Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"So you like the idea of the MiFi but you already have a 3G USB stick, eh? The Wi-REACH aims to give you the best of both worlds with a $99 cradle that turns your 3G USB stick into a Wi-Fi hotspot."

I still have an old Verizon USB Modem laying around somewhere and would definitely give this a shot if I didn't already have a MiFi. You can even have up to 10 devices share the signal, even though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want that many taking up my bandwidth!

"Now that AT&T has taken its lumps from competitors and users over the size of its 3G network, the company is determined not to be caught flat footed again."

So the day after iPad, AT&T comes out with information that basically says we won't let you down. They are committing to investing $2 billion USD on improving their wireless network in 2010 adding approximately 2,000 new cell sites to expand coverage. AT&T also expects by the end of 2011 to have 90 percent of their 3G network covered with the transition to HSPA 7.2 technology. Even though this came on the heels of the iPad announcement, I don't think this will be as much a drain on the AT&T network as others are thinking it will be. I'm of the opinion that this will mainly be in the home or used where there is Wi-Fi available for the most part. I could be wrong, but I'm basing it on the fact that the iPad, while portable, isn't like the iPhone that is carried everywhere you go. I see the regular user having it in a place they normally use Wi-Fi like the home, office or dorm. What are your thoughts?

"AT&T today announced completion of a software upgrade at 3G cell sites nationwide that prepares the nation's fastest 3G network for even faster speeds. The deployment of High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology across 3G cell sites is the first of multiple initiatives in AT&T's network enhancement strategy designed to provide customers with the best possible mobile broadband experience, both today and well into the future."

The work to upgrade the backbone to support a "theoretical" peak speed of 7.2 megabits per second will continue through 2011. However, if you are in one of the six cities they are currently working on (Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami) you should see benefits soon. For the rest of us, they expect most of it to be done by the end of 2010, finishing up by the end of 2011. 

"AT&T, the network it seems everyone to loves to hate, has unseated Sprint as the fastest 3G data service in a test by tech Web site Gizmodo, which also tested Verizon and T-Mobile."

Gizmodo used the same process (laptops in five locations in 12 cities) last year to test network speeds and Sprint was the victor. This year? AT&T, which also beat Verizon and T-Mobile when they tested the 3G capability of each network. Obviously not scientific but interesting nonetheless.

"AT&T's 3G mobile broadband network opens the door to a new era of mobile services and feature-rich audio and video content for AT&T customers. As part of AT&T's initial network upgrade plan, 3G will go live on a rolling basis starting in Bennington, Brattleboro, Brownsville, Killington, Vernon, Warren, West Dover and White River Junction sometime this week."

Image Credit: iPhone BuzzBy

And by the end of December this year, they will have added coverage to Burlington, Colchester, Essex Junction, Fayston, Hartford, Jamaica, Jeffersonville, Middlebury, Rutland, South Burlington, St. Albans, Stowe, Waitsfield, West Rutland, West Townshend, West Wardsboro, Williston and Winooski. For 2010, AT&T is planning on expanding coverage to Barre, Montpelier and Northfield. Baby steps but steps in the right direction, anyone live in Vermont that will be able to take advantage of these new coverage areas?

"In another surprising move, Apple has approved iVideoCamera, an iPhone application that can record video on an iPhone 3G or 2G."

Called iVideoRecorder, and available now for $0.99 USD in the iTunes store, this will allow you to record video on your 2G or 3G iPhone without jailbreaking it. You won't get the quality of the 3GS since there is less computing power in the 2G and 3G and the camera in those iPhones is only 2 megapixels, but there are some benefits. One is you don't have to jailbreak your iPhone to get video ability. Another one is that you can upload to Facebook and Vimeo and the developer plans on Twitter integration as well as improvements to the frame rate. Frame rate is only 3 frames per second, paltry when compared to the 3GS 30 fps. But for 99 cents adding some functionality seems pretty cheap. Just don't expect the quality of the video to knock your socks off.

Another clever installment from AT&T. I thought I'd throw this out there in light of the previous news story.

"Although AT&T has been taking a pounding lately from Verizon ads and from customer satisfaction surveys, a new study suggests that the carrier can take solace in the fact that its 3G wireless network is the fastest in the nation."

The study from a company called Root Wireless, shows that in the areas where AT&T has 3G, the speeds are faster than any other major U.S. carrier. The tests were done in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The key point is that you need to be in a metropolitan area to even get the 3G speeds, so that is still a problem, one that Verizon has been pointing out regularly in their ads. But it is nice to know that, if you get in a 3G area, you will get a speedy connection if you are on AT&T, reassuring right?

"It appears as if the recent onslaught of AT&T and Verizon bashing each other through their ads may soon be coming to an end. In a recent report, it was confirmed that AT&T has dropped their lawsuit against Verizon regarding their 3G coverage claims."

As part of this, Verizon also dropped their counter-suit, so I'm guessing the ad wars will continue. If you are a fan of clever ads, then this should be good news for you. I think when companies get into ad wars such as this, it really brings out the creativity. And I really enjoy a good, well thought out ad.

"Attention AT&T customers in Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, and along the Front Range...Christmas (Hanuka and/or Kwanza) has come early for you this year thanks to AT&T's new and improved 850 Mhz Spectrum roll-out across Colorado!"

I wish they would do this in my neck of the woods, I'm tired of Edge and only getting 3G when I venture into the "Big City." According to the press release "As a result of this upgrade, local customers should experience better 3G wireless connectivity, performance and enhanced in-building wireless coverage. The enhancement also increases network capacity, and is intended to support ever-growing demand for 3G mobile broadband service."

"Users have reported AT&T's new 3G MicroCell has been test launched in the Charlotte, North Carolina market, with a $150 price tag and no required monthly fees."

They are reporting speeds of 3.2Mbit/sec, which is less than half of the maximum speed (7.2Mbit/sec) supported by the 3GS, but it is in the ballpark for AT&T's "ideal service" according to the article. The device gives you 5,000 square feet of coverage, which is about a 40 foot radius. There were rumors of it costing anywhere from $19.95 USD to $29.95 USD per month on top of the purchase price, but looks like they are just going with a flat fee to purchase, thank you AT&T.

The claim: "The world’s thinnest rechargeable battery case for iPhone 3G & iPhone 3G S. Now available, the brand new mophie ‘juice pack air™’ is designed to virtually double the time you have to Rock, Talk, Surf and Send with your iPhone 3G or 3G S. The juice pack air™ is a rechargeable external battery concealed inside of a protective form-fitting case for the iPhone 3G & iPhone 3G S. It offers you the full protection of a hard-shell case while providing virtually twice the battery life of the iPhone alone; all in an ultra-thin, light-weight, low-profile design. The juice pack air™ is available exclusively through mophie.com and Apple stores world-wide. This is the first Apple certified “Works With iPhone 3G” attached battery in the world!"

The hardware: Packaged in a slim plastic shell, the Juicepack Air from Mophie offers protection and claims to double the battery life of the iPhone 3G and 3GS, but we all know how battery life claims work. Is this the one you should believe? Well, actually, I'm not telling you yet. Read on!

Read more...

"Back when iPhone 3.0 launched, we heard Wi-Fi was giving problems to some - primarily iPod touch - users. Various network resets or OS restores seem to have quieted that down, but now TUAW is reporting that the newly launched iPhone 3GS might be suffering Wi-Fi troubles as well."

It's no secret that Wi-Fi is, at best, flawed, in OS 3.0. My 3GS and 3G both have weaker signals than before. I'm not talking about one or two bars, either. I'm talking standing on top of the router and seeing one bar of signal strength and being in the bedroom (the other side of my apartment) and dropping down to one bar when I used to have a full signal. It never drops to 3G, though, which I find interesting.

I'll be curious to see if this is fixed in 3.1 (or 3.01) along with the battery drain issues others have been reporting.

"As my old 3G was still in use (it's now my wife's iPhone), I could conduct a test. Turning off Wi-Fi on both phones, I tracked their behavior. I confirmed that there were numerous occasions when the iPhone 3GS connected to EDGE while the iPhone 3G hooked up to a 3G network-even when the two devices were side-by-side. The reverse virtually never happened. Most of the time, the two iPhones connected to the same network, but a difference was definitely detectable."

The consensus is that the 3GS simply reports the network status more accurately. Not sure I buy that, but it is what it is, I guess.

I'm having a different issue. When the phone first wakes from sleep, my WiFi strength is one bar and that persists for quite a bit in areas where I know I have full signal because after a bit of run time, the signal strength moves to where it should be. I wonder if maybe these two issues are related and maybe the iPhone 3GS does simply report signal strength more accurately?

Anyone else who can do a direct comparison between the 3G and 3GS? Share your thoughts in the comments!

"That said, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel told the blog Gearlog on Tuesday that the company is ready for the onslaught of new iPhone users. One of the things it has been doing to prepare is upgrading its network so that it can offer 3G wireless service using its 850MHz spectrum licenses. For the most part, AT&T has been using spectrum in the 1900 MHz band to deliver its 3G services, which have become saturated, Gearlog explains. This means that as AT&T sells more 3G devices, such as the iPhone, it has been cramming more users into an ever more crowded spectrum band."

That'll be nice, but honestly, I don't know what the problem is. I live in NYC and I get 5 bars in 90% of the city with stable 3G service and decent download speeds wherever I go. I think it's just become so fashionable to bash AT&T that people aren't really paying attention to the real world. Is their coverage perfect? Of course it isn't; that's the nature of the cellular beast. The reality of cellular is that all the networks are imperfect, and some are better in some areas than others. If you live in a major metropolitan area like NYC or San Francisco, though, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other.

There isn't one network I haven't had a phone on in NYC over the last 15 years, and every single one of them has a hole where you don't expect it, or slow data transfer when you're in the middle of an open field with no one around you. They're radio frequencies, folks. If you want something more reliable, carry a landline and a really long cable.

"Apple is looking for a Communications QA Engineer for its Mac Hardware Group. Could this be a hint that Apple is planning to add 3G networking to future Macs? It could, or it could just be your average job listing."

The rumor of a 3G wireless Macbook has been circulating for a few days now on various sites, now Apple has posted this job posting so maybe there is merit to it? As of now, the posting has been pulled from the Apple but you can check out a copy of it at the Computer Jobs blog site. It appears that someone may have jumped the gun a bit on the posting but it does add some credence to the rumors. Couple that with the conversation Steve Jobs had with USA Today regarding 3G in Macbooks last year, and AT&T in January discussing working with Apple on non-phone devices, and it would appear you have the makings of an almost reliable rumor. Anyone out there hoping for this?

"AT&T is increasing the downlink capacity on its high-speed packet access (HSPA) from 3.6 megabits per second to 7.2 Mb/s through software upgrades at the base station, Scott McElroy, AT&T Mobility vice president of technology realization told Telephone Online. AT&T currently has the enhanced networks running in two test markets but plans to extend those capabilities to its entire network. Later this year, AT&T plans to start migrating its 3G networks to evolved-HSPA (or HSPA+), which would triple peak speeds."

I would be happier if they'd just get me into the neighborhood of the 3.6 the network is capable of now. I usually rock about 500-700k down, which is not terrible, but it just isn't anywhere near the 3.6 that can be achieved, so when I hear numbers like 7.2 being bandied about, I get excited, but I'm not exactly expecting anywhere near that. I think anyone who is is a bit naive.

Out of curiosity, where are you guys located and what kind of 3G speeds are you seeing, if you even get a 3G signal?

"A Northern California man is not happy with his iPhone. AppleInsider reports that Jason Medway thinks his iPhone performs poorly, and believes Apple advertising is tricking people into purchases the device can't live up to."

Wired did a study last year that found the problem was more a carrier problem than a handset problem, but this lawsuit claims it is Apple that is hindering the speed with a defect in the iPhone. AT&T gets off the hook in this one since they aren't named as a defendant. My 3G isn't super speedy (700 Kbits/s download, 200 Kbits/s upload) while at work, however I'm kind of on the edge of the network there so I haven't thought too much about it.

"The advertising shown only lists 8GB iPhones for sale at $197, without any hints of a cheaper model. The iPhone will go on sale at Wal-Mart beginning on December 28th."

Photo Credit: MacRumors

Well, so much for that. Walmart is going to be selling the iPhone, just not a $99 4GB version. I knew it was too good to be true which was why I posted so many disclaimers on it! Anyway, if this one pans out, you'll be able to get the iPhone in a few places now (not just Apple and AT&T retail stores like the original) and you might have a shot at grabbing one for Christmas which, from what I've heard, can be tricky.

"We just got a tip that in addition to the iPhone 3G actually making its way to Walmart, as we exclusively told you, there will be a 4GB model priced at $99 with a 2-year agreement. We're not putting our stamp of approval behind this one just yet as the tipster isn't listed in our BGR's Guide to respected Ninjas handbook, but it does make you think, doesn't it?"

As Executive Editor, I'm faced with decisions like this often, particularly with regards to Apple. Do I run with the story / rumor I have no confidence in just because everyone else is? Or do I hold back and just wait? The truth is, I don't like rumors. Mac Rumors tend to be off the wall and ridiculous and I choose to ignore them as often as possible, but this one has so many people rushing to put it out there, I felt I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention it. Plus, it's a credible source (BGR is pretty good when it comes to rumors and such) so take this one for what it's worth. Me? I have no belief whatsoever that this rumor is true, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.