Latest iPhone News, Downloads, Accessories and Apps

I received an email yesterday from a reader asking what I thought about the many iPhone download services that offer “unlimited movies, music and games” for a one time fee, and in particular, if they were all scams. To be honest, I really had no clue; I’d previously done a bit of research when I first bought my iPhone, but found no reliable information that wasn’t just blatant advertisement. So! I thought I’d actually try one of these services now and make a post of it.

The number one feature I was looking for was a money-back guarantee; after all, I only wanted a test drive. I came across one of the more popular sites called PhoneDownloadHub.com who offered a money-back guarantee, along with 24/7 customer service. So I coughed up the 50 bucks for the service - well…split it with a friend - and started browsing through the members area.

Basically they don’t host the content, but provide you with all the software and tools you need to browse, find, download and convert them onto your iPhone - and a tutorial on how to use them. The service itself just makes the process of finding to converting a lot easier; and would be really handy for the newer iPhone user, although it would save everyone some time and dirtywork - as well as a fair wad of cash compared to the iTunes alternative. I actually really love how it sorts everything into easy to navigate categories and subcategories - it just makes finding what you’re looking for so much easier.

So is it a scam? They deliver what they promise, and I can say I’m satisfied. All in all; you don’t absolutley NEED this service - but if you’re still finding your feet with your iPhone or want to just make life that little bit easier - it will save you a lot of time and suffering. You can find more info at phonedownloadhub.com, or you can shop around a bit for other services; just make sure they offer a money-back guarantee and preferably decent customer service.

Oh and by the way, I don’t think I’m going to ask for that refund after all! In fact, some of you may have noticed that I’ve redecorated the site with some new banners ;).

Earlier today Orange issued a press release announcing an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to yet more countries across the world. The statement is brief and speaks for itself:

“Orange today announced a new agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to Orange customers in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and Orange’s African markets later this year.”

An internal AT&T memo released earlier today reveals that their new plans offering free access to over “17,000 hotspots within the U.S”, were supposed to be launched today. Unfortunately for some reason AT&T have decided to put the launch on hold, but still intend to offer the service in the future.

“The iPhone Wi-Fi offer that was scheduled to launch today has been canceled. Nothing has been announced by the company to our customers and will not impact existing customers. Additional communication will be provided if the status the project changes.”

Peer to peer file sharing is finally here on iPhone! It’s a long awaited app called iSlsk. Very easy to use - just search for files from other users on the network and download.

iSlsk is now available for download from Installer.

The new app, IntelliScreen, allows you to replace the default “slide to unlock” screen with a customizable screen which can display useful widgets such as emails, text messages, calendar events and RSS feeds. The app is still in early beta stages, but its functionality looks very promising. Here’s a feature list from the developers at Intelliborn:

- View Calendar, Email, Text Messages, News, Sports, and Weather from your iPhone “Slide To Unlock” screen
- Smooth scrolling across each item to quickly glimpse at your data
- Auto-Checks Email when you view the unlock screen - no need to “Refresh” from Mail.app or wait 15 minutes
- Go directly to the application of your choice with a “Swipe”
- Precise International Weather (by Zip) provided by Weather Underground.com
- News Feeds include Yahoo!, CNN, Fox News, and Reuters (more coming soon!)
- ESPN Sports Feeds include MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA Men’s Football and NCAA Women’s Basketball
- Customizing your IntelliScreen is easy! Choose which content you want to view and where
- Mail and Text Messages can be shown only if new items are available

Apple have officially announced their plans for this year’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference confirming that a team of Apple executives, led by Steve Jobs, will commence the conference with a keynote address at 10am PST Monday, June 9th.

The five-day WWDC event, which runs from June 9 to June 13, will feature the first ever iPhone track for mobile developers with in-depth sessions and hands-on labs to fully explore the capabilities of the OS X iPhone 2.0 software, including the iPhone SDK and the App Store, a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications to iPhone and iPod touch users.

It is expected that Apple will officially introduce the 3G iPhone at the conference. For more information visit http://developer.apple.com/wwdc

Following the recent iPhone drought in the UK, Apple US is now following suit. Yet another addition to the many clues that indicate the 3G iPhone is coming sooner than we expected. Considering the similar iPhone shortages in the UK, the AT&T memo last week, and the upcoming WWDC - all signs point to the second generation iPhone being released on June 15. We can only hope.

Developers at Schmap have created a very cool app that provides all the information you’ll ever need about your local area. It’s basically a well designed combination of CitySearch and Google Maps. Once you select your location you can choose from a huge array of different establishments and information including city info, tours, attractions, restaurants, bars, clubs, shops and hotels; and when you pick an establishment, it provides you with a description along with their contact info!

For more information check out www.schmap.com

The developers at Polarbit have created an amazing iPhone game called Raging Thunder. Raging Thunder takes advantage of the accelerometer which serves as a excellent steering wheel, not to mention the above average OpenGL graphics. This game gives us but a sneak peek at the potential iPhone gaming possibilities that we will witness in the future.

Here is a description of the game from Polarbit:

“Raging Thunder is a gut-churning, tire burning racer developed for a broad range of mobile platforms and handheld devices. Race against time, CPU controlled opponents or up to three other speed addicts in this fast paced and exhilarating coin-op style racing game.

Raging Thunder allows players control over some of the most extreme muscle cars in the world, on a variety of tracks set in different beautifully realized environments. The crisp graphics, responsive controls and polished details of Raging Thunder are sure to impress both casual gamers and the hard-core alike.”

Raging Thunder is currently available to download from your iPhone installer, though it still contains a plethora of bugs and glitches.

Yesterday we posted an article about a new device from PacketVideo “Telly”, that allows you to watch live TV on your iPhone with the compact device.

Well now there’s another method. A native iPhone client called OrbLive from Orb is now available to download. The app allows you to watch live TV on your iPhone without carrying around an extra device, but you’ll need an adaptor or TV card.