Apple Gives 3G iPhone Full IM Functionality

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Did you hear that Apple is developing a kind of IM (Instant message) system for the iPhone? This kind of conclusion can be made from the fact that Apple filed a patent for a “portable electronic device for instant messaging.” Though is doesn’t directly mean IM for the iPhone, but most likely the patent will be used in the new generation of iPhone.

So what does the patent add to the device? In fact it is IM option for touchscreen devices with the help of finger gestures.

The patent says that the new function works just like the current SMS option in the iPhone where is is possible to see whether the recipient received and read the message by the change of colors and pop-ups.

The further details of the patent say:

“Portable device-based instant messaging (IM) services are becoming increasingly popular. But most IM services on portable electronic devices have a rudimentary user interface. It is cumbersome to create instant messages on such devices.”

“A user often needs to press a telephone keypad repeatedly to choose a character. It is also difficult to find and view previous instant messages. For example, it is inconvenient or even impossible for the user to view a series of previous messages with a particular user while composing a new message for that user.”

Apple claims that the new technology will help avoid such problems as well as other difficulties with user interface for handset devices.

However, Apple did more than that in introducing IM system for the iPhone. Apple has released SDK for the iPhone, and as a part of the introduction AOL demonstrated an IM technology for both the iPhone and iTouch.

Moreover, Apple encourages third-party developers create and license similar applications. Once the applications are ready they should be made available for the general public to download. By the way, over 100 000 SDK downloads (SDK was launched on March 6, 2008) have been reported so far.

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Widget Directory for iPhone users By WidgetBox

Apple has created the site with its own directory of iPhone Web applications mainly for desktop users, not taking care of people on the portable handset. It is still easy for Apple users to bookmark Web applications by adding a quick link from inside of Safari Mobile, but the official directory is still not for iPhones, only if they are not on speedy Wi-Fi connection.

Widgetbox appears to be cleverer and issued a directory of iPhone friendly widgets. Those mini Web applications can be set up on the home screens. The mobile Safari web browser is built in all iPhone and iPod Touch and uses the same Safari desktop technology that is supported by Widgetbox.

Widget Directory for iPhone users By WidgetBox

By tagging your work with iPhone you can add converted widgets from Web content to the directory. There is even a widget-building wizard for inexperienced users to make their own iPhone widget application.

The limitation is on the maximum widget width that should be 290 pixels with any height. Also all references to Flash files will not image.

Widgetbox thumbnail images of web gallery are 96 x 96 pixels. The icon of each installed widget is 56 x 56 pixels. In this case the images more than 56 x 56 pixels cannot be seen.

Another indignation is that iPhone widgets don’t take up the entire screen and reveal themselves like in the directory with most of the examples. They also have Widgetbox branding and links back to the directory, and you have not much time to load while on EDGE 2,5G connection, so try to minimize the amount of data for widget to transpher.

Anyway, that’s the whole lot better than to load the entire Web page. Three-fold load time decrease was observed in comparison with BART’s home page with Quick Planner for local Bay Area trains.

Just take your iPod or iPhone and travel to iPhone.Widgetbox.com to go to the directory. Here is also the official docs.

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Apple iPhone Review: iPhone vs. LG Voyager. Part 2

3.  Features

We can speak for hours about the devices’ features drawing parallels and finding advantages of each of them, but let me summarize the major differences in features and make the conclusion.

iPhone

LG Voyager

The result: 2-1 for LG

4.The quality of Video and Music

iPhone

“The iPhone’s multimedia performance sets bar for cell phones. The video is crisp, and music is as good as any iPod. That’s enough to put it over the top, even without the rich Internet browsing experience”

“Music quality on the iPhone is decent, but the thing that blows the Voyager out of the water is its video quality. Videos just look really great on the iPhone’s wide screen”

LG Voyager

“The Voyager’s music quality was respectable, but its streaming video quality was uneven and the Web browsing wasn’t quite as fluid as that of its opponent. The V Cast Mobile TV quality was respectable, but ultimately it can’t quite compete with the iPhone”

“Music and video quality are pretty good on the LG Voyager, but the streaming video quality isn’t that great”

The result: 2-2 draw

5.Call quality

iPhone

“The iPhone had decent call quality on the whole, but its volume level was too low. Some users have also complained of a background hiss, though I didn’t notice”

“For the most part, the iPhone had decent call quality, but there was a background hiss that could get distracting at times. Also, I found the speakerphone volume a bit low”

LG Voyager

“Though I did notice a slight hiss here, the Voyager beats the iPhone on call quality. The clarity was crystal, and the volume was sufficient”

“The call quality on the LG Voyager was solid. There was little background noise, and callers heard us loud and clear”

The final result

Which device do you think is the winner? According to the audience’s opinion (but not mine again) LG Voyager comes the winner. The Audience proved that touch screen is not enough for the iPhone to beat the more functional LG.

But do you personally agree with that written above?

Apple iPhone Review: iPhone vs. LG Voyager

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ER Mobile Visual Search Engine For iPhone

Evolution Robotics Inc. in companionship with Bandai Networks Co. Ltd announced the ER Search, mobile visual search engine, on new line of camera phones (Spring 2008).

Evolution Robotics focuses much on visualization because of the potential for future product developments. Their goal is to solve a problem in realistic settings by total visual interaction between a human being and a machine. Camera technologies are developing increasingly due to widespread application of web cameras, digital cams and cell-phone cams.

The launch of ER search is estimated the increase in mobile visual search market services up to $24 Billion by 2013 (ABI research) and this will enable the consumers in Japan to take pictures of surrounding objects and do on-line searches. Its download will be available for any KDDI customer with a previous AU camera phone.

ER Mobile Visual Search Engine For iPhone

ER Search works like using a traditional search engine, but with no typing any text through complicated menus. Instead of it, users snap a picture of any object and are immediately provided with relevant content. For instance, if you are looking for wine in a store, you can photograph wine label and get recommendations and experts reviews on it. So as soon as you see something you are interested in, just snap a picture and see all services and information on the spot. As Satoshi Oshita, CEO of Bandai Networks, said – “the search process is far easier and immediate than anything that has been available before.”

ER Mobile Visual Search Engine For iPhone

ER Search has the ViPR technology, which supports user-generated content to take new images, videos or places and tag them with links and content to expand the database. World-wide visual database will be created by showing the content results of other users who take similar pictures. A demonstration of visual search technology by Evolution Robotics on Apple’s iPhone can be viewed at Youtube.

ViPR can learn new objects and images (cover art on a music CD), without any special encoding. Also ViPR performs well on most cameras used on low cost mobile phones today.

Database already indexes over 150,000 music CD covers, as well as other mobile applications providing info and links. Even streaming video or images from TV are supported.

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Downloads for iPhone: Application Sources List

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We all know that Apple has allowed third party applications to be downloaded to the iPhone. We also know that there are a great number of companies and individuals who develops these application. The number is so great the one single post cannot cover them all.

Nevertheless, I made an attempt to systematize the most frequently visited sources (note that I didn’t say that they are the most reliable ones), and made up a kind of a list of iPhone Application sources:

Community Sources:

Various Sources:

Languages Sources:

If you still think that those sources are not enough for you, you can visit the following sites with other iPhone application sources:

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