Cristiano on Tech/Life

Good news for all of you out there who have a hacked iPhone and were using it on O2 Pay&Go in combination with a £7.50 per month web bolt-on. It seems that O2 is upgrading their Pay&Go web bolt-ons to be able to provide something decent once the iPhone 3G prepaid plans come out.

Until recently the £7.50 plan only offered a mediocre GPRS which had many ports blocked, which meant no IMAP and other fun for the iPhone. it seems though that they have removed these restrictions.

Additionally they have released a new bolt-on called the “O2 Web and Wi-Fi Bolt On” which will bring “unlimited browsing & Wi-Fi on your iPhone”. The plan costs £10 a month, offers *unlimited data (not clear if this is EDGE or just GPRS) and free access to all their partnered WiFi hotspots (The Cloud and BT Openzone, which is a LOT). 

To get the new bolt on text the keyword WWW to 21300 free, or call 2425 for free.

So I have been playing with the iPhone 2.0 firmware update all afternoon today because the iphone-dev team finally managed to release a 20 compatible version of their Pwnage tool.

As a added bonus I was therefore able to play with all the applications in the Appstore. I only tried free ones until now but I think they were pretty impressive. Here is a quick write up of what i think were the most interesting free applications.

Truly Useful Applications

Google Mobile App is a little tool that works a lot like the Google Suggestions website but then in an app. it saves you the time from having to load various google pages before you found the link you were actually looking for. On a mobile device, the less work you need to do the better.

Remote is an app build by Apple themselves and it just rocks. it allows you to control any iTunes or AppleTV on your wifi network from your iPhone. I already used it to control my podcasts from the couch. The only thing that is missing is a little button to make stuff go fullscreen on your Mac.

Pocketpedia does for Amazon what the Google Mobile App does for the generic internet. It allows you to quickly search in Amazon and then browse details, covers, etc.

Utilities

Shazam is a small and handy app that can tell you what song it is hearing. Handy for when you are in an elevator wondering where you know that music from.

Last.fm has released their scrobbler and radio stations app for the iPhone. Listen to your Last.fm recommendations or neighboring tracks. Handy for when you got bored with the 4, 8, or 16GB of music on your iPhone.

WritingPad is a little tool that allows you to write notes and emails using an alternative input method where you “draw” the words by just flowing from character to character on the keyboard. I must admit it results to way faster writing.

Talking Italian Phrasebook allows me to expand my Italian vocabulary with audio examples and text. Handy for those holidays in Rome.

Twitterific is our favorite desktop Twitter client brought to the iPhone. I would rather have used Twinkle but somehow the Twinkle in the Appstore seems to be way different in functionality and stability than it was as a illegal third party app.

Evernote has released an iPhone client for their Evernote service. I hadn’t used the desktop/web app yet but i think this will be one f my new favorite apps. Just make note of anything and instant sync it across all your devices.

Truphone is VOIP alternative to your standard way of making calls. It could be really useful for international calls but I haven’t tested the reliability or costs yet.

AIM is the AOL instant messenger brought to the iPhone. Although still on my phone I doubt it to be that useful in the end. 

Games

Cube Runner is very simple game where you have to dodge the cubes using the internal accelerometer. Quite fun but I don’t think it will last.

Tap Tap Revenge is for the iPhone what Guitar Hero, Singstar, and many of those other games are for the mature gaming platforms. You beat the screen, and shake the phone on the beat of the music and score points. Loads of fun!

PhoneSaber is basically what it says it is. it gives you a lightsaber on the phone that makes noises when you shake the phone. I just kept it on my phone for my nephew who will love it.

Spinner is one off many maze games that uses the accelerometer, but this one makes it a bit more enjoyable than most others. In this one you don’t control the speed of the arrow that has to reach its goal, but you turn the screen 360 degrees to move the walls around the arrow. Very much entertaining.