Ryan wanted to add a flash to his iPhone so he cut open a Mophie JuicePack and connected a bright white LED and tiny switch. Boom: instant flash.

He has it set up to trigger when you hold down a button on the case but you can obviously use your own little head to come up with better solutions. Thankfully he walks through the entire process, ensuring even fools like me could replicate his solution.

What does this do? It carrier unlocks the iPhone 3G. Sadly, it doesn’t yet work on the 3G S. It is also safe to update to the latest 3.0 version.

Quickpwn writes:

It’s safe to update to the current iPhone 3.0 baseband – ultrasn0w will work with it, but for future updates such as firmware 3.0.1 (or whichever # the next firmware is) you should hold off on updating and check here first to see if it’s safe to update. Apple may be able to make a baseband update that permanently locks your firmware just as they did with firmware 2.2.1 users.

Better read the fine print, friends. Apple said today that the iPhone 3G S costs $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB). But that’s the price only for new AT&T customers. The price if you’re already an AT&T customer and/or are upgrading from an iPhone 3G? Try $699 (32GB), $599 (16GB), and $499 (8GB). To quote Peter Ha: “HOLY SHIT.”

I think I speak for most of the Internet when I say that price is 100 percent ridiculous. How many iPhone 3G’s are floating around out there? And how many of those will be upgraded to the new iPhone 3G S?

I don’t know who’s to blame, Apple or AT&T, but I cannot wait to see them try to spin this news.

UPDATE So this is what AT&T tells us:

An iPhone 3G customer in most cases can early upgrade at $399 [16GB] or $499 [32GB].

You’ll note that that’s still several hundred dollars more than what Joe Smoe would have to pay, right off the street, if he doesn’t already have an AT&T account.

And what does “early upgrade” mean? Or “most cases”? The joys of dealing with AT&T!

My recommendation would be to call AT&T yourself to see what you’re looking at.

A new glass screen costs about $70 while the LCD costs $99. All of it is easy enough to fix with a little gumption.

I can’t deny the fact that Mophie knows how to make stylish accessories for the iPhone, but after a lackluster experience with the original Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G I’m wondering if the air will fair any better.

Quick Version: The Juice Pack air has an added bonus of being not only a reserve battery pack, but also a hard cover for your iPhone 3G. It doesn’t add too much extra girth to the svelte device and comes with an on/off switch (located at the base for the reserve battery.

Extended Version: If you’re looking for gobs of extra battery life then you needn’t look here. When my iPhone 3G’s battery dipped under 10 percent I placed it into the air and got enough juice to hit the 85 to 90 percent mark. As I recall, the original Juice Pack managed to give me close to two full charges when battery life was under 20 percent. But that had an 1800 mAh battery while the air only has a 1200 mAh battery.

On the flipside, the air is a pretty nice case that more or less doubles the thickness of the iP3G, which might not be acceptable to most, but with the added value of extra power, I’m inclined to accept its portliness.

The top piece can be removed if you don’t feel like encasing your iP3G altogether and the overall size of the air was drastically reduced thanks to the microUSB port and smaller battery. Yes, it still connects to iTunes just like the original. And it still comes fully charged out of the box.

But at $80 you have other options that offer more battery life and functionality. For example, the iV from Fastmac offers at least two full charges, an LED flash and the added bonus of USB slot to charge other gadgets. Sure, it’s ginormous and doesn’t fit in your pocket, but it’s perfect for your gear bag and offers more power.

If you don’t care about such things and just want something that looks pretty, fits in your pocket, adds a bit of protection and offers emergency power then the air is should do you just fine. It comes in black, white and purple and starts shipping tomorrow.

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Again, I don’t know how so many of you guys put up with your iPhone “3G,” in quotes because of the constant complaining about the lack of speed. In fact, a lawsuit was just filed in New Jersey that accuses AT&T and Apple of, among other things, Negligent Misrepresentation and Breach of Contract.

The lawsuit, filed by one Damone Dickerson, claims that the 3G speeds delivered aren’t what was advertised—that’s provided 3G is even available. (How badly did AT&T screw the pooch at SXSWi this year, fellow attendees?) This isn’t the first lawsuit of its kind, with similar suits being filed in several other states, including New York and California.

This isn’t a childish point-and-laugh at AT&T post, but for a phone that’s so beloved by so many of you guys, you’d think that AT&T would be working nonstop to keep you happy. I’m happy to admit that it’s a “cool” phone or whatever, but if it doesn’t work as advertised, why bother?

News broke yesterday that AT&T would begin offering the iPhone 3G for existing customers without a contract. Today, AT&T confirmed publicly that they would begin selling both models next Thursday, March 26. It comes at a premium though, and will go for $599 and $699 for the 8GB and 16GB models, respectively.

Spokesman Michael Coe said AT&T will sell the phones starting next Thursday for $599 or $699, depending on the storage capacity.

via AP

The first thing that caught my eye is that they changed a couple of icons. Otherwise the home screen is the same as it was before. Accessing the search screen feels just right. You swipe the screen to the right and it’s there. You can search contacts, music and mail. Photos and text messages don’t seem to show up for me.

The email screen looks like the same as it was before but if you swipe down you’ll notice the new search bar. If your search has no results in your inbox you can expand your query to your original Gmail account.Browsing seems a bit faster too; it took about 10 seconds to load crunchgear.com. Maybe they put some of Safari 4’s performance tweaks into the iPhone browser.

The iPhone gets copy/paste! Everyone go crazy!

So this is where I double tap. Now I can choose to select a region specified by me or to select the whole text. The following is pretty self-explanatory.

The undo function works like a charm. Shake to undo and shake again to redo. This is not instant, though, so you don’t have to be afraid that you’ll accidentally undo or redo something if you put the phone down or something.

The Voice Memos app has a sweet built-in decibel meter. After you record your stuff you can share it. I’m not sure if I’ll ever use this application but it’s fun.

The memo app and its menu

I tried to send an MMS to myself but it seems that I have to set it up with my carrier first (why would an iPhone plan support MMS right now after all). Bluetooth will also remain a mystery for now.

We’ll keep you informed of any new stuff we find, easter eggs, bugs, or what have you, so check back.

Update:

- If you press the home button at the home screen search comes up. Press again to go back to the home screen
- The free memory app seems to be able to free up to 35MB of RAM. This value was 20-23MB previously
- Copy/Paste in email works a little different: Touch until magnifier comes up and then release for the copy menu
- Copied text is available after switching the phone off and on again
- You can copy entire text messages by double tapping the message bubble at the SMS thread. It’s a little funny though because the bubbles turn blue but only the most recently selected bubble gets copied
- The little camera icon for MMS is just not there for me
- Can not connect to Youtube
- Push email works pretty well. I get emails instantly from Gmail when the phone is in standby

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/17/iphone-os-30-beta-hands-on/feed/ 230 http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/11/mophie-juice-pack-air-for-the-iphone-3g-up-for-pre-order/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/11/mophie-juice-pack-air-for-the-iphone-3g-up-for-pre-order/#comments Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:40:56 +0000 Peter Ha http://www.crunchgear.com/?p=71601 Coming this spring from Mophie is the Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3G, which is essentially the Juice Pack but with a top cover to fully encase your iPhone. I’d be excited by this concept, but I’ve been using FastMac’s iV for the last month and it’s significantly better despite it’s girth. ]]>

Coming this spring from Mophie is the Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3G, which is essentially the Juice Pack but with a top cover to fully encase your iPhone. I’d be excited by this concept, but I’ve been using FastMac’s iV for the last month and it’s significantly better despite it’s girth.

Mophie touts this as being the world’s thinnest Apple certified “Works with iPhone” external battery, but the Air only has a 1200 mAh battery and that pales in comparison to the iV’s 3100 mAh battery. At this point I’m more interested in battery life than looks. However, I can’t cram the iV into my pocket and that’s a problem. On the other hand I have two broken Juice Packs on my desk.

The Juice Pack Air is up for pre-order in black, white and purple for $80. The FastMac iV is available now for $80 and even has an LED flash.

Just FYI – 2.2.1 is jailbroken but upgrading will totally bork your unlock.

UPDATE – The guys are saying don’t use this jailbreak. It’s not an official dev team release and, as we mentioned, it borks your unlock. A real jailbreak is forthcoming.

UPDATE #2 – The real deal iPhone dev team QuickPwn (Windows/Mac) and PwnageTool (Mac only) apps are now available. They have yet to SIM unlock the new baseband (02.30.03), so tread with caution and read directions especially close if you’re planning on liberating your handset.

The unlock works on the iPhone, the iPhone 3G, and the 1st gen Touch.

iPhone 3G users, do not update to firmware 2.2.1 if you want to keep your unlock because firmware 2.2.1 will update your baseband permanently. You will need to download custom firmware with an earlier baseband in order to use QuickPWN.

I’ve never felt so dirty in my entire life. I gave the Mophie Juice Pack nothing but praise last year and now I feel used and abused. It shouldn’t surprise me, really. The first review unit that was sent to me basically broke after a few hours. It managed to recharge my iP3G once and then failed to do so ever again. I assumed it was just a faulty unit that wasn’t caught during a QA check. But now I see the light.

The Juice Pack isn’t completely useless. It just won’t charge my iP3G unless it, too, is plugged into a power source, which defeats the purpose of having the ‘backpack’ around. I’ve tried ‘fixing it’ by cleaning off the port and letting it charge to 100 percent but neither have worked. John has one and his seems to be fine. I only bring this up since I’ve had two break on me and thought you should know. Has anyone else encountered such a situation?

In order to give publications the opportunity to review products as early as possible, we produced a small quantity of product as “review samples” only. This small production run resulted in a greater than normal rate of defect, which was the result of a safety mechanism being calibrated to be too sensitive and causing units to shut off at higher (but normal) operating temperatures.

This problem was caught early and was immediately resolved before units were shipped to retailers or end users. Here at mophie, we are very confident in the product we have produced and have taken the time and resources to create the most useful, safe and reliable product possible. We stand behind this statement with a warranty that covers the product from defect for up to one year. Our customer service team is always available to talk to customers and handle any product related questions they may have.

For $8 you can get a piece of plastic that redirects whatever sound is coming out of your iPhone 3G speaker to your face. Or the general vicinity of your face. The SoundClip supposedly amplifies the audio by 10 dB between 5kH and 20kHz. Or you could just use the craptacular earbuds that come with your iPhone and not spend the extra $8. Your choice.

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What if the iPhone had four cores? (If I were a rich man!) Such a rumor has, apparently, been circulating around the shell of MacWorld. With four cores, Apple could turn the iPhone into a legitimate gaming platform.

The other half of this four-core rumor is software. Namely, Apple would release Firmware 3.0, in all its glory, alongside the iPhone.

This is where I should ask the audience: how many of you iPhone owners use it as a “serious” gaming platform? Not being an iPhone owner—and now that the Palm Pre is the new hotness—I can’t speak to its gaming prowess. Is it anything more than merely a quick-subway-game-of-puzzler?

Wal-Mart may have teased us with the false $99 iPhone rumor, but AT&T has given us an after-Christmas surprise. They’re selling black refurbished 8GB iPhone 3Gs for $99 with a 2-year contract renewal, and refurbished 16GB iPhone 3Gs in black or white for $199. If Santa didn’t come through this year, head to AT&T’s site before these sell out.

Say hello to the worst list you’ll read all day. It’s Consumer Reports’ idea of the Top 5 Smartphones, and I think you’ll agree that it misses the mark. There’s the Samsung Blackjack II, the T-Mobile Wing, the Motorola Q9C, the T-Mobile Shadow and the BlackBerry Pearl Flip. I’m not lying when I say that I’ve heard of, at most, like two of those phones, and I do this stuff all day long.

Missing from the list, obviously, is the iPhone 3G, which is absurd. Peter and I may hate on the iPhone 3G from time to time, but you can’t seriously tell me that the Blackjack II is a superior device.? Nor is there any love for the G1! And fully 40 percent of those phones are T-Mo exclusives. Obviously the person(s) who put this together doesn’t live so much as 30 miles north of NYC, since T-Mo up here is equivalent to stringing two tin cans together in order to make a call. (We also don’t get T-Mo 3G on our property.)

Perhaps we should take into account that Consumer Reports is primarily read by older people who are inherently afraid of technology, but I’d say this list is, at best, a little off.

via jkOnTheRun

For the (german) article, click here.

Mophie’s Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G is without a doubt a must-have if you can swallow the high price tag of $100. But I’d gladly pay the extra $100 knowing that I can leave the office or my apartment and gallivant around town without fear of having to find a power outlet by mid-day.

Pros
It comes fully charged right out of the box.
Four blue LEDs on the back indicate battery levels.
A single charge, which takes roughly 3.5 hours from dead will sufficiently juice up your iPhone 3G from the dead twice over (almost).
Recharging your iPhone 3G with less than 20 percent juice left takes anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.
The Juice Pack charges over USB, but still syncs with iTunes.

Cons
It’s a bit bulky and does nothing to really protect your iP3G.
It costs $100.
When you initially put the phone into the Juice Pack it vibrates to let you know that it’s connected. When the Juice Pack’s battery is depleted the iPhone has trouble recognizing that and starts to freak out by signaling that it’s connected and then not and so on. So, if you’re a light sleeper or one that keeps this near your bed it could give you a mild heart attack because I almost had one.

Overall
Despite the price tag, I’m going to have to recommend the Juice Pack because it flat out works and doubles your battery life. While the case itself is a bit large, it’s not so big that you wouldn’t throw it into your bag. But I wouldn’t want to put it in my pants pockets either.

Despite claims that 2.2 improves battery life you’re still not going to make it through an entire day without having to recharge. I sparingly used my iPhone 3G before getting the Juice Pack and now I use it till the cows come home and don’t sweat the fact that it’s almost dead by noon.

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