Google Mobile is ready with its new version for the iPhone in Apple's App Store. In a latest blog post by the company, this new version has been described as one which comes with improved application features - a redesigned search results page, and with more results than in the previous version. Moreover, the app also opens Web pages from those results within the program. This according to Google should help users reach where they want to go sooner.
The most relevant feature this updated version is Voice search. Its stellar iPhone app uses the accelerometer to activate search. The accuracy of the listening software combined with the newly added MyLocation feature brings (mostly) spot-on search results that are localized to your whereabouts.
What’s new – Google Mobile App Features
Google Mobile App’s updated version has come up with some striking features to add on to its already popular app and promises to ensure a complete new user experience. While a few of the Google app have been improved, several new ones have been added. Here, the application has taken care to make it more customized to the user.
- In a bid to do this, the Bells and Whistles feature of the application has been made more prominent in the new version.
- Moreover, the new update also comes up with a feature that can change the color of Google Mobile and turn on a moving waveform when users search by voice.
- A new Voice Search application has also been added, which allow users to choose their language and accent. The languages and accents supported by the app include English, Mandarin and Japanese. Moreover, the Voice Search supports Australian accent as well.
- The updated app also offers the users with new setting that will allow them to tweak the user interface of the application.
- Apart from that the app also facilitates the users to access the websites from the application itself. This besides facilitating more search results to be displayed on the screen, also results in better and faster ‘Google search experience’.
- This new version of the Google Mobile App on other mobile platforms, this one also includes a tab of shortcuts to other Google services, including Talk, Reader, News, and Photos (Picasa Web).
- Location Services must be enabled on your iPhone and you have to opt-in to let Google Mobile App use your location.
For those of you, who own an iPhone 3GS, it should be as easy as pie to record videos with your phone. But those of you, who own an older iPhone, are not able to record videos with the iPhone. If you have an jailbroken iPhone, there is an easy way to change this! The video below shows a step by step tutorial on how to enable video recording on your 1st generation iPhone (2G) or your iPhone 3G.
Apple Inc. is known to build their success around ‘customer control’ and this business strategy is similar to Verizon. Verizon, until now has been considered a strong contender and an AT&T alternative as the next carrier option. However, as you move closer to 2010, analysts opine that it is too early for the partnership to materialize or become a reality so soon.
It is interestingly too similar an equation for Apple Inc. and Verizon, as the later too aspires to tread through the same path as Apple who runs its own iTunes App Store. While Apple controls the media experience with iTunes, Verizon does that with its V CAST service. Although, there has been wide speculation that Verizon iPhone is due for launch in 2010 and is already being tested, however, experts monitoring the prospective deal say it’s unlikely. Can Verizon influence Apple - AT&T relationship?
It has been known worldwide that Apple and AT&T in the last 2 years have shared a very successful business partnership, which at many times has been cited as them sharing ‘very favorable economics’. An estimated average selling price for the Apple iPhone sold through AT&T is approximately $700. However, by comparison, Research In Motion, Verizon’s largest handset supplier, has an average selling price of $340.
Going by all these statistics, a more realistic ETA for a Verizon iPhone seems to be a distant probability, not until 2012, when networks roll out the next-generation 4G network. Most iPhone enthusiasts are of the view that Apple Inc should and might consider more realistic deals (helping maintain margins and customer controls) with T-Mobile or Sprint before a deal between Verizon and Apple is struck.
Verizon’s 4G network, coming in 2010?
There has also been an optimistic speculation (from a technology perspective), that T-Mobile may have an advantage with a similar 3G UMTS/WCDMA network as AT&T. Going by records, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg has shared with The Wall Street Journal earlier this year that the Apple–Verizon deal for iPhone is more likely to be implemented, once 4G networks for iPhone is viable.
News is rife that Verizon might begin deploying its 4G network in 2010. This cellular standard is also known as Long Term Evolution (LTE), which many domestic and international carriers plan to use for their next-generation networks as well. For Apple, that should mean more potential iPhone customers and lesser troubles in terms of hardware production.
A custom-made iPhone encased in gold and diamond has always caught the imagination of people who love to splurge money on gadgets and then flaunt them. However, the latest to join this class of smoldering elegance is a million dollar gold iPhone 3GS Supreme encrusted with nearly 200 diamonds priced at a hefty US$3.2 million or 1.92 million pounds.
Designed by British designer Stuart Hughes, the iPhone 3GS Supreme was crafted using 271 grams of 22carat gold. The front bezel has been studded with 136 flawless diamonds, which amount to a massive 68 carats. It has been reported that the ace designer took nearly 10 months to make the phone after it was commissioned by an anonymous Australian businessman.
The exclusive million dollar iPhone – the most expensive
Apart from the dazzling gold crust and diamonds studded all around the 3GS device, the iPhone designed by Stuart Hughes, the rear Apple logo in solid gold has 53 diamonds cut to perfection amounting to 1 carat, while the front navigation button is home to a single cut very rare diamond at 7.1 carats.
Interestingly, the designer has been prudent enough to not let the elegant and expensive device be mismatch with an ordinary cover. He designed an elegant 7 kg chest for the million dollar unique handset, made from a single block of Granite. The granite chest is then covered with Kashmir gold with the inner lined with Nubuck top grain leather and is now all set to be shipped to its Australian buyer.
The iPhone App market and the App Store seem to be enjoying the attention it has been showered upon; thanks to the records it has been creating. After the much hullabaloo leading to the 1 billion iPhone app downloads saga, now comes the news from the market research firm IDC who has predicted that there will be 300,000 iPhone apps by 2010 end.
While Apple prominently figures in IDC's top 10 predictions for the coming year, released on Thursday, this is an indication enough to prove that Apple iPhone is nonetheless a revolutionary smartphone changing the mobile world for ever. Going by recent statistics, the iPhone is compatible with more than 100,000 applications that are available for download through the Apple App Store. And if IDC’s predictions are to be believed, the App store would have three times as many applications by the end of 2010.
IDC report: iPhone application momentum to grow
The IDC report has predicted at least 300,000 iPhone applications by the end of 2010, when many of the new apps coming from well-known Global 2000 business and consumer brands. These are slated to attract more consumers and businesspeople as their most frequently and profoundly used clients.
It is a fantastic record considering the fact that just only a year ago, the App Store had approximately 10,000 applications. And one year later in November, 2009 Apple has put up an announcement that it had reached the 100,000 milestone less than a year and a half after its debut; which marks an annual growth rate of 900%. The report further mentions that Google Android devices would get access to around 50,000 to 75,000 applications around the same time.
IDC report: Over 1 billion mobile devices to access the Internet in 2010
Market research firm IDC has predicted for the first time that more than 1 billion mobile devices will access the Internet by the end of the year 2010, which is 25 times faster in comparison to the 1.3 billion PCs accessing the Internet. Apart from Apple iPhone, the IDC report includes the RIM's BlackBerry and Nokia's smartphone lineup.
There are also an increasing number of phones running Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Google's Android, and Symbian^1 (notably Nokia). The report further mentions that more than 200 million of these devices, which are distinguished by their ability to run third-party applications — will be shipped in 2010. This represents 16% of the market IDC predicts by 2013, accounting for over 20%. What are your thoughts on the IDC report? Share your thoughts.
Has it ever happened to you when you wanted to capture a priceless moment in your life like your child’s first step to walk or a rare celestial happening, but got botched up due to your camera’s sloppy ‘re-action’ feature? Particularly, being armed with the iPhone and its in-built camera, there has always been an inherent urge to instantaneously capture a scene or a happening that touches your heart.
However, it is also a fact that priceless moments are restricted to priceless seconds and therefore, the time available to take such shots is always limited. At the same time, the built-in camera in an iPhone takes substantial time in starting, taking picture and then closing. This has until now been one of the limitations of iPhone camera, to be resolved lately for jailbroken iPhone users using an application called ‘Snappy’.
Snappy app for iPhone - Capturing Priceless Moments
Snappy iPhone application developed by Marc Vaillant is very much similar to qTweeter. The picture quality is similar as taken from any other app. One of the most striking features of this app is that it enables you to take photos while running any app on your iPhone screen without having to close it.
Apart from that, you can also take photos even if you screen is locked (just within a second or two) - all you have to do is to tap and hold the status bar to open the camera and you are ready to shoot a snap. Another interesting feature in Snappy is that it comes with an authority to the user to deny access from the lock screen due to security or privacy reasons.
More to come….
Snappy is undoubtedly the fastest camera app on the scene. However, what one misses at the moment is support for taking video clips in iPhone 3GS. Reports indicate that the developer, Marc Vaillant is working on bringing video features in the future version of Snappy. You can avail Snappy on Cydia for just $1.99 and it works only on jailbroken iPhones.
Therefore, it is mandatory to jailbreak iphone before you can use the application. If you haven’t yet done so, you can just log in to easyiphoneunlocking.com for quick service and support regarding your iphone unlocking or jailbreaking requirements.
Innovative and path-breaking iPhone apps have been keeping us amused and sometimes awestruck from time to time. One such application that has recently hit the iTune App Store is Twitter 360. It is a new application specifically developed for the iPhone 3GS. It enables you to visualize and locate your Twitter friends in your neighborhood. And this is possible with the help of a unique Augmented Reality functionality using the iPhone camera.
One of the most striking features of this Twitter 360 iPhone app is that this is one of the first iPhone apps to use the new Twitter's Geotagging feature. This helps geotag your tweets; however, the Twitter 360 app does not intend to be a fully Twitter client, but to offer iPhone and Twitter users a completely new Twitter experience. This iPhone app is wholly compatible with Google Map. You can locate your nearest Twitter friends from your position on Google Map within the application.
Twitter 360 App Features:
- Interpret your tweets with GPS location information via the iPhone’s Augmented Reality functionality showing your followers the location from where your last tweet was posted.
- Geotagging is disabled by default for all users. That is, it will require you to turn it on by going to Twitter.com "settings" section in order to use it in Twitter 360 app.
- ‘Latest Tweets’ mode. Here you can see the latest tweets of your friends (when positioning the iPhone horizontally), and the location from where the tweets were posted (when the iPhone is positioned vertically) using the Augmented Reality functionality.
- Moreover, whenever a tweet is selected, you can see a blue arrow (compass) that is displayed to show the direction and the distance to the location from where the tweet was posted. Interestingly, the distance is updated in real time as you walk in the streets.
- Also, Touch the Star feature to add your best Twitter friends in your favorites.
- ‘Locate my Friends’ mode. Here you can create the list of all your best friends; and Twitter 360 app allows you to track geographic movements of your friends, i.e. you can now locate your nearby friends via Augmented Reality. This proves to be a great tool if you wish to hang out with a certain friend.
- However, unlike the ‘Latest Tweets’ mode, which is more focused on the tweets; in the ‘Locate my Friends’ mode, the location of your friends can be calculated with the ‘location’ field data on the Twitter account. So, whenever you select a friend, a blue arrow is displayed to illustrate the direction and the distance to the location of that friend. While the selected friend is highlighted in screen in blue, the distance is updated in real time as you walk in the streets.
- Another interesting feature is, when you launch Twitter 360 app, you can see a small bird help localize your precise position and update the ‘location’ data on your Twitter account with the coordinates (if you wish to).
- You can also switch off the geo-localization option in the setting to be in ‘invisible’ mode. So, your friends will not be able to locate you are anymore and your tweets won't be geotagged too.
The Twitter 360 app does not work on other iPhone / iPod Touch models at the moment, and the Augmented Reality functionality is only available to iPhone 3GS users. Released just today, Twitter 360 app is available on the App Store for $2.99 and provides you with an augmented reality view of nearby tweets. If you have used this application please do share your experiences with us.
Google Mobile is ready with its new version for the iPhone in Apple's App Store. In a latest blog post by the company, this new version has been described as one which comes with improved application features - a redesigned search results page, and with more results than in the previous version. Moreover, the app also opens Web pages from those results within the program. This according to Google should help users reach where they want to go sooner.
