Niri | Blog

If you have an iPhone you probably also have the lightsaber app (PhoneSaber and/orLightsaber Unleashed) or , if you’re too hardcore to admit it, you can at least admit you have heard of it. Well, soon there will be a new lightsaber app, this one called Lightsaber Duel (THQ) and it’s bluetooth enabled!

This new Star Wars nerdage-uber-app will let you pair your iPhone with a fellow nerd and fight through grueling dueling session with lightsabers belonging to 11 Star Wars characters.

True Jedi you will become.

Awesome site for finding repair guides, replacement parts and looking up Mac and iPhones. This can be particularly useful if buying used. Just ask for the serial number, pop it into the input field under “ID Your Mac” and you get more in-depth information about your Mac product.

Here’s what it came back with for my iPhone:

I guess AT&T has had enough of Verizon poking fun of them with their ads recently. They posted the following press release on their site today. Not pulling any punches they address all the points hinted at from Verizon’s ad campaign.

“AT&T’s wireless data coverage reaches 303 million people – or 97% of the U.S. population, where they live and work.

AT&T is the #1 network for smartphones, with twice the number of smartphone customers than Verizon, our closest competitor. Some of the reasons include:

Most popular smartphones. Unlike Verizon, AT&T offers the most popular smartphones in the industry.

More wireless apps. Unlike Verizon, AT&T customers have access to more than 100,000 applications, more than with any other wireless company.

Talk and E-mail at the same time. Unlike Verizon, AT&T’s 3G network lets wireless customers simultaneously talk and surf the web or do e-mail.

Fastest 3G in the nation. Unlike Verizon, AT&T has the nation’s fastest 3G network.”

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Does this mean tethering for the iPhone is postponed until the dust settles…?

att.com via TUAW

The Wall Street Journal has a great article showcasing why AT&T killed Google Voice recently on the iPhone. Andy Kessler writes a really sobering article on our archaic and ludicrous phone companies and their ancient policies.

Don’t miss his 4 step-solution to the problem which is ingenious. [Link]

Rapid Repair, the site known for their detailed guides to taking apart your favorite gadgets with pictures, has released a full exploration into the guts of the iPhone 3G S.

From [Woot!]

1. Multimedia messaging does not support sculpture, macrame, or interpretive dance.
2. Voice memo recordings totally don’t sound like me. I don’t sound like that, do I? Seriously?
3. Turned on adult content filter but everybody in my videos still has their clothes on.
4. Adding a task to calendar did not result in task getting done.
5. Clicked this blue “compass” icon but kept getting some stupid web browser.
6. Still no apps to cure the nagging feeling that I should’ve bought a Palm Pre.
7. The touchscreen is now on the back of the phone instead of the front.
8. Gone to the bathroom four times already today, and Remote Wipe hasn’t worked once.
9. Spotlight search crashed with memory overload error trying to index my Harry Potter cosplay photo collection.
10. Tried out tethering, but I think I broke my finger smacking that phone around the pole.
11. Apple still hasn’t fixed the no-hardware-keyboard bug.
12. “Cut” function does not apply to monthly AT&T bill.

All true…

I was pretty disappointed with Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference ’09. Clarification, I was disappointed with the iPhone section. The rest was pretty nice.

No really, it's a new phone.

I missed the hint before the conference stating it would be software focused, which it ended up being. That’s OK, but Apple did not bring much to the iPhone party and with all the rumors floating around before the conference I think many were expecting great, new hardware.

Instead we got an identical looking phone with the ingenious name of iPhone 3G S. The S stands for Suck Speed. Even the name makes it clear; there’s not a lot of new here.

To add insult to injury AT&T has made sure current 3G owners will not be getting this device cheaply (Read: most won’t bother). If you want the new 16GB S model you’ll have to shell out $599 and if you want the 32GB S model be prepared to fork over a ludicrous $699 PLUS a $18 upgrade fee. WHAT?!

AT&T Reps are even recommending 3G customers cancel their current phone and sign up for a new one. It’s cheaper eating the early termination fee than paying what AT&T is asking. Completely ass backwards.

On top of that AT&T won’t be ready to support MMS when iPhone OS 3.0 comes out June 17th. Not until the end of summer will they have MMS available for their customers? Huh? How long did they know this was coming? They’re the ONLY carrier in the US!

Then there’s tethering. Now supported on the iPhone thanks to the 3.0 OS, AT&T won’t have anything to offer customers there either! It’s coming later and when it does they say it might cost about $70, and that does not include SMS. In your dreams AT&T, I’m not touching it

I’m getting by without a compass and video features for now. Yes the new phone is faster and has more memory (600Mhz, 256mb RAM) but overall it’s just a refresh of the 3G. If AT&T will reconsider subsidizing it at same rates as the 3G last year I’ll reconsider buying the 3G S.

It’s not been confirmed but a lot of people speculate Apple will be announcing a new iPhone refresh at Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) this summer. If that’s true the phone must already be in production mode since the conference is only a month away at writing.

So it’s interesting that the above screen shot has hit the Interwebs from a Chinese forum called Weiphone. Are we looking at the specs for the new iPhone?

If we believe the leak the specs will be:

• Model number MB717LL
• 600MHz CPU Speed (up from 400MHz)
• 256MB RAM (up from 128MB)
• Digital Compass and FM
• 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus
• 32GB size
• No major changes in battery, screen and external casing.

We do know that the iPhone is being produced in China so it makes sense the leak would come from that part of the world. I’m excited for these changes. It should make for a faster experience and an impressive upgrade with the new 3.0 OS.