Want to have a really rotten day? Lose your iPhone. It'll make you feel sick down to the pit of your stomach. Trust me: I've been there.
Actually, losing anything important can be a nightmare: your car keys, your wallet, that cute guy/girl's phone number. The thing is, those items can't tell you where they are. Your iPhone can. All you need is the right services and apps.
I've rounded up three that should cover just about any lost-iPhone situation:
FoneHome and iHound These two very similar apps run in the background, transmitting your … Read more
Almost a month ago to the day, I reported that hackers had found a way to jailbreak iOS 4.1--and asked if it was worth the hassle anymore. That question generated lots of great discussion, and now is the perfect time to revisit it.
In an attempt to put more troubleshooting know-how in the hands of its customers, Apple has created Express Lane, a simple to use resource for locating issues and solutions to common problems with all of Apple's products.
The site is incredibly easy to navigate, using a simple three-column approach to determine the general scope of the issue you are having. Once you've narrowed down the topic, you can select one of the thousands of helpful articles available directly from Apple about nearly any documented problem--including information for many older Macs and previous generation iPhones and iPods.
If you are texting groups of people often and have a difficult time finding the conversations, use this trick to tag your texts, making them easy to access later.
If your texting habits are anything like those of some of the people I know (my own aren't too crazy), you undoubtedly find yourself needing to text specific groups of people quite a bit. It may be co-workers who meet up on Monday nights for Bingo, your brothers and sisters (but not your parents, because they just don't need to know), or your closest pals. In any case, it … Read more
Yo, Netflix! When are you going to give us an iPhone version of your awesome iPad app? You said it was coming "this summer." According to my calendar, August is just about half over.
Since I'm an impatient pup, I decided to follow Lifehacker's instructions for watching streaming Netflix videos on an iPhone. It took some doing, but it works--and I'm just a wee bit giddy with excitement.
First caveat: This hack requires you to have a jailbroken iPhone. The Netflix app is, arguably, the best justification yet to stage a jailbreak of your iPhone--though … Read more
Editors' note: If you've already read "Battle Royale: Five smartphones face off," then you may experience some deja vu when reading this article. We've used the same tests and presented the article in the same style. Only the phones in question and the details of their performance have changed.
A few months ago in my never-ending pursuit of pain and sadness, I volunteered to test the display quality of five of the most popular smartphones at that time. Using DisplayMate Multimedia Edition for Mobile Displays, I put each phone through a battery of tests and lost a couple of weekends in the process.
With the recent release of the iPhone 4, as well as the hype that's been generated by the "Retina Display," now's the best time to determine just how good the display really is. I've decided to compare the iPhone 4's screen with only two others: the winner of the last roundup, the Motorola Droid, and relative newcomer the HTC Evo 4G. The Evo was chosen because of its popularity and relatively gigantic screen.
Like last time, we used three different types of tests to evaluate each phone:
Scientific measurements: We used the Konica Minolta CS-200 ChromaMeter to test the maximum brightness, black level, and contrast ratio of each phone and reported numbers for each of these three tests.
Test pattern screens: We used several DisplayMate Mobile test patterns to test for color-tracking errors, 24-bit color, and font legibility, among others.
Real-world: Finally, we conducted real-world anecdotal testing using 3D games, photos, and a little tool I like to call "the sun" to test the diffuse reflectance of each display.
All test screens were viewed within each phone's native gallery application. Some phones may handle pictures differently--and even improve them to some extent--outside the application. That said, we believe that testing within the respective gallery applications is still a viable test, as this is where most users will view pictures on their phones.
Note: Since we conducted our first round of tests, the Motorola Droid has received some noteworthy changes. When the Motorola Droid is upgraded to version 2.1, the Gallery (the principal image viewer for the phone) is downgraded to 16-bit color from its original full 24-bit color in version 2.0. Fortunately, version 2.1 of the Android Browser on the Droid still delivers full 24-bit color. Presumably these errors will be fixed in a future software upgrade, so the Droid will at some point return to its original, excellent 24-bit color. The tests here reflect the Droid in its 2.1 incarnation.
In order to diminish potential repetition, I'll dive right into the details of how each phone performed; if you'd like to know more about our tests, you can binge on nerdy details in our "How we tested" section at the bottom of this article. Please note that this is an evaluation of each phone's screen performance and nothing else. Check out the full reviews of these phones to determine which is right for you. Also, DisplayMate recently conducted a more technically focused evaluation of the Motorola Droid's screen that I recommend you check out.
Apple has started distributing its iAds advertising content in participating App Store apps using data that has been collected from iTunes accounts and analyzed to customize your consumption experience. If you no longer want Apple to collect your data, opting out is simple.
Apple has partnered with several big-name brands to provide content-based, personalized advertising solutions to your iOS-enabled devices. Apple "uses cookies and other technologies in mobile advertising services to control the number of times you see a given ad, deliver ads that relate to your interests, and measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns."
For most people, the idea of having their iPad erased sounds like a nightmare. There are times, however, when it can be handy to wipe all your personal data from an iPad and restore it back to its factory settings.
I know my situation is unique, but as a CNET reviewer, I've had to erase my personal data from our shared test iPad on a weekly basis. It's not to say I don't trust my coworkers, but I feel a little funny having a device floating around the office with my personal e-mail account and Twitter login--not … Read more
Once invitation-only, Google Voice's free telecommunications service for U.S. residents is now available to all. There are so many features, getting started can be confusing for first-timers. We won't walk you through every step--especially since Google has produced some good help files to explain your options--but we will point you in the right direction.
What is Google Voice?
Google Voice is best known for its visual voice mail features. If you miss a call, Google Voice uses computers to transcribe the voice message into text, which it can send to you via SMS or e-mail.
There's one surefire way to solve the iPhone 4 antenna problem: don't let your hand or fingers come in contact with its metal band.
Easier said than done, right? Unless you're willing to constantly use the speakerphone, a headset, or a pair of gloves, your only viable option is to keep the iPhone in a case--or, as some have discovered, wrap it in a rubber "bumper."
iPhone Guru blogger Oliver Nelson crafted a clever DIY iPhone 4 bumper solution out of one of those rubber wristbands you probably have sitting in a junk drawer.
What's the #1 music streaming-app for iOS? Who wins in an iPhone v. S4 faceoff? We've got it covered with iPhone news, rumors, app recommendations, and more.
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