The iPhone Blog |
- Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front now in App Store!
- Monday Fun Video: Apple Data Center Seen from the Sky
- iPad A4 Chipset Cost Apple $1 Billion?
- Should Apple TV Switch to the iPhone OS?
- Loopt Adds Curated Restaurant, Bar Recommendations via TastingTable
- New Apple iPhone Ads Go After Boredom, Parents’ Hearts
- TiPb Apps 2.2 — QuickOffice for iPhone and iPad (Macworld 2010)
- Best of Smartphone Experts, 21 Feb 2010 – MWC Edition
| Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front now in App Store! Posted: 22 Feb 2010 11:40 AM PST
Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front has is now available in the App store [$7.99 - iTunes link]. This is the sequel to 2008’s Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes, one of the first 3D shooters on the iPhone. The above screen shot was taken in-game and it looks amazing. There is a smooth framerate and uses Gameloft’s successful control schemes for FPSs. This is a big improvement over the first game in the series and has been well worth the wait. Some highlights include: I have been waiting for this game for some time, now march out there and defeat the enemy solider! Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front now in App Store! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
| ||||||
| Monday Fun Video: Apple Data Center Seen from the Sky Posted: 22 Feb 2010 11:09 AM PST
Remember that $2 billion world-class data center Apple is building in North Carolina, the one that could be mean iTunes.com or a super MobileMe or only-Jobs-knows-what? Well here’s some video purporting to show it from the sky (if not show it looking like SkyNet!) Check it out after the break and let us know what you think is going on inside those massive, machine-filled walls! [DataCenter Knowledge via Macrumors via 9to5mac]
Monday Fun Video: Apple Data Center Seen from the Sky is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
| ||||||
| iPad A4 Chipset Cost Apple $1 Billion? Posted: 22 Feb 2010 10:47 AM PST
We typically don’t run those stories about iPhone or iPad component costs anymore because they’re just silly — a couple of hundred dollars in metal parts per unit never takes into account R&D and marketing costs, and things like paying $1 billion for the new A4 chipset in the iPad. Or so hints the New York Times:
And this would be for an ARM + PowerVR chipset assembly, how much will it cost when Apple starts spinning their own PA Semi designed chipsets whole? And what’s the competitive advantage that they’re willing to spend so much? iPad A4 Chipset Cost Apple $1 Billion? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
| ||||||
| Should Apple TV Switch to the iPhone OS? Posted: 22 Feb 2010 10:02 AM PST
Should Apple TV switch to the iPhone OS? The Apple TV was introduced in late 2006 but debuted alongside the iPhone at the Macworld 2007 keynote. Since then, the iPhone has become a huge, mainstream success and the Apple TV… well it reamins just a “hobby”. Technically, Apple TV is included under Apple’s iTunes + iPod offerings, and it’s been referred to as a big iPod for your TV. While low end iPods continue to run their embedded OS, the iPod touch and upcoming iPad run versions of the iPhone OS, Apple TV, by stark contrast, originally used a special version of Mac OS X Tiger. Though it has been updated to 2.x and 3.x over the years (and gotten a price cut to boot!), it remains in a sort of no-mans land, with more functionality than an iPod nano but far less than a proper Mac OS X machine like the Mac Mini. The set-top box market is nebulous at best, but Apple chose to engage it — much as it has the equally nebulous tablet market with the iPad, so we wonder if they wouldn’t do better engaging it on the same terms — with the iPhone OS and its 150,000 apps.
There would be problems to be sure. Right away the Apple TV’s 1280×720 screen resolution is much greater than the iPhone’s 480×320, and wider if shorter than the iPad’s 1024×768. Ideally, the Apple TV should go to 1920×1080 to match other, modern display resolutions as well. Apple is using optional pixel-doubling to let iPhone apps run “full-screen” on the iPad, and these were reportedly blurry and jaggy in early demos. Pixel-quadruplers would likely be even less kind. True resolution independence could be an answer to this, but we’ll have to wait and here if Apple addresses that with iPhone 4.0 (perhaps in March). The bigger problem would be control. The iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad all handle interactions via capacitive multitouch input — you use your finger on the screen. I don’t think there’s a single 52″ multitouch capacitive HDTV on the market. Apple has patents for Wii-mote style motion controllers that could fake fingers (if not touch) but they also have the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad — all of which could (and already do via the Apple Remote app) serve as pretty good controllers. Hey, if your house has multiple devices, it could even handle multiple controllers… So where does that leave us? Right now the Apple TV is an okay bridge to iTunes Store media — music, movies, and TV content — but leverages not at all the massive App Store ecosystem. Right now the Apple TV can do the equivalent of the iPod and YouTube apps on the iPhone, but can’t show you your Calendar or Contacts, doesn’t have Safari or Email, doesn’t even have widgets like Stocks or Weather. And it doesn’t have 150,000 other apps — including games! — that running the iPhone OS could bring it. Really, it’s little more than a souped-up iPod classic tethered to your TV. Sure there would be problems implementing the iPhone OS on the Apple TV, but there would be benefits as well. So what do you think, should Apple TV be switched to the iPhone OS? Should Apple TV Switch to the iPhone OS? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
| ||||||
| Loopt Adds Curated Restaurant, Bar Recommendations via TastingTable Posted: 22 Feb 2010 05:49 AM PST
Loopt [Free - iTunes link] has added curated restaurant and bar recommendations via a partnership with TastingTable. With more and more location-based apps and services becoming available on the iPhone, we’re once again seeing a lot of crowd-sourcing (where users enter locations, ratings, tips, and recommendations) used to power it. Loopt, one of the original location apps, is going the other direction and using TastingTable’s team of editors to provide an expert level of detail for potential customers. Crowds can typically cover more, curators can typically cover better. If you try out the latest version of Loopt, let us know how the new recommendations work for you! Loopt Adds Curated Restaurant, Bar Recommendations via TastingTable is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
| ||||||
| New Apple iPhone Ads Go After Boredom, Parents’ Hearts Posted: 22 Feb 2010 05:34 AM PST
Apple began airing two new iPhone ads last night during the Olympics (what hockey game?), one going after boredom by showing what you can do with your iPhone while you wait, and the other going after the hearts of parents (and grandparents) everywhere. Interestingly, neither featured the “app for that” or “app for almost everything” tag lines Apple has been using since 2008. “On hold” starts off with the male caller being placed on hold, though he doesn’t mind because his iPhone means he can use the internet while he waits. He checks email, uses the Bank of America app [Free - iTunes link] to pay bills, and then the App Store to buy, download, and play Monopoly [$4.99 - iTunes link] (Also interesting, they show the iPhone on Wi-Fi and not 3G, and don’t take any more swipes at Verizon for not being able to handle simultaneous voice and 3G data. Then again, Monopoly is too large to be downloaded over 3G even with the new 20MB limit “First Steps” has a new mom use Camara to video record her baby son’s first steps, then Messages to MMS the video to everyone. Next, she uses Phone to easily set up a conference call to discuss said first steps. It ends with “we would never have shared all that without the iPhone”. New Apple iPhone Ads Go After Boredom, Parents’ Hearts is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
| ||||||
| TiPb Apps 2.2 — QuickOffice for iPhone and iPad (Macworld 2010) Posted: 22 Feb 2010 05:10 AM PST
Live from Macworld 2010, Rene and Leanna talk to David Halpin about QuickOffice [$9.99 on sale - iTunes link] for the iPhone… and iPad! We also chat about their latest update which lets users access documents stored on popular cloud-services like Box.net, DropBox, Google Docs, and MobileMe. Watch along after the break and let us know what you think! TiPb Apps 2.2 — QuickOffice for iPhone and iPad (Macworld 2010) is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
| ||||||
| Best of Smartphone Experts, 21 Feb 2010 – MWC Edition Posted: 21 Feb 2010 06:30 PM PST
We’re back from Mobile World Congress 2010 battered but excited for the upcoming year in smartphones. We had coverage from the show at all six sites. If the above isn’t enough to whet your appetite for Mobile World Congress news, we’ve helpfully collated a list of all our coverage up to this point after the break. There are still a few more posts to come as we empty our memory cards and ponder what we held in out hands out in Barcelona – so stay tuned!
Android Central
CrackBerry.com
Nokia Experts
PreCentral.net
TiPb
WMExperts
Best of Smartphone Experts, 21 Feb 2010 – MWC Edition is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
|
) He finishes with “I need my iPhone for, well, everything”.
| You are subscribed to email updates from TiPb To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments
Post a Comment