Apple

Google’s search-by-voice application is finally available for the iPhone via the App Store.  With an announcement on Friday, the widespread excitement quickly turned into disappointment as the application failed to make its debut in the App Store.  My friends the delay is well worth the wait and we predict the program to top free iPhone app lists before week’s end.

So how does the app work?  The app is very simple by allowing users to speak into the iPhone to submit queries to Google’s search engine.  Standard search results, movie show times, addresses and other information are retrieved and displayed as you would see search results when using the normal web browser to search Google.  While the voice detection feature performs very well with the exception of complex phrases, the app does not allow the capability to call a contact hands-free.  If you were looking for the complete voice detection software, you will still need to download Say Who for your voice dialing, but hopefully we’ll see additional functionality in the form of a software update.

Google Mobile App for iPhone

The need to jailbreak your iPhone to stream television, music and video has ended now that Orb has released their official application to the AppStore.  Although the Orb app might fall victim to Apple and At&t’s rejection policies to the likes of Cast Catcher and Net Share, at the moment we have the green light.  For just $10 you can now stream video from a Windows PC to your iPhone with the pay-version of Orb.

Orb can deliver any video or audio that’s stored on the the PC, YouTube content and, most important, live television if you have a TV tuner installed on your PC. This places Orb squarely in competition with Slingbox, which provides a similar level of functionality but does not yet have a native iPhone application. With the appropriate tuner, Orb delivers on the “live TV anywhere” promise brought to various other mobile phones by Slingbox.

We have been long-time fans of Orb and have religiously used the software to stream to our Windows Mobile Phones.  Unlike Windows Mobile where the streaming is completed with the built-in Windows Media Player, the need for a standalone iPhone app has turned this previously free solution into a nominal fee.  We are going to hold off on making this purchase until Apple and At&t have enough time to reach a verdict on whether it falls under the guidelines of their terms and conditions.  In the meantime, there is also a free version of the software for download in case you’d like to see the performance over 3G.

Note: Orb is currently working on a version of its application for Mac and Linux computers, but at the moment a Windows PC is required (Vista or Media Center is ideal).

In mid-September we saw the first major update to our iPhone OS, firmware update 2.1.  While many issues had been addressed, an inevitable 2.2 update would soon follow and according to the latest rumors November 21st is D-Day.  At the moment the complete change log is still a bit of a mystery, but according to our sources the two big changes coming to the iPhone are the addition of Google Street View (think T-mobile G1) and the ability to toggle text auto-correction on/off.

Rumored iPhone 2.2 Software Update (change log):

• New look for the Safari with the Google search bar now occupying its own space on the title bar
• Add toggle On / Off to disable the text auto-correction
• 461 Japanese emoji icons (only available in Japan)
• Support for new languages.
• The Line-in audio is activated and can be used through the headphone jack.
• New features of Maps.app: Google Street View, Google Transit information - routes public transportation, Location sharing.
• New features of the App Store:  The sector ‘Categories’ now shows the icons of the applications instead of the list.  In each page of the application has been added by a button ‘Tell A Friend’ & ‘Report A Problem’.  Added the possibility of scoring the application when the user chooses to delete from the device
• Direct downloading of podcasts from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store

As usual treat this information as hearsay until we confirm with the developer build, but with a week left before the rumored release date, confirmation is coming.  For those of you running jailbroken iPhones, the iPhone Dev Teams has already mentioned that bypassing firmware 2.2 should not pose any major issues since they have tested their software on the current developer build.

Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, released their “top 10″ list for October 2008 today.  While the list is not an actual representation of handset sales, the logic is simple: more Krusell cases sold means more of that device exist in the market.  What makes the Krusell list unique is that it reflects the sales of phones in six continents and in more than 50 countries across the globe.1)

1. (1)Apple iPhone 3G
2. (4) Sony Ericsson C702
3. (5) Nokia 3109
4. (2) HTC Diamond
5. (-) Samsung SGH-i900 (Omnia)
6. (3) Nokia E51
7. (6) Nokia 6300
8. (10) Nokia E71
9. (7) Nokia N95 8 GB
10. (8) Nokia 6220

() = Last month’s position.

“Nokia is dominating Krusell’s top selling list for October with six phones being represented. iPhone is still number one and Samsung’s new Omnia rushes in on number five,” says Ulf Sandberg, MD at Krusell. “A guess for November is that we will see both Omnia and Nokia’s E71 climb a few spots and maybe even challenge iPhone for the number one position.”

All anti-Apple readers please skip to the next article because J.D. Power and Associates have just released their findings from their 2008 Business Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study.  Between August and September almost 1,400 respondents were asked to rate smartphones for ease of operation, operating system, physical design, handset features and battery aspects. Here are their results:

Apple - 778 (5/5 stars)
RIM (BlackBerry) - 703 (4/5 stars)
Samsung - 701 (4/5 stars)
Industry Average - 681 **
HTC - 676 (3/5 stars)
Motorola - 659 (3/5 stars)
Palm (Treo) - 644 (2/5 stars)

The Apple iPhone received perfect rankings in four of the five categories with the exception of “battery aspects” in which it only scored 2/5 stars.  In case you are wondering which manufacturer walked away with 5/5 stars for battery that would be none other than Canadian smartphone manufacturer RIM (Research in Motion).

Via Cnet

One of the biggest complaints for iPhone and iPhone 3G users has been the lack of tethering capabilities on their devices.  Earlier this year NetShare was pulled from the App Store for offering tethering functionality  because it apparently violated the terms and conditions of the developer program. 

At&t Mobility CEO, De la Vega, made the comments during a conversation with TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington at the Web 2.0 Summit on Thursday. “Tethering” an iPhone to a laptop, and using the iPhone’s mobile data connection to get online, is a service that iPhone users have wanted for some time but that AT&T was reluctant to provide, perhaps because it feared that a huge influx of traffic could overwhelm its network.

The news from the Web 2.0 Summit coincides with earlier news from Gizmodo when Steve Jobs sent an email confirming Apple and At&t were working on a tethering plan.  Unfortunately NetShare never had much of a chance to win over the App Store, but NullRiver software, the company that sold NetShare still claims that their product did not violate any terms and conditions of the developer program.

In other At&t news from the Web 2.0 Summit, De la Vegas had some comments on the future of Android within carrier.  ”De la Vega said AT&T continues to look at Google’s Android operating system but is not prepared to make any moves to carry any Android phones. He said the platform is still evolving and needs to open up even more to offer a wider array of non-Google applications.”  At this point it is unclear when and if At&t will unit Android with its devices, but the heavy dependence on Google web apps is probably a major factor.

Via Cnet

If you have ever been curious what your iPhone 3G might looks like with a physical QWERTY keyboard attached via data cable, the wait is over.  YouTube user hitoriblog has just posted a video/tutorial showing his iPhone keyboard solution which involves a trusty Palm Visor, a custom data cable and a jailbroken iPhone.  It looks like installing unauthorized third party software is not the only benefit when potentially bricking your iPhone.

We must say that this is not most ideal solution, but your options are nil when it comes to alternative physical QWERTY keyboards and your iPhone.  Well done, sir.

Earlier today CNET senior editor Bonnie Cha and her right-hand man Brian Tong put the iPhone 3G up against the T-mobile G1 for a 3G speed test.  While 3G speed always depends on the number of users on the network and signal quality, a real world test is always worth a thousand words.

Final results: iPhone 3G 30 seconds, T-mobile G1 22 seconds, G1 wins!  We’d love to hear what our readers are experiencing in their own speed tests so go ahead and submit your time to load Cnet.com and location for coverage comparison in the comments (G1 or iPhone 3G).

Die-hard Apple fans looking at Universities to attend next Fall might want to start considering Abilene Christian University in Texas.  The University is starting a program which will give all incoming freshman a choice of the iPod Touch or iPhone 3G, preloaded with applications to help in “academics and studying”.

Students expressed happiness about the ability to use the device in class for research purposes: “I use it in four of my five classes,” says Halie Davis, a teenager from Rankin, in west Texas, who chose the iPhone out of the two devices. “If your teacher says ‘get out your iPhone and look up a word’ you can do a Google search or check Wikipedia on the Internet. It’s really fast.”

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