia Sees Apple’s Counter-suit, Files Against Virtually Everything

So according to sibling site, PreCentral.net, Palm is now updating all proud Pre and Pixi devices to webOS 1.3.5, but among the list of features we can’t help but notice…:

• App limit fixed.
• App Catalog downloads continue even after leaving the app’s page.
• App purchases have been expanded to US territories (sorry Europe, Canada, etc).
• Switching between days in Calendar is now faster.
• Sprint Navigation can be launched from a Contact.
• Palm Profile app restores happen in the background, letting the user get to the phone faster.
• Future webOS updates can be downloaded over 2G wireless (1xRTT).
• Notifications now work in landscape mode (which has strangely lost the rounded corners).

…the utter lack of iTunes sync hackery. Congrats Palm! Here’s hoping you can enjoy some OpenGL gaming in the near future, and a Verizon launch asap.

What, wait, they’re getting on Verizon before the iPhone?! And another update while we still wait for iPhone 3.2 iPhone 4.0!

(I know Palm — and Dieter! — did this deliberately just to mess with us during the Smartphone Round Robin!)

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

The Competition: Palm webOS 1.3.5 Brings Speed, not iTunes Hackery

The UK’s leading provider of mobile phones, O2, is openly admitting to having iPhone related network issues. It seems AT&T might not be alone after all, as O2 chief executive Ronan Dunne recently let out the secret that the last 6 months the iPhone had overwhelmed its network in London. Of course, O2 is claiming that the issues are all fixed and the network is as healthy as ever.

O2 iPhone owners have suffered through some of the same issues as some AT&T customers have experienced – dropped calls, data inconsistency, etc… So the big question is what has O2 done to solve the issue at hand? They’ve gone and spent a ton of money on the network to meet it’s demand including adding 200 additional mobile towers in the areas of need.

Any of our readers currently on the O2 network care to comment on your current service? Let us know in the comments below!

[Via 9to5Mac]

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

O2 Admitting to iPhone Data Strain on Network

iSlate seems solid but might not (or never) be used, while apple.com/ichatmobile was a bust, so where does iGuide fit in? Says MacRumors:

iGuide Media, LLC. is another Delaware-based company whose sole purpose appears to be to obtain a trademark on behalf of Apple, Inc. In this case they have a single trademark application for the term “iGuide” that is currently pending. The application was first filed in December 2007. Again, we found Apple’s Senior Trademark Specialist Regina Porter’s signatures on the trademark documents linking iGuide Media, LLC to Apple, Inc. Meanwhile, the lawyer handling the paperwork for the iGuide trademark is the same lawyer who filed for the iPhone trademark under Ocean Telecom Services, also on behalf of Apple. Like iSlate, it seems clear that Apple created iGuide Media, LLC to obtain the iGuide trademark.

TechCrunch has also done another post-post dig but didn’t find any smoking apples.

Still, TiPb agrees iGuide sounds far more like a service than a product, and not even a very cool sounding one at that. Any ideas?

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

Okay, What’s iGuide — New iPhone/iSlate Tablet Service or Just More iNoise?

Pro HDR [$1.99 -iTunes link] is a fantastic little app that brings “>high dynamic range photography to your iPhone. The way it works is simple; Pro HDR asks you to take a photo of a “dark” part of what you are taking a photograph of, then do the same for the “light” part. Next, the app takes the two images, aligns, straightens and blends them automatically to give you a final result; it is quite clever. You also have the ability to save the photo when done, email it and adjust the subject’s brightness, contrast, saturation and warmth.

If file size is important to you, you can change whether to save as full size or a lower resolution for your library or for email. Oh, and one more thing, you can take images from your library, you don’t need to take the pictures in real-time.

I was very pleased with the results of this $1.99 app and I am sure you will too. It is a lot easier than doing it yourself! To see some great examples of what this app can do, check out their gallery.

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

Quick App: Pro HDR High Dynamic Range Photos for iPhone

Year End 10% Off Sale at TiPb iPhone Accessory Store!

To celebrate the end of 2009, we would like to give you 10% OFF all Accessories at The iPhone Blog Store. This is a great opportunity to save big before the New Year and get the Hot New Accessories you’ve been wanting!

Stuck for an idea? Check out TiPb’s top 5 must-have iPhone accessories, and holiday gift guide!

When you are ready to shop, use the Coupon Code “TIPBNY” at the Checkout to receive your End of the Year Savings! Act soon because this offer expires on December 31st, 12:00am PST!

(Cannot be combined with any other offer and does not apply to handling charges, taxes or software.)

Don’t forget! The iPhone Blog Store charges a flat fee of just $5.95 for UPS Ground Shipments. Once you’ve added an item to your cart, you can see a real-time quote for all the available services, delivery dates and shipping costs to your destination.

So get shopping!

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

Year End 10% Off Sale at TiPb iPhone Accessory Store!