Jun 30

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I don’t know exactly how useful this site is, but I’ll let you check it out and decide for yourself. Worst Phone Ever is a site that purports to try and track all of the dropped calls being racked up on Apple’s devices and AT&T’s service. The idea is that you upload your dropped call log file, then they’ll flip through it, and add it to the data they’ve already compiled.

As of this writing, the site has already parsed over 1.5 million calls, and claim that 5.52 percent of them were dropped, costing users over $154,448 (you can see more about how that’s all calculated on their FAQ page).

Now, the paranoid in me has to warn you against actually sending them any logfiles — while the FAQ claims that no “personal or uniquely identifying information” is in the files, they do say they’re tying them to your email address, and I find it hard to believe that there aren’t at least area codes in there for Apple’s information. Their FAQ, again, admits that they’re “going to do everything we can” with the data, and I can’t really recommend you give them something from your computer under that agreement.

But if nothing else, the site might turn out to be a nice compendium of information on just how many calls AT&T is dropping. If these averages from earlier this year are any indication, it might be just as high as frustrated customers think it is.

TUAWWorst Phone Ever chronicles dropped iPhone calls originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 29

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This will come as no surprise to anyone who saw all of those lines yesterday: Analysts are saying that Apple probably sold over 1.5 million iPhones yesterday, with 600,000 preorders, 100,000 in-store sales, and 50,000 sales from other places like Best Buy, with the rest coming from overseas. If that number is true (it’s still just an estimate at this point), then Apple soundly broke early sales of the iPhone 3GS, which took a whole weekend to break one million sales. Still, as I said, record numbers wouldn’t be surprising at all, given the turnouts at Apple Stores.

Oppenheimer analyst Yar Reiner also says that about 76 percent of the buyers yesterday were actually upgrading their iPhones, with only about 21 percent switching to AT&T. Of the customers getting an iPhone for the first time, 41 percent were originally T-Mobile, with only 28 percent coming from Verizon (who is rumored to be getting its own iPhone soon).

No matter what the final numbers turn out to be, yesterday was a heck of a day for Apple — anecdotally, it was the biggest launch many of us have ever seen. It’s only a day after release, and already the iPhone 4 is a huge success.

TUAWApple may have sold 1.5 million iPhone 4s already originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 28

Apple today announced that it has sold more than 1.7 million iPhone 4 devices through Saturday, June 26, just three days after the phone’s launch on June 24. “This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”

Jun 28

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The word is BIG. Big lines, probably 4 times what they were last year for the 3GS roll-out. I got to the Apple La Encantada store in Tucson at 6AM to find hundreds of people in both the reserved line and those hopefuls waiting without a reservation for an iPhone 4.

The crowd was calm, but anxious. As I talked to people waiting, I was surprised by how many people were not current iPhone users. There were many BlackBerry owners, and a sprinkling of Motorola and Verizon labeled phones. Some said their contracts had just expired, and it was time to get on the iPhone bandwagon.

TUAWiPhone 4 launch: The view from Southern Arizona originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 28

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I met up with Chillingo at last week’s E3 event here in Los Angeles, and got to see a few of their upcoming titles in action. Here’s a few games they were showing off, and some early impressions of each.

Zombie Escape

This was probably my favorite game of the show — it’s a line-drawing game where you’re tasked with drawing routes for survivors of a zombie apocalypse to rescue choppers. As they appear on sides of the touchscreen, it’s your job to draw a path through the walking undead, and as the 28 days in the game go by, the difficulty ramps up with more undead and more survivors. Additionally, there are powerups and other items to collect, which give the game some tower defense-style elements, enabling you to defeat the undead from offscreen. But sending your survivors to get the powerups means they’ll have to take separate routes and risk more danger.

Zombie Escape was about three weeks out from release when I saw it last week, so it should be on the App Store by the end of this month. It’s definitely worth a look, especially if you’re a fan of the line-drawing genre.

TUAWChillingo shows off its current crop at E3 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 28

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I wound up taking two FaceTime calls today, but a third failed. First up was our old friend Nik Fletcher from way across the ocean in the UK. I was shocked at the excellent quality of the call and the video. It was definitely nicer than a standard webcam.

To be clear, I’m not a huge fan of this concept. By that I mean that I still see social hurdles to this technology being widely adapted. If you’ve ever made faces while talking to someone on the phone, you’ll know what I mean. Plus, having to hold the phone out in the air was a little tiring, but I’m sure the accessory market will create scads of “solutions” to this problem.

Drew Olanoff and I chatted next, and I did seem to notice a slight lag in the call. I noticed my Wi-Fi dip a bit as I moved about, but honestly I don’t know what caused that. Still, the conversation flowed and was mostly natural, as though we really were face-to-face. My brother and I tried to connect, but he was supposedly logged in to a secure network and couldn’t engage the FaceTime button, nor could he take my request. [Commenters suggest he may not have enabled FaceTime on his phone.]

As you can see from the pics, FaceTime is a clean and simple interface. There’s a button to change cameras (now also in the Camera app), allowing you to give a virtual tour, or a peek at someone’s crotch. (Thanks, Drew.) There’s also a mute button for the speaker on your end. To begin a FaceTime call, you just click on the button that says “FaceTime” and wait for the other person to accept the request. Like Skype, you have to accept the request to video chat. Oh, and don’t forget this is Wi-Fi-only for now, but we’re told that will probably change someday. The future is … soon!

TUAWFaceTime is a tiny bit awkward, but a whole lot of fun originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 27

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Customers are lined up across the country and sending reports and photos to our @ask_tuaw Twitter stream. Here are a few of the more interesting tidbits we’ve received.

Standing in line

As we predicted, the iPhone 4 lines are typically much longer than the iPad lineups were. The Garden State Plaza Apple Store in Paramus, New Jersey closed the non-reservation line (What Chris Breen is calling the “Pray for a Miracle Line“) around 9:20 AM. The Biltmore Apple Store‘s line in balmy Phoenix, Arizona had wrapped around the store by 6:30 AM local time.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, the reservation line was longer than non-res. Twice as long, in fact.

Keeping them happy

Several readers are reporting that Apple Store employees are providing food and drinks to patient customers. In Reno, Nevada, workers are distributing coffee and donuts. Apple Store Crossgates in Albany, NY is also providing breakfast.

Photos

We’re getting a lot of snapshots from Twitter. In Lancaster, PA, you can’t even see the store from the back of the line. The same is true in Louisville, Kentucky, New York’s Soho, and Austin, Texas. Finally, I must give a shout-out to my fellow New Englanders in Salem, New Hampshire.

What’s your experience been today? Let us know at @ask_tuaw. Have fun and good luck!

TUAWiPhone 4 launch: Updates from iPhone 4 lineups originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 27

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It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: You gotta love Woz.

Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak is well known for making himself extremely accessible to his fans and admirers. We’re sure he can get his hands on any gizmo he wants. Despite this, he waits in lines and hangs out with fellow Apple fans.

When the iPad launched, Steve lined up for his tablet and in the process got to know Parth Dhebar, creator of Simple Reviews. Parth is a high school student and when he needed a ride to the iPhone 4 line, Woz picked him up. The pair joined the rest of the customers who were camping out, where Woz signed autographs, talked with fans and drove his Segway around the empty mall (does he go anywhere without that thing?).

Sounds like fun! Do you have an interesting line story or set of photos? Send them to our @ask_tuaw twitter stream. Thanks!

TUAWWoz gives kid a ride to overnight iPhone line originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 26

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The cheering, the clapping, the credit checks and the service provisioning: it’s iPhone 4 day in NYC, with the promise of sweltering temperatures encouraging those in line to get in and get finished as quick as they can. Video of the first customers above, gallery of the scene below.

TUAWiPhone 4 Launch: First customers entering 5th Ave Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 25

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Google announced Wednesday on their blog that they have exercised their remote application removal feature in the Android Market. According to the blog, two free applications were built by a security researcher for research purposes, and in Google’s own words, “The applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled the applications shortly after downloading them.” Yet Google still removed them from their Marketplace. But they didn’t stop there, Google also remotely uninstalled the apps from all of the devices that still had a copy of the apps.



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