In recent weeks Apple has taken a good deal of heat over everything from the MobileMe debacle to some apparent iPhone 3G reception issues. Much of the criticism is, in my opinion, well-deserved and the on-going silence from Apple certainly doesn’t help the situation. All that aside, however, I am absolutely loving my iPhone 3G and upgraded iPod Touch. While I had some instability issues at first, after a simple reinstall of the firmware both are now rock solid. Moreover, while there is an abundance of garbage available, the iPhone App Store also offers some fantastic applications that I’m finding indispensable. Best of all, many of the top applications are actually free.

In addition to the privilege of being the most recent member of the Gear Diary Team, I have the good fortune to be one of the individuals who started WhatOniPhone, an iPhone application news and review site, just over seven weeks ago. Because of my involvement with What’sOniPhone, I’ve been spending a good deal of my free time this summer looking at the wide range of available iPhone applications. Here are some of my favorites and links to our reviews.

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About two years ago I discovered Geocaching. This fun activity revolves around people who hide caches of small items in out-of-the-way locations. Typically these caches will be small watertight compartments with a dozen different tiny trinkets and a log book for finders to sign. A popular web site, geocaching.com, serves as the central point for registering and discovering different caches. The Geopher Lite application for iphone integrates with geochaching.com so that you can instantly search your current location to find any nearby caches. Make no mistake that you are probably NOT going very deep into a heavily wooded area with your iPhone GPS because the signal won’t penetrate the dense woods. But for adhoc geocaching when you want a quick look a what cache’s may be hidden nearby - this could be worth far more than the $1.99 that the App Store charges.

Geopher lite

During dinner with Clinton Fitch last night, he and I got talking about which devices we use. I’m in the iPhone 3G and he’s in the Advantage. That thing is HUGE, but what a wonderful screen it has. Big, bright, roomy…just…wow.

The first thing out of my mouth is that it must suck the battery power real hard. However, while my 3G had a full battery before dinner (and Clinton was working from a partial…) I’m the one who ran out of power before I got home, not Clinton.

The reason why people like me and Clinton (and yes, sites like Gear Diary) make such a stink about issues like the iPhone’s battery life is to help OEM’s/ODM’s correct issues like this by testing, gathering information, and by pointing out where the problems are. However, we can only be effective at what we do if the OEM/ODM listens…

By all counts, Apple is working on ROM update 2.1 for iPhone, bit no one knows what issues it will address. While we don’t necessarily need all the details, it would help if Apple would simply acknowledge the device’s issues.

Right now, they are refusing to do that, especially with signal strength and battery life issues. And people like me writing for sites like Gear Diary don’t know if we’ve been heard, acknowledged or what. I’m not looking for a pat on the back or any kind of validation; but I am looking for some kind of response from Apple or AT&T, depending on the issue - we heard you and are actively working on the issue, we’re working on resolving the problem but won’t have a fix until mm-yyyy or we aren’t planning to fix that at this time.

The whole situation stymied Clinton last night. It doesn’t make sense to me either. What would you do? How would you approach this issue? Why don’t you join us in the discussion and give us your thoughts.

Posted from my iPhone…

Update: Chris Gavula sent me a TXT citing this article at MacNN.  It references an update from Apple that is supposed to address signal issues, and therefore battery life.

This morning, Engadget and electronista.com are reporting (apparently from a Wall Street Journal interview) that Steve Jobs has confirmed that there is, in fact, an application “kill switch” inside of the 2.x iPhone OS.  I mentioned in a previous posting that I felt Apple needed to make a public statement about the kill switch rumors and apparently they now have. 

So now we’ll get to hear from the Apple fanboys about how Apple is protecting us, from the Apple bashers how Apple is just “Big Brother” and from the MS fanboys who are bitter that MS didn’t do it first.

Oh, by the way - Apple is also reporting that 60 million apps have been downloaded for the iPhone in the first month of the app store. 

Let the battle of protectionism vs. big brother-ism commence…

Well the Internet media is at it again.

I posted a commentary a while back about how rumour and unsubstantiated conjecture are often posted as “fact” these days.  I indicated that you, the reader, really need to do your research and not take these “news” postings at their face value.  Well now there’s another “big one” floating around out there.  According to the story - Apple has a list stored on the iPhone of unauthorized apps.  Further, the phone will periodically call Apple and check and Apple then has the ability to kill that app.  This has got a whole lot of people really riled up.  Unfortunately, it’s not exactly how the story goes.

Read on after the break to see what was actually said.

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Pictured above are 24 tip calculating applications in the App Store. They do the exact same thing. Will each be around in the store next year? Yesterday MacRumors wrote about the fat money some developers are making on the App Store. The story talked about one of the applications designed to create crossword puzzles which had banked $1,800 in one day for the developer. That’s not bad! My thinking is that the App Store is going to cool down - and fast. It’s way too crowded with “Me Too” programs. Is there any way that we need 24 different programs that all claim to help you calculate tips?

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In a game of now you see it, now you don’t, and now you see it again - iPhone tethering application NetShare is once again available via direct link in the iTunes store. No word on whether this will stay permanently or if it again will make a quick disappearance. This iPhone app allows users to connect some (but NOT all) programs on their laptop to the Internet by using the iPhone’s 3G signal. This process has been documented fairly extensively over on MacRumors with a “how to” guide - as well as some speed tests showing a 900k download and 200k upload speed. Before you get all excited, make note of this comment from the MacRumors forum — “when your iPhone goes to sleep or you exit the netshare application it will quit and your mac will have no internet access via your iPhone”. Looks like as long as your screen is active then you’ll be able to use the phone to power your laptop. As soon as it goes to sleep - so will your connection - making this really only a solution for very quick and desperate connections. Update: This application has once again been pulled from the iTunes App Store without explanation.

Netshare (direct iTunes link) via MacRumors

Over on Howardforums I just read a posting by user Lightbrazer that he claims can significantly shorten the time to sync and backup your iPhone or Touch. According to the message, iPhone and Touch devices may be taking a long time because during the initial iTunes setup, the user checked an option to ALWAYS upload diagnostic (aka Crash) info to Apple. This option sends crash reports to Apple automatically - which depending upon server load could potentially take a while to deliver and therefore greatly increasing your perceived sync/backup times.

I tried this change with my iPhone setup (iPhone 3G) and while I never had a super slow sync problem - it seemed to speed things up quite a bit. Unlike other tricks which involve disabling the backup process (not smart imho), there does not seem to be any danger to this change because all you’re doing is reseting an option so when the iPhone or Touch syncs you are asked if you want to send anonymous diagnostic (crash) information to Apple. Simply click “No” and the sync may proceed much faster because it no longer automatically tries to upload that data. Instead during the sync you’ll be asked if you want to upload the anonymous data. Give it a try - instructions on the next page.

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Still without an iPhone 3G? Have you been relentlessly checking the Apple iPhone 3G page that is only available after 9 p.m. each night only to see that the stores near you are sold out? Here’s a neat trick that can let you see real time Apple Store iPhone availability without waiting until after 9 pm. Simply set your computer time manually to be any time after 9pm - then re-visit the Apple iPhone 3G availability page. Instant real time inventory status that you can use during the daytime.

Apple - Check iPhone 3G availability

I haven’t got an iPhone 3G, instead I bought an Nokia E71 (review pending) and I couldn’t be happier. I did however update my iPod Touch to the latest 2.0 firmware, and have downloaded a few apps which are pretty cool. With my Touch I get all of the benefits of the iPhone, except for the ability to surf the web and make calls while out and about. Or can I?

Some of you may have heard of Joiku, but for those who haven’t it’s a small application that you load onto a Nokia phone that instantly turns it into a mobile hotspot. That’s right, you can hookup your laptop, or in this case iPod, to your phone over WiFi, no messy Bluetooth or cable connections necessary. I downloaded it to my E71 (right on the phone), and gave it a whirl today, and I have to say it works, very very well.

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