To show off its new GameCenter service, Apple demoed a beautiful upcoming game called Epic Citadel (link). The game’s graphics are powered by the Unreal Engine 3—pretty amazing for a cell phone. A demo version of the game is currently available in the App Store for free.
There were a few announcements from today’s Apple event that will affect iPhone users. The event introduced new iPods, iTunes 10, and a new AppleTV as well:
Steve Jobs also gave a sneak peak at iOS 4.2, which he said was “all about the iPad,” but it’s likely the announced features will affect the iPhone as well. The updates include wireless printing that allows for printing directly from apps to wireless printers, and a featured called Airplay that lets you stream video and audio over WiFi from the iPad to other devices, like the new Apple TV.
From a company known for its cutting-edge design and attention to detail, the Apple iPad Case ($40) is a disappointment. While having a few nice features like doubling as a stand and a svelte profile, the case ultimately suffers from durability issues, ungainly looks, and an uncomfortable feel. With cheaper, better options out there, we can’t recommend Apple’s sloppy first effort at an iPad case.
At first glance, the Apple iPad case appears to be a soft, silicone rubber case, and indeed the entire outer layer is composed of the material. But hidden underneath are three pieces of hard plastic that give the case shape and rigidity. There are two separate pieces of this hard plastic on the front panel that allow the case to be bent into a wedge-shaped stand, yet give the panel a flat, hard-cover look when in normal book-like use. Inside, a hard-plastic rim surrounds the iPad’s screen, helping to keep the iPad stable inside.
Normally the accuracy of a report like this is “lost in translation,” but the rumor of a new iPhone 4 also happens to coincide with the end of Apple’s Free iPhone Case program, lending it some credibility.
A Mexican telco executive, Marco Quatorze of Telcel, told Spanish-language tech site CanalMX that Apple would be releasing a revised version of the iPhone 4 on September 30 that will not have “the malfunction of the reception.” A translated version of the article indicates that Apple will let users purchase (or perhaps exchange) the new version of the phone for the old one and not be required to sign a new 2-year agreement.
The rumored release date coincides with the end of Apple’s free iPhone 4 Case Program, set to expire on September 30, 2010.
Out of all of Case-Mate’s iPhone 4 case lineup, the Tough ($34.99, link) is the most serious about protection. Available only in business-like black, it’s a two-part case, with a tight skin of silicone rubber that wraps around the phone, and then a thick plastic outer layer for rigidity and extra toughness.
Protection is the byword for the Tough. The hard outer shell covers a larger area of the phone than most other similar cases, completely encompassing the back and left and right edges. The top and bottom edges only have the silicone sleeve. I felt confident my iPhone was well protected wrapped up in this, and briefly considered hurling it from a balcony to see just how protective the case was. Then I came to my senses.
The entire case is textured with little bumps, which make the case easy as anything to grip. The texture is absolutely perfect. It’s easy on the fingers, and adds enough friction that you can hold on to the phone without fear of slippage, but at the same time, it’s not so grippy that it’ll get stuck in your pockets.
Scrabble (link) for iPhone is on sale for $0.99 for 48 hours. That the lowest price it’s ever been (the game was $9.99 when first introduced). It’s the classic board game brought to the iPhone by Electronic Arts, featuring single player, challenge friends via Facebook, pass-n-play, and local network play.
Scrabble is a $0.99 download in the iTunes App Store.
Case-Mate are pretty high up on our list of good case makers, with crafted, well-designed cases. We just got hold of their Torque case ($24.99) and took the automobile-influenced sleeve for a spin. While not a bad case by any stretch of the imagination, we felt the stylings and quality didn’t justify the price for what turns out to be a very simple case.
When I first spied the Torque on Case-Mate’s website, I assumed that because it was two-toned in design, it would be a two-piece case along the lines of the Incipio Silcrylic, with a hard outer layer and soft inner layer. Turns out I was wrong. The Torque is merely a single layer of silicone. A flexible, soft, rubber-like case. For $25. It only comes in black, but you can chose what color accents it has: black, grey, yellow, green, or red. Only the first three are in stock presently, so the model we reviewed is black and grey. It does ship with a freebie screen protector and cleaner. Free stuff, always good.
Radio Alarm ($1.99) is a beautifully designed alarm-clock app that can run in the background and wake you up with your favorite radio station or iPod music. But that’s not all it does, as it has a nice set of complementary features, including a sleep timer, soothing nature sounds to go to sleep to, and Retina Display-friendly graphics.
Although you probably shouldn’t rely on your iPhone to wake you up every morning (a lot can go wrong), Radio Alarm has quickly become my favorite app to do so. The app supports a local Chicago station, WBBM, I like to listen to in the morning. So it’s nice to have the station fade up in volume to gently wake me until I’m ready to hop out of bed. And if I want to keep listening over my morning coffee, I just carry the iPhone with me.
For the previous two generations of the iPhone, there was really only one choice of a case for getting the most protection possible while still being able to use the iPhone: the Otterbox Defender. And with the new version of the Defender for the iPhone 4 ($35), Otterbox once again impresses us with its attention to detail and solid industrial design. But the Defender’s superb protection comes at a price, chiefly added bulk (lots of added bulk) and crippled access to the iPhone’s ports. But after testing the case for the past three weeks, we were surprised with how little the case got in the way of using the major features of the iPhone. Simply put, the case is the most protection you can get for the iPhone and still be able to use the iPhone.
To create its turtle shell-like protection, the Defender offers up three different materials: a clear plastic screen protector, which is permanently attached to the case and covers the iPhone’s front glass screen; a hard-shell polycarbonate plastic that serves as the case’s bone structure and makes up the majority of the case’s bulk; and a soft-silicone rubber that slips over the hard-shell layer and offers shock absorption and improved grip thanks to its texture surface.
The Netflix app (link), which previously only worked on the iPad, has been updated to a universal app that works on the iPhone as well. The app allows users to stream movies and TV shows to their iPhone over WiFi or 3G, with plans starting at $9 a month. The app is a free download, and the update is available in the App Store now.
We ran it through some quick tests, and the quality of video is surprisingly good. The only disappoinment is that there is no queue management for the snail-mail Netflix side of things, only the instant watch queue.
Netflix is a free download from the iTunes App Store.
