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8 Things to Expect in the Next iPhone Update 30 October 2008 at 11:11 am by admin

One of the great things about the iPhone is the regular software updates. Free and automatic improvements are piped, hot and steaming, to your pocket computer.

We don’t know exactly when the next version of the iPhone operating system (v2.2) will arrive, but the leaks are springing fast, and the new OS looks like a useful update — full of new toys.

Here’s what the rumors say so far.

Google Street View

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Screenshots have emerged since the first October rumors that more or less
confirm that Google’s Street View will be added to the Maps
application. The iPhone doesn’t have the built-in compass of the
T-Mobile G1, so we won’t be getting the nifty live detection that lets
the Android phone overlay a picture of what’s in front of you over
what’s actually in front of you, but then what’s the point of that anyway?

More useful is the addition of public transport information, seen in
the picture at the top of the post. We should also be getting walking
directions in addition to the driving directions now available.

Direct Podcast Downloads

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The screenshot above shows us an option to grab more episodes of a subscribed podcast (which we covered in depth yesterday). This is great news. Apart from charging, the only reason I connect my iPod Touch to my Mac so often is to update podcasts. Couple this with a way to delete the podcasts you’ve already heard, like you can do with video files, and the iPhone is one step closer to being an independent computing platform.

We also see a new Video icon at bottom right. Does this mean that video podcasts can be watched without using the video player, or that a separate video player has been abolished altogether and simply merged with the iPod?

Rating Applications on Deletion

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A report from the iPhone Hellas forum tells us that, upon deleting an application for the iPhone’s home screen, we’ll be presented with the rating dialog above. This, combined with the App Store’s new policy of limiting comments to those people who have actually bought the application, should improve the accuracy of those ratings. It could also be a big pain in the butt if you are constantly testing new apps, like we do.

Line-In Support

The Apple Blog reports that the 2.2 software will support "manipulation of line-ln audio accessories." The iPhone and the 2G iPod Touch already support input through the headphone jack. We’re not sure if this new feature applies to signals coming through this jack, or to audio coming in through the dock connector — currently third-party applications don’t get access to that part of the hardware. If the latter is true, it could lead to clip-on mics and speakers like the Griffin iTalk, and it could also explain why Griffin has released a recording application to the App Store.

Emoji Emoticons

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Do we really need this?

Location Sharing

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The post at the iPhone Hellas forum also gives us this screenshot. You will be able to share your location details via e-mail, and when another iPhone owner clicks on a link in that mail, they’ll see a map of your location in the Maps application. Sounds kind of basic, but it could be a killer feature when your friends want to know just which dark, seedy bar you’re drinking in, and you can’t muster the strength to stand up and take a look outside.

Safari Tweaks

 

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Way back in September, we pointed to this shot of a redesigned Safari interface, a slightly cleaner layout where Google gets its own spot in the search bar, the loss of the search icon and the relocation of the reload arrow to inside the URL bar. Expect more interface tweaks across the whole OS.

Copy and Paste

Kidding! You didn’t fall for that one, did you?

Apple releases iPhone Firmware 2.2 Beta 2 [iPhone Hellas forum]

Apple Seeking to Increase Participation in App Store Ratings? [MacRumors]

Rumor roundup: iPhone 2.2 firmware details [TUAW]

New Features in iPhone Software 2.2 [The Apple Blog]

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+ Splicd Skips Straight to the Point with YouTube Videos [YouTube] By admin 29 September 2008 at 5:00 pm and have No Comments

Web site Splicd creates custom links to embedded YouTube videos that start and stop at any time you define, allowing you to skip straight to the good part and avoid the rest. Let’s say, for example, you’ve stumbled onto a gem on YouTube but had to suffer through 10 minutes of complete boredom to get there. You want to share the video with a friend, but you don’t want her to have to sit through the whole mess for 20 seconds of pure gold. Just paste the URL of the video into Splicd, give it your desired start and end time, and it generates a custom link that starts and stops the video where you told it to (like this one).


+ The Week in iPhone Apps: Games, File Sharing, and More Games [IPhone Apps] By admin 12 September 2008 at 4:00 pm and have No Comments

At the Let’s Rock event this week, Apple pushed the new iPod touch hard (and iPhone too, obviously) as a viable gaming platform. Steve even went so far as to call it the best portable gaming platform out there. Strong words for DS and PSP fans, but the crop of games popping up in the App Store continues to build steam. This week we’ll take a look at games both current and upcoming, as well as some other standout favorites as always. Shall we?

Real Soccer: Real Soccer got a quick play during the Let’s Rock event and hit the store this week. For $10 you can play as 198 real teams in 12 different stadiums with FIFA 96-era graphics, all using an on-scree D-pad and A+B button. The other demo at Let’s Rock, Need For Speed: Undercover, is still under development and will drop in November. Real Soccer is $10

TouchGrind: Due to be released in October, we got a look this week at Touchgrind, a novel skateboard game which is billing itself as the “first true multitouch game” let’s you do tricks and flips with a mini deck, racking up points for combos. From the demo video, it looks pretty great, especially if you were as obsessed with the old Tony Hawk PS1 games as my friends and I were.

Air Sharing: Air Sharing looks like it may be the king so far of the file storage apps—our friends over at Lifehacker gave it a shakedown and liked what they saw. It uses WebDAV to show up as a shared folder on Mac, Windows or Linux systems which allows you to save files to your iPhone’s flash memory, and provides a URL for devices on the same network to connect to and download the files to another machine. And best of all, unlike many of the other iPhone file vaults, it’s free. Until September 22, that is, so grab it.

Roller Coaster Physics: Really cool idea for an app that records G-forces from your accelerometers and displays the results on a trend line. It’s designed to be used to measure exactly how much force is causing your stomach to drop at Six Flags, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use it in a car or anything else, when you want to monitor G-forces. And it’s free.

Civil Aircraft Identification Guide: These guys had me in mind. As an aviation geek I love spotting jets at the airport, but as anyone else who shares my hobby knows, sometimes telling your 737s from you A319s (look for the slanted section of the tail fin on the 37, but still) is tough. Airplane ID gives you top and side views with stats on 40 of the major airliners. Cool stuff. $2

More Games in Brief:

  • EA’s Spore Origins hit the store this Sunday - check out our hands-on video here. $10
  • Asphalt 4: Elite Racing will be Need For Speed’s number one competitor: as it’s been camped out on the top ten most popular apps list. This driving sim gives you on-screen D-pad or accelerometer steering, and lets up to four players join in multiplayer games on the same Wi-Fi network. $10
  • And of course Light Saber Unleashed (formerly Phone Saber). This one isn’t a DS killer, but thank God it’s back.
  • And as commenter Marcelo points out, Cro-Mag Rally (Mario Kart for cavemen) is on sale for $2 this week, down from $10. Good deal.

This list is in no way definitive. If you’ve spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good long weekend everybody.