Tag: iphone 3gs (Page 5 of 7)

      App Review: iShot Machine – Plenty Of Shots, Just a Few Bugs

      June 21, 2009 /

      The iShot Machine.Oasys Mobile, the developers behind the Uno-styled card game app “Oh No!” and Hooters Crazy Eights, just released a new application for the drinker in you: iShot Machine.

      Like many other shot/cocktail applications, iShot Machine aims to bring as many recipes as possible to your iPhone, making it easy to find that recipe you’ve drunkenly forgotten, all from within a sleek, slot-machine-like interface. Unfortunately, several of the iShot Machine’s features are plagued by bugs or hampered by an awkward search function. Despite its bugs, iShot Machine delivers a decent recipe count in a clean interface that allows you to store your favorites for quick access.

      The Good:
      First, iShot Machine has more than 3,000 recipes in the paid version, giving you access to a whole load of shots should you need them. That recipe count is just shots, mind you, so if you’re looking for a full cocktail app, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Granted, some of the shots are repeats, like the ‘Vulcan Mind Meld’ and the ‘Vulcan Mind-Probe,’ but with 3,000 options you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding something new.

      I’m also a fan of the ‘Favorites’ feature within the app. This makes it easy to find the shots you like best when you’re a bit intoxicated. It’s easy to remember the recipe for a grape bomb, but some of the more complicated drinks may elude you at the bar. Use the favorites feature to keep them close.

      Probably the best feature of iShot Machine is simply the quality of the recipes. I frequently spend my weekends bartending, and since the iPhone came out, I have at least one group of people a weekend using applications like this to find their next drink. Most of them are terrible – proportions are off, mixtures curdle like a Cement Mixer, or the product tastes like piss (when it wasn’t meant to). From the couple hundred shots I’ve looked through so far, most of them look legit, and I’m interested to try a few myself.

      Lastly, the controls are clean, with options to view shots in full screen or the smaller slot-machine screen below. It’s easy to favorite and rate shots, and wouldn’t be too much trouble to press the right item, even if you were a little drunk.

      The Bad:
      Continue reading »

      Apple, Apps, iPhone

      iPhone 3GS Teardown

      June 20, 2009 /

      Rapid Repair iPhone 3GS teardown.As we learned at the Palm Pre launch, it takes almost no time for fanatical repair geeks/technoporn freaks to strip a gadget down to its bare bones for exhibition. The guys (and probably gals) at Rapid Repair have done just that with the 3GS, showing off her pretty insides to the rest of the world (that felt creepy to write – is this how you felt, Anthony Hopkins?).

      Of particular interest are the processor stats and a closer look at the camera. For the processor, the 3GS is running on an underclocked 833MHz CPU. Yes, underclocked. My guess is they’ve done that for heat’s sake, and likely also because there may not yet be a need for that sort of power. Granted, some people will want to pull as much as they can get from the phone, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few performance hacks in the near future.

      Rapid Repair also reports the camera as capable of 720p recording. Could this be a possible feature in a future OS? Though the new video recording is nice, a quality upgrade would take the phone to a new level as a media device.

      Like many new devices, it will probably be a bit before we see the full potential of the 3GS hardware. Rapid Repair calls the CPU running the new iPhone truly cutting-edge, giving unprecedented processing power. I can’t wait to see what that means.

      Apple, iPhone, Mobile

      iPhone 3GS Sees A Quiet(er) Debut

      June 19, 2009 /

      iPhone 3GS showing the new compass.This is the month of phone hype, beyond a doubt. We’ve seen the Pre release, Nokia’s super-expensive N97 spot with LL Cool J, iPhone OS 3.0, and now the iPhone 3GS. Of the phone launches, the biggest is certainly the update iPhone, though it may have come more quietly than the world expected.

      Lines outside Apple’s flagship store       in NY reached several hundred, but amidst some rain, they were all shuffled under Apple’s roof making this the smallest iPhone launch yet. Still, AT&T reports hundreds of thousands of preorders for launch day, which dwarfs Palm’s Pre 50,000 first weekend statistic.

      It wasn’t just scale that kept the launch quiet, though. In part, it was a lack of hangups that have plagued Apple’s past launches. Apple announced both iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS at WWDC this year, but the set the launch days two days apart. The staggered launch was presumably to reduce server load so that new owners weren’t trying to activate their 3GS while 20 million others were waiting for OS 3.0 downloads. It was a smart move, and it kept problems with the 3.0 release and problems with the 3GS launch (so far, at least) to a minimum.

      Now the focus shifts to AT&T and how their network will handle more users hoping to see the wireless carrier make good on promises of MMS and tethering. Will MMS from iPhone users bring the sole US carrier to its knees later this summer?

      Apple, iPhone, Mobile

      iPhone OS 3.0 Has Tethering, Now it’s easy to install

      June 18, 2009 /

      iPhone OS 3.0 TetheringWe already posted a how-to for enabling tethering on your shiny new OS 3.0. While awesome, it is clunky, slow, requires a mac… yada, yada, yada.

      Leave it to iClarified to give us a handy and simple way to enable tethering right from the phone. All you have to do is use Safari from the phone and navigate to a specific website. Click a link here, say yes there, and next thing you know, tethering is enabled on your iPhone.

      I know someone, who knows someone, who did it (wink, wink) and it was as easy as pie. Click through and try it for yourself. Let’s just say I know it works.

      Apple, iPhone, Mobile

      No Word From The FCC’s Wireless Exclusivity Investigations

      June 18, 2009 /

      John Kerry on his cell.On Monday, senators implored the chairman of the FCC, Michael Copps, to take a closer look at exclusivity contracts between wireless carriers and phone manufacturers. The senators are concerned about the effect those contracts have on competition and innovation in the market place.

      “We ask that you examine this issue carefully and act expeditiously should you find that exclusivity agreements unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely impact competition in the commercial wireless marketplace,” said the letter, which was signed by former presidential candidate John Kerry, among others. I’d say it’s highly improbable that our good senators are concerned about anything other than the AT&T/Apple relationship. Several news sources have cited the LG/Verizon relationship where the Voyager is concerned, but that hardly seems as volatile to the market.

      It’s fairly clear that exclusivity, at least in the case of the iPhone, limits consumer choice in a big way. Plenty of people don’t want to be on AT&T, but Apple has said several times that Verizon’s network won’t perform at standards required for millions of iPhones. As far as competition goes, it’s probably safe to say that the iPhone has discouraged innovation and encouraged emulation. The Palm Pre may be the sole example of a phone that took the touchscreen concept and improved on it, allowing multitasking, gesture controls, and adding a physical keyboard.

      The senators agreed to meet Wednesday to discuss their concerns and determine whether legislative action was necessary. As of yet, there’s no word from Washington.

      Apple, iPhone, Mobile, News

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