FaceCall: Photo Speed Dial Icons on iPhone Home Screen
Posted on November 20th, 2008
If you’ve ever wished the iPhone handled speed dialing without the need for multiple screen taps, FaceCall is a solution you may find useful.
The new iPhone App creates contact photo icons right on the iPhone’s Home Screen. A single tap of the icon makes a call, no menus, no scrolling.
Have you tried FaceCall? Let us know by commenting below.
View FaceCall in the iTunes App Store…
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Updated Google Mobile App Offers Voice Search
Posted on November 14th, 2008
The latest version of the iPhone Google Mobile App offers the ability to search with your voice. You can search for web sites, images, and even local information (including movie showtimes) just by running the app and putting the iPhone to your ear. When you speak a search term or Google command (eg. 25 degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit), your voice is converted to a digital file and then uploaded to Google servers; once processed, the result is sent back to your iPhone.
Microsoft has offered a similar voice service on Windows Mobile and other smartphone devices since early 2008 with a free utility called Live Search Mobile. Live Search Mobile uses Microsoft’s Live Search search engine.
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iPhone v2.2 Coming November 21st?
Posted on November 12th, 2008
According to several Internet sources, Apple may deliver v2.2 of the iPhone OS on November 21, 2008. That’s less than two weeks from now, and just in time for the week of Thanksgiving.
iPhone v2.2 is supposed to include a wide range of updates and improvements including Google Street View, over-the-air Podcast downloading, a slightly tweaked Safari web browser interface, new ways of rating software titles in the App Store, spelling auto correction tweaks and more.
Information regarding the release date and the exact features of iPhone v2.2 software has not been confirmed and should be treated as rumor.
Primary Source: O’Grady’s PowerPage
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Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary for iPhone
Posted on November 10th, 2008
If you need a dictionary with you wherever you go, there are a few free apps for the iPhone which provide access to online dictionaries. However, this requires a connection to the Internet, and if you live outside of a 3G network area, using an online dictionary may prove to require more time than it’s worth.
Now Merriam-Webster’s 11th Edition Collegiate Dictionary is available as a paid app in the iTunes App Store [DOWNLOAD LINK]. The program includes over 475,000 entries and includes search and history functions.
Unfortunately, the app is $24 in the App Store. This is a worthy product, and one many users would likely enjoy having, but $25 seems a bit much – particulary when you consider that the hardcopy of the 11th Edition of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is only $16 @ Amazon.com.
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Where’s Gmail Push Email for the iPhone?
Posted on November 10th, 2008
When the first Android smartphone, the T-Mobile G1, was released a few weeks ago, users were greeted by something only BlackBerry users had seen before: Push Gmail. Obviously, Google has an interest in seeing its products work well on an Android-powered handset, but where’s Push Gmail for the iPhone?
Yahoo! Mail offers push service to the iPhone, as does MobileMe and Microsoft’s Exchange. We use Gmail everyday, and we wish there were a way to have new mail pushed to our iPhones rather than having to manually check the inbox or to configure 15 minute automatic syncs.
You can always use Gmail’s forwarding tool to forward incoming mail from a Gmail account to another service that offers push, but that’s annoying and creates a lot of duplication problems.
Why won’t Google offer its existing Push services to one of the most popular smartphones in the world? Even if this were a paid service, we think many iPhone users would gladly pony up.
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DiskAid Allows iPhone to Act as External Drive
Posted on November 10th, 2008
DiskAid from DigiDNA allows you to access your iPhone’s internal storage from a Mac or PC and use it as an external drive. You can then use the iPhone to move your files from place to place, or simply to store them for later use.
What this essentially does is allow the iPhone to be used as a USB flash drive, a function Apple has never included on the iPhone or iPhone 3G. Run DiskAid and connect your iPhone to your computer via USB. The utility displays the contents of the iPhone and allows you to move files back and forth; no configuring, no hacking.
We tested DiskAid and found it to be stable and fast. File transfers were speedy and we also installed DiskAid on a second PC which allowed us to access the files we copied from one computer and move them to the second PC with ease.
If you’d like to be able to use your iPhone as a data mule, this utility is a must. DiskAid is free. Also works with all iPod touch models.
Filed under Help & How-To, iPhone Software | No Comments »
FastMac iV Promises Up to 24 Hours Talk Time
Posted on November 7th, 2008
The FastMac iV Extended Battery & Charger promises to give your iPhone or iPhone 3G a real longevity boost. The new snap-on promises up to 24 hours of talk time, over 70 hours of audio playback, 20 hours of video playback and up to a month standby. In addition to its onboard 3100mAh battery, the iV also has a standard USB port for on-the-go charging of other devices like Bluetooth headsets, and an LED which can be used as a flashlight or as extra lighting for photos.
The FastMac iV is available now for $79. We’ll try to get one of these in for review.
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iPhone Tethering Coming “Soon” Says AT&T CEO
Posted on November 6th, 2008
Many smartphones offer a “tethering” option which allows the phone’s wireless data connection to be used as a wireless modem for laptops. The iPhone has never included this feature.
But now AT&T CEO Ralph De La Vega says this sought after feature is coming “soon.” No details were given as to when exactly “soon” might be, how much the service would cost, or whether or not the connection would be available over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Read the full story at Mobile Crunch.
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Google Earth for iPhone Now Available
Posted on October 27th, 2008
Google Earth has hit the iPhone, and while we can’t say the graphics performance of this first version will knock your socks off, porting this popular application to the iPhone is a welcome sight.
Features include GPS support, multitouch zoom and rotation, (somewhat spotty) accelerometer-based tilt support for terrain view, Wikipedia and Panoramio location-based photo integration and more. We used the Google Earth iPhone app to view our office, Wikipedia entries about our city, and even searched for a satellite view of Crater Lake National Park.
Version 1.0 of Google Earth for iPhone is buggy (our test version crashed three times in twenty minutes), but we expect to see improvements over the coming weeks.
Take a look at Google Earth for iPhone by clicking here.
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iPhone Edition App Review: Evernote
Posted on October 26th, 2008
“Fast, convenient, Cloud-based and free, EverNote is today’s ultimate note management solution for the iPhone. If productivity is an important part of your life, professional or personal, do yourself a favor put Evernote everywhere (including your iPhone, of course).” –M. Nichols, Reviews Editor
Keep reading the iPhone Edition Evernote iPhone Software Review
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