Wal Mart isn't my favorite store. In fact, if I didn't live in the sticks and had a choice I'd be doing all my shopping at Target (I know, big difference). Anywho, MacRumors is running a rumor that Wal Mart will be selling 4GB iPhones for $99 and a two year contract starting on December 28th. If true, I can hear collective sigh of surrender over at RIM. I know I'd buy one for my Wife to replace her 1st. Gen iPhone and I also know about 15 other people who'd be lined up at the Wal Mart iPhone counter on December 28th ready to dump their other phones in favor of the 3G iPhone.

It's a rumor so take it with a grain of salt.

Joseph Henry

Tags:rumor, 3G, walmart

Looking for a backup power solution for your iPhone or iPod or another stocking stuffer idea for your iPhone/iPod using loved one? If so then check out our Storm Backup Battery review over in the review section. We think it's a winner and sure to please just about anyone. Continue reading after the jump...

Tags:accessories, 3G

Just in time for Black Friday, the next installment of our Fall iPhone Case Review has been posted over in the Reviews section. This time we take a look at More-thing's Noel Collection Metallic Series case. To see how it fared, continue reading after the jump.

Tags:3G, accessories, cases

Apple debuted a new website Friday designed to help new iPhone owners get the most out of their phones. The "iPhone Your Life" site offers up app recommendations for:

• Around Town
• World Travel
• At Home
• Getting Things Done
• Fun and Games

There are also links to an iPhone Tips and Tricks section, App of the Week and Top Apps.

If you've owned your iPhone for awhile you probably won't find anything new and startling here but it seems like a pretty nice place for new owners.

Tags:3G, iphone

Just a quick FYI: we've posted a portion of yesterday's Bulging Laptop Batteries And My iPhone Battery Tale Of Woe article (the part about the iPhone battery) in the 3G Survival Guide. There are some good tips in there which have dramatically increased my battery time so head on over to the guide and check them out.

Tags:survivalguide, 3G

Bulging Laptop Batteries

While perusing the iTunes app store the other day we stumbled upon a new app from Consumer Reports. The app is free and as we’ve so often mentioned, free is good so we downloaded it straight away.

Upon launching the app for the first time, however, we were shocked and dismayed to find the first article about “bulging” Apple laptop batteries. Apparently this isn’t an isolated issue and many MacBook and MacBook Pro owners have experienced similar issues.

Consumer Reports reported the issue to Apple and after a fairly lengthly customer service call to Apple they were authorized an immediate overnight shipment of a new battery.

Aside from the long call, this speaks to why Apple tops our annual survey on computer tech support.

states Consumer Reports.

Oh and the free Consumer Reports is kind of cool as well. Check it out on iTunes here. If you want to read the online version of "Apple's Bloating Batteries" check it out over at Consumer Reports.

iPhone Battery Tale Of Woe

Speaking of batteries, my iPhone has been suffering progressively worsening battery life. I’d start the day off fully charged and by supper I’d be at or getting close to 20% left. This was odd as I’d not overly taxed the phone. I’d probably use an hour or so of Talk Time, checked my email every hour or so and brought up iCal 10 or 15 times. I'd also take a trip to Twitterland via Twitterrific (now replaced by Tweetsville by the way) and maybe use a few other apps along the way but did nothing that I felt should be running the battery down that fast.

A visit to Apple’s support forums has hopefully nipped this issue in the bud. Seems that although lithium-ion batteries like the ones in iPhones and iPods don’t suffer from “memory” problems like NiCad batteries do (we all knew that) they do benefit from completing complete charging cycles. Apparently this tunes the charging circuitry so that your phone knows when it’s fully charged and when it needs charging.

That day I let my phone discharge completely, to the point that it was at 5% and would only offer me the option to make an emergency call or charge the phone. I plugged the phone into a wall outlet for 5 or 6 hours and now everything seems to be back to normal.

Here’s a link to the myriad battery charging threads in the discussions forums. Apple also posted this interesting and useful lithium-ion battery tips page as well as this iPhone specific battery tips page. I believe much if not all of this info is contained in one of my many owners manuals but who reads those things?
Er, maybe I should. Nah!

For those too lazy to click on links, here are the iPhone specific tips Apple suggests. The ones in bold and underlined were news to me:

• Minimize the use of location services
• Fetch new data less frequently
• Turn off push mail
• Auto-check fewer email accounts
• Minimize the use of third party applications
• Turn off WiFi
• Turn off Bluetooth
• Use Airplane mode in low or no coverage areas
• Adjust brightness
• Turn off EQ
• Turn off 3G

Ok, lets get real. The reason I own an iPhone is solely (almost, I do use the phone for "phoning" people occasionally) for using third party applications so that one is just ridiculous. Also, putting the phone in Airplane mode kind of defeats the purpose of having a cell phone, doesn't it?

Anyway, the tips are good and along with following the monthly charging cycle tip I'm hoping to get more out of my iPhone's battery. One more little tidbit I hadn't even thought of:

Make sure your computer is on while charging iPhone via USB. If iPhone is connected to a computer that’s turned off or is in sleep or standby mode, the iPhone battery may drain. That's

a quote straight from the iPhone Battery tip page. I knew it wouldn't charge when the computer is turned off (duh!) but didn't know about the sleep or standby mode thingy. That's some good info!

Tags:3G, battery

It had to happen sooner or later. I finally paid for an iPhone Twitter app. I'm not sure which is more disturbing, that I paid for an app that has many, many free alternatives or that I'm tweeting at all. First, generally speaking, I don't mind ad supported apps especially Twitter apps. I've been using Twitterrific and I've tried both Twitterlator and Twitterfon. I'm getting good at tuning out advertising. For whatever reason, though, today I just had to pay for an iPhone Twitter client.

The weird part of this whole thing is that I'm still Tweeting after I swore, not 5 months ago, that I'd never become a Tweeter and that I thought it was probably the biggest waste of time yet conceived by mankind. Seriously, does anyone really care what I'm doing right now? I sure as heck don't care what you're doing so don't Tweet it.

Twitter, however, grows on you. Sort of like ear hair. You don't really know why it's there but you still end up paying way too much attention to it. I vowed back in July to give it a try for a few weeks and I'm happy/sad to say I'm still Twittering. Worse, I'm buying Twitter apps.

Anyway, Tweetsville is a nice Twitter iPhone app and goes for a reasonable $3.99. I'm finding that I much prefer it's UI over Twitterrific: it's a very clean and standard iPhone UI. The search option is handy as well and something that Twitterrific is lacking.

If you're ready to make the leap to a paid Twitter client for your iPhone, I'd highly recommend you take a good look at Tweetsville.

Joseph Henry

Tags:twitter, app, 3G

FYI, we've posted the second iPhone 3G case review over in our Reviews section. This time we take a look at PDO's Sleek Crystal polycarbonate case.

Tags:3G, cases, accessories, review

If you remember back in October we promised to bring you the most complete iPhone 3G case review ever. That was a pretty lofty goal and we’re not sure we can live up to it. It’s the whole “ever” thing that we may have a problem with. Besides, trying to review a whole slew of cases at once, well we just weren’t using our noodle. So what are we going to do about it? Instead of all the cases all at once, we’re going to break it down a bit and spread the reviews out over the next few weeks. In the end we hope to come down to a couple of favorites and we’ll tell you why.

To get the low-down on the first case we're reviewing head on over to the Reviews page and check out Griffin Technology's Clarifi.

Tags:review, cases, 3G, accessories

We know you care about your brand-spanking new iPhone 3G and would hate to see anything happen to this beloved wonder of modern electronic gadgetry. Obviously you're going to buy a case for it, right? The problem is there are just so many to choose from. What's a new iPhone 3G owner to do? Stay tuned for AYAAW's mega iPhone 3G case roundup and review, that's what!

Hopefully, sometime in early November your favorite Apple site (AYAAW) will be running the most complete iPhone 3G case review ever. We say hopefully because we're still waiting for a few of the cases to show up. They're on their way but who knows how long it'll take them to get here. The roundup will happen in November but exactly when is still a little unsure, hence the "hopefully".

Here are the cases that we'll for sure be reviewing:

Marware: Flexi Shell with Screen Protecter
PDO: Sleek Crystal Case with Screen Protecter
Griffin: Clarifi and Nu Form
Case-mate: Clear Naked case
Speck: See Thru and Pixelskin

We're still waiting to hear back from these manufacturers:

Belkin: Clear Acrylic Case
Incase: Slider Case
More-thing: Mono Series Silicone case
Seidio: Innocase II Surface
Agent 18: Clear Shield
IvySkin: XyloT3 Clear Case
Scosche: KickBack

Hopefully we'll get review units for most, if not all of them. Have you seen or read about a case that you'd like to see reviewed? Post it in the comments to this article or fire off an email to AYAAW and we'll do our best to get the case and include it in our roundup.

TTFN

Tags:accessories, cases, 3G

Apple today issued a recall for certain iPhone 3g Power Adapters. The adapters came with new iPhones and could be purchased separately as an accessory. The recall includes iPhone 3G's that were purchased in the US, Mexico, Canada, Japan and several Latin American countries. Here is the text of the recall notice:

CUPERTINO, California—September 19, 2008—Apple® today announced that under certain conditions the new ultracompact Apple USB power adapter’s metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating the risk of electric shock.

Apple has received reports of detached prongs involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported.

Customer safety is always Apple’s top priority so it has voluntarily decided to exchange every ultracompact power adapter for a new redesigned adapter, free of charge. For more details on the exchange program please visit www.apple.com/support/usbadapter/exchangeprogram.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

iPhone 3G users can get replacements by filling out this web-based Exchange Program form or by requesting one at an Apple store starting October 10th.. You'll need your iPhone serial number which can be found on your iPhone under Settings>General or by plugging the phone into your Mac and opening iTunes to your iPhone screen. Apple states:

Users with ultracompact power adapters should immediately stop using them until they exchange them for a new, redesigned ultracompact adapter.

In the meantime, they should charge their iPhone 3G by connecting it to their computer with the USB cable that came with their iPhone or by using a standard-sized Apple USB Power Adapter (with fold up prongs) or with a third party adapter designed to work with the iPhone, such as a car charger.

For more information see this Apple support article.

Tags:recall, hardware, 3G

Apple released the next version of its iPhone firmware yesterday. Apple’s description for the update is “Bug Fixes”. Well that explains a lot. I suspect its the recently rumored 3G reception patch. As I can’t get 3G where I live its not an issue for me. Hopefully some of my issues will be addressed but I’m not holding my breath. I’m downloading the 248.7MB update as I type this and will report on anything that jumps out at me right away.

Keep your fingers, toes and any other applicable appendages crossed!

Joe Henry
AYAAW

Tags:3G, 1st. gen

Since upgrading to iPhone Firmware 2.0 (including 2.0.1) I've been unable to use Wi Fi to connect with my iMac. The real kicker is that this issue only happens with certain iPhone apps: iTunes Store, YouTube, App Store. I can use Wi Fi to transfer files to my iPhone using File Magnet and I can also sync shopping lists between SplashShopper and SplashShopper desktop. What's the deal here? The only Wi Fi problems I have are with Apple created apps. Third party developers seem to know a little more about coding for the iPhone than Apple. Who'd a thunk it?


Joe Henry
AYAAW

Tags:3G