iPhone Accessory Review: Plantronics Discovery 925
Reviewed by: Cyprian Peters
-Official website
Price: $149.95

Now I know I shouldn’t start out a review by saying I don’t like the type of product I’m reviewing but I will anyway. Bluetooth headsets are just not my favorite things in the world. They often feel terrible in your ear, the call quality is way below par and you look a bit goofy wearing it. The Discovery 925 managed to do well in the first two of these categories but I still feel goofy wearing a headset.

I had pretty high expectations for this headset before I received it, knowing it was from one of the better companies in the headset business, Plantronics. There are a couple really awesome things about this headset. The first is the earpiece.

I have a couple pairs of earbuds with microphones on them and as convenient as it is to take calls while listening to music, talking with your ears plugged is just terrible. It’s like you’re underwater. With the Discovery 925, your ear doesn’t get plugged. It’s sort of hard to explain how the earpiece works but is sort of sits in the outer part of your ear without actually going into your ear canal. I was sort of skeptical, but you can do some good head shaking and running and it won’t come out. It’s not that noticeable and I found I could wear it for an extended period of time without any discomfort. It comes with three different sized earpieces.

Before I get to the second awesome thing about this headset, I’ll talk about the sound quality. Bluetooth devices aren’t known for providing the best sound quality but this one does a pretty good job. On my end, the sound was flawless. I could hear the person on the end perfectly clear every time, with no hints of static or any other interference. It really sounded like they were right next to me. Unfortunately, as I’m finding with my bluetooth devices, the people on the other end don’t have is as good. I had a couple people who were in a crowded restaurant and they couldn’t hear me too well and I ended up switching over to my iPhone. Other than those certain situations, audio quality was fine and others said they could hear me just fine.

The other awesome thing about this headset, and what really sells it for me is the case it comes with. The case for this actually doubles as a charger! All you need to do is plug the case in, clip in the headset, throw it in your pocket and you’ve got a charged headset with you wherever you go. It works very well. The case is leather and has nice stitching on it and even has a magnet on the front flap to hold it closed. This is probably the best thing about the headset.

The headset itself has two buttons. The main one is the call control and the little one is the volume. There are some fancy features that you are able to activate with the combination of these buttons. Battery charge check, redialing, transfer to handset, and of course, answering and hanging up on calls. It comes with a USB to micro-USB cable for charging with your computer as well as an AC adapter.

I can’t say this headset makes me a believer in bluetooth headsets, but it brings me an awful lot closer than I was before. If you can afford it, check it out. It has plenty of cool features not to mention the awesome case/charger.

Score:
9/10

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

iPhone/iPod Accessory Review: Kanto Syd 5
Reviewed by: Cyprian Peters
-Official website
Price: $359.00

iPod and iPhone speaker docks come in all shapes and sizes, and sound completely different. Some are huge and sound terrible. Others are small yet sound amazing. The Syd 5 is definitely on the larger end of the scale size wise, and unlike some other larger docks out there, actually sounds really good. The size and sound do come with a price tag however.

When I first received the Syd 5, I was shocked at how big it was, I definitely wasn’t expecting something so large. The dock alone weighs over 10kg by itself! I was hoping it sounded good, being so large, and was not disappointed.

Excited at receiving this, I immediately de-boxed it, plugged in the power cord, found the right dock connector for my iPhone, and threw on some tunes. I was pleasantly surprised by the sound that came out. At low to mid-volumes, it sounded great. It definitely helps when you don’t need to crank up the volume to hear everything in the music. That being said, the next thing I did is crank it up. This dock goes pretty loud. Annoy the next door neighbors loud. I’m not going to lie, I like my music loud and this definitely does the trick.

The dock comes with a remote like most do but along with the usual play/pause/menu controls, there are a couple buttons that I think should be on every audio remote, yet I only see on a few. These are bass and treble controls. I find that it’s hard enough to find bass and treble controls on docks themselves, much less on the remotes. I was quite pleased to be able to change bass and treble for different genre’s of music from across the room. This dock has great highs and decent bass. If you want deep bass, this dock won’t give it to you. The music starts to distort when you put the bass to high. The bass is still decent, just not room shaking.

The back of the dock has different inputs and outputs as well as a master volume control knob. It has RCA inputs on the back and comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack to RCA cable which you can use for a non iPod music player or even a computer. Another nice feature is S-Video out, which is great if you watch movies on your TV from your iPod/iPhone. No need to huddle around the device to hear what’s going on. It even comes with an S-Video cable in the box.

This dock also looks really really good! I got the blue version but there are also green and black to choose from. The whole dock is shiny and has a really nice paint job. There is also a front cover that is easily removable so you can either cover up the speakers or have them showing. I prefer them showing. There’s more blue that way.

The Syd 5 is a great sounding, great looking dock that would look great in any living room. This dock I think is ideally suited to staying in one place and would work well in any room as the main source of sound. It can easily fill up a room with sound. Coming in at $360, but then again, it doesn’t look or sound cheap either.

Score:
8.5/10

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

iPhone/iPod Dock Review: Griffin Simplifi
Reviewed by: Cyprian Peters
-Official website
Price: 34.99

Griffin makes a wide assortment of products for Apple devices. Anything from cases, to speakers, to car accessories. I’ve reviewed a couple of their cases in the past and like them. They make cool looking products. The same goes for the Simplifi. It is a simple (no pun intended), yet effective accessory that does what it is intended to do.

If you have an iPhone, chances are real good you’ve got a computer to hook it up to. Something I’ve always struggled with is what to do with my iPhone 3G S when I’m right next to the computer. I didn’t have this problem with the original iPhone as Apple provided a lovely little dock to use with it. That was great, until I wound up selling it along with the phone. Ever since then, it’s been a bit of a struggle to find something that works as well. I’ve tried just putting it flat on the desk, no good. Stands are alright but you still have to plug in the docking cable every time (tough I know). There are other docks that I have used that only charge the iPhone and that is all well and good until you want to sync and then you have to move it.

The Simplifi charges and syncs the iPhone, all from one spot. It comes with two cables. One power cable and a USB to mini-USB to run to your computer. It also has multiple dock adapters, so you can use any iPod/iPhone in it that has the 30-pin dock connector. In addition to charging and syncing, there are a couple other useful features on the Simplifi. On the back there are two USB ports, and let’s face it, we’ve all run out of USB ports at one time or another. You can never have too many. The front also has a couple slots for reading digital media cards. SD cards and CompactFlash are among those that work with the Simplifi.

The Simplifi is cleverly colored to match any Apple computer, and doesn’t wind up looking to bad next to a PC either. It doesn’t look all that fancy but certainly performs well.

The SImplifi really is simple. It eliminates the need for an ugly iPod cable running along your desk and stays in one place, thanks to its grippy underside. At the time of this review, it is actually 50% off on the Griffin website. You can’t go wrong for that price! I highly recommend this to anyone with a computer desk and an iPhone.

Score:
9.5/10

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

iPhone 3G/3G S Case Review: AB Sutton Sport/Simple Slip Cases
Reviewed by: Cyprian Peters
-Official website
Price: Sport Slip w/ Strap - $118.00
Simple Slip - $88.00

AB Sutton makes handcrafted custom cases for a variety of products: Macbooks, iPod’s, Kindles, and iPhone’s. They make two types of iPhone cases, one is the Simple Slip and the other is the Sport Slip. They were kind enough to send me one of each. These two cases are fairly different in terms of looks and functionality, but both are highly customizable.

First, the Simple Slip. The specs on the one I received are as follows: Pewter leather, Silk #14 lining, and the thread and the trim match the leather. You can choose all 4 of these things when you order your case, making sure you get a unique case. The simple slip is a slip on case, ideal for putting your iPhone in a bag or pocket. You will have to take your phone out of the case to use it though. There is access to the headphone jack, vibrate switch and sleep button. The phone slides in effortlessly and is a very snug fit, without being too tight. It has a strap across the front bearing the company name and is fairly plain other than that.

Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of slip cases, mostly because I want to be able to use my iPhone immediately after pulling it out of my pocket! I’m impatient that way I guess. That being said, if I ever would use a slip regularly, it would be nice to use one as good looking as the Simple Slip.

The Sport Slip is quite a bit different. The one I received has a strap, and either of these cases can be ordered with or without one. The specs on this one are: Imperial leather, Silk #17 lining, thread matches leather and the trim matches the silk. Like the Simple Slip, the iPhone slides into this case from the top and fits great. This case has two raised contours on the back which feel good in your hand and makes it stand out. The iPhone can be used fully with this case on with access to all ports, buttons and switches. All the holes are cut out with precision and no adjustment is necessary.

The material on this case is of similar thickness to the Simple Slip. It is a very lightweight case, which won’t add much to your iPhone. It does a good job of covering the major areas of the phone. That being said, I still wouldn’t want to drop my phone in this case as it’s really thin.

Now, as good as these cases look and feel, they may not be practical for everyone. The first limiting factor is the case itself. The leather is thin and may not stand up to much abuse. On the other hand, if you are the type of person who takes amazing care of your iPhone and don’t need amazing protection, these cases may suit your needs.

The second limiting factor is the price. These aren’t cheap cases. The handcrafting process takes between 2-3 weeks so a lot of time goes into making your case. The stitching is very well done and There are literally hundreds of combinations of color, silk, thread, and trim you can choose, making your case very unique.

These are very nice cases, but again, watch out if you’re looking for something to offer great protection. Because of the protection and cost factors, I can only offer a limited recommendation on these cases. If you want to make your iPhone stand out and look richer, these cases have that effect.

Scores: Simple Slip 8/10
Sport Slip: 7.5/10

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

iPhone App Review: Feeds
Reviewed by: Robb Lewis
- AppStore Link
Price: 1.79GBP

RSS is one of the best and easiest ways to get up-to-date news fast. So when I purchased my iPhone 3GS last week, I need to find an application that could do 2 things.

1 – Sync with Google Reader. I love the full browser version of Google Reader, so I still want to use it when I’m at home.
2 – ReadItLater integration. By far the easiest way to keep track of things I want to read, but not keep permanently.

After looking around for quite a while I finally decided to purchase Feeds by Prime31. I was instantly impressed.

When I first opened Feeds I was prompted for my Google email and password, and after inputting these, my feeds were imported. So that was number 1 ticked off.

To find the ReadItLater options, I had to go to the iPhone settings, which is where the Feeds settings are changed, as opposed to in-app preferences. Plenty of options here, including a choice of 4 colour themes, which is nice. After finding the ReadItLater settings, I went back into Feeds to check this function out. Once you’re reading an item, clicking ‘feed actions’ bring up a few actions including share the article, adding tags, instapaper article, email article, and ReadItLater. This worked flawlessly, and I went straight into RIL to check if it had been added, and it had.

Feeds completely fulfilled my objectives, and was well worth the money. Overall I give Feeds 9.5 out of 10.

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Before we start, make sure you answer the three questions below with a yes, otherwise you can skip to the next article.

1. Do you own an Apple iPhone or an iPod Touch –doesn’t matter which generation– ?
2. Do you enjoy writing and having people read what you wrote?
3. Would you like to get the latest iPhone/iTouch apps and games for free?

… if you answered “yes” to all of the questions above, then read on!

Who are are we looking for?
iPhoneWorld.ca is looking for some iPhone/iTouch apps / games reviewers with good English language skills.

What needs to be done?
You will be reviewing the latest iPhone/iPod Touch games and apps.

Will I have to pay for these apps / games?
No, you won’t. We will provide you with promo codes for apps and games, coming straight from their developers!

Is this legal?
Yes, it is.

Will I get paid?
No, this is not a paid position…. although it could eventually lead to one.

How often do I need to do this?
That’s up to you — you could review as often as you’d like to or whenever you are available.

Do I need to be a tech genius to do this?
Not necessarily, we’re looking for reviewers from all backgrounds, from soccer moms to programmers.

Okay, but do I need to have some special skills anyway?
No, you don’t. We’ll teach you all you need to know.

Does it matter where I live?
Nope, it doesn’t. This position is open to residents of any country.

How do I apply?
Just send us a sample iPhone/iTouch app / game review (250 words is enough) so we could evaluate your writing skills. Please send it via our contacts form.

How soon will I know if I’m accepted?
Normally it should not take longer than a few days.

I’ve got another question….
You can ask it in comments or via our contacts form.

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Apple has released a new beta version v3.1 iPhone OS/firmware with build number 7C97D to registered developers, as well as an updated SDK for it.

Reportedly the 3.1 beta update — that is not available to regular users yet — fixes numerous UI issues that arose after iPhone firmware v3.0 release.

It also supposedly features such new addons as as Safari fraud protection and OpenGL improvements; the iPhone can now reportedly vibrate when you move icons, and the voice control feature is now Bluetooth enabled.

They write: “You’ve seen us give this warning before, and there are only so many ways to say it or come up with a clever title But here it is: ultrasn0w users must stay away from any firmware updates past 3.0 (including today’s 3.1 beta) until we release the tools that let you update the firmware without updating the baseband. For most phones out there, baseband updates are irreversible and you’ll lose ultrasn0w.”

So you’ve been warned!

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Just yesterday we wrote about some iPhone 3GS units overheating to death or to discoloration.

Today Wired quotes Aaron Vronko of Rapid Repair (they were the ones that first dissected the iPhone 3GS) as saying that the overheating problem is more than likely the result of faulty batteries which could eventually lead to a massive iPhone 3GS recall.

Burned "pink" iPhone 3GS to the left

Mr. Vronko said about the affected iPhone 3GS units: “My guess is there’s going to be a whole lot of batteries affected because these are from very large production runs. If you have a problem in the design of a series of batteries, it’s probably going to be spread to tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, and maybe more.”

Is a massive Apple iPhone 3GS recall just ahead? We’ll keep you posted!

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Atlus, the developers of Droplitz puzzle game, have announced that it’s now available on the iPhone (after being released on XBLA, PSN, and Windows PC).

Droplitz is a puzzler where you use remote dials to create paths to let the Droplitz flow and earn high scores.

It features four different game modes, promises ever-increasing speeds and larger boards, while also offering online high score leadersboards.

Droplitz is now available for $1.99 from the AppStore.

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

John Carmack, the founder of id Software studio responsible for the classic Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake first person shooter series, has confirmed in an interview to ShackNews that id Software is currently working on iPhone ports of their classic Quake, Quake 2, and Quake Arena games.

Mr Carmack revealed that he won’t be the main designer behind these ports: “We will be trying to put some other developers on the future classic titles, I don’t think I’m going to be doing all of the work on Quake, Quake 2 and Quake Arena on there,” he said

At the same time he confirms that “I may need to go in there and make sure certain specific things are done the way I want them to be.”

No release dates for the authorized Quake ports were announced either.

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Origin8 have released a new sci-fi iPhone RTS game called Sentinel 2: Earth Defense, featuring some rather incredibly well rendered 3D graphics.

“It’s war, and this time it’s too close to home. The Martian mission may be over, but the aliens haven’t finished playing space invaders yet.Extraterrestrial eyes have turned to a new target: they want Earth, and you’re the one that has to say ‘no’.”

Sentinel 2: Earth Defense is a sequel to Sentinel: Mars Defense ($1.99 at the AppStore), which features a new take on the classic “Tower Defense” strategy game. In it you’ll build and and upgrade defense towers with turrets, deploy ships and drones and overall try to defeat the marauding alien horde.

Mission mode provides quick tactical challenges. Beat a scenario to earn. Players can view and post full online highscores, achievements, friends and chat using the free OpenFeint service. An original retro-style techno soundtrack is also included.

You can get Sentinel 2: Earth Defense for $2.99 from the AppStore, while a video demo is also available on YouTube.

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

After reporting having found an exploit that should help them unlock the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone Dev Team announced in a rather long statement that they’re putting iPhone 3GS jailbreak/unlock on hold for now.

As for why exactly and how long we’ll need to wait for it, here’s what they say (hint: someone is playing Apple’s Cat and Mouse game):

If you already have a 3GS phone and have already done a full USB dump or captured your img3’s signed with your ECID, then you’re in great shape. You will always be able to jailbreak. But many people who plan on getting a 3GS do not yet have one. For instance, many people are waiting for their existing contracts to mature to the point where they get a price break on the 3GS. Many people are trying to sell their 3G before they can buy the 3GS. There are parts of the globe where you can’t even buy a 3GS yet! The reasons are varied, but they are many.

The nature of the 3GS hardware allows Apple to stop IPSWs from being usable unless you’ve already gotten the signed chunks they send to you based on your ECID (a unique chip ID). You cannot get these signed chunks without knowing your ECID, and you don’t know your ECID until you’ve bought your 3GS.

The jailbreak requires at least one signed iBoot-family img3 for your device. And that iBoot needs to have an exploitable bug. It’s an all-or-nothing deal…you either have your signed exploitable iBoot ready to use, for now and forever — always jailbreakable — or you have nothing.

Here’s the critical point, the reason why we’re delaying our version of the jailbreak: Once the jailbreak is out, Apple will fix the iBoot-family bug we use to accomplish it. They will simply stop signing the old iBoots and only sign the fixed ones. If you bought your phone after Apple has done this, there’s nothing you can do…the jailbreak isn’t going to work for you.

It is possible that Apple will find the bug we use without our handing it to them on a silver platter (via a public jailbreak). In that case, we will have delayed our jailbreak for “nothing”. But we’d rather be safe than sorry!

Apple is surely coming out with a 3.0.1 firmware release shortly. They need to fix ultrasn0w. They need to fix some UI issues. 3.0 is buggy and 3.0.1 is coming. We’re going to wait and see what 3.0.1 brings before figuring out the release date for our version of the jailbreak.

In the meantime, we have some remaining 3.0 jailbreak issues to investigate, including push notification. Thanks for being patient with us while we took a 3GS “timeout”!

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Staying true to its tradition of not allowing any objectionable materials into the AppStore, Apple has recently removed a what they’ve deemed to be a pornographic iPhone/iTouch app, called Hottest Girls.

To be honest, it’s not even pornographic - Hottest Girls iPhone app shows you more than 2,000+ scantily clad girls, but no real pornography is in there.

Nevertheless, this app had to go — and the interesting part is that Apple actually approved it and it was available in the AppStore, before actually having decided to pull it off the AppStore last week.

Keep in mind that you can always browse through iPhone World’s Hot Babes and Celebrities iPhone wallpapers section containing over 10,000 images at any time; it’s not an iPhone app so it won’t be removed!

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

Some recent iPhone 3Gs buyers state on Apple support forums that their newly bought units died from what in human anatomy would amount to be a sudden heat stroke, with some owners experiencing this problem within 24 hours after buying the device.

Twitter is pretty full of those messages as well

Milder cases of this problem included iPhone units suddenly freezing up.

In the meantime a French language website Nowhere Else is reporting based on multiple user reports that some newly purchased white iPhone 3GS units turn pink after less than a week of use, that being attributed to overheating.

Could this be due to the fact that Apple introduced some much more powerful hardware in the iPhone 3GS in the same exact case format as the original iPhone 3G had (meaning no extra ventilation measures were applied)?

Burned "pink" iPhone 3GS to the left

It will be interesting to see whether this will become a more widespread problem during this summer and how it could impact Apple’s revenues.

Have you had a similar problem as well? Let us know in comments!

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.

iPhone App Review: Yahoo! Mobile App
Reviewed by: Mark Jameson
App Link
Price: Free

Today I am reviewing the new Yahoo! Mobile App for iPhone. This latest offering seeks to bring all of your favourite internet content to one application, even allowing you to bring in accounts from rival web accounts such as Gmail.

At first look, this App is visually appealing with Yahoo! using it’s rich purple trademark colour to good effect. The loading time is very good and the menu bar along the bottom clearly identifies the five main categories for getting to the information that matters most to you.

The “Featured” tab displays snippets of info that is being featured on the Yahoo! Portal, tapping on any of these stories takes you to the articles without leaving the app. The “News” section works in much the same way, showing the main stories that are currently running on Yahoo! News. The “Featured” section is where the app really begins to shine. You can add almost anything here from Yahoo!’s vast content, to RSS feeds and creating your own bookmarks. Again, all of this content loads within the app making for excellent loading times.

The “Connect” tab brings us to the hottest section of today’s web, the social networking content. Here you can add email from Windows Live, Gmail, AOL and of course Yahoo!. You can IM via Yahoo! Messenger, add Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, calendar and address book content and much more. One thing which puzzles me is that to read your Yahoo! email we have leave the app and load Safari, I really expected Yahoo! to produce a better experience here! Interestingly, Gmail loads within the app!

All in all, this is an impressive app that puts the user in control of the content. Improvements could be made in the way Yahoo! Mail is handled and I would prefer the pages auto refresh when you go to each tab, currently the app checks for new content and prompts you to refresh if it finds new material.

Score:
9/10

©2009 iPhone World. All Rights Reserved.