Tag: Apple

How Will In-App Payment Affect Crackers?

iphone30So if you use an iPhone or iPod Touch,  I’m sure you have heard of  ‘cracked apps’; these are App’s that have been legitimately purchased but then been cracked so that it can run on a modified device with no cost.

But with the release of iPhone OS 3.0 drawing ever closer, how will the cracks work with In-App payments?

Because if an App comes with just the bare-bones of the App and you must pay for the extras then using the cracked App in theory will not work, seeing as In-App payments will be done server-side and not in the App.

So if an App gets cracked and used then will In-App payments work or will they work a way out to crack those too. Anythings possible but just an interesting theory.

iPhone Headphone Problems

iPhone HeadphonesI’ve had my iPhone 3G for about 3/4 months with frequent use and my right headphone is starting to deteriorate, so I searched for a replacement pair from Apple, thinking that this problem was maybe caused by myself, however to my suprise the reviews on the Apple store page shows that everyone has this problem. Here’s just a few:

When I first got the phone the headphones were nice and loud, now after a few months they started to fade and get lower soundwise, and a few days ago the right ear completly stopped working.

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I’ve had this headset with my iPhone for 6 months. Already after about 2 months the first problems started showing: Little digital clicks when you wear the phones and walk. The clicks got more and more frequent with time and use. After about 3 months the answer butten started getting dodgy, and now after 6 months it isn’t working at all.

Reviews

So as the reviews show people are having numerous different problems with Apple’s iPhone headphones, most people after 4/6 months experience the right headphone to completely stop working, currently mine has just got really quite causing me to have to put my iPhone on full volume or use the left headphone.

Apple need to fix this problem as I don’t want to spend £19 every 3 months on a new pair of headphones, please Apple fix this otherwise I will just buy a more expensive pair of 3rd party headphones.

The New iPhone Ideas

iphone30So with WWDC rolling ever closer we’re expecting the release of a new iPhone. With the references found in the firmware and the release of the new iPhone OS 3.0 all arrows are pointing to a new phone. But what will change and what will remain.

  • The screen on the device will most likely remain the same, or at least the same resolution as all the App’s for iPhone and iPod Touch are programmed to a certain size so it’s unlikely they change the screen size.
  • Improved battery life, this will be a great impovement, hopefully the new iPhone software has some tweaks to keep usage down and maybe a better battery in the new device.
  • A better camera is almost certain seeing as Apple want to compete with other phones on the market and the fact they orderes 3.2 and 5 megapixel sensors.
  • More RAM, so that we can have App’s running without crashing.
  • Faster CPU, the iPod Touch 2G has a faster processor than the iPhone so it’s time for an upgrade for it to run games and App’s more smoothly and quickly. However, this will mean that hacking the device will take longer as it did for the iPod Touch due to the new processor.
  • Video Recording has been rumoured with screenshots and is technically possible as shown by Cycorder, the jailbroken video recording App.
  • Bigger Capacity, 8GB will probably be dropped and 16GB and 32GB brought in.
  • Zoom on the camera, due to the fact if they have a bigger sensor the image won’t look as bad.

All of these are just based on rumour or idea of what the new iPhone will have. Now we just have to wait till June time for more info on the possibility of the next iPhone.

Developers Continue to Fight Piracy!

As I have said in preview posts, I believe that we should as users get to try before you buy on Apps from Apple’s App Store, so as a result I do use the cracked method to try out Apps; however I test them for a few days and if I like them and think they work well, then I will purchase them. As a student I don’t have much money to be spending on loads of Apps such as the amount as I do now so I buy what I like and delete what I don’t.

However as I wrote before Beejive IM began to stop pirates using there App, but today I tried the Camera Zoom App from KendiTech and got a trial expired screen:

Camera Zoom Trial Screen

As you can see the developer has now implemented a system so that it can tell if the App has been pirated.
Now I agree that developers should do this seeing as this App is very cheap to buy from the store and obviously it’s supporting these hard working developers. But it brings an interesting note, developers should allow full versions with trial periods of say a week or a few days so that the user’s can get a taste of the App before spending there money and leaving bad reviews.

How To Use iPhone OS 3.0 Beta Without Activation

iphone30For some people they are too eager to try the new iPhone OS to wait, you may have read of the problems that many of them run into but here’s a way round it.

The way we stop the verification is not disconnecting from the internet each time but stopping iTunes contacting the verification server.

Note: this is a Windows tutorial not Mac.

First of all open Notepad.

Click on File > Open and ensure that your viewing All files and not just .txt files.

Now go to   C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

Now find the file ‘hosts’ and open it.

Go to the bottom of the file and paste the following:

127.0.0.1    albert.apple.com

Now save the file making sure iTunes isn’t open.

Note: this will just stop the verification, you can still use the iTunes store.

Assassin’s Creed iPhone Screens

With the release of Assassin’s Creed for iPhone & iPod Touch just a few weeks away, IGN has posted up some screens from the upcoming title. It’s expected that Gameloft will charge around £5.99 or more for the game.

Assassins Creed iPhone 1

Assassins Creed iPhone 2

Assassins Creed iPhone 3

The graphics on the game surpass that even of the Nintendo DS, showing how much the iPhone really is ahead of the competition when it comes to mobile gaming.

The iPhone version is largely based on Altair’s Chronicles, the prequel for the Nintendo DS to the first game. You must explore the city of the Holy Land to uncover “The Chalice”, a sacred artifact held by the Templars. The superiors at The Order of the Assassins say that stealing the Chalice has the potential to end the Crusades.

More details on the game are expected soon.

Redsn0w Beta Released!

JailbrakeIf your like many 2nd gen iPod Touch owners, you’ve been wanting to jailbrake your device for a long time now. There have been ways but they either cost money, or were not mainstream user friendly. The Dev-Team have finally released the beta of Redsn0w which is set to simplify the process.

Redsn0w is currently in beta because it relies on the user running it from the command line, but the code is being added to a GUI which is set to be realsed soon, so for those who don’t trust themselfs with command lines, wait till the release of the GUI soon.

Head over to the redsn0w.com to grab the beta.

iPhone/iPod Touch File As a USB Drive Without Jailbraking

If you want to edit or view files on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you used to have to Jailbrake the device and install Disk AidOpenSSH and access the files wirelessly,  but now there is a way to access the file system without having to jailbrake.
It doesn’t give you as much power as using OpenSSH but allows you to copy and paste things to and from your device.

DiskAid is a freeware application for Windows & Mac OS X, it supports both gen iPhones and both gen iPod Touchs. It will automatically detect your device, just plug in and go. It’s as simple as drag and droping the files. And it supports Firmware 1.1.1 to 2.2.

DiskAid Download Page

EA Mobile iPhone Game Lineup 2009

On Tuesday at GDC, EA Mobile discussed their plans for 2009 for the iPhone & iPod Touch platform.EA Logo

Tiger Woods PGA Tour has been been announced prior to this event but other games announced were:
Wolfenstein RPG
FIFA Soccer
Madden NFL
NBA Live
Spore Creatures
Mystery Mania
American Idol
Command & Conquer
SSX
Need for Speed
The Sims 3
Connect 4
Battleship
Risk
Monopoly
Trivial Pursuit
Clue

EA Mobile indicated that Trivial Pursuit and Tigher Woods PGA Tour, will be coming in Spring.