US Mobile Industry

The Ripdev team recently released Icy, an alternative to popular package manager Cydia.  After playing around with it, and updating it to 1.1, I’m finally ready to write a few things about it.  Here you go:

Pros:

• Fast.  Icy loads up really fast and installs packages really fast…see the video below.
• Simple UI.  A “Recent Packages” link was just added.
• Borrows sources from Cydia.
• Cool install animation.
• Landscape mode!  Perfect for late night app-surfing in bed.
• Free

Cons:

• Not all repositories from Cydia sync with Icy.
• Missing packages during installation, which is related to the issue above.  When I tried to install a Dr. House theme it claimed Winterboard was missing.
• No queue feature.  I really like queues…and the Q.

Icy isn’t quite there yet, but I’m very excited about it.  I’m looking forward to future updates.

Apple’s new iPhone is expected to ship sometime around June of this year.  The firmware has been available to developers for a few months now, and they’re pretty excited about 3.0.  Any information on the device(s) itself is still speculation, but Apple has let us know some new information about the iPhone cables.

I was having a conversation with Serko from MobileDivide over the weekend, and he pointed me to this MacDaily News posting.  They’re claiming that Apple has told retailers to clear out all existing inventory of AV cables for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  The exsisting cables are $50 each, one for SD and one for HD playback.  The existing iPhone’s HD playback is also limited to 480P.

In the announcement, Apple says “supports multiple AV connections, just like the Xbox 360.”  I’m assuming this is not going to be a simple HDMI cable, as SD tv’s wouldn’t support HDMI.  I’d guess there will be a cable which can connect to the iPhone, and a separate dock sold as another component.

So what’s the big deal about a fricking cable?  I mean, sure it’s exciting to be able to go to a friends house, pull out your iPhone, and queue up your choice of 20 movies.  Heck, all your friends also have iPhones, so let’s just see who’s got what movies and pick the best one to watch.

Nope, the big deal is the iPhone app store, specifically games.  Sure the Xbox 360 has downloadable games, ranging from free demos to $5 – $20 for downloadable games.  The Wii also has downloadable games, going for FREE – $4 – $20.  The Sony Playstation 3 can also download games, I think.  Leave a comment. : )

Even at $4, there’s a bigger barrier to purchasing vs 99c games on the iPhone.  Seriously, if a 99c game sucks, no big deal, just give it a bad review, and download another one.  If you’re spending $10 on a game, that’s Lunch, but a $1 game is more like a tip for a cup of coffee.  An Easy Decision.

Don’t forget that the iPhone also has an accelerometer, just like the Wii.  And WiFi and Bluetooth, like the Wii.  If there’s an AV dock that supports these wireless standards, we wouldn’t even be wired to the TV while playing.

I’m also thinking about how much fun the “offline” aspect of such games could be.  Just because you’re not sitting at home connected to the TV, the gaming could go on.  The iPhone can connect to the Internet just fine, even while you’re out and about.  Besides, at&t is upgrading the whole network to HSPA+ just for the next iPhone launch, so we needn’t worry about data speed issues.

So what would you buy?  A $400 console with $60 games that *might* be fun?  Or just pull the device out of your pocket, and play the same games you know are fun anytime, or *also* in HD resolution on your nice flat panel TV?

This is also overlooking the Media playback expected in the new iPhone.  With WiFi, there’s no reason you couldn’t just stream from your computer to the iPhone, so it wouldn’t even need giant build in storage.  Whether or not this will support MY movies, or just purchased iTunes movies is unknown.

A neat little app called iPhoneTool was just released on Cydia, courtesy of iSpazio.  Because of its generic name, I almost skipped it as I was browsing through the new releases.  Anyway, this app allows you to automate Airplane Mode on your iPhone.  Why do that?  Well, maybe because you don’t want ex-girlfriends calling at 2am.  Maybe because you don’t need your cousin asking you to come over at midnight to fix his DVR so he can record episodes of NCIS.

I won’t write any instructions.  It’s very straight forward to use.  Screenies:

It’s official.  Or at least, it will be official by Tuesday March 30th around 3:30 PM PST.  Skype for iPhone is out.

Sure, you’ve been able to connect to your Skype account with Fring ot Truphone, but this is the official Skype app.  Will it leave the other Skype apps in the dust?  We’ll need to wait until tomorrow to see.

If you haven’t noticed already, Cydia can now handle queueing of apps. So instead of installing every individual app I mentioned in my previous article, check out how to queue up a batch:

Warning: It’s probably a good idea not to queue up too many apps. It’s also a good idea to put your phone on WIFI mode first.

It’s frustrating to spend so much quality time installing awesome apps from Cydia, only to lose them after a firmware update.  Should you forget to backup your apps, think about installing a few from this list:

• All Sources – This installs a crapload of sources, which will make installing the following a lot easier.¹
• SBSettings – With the swipe of your finger across the status bar you can toggle settings like autocorrect, WIFI, 3G, rotation lock, bluetooth, etc.
• Backgrounder – Leave your favorite apps running in the background for quicker access.  It’s probably not a good idea to enable everything, so stick with a few.
• Categories – Don’t keep Wobble Hot Babes (aka Wobble) in the open.  Put your pervie apps in folders.
• Clippy – Cut, copy, paste.  This feature will be available in the upcoming iPhone 3.0 firmware.
• CyDelete – CyDelete enables jailbroken apps to be removed from the Springboard like regular apps.
• Cyntact – This one costs $0.99 but it’s definitely worth it.  View contact pictures in your address book without actually selecting the contact.
• Emoji – Japanese-style emoticons.  I’m not 100% sure but your recipients can only view these emoji if their phones are set up for it.
• Five Icon Dock – Cram an extra app on your dock.  You might also want to check out Stacks.
• GRiS – The best Google Reader app out there.  See here about automatic/background syncing.
• NocamSound – Turn off the shutter sound on your camera.
• StatusNotifier – This places notification icons on your status bar of any missed calls, text, email, etc.
• Supreme Preferences – This adds additional options in your Settings app.
• vWallpaper – Animate your wallpaper with a lazer show or Matrix theme.
• WinterBoard – Download  custom themes on your phone and apply them using WinterBoard.
• yellowsn0w – Free your phone!  yellowsn0w is a software unlock for your phone.  Do not install iPhone OS 3.0 if you want to keep your phone unlocked.

The apps listed above are merely recommendations and do not constitute a definitive list of any kind.  Enjoy!

¹Update:  “All Sources”  requires the Steffwiz repository.

iPhoneFreaks posts regular app and game reviews for the iPhone.  As there are 20,000 (or was it 25k?) apps and games available in the Apple App Store, we human need some way to filter out the noise, and find The Good Stuff.

Rasta Monkey looks like a really fun game, and I’m loving the graphic style.  Combining the happy/super-flat colors of Katamari Damacy, the speed of Sonic (but not too much speed) and delivered on a mobile platform, Rasta Monkey is sure to impress.  And it’s only $1.99.  Here’s what iPhoneFreakz say: 

Rasta Monkey is by far the best iPhone 2D action platformer out there. With perfect physics based gameplay that you will love. You play an extraordinarily happy Rastafarian monkey. One day, Your old father asks you to help the family out: “You need to collect dem fruits for mi special fruit-shake before mi head go CHAKA CHAKA!…”

Download Now from the App Store for $1.99

Let us know if you’ve played Rasta Monkey, or if you’re a Rasta Monkey yourself.

There once was a company called Dodgeball.  They had a fun, early social app which would let you SMS your location, and see how physically close your contacts are to you.

Google bought Dodgeball, and it’s founders left with the thumbs-down salute after far-too-long of Google not updating the app.

Which brings us to today.  FourSquare was announced at SXSW, and it’s been updated to use Real Data instead of SMS, and much better socialized… data.  They’ve also announced an iPhone app, which is free.  I tried to download the iPhone app to get some nice screenshots, but it needs 2.2.1 firmware, but I’m on 2.2.  Dangit, guess I’ll need to upgrade and rejailbreak to get FourSquare going.  Cause I WANT it!  via Laughing Squid

This is a workaround for enabling bluetooth audio on your iPhone.

It sucks that Apple’s iPhone doesn’t quite support bluetooth audio.  On one occasion I’ve found it to work, only in the least convenient time.  Try hooking up a bluetooth headset to your iPhone.  Call someone, and in the middle of the call, play some music from the iPod app.  Real stupid, right?  If the call ends, music seems to blast out of the speakers again.  Weak.

I just realized that Sony’s bluetooth iPod dongle works with the device.  First establish a connection between your bluetooth headphones and the iPhone.  I used this one.  Then connect the dongle on the base of the iPhone and turn it on.  Whether or not you’ve turned it on, the iPhone will prompt you with a caution message about using airplane mode.  Select “No.”

 

Ignore the warning.Click “No.”

Your music should now flow through the headphones.  All the buttons on my Philips headphones work:  play/pause, next, previous, volume up, volume down.  When receiving a call, the music will gently fade into the call received.  One issue I did have was that if you attempt to switch the audio source from the bluetooth to the iPhone, the music will continue, oblivious to your buddy on the other end.

 

Click for an alternate view.

Although your iPhone will increase slightly in bulkiness, consider the space you’re saving by carrying one less device.  As for me, this is only a test.  I’m most likely going to continue using my iPod for a few reasons.  80GB is favorable to the iPhone’s 8GB/16GB.  Also, the current support for connecting the iPhone to Linux is still bleeding edge.  I’ll be discussing Linux connectivity in my next article.