Mobile Phone News

Spell check is a minor but very handy feature that comes with the iOS 4 update. Probably this is the very first time you know about this feature as it is a relatively minor feature compared with those imminent ones (such as multitasking).

The spell check is a system wide feature added in iOS 4 for both iPhone and iPod touch. In other words, you can use spell checking in most iPhone apps (such as Mail, Notes). Like Microsoft Word or Gmail, word that is considered as misspelled is underlined in red. You can tap on the word and iPhone will popup the suggested replacement. By tapping on the suggested word, the misspelled word will be replaced with the correct one.

You do not always need to tap on the misspelled word in order to popup the suggestions. Say, you have typed “Wating “. As the word is detected as misspelled, iPhone will automatically show the recommended replacement when you hit the backspace button.

The spell check also comes with a handy “Replace” function. Sometimes, the word is correctly spelt. However, you may want to have other choices of word. You can double-tap on any word and tap on “Replace…” in the popup. The Replace function will suggest other words for replacement.

The spell check feature is only available on iOS 4 or up. If you want to use the feature, go ahead to upgrade your iPhone OS.

Note: For iPhone 3G user, iOS 4 is not recommended. Some users have reported that they experienced a significant slowdown after upgrading to iOS 4. For details, you can check out this post.

Daily Tracker from CVZ Productions is like a Swiss Army knife of productivity apps. This thing does a little bit of everything; though you can’t actually stab anyone with it, I don’t want you to think that detracts from its value or anything.

It’s fairly safe to assume that I have become somewhat obsessed with to-do and/or productivity apps lately. Back in July I reviewed Taskly which quickly became, and remains my favorite to-do app, so you may be wondering why I’m even looking at Daily Tracker, it being simply more of the same boring old tool that most usually ends up reminding you, not of what you need to get done, but just how much you suck in getting anything done at all. That’s a valid question, and the answer is simple; Daily Tracker isn’t just a to-do app.

With Daily Tracker you can track almost anything you can think of. Miles jogged, books read, exercise, hours studied, really, the possibilities are nigh endless. It’s kind of like a replicator from Star Trek, you tell the app what you want to do and it let’s you set it up with ease. Ok, that may be a weak comparison, you can’t just tell Daily Tracker you want some hot tea and wait for it to materialize on your desk, although now that I mention it I haven’t actually tried that…

Daily Tracker is a to-do list, personal organizer, journal, spending tracker, and time clock all rolled into one app. And you can even keep track of all your favorite RSS feeds with it, though I feel this function is a little clunky; not nearly as smooth as with a dedicated feed reader, but hey you can’t be great at everything can you? The app comes with several built in trackers like a Sleep Tracker to help you monitor your sleeping habits, which I didn’t care for because it bascially requires you to just set a Daily Tracker timer just before you go to bed and stop it when you wake up. I made  a new Sleep Tracker for myself where I just input the hours and minutes I slept the night before and any relevant notes. For instance, I awoke at exactly 3:45am this morning for no apparent reason and was unable to go back to sleep for a solid hour or so; I hate it when that happens, but now with Daily Tracker I can keep an eye on it and see if any patterns pop up.

The to-do list itself is actually kind of bland and simple. There are no bells and whistles here. Sorting by, or even assigning priority to a task is missing which is a shame, but I’m OK with that because, oddly enough, I probably wouldn’t use Daily Tracker for my to-do listing anyway. This minimalist to-do function might, however, appeal to many who are tired of overly complex GTD-style systems.

Daily Tracker has the potential to replace several apps with its versatility and customizability, and that is its appeal. It supports adding voice notes, maps, and pictures to notes, but I will say that it is kind of fussy to do these things on the fly as opposed to the quick, one-two punch action of capturing a hurried voice note with, say, Evernote. I know, I know, Daily Tracker is not Evernote, it’s more actually.

I stand by my earlier Swiss Army knife analogy for Daily Tracker. When you buy a Swiss Army knife you look at it, bristling with all its nifty little concealed…things, and you probably say to yourself that you’re never going to use even half of those tools. But, carry that knife with you for a while and you might begin to notice that you actually rely on it more than you thought. That’s how I feel about Daily Tracker; it might not excel at any one of the many things it does, but it does so many things it manages to make itself pretty dang useful.

I guess all that usefulness doesn’t come cheap; Daily Tracker is available from the App Store for a cringe-inducing $9.99. You can download a fully functional Lite version to try it out before you take that leap. The lite version limits you to a certain amount of daily entries, but other than that you get all of Daily Tracker’s functions. From there you’ll have to decide for yourself whether that versatility is worth the cost.

I do not own an iPhone 3G. Many of my friends who are still using iPhone 3G have complained the performance issue after upgrading to iOS 4. It’s damn slow when iPhone 3G runs on the latest version of iOS. Earlier, I have written up a post about this “Slow Down” issue of iPhone 3G and some possible solutions to speed up the performance.

However, those are just workarounds instead of permanent fix. According to MacRumors, Apple is promising to fix the performance issue in the upcoming iOS update. An iPhone 3G customer sent an email directly to Steve Jobs expressing the frustration over the performance on iOS 4:

I’ve waited patiently through 4.0.1 and 4.0.2, looking for a fix that will make my phone work again. I’ve read the forums that advise me to jailbreak my phone or use some other method so I can downgrade back to a version of iPhone 3, however I’m not prepared to use a method that is not supported by Apple.

Surprisingly, Jobs wrote back that software update is coming soon to fix the issue. As usual, he does not mention about the details about the update. But it is well expected that the performance fix will come along with the iOS 4.1.

For now, if you are owning an iPhone 3G, my recommendation is to stay away from the iOS 4 upgrade. In case you have upgraded to iOS 4, you may further check out the earlier post which suggests a couple of possible fixes.

Stay tuned. I will keep you update about the issue and iOS 4.1 release.

Recently, Apple awarded patent for the iPhone’s “slide to unlock”. However, not all the iPhone users love this invention to unlock the screen. Developers have already built hacks like “Tap to Unlock” for jailbroken iPhone. Here comes another hack called “VUnlock” that lets you use volume buttons to unlock the iPhone screen.

VUnlock is a hack available in cydia without charge. If you have a jailbroken iPhone and are tired of the current way to unlock your iPhone, you may love VUnlock.

To use VUnlock, simply follow these procedures to install the hack:

1. Launch cydia and tap “Search”

2. Search for “VUnlock” to locate the package

3. Tap “VUnlock” and install it.

4. After installation, tap the “Respring” button to effectuate the hack.

Now, you should be able to use the volume buttons (+ / -) to unlock iPhone screen.

If you like this hack, it is likely that you will love SnapTap that turns iPhone’s volume buttons into shutter button to take photos in Camera app.

What do you think about “VUnlock”? Leave us comment and share your thought.

Unsurprisingly, the giant social network, Facebook, joins the location game to compete with other social networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla.

On Wednesday, Facebook officially announced the launch of Places, a big new feature that lets you share where you are with friends. Following the announcement, the Facebook iPhone app are also updated to incorporate the “Places” feature.

With the recent update, the mobile Facebook app provides an option for you to share your location by “checking in” to that place and letting friends know where you are. Same as News Feed in Facebook, your friend can “like” your specific location that is shared via news update. Another notable feature is you can even tag your friend who are with you and check in the location for him/her. On a map, you can easily see if any of your friends have also chosen to check in nearby.

Presently, Places is only available in the United States. If you’re in US, update the Facebook app to the latest version or simply go ahead to touch.facebook.com to try out the feature. As explained by Facebook product manager for Places, you can simply go to Places and tap the “Check-in” button to share your location:

Go to Places on the iPhone application or touch.facebook.com site and then tap the “Check In” button. You’ll see a list of places near you. Choose the place that matches where you are. If it’s not on the list, search for it or add it. After checking in, your check-in will create a story in your friends’ News Feeds and show up in the Recent Activity section on the page for that place.

As I am not in US, I do not have chance to try out the Places feature. Call me old fashioned, however. I am not very interested in sharing my location with all my friends in Facebook. If you are like me and concerned about privacy, take extra care of the privacy settings in Facebook. Make sure you do not set the master privacy control to “Everyone” and say “no” when someone tags your location:

When a friend tags you through Places, you will receive a notification on Facebook and on your mobile device. The first time this happens, you’ll be given the choice to allow your friends to check you in to places.

When your friends check you in, it is as if you have checked in at that place yourself. You also will appear checked-in to your friends. If you do not allow friends to check you in, then when they tag you at a place, your name will appear in the same way it appears in a tagged status update. You will not appear checked-in at that place.

Here is a video that explains the new “Places” feature:

What do you think about the Places feature? For those who have tried out the Facebook Places, do leave us comment and share your experience.

There’s no denying that the Apple iPad is a fantastic multi-purpose gadget – be it surfing the web, listening to music or watching your favorite movies, everything works like a charm. And it’s going to get even better now with live TV all set to be available on the iPad. NewTeeVee reports that Verizon plans to launch an iPad app that will enable subscribers of its FiOS service to stream live TV over their home Wi-Fi networks. The app is expected to be available early next year.

The app has a neat interface with a mosaic of animated JPEG thumbnail images of what other FiOS TV customers are watching in your viewing area. Just tap on any of these miniature screens to begin the live TV app in full-screen mode on your magnificent iPad display.

Clearly, this is a massive move by Verizon to gain more customers amidst stiff competition from Time Warner and Walt Disney. The app is named “What’s Hot” and is designed to allow users to pick the program they want to view in full screen on the iPad from a display of live shows that are popular with local audiences. Verizon is now working out its media partner arrangements in line for next year’s commercial launch. The company currently has 3.8 million customers for its FiOS Internet and 3.2 million for FiOS TV.

The iPad Live TV app will have certain limitations though – subscribers will only be able to watch linear programming within their own homes. So while iPad may be a portable device, the live TV service will only work as long as you stay in the house. Verizon says that it’s working hard on removing this limitation in order to let customers watch live TV on their iPad anywhere, as long as they have a Wi-Fi connection.

While Live TV is not uncommon these days, the iPad app marks Verizon’s first foray into this keenly contested market segment. Will the Verizon iPad app be a game changer for the live TV industry? Time will tell.

The iPhone’s Camera app is really simple to use. But I really hate to use the little touch button to take photo especially when shooting self-portrait pictures. I always think why Apple doesn’t take a page from Sony Ericsson’s camera phones that used to have a built-in shutter button.

If you are like me, you will love the SnapTap app. SnapTap is a hack available via cydia that turns the volume-control buttons into a shutter button. With SnapTap enabled, you can simply press volume control button (+ / -) to take picture. When the Camera app is set to video mode, you can also use the volume buttons to capture video.

What’s interesting is you can even use the volume buttons of headphone to take photos or capture video.

Same as other iPhone hacks, SnapTap only works on jailbroken iPhone. As claimed by the developer, SnapTap has been tested on all iPhone (including iPhone 4) and supports iPhone OS 3.0 or up (till 4.0.1).

The hack is very easy to install and use. After installation, the hack automatically enables the volume buttons to take photos. To disable the feature, you can go to Settings -> SnapTap to disable it. It even comes with an option to disable the shutter sound.

SnapTap is now available on cydia for US$1.49. If you like app, go ahead to purchase it. As always, remember to leave us comment and share your view.

Shopkick, a Silicon Valley-funded startup has launched it’s free iPhone app that combines the best of both worlds – location-based services and shopping. The app uses GPS to detect users nearby a given store and automatically sends a signal to a device in the store itself to let it know when the user is close. Users earn rewards (called “kickbucks”) by visiting the stores and by browsing products using the app’s built-in barcode scanner. Since it detects customers walking into stores, Shopkick uses an innovative technique to ensure there are no fake check-ins.

The launch partners for Shopkick app include American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Macy’s, Simon Property Group and The Sports Authority. The best part is that Shopkick rewards are store-independent.

Shopkick is a win-win situation for stores as well as the customers. While stores get more foot traffic and potentially increased sales, customers get exciting discounts and rewards.

I personally like the Kickbucks feature which provides the flexibility to redeem for Facebook credits to play games online, song downloads, in-store gift cards, and other standard online rewards club stuff like magazine subscriptions or donations to charities. I can’t think of any other advanced personalized rewards system similar to Shopkick – at least on the iPhone. The app has built-in intelligence to figure out your shopping preferences based on past shopping behavior, interests, location, and scans.

Shopkick app is a very interesting concept and is bound to stir up the competition in the keenly-contested location-based market with Foursquare and Gowalla ruling the charts. While Foursquare is increasingly being used to publicize discount deals, it isn’t effective in dealing with fake check-ins due to the lack of dedicated hardware at the store.

I’m certain that the launch of Shopkick is bound to set the alarm bells ringing at Foursquare and Gowalla, who are yet to cash in on the integration of location-based services with merchant deals. Here’s an interesting video of the Shopkick app in action.

IMO, Shopkick [iTunes link] is undoubtedly one of the most innovative M-Commerce applications of recent times. If Shopkick and its partners can work on an appealing rewards structure, we’re all set to experience the new revolution of location-based shopping extravaganzas!

I have received a number of queries about JailbreakMe.com. Some claimed that the site showed “Oops File Received Was Invalid” error after sliding the “Slide to jailbreak” slider.

As explained by @comex on Twitter, the JailbreakMe.com was broken today. That’s the reason why some of you experienced the invalid file error.

Jailbreakme was broken today because I fail at sysadminning. Should be up now or when caches expire.

By now, the invalid file error should be fixed. For those who encountered the problem previously, go ahead to jailbreakme.com to try again. It should work now.

Clean Up Browser Cache

If you still experience the issue, I suggest you to clean up the Safari browser cache. Here are the procedures:

1. Go to Settings -> Safari and then tap “Clear Cache”. Tap again to confirm the cache clean up.

2. Tap “Clear History” to clean up the browser history

3. Tap “Clear Cookies” to clean up the cookies

4. After you clean up the browser cache/history/cookies, reboot the iPhone

5. Once rebooted, point the mobile Safari to http://jailbreakme.com and try again.

Still Doesn’t Work?

In case this still doesn’t work for you, try out http://jailbreakme.modmyi.com, which is an alternate site for JailbreakMe.

If you want to learn more about JailbreakMe, you can check out the complete jailbreak guide for iPhone 3G/3GS/4.

Please do leave us comment and let us know if JailbreakMe works for you or not.

Earlier in May this year, I wrote a story about how Apple plans to turn your iPhone into a virtual wallet using NFC technology. And now it seems Apple’s NFC ambitions are finally taking shape – the company has recently hired Benjamin Vigier, a renowned near field communication expert as a “Product Manager” in its Mobile Commerce division.

Apple already has several patents relating to NFC including iTravel, iPay, iBuy and others. It is believed that NFC will be a key aspect of iPhone 5 that’s being developed with entirely new hardware & significant software updates. So is Apple planning to turn the next iPhone into a dream digital iWallet? Time will tell.

Vigier’s LinkedIn profile mentions that he’s now ”Product Manager – Mobile Commerce” at Apple. Before joining Apple, Vigier has worked for mFoundry, a company that develops mobile payment services for PayPal and Starbucks. He has also been associated with Sandisk where he was also involved in NFC and mobile commerce. Rumors suggest that Vigier isn’t the only NFC expert hired by Apple. In fact, he’s the latest addition to the army of “Mobile Payment Experts” put together by the company in the last few months.

Steve Jobs has always been an active proponent of using mobile technology in order to simplify human lives. So, there’s no reason why Apple wouldn’t try to replace cash or credit cards, allowing iPhone owners to swipe their phones at a terminal to pay for products or services. There are also speculations regarding Apple exploring the possibilities of integrating NFC into iAd. Apple even made a failed attempt at acquiring VIVOtech, a NFC provider earlier this year.

This story was first reported by Near Field Communications World and they even contacted Mr. Vigier regarding his new role at Apple. As expected, Apple as well as its new hire declined to comment on what’s cooking behind the scenes.

Whatever be the case, it surely means exciting times ahead for iPhone fans!