Alternate uses for an iPhone

Here are my thought about alternate uses for an iPhone.

The iPhone is an amazing piece of hardware, but it's limited by it's software. So far all of the iPhone's official software has been produced in-house by Apple. But all that's about to change.

Before the end of February Apple will open up both the iPhone and the iPod Touch to third party developers with the an SDK (Software Development Kit). Apple CEO Steve Jobs is, "excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users."

That means that any application you can think of can, and probably will, be put on the iPhone. Why has it taken so long? Steve Jobs again; "We're trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once - provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc."

The iPhone can already be used as a low tech GPS replacement, a basic note-pad or the hands down best pocket web browser there is. But with virtually unlimited possibilities soon to be unleashed, let's see what you can do with an unlocked iPhone.

Spirit level

Thanks to the advanced inbuilt sensors, Apple may have designed the most expensive and feature rich spirit level on the market. The iPhone normally uses these sensors to tell which way up it is and rotate pages accordingly, but there's nothing stopping developers from using them in other ways; from a basic spirit level, to some pretty trippy games. Not the sexiest of uses to start with I know.

The Ultimate Wireless Media Device

With a constant internet connection it won't be long before someone works out how to wirelessly link your iPhone to iTunes on your computer. They've already done it on hacked iPhones. Soon you'll be able to access your entire iTunes music collection from anywhere in the world. The BBC will also make content accessible on the iPhone through a mobile version of it's iPlayer application.

A Wireless Hard Drive

Unlike most iPods, the iPhone and iPod touch can't be used as USB storage devices yet. At the moment the iPhone's maximum size is 16 gigabytes, with the iPod Touch maxing out at 32. Both would make respectable storage devices (which could even be accessed over wi-fi). It won't be long before they double in storage space again and again, and again, and again. It wasn't that long ago that the flagship iPod had just 5Gb (and was the size of a small brick)

The Ultimate Skype Phone

Putting Skype on the iPhone is definitely possible, but odds are Apple and AT&T will try their best to stop it. If they don't (or can't) then the iPhone, with it's unlimited data plan, will be the hottest Skype phone there is.

A Boredom Buster

Tetris and Connect Four clones are already available on hacked iPhones so expect these, and a wave of new games. As with the iPod Classic, it's likely that major game developers such as EA and Sega will build iPhone versions of their classic games (if they haven't already).

Advanced MSN, AOL and SMS Device

A much complained about quirk in the iPhone is it's limited SMS capabilities. While the user interface for SMS is second to none, it lacks some basic abilities such as message forwarding. The problem's been solved in hacked iPhones, through which you can also access MSN, AOL and many other instant message services.

By opening up the iPhone and iPod Touch Apple is truly unleashing the power of its hardware and addressing the only issue most people have with the device - it's software. Apple hasn't yet released the full details of the SDK, but expect an announcement in the next few weeks.

The future of the iPhone

Here's my thought about the future iPhone.

Indeed, the Iphone is one of the best 3G phones on the Market to date. Now let's have a look at the pros and cons now shall we?

The good:
The Apple iPhone has a stunning display, a sleek design, and an innovative multitouch user interface. Its Safari browser makes for a superb Web surfing experience, and it offers easy-to-use apps. As an iPod, it shines.

The bad:

The Apple iPhone has variable call quality and lacks some basic features found in many cell phones, including stereo Bluetooth support and 3G compatibility. Integrated memory is stingy for an iPod, and you have to sync the iPhone to manage music content.

The bottom line:
Despite some important missing features, a slow data network, and call quality that doesn't always deliver, the Apple iPhone sets a new benchmark for an integrated cell phone and MP3 player and excellent desplay capabilities.

This was the reason why iPhone users and developers have been requesting Apple for a feature to allow iPhone apps to run in the background which can be very useful for Instant Messenger apps, Facebook etc.

Scott Forstall, Senior Vice President of iPhone Software at Apple, believed that enabling background processes was not the right solution when it comes to mobile phones, as it would affect the iPhone's battery life and degrade performance.

Apple was planning to solve this problem by offering developers with Push Notification Service. However, Apple had strangely pulled out the Push Notification Service APIs in fourth beta version of iPhone firmware 2.1 and there has been no further information from Apple. Though it the reason for the hold up is not clear, it is quite evident that something is holding Apple from releasing it.

MacRumors is reporting that they have heard that as an alternative Apple is considering allowing apps to run as user selectable background processes. Great isn't it? Also..

MacRumors expects this feature to be released in iPhone firmware 3.0 update but will be limited to only one or two processes for 1st Gen iPhone and iPhone 3G based on their hardware. The next generation iPhone, however, would likely see less restricted background process support due to its improved hardware. It is speculated that the next generation iPhone could come with quad-core processors.

If the rumor is true then it would be a u-turn by Apple based on their comments back in August 2008 where they believed that enabling background processes was not the right solution for the iPhone. But its very good news for iPhone users as the limitation of not being able to run apps in the background was quite frustrating.
What do you think? If Apple allowed only one or two processes to run in the background which iPhone apps will you chose. Let us know in the comments.
In case you don't want to wait, there is a jailbreak app aptly called iPhone Backgrounder which allows you to run iPhone apps in the background but for that you need a jailbroken iPhone. There is still isn't any word as to a jailbreak application for the Iphone firware version 2.2 as of yet, I'll keep you posted as to when the BETA version of a Jailbreak software is released.

So what can we look forword from Apple in the future? The possiblities are endless...

Second JD Power Award For Apple iPhone

Here is my thought about Second JD Power Award.

Again, Apple iPhone won J.D. power award for customer satisfaction among consumers like last year. After the survey of customer satisfaction study, J.D. power and Associates released the result. In that result, iPhone has highest rank among smartphone this year also. For the judging the customer satisfaction, there was five factors - ease of operation, operating system, features, physical design, and battery function to judge.

In the judgment, Apple scored well in every thing but battery life was not well however, the iPhone got the award. There was a scale of customer satisfaction which was defined in a number of 1000. In overall 1000 scores iPhone received a greater score of 791 among all the smarphone. It was the highest score for iPhone to win the J.D. Power award this year also.

In the judgment of customer satisfactions, there were other manufactures also - LG, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Palm, RIM Blackberry etc. In this series, LG got 772 points and Samsung 759. Satisfactory scale for overall smartphone was 751 points.

Last year, in the award of J.D. power, there were 1,400 products to survey for customer satisfaction. The award was conducted in August and September to analysis the consumer review. In this award, for same things - ease of operation, operating system, physical design, handset features, and battery aspects iPhone was on highest position to get the award.

Last year, iPhone got 778 points in 1000. In this series Samsung was beaten by Apple iPhone. This year also iPhone got perfect rankings in four categories out of five except battery aspects. In the battery aspects, RIM got golden circles among all products.