Join us along with special Round Robin guests Phil Nickinson of Android Central and WMExperts, and fellow cross-platformer Keith Newman of PalmCast fame! We’ll look at how the Motorola Droid, HTC Hero, HTC HD2, and HTC Touch Pro2 (that’s a lot of HTC!) compare to TiPb’s own iPhone. Plus all the week’s news, views, and rants. If you have any questions, leave a comment below, hit us up on Twitter @theiphoneblog, or better still — join us live in the chat room via http://www.tipb.com/live

REMINDER: You can watch us live on your iPhone with the Ustream Viewer app [Free - iTunes link]. Just wait until the show starts (8pm ET) and search for iPhone. We’ll pop up. Literally.

Chat with you soon!

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

iPhone Live! with Android/WMExpert Phil Nickinson Tonight at 8pm ET/5pm PT (1am GMT)

According to former chief Chinese Googler, Lee Kai-fu, who apparently is well connected with Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn, the upcoming iTablet/iSlate looks like a giant iPhone with:

• an awesome UI packed in a beautiful 10.1-inch screen
• 3D graphics,
• virtual keyboard,
• video conferencing,
• e-books,
• Internet and other functions

All this from a connected friend, discussed in his Chinese language post [Google translate link]. Oh, and Apple expects to produce 10 million of them in the first year.

Happy kindling for the fires of rumor, indeed!

[Gadget Mix via TUAW]

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

Former Chief Chinese Googler Leaks iTablet/iSlate Gossip?

As part of OnLive’s intent to stream you your Crysis Wars over the internet (rather than on physical media like a DVD or Blu Ray), they’ve put together a 48 minute demo, including the use of their companion iPhone app. The iPhone part starts at 19:30 in, and they say latency over current 3G networks is still too high, but WiFi isn’t bad (though the controls are “kinda funky”).

The more interesting part of the iPhone experience, they claim, is the spectating stuff. We’d disagree. But what do you think? Do you want to get your video games streaming from a cloud server, rented like streaming Netflix rather than owned like traditional media? Let us know!

(Note: no iPhone friendly video, but we embedded the Viddler version, on the frame where the iPhone talk starts, below the fold).

[Gamertag Video via Joystiq via Engadget]

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

OnLive Streaming Gaming Shows off iPhone Use

Say hello to the Case-Mate Barely There Chrome Case for the iPhone [$19.95 TiPb Store Link]. It’s a streamlined case with a chrome outer shell and a mirrored screen protector. And it’s the hottest iPhone case to come around in a while.

If you haven't already bought a gift for that special man/woman in your life, then just pick this one up. The perfectly mirrored surface is beautifully complimented by the gleaming chrome case. Yes, if Hercules had had this case he would have been able to defeat Medusa and make sure his hair still looked good. The back of the case also has a "beauty spot" for your apple icon (a hole in the case so you can see the apple logo). This case is such a stunner that it got a gasp of approval from one of my more difficult to please male friends.

This case offers protection for the iPhone without being bulky and cumbersome. It covers the edges and corners of the phone while allowing easy access for volume, mute and charging.

My favorite feature on this case is that the sides are protective but it fits below the level of the screen. This means that you can swipe right off the edge of the phone, without hitting the edge of the case. (I find cases that have a raised side edge very constraining and disruptive.)

The case easily comes off and on the iPhone. You place the iPhone into the case sideways with the volume and mute button going in first. Taking off the case is easy if you first gently pry off one of the corners and then use the Apple logo cutout to push out the phone.

Every case has an Achilles heel and one of the drawbacks to this case is that it would not offer the phone a lot of protection in case of a high drop.

Also, I was hoping that this case would allow me to place my phone into its base charger. It is close but you still need to remove the case to charge it into a base charger.

I enjoyed this case so much that I removed my Gelaskin backing so that the apple logo would be properly displayed! (Yeah, I’m cool geeky like that).

Disclaimer: TiPb Store provided the case for this review.

To learn more, check out TiPb’s iPhone Accessory Store…

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

Case-Mate Barely There Chrome Case for the iPhone 3G

This week our main man Casey Chan from Android Central got a hands-on demo of the iPhone 3GS from yours truly, so be sure to check out that video. Now he’s asking TiPb iPhone Forum members for their help as well. Every day you reply to that thread, you’re entered for a chance to WIN AN iPHONE 3GS! (smartphoneroundrobin.com has all your details!)

Also, this week on the Cell Phone Junkie Podcast, all the Smartphone Expert editors get together for a round-table talk on the iPhone, where it is, and what the future holds for Apple’s mobile platforms. Listen in!

Lastly, I’m getting droidy with it over at the Android Central Forums, not sure what that slide out alphabet is really for on Motorola, and getting splashed by HTC’s awesome Sense weather app. Help me out and you could win the Android smartphone of your choice as well!

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

iPhone Hands-on from an Android User’s Perspective — Smartphone Round Robin

Could an 8GB iPhone 3GS replace the 8GB iPhone 3G Apple currently offers as it’s ahem bargain-basement smartphone? The $99 iPhone 3G was one of the big stories of 2009, set against otherwise anemic competition at that price point. An 8GB 3GS at $99 (or lower?) has been rumored before. Now Gizmodo says it could be immanent:

A user on the German apfeltalk forums ordered an 8GB iPhone 3G, and while the handset was what he was expecting, the packaging suggested it contained an 8GB version of the latest model, the 3GS. As you know, it’s only available in 16GB and 32GB options, so either the box info contained a typo, or Apple accidentally got its new packaging mixed up with the old.

Sure, $99, $199, $299 makes little real difference when you factor in the thousands of voice and data dollars spent over a 2 or 3 year contract. Psychologically, however, walking in with almost no money in your pocket and walking out with an iPhone is huge to a mainstream customer base, and Apple could be planning to keep up the low price-point pressure in 2010.

Would you want?

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

Return of the 8GB iPhone 3GS Rumors

10 weeks, 115 videos, and $5,000 later Smule has announced the winner of their I Am T-Pain [$2.99 - iTunes link] contest and it’s “I’m on a Phone”. Legitimately awesome, gets huge shots in on our frenemies of old, Palm and BlackBerry, and also has language hardcore enough for… well, a rap video. So NSFW-L warnings apply if you want to check it out, after the break…

Other notables included [YouTube links, language warnings]: “a celebration of natural fabric, An auto-tuned tribute to man's best friend, and an ode dedicated to Smule's support staff

Congrats to all, and hats off to Smule for getting the auto-tune engine into the iPhone!

[YouTube video link]

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

I’m on a Phone [NSFW-L] Wins $5,000, Disses Palm, BlackBerry

If the internets are to be believed, Google is setting pricing on their HTC built new Nexus One Android flagship smartphone at $529.99 unlocked, or $179.99 if you take it alongside a 2-year, $80 a month T-Mobile contract. Here are the deets:

• Existing T-Mo customers can’t keep their current plan if they want a subsidized phone.
• The subsidized price only works on accounts with single lines. Family plans, Flexpay, SmartAccess and KidConnect plans must buy the phone at the full $530 unlocked price.
• You can onliy buy five Nexus Ones per Google account.
• Looks like it can be shipped outside the U.S.
• It’ll be sold at google.com/phone.
• And if you buy the Nexus One at the subsidized price and cancel before 120 days have passed, you have to pay the difference — $350 — or return the phone to Google.

Now the original iPhone 2G sold for $600, locked on a 2-year AT&T contract. The current iPhone 3GS 16GB sells for $199 + ~$450 in carrier subsidy = ~$649 (it’s currently sold unlocked by store.apple.com/hk for about $695). Nexus One has higher, presumably pricier specs, so is Google eating their profit margins, or is their massive advertising-based revenue model more than going to make up the difference?

No doubt the unlocked, unsubsidized sales model appeals to us geeks (it tempts me! comments reminded me, no 3G for all other US carriers, so never mind!) but will mainstream consumers go for it? Nokia hasn’t had luck with that in North America. Could Google do better? And would you like Apple to follow suit?

[Gizmodo via Android Central]

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

Google Nexus One Phone Priced at $530 Unlocked, $180 on 2-year T-Mobile Contract?