Category: iphone

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Review: TweetDeck for iPhone

TweetDeck LogoI had been using Twitter for since 2006 and the iPhone since its initial release in 2007. Through out these times I had been searching for the ultimate Twitter client on the iPhone and on my Mac.

Before I can get into the review of TweetDeck for iPhone, I have to provide some context. To understand this I must first explain my personal requirements.

My requirements for a Twitter client are quite different from the average Twitter user, but they should be very similar to most people in my situation. I personally do not believe in gaining as many followers as possible for my personal Twitter account, but more the quality of the people (peeps) I follow. Of course, that’s another story for the company Twitter accounts I manage. As a result the timelines for the different Twitter accounts I manage are huge and the updates fly by very fast.

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MMS With iPhone 3.0 On iPhone 3G [Updated]

iPhone 3G With 3.0When I the create the post, To iPhone 3G S or Not?, I was not able to enable the MMS function on my iPhone 3G.

Before I explain how to enable MMS on an iPhone 3G running the iPhone 3.0 firmware, let me explain my context.

My iPhone 3G is the officially “SIM unlocked” version of the iPhone 3G directly from Apple Online Store Hong Kong. It capacity happens to be a 16GB version. I installed the iPhone 3.0 firmware “Golden Master” version onto my iPhone.

The following applies to any carrier situations, no matter whether the carrier in question is an official carrier partner with Apple in the country.

[Update: 12:10, June 18, 2009]
Added MMS settings for PCCW. Please note that these settings had not been tested on the iPhone. Please leave a note in the Comment section if you’re a PCCW customer and tried it on your iPhone 3G.

[Update: 13:01, June 18, 2009]
Thanks to reader Jon for pointing out the typo in the MMSC for Smartone-Vodafone.

[Update: 14:01, June 18, 2009]
I just received some news from Smartone-Vodafone that contradicts the information I received from them in two separate occasions, which is the fact that they do not charge their customers for receiving MMS.

The latest information is that they will charge HKD0.04/KB; a maximum of HKD12.00/MMS, to receive MMS.

This comes back to my original point I always had with MMS, the technology will not get wide adoptions and acceptances by consumers until the carriers remove these ridiculous pricing.

I for one will not use it!

I encourage all to not use it and ensure you do not pay the fees to show our disgust.

[Update: 17:11, June 18, 2009]
Thanks to reader Karay who pointed to a person calling himself “markmall_hk” on UWants.com, I have now updated the MMS settings for all mobile carriers in Hong Kong.

[Update: 01:10, June 20, 2009]
Added settings for CTM in Macau.

[Update: 01:20, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Niels for the China Unicom 3G settings in mainland China.

[Update: 01:30, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Ju for confirming the settings for PEOPLE.

[Update: 15:10, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Todd for confirming the settings for CSL

[Update: 22:00, June 23, 2009]
Thanks to the folks at iPhoneHacks.com we now have a set of instructions for our US friends who are stuck with AT&T.

[Update: 12:15, June 24, 2009]
Thanks to reader Filipe for supplying the settings for CTM Macau non-prepaid SIM card customers.

[Update: 16:00, June 25, 2009]
I just double checked Smartone-Vodafone’s web site and it clearly states that “3G SmarTone-Vodafone customers” can receive MMS for FREE.

So I do not understand why the previous Customer Service representative claims that I have to pay the HKD0.04/KB when I clearly told her that I was on a 3G plan, plus she had my account opened in front of her.

[Update: 12:00, June 26, 2009]
Added the instructions to enable to the “Cellular Data Network” option within the Network settings pane.

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To iPhone 3GS or Not?

iPhone 3G imageThe question that many are asking themselves after Apple’s keynote announcement on Monday (June 8th, 10:00 US EDT) is, “should I upgrade to the new Apple iPhone 3GS?”

This is a reasonable question to ask as rumors of the cost of the new iPhone models are in the USD600 and USD700 range without a new 2-year contract with the respective carrier.

Many of you know, Apple also made available the “Golden Master” version of the iPhone firmware 3.0 to its developers for testing. This software when released will be free to all existing iPhone and iPhone 3G users.

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Review: EatWillGrow on iPhone

EatWillGrow Game ScreenEatWillGrow is another one of those retro arcade style game with a twist.

The goal of the game is simple as with others games of this genre. You have a little green ball figure; with a smily face, that you manipulate on the screen collecting different sizes balls, while trying to avoid land mines; diamond shapes with red dot, if touch that will be game over.

The balls you collect come in different sizes and they flow down the screen in various patterns. I wish these patterns are random but they are the same each time. Mixed in the field of balls are bonus balls. Some of these balls when captured can slow down the game offering you a moment of rest, and others will speed up the game so that it can be even more challenging.

If that is all EatWillGrow does, it will be no different than the many cheap games on the NDS, fortunately there is more. How can an iPhone game, with any salt, be sucessful without using some of the native capabilities of the iPhone?

In the game you can choose to use the Steve Jobs stylus (your finger) to manipulate the little green ball figure around the screen, but that will be too lame even for the iPhone. So the devloper offers the player the option to use the iPhone’s built in accelerometer for manipulating the little green ball figure.

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OS 10.5.7 is Safe for iPhone 3G

Pwnage Tool logoApple released the new OS X update 10.5.7 on Tuesday evening (US PST). When it was released most users with unlocked iPhone 3G were worry that the latest OS X update will further hamper their Mac’s ability to place the iPhone into DFU mode.

Now the iPhone Dev Team has tweeted yesterday that OS 10.5.7 is even more compatible to the jailbreak process than OS 10.5.6, which disabled the DFU mode.

The new 10.5.7 Leopard update is safe. In fact it’s more jailbreak-friendly than 10.5.6, since the DFU-mode bug is gone.

So I now recommend everyone to upgrade your Mac OS 10.5 as soon as possible, as there are many security fixes in OS 10.5.7, including a Safari 4 Beta security update that you only see after upgrading to OS 10.5.7.

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Review: Sticky Licky on iPhone

Sticky LickyFrom the folks at Vision Wise Inc. comes a game called Sticky Licky.

It is as addictive as any of the old arcade genre games you spent hundreds of quarters playing at the arcade parlor in the 80’s.

What it reminds me of is the old “Space Invaders” game. Of course, with much better looking graphics, even though Sticky chose to adapt the hand drawn simplicity style graphics.

Sticky is simple enough to play, even if you do not want to drill into its, built in multi pages, instructions. All you need is to arm yourself with the knowledge that clicking on the toad will extend its long tongue to draw insets into its mouth. Eating different types of bugs will score different points, and the goal is to get as high of a score as possible to reach the next level in the game.
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Reveiw: TweetStack on iPhone

Ever since I started using TweetDeck this past January, as my desktop Twitter client, it had been my client of choice and I wished there is a similar client on my iPhone.

Just a quick description of why TweetDeck is not a normal Twitter client. It has the standard functions to allow users to see @Replies and DMs (Direct Message), perform operations to Follow and Unfollow people. The additional function that TweetDeck has, which most other clients don’t (except for the recently introduced desktop client Seesmic Desktop), is it ability to allow users to create Groups to manage the 100s or 1000s of messages (tweets) from the people you’re following. This problem is worsten when you are following 100s or more people (peeps). On average, as of this writing, there are over 2 million tweets a day posted onto the Twitter network. Without the use of clients like TweetDeck it is not practical to follow more than a 100 peeps.

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