Aug 03

FaceTime Over 3G on Jailbroken iPhone 4

Posted in: Hacks, Mods and DIY, jailbreak, Today's Chili, video

Want a reason to jailbreak your iPhone 4? How about FaceTime calls over 3G?

If you’re comfortable jailbreaking your iPhone by letting a website execute unknown code on it via a browser exploit, then you too could make normally Wi-Fi-only FaceTime video calls over the 3G network. The video above comes from the fine folks at 9to5Mac, and shows the hack in action. As you can see, everything behaves just like a regular Wi-Fi call.

9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman writes that “[the caller] couldn’t tell the difference between the 3G FaceTime call and a WiFi FaceTime call; the quality is that good.” It certainly looks better than previous efforts to route calls over 3G using standalone MiFi routers, but given the state of the AT&T network in the US, and the fact that these high-res video-calls will burn through your precious 2GB data-allowance, it’s hard to see why you’d bother, except for quick chats.

To activate 3G FaceTime, you’ll need to pop into Cydia, the jailbreak app store that is installed when you hack your iPhone. Add a new repository (essentially, you add URL to a new app store section. In this case, the url is http://apt.modmyi.com) and install an app called My3G. After a quick setup, you’re done: just leave My3G running in the background and FaceTime should just work. My3G costs around $3.

Due to briefly rendering my iPad unconscious yesterday in a failed jailbreak attempt, and not having an iPhone 4 with FaceTime, I haven’t tested any of this. If you do, be careful, and leave any tips in the comments.

FaceTime over 3G [9to5Mac]

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Aug 03

New Huawei MiFi is One Hot-Looking Hot-Spot

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, OLED, router, Today's Chili

That little gadget up there isn’t a cellphone, although it certainly shares some design points with the old G1 Googlephone. It is actually a MiFi-like cellular hotspot, a little battery-powered box which shares a 3G data connection over Wi-Fi.

Like the MiFi, the Huawei E583C will support up to five devices over Wi-Fi, plus one more over USB, and it has a microSD-card slot for storing and streaming data. The E583C is functionally very similar to Huawei’s UK-only MiFi E585, with an OLED display to show you the router’s status: which network you’re on, the router’s signal strength and battery level. Lest you think that this is a mere gimmick, I’d point out that one of the biggest annoyances with the original MiFi is the lack of visual feedback, especially on battery status.

The price, when it launches in Hong Kong this month, will be HK$1,380, or $178. And before you go, here’s a fun snippet from the press release: “gadget lovers can now experience the excitement of on-the-go wireless internet.” Excitement!

Huawei Debut Next-Generation Personal Mobile Wi-Fi Device [Huawei via iTech News]

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Aug 02

iPad data cost by country analyzed and charted

Posted in: Apple, ipad, Today's Chili
Sure, you may already have a general idea of how countries stack up when it comes to iPad data costs, but sometimes there’s nothing like a good chart to drive a point home. Thankfully, the folks at Tableau have done just that and, while there may not be a lot of surprises, the differences in cost are certainly striking. As you can see in more detail in the interactive chart after the break, the United States just barely cracks the top five with a minimum cost of $12.50 per gigabyte, leaving it behind only the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France, which comes out on top at a hefty $25.47 per gigabyte. As for the cheapest iPad data in the world? That honor goes to Singapore, where you can use a gigabyte of data for a mere 51 cents. As PC Magazine notes, that figure is a tad misleading, since it’s based on SingTel’s cheapest pre-paid plan that gives you unlimited access for three days — although that itself is still a welcome change from most other countries.

Continue reading iPad data cost by country analyzed and charted

iPad data cost by country analyzed and charted originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 02

iPhone 4 jailbreak enables FaceTime video calling over 3G

Posted in: hack, Hacks, iPhone, jailbreak, Today's Chili, video

We’d actually already hacked up a 3G FaceTime video call using an iPhone 4 and a MiFi, but now that Apple’s latest handset has been jailbroken, you can toss the extra hardware — you just need a little Cydia app called My3G, which lets you run WiFi apps over 3G. FaceTime video quality appears to be unaffected, but from what we’ve seen the framerates suffer depending on your connection — pretty much what you’d expect to get when running a video stream optimized for high-bandwidth connections on a smaller pipe. Still, it’s instantly the best reason to jailbreak your phone — check a video after the break.

P.S.- If you’re averse to jailbreaking, remember that Fring lets you make video calls over 3G without any shenanigans — and unlike FaceTime, you can also video call non-iPhone users. Just sayin’!

Continue reading iPhone 4 jailbreak enables FaceTime video calling over 3G

iPhone 4 jailbreak enables FaceTime video calling over 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Redmond Pie  |  source9 to 5 Mac  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 01

iPhone 4 Jailbreak Now Available: One Click, No Computer Required [Jailbreak]

Posted in: ios, ipad, iPhone, iphone 3g, ipod, jailbreak, Today's Chili, top

JailbreakMe 2.0, a mobile Safari-based jailbreak app for iPhones and iPads, has just gone live and pretty much opens up any iOS device you have handy, all the way back to the iPhone 3G. More »

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Jul 28

New Kindles now available for pre-order

Posted in: amazon, e reader, e-book, e-books, e-readers, kindle, pre-order, PreOrder, Today's Chili, wifi

You might’ve heard about a new Kindle model or two this evening, and good news if they tickled your fancy — they’re now on Amazon and available for pre-order. Both the WiFi-only and WiFi / 3G models are shipping August 27th, the former in graphite and the latter in graphite and white options. Search your pocketbook, if you know it to be coveted.

P.S. – UK customers, try here.

New Kindles now available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 28

Apple investigating issues with iOS 4 upgrade on iPhone 3G

Posted in: Apple, ios, iPhone, iphone 3g, Iphone3g, Today's Chili


Back when we outlined the iOS 4 features missing from iPhone 3G, we forgot one key bullet point: performance. As more and more two-year veterans of Apple’s phones have taken the plunge and upgraded to the latest firmware, slowdown and battery drain issues have become a common complaint, which is even more irksome when you think of just how little the update really adds to the UI. The Wall Street Journal reports speaking to an Apple spokesperson who said the company is looking into the matter. That doesn’t necessarily mean a fix is coming anytime soon, but hey, at least you can hold the darn thing however you want.

Apple investigating issues with iOS 4 upgrade on iPhone 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 28

iPhone 3G Users Complain of Slowdown on Upgrade to iOS4

Posted in: Apple, iPhone, Phones, Today's Chili

Some Apple 3G phone owners who upgraded to the new iOS4 operating system are facing buyer’s remorse. The upgrade has left their devices slow and struggling for breath, according to complaints on Apple’s users forum.

“My iPhone 8Gb 3G is soooo slow after ‘upgrading’ to OS4,” says a user registered as George Stark on the Apple forum. “Unlocking the phone sometimes takes 5-10 seconds and the home screen icons literally stop converging halfway through and then 2 seconds later, finish off. Other things are ridiculously slow, such as opening and replying to texts. Good one Apple, maybe you want us all to upgrade to the iPhone 4 so that OS4 actually runs at a manageable speed?”

Apple is looking into the complaints.

“We are aware of these reports and we are investigating,” a company spokeswoman told Wired.com

Apple rolled out iOS4 in June as a new version of the operating system that would introduce features such as multitasking, a unified inbox for e-mail and the ability to group apps into folders. iPhone users who had bough their devices in 2007, when the phone was first introduced, cannot run iOS 4 at all. But iPhone 3G users can upgrade to iOS4 though multitasking is not supported for these devices. iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 are completely compatible with iOS 4.

But Apple’s decision to make older iPhone models seems to have backfired. When Apple moved from iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS, it introduced a faster processor in the latter. Remember all those company statement saying the ‘S’ in the 3GS stands for ’speed.’

The iPhone 3G has a 412 MHz ARM 11 chip, while the 3GS model uses a 600MHz ARM 11 processor. Clearly, the difference computing power seems to have an impact on how well the device can handle iOS4. The thread relating to iPhone 3G’s slow performance on the iOS4 is 38 pages now and has more than 560 messages.

Those stuck with iPhone 3Gs running at glacial speeds, downgrading the OS to the iOS 3.1.3 may be an option. But as this tutorial shows it’s not an easy process. The alternative is to do a factory reset on the device.

For Apple, the iOS4 woes on the iPhone 3G comes on the heel of ‘Antennagate‘–a widely publicized problem with the iPhone 4. Many iPhone 4 users have noticed that the device loses signal strength when gripped at a specific spot at the bottom left of the phone.  Apple has responded to those complaints by offering its iPhone 4 users a free case.

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Photo: (twenty5pics/Flickr)




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Jul 28

ZTE Peel for Sprint outed by FCC, another 3G-equipped iPod touch case

Posted in: Apple, cdma, ipod touch, IpodTouch, qualcomm, Sprint, Today's Chili


What is it about the word peel that screams “throw on the back of an iPod touch and grant it the power of mobile internet?” We spotted Yosion’s Apple Peel 520 just this morning bound for Chinese markets, and now the FCC has unveiled ZTE’s own Peel 3G router. Although the user manual and external photos don’t explicitly state it, one look at the (slightly enhanced) image above removes all doubt that this is made to fit snugly around a certain finger-friendly iDevice with a headset jack on the bottom right. Additionally, the user manual’s setup screens are all sketched out in what appears to be a more mobile Safari-friendly size. The Qualcomm-powered CDMA2000 case is brandishing Sprint logos on the front and back, which frankly wouldn’t be the first (or even second) time the carrier’s targeted the Apple faithful. Only this time, there’s no WiMAX — bummer. Crafty, wacky, zany? We’re sure Mr. Hesse is chortling, but perhaps he can catch a breath or two and disseminate out some proper release details post-haste.

Gallery: ZTE’s Peel 3G-equipped iPod case for Sprint in FCC

[Thanks, The Kaiser]

ZTE Peel for Sprint outed by FCC, another 3G-equipped iPod touch case originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jul 22

T-Mobile webConnect Rocket 2.0 USB WWAN modem now on sale

Posted in: 4G, available, hspa, Mac, mobile broadband, mobile internet, MobileBroadband, MobileInternet, now available, now shipping, NowAvailable, NowShipping, on sale, OnSale, os x, OsX, ship, shipping, ships, Software, t-mobile, t-mobile usa, T-mobileUsa, Today's Chili, usb, wwan

Timely, no? In concert with its HSPA+ expansion, T-Mobile USA has decided to come clean with that webConnect Rocket 2.0 that we peeked a few weeks ago courtesy of a leaked presentation slide. Said device isn’t drastically different than the original, offering a mildly overhauled design and “a new rotating swivel USB form factor.” The bigger news is the expanded platform support, with this bugger now playing nice with Windows 7, XP, Vista and any version of OS X since 10.4. It’s up for grabs right now via the source link if you’re in the mood for those so-called “4G speeds,” with an on-contract stick costing absolutely nothing and a no-strings-attached version running $199.99.

Update: We’ve updated the post with a new image of the actual device, though it’s not quite ready for primetime on T-Mobile’s site just yet. When it hits, it’ll run $49.99 on contract, with the 1.0 version going for zilch on contract.

T-Mobile webConnect Rocket 2.0 USB WWAN modem now on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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