iPhone Atlas

Your mileage may vary, but you should be able to sell your iPhone 3G for the same price as a refurbished 3GS.

So it has come to this: My iPhone 3G is a year old and out of warranty. Its battery ain't what it used to be. And, heavens, does it seem slow sometimes.

Needless to say, I've been eyeballing a 3GS for some time, but I still don't qualify for a price break on an upgrade--not until April, 2010, according to AT&T.

So if I want to replace my 16GB 3G with a 32GB 3GS, it'll cost me $499. It'll be a warm January day in Michigan before I spend that kind of money on a phone.

Ah, but there's another option. I can get a refurbished 32GB 3GS for $349 (provided I sign on for another two years with AT&T, of course). That's a little more reasonable, and here's the kicker: Guess what a used iPhone 3G will fetch on eBay these days?

You guessed it: right around $350. (Sometimes even more.) That amazes me right down to my sneakers, but I guess people are willing to pay handsomely for an iPhone that's free and clear of AT&T and ready for jailbreaking.

So--and this is what I'm telling my wife--I'd be crazy not to do this. After all, I do write about the iPhone for a living. I should have the latest model, right? Right? Honey, put down the rolling pin!

I'm kidding--I do most of the baking in this house. But I'm not kidding when I say I can't see any downside to making this move. Even if my old crank-start 3G brought in only $300 on eBay, I consider $50 a perfectly reasonable upgrade expenditure.

Obviously your mileage may vary, like if you're moving from an original iPhone or looking at a 3GS with 16GB instead of 32GB. Heck, you might be able to come out ahead on the transaction.

Thoughts? Discuss.

Apple's iPhone 3GS introduced video recording, trimming, and sharing by adding a higher quality camera and iPhone OS 3.0. These new features introduced a simple way to edit videos, but they won't be replacing iMovie on the Mac--the phone's video-editing capabilities are far too simple, since all you can do is simple trimming and no special effects.

ReelDirector (iTunes link), a new app for the iPhone 3GS by Nexvio, attempts to fill out the iPhone's video editing toolbox by adding advanced video editing features. It sells for $7.99, works best with iPhone OS 3.1, and is the first app of its type that we've seen in the App Store.

ReelDirector demonstration video:

ReelDirector lets you arrange and merge recorded video clips into a scrollable timeline filmstrip. Available watermark text overlays--in four styles with up to 36 combinations--let you tell people what they're looking at while your video is playing.

Twenty-seven available transitions make switching between video segments a lot smoother than the simple abrupt trimming used by the iPhone's native software, and the app lets you add, change, or delete transitions as much as you please. The changes aren't applied to your video, which is stored as a project file, until it is created to include the transitions. This is accomplished by pressing the Create button inside of your project to generate a new version of the video. Even then, if you don't like the results, you can edit your project, make adjustments, then regenerate it--editing is nondestructive and you never harm the original video footage.

Once you've completed your video, you can share it via e-mail or save it to your iPhone Camera Roll and later sync it back to your computer.

According to Nexvio, the company is planning on adding frequently requested features in future updates. We look forward to seeing how this app evolves and recommend it for people heavily into iPhone video creation.

ReelDirector tutorial video:

Apple's iPhone is still king of the smartphone hill.

(Credit: Apple)

J.D. Power and Associates on Thursday released the results of its 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study and the 2009 Wireless Business Smartphone Satisfaction Study. It may not surprise you to learn that Apple topped the list for satisfaction among consumers, but the iPhone is also the No. 1 pick among business users, too.

The factors determining satisfaction for business users (in order of importance) are ease of operation (29 percent); operating system (23 percent); physical design (21 percent); features (16 percent); and battery function (11 percent).

Apple scored 803 out of a possible 1,000 points among business users in the survey. Research in Motion's BlackBerry finished in second place in the business category, with a score of 724.

The factors and how they were weighted differed for the consumer and business surveys. Factors used to determine satisfaction for consumers were ease of operation (which accounted for 30 percent of the score), operating system (22 percent), features (21 percent), physical design (18 percent), and battery function (9 percent).

J.D. Power said Apple came in first with consumers, scoring 811 out of a possible 1,000. LG came in second with 776, and the BlackBerry took the third spot with 724.

While the company didn't give specific numbers, J.D. Power said the iPhone performed "particularly well in ease of operation, operating system, features, and physical design."

Overall, consumer satisfaction with smartphones has gone up 23 points out of 1,000 from a year ago, while business users report an increase of 43 points during the same time.

Apple on Thursday released an update for the iPhone operating system, bringing the current version of the OS to 3.1.2.

According to notes accompanying the update, Apple fixed three bugs, which may not seem like a lot, but they are important. Among the changes is a fix for what Apple says is a "sporadic issue," where the iPhone would not wake up from sleep mode.

The update also resolves an issue that could interrupt the cell network until the phone is restarted. A bug that caused a crash during video streaming has been addressed in iPhone OS 3.1.2.

Apple said iPhone OS 3.1.2 is compatible with the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS. The update is available by plugging your iPhone into your computer and clicking on the update button in iTunes.

Once finished, your iPhone will restart and immediately alert you to a Carrier Settings update. This is a very small update that will be completed without needing to restart again.

The cat and mouse game continues between Apple and the Dev Team, a group of guys who are passionate about freeing Apple handheld devices from the company's short leash. The Dev Team has been jailbreaking new Apple firmware for years, and it just did so again--though this time around it seems Apple is still taking the decisive lead.

The team announced Friday the availability of PwnageTool 3.13, which allows for jailbreaking and unlocking the iPhone 3GS running the latest firmware, version 3.1. Currently only a Mac version of the tool is available, but the Windows version will be out soon. (Keep in mind, however, that you download and use the PwnageTool at your own risk.)

A jailbroken iPhone can do a lot more than what Apple wants it to do.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

The tool creates a custom firmware from the version 3.1 firmware released by Apple. To install it, you put the phone into recovery mode (turn it off, then plug it in while holding down the Home button) and use iTunes to restore the phone with the custom firmware (hold down the Option key while clicking on the Restore button).

The custom firmware, apart from jailbreaking, will not upgrade the baseband--the chip that connects the phone to a service provider--and therefore still allows the phone to be unlocked.

But there's a catch here. The tool only works with the iPhone 3GS that has been jailbroken with the firmware version 3.0 or 3.0.1. This means if you buy a new iPhone 3GS that already has version 3.1 on it or you have updated to version 3.1 using iTunes, there's still no way to have your phone jailbroken. There's even a rumor that there might never be one, unless a new exploit is found.

If this is true, it seems Apple has finally been able to gain significant ground in stopping the practice it claims could pose a threat to national security. And for thousands, if not millions of iPhone 3GS users who rely on jailbreaking and unlocking to use their phones with the service of their choice, this is sad news.

Battery issues with the iPhone 3GS have led Apple to contact some customers to get first-hand reports on what may be causing premature draining, according to users on Apple's forums and the iPhone Blog enthusiast site.

(Credit: The iPhone Blog)

Apple's discussion boards have been buzzing with users complaining about poor battery life with the iPhone 3GS, which was released in June.

In some cases, users on the forums say the battery is draining while the iPhone is on standby. Other users say that after charging the battery overnight, it mysteriously drains after sending a couple of text messages or e-mails. Turning off features like Push Notifications and Bluetooth seem to have no effect for most users reporting problems.

Apple's support team has started contacting some customers who reported their battery problem to AppleCare, according to the enthusiast site and Apple's own forums. AppleCare is apparently asking customers to enable battery-life logging on the iPhone and then sync the logs to a computer. AppleCare is then asking customers to send in the logs, so it can try to figure out what's causing the issue.

The company apparently is telling customers that battery logging does not affect battery life itself, but that the logs do take up hard drive space. Thus, customers should plug the smartphone into a computer to get the logs off the device. This is done automatically when the iPhone is synced to a computer.

Apple representatives weren't immediately available for comment.

Query: Who makes the Apple-branded chip in the iPhone? Answer: Samsung. This nontrivial detail translated into smartphone chip market share gains for Samsung in the second quarter, according to iSuppli.

Apple iPhone market share gains drove Samsung chip rise.

(Credit: Apple)

The iPhone, largely due to the popularity of the 3GS model, accounted for 13.9 percent of global smartphone shipments in the second quarter, up from 10.1 percent in the first quarter, according to iSuppli. As a result, Samsung accounted for 15.9 percent of global revenue from sales of standalone applications processors. An applications processor is roughly analogous to the main Intel or Advanced Micro Devices processor in a PC: it is basically the brains of a smartphone.

Samsung's market share was up nearly 1 percent from the first quarter, iSuppli said, though it still trailed No. 1 supplier Texas Instruments. iSuppli defines a "standalone" applications processor as digital signal- or logic-based processors not integrated with the digital baseband function.

"Since the introduction of the first (iPhone) in January 2007, Samsung has occupied the key applications processor slot in Apple's iPhone line," Francis Sideco, principal analyst of wireless communications for iSuppli, said in a statement. "With the new 3GS model allowing the iPhone to gain share in the smartphone market, Samsung also is claiming a larger portion of standalone applications processor shipments."

As with previous iPhone models, the 3GS--introduced in June--integrates a Samsung processor based on the ARM architecture. The processor accounted for $14.46, or 8.4 percent, of the materials cost of the iPhone 3GS based on pricing in late June, iSuppli said.

"The partnership between Apple and Samsung on the applications processor in the iPhone has been a major coup for Samsung, establishing it as a player in the market and allowing it to challenge the incumbent leader, Texas Instruments," Sideco said.

The big question, however, is how long a good thing will last for Samsung. Sideco added that "there is a lot of speculation as to whether Apple's acquisition of PA Semi will change the parameters of this partnership." Apple announced its purchase of PA Semi in March 2008.

One of the most rapidly circulating rumors has Apple using a PA Semi design in the upcoming Apple tablet. The latest word is that the screen size is about 10 inches diagonally, meaning that a tablet will require more processor and graphics horsepower than a smaller device like the iPhone.

Although Texas Instruments lost some share to Samsung in the second quarter, the U.S. chip giant retained its dominant position in the market, with a share of 24.4 percent. "Texas Instruments continues to lead the market on the strength of its Open Multimedia Application Platform (OMAP) line of applications processors," Sideco said.

iPhone and iPhone 3G users hit a roadblock last week trying to login to Exchange 2007 servers after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.1.

(Credit: Apple)

Because the problems began with the latest update, it may seem reasonable to assume that the update is to blame, but it's not. In fact, everything is working exactly how it's supposed to be, according to Apple.

"iPhone OS 3.1 is working properly with Exchange Server 2007," Apple representative Natalie Harrison told CNET News. "We added device encryption information to the data that can be managed by IT administrators using Exchange Server 2007. The policy of whether to support iPhone 3G, in addition to iPhone 3GS, which always has on-device encryption, on Exchange Server 2007 is set by the administrator and can be changed at any time."

What this means is that iPhone OS 3.1 now properly identifies itself to Exchange 2007 as having hardware encryption, and that's what is causing the problems for iPhone and iPhone 3G users.

iPhone OS 3.0 did not identify itself properly to Exchange 2007 on any iPhone. This means that if you had a 3G and Exchange 2007 was configured to require hardware encryption, you could still login, even though the device does not have hardware encryption.

With iPhone OS 3.1, all iPhones identify themselves properly to the server, essentially fixing a glitch in the previous operating system. However, now iPhone and iPhone 3G users that upgraded to iPhone OS 3.1 cannot login to Exchange 2007 servers that require hardware encryption.

If you use the new iPhone 3GS, you won't notice any change. Apple's newest phone is equipped with hardware encryption, so it will meet the requirements of the Exchange server when identifying itself.

If you already upgraded to iPhone OS 3.1 on an iPhone or iPhone 3G and connect to an Exchange 2007 server, you can ask that the IT admin turn off the hardware encryption requirement for those devices.

Company IT administrators who require hardware encryption to access Exchange 2007 will need to decide whether they want older iPhones to access their servers. If so, they will need to configure Exchange to not require encryption from the iPhone and iPhone 3G.

Of course, if you haven't upgraded your iPhone, it will continue to access Exchange 2007 as it always did.

So far I've tested four flat-fee GPS applications for the iPhone with built-in offline maps: Navigon, iGo My Way, TomTom, and CoPilot Live. They all have pros and cons, but they share a few common shortcomings: a lack of real-time traffic, no support for text-to-speech (except for Navigon with its recent update), and outdated maps.

AT&T Navigator's real-time traffic works well most of the time, even where 3G signal is not available.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

I've just finished testing a GPS navigation app that offers all of those previously unavailable features: the AT&T Navigator (version 1.2i.5). The catch? It doesn't have built-in maps (meaning you will need a working data connection to download the maps in real time) and it requires a monthly subscription of $10. The app itself is free.

This is one of the first GPS navigation applications made for the iPhone. It's actually a product by TeleNav and is also available for other cell carriers, including Sprint and Alltel.

Unlike the other aforementioned apps that take an hour or so to download using Wi-Fi, the AT&T Navigator has no built-in maps and therefore is a snap to install on the iPhone, even via a 3G or Edge connection. This makes it a perfect quick add-on when you suddenly need a GPS navigator.

The app also launches very quickly, taking just a second or two on my iPhone 3GS. When it can (more on this later), it also picks up GPS signals very fast. After about a week of use, I can say I really like the real-time traffic updates--which warn you both onscreen and audibly--and the text-to-speech features. This is especially helpful when you are in a unfamiliar town.

However, I found out that the traffic updates are available mostly for freeways only, unlike Google Maps, which offer them all the way down to street level for major cities.