iPhone Reviews

When you're part of any sort of hacking scene, sometimes you get the impression that you're part of some small but secret group of users. While that may be true to some extent, the sales stats on PSN for December show that we made quite the impact!

Whenever you're talking about any console race, there are always going to be loyalists that live to support their brand of choice. When it comes to the 360 and PS3, this could be no more true. Join me as I try to answer the incredibly difficult question: which machine is better, PS3 or Xbox 360.

If you're one of the fortunate few to have your hands on an iPhone 5, you'll be glad to know that you are indeed in possession of one of the single-fastest smartphones on the market. In a surprising move however, Apple's custom processor shows that it is clocked at a faster speed than we previously assumed. The world's most speedy iPhone just got a bit quicker.

Are you one for having your iPhone in the same pocket as your change? Your keys? Leaving it beside your drink when out? Doing this with the new iPhone 5 will leave a trace so I suggest investing in a case of some sort.

 

No? Well they were. Back in April, I wrote an article about a patent that Apple had put forward with a design that was supposed to be an 'all in one' unibody design. Recently some pictures and a video has surfaced showing exactly these redesigned headphones.

http://www.mophie.com/products/juice-pack

Saurik the creator of Cydia which appears to be the new defacto standard for installing 3rd party homebrew apps on your jailbroken iPhone, has released 'Cycorder' a free iPhone video recorder App, opting to use on-screen text ads rather than charging users. It's a great alternative to the buggy 'iPhone Video Recorder' App which requires you pay after you've recorded 30 videos limited to 30 seconds each. The previously reviewed Qik will capture audio & video for free but requires you to be connected to a WiFi connection to steam the video to their service. Cycorder can be installed via Cydia in the 'Multimedia' section. Cycorder offers 6 - 15 frames per second depending on lighting and movement using MJPEG compression at 384x288 (4x3) screen resolution. This gives Cycorder an edge when it comes to video quality by sacrificing the small file size offered by the competition. You can watch videos on the iPhone itself or to really see the quality of the video you can download them to your computer. MOV extension video files can be found in the '/private/var/mobile/Media/Videos/' folder on your iPhone. Unfortunately audio is still in the works and is expected in a future release. Click the 'more...' link to see an example video, the latest in the Alias420's boring apartment video series. Saurik seems to be pondering the idea of making audio a feature of a premium version of the program that you would have to pay for instead of continuing the current ad revenue plan. Perhaps some e-mails to saurik @ saurik.com would help convince him otherwise. Let's hope Saurik doesn't opt for the headaches of supporting paid users and keeps this free.

Recently the power button on my iPhone failed, luckily I was able to use the iReboot app to turn off the unit or lock the keypad (reboot springboard). But this made doing things like DFU or Restore mode a real pain in the ass. Noticing a company advertising in our Google AdSense ads with the link 'Toronto iPhone Repair' I clicked through to investigate (who knew those ads could actually be useful?). The link landed me at TechKnowSpace.com. To my great fortune they are located about 2 blocks from my home and could replace the power button within an hour for $89CAD. I took the long 5 minute walk over to Front st & Spadina st right in the downtown core of Toronto and dropped my phone off. 1 hour later I returned and they had my newly functional iPhone ready to go. I was impressed they were fast, friendly and most importantly got my beloved iPhone back to it's original splendor. If you live in or around the Greater Toronto Area and need to have your iPhone repaired I would recommend them. I inquired whether they serve people online wishing to get their iPhones repaired. Unfotunately they aren't setup to process orders via their web page but you can feel free to make arrangements by phone and send your iPhone in via courier or snail mail. BTW: I have received nothing for endorsing these guys.