iPhone – Page 2 – NerdBeach

Comparing iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4S

Now that the iPhone 4S is officially released, I thought it would be good to look at this phone as compared to the iPhone 3Gs. Why the 3Gs and not the 4? Well, in my humble opinion, this is really the demographics for the most cost effective upgrade. If you are sporting an iPhone 4, chances are that you can comfortably stay in the current app software base, and you have a pretty decent camera to boot. But those of you with the 3GS, well, face it -that device is getting to be pretty long in the tooth about now.

Video Recording

For instance, let’s look at video recording. The 3GS does 480p at 30 frames per second (FPS). The 4S does a very respectable HD quality 1080p at 30 fps. Add in the video stabilization that the 4S brings to the table and it is easy to see how the 4S is a big step in video recording capabilities over the 3GS.

Cameras

Next, let’s compare the cameras. The 3GS has a single 3 megapixel camera on back, without a LED light source. PLus adding insult to injury, the unit’s camera is just not that light sensitive. It’s easy to find yourself in an indoor situation where the 3GS would not take a quality picture.

The 4S, on the other hand sports a 8 megapixel camera along with a five element lens, an LED flash, a backside illumination sensor, and a much more light sensitive setup. So, even if you don’t turn on the handy LED flash, you still take much better pictures than you could with the 3GS in low light situations.

Video Calling

Now let’s talk video calling. The 4S sports a front VGA video camera. The 3GS has none. The only way you can video chat on the 3GS is with a third party app (FaceTime is not available on the 3GS), and then the single rear located camera makes it impossible to see the party you are speaking with without being clever (like, maybe a mirror). It is just not practical.

Display

Then there is the display itself. With the 4S you get the higher resolution retina screen introduced with the iPhone 4. With the 3GS you are stuck with 480 x 320 pixels. The result is that everything tends to look better on the newer phones. From clean text to razor sharp graphics, using the phone on a regular basis looks nicer on the retina screen. This is especially true if you like to read PDFS or other full screen images.

Talk Time

Finally, consider the phone as a phone itself. With the 4S you get around 8 hours of talk time on 3G. With the 3GS, you are looking at 5 hours. It’s not quite twice the total talk time, but it is a healthy increase. (And if you are like me, it seems like the last 30 minutes are more important than the previous 4 hours…)

While upgrading the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S might be a welcome change, the leap from 3GS to the iPhone 4S is one that you will appreciate. This is especially true considering that many of you 3GS owners are now prime in their contract for a nice upgrade.

Apple iPhone

The first iPhone was unveiled by Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007,[1] and released on June 29, 2007. The 5th generation iPhone, the iPhone 4S, was announced on October 4, 2011, and released on October 14, 2011, two days after the release of iOS 5.0, the Apple operating system for handheld devices.

source:wikipedia

The iPhone and AT&T’s Random Signal Strength Feature

Greg Chaffins

Okay, I have a slick iPhone, and I like it. Actually, having previously owned Pocket PCs (before they were so dimly in my opinion renamed Windows Mobile), I find the iPhone to hit on the major points I like in a pocket device – it is online, it has a big chunk of memory to hold media and other data, and it is thin enough to carry anywhere. It is sleek (but not perfect – my biggest gripe about the device itself is the inane inability to multi-task user apps. However, that is another topic).

The iPhone itself really shines on its online capabilities. As a matter of fact, a major portion of the apps on the App Store will not function if a connection is not present. And, I will put forth now, is the iPhone’s Achilles’ Heel (at least in the states) – the data connection is handled by a third party.

I have a soft spot in my heart for AT&T. I grew up with Ma Bell, and at the time if you had a problem with your phone, your line, or anything else, help was just a phone call away. Sure, they took their pound of flesh in long distance rates, but you had a distinct feeling that they cared about their quality of service. I also need to mention Bell Labs, and give them Kudos for such an excellent establishment.

But fast forward to today. Remember that shiny iPhone i was talking about earlier? Well, I do have occasion to use the phone at my domicile, and according to the carrier maps I should have an excellent signal. And, true to their word, I do. As a matter of fact, I have it many times of day. See Fig 1, the unmodified screen shot below for proof. This was taken fresh this morning:

Fig. 1: 5 bars and 3G. Excellent.

Fig. 2: No bars and Edge. Bummer.

Note the time stamp (6:27 AM – yes I get up early) and the signal strength (5 bars, 3G). It doesn’t get any better than this.

Unfortunately, this is an often fleeting moment. Now note Fig 2 above, the next unmodified screen shot, and its time stamp. The time is the same (6:27 AM), but something has changed. To be more exact, my signal has changed. It has went from full on five bar 3G to 1 bar Edge in less than a minute. Bummer.

This sequence of events repeats many times throughout the day, and to say that it is a bit frustrating is an understatement. Voice calls do work, however, so as a phone carrier AT&T is delivering. It is their data that needs attention, and the switch from 3G to Edge wreaks havoc on any online activity going on at the moment.

To be fair, before writing this article I did call AT&T and see if they could be of assistance. Their response (after checking for any reported problems, which I did appreciate) – call Apple, must be the phone. Ah yes, that explains it… not. Why would the phone only give trouble in select locations, and in a repeatable pattern? Before you ask, the phone is running the latest updates, and I do cycle the phone’s power to get any tower updates as well.

To verify that it was not some kind of local interference, I tried my spouse’s windows mobile phone on Sprint under the exact same circumstances (that is, I used it right where I was standing with the other), and it had a solid data connection. Something amiss, certainly. I still love the iPhone, and in a lot of situations AT&T delivers the goods. But in a few select locations I feel like I am playing data roulette.

Given the hit or miss signal, I have loaded my iPhone up with a local copy of Wikipedia in order to feed the urge to look up something. At times I do not even miss the wavering connection. And while it is very convenient to say that I did not receive a given email at times (I am kidding…really), I would rather have the connection suggested by the coverage map all day long.

AT&T blocking 3G Orb Traffic on iPhone – Maybe

Greg Chaffins

UPDATE 7 (1/27/09) Hurray! Starting this morning people in FL, NY, TN, and other places are reporting that they can now use the Orblive app directly without the workaround and still log in without a timeout. I confirmed it working as of this writing and the app, including streaming, is quite functional. It appears we should mark this one as fixed. As to the exact problem and the resulting fix we can only say that a case ticket (Case #TT000009527013 ) that was opened up with AT&T by Orb must have been acted upon. With the nature of live streaming there will no doubt be occasional errors, but for the affected users overall app functionality should be restored. Thanks to all of the parties involved in seeing this one through.

UPDATE 6 (1/25/09) Orb has reported that the problem hit them on the west coast yesterday evening. I will assume that their local AT&T DNS server updated, carrying with it the problem. Orb posted a traceRT on an iPhone to the forum showing the stop at the AT&T server, interestingly enough. At least Orb can now reproduce the problem, which should expedite a solution.

UPDATE 5 (1/24/09): AT&T support front lines have been extremely helpful in trying to resolve the issue. Reports have come in that technicians are spending over 30 minutes at a stretch trying everything possible to determine the problem. At this point nothing as been resolved, but given that there are so many streaming video apps active and running over 3G dropping Orb in the middle of all the other streamers hardly makes sense as a major bandwidth saving measure. That is, unless someone was using it for purposes other than designed and it was branded a security risk. To cast doubt on that scenario is the fact that only the Eastern half of the US seems to be affected – a security risk would be yanked across the board. My gut tells me it is a glitch that may take some time to resolve. For now, I would advise users to get used to the workaround if they are in an affected area. But if anything breaks we’ll give an update.

UPDATE 4: The Orb folks have released a little information about the way the app connects. Apparently when the orb starts it uses the URL api.orb.com over https to connect to its alias at the mycast.orb.com site, where it then drops back to http. When using the iPhone’s Safari the URL https://api.orb.com fails on 3g (if affected), yet it works on wifi (and other devices/computers). This is also explains why the workaround usually works. Nothing yet from AT&T.

UPDATE 3: A little offical word. According to the Orb Folks (posted on their forum), they have made no changes at all. If correct, this would in theory put the ball back with AT&T. As luck would have it, Orb is apparently in an area that is not affected with the issue (Oakland, CA).

UPDATE 2 (01/23/09): PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS UPDATE IS ONLY THE CURRENT WORKING THEORY. At this point it is starting to look like the DNS servers that AT&T utilize do not have the correct data (why we don’t know) for the orb app’s login in most of the country. Some people are not experiencing issues, so we would assume that they are lucky enough to roll into a DNS server that has not updated recently (or vice versa). Of course, the bad news is that iPhone users cannot configure the DNS server that their AT&T account uses, so this really does not help anything. Still no official word at this moment.

UPDATE: As of this writing the connection is still broken, but there is a workaround in place. First, use Safari on the Iphone itself to go to mycast.orb.com and wait for the login to appear. When the login shows, immediately quit Safari by way of the home key and start the Orb Live app. It should then login normally. The process will need to be repeated each time you use Orb Live.

So, yes I have an iPhone. And yes I run the rather slick Orb Live App, which allows one to connect to their Orb and stream media of all sorts, not the least of which is live TV (assuming you have a PC with a tuner for the source). The finished product works almost as well as a Sling player for windows mobile (we are still waiting for the iPhone version), plus you can access more PC based media.

Everything was working fine yesterday. The app connects and gives access to live TV channels (which is what I used it for most of the time) while out and about. Today, though, is another story. The unit will connect fine on WiFi, I can get to the Orb online, but the AT&T connection through the iPhone will simply not connect – and I am no the only one to suddenly have problems.

In an attempt to find out what was going on, I posted a question to the Orb forum ( http://forums.orb.com/viewtopic.php?t=15538), and as of this writing people in Illinois, New York, and Florida replied experiencing the same problems. Right now it is a mystery, but given the widespread nature of the same symptom it is looking like AT&T may be filtering out (blocking) the Orb traffic. It could be a technical glitch, but I can find no announcement of technical issues or server problems with AT&T to explain it. One thing is certain, it is not a local problem.

Calls to AT&T have yielded no answers, but to their credit the reps have tried to be helpful. However, this appears to be outside of the normal support channels, and AT&T points back to Apple for help. It may take a little time before anything is known for certain if it is a deliberate action. To note, other streaming apps on the iPhone (including ABC, 1Cast, etc.) still work great over 3G. This may have even been an accidental block on behalf of AT&T (or its business partners). Of course, this helps little with the connect timeout message.

As soon as I find out the answer I’ll update this. For now, I would suggest take that into consideration if you are looking at the otherwise quite functional Orb Live on the App Store ($9.99, link), especially if you had wanted it for use only with the 3G connection (edit – on the Eastern half of the US).

Hopefully it is only a glitch. But if it is only a glitch, AT&T should at least report it as an issue, especially since it has been over 24 hours for some people, and they HAVE had callers reporting the problem. Lessons learned for future, perhaps.

(Images trademark of their respected owners. iPhone and App Store are trademarks and property of Apple)

iPhone control of RC car

Greg Chaffins

The iPhone, with its design that incorporates a touch screen and built in accelerometers, is really a good device from a control standpoint.

Especially considering what kind of ad-hoc controllers that I have built over the years to do simple functions. Yes, it is a very convenient device for control, as is almost any touch screen device on the market. Usually, though, I find that the Windows Mobile devices end up in the hands of the physical project hacking crowd. The new low price of the iPhone may be changing this, at least until Apple makes another attempt to lock it down.

But anyways, I digress. An inventive 18 year old named Josef Průša and his brother has put the iPhone to work controlling a small RC car, and the results look quite handy.

The app uses five buttons, with four of them being a standard control mechanism. Hit the fifth button, and the iPhone’s accelerometer becomes the controller. As the video shows, it makes driving the car with the iPhone a simple thing. More info at the project site.

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