A rumor thread was posted on a Chinese Apple fan site by someone purporting to have used the upcoming third generation iPhone. The posting claimed that the new iPhone will be just a modest upgrade.

We have not lost our hopes by rumor as such, here are what we wish for and expect in the third generation iPhone hardware:

1. More Power Juice

It is not uncommon to require daily charging of iPhone for heavy users. We expect the new iPhone to improve on battery life with Apple touting it in the ads. Apple has always pride themselves in the usability department, we need more battery life in order to make iPhone more ‘usable’.

As for removable battery, we do not see this coming to Apple’s design for iPhone and iPod anytime soon.

2. Faster Network

iPhone 3G is capable of 3.6Mbps if your telco can support this feature. It is unfortunate that 7.2Mbps HSDPA which is widely available in Asia and Europe is not supported in current model. We expect third-generation iPhone to support up to 7.2Mbps speed, with a higher speed 14.4Mbps HSDPA or 21Mbps HSPA+ support in 2010 model.

And for WiFi, its time to upgrade to support wireless-n.

Continue reading »

iPhone is telco’s dream machine, it encourages mobile internet data usage by design. It is the device that propelled cellular data usage to the mainstream, making it common nowadays for many to always connected to the internet. iPhone is also a dream machine to many, and we list down 6 ways that iPhone can also be friendly to your pocket.

1. Sign Up A Cellular Data Plan

iPhone is designed to be an always-on internet device. In its default settings, it will connect automatically to nearby Wifi first and cellular data network second. Many of iPhone’s basic apps such as Weather, Stocks, Maps, App Store etc requires internet connection in order to work.

When you are connect using cellular data network, iPhone will display (for Edge) or (for GPRS) or “3G” icon on the status bar, right next to your telco’s brand name. If you are connected to the internet via Wifi, the icon is .

You can disable cellular internet access and use only Wifi by changing the APN under Settings app to one of wrong info. From firmware 2.0 onwards, Apple allows telco the ability to disable this settings. So depending on your telco, you might not be able to disable cellular internet access.

We strongly recommend you to sign up a cellular data plan if you use the cellular data network. Most telco offers cellular data plans that are cheaper compare to the per-use data rate. Compare and choose the plan that match your mobile lifestyle. For example there is no need to sign up the more expensive unlimited plan if you do not use the iPhone outside often.

2. Check Your Cellular Data Usage

If you are not on an unlimited cellular data plan, check and monitor your cellular data usage. Your telco might provide an online utility for such purpose. If not you best bet is to watch the usage on your iPhone under Settings->General->Usage.

Continue reading »

If you are like most tech users nowadays, you jump start using your new iPhone without reading the manual or instruction guide. We list down 14 tips and tricks iPhone beginners might overlook.

1. How to Put iPhone into Silent Mode

You put iPhone into silent mode by flipping the ringer switch which is at the top left side of the iPhone, above the volume control.

Flip the switch down towards the back of iPhone to be in silent mode. You will see an orange dot on the switch. An on screen strike-through bell icon confirms that the iPhone is on silent mode. A call comes in will vibrate in silent mode if you have turned on the vibrating option under Settings->Sound.

Flip the switch back to enable the ringer.

Believe it or not, a friend was not aware of this even after using his iPhone for more than a month. He would manually slide the volume to minimum under Settings->Sound whenever he entered cinema hall.

2. How to remove or insert SIM card into iPhone

We found the best video from YouTube by everything4ipod that illustrates how to remove or insert SIM card into iPhone:

Continue reading »

iPhone gives preference to Wifi wireless connection over GPRS 3G connection when both connections are present, but this is only true when the wireless access point is defined. If the wireless access point is a service that requires you to signon first via a web browser, you can not use the internet without this signon step. You can not choose to connect via GPRS 3G as its all automatic.

Let say you are a regular Starbucks’ Wifi service user. When you walk into Starbucks, iPhone automatically connect you to Starbucks wireless access point. You can not retrieve emails, surf the net or other internet activities without entering your credentials first.

Seamless internet connection experience is possible when you are connected to a ‘friendly’ Wifi access point, such as the one in your home networking setup.

If you are annoyed by the additional signon steps for those public Wifi service, you can remove the particular Wifi access point definition in your iPhone. Once the access point has not been used and defined before, iPhone will select GPRS 3G as the connection path. Please note that iPhone will always prompt you to select the WiFi access point when none of the surrounding Wifi access points are defined. Remember to cancel when prompted if you want the convenience of GPRS 3G connection.

Continue reading »

SingTel strengthened its position as mobile telco leader in Singapore, posting a 0.8 percent increase in post-paid marketshare to 45.6 percent. This outcome was unexpected by analysts, as the company was expected to lose ground to StarHub and MobileOne with the introduction of mobile number portability, which makes it easy for people to switch carriers without changing their phone number.

Analysts says that SingTel’s iPhone monopoly in Singapore helped the telco record a net gain. The first generation iPhone was never released in Singapore market. SingTel launched iPhone 3G in Singapore on 22 August 2008. The other two telcos StarHub and MobileOne were said to be in negotiation to carry iPhone by end 2008. But SingTel remains the sole supplier till this date and you can only obtain iPhone 3G by being a SingTel subscriber with a 2-year mobile contract.

Via The Straits Times

We have enhanced Sanziro to optimize the website display when view from mobile devices such as iPhone, Nokia phones and Windows Mobile phones. Just point your mobile browser to the same Sanziro URL http://sanziro.com.

Thanks to MobilePress plugin that enable this feature on our blogging system.

Here is a screenshot of Sanziro on the iPhone Safari browser:

“I wrote the program for my younger sisters, who like to draw” said Lim Ding Wen, age 9 of Singapore, the developer of Doodle Kids iphone app.

The free finger painting app has been downloaded more than 4,000 times in two weeks from the App Store.

Lim, probably the youngest iPhone app developer at the moment, is fluent in six programming languages and has been using computers since he was two years old. He likes programming and has completed more than 20 programming projects since age 7. Lim is working on his second iPhone app called Invader Wars, we can’t wait.

Several hints and evidence that are uncovered lately signal a likely introduction of next-gen Apple iPhone in June.

• Apple’s marketing cheif Phil Schiller, when outlining Apple’s general product cycles in a post MacWorld 2009 interview, said the plan includes an iPhone cycle in June.
• Recently, a reference to an unknown ‘iPhone 2,1′ string in firmware codes and web server logs indicate that a major hardware revision of iPhone is in the works and being tested. Apple refers to original iPhone as ‘iPhone 1,1′ while iPhone 3G is identified as ‘iPhone 1,2′.
• This week, Mark Davis (Program Director for iPhone at Emirates Communications Etisalat), when spoken to Dow Jones on iPhone 3G’s launch later this month in UAE and Saudi Arabia, said that the “next version of the device, which is due out in June, will be launched in the UAE at the same time.”

Enough info to get the Apple rumor mill spinning hot. Most industry watchers expect new iPhone during mid-year, citing Apple’s history to refresh its iPhone model once a year. The first iPhone was launched in June 29, 2007. iPhone 3G was released July 11, 2008.

Lets wish the new iPhone model includes video recording capability (make it 720p), with a higher resolution flash camera, and with higher capacity option.

A thin but healthy looking Steve Jobs on Tuesday unveils at Apple’s ‘Lets Rock’ event iTunes 8, iPod Classic update, new fourth generation iPod nano, new second generation iPod touch and iPhone 2.1 software. These announcements are ‘underwhelming’ as there are no real surprises, and the spy shots of the new iPod nano prior to the launch is spot on. Let’s summarize the highlights from what Jobs called a ‘music’ event:

• Apple’s iTunes numbers: over 8.5 million songs, over 125,000 podcasts, over 30,000 TV shows, over 2600 movies, over 3,000 iPhone/iPod touch apps. And 65 million customers.
• iTunes to have high-definition TV shows. HD content costs $2.99 per episode while the standard definition is $1.99.
• NBC is coming back to iTunes, say hello to “The Office”, “Monk”, “Battlestar Galactica” etc. iTunes stopped selling NBC TV shows end Aug 2007 following NBC’s decision to not renew agreement with Apple then.
Continue reading »

Great news for iPhone and iPod touch owners. EA will release Spore Origins on September 7, the same day Spore hits the Mac and PC. Spore Origins is a scale down Spore game build specially for Apple’s app platform. The game was first demo in March when Apple introduced the iPhone software development kit to developers.

Spore Origins looks a lot like Spore’s Cell phase. It also contains a mini version of the Creature Creator software. Spore Origins is available via the usual Apple App Store.