The Great iPhone Blog

I have done a number of iPhone case reviews in my day, and every time I do I find myself wondering—who uses these things anyway? As far as day to day usage is concerned, it seems that most of these cases do nothing more than add unnecessary bulk. And, as OObject has pointed out with their list of the 12 worst iPhone case designs, there are plenty of cases out there that downright defile an otherwise beautiful piece of technology. Still, I can understand why people would want to protect their investment or make the phone easier to carry. So, my question to you is: do you use a cellphone case?

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written by iPhone Fan

Did you get an iPhone 3G on launch day? That was a whole 30 days ago, can you believe it? Which means if you're an unhappy camper, today is the last day you can tell Apple and AT&T to shove it where you really don't get any 3G reception without getting slapped by early-termination fees. So if you wanna cancel without consequence, start hustling. On the other hand, if you want an iPhone 3G not tied to a two-year AT&T contract, you can cancel tomorrow, pay the ETF, and the phone is really, truly yours. Show of hands, who's dropkicked their iPhone and AT&T contract? Anyone planning to? [Cnet]

written by iPhone Fan

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS

While some complaints after any firmware update are to be expected, there seems to be a decided uptick in the number of reports of problems with the iPhone's GPS (ranging from general wonkiness to all out failure) after the most recent 2.0.1 update. As the responses on the MacRumors forums indicate, however, the problems are far from across the board (or confined to the iPhone 3G), and GPS problems haven't exactly been that rare of an occurrence before this latest update either. So, we'll open it up to you, dear readers -- have you had any newfound iPhone GPS problems?

[Thanks, Mike]

written by iPhone Fan

With the Olympics in full-swing, and the watersports getting so intense that both balls and boobs are flying (NSFW link), there was no better time for H2O Audio to unveil their new AMPHIBX watersports armband. According to a recent press release, it provides 100% waterproof protection up to depths of 12 feet for both the original iPhone and the 3G version as well as almost every iPod, MP3 player and cellphone under the sun.

A ClearTouch window allows the user to freely operate the device underwater and it is buoyant enough to float to the surface when a device is inside. The armband is retailing at $70 and $80 for medium and large sizes respectively, and a companion set of headphones dubbed "Surge" is also available for an additional $60. [H2O Audio via Coolest Gadgets]

written by iPhone Fan

NetShare isn't going to be allowed back into the App Store anytime soon, by the looks of it, because it violates AT&T's terms of service. Which means that even if you were lucky enough to snag it, using it runs the risk of getting your account zapped by AT&T. So it's reasonable to want your ten bucks back—you've got an app you can't use that you purchased in good faith (as opposed to stupidity). But as one blogger found out, getting a refund can be absolutely maddening (read: impossible).

After AT&T's ToS came to light, they asked Apple for a refund, who directed them to Nullriver, NetShare's developer. Nullriver's Alex Lovett responded that it's actually in Apple's hands. Fearing the runaround, the blogger replied and pointed out Nullriver's 30-day return policy. Alex hit back with this:

"Ah, the support was set up in a rush and is still being worked on, normally for all our apps we do have a 30 day refund policy, but it is simply not possible to do that with the AppStore as its all operated and handled by Apple, otherwise we would offer it. If you speak to Apple they may grant you a refund/reversal on a one off chance, ive heard of them doing that."

Back to Apple, who again replied:

As previously stated, unfortunately there isn’t anything I can do for you. All iTunes purchases are final, and I am unable to refund you for the app.

You will need to contact NetShare directly, as this is there product and we can do nothing with it. You can contact them from the link below:

http://www.nullriver.com/support

Sincerely,
Andrew
iTunes Store Customer Support

The thing is, Apple can issue refunds: They did for at least two of the suckers who bought the $1000 idiot app. The situation might be a different from NetShare, however. The NYT says Apple "reversed" two of the sales, so it's unclear if the money was already in Armin Heinrich's pocket before Apple hit the brakes. NetShare has had people's money for well over a week.

Still, any way you look at this, it's not a pretty picture for hosed customers. If refunds are entirely in the hands of developers once the money is safely ensconced in their bank acccounts (as Apple support implies), well, you better buy from someone you trust—if the dev doesn't wanna give you your money back, you aren't getting it. Or, more charitably to Nullriver, perhaps there is just a big ol' hole between Apple and developers on getting refunds to users—then it's one that needs to be patched so users don't fall into it. The last possibility is that it depends solely on Apple's mercy. Would they offer refunds for a malicious app that they killed with the remote detonator? Right now, there's no way to tell.

The hardass take is that if Apple screws up and lets something in the App Store it shouldn't have, it should absorb the fallout and make amends to users (except for the "I Am Rich" morons, they suck). NetShare is an app users purchased with the reasonable belief they could use it because Apple allowed it into the store. (Twice even.) Part of being the store's One Supreme Guardian is bearing responsibility for everything that goes down under your watch. [Horrid Voices - Thanks JimiX!]

written by iPhone Fan

In the spirit of the Griffin Evolve, Smart Technology has released modular speakers that connect to your iPod/iPhone and can be stacked or spread however you'd like. Stack all three parts into the sky, or just lay 'em on your desk. Hell, if you're so bold, lay one and stack one. We're not here to tell you how to live your life, and for $129, you should at least get a say in this very small piece of the human experience. [PBTeen via 7Gadgets]

written by iPhone Fan

iPhone App de-listing may be mysterious process that takes place behind an opaque curtain of mystery, but TUAW discovered that the approval process is just as undecipherable. Two developers contacted them recently to fill them in on why their apps were rejected, one of which—rejected because they used vibration in a game—seems pretty ludicrous to us.

There's supposedly some unwritten rule among app developers that you're not supposed to use the phone's vibration feature for anything but alerts, not game enhancements. That's right. No force feedback when your race car hits a wall or when your avatar takes a blow to the face. Seems quite arbitrary to us, seeing as most people should be able to figure out that a vibration in a game comes from the game itself, not from an SMS message that didn't also pop up a visual notification.

The second was from another developer who didn't follow Apple's design conventions and put a toolbar at the top of the screen instead of the bottom (yeah, notice how all your apps have the toolbar at the bottom?). Not only that, they didn't change the shade or color or icon of any of the entries on the toolbar to allow the user to see which one was selected, which is a bad design decision if we've ever seen one. Not too bad that this one's rejected.

We're sure there are a few more unwritten rules of iPhone development that we don't know about, so if you're a developer that's been rejected for some reason, drop us a note at tips@gizmodo.com. [TUAW]

written by iPhone Fan

Haven't been able to get your own iPhone 3G yet? Make you wanna smash something, like maybe an iPhone 3G? Well, here's a hearty dose of schadenfreude: A sweet gallery of iPhone obliteration that just might soothe your burning envy. If you're a friend of Mr. magerleagues and you own an iPhone, however, you might want to back away slowly. Here are some of the gorier shots. [Flickr via core77]

written by iPhone Fan

Are you curious as to what, exactly, you got if you purchased the infamous "I Am Rich" iPhone application for $999.99? Well, here's a video guided tour of it. As I suspected, it's not worth the money. But hey, judge for yourself. Want a copy for your jailbroken iPhone? Here it is.

[YouTube]

written by iPhone Fan

The Olympics featured some pretty amazing tech this year in Beijing, so it's completely OK that you skipped out on Gizmodo's weekend coverage. Lucky for you, the best is here, waiting for you:
• Speaking of Olympic technology, did you happen to catch the insane opening ceremonies?
• Beat the Medeco M3 lock easily with a credit card.
• Vintage PC advertisements featuring Bill Cosby? Why the hell not?
• Digital Edge Gaming Tables are over-the-top gaming rig tables for the geek who needs more.
• The iPhone Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 is available now. Careful, because Apple knows what's on your iPhone!

• Game over? Not with this completely awesome, never-ending, Donkey Kong Lego creation.
• The roof is on fire! And Google StreetView was there for the whole thing.
• Rear-entry fun with a poochie and a Wiimote? Maybe I shouldn't ask...
• They'll leave old fully-stocked NASA trailers anywhere these days.
• Farmers in China brought the Olympic "bird's nest" stadium to their fields when they built a huge bamboo replica.

Now, do a pole vault to the front page for the best gadget news on the Interwebs.

written by iPhone Fan