Posts tagged with "iOS"

Personal Hotspot Lets Another iPhone Connect and Use FaceTime Over 3G

Here’s an interesting feature we didn’t know had been implemented on iOS 4.3 that has been brought to our attention this morning by German blog Macerkopf.de [Google Translation]: on the iOS 4.3 GM (released last night) you can start Personal Hotspot and let a second iPhone connect to use FaceTime over 3G.

Personal Hotspot creates a WiFi connection, but we know that’s actually a shared 3G one. Starting with an active 3G connection on the first iPhone running iOS 4.3, up to 5 other devices can connect to the Personal Hotspot, which is recognized in the Settings as a WiFi network. Macerkopf speculates that the fact that iPhones can connect to Personal Hotspot and use FaceTime is new to the 4.3 GM build seeded to developers yesterday.

I’ve tested this with my two iPhone 4s and a Mac running FaceTime, and it works. With the first iPhone, I made sure I had 3G active and created a WiFi network with Personal Hotspot. With the second iPhone 4, I connected to Personal Hotspot and called my Mac using FaceTime. It worked the other way around as well. Video quality and sound weren’t excellent (like I said, it’s a 3G connection) but definitely acceptable.

This is an interesting little detail because Apple doesn’t want you to use FaceTime over 3G. A number of Cydia tweaks surfaced in the past to overcome Apple’s restrictions, like Facebreak and My3G. But if you happen to have two iPhones (say, your wife’s) and you really need to use FaceTime on the go to call someone, Personal Hotspot will let you do that. Even if it’s actually a 3G connection, it appears that as long as the iPhone “sees” the network as a WiFi one, it’s fine. Clearly the second iPhone isn’t able to tell whether the connection comes from 3G or not.

We don’t know if this was possible on the previous betas of iOS 4.3, so if you’re still running one of those and the method works, please let us know in the comments below.

Want To Get Rid of Twitter’s Quick Bar? There’s A Cydia Tweak For That

By now you’ve probably updated your iOS Twitter app and noticed that the iPhone version comes with a new “Quick Bar” at the top that’s meant for letting you cycle through…the popular and beloved Twitter trends. Really, that translucent bar doesn’t do anything else but putting trends and promoted tweets (thus, ads) in your timeline. It doesn’t follow you around as you scroll, but it appears every time you tap on the timeline tab or switch back and forth between, say, mentions and the Twitter timeline. We get it: it’s annoying and partially ruins the design of Tweetie – ehm, Twitter for iPhone.

But here comes a solution: if you’re running a jailbroken device and you want to get rid of the Quick Bar, go install Twizzler now from Cydia, for free. It removes the Quick Bar and gives you control back over what appears in your timeline. That’s it.

Did we say it’s free?

Apple Releases iOS 4.3 GM [Update: Gestures, Home Sharing]

A few minutes ago Apple seeded the GM seed of iOS 4.3 to developers. It’s available now in the iOS Dev Center. Build number is 8F190. Updated versions of the iOS SDK and Apple TV pre-release software have been released as well. iOS 4.3 beta 3 was released on February 1st.

iOS 4.3 is set to come out on March 11 together with the release of the iPad 2. This GM build should include the new iTunes Home Sharing feature announced by Apple yesterday.

Update: We have received word from several developers that the multitasking gestures for iPad can still be activated in the GM build with Xcode. At this point it sounds like Xcode will be able to activate gestures in the final release as well, but the general public won’t have this feature – it’s exclusive to developers for testing. Read more

Twitter Updates iOS App with Lots Of New Features

An interesting (and rather huge) update to the official Twitter app for iOS was released a few minutes ago, and it includes improvements both for the iPhone and iPad version of the client. New features has been added to this release as well, which unlike previous updates doesn’t only focus on bug fixes and stability improvements.

First off, the tweet compose screen has been greatly improved and redesigned to have a much cleaner UI and buttons to attach media for easier photo uploading; location info and usernames shortcuts are part of the redesigned screen, too. There’s even username auto-completion now, which is very nice on the iPhone considering one doesn’t always have time to type a long username on the virtual keyboard.

Trends have been improved, the app now shows trends for your specific location and there’s also a bar on top of the timeline called “Quick Bar” that allows you to cycle through trends. I wonder if there’s a way to disable it from the new Settings view. Twitter for iOS can also look in your local address book now to find friends that you might want to follow. This has been enabled both on the iPhone and iPad. Local trends, on the other hands, can be ignored thanks to an option in the Settings.

We are looking for new features and details right now and we’ll update this post as we find more interesting stuff. Check for more screenshots below, and go download the app here.

Update: The app seems a lot stable on the iOS 4.3 beta, and the bug that caused DMs and mentions to be marked as “unread” on each launch has been fixed. Finally, DM conversations behave like you would expect, too.

Update #2: Surprisingly enough, Twitter for iPad doesn’t seem to have the Quick Bar. Also, Quick Bar on the iPhone only stays at the top of the list and doesn’t follow you when scrolling the timeline.

Read more

Nintendo Still Doesn’t Get The (New) Mobile Market→

Nintendo Still Doesn’t Get The Mobile Market

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, speaking about “quality video games” and mobile platforms like iOS and Android:

In a feisty attack on the fastest-growing sectors of the video-game industry, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said that smartphone games and social-media games focus on quantity instead of quality.

“They are not like gaming consoles, there’s no motivation [for] high-value video games,” Iwata said at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

I’d say this is one of the biggest problems a company like Nintendo is facing right now: trying to compete in the mobile gaming space with a device that’s just meant for gaming, while consumers are demanding something that goes beyond cartridges and games sold at $40 a piece. And so they try to build “social functionalities” into their consoles, hoping that an avatar creation feature or in-console communication would provide a solution to a market that’s deeply changed in the past four years.

Should Nintendo change at its roots and start doing all that consumers want? No. But the way I see it, they should pull their head out of the sand and understand that the rules have changed and it’s time to stop complaining, and start building to stay in the game. Those Angry Birds won’t go away by themselves.

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BlackBerry Messenger Coming to iOS?

BGR reports sources close to RIM have told them the company is working on a port of the popular BlackBerry Messenger communication service for Android and iOS devices. While the Android version seems to be coming soon, not so many details have been provided regarding BBM for iOS –no release date or whether the app could be available only for iPhone owners.

Boy Genius Report, however, says RIM has been looking for a way to extend its platform’s capabilities to other mobile operating systems, which have seen the rise of similar services like WhatsApp and Kik recently. BlackBerry Messenger for non-BlackBerry devices might be a stripped down version of the original software with only a few features such as contacts lists and chat. Location, photo and video sharing might remain exclusive to BlackBerry owners as an advantage over iOS and Android counterparts.

Right now, we have heard that Android is definitely a go. But again, we’re not sure on timing, though our sources are confident that it will launch some time this year. RIM chose Android first because of the fact that it could develop and integrate something like this much easier with an open platform, but the plan is to build and deploy an iOS version at some point as well.

There is no secret the App Store is full of applications that allow users to communicate and share media in real time, for free. If BlackBerry is really planning on bringing its vision to other platforms and, perhaps, tablets, then we’re definitely looking forward to that. Maybe in the future iPad 2 owners will be able to communicate with PlayBook users. [via BGR]

New iOS 4.3 Feature: iTunes Home Sharing

At today’s iPad 2 event, Apple said iOS 4.3 will be available next Friday, March 11. A new feature mentioned was iTunes Home Sharing, so let’s dig in.

iTunes currently has Home Sharing between Macs or PCs on the same Wi-Fi network, but now iOS 4.3 is letting you stream all your music, movies and TV shows from your Mac or PC to any iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. After installing iTunes 10.2, tap and enjoy all your media in your iTunes library anywhere in your home. Imagine, you can stream a movie from your Mac to your iPad anywhere your Wi-Fi range can reach. Want to listen to an excellent new podcast, connect and go!

Current iOS 4.3 GM users, the iTunes Home Sharing feature is now in the beta. Others, it will definitely be in the public release on March 11.

UPDATED WITH SCREENSHOTS BELOW: Read more

Apple Releases iTunes 10.2 with iOS 4.3 Support, New Home Sharing

Just as we expected after seeing a brief mention of iTunes 10.2 on Apple’s website, the update is now available for download. You can find it on Apple’s iTunes page or Software Update on your Macs. The new version of iTunes officially introduces support for iOS 4.3 and brings an improved home sharing feature to share libraries with iOS devices running iOS 4.3.

Changelog below:

What’s new in iTunes 10.2

• Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.3.

• Improved Home Sharing. Browse and play from your iTunes libraries with Home Sharing on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.3.