If Only I Had It

What else can you ask of iPhone. First it was the piano then came the guitar and now it is the drums.

The drum machine application on iPhone was developed by MooTheCow, and he gave it a simple name called “Drummer”. Besides, iPhone, it runs on iPod Touch too. Drummer allows you to play up to 15 unique audio samples (one on each finger touch pad). Similar to other musical apps on the Appe gadgets, it takes the advantage of the multi-touch capabilities, so you can play up to five sounds at once. And also, it allows you to play along with MP3. It comes with pre-installed sound sets including Rock, Dance, Electro and Jazz. You can also update with your own sample sounds easily.

Anyway, this drummer app is still on its BETA version, which is still unavailable for download for a try on your jailbroken iPhone yet. But you can get yourself prepared by reading more on MooCowMusic, keep an eye on it and be the first one to get when it gets released.

Ever thought that your iPhone has reached its limits in softwares and its uses. Now there is such a software that will blow your mind especially if you are a guitarist.

I love playing the guitar sometimes love songs and most of the times oldies. But playing heavy metal is and has always been something that I wanted to learn but it is difficult with the guitars that I have now. Owning an iPhone has always made me think that I am the best geek in town with the latest iPhone but today it has really blown me out of my seat.

The software called PocketGuitar, makes your iPhone to work like a guitar, developed as a Google Code project by a guy called Shinya Kasatani. Before I forget, the software works for iPod Touch too. You can also download the songs that you’ve produced during your long guitar sessions onto an iPod for play back.

If you’ve been holding off on updating your iPhone to firmware v1.1.2 because you’ve gotten attached to your iToner ringtone maker, then you’ll be glad to hear that Ambrosia Software has released an updated iToner application that will now support your iPhone v1.1.2. iToner allows you to upload (drag-and-drop) custom-created MP3, MP4, and AAC files onto your iPhone for use as a custom ringtone. Why pay $1 for every ringtone through iTunes? iToner pays for itself after just 15 ringtone-changes. If you’re like us, it’ll pay for itself in no time at all.

Following on Ambrosia’s previous iToner update, the new iToner v1.0.4 will bring bug-fixes and UI enhancements in addition to iPhone v1.1.2 support. If you just haven’t pulled the trigger on the $15 iToner app, there’s even less reason to hold out. It’ll make a great gift, for friends and loved ones as well as yourself.

Ok, enough gushing about iToner. With Garageband’s new support for iPhone ringtone exports, it’s going to be interesting to see how iToner fares in the long-run. Garageband 4.1.1 is still $80 outright, so only new-Mac owners will be able to take advantage of the bundled Garageband software for free - otherwise, the $15 iToner app is a much better deal than the $80 Garageband.

Apple does it again. Last year the iPods were the best sellers, now it is iPhones. Apple’s iPhone takes the lead among the holiday gift gadgets around the world.

Apple introduced iPhone in US around mid June 2007. Now it has topped the gift chart by becoming the best sought gift gadget of 2007.

Let’s check out what makes the iPhone the best gift gadget of 2007.

What is iPhone?

iPhone is the revolutionary cell phone that combines the features of a touch screen phone, a new age internet device and a video iPod. Apple owns about 300 patents and some of the features are first introduced in this iPhone.

Apple iPhone’s breakthrough internet capabilities allow you to send email, browse full websites, do search and navigate through maps using the wi-fi / EDGE connectivity.

The good part is the all these features are easily accessible through the carefully designed touch screen system.

What are iPhone’s Important Features?

Wide Screen Video iPod / Revolutionary Touch Screen

The important part of iPhone would be its 3.5 inch wide screen display. It has multiple functions to work both as an entertainment screen and also as a touch screen. The display supports max resolution of 320*480, which gives you much more icon space than regular plastic buttons. Hence the iPhone‘s touch screen icons are larger and easily touchable.

The major difference between regular iPods and iPhones would be this wide-screen display. Regular iPods have a 4:3 display (similar to normal TVs), which reduces the viewable area very much. But with the latest iPhone and iPod touch, you can watch wide-screen content without losing much screen space.

New Age Phone

As the name suggests it is a phone. Here are the important phone functionalities.

One Touch Call – For making a call, you just need to touch the name or number of person from the phone book. In addition to regular phone book, you can create separate lists of phone numbers similar to what we do for music play lists.

Visual Voice Mail – It lets you select any of your voice mail messages without going through other messages. This gives you quick access to the required messages without checking all previous messages.

SMS – Apple iPhone features a full touch screen QWERTY keyboard that allows you to easily type sentences without making mistakes. It also has an intelligent dictionary that will correct your spelling mistakes.

Internet Functionalities

Connectivity – Apple iPhone supports both Wi-fi and EDGE connectivity. Wi-fi allows you to easily connect iPhone to your home/office network/public hotspots easily. The EDGE network is available in most part of the US, but not popular among rest of the world.

iPhone is powered by a light version of Mac OSX operating system that includes Safari, an email client and special software applications called widgets that are specially designed to give you helpful information on weather, traffic, stocks, news etc while you are on the move.

The important difference between iPhone and other smartphones would be in its web browsing capability. The Safari browser shows you full webpages instead of the simplified mobile editions.

Other Features

iPhone comes with variety of sensors. One sensor is named accelerometer that detects iPhone’s rotation and accordingly changes the display from portrait to landscape mode. This means you don’t have to rotate an image for wider viewing. You just need to rotate the phone and iPhone will automatically take care of the rest.

Another sensor called proximity sensor (near ear piece) which detects whether you are actually speaking over the phone and turns off the display to save power.

The third important sensor is the ambient light sensor. It would brighten the display for much better viewing if you on outdoors.

iPhone Technical Specifications:

• Display: 3.5 inch wide-screen LCD display with max 320*480 resolution.
• Input Device: Multi-Touch Touch Screen
• Operating System: MAC OSX
• Storage Capacity: 4GB / 8GB solid state storage.
• GSM: Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g, GPRS/EDGE, and Bluetooth 2.0.
• Camera: 2.0 Mega Pixels
• Battery Life: 8hrs normal usage / 24hrs on audio playback / 250hrs on standby.
• Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches
• Form Factor: Candybar Smartphone
• Supported Audio Formats: MP3 / AAC
• Video formats Supported: MP4, H.264, M4V, and MOV

iPhone Disadvantages:

Closed Availability – Apple iPhone is now sold by certain cell phone networks and you need to buy a phone usage contract along with iPhone. The locked phones cannot be used on other networks.

Trademark Problem – Cisco system now owns the original trademark for the term “iPhone” for their VOIP phones. Apple may loose the name iPhone if Cisco system wins the legal battle.

Lack of Support to GSM 3G Networks – iPhone does not support latest 3G capabilities that allows faster data rate and better voice quality.

Expensive – The basic version of iPhone with 4GB memory costs $499, while the 8GB version costs $599. Along with the 2 year network subscription, most customers think, the iPhone is highly expensive.

My view has always been it is not worth buying the iPhone until they bring out a 3G model. Anyone who has got used to 3G speeds and browsing the net on something like the Nokia N95 would find going back to 2G on the iPhone the same as dropping broadband in favour of dial up.

Now iPhone fans will always respond, “yeah but its got Wifi for fast surfing” which is all well and good when you are sitting on an unsecured Wifi network but in reality these days more and more are locked down so you end up paying more money to use an ISPs cloud. Or more often than not, you give up and go back to using your telecoms internet.

So, in my case, I use a Nokia N95 on T-Mobile with their “unlimited” Web ‘n’ Walk package. It works well, I’m nearly always on 3G and just don’t need to search for Wifi connections. If I went to a 2G iPhone it would kill me… even though the iPhone does really appeal to me.

I’m relieved then that the CEO of AT&T Randall Stephenson says, “You’ll have it next year”. He wouldn’t be drawn on prices, saying that this would be set by Apple but I doubt it would be anymore expensive than the original iPhone at launch, which was $599.

So that is something to look forward to then although by the time we get it in Europe will Nokia have superseeded the N95 with something even better?