A CNET reporter, Dong Ngo, used his jailbroken iPhone 3G to capture some NYC subway performers busting some moves on video. Video recording and editing is one of the rumored features coming in the iPhone 3.0 software update, but it’s unclear if it will be available on the older hardware of first-gen and 3G iPhones. Judging by the quality of this video, it should be:
Read the original article at the Crave blog on CNET.com.
The New Yorker June 2009 Cover
The iPhone as an artistic tool just got some real cred. The cover for the June 1, 2009, edition of The New Yorker was created using the Brushes ($4.99) iPhone app. The artist, Jorge Colombo, has been experimenting with using the iPhone for art since February 2009. Colombo enjoys the spontaneousness the iPhone’s mobility affords him, telling ABCNews.com “I like to have my studio in my pocket.”
Another Jorge Columbo iSketch
Brushes simulates painting using your finger, offering several realistic brush styles. A zoom feature lets you do detailed work by zooming in using the pinch gesture. An undo feature lets you correct any mistakes.
The app also comes with a “brush stroke recorder” that records each brush stroke and lets you replay your paintings like a movie and export them at high resolutions to your computer using Brushes View, a free Mac OSX application.
Check out the app in action in the video below:
Brushes has been a success for its developer Steve Sprang, who says the app has been downloaded around 40,000 times so far. Sprang is a former Apple employee who is an amateur artist himself and wanted to create something fun but useful for fellow artists.
Brushes has its own Twitter account (name: BrushesApp) and a popular Flickr group with over 2,000 drawings so far where artists can share their creations.
Update: Watch Jorge Columbo paint The New Yorker cover:
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The SwitchEasy Capsule Rebel ($25) cases offer solid protection and good looks in a style that mixes a silicon inner casing with a hard plastic outer casing. Included with the cases are two screen protectors, covers for headphone and dock ports, a cleaning cloth, a squeegee for applying the screen protector, and an a mini-stand for propping the iPhone up for video watching.
Helpful links:
Official SwitchEasy Capsule Rebel website
Official SwitchEasy RebelSerpent website
Art of the iPhone RebelSerpent review
Amazon.com: SwitchEasy Capsule Rebel
Amazon.com: SwitchEasy Rebel Serpent
The OtterBox Defender Series ($30) are rugged cases that offer excellent protection from the basic drops, spills, and scratches of everyday life. The case comes with an attachable belt clip that also doubles as a video stand for the iPhone.
Helpful links:
Official website for Otterbox Defender case.
Amazon.com: Otterbox Defender Semi-rugged case for iPhone 3G
The Otterbox Hybrid Tough Case ($20) offers two layers of protection, featuring a soft silicone inner layer reinforced with a hardshell outer layer. Overall, the case offers superb protection and excellent design that doesn’t get in the way of using the iPhone. The layers are available in several different colors, so you can mix and match.
Helpful links:
Official website for Ottherbox Hybrid Tough Case
Amazon.com: Otterbox Hybrid Tough Case
SwitchEasy Colors ($15) are slick, affordable cases, and one of the best basic all-around cases in terms of looks, fit, and protection. They have a sleek, form-fitting style, and come with two screen protectors, covers for the dock connector and headphone port, a cleaning cloth, and squeegee for applying the screen protector. Not bad for $15.
Helpful links:
Switcheasy Colors official website
The CaseCrown Polycarbonate Glider ($15) is a slim, well-designed, hard-shell slider case with a removable bottom for easy docking. The case has a soft, silicone-like surface that provides improved grip and a nice feel in the hand. Overall, the Glider is convenient, pocketable, maintains the iPhone’s svelteness at an affordable price with almost no design flaws. The case is available in black, white, pink, red, blue, and purple.
Helpful links:
Official website for CaseCrown Polycarbonate Glider
Amazon.com: CaseCrown Polycarbonate Glider $15
The OtterBox Impact ($14) is a silicone rubber case that adds additional shock absoprtion via an extra X-shaped layer of silicone that covers the iPhone’s impact points. Despite the extra padding, the case is still quite pocketable, although not as slim or lightweight as most silicone case. A drawback is that the case cannot be used with most iPhone docks with the exception of the wider-mouth Universal docks. The Impact is available in black or white and comes with a screen protector and cleaning cloth.
Helpful links:
Official website for the OtterBox Impact
Amazon.com: OtterBox Impact $14
The OtterBox Commuter TL case ($22) walks the line between the two worlds of protection and slimness. It’s a two-part case featuring an inner soft rubber layer and a plastic hard-shell outer layer. The silicone layer is left exposed along the edges of the iPhone for superior grip and comfort. Despite the two layers of protection, the Commuter TL is surprisingly thin and pocketable. The Commuter TL comes with a clear screen protector and is available in black, blue, green, red, white, and yellow.
Helpful links:
Official website for OtterBox Commuter TL
Amazon.com: Otterbox Commuter TL $22
The Trexta Leather Racing Series case ($30) for the iPhone 3G/3GS is a hard-shell case covered with stitched leather. The case is extremely stylish, decorated with racing stripes formed by separate pieces of stitched leather. In terms of protection, its thin shell is limited to basic protection from everyday scratches and bumps. The Trexta Racing Series cases are available in a variety of colors of racing stripes.
Helpful links:
Official Trexta Leather Racing Series case
Amazon.com: Trexta Leather Racing Series $30
The Speck ToughSkin ($19) is a thick and rugged silicone case that offers superior protection from drops and falls. The case is thickest at the points of impact. The bottom half of the case peels back, allowing it to be used in any iPhone dock. The Toughskin comes with a separate belt clip that the iPhone can snap into.
Helpful links:
Official website of the Speck ToughSkin
Amazon.com: ToughSkin case for iPhone 3G $19
The Marware Sport Grip ($15) is a clean-looking silicone rubber case that hugs the curves of the iPhone 3G and provides a better grip on the iPhone. Included with the case are a clear film screen protector and a cleaning cloth.
Helpful links:
Official website for Marware Sport Grip for iPhone 3G
Amazon.com: Marware Sport Grip
The JAVOedge Cork Back Cover ($20) is an innovative rear case for the iPhone 3G and 3GS that crafts its unique look by affixing a layer of shredded cork to a hard-shell layer. The case offers better than usual protection from accidental drops and offers excellent access to all of the iPhone’s ports. But the main selling point is its love-it-or-hate-it style. Some downsides are that the cork does not offer uniform coverage—there are tiny gaps in the cork where the back of the iPhone peeps through. The case does not ship with any accessories.
Helpful links:
Official website for the JAVOedge Cork case
Amazon.com: JAVOedge Cork case $20
The Griffin Clarifi Case ($25) is a “sliding” case, meaning the bottom half slides off allowing for worry free access to the dock port and speakerphone functionality. But its most distinguishing feature is a macro lens that, once slid in place, allows you to take clearer pictures of close-up objects (objects a few inches away). It also offers the best protection of any case for the iPhone’s camera lens, whose exposed location leaves it susceptible to scratches and fogging effects in pictures.
Helpful links:
Official website for the Griffin Clarifi
Amazon.com: Griffin Clarifi iPhone 3G Case
The Griffin Nu Form ($15) is an affordable, all-plastic hard case. It’s a “slider” case, meaning the bottom half of the case slides off to allow for full access to the docking port as well as the speakerphone functionality. It comes with a clear plastic screen protector for the front as well as a black cleaning cloth.
Helpful Links:
Official website for the Griffin Nu Form
The Contour Design iSee ($25) is a clear, hard plastic case that keeps the iPhone’s curvaceous body visible. Why hide it when you can flaunt it? The case is made of two pieces that snap together, encasing the iPhone. It does not come with a front screen protector–a minus or plus depending on who you ask. The clear case is a solid compromise for those wanting protection but also liking the original appearance of the iPhone.
Helpful links:
Official website for the Contour Design iSee
The Contour Design Hardskin ($22) is a hard-shell case that, similar to the Countour Design iSee, has two pieces which snap together to form the outer casing. The Hardskin’s curves match those of the iPhone 3G’s body, so there is no loss in the iPhone’s form factor when covering it. However, those who aren’t a fan of the iPhone 3G’s glossy finish may like the matte black color of the Hardskin.
Helpful links:
Official website for the Contour Design Hardskin
The iFrogz Treadz Case ($16) is an affordable rubber case with the love-it-or-hate-it styling of a car tire. The case comes with a clear film screen protector. Its minimalistic style keeps the price down, making it one of the more affordable yet unique cases available.
Helpful links:
Official website for the iFrogz Treadz Case
The Core Aluminum Slider Case ($30) is a rare metal case for the iPhone–rare because metal can interfere with the iPhone’s cell reception. The case is made from aluminum, which doesn’t block signals as bad as some metals do. However, some do report a slight hit on their reception, so if weak signals are a problem for you, this might not be your case. Still the Core Aluminum case is one of the better looking cases out there (especially in silver).
Helpful links:
1. Open the SMS app:
2. If you see a Messages button in the top left, tap it (otherwise, skip to next step):
3. Tap the Compose button in the top right:
4. Tap the plus sign:
5. Select a contact:
If your contact has multiple phone numbers, you may have to choose which number to send the text message to.
6. The contact you selected should appear in the message’s To: field. To add another contact, tap plus sign again:
7. Repeat until you’ve added all the recipients you want.
8. When finished with your message, tap Send:
And that’s it, you’ve sent the SMS text message to multiple people. To get more tips, check out our iPhone Tips and iPhone Basics post categories.
In the article, the iFund’s Matt Murphy is quick to point out that these are still the early days of mobile development.
The rush to stake a claim on the iPhone is a lot like what happened in Silicon Valley in the early dot-com era, said Matt Murphy, a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who oversees the iFund, a $100 million investment pot reserved for iPhone applications.
“People are realizing that by developing in their garage with a couple dollars, they could be the next Facebook,” he said. “It’s still early days for mobile development, but those days are coming.”
If we really want to use the “gold rush” metaphor, in California’s 1849 gold rush, some early miners struck it rich from gold easily panned from the surface of streambeds. As more people arrived, finding gold became tougher, and businesses with heavy financial backing arrived on scene. These were the companies that dug deeper and pulled out the majority of California’s gold.
Is the gold rush for the small guy over with? Has all the “easy gold” been panned? Probably not, as a quick look at the App Store’s Top 10 list shows that consumers still love 99-cent apps from independent developers.
One of my complaints with the iPhone is that the ringer never seems loud enough. I’ve missed quite a few calls because I couldn’t hear it ring. Then I came across this ringtone. It’s the loudest one I’ve heard. Try it out yourself by right clicking to save, adding it to iTunes, then syncing to your iPhone:
Right click to save:
If you like to listen to music or podcasts on the iPhone as you go to sleep, there is a sleep timer function that can automatically stop playing audio after a set amount of time. The function is sort of hidden within the iPhone’s Clock app. Here’s how to set the sleep timer.
1. Open the Clock app.
2. Tap the Timer tab in the bottom right:
3. Set a time you want the iPhone to countdown:
4. Tap When Timer Ends button:
5. Scroll down to the bottom and tap the Stop Playing button:
6. Tap the blue Set button in the top-right corner:
7. Tap Start to start the timer countdown:
When the timer reaches zero, it will close the iPod app, lock the iPhone, and place it in sleep mode.
Check out all of our posts on iPhone Tips.
To rent a movie directly on the iPhone, you’ll need to be connected to a WiFi network. Once connected, follow the steps below.
1. Open the iTunes app and click on the videos tab at the bottom:
2. Browse or search through the selections. Tap one to select it, then tap Rent:
3. The button will turn green. Tap it again to confirm, then enter your iTunes store password to confirm the purchase.
Once it finished download, launch the iPod app on the iPhone. You’ll find the movies under the Videos tab.
1. In iTunes, select iTunes Store in the left sidebar:
If you want to activate a used iPhone, you have a few options. The first option is the easiest: take it to an AT&T Wireless store (or Verizon/Sprint Store for CDMA iPhones), set up a new account, and receive a new SIM card. A second option is to jailbreak the iPhone and use it as an iPod touch without phone service. A third option is to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone for use on another carrier like T-Mobile.
If a friend or loved one gives you their old iPhone, you can make it your own by taking it to an AT&T store and telling them you have an old iPhone and would like to use it as your own. You’ll have to sign up for AT&T service, and they’ll give you a new sim card. Once you install the SIM card, you can activate the iPhone at home using iTunes. This is by far the easiest way to activate and reuse an old iPhone.
It is possible to unlock the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, 3GS, and GSM iPhone 4 so that they work on T-Mobile in the US, although they won’t work on T-Mobile’s 3G data network, only T-Mobile’s last-gen EDGE data network. This will mean slightly slower speeds.
The CDMA (Verizon & Sprint) iPhone 4 cannot be unlocked and can only be used on Verizon/Sprint in the US.
We don’t recommend unlocking, but if you want to do it, it is not illegal. An unlocked iPhone can be a hassle, however. For example, you won’t be able to take advantage of Apple’s iPhone software updates until the people who created the unlocking software tell you it’s ok to update.
If a friend or family member wants to give you their old iPhone, and you want to use it as a phone, ask them to erase all content on the iPhone before giving it to you. This is done on the iPhone by going into Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings > Erase iPhone. Note that this erasing process can take up to two hours.
If you want to use the iPhone just as an iPod touch without phone service, read the section immediately below.
Yes, and it will work with iTunes too, allowing you to buy and synch music and apps from the App Store. But, you should ask the person who’s giving you the used iPhone to keep the original SIM card inside the iPhone. Your friend will have to tell AT&T to disable their old SIM card and get a new one. The reason you should keep the old SIM card inside the iPhone is so that you can take advantage of new software upgrades and restore your iPhone.
Your friend should also restore the iPhone before giving it to you so all his data is erased. Just make sure the iPhone is activated (you can open apps, etc) when it is given to you.
As long as the previous owner hasn’t left the iPhone in a restored, unactivated state, you can still use all the iPhone’s features (including synching with iTunes) except for the phone functions.
Without the original SIM card, you won’t be able to install software updates from Apple or restore the iPhone until you get a new SIM card.
If you restore or install one of Apple’s upgrades without a SIM card, the iPhone will stop working. It won’t work again until you activate it with a new SIM card or jailbreak it.
In other words, do not restore or attempt to upgrade the iPhone unless you have the original SIM card inside.
If you’re not going to take the iPhone to AT&T or Verizon to activate it, your only option is to jailbreak it. The term jailbreaking essentially means hacking the iPhone so that you can do whatever you want with it, including installing applications that are not approved by Apple and then unlocking it for use on other wireless phone carriers.
To jailbreak and unlock your iPhone, you’ll need to download some free software. The jailbreak software you’ll need depends on the software version of your iPhone. Your best bet to find the latest jailbreak and unlocking software is to Google the terms Jailbreak and whatever version of the iPhone software is on your phone (for example, Jailbreak and iPhone 4.2.1). Note that oftentimes, when a new iPhone software update comes out, it can take a while to figure out how to do jailbreak it, so jailbreaking/unlocking software may not be available for your version yet. Some advice: do not ever pay for jailbreaking and unlocking software, as the software is always offered for free. Another suggestion for instructions on how to jailbreak your iPhone is to check out this page on iClarified.com. They have step-by-instructions for jailbreaking every version of the iPhone and iOS software.
You can add prefixes (Dr, Mr, Mrs, Ms), suffixes (Jr, III), middle names, and other information to any iPhone contact. To do this, there’s a special option called Add Field. The option can be hard to find though. Here are instructions on how to find it and how to add prefixes, etc, to contacts:
1. Open the Contacts or Phone app:
2. Select a contact from the list by tapping his or her name once.
3. Tap Edit in the top right corner:
4. Scroll down through the tabs and select Add Field (it won’t be immediately visible. Scroll down by swiping upward):
5. You’ll see a list of fields. Tap any of the fields to add that type of information to your contact:
6. Enter text into the field and tap Save:
7. If you want to add more information, repeat steps 4-6. Otherwise, tap Done to finish:
And that’s it. Check out all our posts on iPhone Tips and iPhone Basics.
