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Stuck in the past?

OK, ok, so I promised Matt that my next post here would be more positive. But I’ll have to just get this one in under the wire first. I’ve visited several O2 and Carphone Warehouse retail shops in the UK in the last week – and ALL of them have the original iPhone firmware installed, i.e. without any of the new app improvements.

O2 retail

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Tips and tricks in Smartphones Show 53

I have another guest slot on Steve Litchfield’s Smartphones Show this week, showing off some tips to help iPhone users get a bit more out of their device, including an easy way for UK users to view MMS. They provoked some mirth from All About Symbian commenters, so go easy on a newbie in front of the camera, ok? 😉

The Smartphones Show is available in iPhone-friendly format at http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/sshow/ss53.html

BBC programmes make it to the iPhone

Every now and then something I say turns out to be correct. At the start of the month I wondered if the BBC would be bringing their programming to the iPhone, and now they are! In announcements over the last couple of days, the BBC has said in a press release that it is bringing shows to iTunes, that is will be turning on new features for the iPlayer, and enabling it to be used on the iPhone (1).

This is great news, and what we should be expecting from our public service broadcaster. As always though, the devil is in the detail, so let’s examine what this all means (and if I really was right after all).

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From store-bought to unlocked in less than 5 minutes

From store-bought to unlocked in less than 5 minutes

Unlocked iPhone Although I’m running an iPhone as decreed by Jobs – locked to O2, non-jailbroken – I’ve also been trying, on and off, to get my mate’s US-bought iPhone jailbroken and unlocked for him for about 2 months now.

I took a couple of goes to jailbreak his phone, which was bought with 1.1.2 firmware just before people became aware that Apple had changed the bootloader from 3.9 to 4.6. This new bootloader stopped the most-used unlocking software – AnySIM – from working.

So, his phone remained locked, even when he bought a StealthSIM, which is effectively a hardware unlock. Its a small sliver of plastic that aligns with the SIM card, making the iPhone believe the SIM is valid. After a lot of trying, even that didn’t work. But the answer was just around the corner.

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A quiet launch for the world’s highest-capacity music phone

The rumours started on Tuesday, and within a couple of hours the US Apple Store had gone down – a sure sign of new products. When it came back up the 16GB iPhone had been unveiled, and as with all things Apple, it has been well reported all over the web.

But what’s been missed here? Well with this launch, Apple has quietly upgraded the iPhone to be the largest-capacity music phone on the market.

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Could BBC iPlayer be headed for the iPhone?

Could BBC iPlayer be headed for the iPhone?

iPlayer on the iPhone, image courtesy intomobile.com

There have some been some tantalising tidbits floating around the web for a while, raising the possibility that the BBC’s iPlayer could be extended to more platforms, possibly including the iPhone.

At the moment, the iPlayer catch-up tv service is available in two flavours:

  • download – only for Windows XP and Vista using Internet Explorer
  • streaming – for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux using Flash

A demo video appeared in July last year showing iPlayer on the iPhone, but it seems to only have been a mock-up. If we are going to get BBC shows on the iPhone, how will it happen?

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