-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- WIN Skyrim Goodies (closed)
- StarCraft 2 Razer Gear Competition (closed)
- The Witcher 2 & MSI Competition (closed)
- The Dragon Age 2 Competition (closed)
- The Mass Effect 2 Competition (closed)
- The Dead Space 2 Competition (closed)
- WoW Cataclysmic Competition (closed)
- Skyline Competition (closed)
- The Civilization V Competition (closed)
- The NBA 2K11 Competition (closed)
- Mafia II Competition (closed)
- Lost Planet 2 Co-Op Competition (closed)
- WIN an Xbox 360 Elite Bundle! (closed)
- The StarCraft 2 Competition (closed)
- The Metro 2033 Competition (closed)
- The BioShock 2 Competition (closed)
- Darksiders Chaos Eater Giveaway (closed)
- Bioshock Promo Box (closed)
- Wolfenstein Medal Facebook Comp (closed)
-
We recently attended a Darksiders II preview event in San Francisco to see what Vigil Games have in store for the next Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death. Check out our preview!
We recently got a sneak peek at the upcoming new Ghost Recon Future Soldier from Ubisoft. Check out our in-depth preview for a closer look at the action!
We got a good sandblasting when getting hands-on with Spec Ops: The Line, so we returned the favour with a full video interview with Yager and 2K Games.
Read the AusGamers review to find out if importing Star Wars: The Old Republic is worth the hassle, or if you should wait for the local release to get your Force on!
Posted 09:25am 18/3/09
Posted 09:26am 18/3/09
Posted 09:28am 18/3/09
Stereo Bluetooth A2DP audio. You will be able to pair your iPhone 3.0 with a stereo Bluetooth A2DP device, like headphones or speakers.
Posted 09:30am 18/3/09
Posted 09:31am 18/3/09
Posted 09:33am 18/3/09
Its clearly a reaction based update to people whining about different things it can't do. The irony is the update is going to make more people complain about the touch keyboard, purely cause there won't be anything else to whine about.
Posted 09:33am 18/3/09
Posted 09:35am 18/3/09
Gay. That means that updates that were previously free will now be charged.
I assume this means that now we can finally have a 2 click Wi-Fi switch?
Posted 09:36am 18/3/09
Posted 09:36am 18/3/09
June/July is iPhone season as is WWDC so I highly highly doubt it will be until wwdc or just after.
Posted 09:37am 18/3/09
Is that what you mean?
Posted 09:39am 18/3/09
It always could and did for a lot of stuff...3rd party apps just couldn't, which is where the new push notification system comes in.
Posted 09:43am 18/3/09
Aww.
Posted 09:45am 18/3/09
Posted 09:46am 18/3/09
Laptop >> iPhone (3g) >> interwebs
No need to buy a 3g modem for laptop thats all
Posted 09:46am 18/3/09
Posted 09:51am 18/3/09
Wow, you could log into the iphone dev.apple site??? Im impressed, it takes us a few hours of refreshing, clearing cache and switching browsers to trick it into letting us in (we have 3 paid accounts too).
Oh well, I'm doing iPhone dev teaching this semester so no 3.0 upgrade for me anyway :(
Posted 09:58am 18/3/09
Is it made by Apple still?
I think I'll skip straight to an Android-based phone in a year or so. Apple are too restrictive with their licensing.
Posted 10:10am 18/3/09
edit: also are they going to put a flash on the camera yet yet?
last edited by scuzzy at 10:10:07 18/Mar/09
Posted 10:09am 18/3/09
This is annoying cause I'm currently working on 2.0 GigCal but wanna use these features :'(
last edited by 3dee at 10:09:33 18/Mar/09
Posted 10:13am 18/3/09
Posted 10:18am 18/3/09
Posted 10:21am 18/3/09
Really clunky, and no where near as polished as the iPHONE OS.
Posted 10:28am 18/3/09
edit: overall though good improvements... though fuck Apple for making me buy them on my iPod Touch (yeh, I don't give a shit about Sarbanes-Oxley). I am more likely to leave it for now, sell my Touch to a newb and buy a new third gen one when they come out with the latest firmware (I want the speaker as well)
Posted 10:25am 18/3/09
I wouldn't be surprised if a new iPhone handset is released at the same time as the new OS, maybe unfortuantely for mongie who just got one. I'd suggest to anyone else thinking about getting an iPhone to wait until June/July.
Posted 10:31am 18/3/09
If the tethering works properly I'll be able to stop taking my nokia around so I can swap the sim card over to it when I need mobile internets for my lappy too
Posted 10:32am 18/3/09
Delete people from your lives if they send you MMS?
Posted 10:36am 18/3/09
Posted 10:37am 18/3/09
Posted 10:37am 18/3/09
I would love to do that, but I don't think my family would be happy with me if I deleted my sister.
Posted 10:38am 18/3/09
Not to mention landscape for everything (about fucking time!).
Posted 10:39am 18/3/09
Posted 10:41am 18/3/09
The problem I see is this: you still have to buy some apps on an Adroid phone, the same as you have to buy apps on a jailbroken iPhone. If I'm paying for apps, I'd like to know that at least someone has tested the apps first and made sure they aren't going to explode my phone...
Posted 10:44am 18/3/09
Posted 10:45am 18/3/09
Posted 10:50am 18/3/09
And from what I've read of the Apple process, they're not filtering out based on application quality or a thorough review of the source code or anything - they're just making sure its "appropriate" (based on their whims) for the AppStore.
Posted 10:51am 18/3/09
Posted 10:53am 18/3/09
Not as hot as your mum
Posted 10:53am 18/3/09
Posted 10:59am 18/3/09
On a more constructive note, check out the iPhone App released by the ABC. It's a news/podcast/vodcast app and so far it's very neat.
Posted 10:59am 18/3/09
Posted 11:00am 18/3/09
Posted 11:02am 18/3/09
I'll eat my hat if you haven't got an iPhone by the end of the year.
Posted 11:08am 18/3/09
Remember when Firefox was shit and IE was actually the best browser? Noone used Firefox (excluding fanboys). Then Firefox was good, and heaps of people started using it. The same is true of game servers - noone plays on bad game servers. They leave and go to good ones.
My point is, it doesn't MATTER if people put useless, shit, trivial stuff on the AppStore (seriously, you're going to tell me "iFart" is maintaining a "general level of quality", and not letting someone put a new email application isn't?). It makes NO difference to anyone - bad/useless applications won't get used or will get bad reviews or will get ignored. Good applications will get props and recommendations and positive reviews and everyone will use them.
This is about one thing - control. Making sure what you get is what Apple wants you to get. shakes magic 8 ball - outlook not good
Posted 11:14am 18/3/09
Posted 11:15am 18/3/09
Posted 11:15am 18/3/09
I'm a nube when it comes to this as I do not have a notebook.
Does it use Bluetooth to connect to the PC?
All I know about the iphones pootooth is that it isn't compatible with 99% of the other phones out there.
Posted 11:19am 18/3/09
The iPhone by itself is a quality bit of software and hardware mixed together. Its not revolutionary in terms of features (of which it is lacking various ones), its how easy to use, efficient and well designed the software is that makes it stand out. Like... they actually give a damn about user experience, not putting 123,000 unused features in it.
At least now it has a lot of those features that have been clearly lacking.
last edited by 3dee at 11:19:41 18/Mar/09
Posted 11:16am 18/3/09
Posted 11:20am 18/3/09
Posted 11:20am 18/3/09
Yes that's how evil Apple is, it's comparable to EA.
Posted 11:23am 18/3/09
Yes they likely would have. But they wouldn't have done it consistently with the Apple's iPhone software. Third party developers often don't give much care to the user experience, and just want to get features features features into the device, which leaves much to be desired in the user experience.
I love features, but if using them is either a pain in the ass or just ugly then I'd much rather Apple do it instead.
Posted 11:40am 18/3/09
Posted 11:43am 18/3/09
http://www.android-portal.com/2008/11/05/list-of-android-phones-upcoming-and-current/
Posted 11:51am 18/3/09
They control because they stand to make more money when users are locked to their product. Apple are incredibly good at this.
-They make a battery non-removeable so when it fails you have to pay them to repair it or just buy a whole new device.
-They use a propriety data connector so third party manufacturers have to pay license fees to make accessories that work with them and they can sell their own cables and accessories at inflated prices.
That's just a couple of hardware examples, software is even more devious.
Posted 11:54am 18/3/09
Posted 11:58am 18/3/09
Posted 12:05pm 18/3/09
Thing is, because they're less restricted, Android phones have more future potential and if the become popular enough community development will bring the features that will make them the better investment long term.
When you're talking about dropping down north of $700 on a phone, that's something worth considering. Personally, I think that's too much to be spending on either at the moment so I don't own one.
Posted 12:05pm 18/3/09
I firmly believe in open standards and non proprietary crap. I'm with Dan on this.
We have a lot of apple fan boys here aye :)
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary
Posted 12:09pm 18/3/09
Realy, who pays for phones these days, you obvioulsy are going to be making calls on the phone sy why not get the phone essentially free.
Posted 12:12pm 18/3/09
Posted 12:14pm 18/3/09
Posted 12:21pm 18/3/09
I heard in
windowsiPhone OS 3.1 they're going to add the ability to take calls and 3.11 they'll add networkingPosted 12:22pm 18/3/09
Posted 12:26pm 18/3/09
The main issue for Android is handsets. I don't understand why HTC don't just get one of their premium handsets - that looks good - and put Android on that? Seriously, after playing with a "real" Dream and a "real" iPhone, the choice is fairly easy. The matte black dream is boxy, heavy and chunky. The screen hinge/mechanism is extremely clunky. I likend it to buying the same phone I already had, just with a bigger screen and a google logo. (It ran WM5).
Its easy to say "Wait a year and Android will be awesome" - well, I needed a phone when I needed it. So I bought the best on offer at the time - which was the iPhone.
You can also say that "Android is an OS, not a phone" - Well, the OS will be judged on its end user experience, not good intentions. I'm sure we'll see awesome Android phones in the future, but I just can't see there being anything like the iPhone (Restrictions and all) in the next year or so.
PS: Billy - I have the ABC app, and its pretty cool.
The coolest thing about the phone I've found so far is the WiFi (which I realise you can get on a lot of phones) but being in Adelaide at the moment, I keep connecting up to Internode hotspots all over the city which are uber fast (and free). Yay internode.
Posted 12:35pm 18/3/09
As in the connection from the phone to the PC.
Posted 12:37pm 18/3/09
Whether it be by bluetooth or usb.
Posted 01:26pm 18/3/09
Again, I haven't seen a G1, but everything I've read from people that actually use them for serious mobile computing shit reckons they're pretty good.
Anyway, this isn't about how awesome the G1 is or isn't, it's about why people shouldn't be blinded by iPhone fanboyism when there's still a bunch of stuff that sucks about it. I'm not saying it's not awesome or not the best 'device' atm (must be pretty close to it), but I don't feel like jumping on the bandwagon because I feel like if I'm dropping $700-$1000 on a device I should be able to do whatever I feel like, without being made to feel like a criminal.
Posted 01:33pm 18/3/09
Here's a prime example of the shit I hate about it.So you've got this great new feature (that third party devs _should_ have been able to already bring us in the first place) that is still going to be artificially restricted in it's functionality.
Obviously it's in Apple's best interests to stop users from being able to easily share music with each other (the major labels would despise it) but it's in direct conflict with what users want to be able to do.
I'm making a point of this one in particular, because is something that wouldn't happen on the Android platform - there's no conflicting interest with record labels and itunes music sales.
Posted 01:40pm 18/3/09
Is compatibility much better for dongles etc?
So if your notebook had no BT you could use the crapple to USB cable to link up to phone to get interwebs on a notebook? If so thats pretty sweet.
EDIT: Dans post wasn't there when I started... that pretty much explains why its shit phone to phone. I haven't tried anything else connecting with BT to the iphone.
I guess they all work just fine.
last edited by rubba-chikin at 13:40:30 18/Mar/09
Posted 01:44pm 18/3/09
Posted 01:46pm 18/3/09
Posted 01:54pm 18/3/09
Pretty sure free 3rd party apps have already allowed this function (but only via wi-fi)?
Posted 01:56pm 18/3/09
Legally, Apple can't allow it due to the iTunes Store. So if you know why they can't allow, then why are you having such a cry about it?
Its pretty clear you wouldn't have been able to share music since it would cause major problems with the labels that Apple is associated with.
Personally, I think this API is fantastic for developers. It provides an API specifically tailored to do exactly that, not some difficult low-level API which requires hardware detection and low-level data transfer knowledge.
Posted 02:01pm 18/3/09
Posted 02:08pm 18/3/09
It's a conflict of interest between one facet of the company and what their customers want to use the hardware for.
It's the crux of the argument for open standards.
Posted 02:15pm 18/3/09
It's a conflict legally between Apple and its music partners regardless of whether Apple would allow developers to do it or not.
But also, it allows piracy, which Apple would be held responsible for. There's some very good reasons why Apple would not allow music sharing.
I never expected music sharing would be allowed so consequently I'm not having a cry over it.
Posted 02:41pm 18/3/09
Theres a few little tweaks that improve stuff.
I can't remember them all off the top of my head but one was phone number format. Might be fixed now though with a later version.
eg. Instead of usual 1234 5678 it looked like 123 456 78 like a US number.
Added some notifier widget to add icons on my lock screen so I can see when I have unread SMS/emails/other shit.
Posted 02:53pm 18/3/09
My point is, that this issue is a product of an elementary flaw in the iphone that is never going to be fixed. And for comparison's sake, that this is something that isn't an issue for the Android platform, because it doesn't suffer the same conflicts of interest.
Posted 03:02pm 18/3/09
I'm glad I haven't suffered through WM6 any longer. On top of that every time windows mobile was upgraded (except once) I had to buy a new phone to use it to get the improved functionality. Apple gives this to me for free. (the only exception was on my JasJam, where some people used pirated version of windows 6 on the wm5 designed phone).
There's a funny post on /. covering the history of apple's ipod line and the naysayers
last edited by natslovR at 15:02:42 18/Mar/09
Posted 03:17pm 18/3/09
Apple hating aside, these new features certainly make the iPhone a more desirable proposition and it will now be a genuine contender for me when my phone plan runs out in June. Let's see what everyone else can come up with in the mean time!
Posted 03:21pm 18/3/09
I just hope someone releases a phone that can run apps in the background!
Posted 03:27pm 18/3/09
Posted 03:39pm 18/3/09
I think apple is well on the way to proving that's not as critically important as you think it is. Can all applications do what they need to, certainly not. But do I need 43 different Notes open at one time? Do i need a movie running in the background while I play a game? A part from affecting the performance of the phone, what benefit does that have for any user?
It's a lot like criticizing apple for making it a closed platform. If it's really really really such a bad idea, something better will come a long and everyone will move to it. Right now, we are still waiting for that. It's not like Apple has abused a monopoly position in the smartphone market to lock out hardware and application vendors is it?
Posted 03:39pm 18/3/09
Posted 03:46pm 18/3/09
Problem is running shit in the background eats resources and you can do it if you don't mind sacrificing speed and snappiness. Something I'm not willing to do.
The problem is not so much with the software, its with the hardware. With processing power comes heat and then size to deal with the heat.
What exactly are you wanting to run in the background all the time anyway? The only thing I wanted to run was an IM client and with the new push updates you won't have to.
Posted 04:21pm 18/3/09
I think it's still important for critics to be vocal about the flaws though, so competitors can listen to what we want, identify what Apple can't or just plain isn't providing and offer us something that does.
Most hopes are pinned on Android at present because it has the most potential to do just that. But at the moment, that's all it really is - potential.
Posted 04:30pm 18/3/09
Posted 04:34pm 18/3/09
Posted 04:36pm 18/3/09
Posted 04:40pm 18/3/09
Posted 04:45pm 18/3/09
Ha! Every phone has planned to kill the iPhone and none has succeeded.
Posted 05:03pm 18/3/09
Not that I agree about the N97 being the end of the iPhone, but this is the most retarded argument for the iPhone staying on top. Nothing ever lasts. One day, Apple will no longer have the must-have phone. Nobody expected Sony to drop to a distant 3rd in the console race, but look what happened with the PS3.
Posted 05:15pm 18/3/09
But does anyone ever say the ipod killed the walkman?
I don't think we'll ever see an "iphone killer". Eventually other devices will just come along that people will start to use and hype over more.
Posted 05:25pm 18/3/09
It's not a device for me unfortunately, as much as I really like it to be. I just don't want to have to spend a heap of time fucking around with it to get it to work with Exchange seamlessly and to be able to do "windows" things I do for work. I've already spent enough time trying to get my Samsung Omnia to work with Exchange (self-sign cert activesync hell... *sigh*) but now that I got it all working, it's great, not perfect (what device is) but exactly how I wanted.
Personally, I couldn't give a crap about MMS, 20billion mega pixel cameras, video recording, or to some extend GPS, I mean I hardly ever use any of this crap on my phone so I wouldn't miss it. But things like:
1) Copy and paste (fixed now);
2) Software I need to do Windows things;
3) Remote wipe/remote management; and
4) 100% compatibility with Exchange (i.e. seaching GAL from the phone without having to copy it to your phone memory
These are critical issues for me. Apple might win me over if they fix the issues above in the future - I'm sure they will eventually, cause corporate market is pretty big.
/my $0.99.
Posted 06:17pm 18/3/09
I didn't say it would. I just said that in two years all these killer iPhone clones have done nothing to.. kill the iPhone...
last edited by 3dee at 18:17:38 18/Mar/09
Posted 06:05pm 18/3/09
Posted 06:18pm 18/3/09
Posted 06:54pm 18/3/09
Posted 07:04pm 18/3/09
They seem more like a media device with phone abilities tacked on to them. So exactly like Nathan said, useless for a corporate environment. Which in fairness isn't something they are targeting.
Posted 07:11pm 18/3/09
Posted 07:22pm 18/3/09
I don't really see how it's going to dominate the iPhone, at best it looks to equal it wrt features, unless there's something I'm missing?
Having only ever owned Nokia phones I really hope that the N97 is indeed awesome, but while they stick with Symbian I really can't see that happening. Symbian really just seems to kill software developer's spirits...
Posted 07:37pm 18/3/09
What are you doing, swimming with it? My N95 is the most reliable phone I've ever used.
Posted 08:24pm 18/3/09
Posted 08:46pm 18/3/09
The face covers for n95 are ratty but my n96 is unscratchable.
Posted 09:05pm 18/3/09
Would you also want to use yours for business? If so, probably best to steer clear. Also, do your friends have them jailbroken? JB'ing causes heaps of issues and instability (if you dont know what you're doing).
HOWEVER--->
Be really careful, a lot of that old stuff may not be compatible with the iPhones...
Posted 10:09pm 18/3/09
I've got an old car radio one, it works fine, its just the phone pops up a message about how it might not work correctly *shrug*.
For those talking about android, I'm curious if anyone on qgl is actively developing at the moment? Im doing some mentoring with android at the moment, and i know a few people working fulltime on it, its definitely an interesting platform.
Just curious if people have had experience with it or are just doing the "apple are evil and google are gods" political crap cause my argument would be that google are *heavily* invested in the iphone, to a comparable level that they are involved in with android.
2c
Posted 07:41am 19/3/09
Posted 09:14am 19/3/09
Posted 09:27am 19/3/09
So basically you're saying that the iPhone is bad cause you can waste your battery on music? What about every other phone with music? What about the fact that listening to music on any device drains your battery.
Also, put 3.0 on. I must say Cut, Copy and Paste is done really well. Also, the Spotlight on home screen is great. MMS doesn't work on it though (didn't expect it too). But I can't even create an MMS message..
And also, Search toolbars are everywhere in the standard apps. Landscape in the standard apps is cool too.
While the OS changes don't stand out (except maybe the Spotlight screen and copy paste), the major changes will come with the apps as there's so much more potential for really good applications.
last edited by 3dee at 09:27:24 19/Mar/09
Posted 09:25am 19/3/09
Probably 90% of my battery gets used from browsing the net, listening to music and watching movies, 5% max is made for phone functionality, and the other 5% gets used on random standby things and games. I usually have to charge it at least every second day, which isn't a problem because I just plug it into whatever computer I'm using. The only thing I'm concerned about is the limited number of charge cycles cause I use it so much, but that's a fault of the battery.
Posted 09:28am 19/3/09
I only brought this point up because it happened to a friend of mine while we were traveling. I thought it was hilarious. I'm more than happy to buy separate gadgets for individual purposes. Phone for calling, camera for photos, ipod for music, laptop for browsing.
Posted 09:31am 19/3/09
Well then separate them. I only like carrying one device and a wallet so its great for me since its a really good MP3 player as well as being my phone and internet device.
I'm just saying, basing your decision on something plainly obvious like music using your battery is kinda silly.
Posted 09:42am 19/3/09
Posted 10:14am 19/3/09
Posted 10:16am 19/3/09
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/03/18/usb-tethering-working-on-iphone-3-0/
Posted 10:18am 19/3/09
From a user-benefit perspective, there's no good reason not to do this.
Posted 10:18am 19/3/09
I'm not considering getting an iPhone. And yes, many of my friends are retards.
Posted 10:42am 19/3/09
1) each time I plug in to my PC it "resets" my active playlist - so when I double-tap the Button and hit play, it starts from the first song in my "all songs" list. Whatever I was listening to before is gone. I am sick of heading A.D.D. by System of a Down (oh, who am I kidding, no I'm not)
2) audiobook playback has no option (that I can find?) to reset the status of where I Was up to to continue from. Compounded with 1) this makes it a total pain in the ass to use for audiobooks.
3) the tilt screen thing is so annoying - every time I'm using it I seem to trip it and it does that stupid animation and loads the stupid catalogue viewer, so there's like a 4 second pause where I can't do what I was actually trying to do. Maybe you can disable that though, I dunno.
Posted 10:50am 19/3/09
As for iPod.app, yes I have a few little gripes (mainly tiny things like it resetting what playlist you are playing and the cover flow (which i never use)) but it sure beats a lot of other Mp3 player software.
Posted 10:54am 19/3/09
Posted 10:56am 19/3/09
Posted 11:27am 19/3/09
Posted 11:46am 19/3/09
Posted 12:15pm 19/3/09
Posted 12:22pm 19/3/09
Posted 01:07pm 19/3/09
If you hit the button in the top right on the audiobook it should come up with a screen to list chapters. Not perfect and you might already know about it, but makes the ebook interface slightly less painful. But yes, its bad.
Posted 01:07pm 19/3/09
Dr Karl has also said this is important.
Posted 01:20pm 19/3/09
Posted 01:46pm 19/3/09
Posted 02:29pm 19/3/09
Posted 03:06pm 19/3/09
Posted 04:07pm 19/3/09
Posted 04:51pm 19/3/09
Posted 05:16pm 19/3/09
Posted 06:23pm 19/3/09
Posted 06:27pm 19/3/09
Not so much that, but more that I was being lazy.