Skype for iPhone is Live!

We've been waiting for it and now it's finally here. An official Skype app for the iPhone. 

It's been off to a bit of a bumpy start with crashes and unexpected behavior for people on the iPhone OS 3.0 beta, who have jailbroken iPhone, and those not running the latest firmware. For everyone else, it gives great sound quality, but only works on WiFi. 

Next, all we need is the Skype app for BlackBerry. That will really be something to celebrate!

-Zara

Windows Mobile 7 Screenshots... Sweet!

Here we have it, 5 screenshots of the new Windows Mobile 7. Well, they are more likely early mock-ups, but nevertheless, they look promising. 

Mobile Marketplace

IM Application

Music Player

Maps Application

Home Screen

One of the biggest complaints so far is how the battery and volume indicators are on the bottom of the screen, meaning that your fingers are likely to cover it while using the phone. Also, I hope that the UI will have a more unified feel once it releases, but Microsoft is definitely on track to produce a winner. The question is why this isn't 6.5 and getting released later this year?

-Zara

E71 on AT&T... Soon

Yesterday was the rumored launch of the E71x on AT&T. Is it any surprise that a last minute bug was discovered? Apparently, the bug deals with the phone's ability to handle emails. Since the firmware update is still weeks away, don't expect to see the E71x in stores any time soon.

I have to wonder what AT&T is thinking, launching this phone after it has already been on the market for almost a year. Do you think they'd be better off just waiting for the E75? Post a comment to let me know what you think.

-Zara

Readers Prefer to Weather the Storm

The votes are in on the poll and the Storm easily cruised into first place as the device that most readers would buy:

• The Storm got 137 votes or 51% of the 265 total votes 
• Second place went to the iPhone at 29% 
• The Pre got 19%
• The G1 lagged behind with only 11% of the votes
• And there were 17 votes or 6% of people voting for 'None of them'

Long live BlackBerry! And don't forget to vote on my new poll asking which carrier you are on.

-Zara

iPhone: Best Business Device?

When I think of the iPhone, I generally see it as a consumer device. But no more. The iPhone ranks first in terms of customer satisfaction among corporate smartphone users. 

The 1000-point score for each manufacturer is composed of:

• 270 points for Ease of Operation
• 240 points for the Operating System
• 210 points for Physical Design
• 180 points for Handset Features
• 100 points for Batter Aspects

The top 3 scores:

• Apple with 778 points
  
• RIM with 703 points
  
• Samsung with 701 points
  

I always think of BlackBerry devices as being the corporate devices. RIM ranked second, just slightly above Samsung, which was a surprise. Now the study was done between August and September of 2008, before the Storm launched. 

Do you think that the Storm would have pushed RIM past Apple in corporate customer satisfaction? You can read the whole article here. Post your comment to let me know what you think.

-Zara

WinMo 6.5 Gets "More Usable"

I really wonder what Microsoft was trying to solve with the whole honeycomb pattern. Apparently, beta testers in Microsoft wondered the exact same thing. End result - no more hexagons, but the same offset icons. Can you believe that Microsoft is touting this as "more usable"? At least scrolling is more fluid than before, but that itself doesn't really constitute the .4 upgrade.

It's disappointing that Microsoft really hasn't changed much from WinMo 6. And now, 6.5's not even going to have the honeycomb look. So what is it going to have? Same old keyboard, same old browser, and the same old media player. Did I mention no support for capacitive touch screens? What's the upgrade again? Please Microsoft, give us something new.

-Zara

BlackBerry Bullet No-Go

By now, you've probably seen the blackberry bullet video with it piercing an apple and printing the words "The world's first BlackBerry touch screen, nothing can touch it." Rightfully, an iPhone fan had to come up with a video response. And what could be better than the following:

Gotta love the iPhone, especially with the 3.0 OS coming out. Cudos to Apple. As for the Storm, it's a BlackBerry, NOT an iPhone killer. And I seriously can't wait for the Pre!

-Zara

iPhone OS 3.0 Announced

Hey guys! Some exciting news from Cupertino today: the iPhone OS 3.0 is official. So what does that mean for you?

The big new features:

• Cut, Copy, and Paste for text and photos 
• MMS for photos, vcards, and audio
• Landscape keyboard in all core apps

Big things still missing:

• Apps running in the background
• Push Gmail
• Video recording

Of course, there's lots of other additions to the OS, mostly for developers to take advantage of. For the full list, check out The iPhone Blog's page here. Are you excited? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

-Zara

Camera Comparison

Hi guys! Here are the pictures from the iPhone, G1, and Storm that I took during the video review.

iPhone

G1

Storm

The iPhone's camera is very simple and may only be 2MP, but it gets the job done well.

The G1 also has a very simple camera lacking configurable options, but it sports 3.2MP and autofocus. The catch is that the delays while taking a picture can be quite annoying. Waiting for the camera to focus is understandable, but a noticable delay of a few seconds between pressing the capture button and the camera taking the picture is unacceptable.

In terms of options, the Storm's camera wins hands down. It is 3.2MP, features an LED flash, autofocus, and a nice camera options menu to change everything from the resolution to white balance to applying an effect. I don't think that more options necessarily makes the best camera, but I would expect these features on all of these phones.

Post your comment and let everyone know which camera you think is best. I think that the iPhone is looking the best in this test, but that's just my opinion.

-Zara

New Video Up

I've got another video for you - this time looking at the iPhone 3G, Storm, and G1. Check it out!

Also, don't forget to vote on which phone you would buy. Would you go for the iPhone, G1, Storm? Are you waiting for the Pre? Or do you prefer another device?

Keep it m0bile ;)

-Zara

Pre to Kill iPhone on June 29, but Not According to Palm

You heard right, err you heard what Roger McNamee (pictured below) is predicting. It's a biased perspective though, seeing how he's a founder of the investment firm that resued Palm from its financial troubles. Here's exactly what he had to say in an interview with Bloomberg:

"June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. Think about it -- if you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market. Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they're going to buy."

It sounds like a pretty bold claim that everyone is going to drop their iPhone and run to the store to buy the Pre. I'll admit that the Pre does look like a cool device, but are you really that anxious to give up your iPhone? And what do you think Apple has in store for its new iPhone that should launch in June or July? I can't see the guys in Cupertino giving up without a fight.

Palm is at least being a bit more realistic and discounting McNamee's statements:

"The statement in the second paragraph of the article that "not one" person who bought an Apple, Inc. iPhone on the first shipment date "will still be using an iPhone a month" after the two-year anniversary of that day is an exaggerated prediction of consumer behavior pattern and is withdrawn."

-Zara

RIM Announces BlackBerry App World

First, there was the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Then there was the Android market. Now, be prepared for the BlackBerry App World, RIM's app store, which was officially announced last night. 

The only kicker is that apps are either free or $2.99+ (USD). So we won't be seeing any $1.00 apps in App World. But hopefully that will mean higher quality apps. (I should stop dreaming).

-Zara

iPhone: Too Hot to Handle?

This marks the second iPhone spontaneously catching fire. The device sparked after about three hours of charging, which started a fire at the base. Can you believe it?

It's sad to see an iPhone die like this. I just hope that Apple will replace it without too much hassle. We all knew that the iPhone was hot, but not like this.

-Zara

Nokia 5800 XpressNo3G

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic looked like a pretty cool device. I wanted to get my hands on one until I heard about the 3G issues. Apparently, they cannot access 3G networks in Chicago and New York, but 3G works fine in Dallas and Miami. 

Looking through Nokia's official statement, they sound like they don't know what the problem is. According to them, some devices are having issues, an investigation is ongoing, and anyone experiencing issues should call their customer care. 

This is shaping up to be an interesting drama. Did Nokia create the problem, is it a network issue, or a combination of both? I just feel bad for everyone who ran to Nokia stores and paid $400 for one. 

-Zara