January 2009: Monthly Archive

Smartphone Experts at CES 2009! WMExperts, TreoCentral, Android Central, and CrackBerry.com Coverage

TiPb isn’t the only Smartphone Experts site working our tails off this week. Our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn is pulling the live-blogging trifecta, going straight from Macworld to cover Steve Ballmer’s CES kickoff tonight at 6pm PST for WMExperts AND for the (very much anticipated) debut of Palm’s next generation NOVA hardware and OS for TreoCentral — not to mention everything AndroidCentral. Never to be out done, CrackBerry Kevin (with a full on CrackBerry Crew!) will push any and all BlackBerry news they get their cracky hands on. Check out all our sites throughout the day for the latest, greatest, most Smartphone-geeky coverage.

Best Buy Selling Refurbished iPhone 3G’s

Before the holidays we reported AT&T started to sell refurbished iPhone 3G’s on their website for $50 less than what you could buy a new device for. Well now it seems Best Buy is taking a page out of AT&T’s book. According to ars technica:

Best Buy will sell a 8GB refurb for $149 and 16GB refurb for $249. These units normally retail for $199 and $299 respectively, and normally ship with a full one-year warranty. The refurbished units will sell with at least a 90-day warranty, and possibly more. You can check the amount of time remaining on your warranty by entering the serial number at Apple’s Online Service Assistant page.

So just like the AT&T refurb deal you now have a choice to make. Save $50 on a used device with a 30 day warranty… Or spend that extra $50 and get a brand new device and a full years warranty.

One more thing to keep in mind, these refurbished devices still require a full 2 year contract commitment. Decisions decisions…

[Via ars technica]

Today on the Forums: Stronger 3G Service? AppleCare, Ringtones, Win an Element Custom Case

Well the holidays are over and the forum activity is stronger than ever, so why not let all of our readers know what the hot threads at the moment are…

Chris all of a sudden has a better 3G signal on his iPhone 3G… how about you? Seems as if AT&T is quietly beefing up their network… even with a couple outages as of late.

Next up we have spidermanroach wants to know Applecare or no Applecare? What do you think? Is it worth it? Personally I feel it depends on your needs and how long you will be keeping the device. Don’t be shy, chime in and let us know what you think.

This thread is a old one, but more and more people are always asking how do I create my own ringtones for free??? So for anyone who wants the answer to that question be sure to check out the following thread: Make my own ringtones? It’s simple and to the point, enjoy!

Lastly, don’t forget about your chance to win one of three, custom built TiPb Element Cases! And if you have no idea of what we are talking about, be sure to check out our full review. Don’t miss your chance to win and good luck!

To get in on all of the forum action, you must be registered. It’s free and very simple to do. Get started here!

See you on the forums!

Review: Smartphone Experts Screen Protectors (3-Pack) for iPhone 3G

The Smartphone Experts Screen Protectors (3-Pack) for iPhone 3G are currently in stock in the TiPb Store for $15.95 and can be found here. They are easy to apply to your iPhone 3G’s screen and are meant to offer protection and enhanced view-ability of your iPhone’s display. How does it perform and measure up? Read on for my thoughts! Read the rest of this entry »

iPhone 101: How to Add a Calendar Appointment on Your iPhone

Welcome to iPhone 101 where we’re kicking off the new year for new iPhone owners with an all new, all basic how to series. If you’re a beginner, worry not, we’ve got you covered. If you’re a seasoned pro, but keep fielding support calls from friends and family new to the iPhone, we’ve got you covered as well — just send them to us!

This time around we’re adding calendar events. While you might already be syncing your appointments via Exchange ActiveSync or Apple’s MobileMe, or from Outlook or iCal via iTunes, sometimes you may just be out and about and need to add that just-came-up event to your iPhone’s calendar directly. Fret not, we’ll show you how… after the break!

Read the rest of this entry »

Macworld: SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone Demo Video

The fine folks at Sling were kind enough to give TiPb a demo of their soon-to-be submitted to the Apple iTunes App Store SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone client and it looked all shades of sweet. In addition to great H.264 quality and video overlays, they went all the way and implemented “swipe to change channels”. We. Want. This. Now.

Watch the video for the full on demo, and let us (and Sling, and Apple) know what you think.

Macworld: Exhibition Day 1 Photo Gallery

We’ll do a more thorough Macworld 2009 show floor walking tour, but here are some quick shots we grabbed after the keynote. Enjoy the gallery, after the break!

Read the rest of this entry »

Apple Posts Streaming Quicktime of Macworld 2009 Keynote

Apple has posted a streaming Quicktime video of Phil Schiller’s Macworld 2009 Keynote, covering iLife 09, iWork 09, the unibody 17″ MacBook, and iTunes Plus — and more importantly for us, iPhone 2G/3G music downloads, the Keynote Remote App, and iPhoto slide export for the iPhone.

If Apple stays true to form, the event should also show up in their iTunes Podcast Keynote Feed some time soon-ish. Meanwhile, watch it now, and let us know what you think!

Yet Another AT&T Outage?

Say it is not so AT&T. Another outage seemed to take place this morning, mostly effecting the East coast this time. It was a little over a week ago where myself and Dieter, in the Midwest, noticed something was a little off – to say the least – with our service. Both data and voice were effected then. In the end, that was blamed on a power failure.

Today, here in the Midwest, all is well. But it seems like a lot of East coast customers have some major issues with their data. So all you East coast readers, are you back surfing the web on your beloved iPhone? Or are you still sitting there lost with no data service?

Maybe this has something to do with the recent reports of AT&T beefing up their 3G network? Never the less, hopefully everything is now back to normal!

Let us know!