iPhone Hysteria

[FG Lurker]

You can't change the battery,

If you are worried about battery life then get an external battery. Far more juice than a second battery would have and cheaper too.

expensive subscription

Not really considering the cost of packets in Japan. I used 460,000yen worth of packets last month but paid a few thousand yen for them under SB's data plan.

can't install skype

Fring works fairly well as a Skype client and also supports ICQ, MSN, etc.

flac playback

What the hell is flac? Not important for me whatever it is.

crapy camera

Works fine for me but if I wanted a good photo I'd use my d700 anyway.

crappy GPS (no driving directions)

The GPS has always worked well enough for me. Cars in Japan tend to have GPS-navi in them so iPhone driving directions are a non-issue for the vast majority of Japanese drivers.

My biggest complaints about the iPhone these days are that Apple crippled the bluetooth stack (nothing allowed except headsets) and that UI response is sometimes too slow.

I can understand why Apple doesn't allow BT modems but they should allow the phone to sync via BT and adding devices like a BT keyboard would be awesome. Even the ability to connect a keyboard via the dock connector would be fine...

[Doctor Stop]

Softbank to release 1 seg adapter for iPhone

80 grams? It weighs almost as much as a whole new phone with 1Seg.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nc20081112pc.html

[james]

ok, so i just updated to iphone 2.2 upon reading that the update became available. so far i've managed to disable auto-correct. thank fucking god. finally i can type "izumo" in romaji and not have it insist my keypress is an "i" and not an "o". (it would literally pop up the "i" instead of the "o" not simply "correct" it to "izumi" afterwards). this may not affect any of you but it was driving me nuts. (i'm an hour from the place and go there at least weekly)

has anyone else updated? i can't for the life of me find the fabled emoji support.

edit: i found it! under: settings-> general -> keyboard -> international keyboards -> japanese -> (toggle emoji on | off)
toggle them on, then when composing an email, to bring them up just punch that globe looking thing in the bottom left and there they are.

[GomiGirl]

I was just about to reply with the instructions when you posted the edit. The smilies are nice too. Haven't tested them with extra-carrier use - as far as I can tell it is just SMS within the Softbank network. Docomo are not going to open up the gateway just yet to allow PC/iphone mail with emoji.

Baby steps....

[james]

i've sent out a couple of test messages, i should know fairly soon if it worked.. i'm in no rush. i'd be happy simply if au messages sent with emoji didn't bork.

[FG Lurker]

The only caveat is that the 2.2 update also updates the iPhone 3G's baseband. Anyone hoping for some future unofficial "carrier freedom" shouldn't update to 2.2 via iTunes...

[Charles]

has anyone else updated?

I had the damndest time updating. My DSL provider decided to do an "upgrade" to my DSLAM, causing intermittent outages just as I was downloading. It took several attempts to pull the upgrade through iTunes, and then just after the upgrade was pushed to my phone, my DSL went down completely, stalling the re-authorization of my phone. Of course none of the problems had anything to do with Apple.

I did also notice one odd thing happened (again) during my upgrade. Oftentimes I see a warning when docking my iPhone, something about "This device is not designed for the iPhone, do you want to enable Airport mode?" Of course that's ridiculous, the dock comes with the iPhone. It took me a while to figure out why this happens: pocket lint gets into the connector, making some of the pins not connect with the dock. Solution: blow the lint out of your iPhone's socket on the bottom.

[GomiGirl]

I do like the new layout of the apps store on 2.2. Filters the free from the paid apps for most popular.

[GomiGirl]

[Charles]

Sending and receiving MMS on your iphone.

MMS coming to the iPhone soon?

[FG Lurker]

MMS coming to the iPhone soon?

I'd love to see MMS on the iPhone but I think Apple's love of MobileMe revenue trumps our peonistic MMS desires.

[IkemenTommy]

Is MMS the same as SMS?

Or is that some kind of chat feature?

Damn, I need to jump on the keitai band-wagon!

[GomiGirl]

Is MMS the same as SMS?

Or is that some kind of chat feature?

Damn, I need to jump on the keitai band-wagon!

SMS = Short messages - just text no graphics, photos or videos
MMS = MultiMedia Messages - text, photos and video attachments OK. Plus now deco mail allows for HTML messages with animated gifs, backgrounds, dancing text, sound file embeds etc.


The irony is that an MMS sends an SMS first to alert the phone that a message is coming. I always thought it was weird in japan how DoCoMo never allowed SMS but MMS was OK. These days things are different in that you can send and receive SMS in Japan on some phones and mostly to overseas numbers but sadly not between carriers within Japan.

Softbank have always had the 2 services running side by side. Skymail which is just SMS but only between phones that are on the softbank network.

[Mike Oxlong]

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE4AN6G220081124

Apple Inc is the target of a lawsuit that claims a technology the iPhone uses to surf the Web infringes on a patent filed by Los Angeles real estate developer Elliot Gottfurcht and two co-inventors.

The lawsuit was filed by EMG Technology LLC on Monday in the U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas. EMG was founded by Gottfurcht, is based in Los Angeles with an office in Tyler, and has just one employee.

The suit alleges that the technology the iPhone uses to navigate and display some websites designed for small phone screens infringes on a patent obtained last month by Gottfurcht and his co-inventors and assigned to EMG.

Apple spokeswoman Susan Lundgren declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying that the Cupertino, California-based company does not discuss pending litigation.

EMG has not considered suing companies such as HTC Corp, maker of the G1 Google phone, and Research in Motion Ltd, maker of the BlackBerry, which also produce devices that can display mobile websites, according to Gottfurcht's lawyer Stanley Gibson, a partner with the Los Angeles law firm Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro.

Mobile websites are essentially reformatted versions of ordinary websites, with their content manipulated to be easily viewed on tiny screens.

"We haven't looked at anything other than the iPhone," Gibson told Reuters. "That was the device that we looked at. Obviously it's very popular."

[james]

I had the damndest time updating.

the only time i had difficulty updating was the first time, i made the mistake of plugging the phone into a usb hub, instead of directly into a usb port.

suffice it to say, "don't do this" or you'll be losing data and doing a restore in very short order.

[FG Lurker]

Stumbled upon something by accident today. A quick Google search shows this is no big secret but I had no idea:

To do a screen grab on your iPhone 2G/3G or iPod Touch (all v2 or later firmware):

While holding down the home button press the sleep button. Other way around works too. The screen capture will be saved in your current Photo Album.

Keep in mind that if you hold these two buttons down for 10secs the phone will reset.

[GomiGirl]

How do you think we get all the screen shots????

[FG Lurker]

How do you think we get all the screen shots????

Had no idea GG... I haven't had any need of taking an iPhone screenshot before and came across it accidentally.

[FG Lurker]

Linux on the iPhone
Linux on the iPhone Blog, November 28, 2008

I'm pleased to announce that the Linux 2.6 kernel has been ported to Apple's iPhone platform, with support for the first and second generation iPhones as well as the first generation iPod touch. This is a rough first draft of the port, and many drivers are still missing, but it's enough that a real alternative operating system is running on the iPhone.

(Full Story)

Mmm, Android running on an iPhone could be interesting. Finally an iPhone that could multitask!

[FG Lurker]

Any iPhone owner knows that there is a handy stock app built into the phone. You can add stock symbols and also averages like the DOW or N225.

I just found out that you can add currency pairs too. If you want the USD vs the JPY then add USDJPY=X. For the Euro, EURJPY=X...

No daily up/down of course as there is no start-of-day for a currency. You get the current rate though and weekly/monthly/etc charts.

Very handy!

[james]

it's so easy to post things and bitch when life doesn't go your way that i thought i'd share a recent positive iphone/softbank experience:

shortly after i got my phone the damn screen cracked, for reasons that to this day elude me. i was told by the people at my softbank store that it would be 3 man to replace the phone. i elected not to and while not happy, eventually came to terms with my world-shattering loss.

were this to have been the end of it, fine, though i think 3 man is excessive when i'm sure apple techs can fix / refurb them for a couple of orders of magnitude cheaper than that. standard apple parts and a skilled tech could probably fix a few of these in an hour..

as it turns out however, there were other defects - the gps was wonky and most notably music playback via the ipod player would stop and start randomly when headphones were plugged in. i'm guessing there was a bad solder point somewhere.

so once again i went into softbank, partially expecting to be rebuffed again (but all smiles) and explained the problems to them, let them check things out and was able to replicate the music playback problems with the phone sitting on the table perfectly flat and still.

the guy i dealt with was 100% professional, totally went to bat for me over the phone once it was determined unequivocally to be a hardware problem. i could overhear him talking to the apple rep or whomever it is they call and i was given a replacement phone. i think it's a refurb actually, but whatever. music playback is perfect, the gps works and the screen is crack free. since they had cases in stock this time, i bought a silicone case that fits over the back and it comes with a film to apply to the screen. best 2600 yen i'll ever spend and i was happy to give them the business.

my only complaints are very, very minor (i was too happy with my "new" phone to really care) but it would be nice if softbank had in-store facilities for backing up the phone. when replacing your phone, you (obviously) have to turn in your old one but they don't transfer your data. i'd forgotten to back up my data and it's a 40 minute drive one way for me. they could also use these same facilities for keeping their replacement phones up-to-date. the replacement had a very old firmware so it took quite awhile to update it and get everything back on there.

overall it was a very positive experience.

[james]

i totally suck at chess but i enjoy the game a lot. so a few weeks ago i dropped $5 on caissa chess and have been playing it fairly regularly. i've even won a game or two (out of many having my ass handed to me) on the lowest level

so i was playing today and actually doing fairly well when, while making a move with my queen, the phone notified me of an incoming email. this seemed to bugger up the chess engine and i lost my queen. not captured, she's just gone.

player is white. iphone is black. iirc my queen was on e8 and the move i was making was e8 to e5 to capture the enemy queen.

below is a screen capture - as you can see, she's gone into hiding and i'm wondering if greji has something to do with it cause i know he likes the queens.



i continued to play without her but lost quite badly..

[Mike Oxlong]

I've suspected Greji has a connection with iPhone myself recently...

Plenty of evidence points in his direction...

[Greji]

I've suspected Greji has a connection with iPhone myself recently...

Plenty of evidence points in his direction...

I am being framed. There is no reason to believe that apple would react to that fat envelope, I mean recommendation, I sent to Steve Jobs...

As for missing Queens, I would recommend contacting Iraira. He has the cosmetic and bullwhip concession for all bars in Shinjuku 2-chome.

[Tsuru]

I don`t get the iPhone. Even now that the 3G is available other manufacturers continue to leap ahead with far better phones for less money which also, dare I say it, look better.

Just got me a beautiful shiny Nokia E71 a few weeks back and I would never ever ever ever dream of swapping it for an iPhone. It works brilliantly in Japan as well

[Charles]

[quote="Tsuru"]I don`t get the iPhone. Even now that the 3G is available other manufacturers continue to leap ahead with far better phones for less money which also, dare I say it, look better.

Just got me a beautiful shiny Nokia E71 a few weeks back and I would never ever ever ever dream of swapping it for an iPhone. It works brilliantly in Japan as well ]
Of course you don't get it. You think it's a telephone.

[gomichild]

I has iPhone!!!
[size=75]*strokes the screen lovingly*
[/SIZE]

[james]

*strokes the screen lovingly*

how i wish i were an iphone

[IkemenTommy]

[quote="Tsuru"]I don`t get the iPhone. Even now that the 3G is available other manufacturers continue to leap ahead with far better phones for less money which also, dare I say it, look better.

Just got me a beautiful shiny Nokia E71 a few weeks back and I would never ever ever ever dream of swapping it for an iPhone. It works brilliantly in Japan as well ]

One of these?

Softbank Spermbank seems to be canceling the sales.

[FG Lurker]

Yes, because Nokia has pulled out of Japan.