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iPhone Apps roundup from Steve Sande of the unofficial Apple Weblog.
Damn. iPhone developers have been clamming up over the last few weeks, so we haven't had much to post in the App News Roundup. Now that it's getting closer to i-Day Friday, the tips are starting to pour in.
* Deepak Mantena of Tapeshow told us about Chores, his GTD app for iPhone (see screenshots above). It will be in the App Store, with a Mac companion app coming in August. He'll also have Wordy (for helping you improve your vocabulary), Gratuity (easy tip calculator), and Fright (a good way to scare your friends) in the App Store Friday.
* Another ebook reader app for iPhone has been announced; Lexcycle Stanza will be in the App Store on Friday for free. Stanza uses Project Gutenberg eTexts so you can have a library of classics at your fingertips.
* Developer Pascal Bourque let us know that he's submitted DutchTab to the App Store. You can use this app to split restaurant bills fairly between a group of co-workers or friends. His site isn't up yet, but will be soon at this link.
* 3Monk3ys has three iPhone apps that available on Friday. DoubleDrop (a puzzle game) will be available for $2.99. Attitude is an simulation of an airplane's Attitude Indicator (ADI), and is priced at $2.99 as well. Finally, iSoroban is a Japanese abacus simulator priced at $1.99
* Noah WItherspoon mentioned that his game Tris will be available soon after the App Store launch. Details are on his dev blog at this site.
* Are you a pilot? Felix Khazin is releasing AirWX, an iPhone app for grabbing METARs, maps, and more. AirWX uses CoreLocation and pulls up nav charts from skyvector.com.
* Kayakers are going to need a waterproof case for their iPhones! Wayne David Daley has RiverGuide coming out soon. Can you say real-time river flow info?
* Thomas Aylesworth of Bayou Games let us know about Morocco, his Othello game for iPhone.
* Edovia will be selling Steps, pedometer software for iPhone, starting Friday for $1.99. Their Linguo translator software will retail for $2.99 and features 17 languages.
* If you need to lose a few pounds, All of Zero has iScale coming out soon. You can keep track of what you eat, find the nutrional value of various foods, and more.
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Apple’s new iPhone 3G S will go on sale June 19.
The new iPhone comes in 16GB and 32GB versions and will set you back $199 and $299, respectively. You can check whether you qualify for the upgrade here. However, Apple’s Web site seems to be buckling under the stress at the moment.
Here’s a rundown of the major hardware changes:
Speed
The iPhone 3G S comes with a bevy of new features including a speed boost of up to 2X on everything from viewing email attachments to launching applications. Probably the biggest improvement you, the end user, will notice is how fast Web pages load.
The new iPhone hardware builds upon a massive increase in javascript performance in the new software of iPhone OS 3.0. Combined, the two advancements should make the web even more accessible than it was before. If you upgrade from an original iPhone, the improvement should be even more astonishing.
It also allows for the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA standard, which means even faster 3G is supported. The iPhone 3G S should also allow for better 3D gaming as it includes hardware support for the OpenGL|ES standard.
Video and Camera
Phone 3G S shoots 30 frames per second VGA video with a 3 megapixel camera that allows you to tap anywhere on the screen to focus on a particular object. You can even scrub through the video and trim to just the parts you want and then share the video on YouTube or MobileMe.
People have been asking for this feature since day one. Now you can have it, no jailbreaking required.
Personally, I expect the ability to trim videos to revolutionize the quality and ubiquity of cell phone videos. Nobody wants to share a 4 minute video on the web when the last 20 seconds are the only bit worth watching.
Also, the new camera features autofocus and auto white balance while also allowing you to macro focus up to just centimeters away from an object. This means apps can really make use of text and photo recognition software. Expect these types of apps to really start to take off with the new hardware too.
Voice Control
While other phones have been voice dialing for years, iPhone has been sorely lacking. There have been apps which have tried to fill this gap, like Google’s Mobile App, but Voice Control looks to be the official answer.
You can activate Voice Control by holding the home button and then dial anyone in your address book. You can also play a song from your iPod too by saying, for example, “play songs by Queen” or “play playlist Top Rated.” You can even activate the Genius feature by saying “play more songs like this.”
Compass
A built-in magnetometer, or compass, had long been rumored to be in the works for the new iPhone. While iPhone 3G’s GPS is good, a compass adds one very important piece of information to users - direction. The built in map app, for example, will reorient according to the direction you’re currently pointing.
This should make navigation just a little bit easier.
Battery
The battery in the iPhone 3G S lasts somewhat longer. While talk time 3G is about the same (5 hours), if you chat on 2G your talk time improves from 10 to 12 hours. Using the Internet on 3G is about the same too (5 hours), while surfing the Internet on Wi-Fi improves from 6 hours to 9 hours. Video and audio playback will also see improvements - video playback goes from 7 to 10 hours and audio goes from 24 to 30.
Nothing amazing here but certainly some decent improvements.
Anti-Grease Support
Your fingerprints should have a harder time making the iPhone ugly thanks to a special coating on the exterior of the device. Now you can be greasier than ever. Oh happy day!
Nike + iPod
The iPhone 3G S also includes support for the Nike + iPod sensor. So if you buy a Nike shoe plus the sensor, it will communicate directly with your iPhone and provide you tons of information about your workout.
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For specification comparison between iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G click on this link.
