PalmAddicts

iPhone gets gNews in international flavors

Google is adding more supports for its mobile News page & support for Google Apps users; both are in new 16 international languages. The Google News mobile web page will have an integrated search tool, and thumbnail of YouTube video in related stories. Although the YouTube videos are likely to work in iPhone, due to Flash Player incompability.

I wonder when will iPhone available in those 16 countries as well?

Sources are from Webware & Crave.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Will voice replace text?

There’s a new trend coming from software developers since CTIA Wireless conference to Web 2.0 Expo that were held not so long ago, that trend is the voice recognition service. Using what is the main function of our mobile phone; voice/talk & listen to it, these software developers see new ways to support it to even more advance than some basic usage of mobile phones.

Still, the purpose of using these new voice recognition features that are offered is only to lessen physical interaction of our fingers with mobile phone’s keyboard or its navigational pads. While we can’t stop looking at the screen yet, because it’s still the crucial need even in those voice recognition features.

Like what VoiceCloud has to offer in its new voice-to-text service, which the VoiceCloud’s CEO; Gerald Marolda has boasted to Jessice Dolcourt (C|Net) about his company’s fast and accurate service. The service is basically almost similar to Jott’s; but VoiceCloud has broader range of services that include voice mail, SMS & email. Marolda emphasis on VoiceCloud’s ‘human-touch’ services that distinguish them from other competitors, he quickly answered what’s the reason when asked on why he preferred people power. "Many companies claim to use voice-to-text software, but there is no technology in the market that exists right now that gives you the accuracy you need." VoiceCloud is also keen to jump fast enough into iPhone’s popularity band wagon, the free beta service offering has been optimized for iPhone; hit this link to get it.

The VoiceCloud service is indeed still requires the recipients on the other end, to look at their mobile phone’s screen when they received its pushed-text services. This has proven how essential it is the visual part in mobile phone usage, another example is TellMe’s voice-to-command service which I’ve already told you about before here at PA. TellMe voice service technology is really based on its search ability over the air (OTA) to the main servers, but such service can be consider as a break through on minimizing the interactions on handsets & using your mobile phone only with your voice.

Voice recognition also has reached to GPS unit, where IMHO this is more needed because if you’re on the road looking for destination places; you don’t have to stop the car to input the name of the places or the roads anymore. Just shout out where you want to go, and the GPS unit will look it up by itself without taking your attention off the road. Again, voice recognition accuracy is what has been holding back GPS users to purchase such unit with feature like that. But Garmin’s nuvi 880, that I talked about before here at PA too, has show a lot of potential to lead the way for other GPS units.

There are other similar voice-to-text services offered by many software developers such as SpinVox, SimulScribe, CallWave and Dial2Do. But these voice services lack of what’s the most important thing in voice technology: accuracy. Like Dial2Do that has just been reviewed by MyTreo.net and posted here at PA by Sammy, Alli Flowers is sticking with Jott after hard times using its voice services.

Sprint also has tried with Voice Command service, which basically it’s a web-based address book that provides an alternative means for placing voice calls to contacts. But Sprint’s Voice Command was not easy to use at all, it would be more faster if we simply use traditional way to make calls instead of make a call to Voice Command centre first to place a call. According to BGR, due to lack of customers interest on the service offered; Sprint is pulling the plug of Voice Command service on June 1st. BGR made a good advice about this: “Snag a modern phone with integrated voice recognition”.

Too bad, cause up till right now I haven’t heard of a worthy mobile phone that has superior embedded voice recognition feature. But in desktop OS, it’s not something new and in fact has come bundled in. I know, and so must've you; that Windows Vista has it. Not long ago, jkOnTheRun has reported about new macro support for Vista Speech Recognition; “The idea is that you can script one or several tasks and essentially assign a voice tag to the macro”.

But that and with other speech feature updates for Vista, so far still doesn’t convince me entirely on Vista capability to process every speech given to it. The Windows Vista Speech Recognition demo gone awry video has been glued to my mind ever since I first saw it, hit the link and you’ll know what I mean.

Voice recognition is definitely the future technology for modern mobile phone, it’s the newest booming trend in every Web 2.0 software developers. And they all are still offering their services through web, data transfer & require you to call to their call centre to use them. None, are offering it as embedded feature bundled inside new purchased mobile phone. I do believe that Microsoft will include Vista’s Speech Recognition technology into its new Windows Mobile 7, which dubbed as “iPhone-killer”.

If that’s to be happened, there is a good chance that we’ll be seeing less and less mobile phones with numeric pads or keyboard; the reason is pretty simple: voice recognition will help you do text messaging. And one thing left needed is larger touch-screen to display it; like what we have already seen as another trend in mobile phone by handsets such as HTC Touch, iPhone, LG Prada, and the upcoming monstrous-display HTC Diamond.

Will Palm Nova support this voice recognition feature in its release? A bundled voice application is not necessary, although it would be a nice bonus, but OS platform that can support it is a must to have. This is not the only thing Palm should think long and hard before Palm Nova is released with new smartphone along with it, Palm should also think if it’s necessary to cut-off the Palm smartphone’s signature: the QWERTY keyboard.

Which one do you prefer more: a full QWERTY keyboard with standard touch-display (320x320) or visual keyboard on a large touch-screen? Or, in this current subject: voice recognition feature or text messaging?

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Photo's HQ is a good program and was recently updated to version 1.1.0

[From Eric Mann] Photo's HQ is a good program and was recently updated to version 1.1.0, thanks to Eric for providing the heads up. The latest version offers solutions to corrective issues including:
Corrected issue: display turning on during surveillance mode
Corrected issue: Zire 72 compatibility improvements

"Photos HQ is an application that lets you capture photographs of much higher quality than those created by the default camera software of your mobile phone. Photos HQ enhances the capture capabilities of devices with an VGA (640x480) camera and increases the resolution to 960x720 pixels by combining two consecutive images. In order to limit the loss of information, Photos HQ can record pictures as a lossless BMP file. With the optional pnoJpegLib, it can generate compressed pictures of a higher quality level than the standard JPEG algorithm. Additionally, Photos HQ brings new features such as an improved digital zoom, a 10 seconds self-timer, and a picture-in-picture thumbnail showing the preceding photograph."
[moblogging from my iPhone]

Take a coffee break with some of my favourite websites

Take a chill pill and grab a morning coffee and settle in with some of my favourite sites for the weekend, PalmDiscovery, Morning Paper, JK On The Run and MobileRead for some great educational web coverage discussing all aspects of the mobile community. So if you get time this weekend, grab a coffee and make some time for these excellent sites.
[moblogging from my iPhone]

mOcean makes it to version 3.2.3

[From Eric Mann] mOcean makes it to version 3.2.3. "Experience multimedia on your smartphone like never before! mOcean is a free application for your Treo and Centro smartphone which allows you to enjoy your music, photos, videos, audiobooks, podcasts and internet radio with a flick of a finger. Free, ad-supported version of mOcean will display only a small banner at the top of the screen. If you don't want to have banners, you can buy an activation code and use mOcean without ads. mOcean 3 is the latest, most innovative multimedia player for the Palm platform. Not only does mOcean play music with a slick, stylish and easy to use interface, but mOcean will also play videos, display photo albums, play audiobooks, internet radios, podcasts and much more. There are many wonderful features you will find as you explore the depths of mOcean's abilities. Enjoy it all and always with a flick of a finger. Now that you can sync your music with iTunes on Windows or Mac, download and play videos, audiobooks, podcasts, internet radios and browse your pictures, the whole world is your theatre."
[moblogging from my iPhone]

Keeping with beta's there is a new beta of TealLock for you to take advantage of

[From Eric Mann] Keeping with beta's there is a new beta of TealLock for you to take advantage of which fixes 5-way nav buttons to work in phone popup dialogs when device locked. "Secure and protect your handheld with TealLock, the automatic locking program with data encryption and SD card support. Completely redesigned for version 6, TealLock has unmatched features and customization options for personal or corporate use. TealLock uses technology so powerful it was adopted by Palm as standard equipment on Tungsten C and Tungsten T2 handhelds. Security features include serial and infrared lockout, 128-bit data encryption for both memory and external SD/MS/CF cards, and optional data self-destruct modes to deter brute force attacks. New features in version 6 include protected applications, alarm blocking, activation via SMS text message, screen shortcuts, button shortcuts, persistant card encryption, password permissions, emergency calling, self destruction of card based data, jpeg import capability and an all new streamlined interface. Numerous configuration and activation options include timed activation, custom locking screen, graffiti shortcuts, hardware button passkey entry, masked passwords, on-screen keypads, lock screen images, animated backgrounds, and both quick and guest passwords. TealLock is PalmOS 5 compatible, and is an ideal part of a health care organization's HIPAA compliance program." TealPoint, again after the jump.
[moblogging from my iPhone]

Look for a new beta of TealBackUp available for you to download

[From Eric Mann] Another from Eric overnight and look for a new beta of TealBackUp available for you to download with added special case to include Launcher X in backup on NVFS devices even though it sets its readonly flag (mimicking ROM). "Backup your valuable data with TealBackup, the complete back up, copy, and restore system. With exclusive support for both external card and HotSync backups, you have full control over where and how files are saved. Plus, the combo of manual and automated card backups helps keep your critical files safe, even if you're miles away from a computer. Features include backups to SD/MMC/CF cards and Memory Stick, backups though HotSync, manual backups, incremental backups, dual-timer automatic backups, optional encryption, optional compression, multiple backup folders, exclusion lists, inclusion lists, backup logs, and application-locking for NVFS stability. TealBackUp is PalmOS 5 compatible and works with all popular devices including Treo, Tungsten, Zire, Sony, and Kyocera handhelds." TealPoint after the jump.
[moblogging from my iPhone]

4cast 1.90 (007) Beta is available for you to download

[From Eric Mann] 4cast 1.90 (007) Beta is available for you to download and now offers a changed interface, added better skins support to cover all screen (allow using TAKEphONE skins – just change their creator id). ShSh after the jump.
[moblogging from my iPhone]

TreoCentral Podcast available for your listening pleasure

TreoCentral podcast available for your listening pleasure. "A special TreoCast this week: we're joined by The Cell Phone Junkie's Mickey Papillon. We chat about the Treo 750 and get his perspective on the major carriers in the US. It's a service smackdown! " TreoCentral after the jump.
[moblogging from my iPhone]

MobileRead review of the week

Catch up on a week of ereading and pubilishing with the MobileRead review of the week.

Microsoft walks away from Yahoo

Software giant Microsoft drops its bid to buy internet firm Yahoo after the two sides fail to agree a price according to the BBC this morning. "Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer formally withdrew the offer in a letter to Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang. Mr Ballmer said Microsoft had raised its original offer from $44.6bn to $47.5bn (£24.1bn) - $33 per share. But he added that Yahoo had insisted on at least $53bn, or $37 a share - more than Microsoft was prepared to pay. The software giant had wanted to do a deal to be able to compete with Google, which dominates the lucrative market for internet advertising." The BBC News for the full deets.

I have a Palm TX I depend upon a lot.

[From Dennis] I have a Palm TX I depend upon a lot.

Under Tasks, I have a category = Memory
In it I track various things:
Purchases due by carrier
Rebates expected
When things need servicing

Another category = GetList
Purchases needed by store
Eg. 1 = Sams Club
2 = Walmart
3 = Lowes
4 = Trader Joes
5 = wherever

PDA vs. Phone

[From Joe Sewell West Melbourne, FL, USA, Terra] As I use my wonderful little Treo 680 more & more, I've found one issue with it: when to use the PDA part to the max vs. when to let it be a phone. One example happened just this evening. I was waiting in the car for my wife. While I was waiting I decided to check my email with VersaMail. Before I did that, though, I realized I needed to clear out the old Inbox messages I was keeping on my Treo. Since there were over 500 of them, this took a little while. Then, to add insult to injury, I had it empty the trash. After 2-3 minutes my wife came to the car and said, "What's going on? I tried to call you." I realized my "phone" was still busy doing its PDA work, still network connected. I apologized, and the two of us, along with a friend, started up the road for dinner. Suddenly I heard my Bluetooth earpiece ring. The Treo had finally finished cleaning up my mess and responded to the call that was long gone! Lesson learned: if you're expecting a call, take it easy on the CPU-intensive stuff. :)

My Treo runs my life!

[From Dan Jacobs London, UK] I've been a palm user since day one (probably about 10 years) and although I get frustrated at the lack of inovation, I still believe my Treo 680 is the best device for me on the market. I'm wholly dependent on the basic applications, using the calendar and Versamail with my companies exchange server with push. Other applications I use on a daily basis include; pTunes for mp3's who needs another mp3 player?) and CorePlayer for watching video. Google maps is often a savior for me when tring to navigate the roads of London, especially moving around soho which I always get lost in! Simple games which still manage to captivate me and keep me amused on my daily tube journeys into work include Dope Wars and SFcave! Finally, possibly my most used application is the Memos app. I use it to organise my life both at work and at home, this include meeting notes, todo lists (never could get into the Tasks app) and shopping lists. I have my own system for staying organised and it is dependent on my Treo staying alive! Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you on how I use my palm!

PDA nine months

Today my nine months baby take my Treo 755p. I let him do it, but he began to eat it... well, he was just tying to fit it inside his mouse. "He`s not prepared yet for PDAs", I think.
My first child is five years old, he knows the completely usage of a Treo 755p and a CLIE NX70V too. He began to use them at two years I remember when I just open one game and he began to play. There are few or minimal programs for PDA focused to little kids, and they are so useful for develop capabilities and entertain them!  Some friends got movies in their PDAs, but that's easy, the complicated thing is let them use our toys and get smart-tech-kids who can get up-to-day whit the technology.

MyTreo has a write up about the Dial2Do service

MyTreo has a write up about the Dial2Do service, "Looking forward to comparing Dial2Do with Jott, I started adding contacts. Any time I can import contacts, I'm happy, and being able to import my entire address book and then check off the ones I actually wanted to use in Dial2Do made me very happy! If you recall, my only real disappointment with Jott was not being able to choose between sending an SMS or email to a contact, and this is a feature offered by Dial2Do. I immediately called the assigned number for Dial2Do and when prompted, proudly stated "text!" "Who do you want to text?" I decided to send mytreo.net's Lizzrd my inaugural SMS. It worked!" MyTreo after the jump.

Rough Guides Map Paris (Palm OS) V2.05

Rough Guides Map Paris (Palm OS) V2.05This seems a great program with a easy guide to Paris. "Rough Guides Map Paris... Discover and explore Paris using full colour interactive linked maps, in this simple to use PDA version of The Rough Guides Paris Map. Find all the top tourist spots and key attractions with ease, information on the city and its sights can be quickly displayed with links to photographs and map locations. All in a superb easy to use interface. If you're travelling to Paris, be sure you don't leave home without this guide on your PDA. The Rough Guide city maps includes: Fully scrollable and interactive maps of the city. Tap any location to display information and available links. Intuitive navigation bar meaning you are never more than one click away from the information you require. Map links allow you to directly link to other maps, photographs, or detailed views. Categorised Find feature allowing you to quickly find any street, place of interest or station. Categorised Information feature providing a wealth of information on the city, places of interest, etc. 1-Click Home feature, keeping the Home map always at hand. Zoom function on all maps."

Bartender's Drink Encyclopedia - Revised! for Palm 1.0

Bartender's Drink Encyclopedia - Revised for Palm 1.0This seems to be a great program with lots of different drinks recipes,give it a go."Warning: Contains graphic language for some drink names. This product is for adults only. Fit almost 25,000 drink recipes in your pocket. Town Compass® presents the Bartender's Drink Encyclopedia Handheld Edition. Look up nearly 25,000 drink recipes; use the Search feature on your handheld to search by ingredients, liquor, or even type of glass to pour in."

Encyclopedia Britannica World Traveler Hi Res 1.0

Encyclopedia Britannica World Traveler Hi Res 1.0This seems a very good program if your travelling and with up to date information."Become an expert on any country. Heres the perfect resource for students and world travelers. Britannica Encyclopedia, the worlds most trusted reference source brings the latest information on countries around the globe. Find here everything from flags, to official language, religion, demographic details and more. List of Content: *Flags *Key Facts *Official name *Form of government *Head of state and Government, *Capital *Official languages, *Official religion *Monetary unit."

BlackBerry aim for more CrackBerries

With over 150,000 servers in more than 135 countries around the world, RIM doesn’t plan to sit down and drink pinnacoladas with a straw and little-umbrella on top of the glass, at all. Even though that’s probably is what RIM’s co-CEO: James Balsillie wishes to do, but right now it’s no time to enjoy a leisure nap on the warm sands in Hawaii. The reason is standing tall in front of BlackBerry as the new contender; its iPhone. The current iPhone in your hands doesn’t bother James mind at all, but what Apple is about to release in June this year; is what make RIM so agitated these days.

It’s undoubted by many users & analysts as well, as sure as the sun which rise bright fully on the East; that iPhone 2.0 will shine as the new favorable handset by business & corporate users. Previously mentioned new features & supports in iPhone firmware 2.0 update, are only a glimpse of what to expect from fruits of Steve Jobs’ passion to penetrate business market that iPhone was not meant for at its first release.

So RIM didn’t waste time no more, on last Friday at a joint press conference in New York city, the BlackBerry maker was joined with SAP to made an important announcement. It is to make SAP’s CRM applications to be accessible with any BlackBerry devices in the market, this means every CRM infos can be pushed just like what the pioneer mobile push-email (RIM) has done from the start. According to Marguerite Reardon (Newsblog), the software will be available in the next few weeks. And in the future, they have agreed to integrate all of SAP’s enterprise softwares into BlackBerry too.

Will we see these apps as built-in native apps in the new BlackBerry 9000 series? Unfortunately the leaked infos from BGR haven’t mentioned any of it, aside from the more detail specs list below:

• Radio - GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA
• Bands - Quad-band GPRS/EDGE: 800/850/1800/1900MHz
• HSDPA: 850/1900/2100MHz
• Expandable memory - microSD
• Display - HVGA Color LCD (480×320)
• TrackBall Navigation Camera - 2MP
• Wi-Fi - a,b,g
• A-GPS
• Battery - 1500mAh
• High quality material, high-end finish
• Software - 4.6
• New user interface (UI) ~watch the video clip below~

The partnership with SAP will strengthened RIM’s foothold on corporate market segment, but could it be RIM is planning to expand their wings into more younger & hyped audience? (which are the same categories of iPhone’s main consumers) The rumor was started by BGR: “RIM is looking for developers that are well versed in iPhone apps development. The company seems very hesitant to go into details, even on an internal listing board.~...they’re recruiting someone who is good with both Cocoa and Objective C, Javascript, XML, and more. "Mac OS X exposure (end user, administrator, developer." So we’re all led to dream about and wondered on what the new handset design will come out like… iPhone-styled BlackBerry?

Then BGR once again flatten out the imaginary of the pictured broad-screen sized BlackBerry (iPhone-alike), with solid pictures and detail of the new BlackBerry flip-phone code named KickStart:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• "Next Gen" SureType keyboard
• 2 Megapixel camera
• 16-bit color LCDs Internal LCD is 240×320, external one is 160×128
• Wi-Fi b,g
• 3.5mm headset jack
• OS is 4.6

It would most probably that RIM will inject both Pearl’s multimedia features, and BlackBerry’s integrated Facebook application into KickStart. Only time will let us know what RIM’s action for this one.

Speaking of action, James Balsillie needs to answer about current BlackBerry services down time on T-Mobile & possibly Bell Mobility networks today; as reported by Engadget Mobile. The scheduled 6 hours outage is in contrast to what RIM’s co-CEO statement at New York: “And I can't stand here before you and say we've been perfect. But we aspire to perfection. And we take our responsibility to provide 100 percent uptime to our customers with the utmost seriousness. And when something happens we make sure that service is restored and no packets are lost."

We really hope so, for the sake of CrackBerries all over the world. Who are already got too addicted to BlackBerry’s push-email service, but maybe an anti-dote will bring them to the other side of a new addiction: iPhone 2.0!

Watch video clip footage below on the BlackBerry 9000 series new UI, courtesy of PhoneArena.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Is Ubuntu ready for non-Linux users?

There are so many reasons on why some of you dislike Windows, or don’t want to use Mac OS X; which I can’t name them one by one because the list will take up this whole weblog. So, then Linux will become the best choice and usually Ubuntu is the most famous distro chosen by Linux-ers (Linux users). Aside from having many Linux developers support, Ubuntu also provides rich user interface that similar and even at few areas are better than the two previous pay-per-licensed OS above.

Ubuntu also has gain a great title based on Linux-ers experiences with it; it’s called “Linux for human beings”. But you’ll have to keep one important thing in mind when we’re implying on that title, is that for Linux-ers or for non? That’s what a Linux fans wanted to find out, by challenging (he actually tricked her, he said) his girlfriend named Erin, who’s a Windows user and never use a Linux before.

The challenges are simple basic tasks, they’re to test how fair is a university philosophy student’s knowledge of Windows computer on a new freshly installed Ubuntu 8.04 computer. The Ubuntu was installed in basic config, without any additional apps. And Erin must finish the tasks with no help at all from her boyfriend, can Erin survived and complete the tests? Read on below to find out.

~ Erin logged-in, and she adore the stylized Heron wallpaper ~

1. Tell me what the capital of Bosnia is: Passed, she opened Firefox and use Wikipedia.
2. Watch a video on YouTube: Failed, although Ubuntu shipped Firefox with its own special modification, but it doesn’t tell Erin how to install Flash Player.
3. Download a Spice Girls Album: Passed, Erin had trouble first but then with self-satisfied smirk she used Transmission to download it.
4. Draw a little picture and save it in 3 formats: Passed, but she saved them into unfamiliar formats because she used “Save As...” command instead of “Export…”.
5. Burn an album from my music collection: Failed, Erin couldn’t find the music directory, there is no specific file search in Brasero Disc Burning.
6. Change the speed of the mouse: Passed.
7. Change the theme: Passed.
8. Find a picture in the net and set is as wallpaper: Passed.
9. Change screen resolution: Almost succeed, she set it at 720x400 which is too small for the screen to display it properly, and she can’t change it back.
10. Photoshop a pic of her face onto my body: Passed, she was first confused with GIMP’s scattered windows but eventually succeed.
11. Log onto MSN: Passed, after second try.
12. Install Skype: Failed, although Skype has provided a special download page for Linux, Erin can’t find it in Ubuntu.

Looks like Erin got through most of the tasks assigned to her, but her boyfriend make an interesting comment about the result: “It’s surprising how many seemingly simple things become complicated and even out of reach for someone without knowledge of Linux. If she had as much trouble as she did, what chance to the elderly or at least the middle-aged stand?”

So let’s come back to Ubuntu’s slogan up there, can it really provide a friendly user experience for non-Linux-ers? If “friendly” term is a bit vague, how about “isn’t scaring away” new Linux-ers? Just like Erin, she immediately told her friends at IM on how she hates Linux while she was still at task #11. She does probably never will touch a Linux computer ever again after that…

Before you rage into arguments or conclusions, an answer has been provided by Erin’s boyfriend when he updated the blog post; “…we can’t expect people to rely on their “intuition”, because it really doesn’t seem to work, ....I just want windows users to be able to learn it themselves without their own research on the internet or by searching through manual pages."

I’m not gonna prolong this post with discussion on which is better between Windows & Ubuntu / Linux, or what should be fixed in Ubuntu, or any arguments that why does Linux should be build more like Windows. Because Linux is simply a Linux, and as for non-Linux-ers, they should get used to it if they want to use it. Be “intuitive” with Linux to be able to use it, as Jim has said in his comment (#4). Isn’t that what we have done when we first introduced to Windows OS?

The main difference is, Linux is an open platform made by various distros around the globe and that’s the root of these whole issues. I’ll quote Jonathan’s fine comment (#6) to explain this further: “Geeky programmers and designers are the ones who are driving Linux development as you said, and Linux should (and probably will) always cater to them first because of this.”

Read on “The Great Ubuntu-Girlfriend Experiment” blog here to know more on the comments & feedbacks, a little advance warning though: be prepared to open a very long web page because of the 510 comments! And also if you wanted to read the whole Erin’s quest in Linux land, since I summarized the long story to fit into this post.

And how about Palm’s newest OS; Palm Nova, which is made based on Linux platform? It’s our greatest hope that Palm will be able to deliver a powerful OS for its next smartphones, and still have the same “friendliness” & easy to use factor in it as in our beloved ~old~ Palm OS Garnet. And if it does come out as the opposite of all that, then we’ll just have to “get used” to it; won’t we?

Source is from Content Consumer, via Switched.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

What awaits you in iPhone 2.0

( View this photo) Another day, another iPhone 2.0 infos leaked out to us. No matter how small & trivial they are, these precious infos are like gold to iPhone fans. Here are some of them, gathered from iPhone Atlas:

• Background apps are still not allowed, but 'inactive' ones are supported. Say what?!? I'll let Apple's official documentation to explain it to you: "When an application is inactive, it is executing but is not dispatching incoming events. This occurs when an overlay window pops up or when the device is locked.” This has been found at iPhone SDK Built 4 & in iPhone OS 2.0 beta release (5A258f), which back then was mis-interpreted by many developers.
• 'Import SIM Contacts' feature. "Theoretically, this would allow SIM cards pulled from other phones to have contact information transferred to the iPhone permanent — assuming the cards came from the same carrier. This task could previously be accomplished with some jailbreak applications like 'SIMport', though with mixed results."
• You'll get 'iFunded'. I'm not kidding, that "i" acronym really is from Apple's CEO: Steve Jobs himself. And yes, you'll get funded by KPCB to create companies that support iPhone & iPod Touch. This is what Steve has said: "We think several significant new companies will emerge as this new platform evolves, and the iFund™ will empower them to realize their full potential."
• 'Pwnage' iPhone OS 2.0 tool. Never fear on Apple's relentless pursuit to enhanced security measures in the next iPhone firmware 2.0 update. Because the author of the most popular unlock/jailbreak tool for Mac OS X and Windows, “Zibri,” has vowed that his “ZiPhone” utility will work to unlock and jailbreak iPhones running OS 2.0!
• New 'smaller' build form factor. Following the success of iPod Nano & Shuffle, Steve has been led to believe that the iPhone Nano & iPhone Shuffle (pictured right) will also become popular too; especially for extreme mobile users. I'll leave you alone for awhile now, with your drooling bucket. ;-p Hint: are you gonna really believe this one?!?

Okay, you don't believe that last one. But how about this real photo (left) from Switched, that has iPhone 2.0 aura all over it? It sure does look pretty much like the fake black-colored of iPhone's back, that much buzzed about not so long ago ain't it? You'll decide then, cuz you're on your own now in your world of iPhone 2.0 fantasy land.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]