A former pick of the week for me, and one of my most-used Mac and iPhone apps, has just seen the latter, mobile version updated. I had a chance to try out 1Password touch 2.0 [Free - iTunes link], and the new ability to sync Wallet Items, along with an entirely new, very robust way to sync over Wi-Fi, work the way such things ought.
If you loves security, and want the ability to take your super-strong, pseudo-random passwords, as well as credit cards, debit cards, and all that new goodness, with you, give it a try.
Each week we bring you the biggest stories from around the Smartphone Experts network. We’re changing up our format this week: shorter, bite-sized, yet still delicious.
QuickOffice has updated their Mobile Office Suite [$19.99 - iTunes link] for iPhone to version 1.2.0. The full list of updates is after the jump, but what caught our eye was this little goody:
Come this “summer”, iPhone 3.0 — see our walkthrough — will allow iPhone users to enjoy new Bluetooth functionalityincluding stereo headsets, both the A2DP audio and ARCP control protocols. And if you’re a developer, you likely have this functionality already for testing purposes.
A while back I took a preview look at the Motorola S9 Stereo Bluetooth Headset for iPhone 3.0. Looks like they’ve gone and grown up! If budget is less of a concern to you than sound, and you want to enjoy your audio on the go, the Motorola MOTOROKR S9-HD (the “-HD” being the key — and really only — differentiator here!) are something you definitely want to consider (available now from our sibling store at WMExperts).
Note: This pre-review will not be focusing on iPhone 3.0 functionality, which is currently in closed beta. It will concentrate only on the headset itself. However, for those developers needing an A2DP headset for testing 3.0, it’s our understanding this one works well on multiple units, over multiple carriers.
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John Carmack has written an update on his Doom port for the iPhone, and he’s continuing the same candor he began with his Wolfenstein 3D post. What are we getting? A classic in almost every sense of the word:
Before I actually started coding on the project, I had visions of adding a lot of modern tuned effects to the core gameplay experience. It would certainly stay a sprite-and-sector based game, but there are many things that would be done differently with the benefit of a GPU and the wisdom of hindsight. Once I began actually working on it, it started to look like a bad idea for a number of reasons. I am trying to not be very disruptive in the main codebase, because I want it to stay a part of prBoom instead of being another codebase fork. While I can certainly add a bunch of new features fairly quickly, iterating through a lot of user testing and checking for problems across the >100 commercial Doom levels would take a lot longer. There really is value in ” classic” in this case, and there would be some degree of negative backlash to almost any “improvements” I made. There will still be a couple tiny tweaks, but nothing radical is changing in the basic play. It would be fun to take a small team, permanently fork it, and make a “Doom++” just for the iPhone, but that wouldn’t be the best first move. Maybe later.
Check out the full post for more on his experiences with iPhone game development.
[Thanks to Icebike for the tip!]
UPDATE: Per comments below, this only seems to be effecting some users and only on 3.0 Beta firmware. We’ve also added a poll in the forum so we can see what everyone thinks. Take a moment to vote, betas can and do change…
Original: Looks like Apple’s begun charging full price if you try to download an app you’ve already bought over the iPhone. This did not used to be the case — previously you’d be given a dialog stating you’d already bought it and you could go ahead and re-download it for free. Now the dialog says you can still re-download it for free on your computer (via iTunes), but if you want to download it again directly to your iPhone, you’ve got to buy it again.
What’s going on here? Not bandwidth control, since free apps and updates to paid apps are still free. Not device restriction, because you can still re-download for free via iTunes (though it’s not as convenient, of course).
We’re guessing that with the on-device account management coming to iPhone 3.0 — where you can log in and out of multiple iTunes accounts right on your iPhone — Apple is putting this in place to prevent the sharing of purchases between accounts. (Otherwise you could just log into 100 other iPhones with your account and give them all your paid apps right over the air).
We can understand the concern, but we’ll miss the functionality. For example, I personally used the re-download ability all the time for app management. E.g I bought a FedEx tracking app that I delete when I’m not expecting anything and re-download when I am. Now I can’t do that any time I want any more — only any time I’m at my computer. I’d much rather keep that and ditch multiple accounts.
What do you think, is multiple on-device accounts worth the loss of free on-device paid app re-downloads?
[Thanks Jordan for the tip, iPhoneDocked for added confirmation]
It’s time again for another From the Forums post, today we have a few good poll threads for our forum members to participate in. Not a member you say? Well all you have to do is register right here for free! After you take a care of that, check out the following threads!
Another image, floating around the internet this past week, shows the iPhone 3G plastic back casing next to the rumored 3rd generation’s matte casing . So this thread is pretty basic, Matte or Shine? So far the matte finish has a comfortable lead in the poll. What’s your vote?
Today’s second thread contains a couple images of the rumored next generation iPhone’s auto-focus camera, compass, etc… in action. Again this thread contains a poll – are the images fake or are they legitimate? You be the judge!
Next up we asked the question that pretty much all Apple fans have been asking, will Steve Jobs be attending WWDC in any way, shape, or form? As long Mr. Jobs is healthy and feeling up to it, TiPb sure hopes to see him make an appearance. What are your thoughts?
For our last poll of the day Rene asks who wants a glowing Apple logo on the next generation iPhone?! We are thinking this one will be split pretty much 50/50. At first I was against the thought of this but have since changed my mind. If used properly it could come in handy. What do you think?
See you on the forums!
www.umpcfever.com [Google translation link] has posted what just might be the first pictures taken of the next generation iPhone… taking pictures. Highlights include the new auto-focus, both how it looks in action and the results of photos taken with it compared to the original iPhone 2G. The new digital compass, and a CPU log are also featured, along with some other new features we’ve already seen from 3.0 running on current iPhone 3G hardware.
Are these for real? We’d guess all of this was merely surfaced in iPhone 3.0 on iPhone 3G… except the iPhone 3G doesn’t have a digital compass and it’s camera doesn’t auto-focus. So, either it’s a combo-ruse, or we have just seen the first images of the next generation iPhone in the wild.
A few more pics below, hit up the source article for all of them…
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Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they’re fair game.
So who’s on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!
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There was some great news this week on the Steve Jobs front. According to the WSJ his Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak said Jobs sounded “healthy and energetic” while admitting he’d never asked directly about Jobs’ health.
SetteB.it ran a story saying Jobs had gone into Apple HQ for a meeting.
So, despite Apple consistently stating that Steve Jobs’ leave of absence would run through the “end of June“, despite WWDC running June 8-12, despite Apple announcing Phil Schiller would Keynote this year, rumors, speculation, and simple hope remains for a surprise appearance or cameo of any kind.
Obviously, that’s a tribute to the presence of Steve Jobs.
Could it happen? Never is never an answer. Could Phil Schiller pull out a next-generation iPhone to take a call or play a voice-mail from Jobs, the way Jobs has called Schiller at previous WWDCs? It would certainly give the audience — on location and on the internet — a huge thrill.
But all we know for certain at this point is Steve Jobs is still scheduled to return to Apple at the end of June and given his historical desire for privacy, that might be all we’re going to know.
