EA's new racing game, Need For Speed Shift [App Store, $9.99], is now available. The new title includes 20 different cars (including the BMW M3 GT2, Lamborghini Gallardo & Pagani Zonda), 18 tracks in various international locations (Chicago, London & Tokyo) and a multiplayer mode with up to 6 players over WiFi or Bluetooth.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Features, iPhone, Holidays, iPod touch, App Review

We're about to hit the big holiday travel peak, and it's a great time to survey what we've seen this year for iPhone GPS apps. GPS navigation by satellite has been around a long time, but it's never been this inexpensive or desirable. There's an explosion of choices, with competitive features and falling prices. For many of our readers, facing long trips to see family and friends, getting the right GPS app is a priority.

A few words about this guide: I haven't seen or tested everything on the market, and the choices are constantly changing and updating. I've done my best to keep up and get some time on the road with each of the apps listed here. If I haven't talked about your favorite app, it's not because I don't like it, but because I can't vouch for it.

Like all of you, I have some criteria by which I judge a GPS app. My list contains the things I think are really, really, important. Your list could be different. Such is life.

Read on for my (long) list of must-haves, and for the rundown of the GPS apps themselves.

Continue reading Hitting the road with iPhone GPS apps: A holiday buyers' guide

Hitting the road with iPhone GPS apps: A holiday buyers' guide originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hitting the road with iPhone GPS apps: A holiday buyers' guide originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Widespread reports of a surge in Japanese iPhone adoption have flooded the net, but the numbers at their root actually stem from a survey.

The Gmail team at Google announced recently that they have updated the mobile-optomized version of Gmail that shows up on smartphones like the iPhone to be between 2 and 3 times faster than the previous version. The speed increase is the result of several optimizations implemented to boost performance of Gmail's mobile site.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone

See updated response from AT&T below.

With some pretty damning evidence, both FSJ and Gizmodo are shouting at AT&T, which claims that they've upgraded their network although they've spent less each quarter on upgrades since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. AT&T CEO Ralph De La Vega recently said that "AT&T is upgrading its network to cope," and that AT&T is continuing to look into ways to entice users to limit the way they use data.

That statement made sense at one point: give the customers a tiered data structure that's cheaper for those who don't use much bandwidth. This would probably never happen: it's not too often that you see a wireless provider actually help its customers. In reality, we'd probably see data rates stay where they are, but get an increase in price for "unlimited" data as we've come to understand it.

With another look at the information found in AT&T's Financial and Operating Statistics Summary [PDF Link], you begin to see tremendous flaws in AT&T's logic. They've consistently made more money (80% more revenue compared to Q4 2007) from wireless data, yet on average, AT&T has spent less each quarter for network improvements.

So where has all of that extra money gone? No one can argue that it's the recession sucking up the dollars, because AT&T's profits have remained pretty stable during the whole thing. The money obviously hasn't been spent on network improvements. Perhaps AT&T is fighting Verizon ads with the extra cash?

One thing is certain, the company is not serving AT&T customers in the best manner possible. With rumors that the iPhone may soon be available on Verizon's network as well, AT&T needs to put the pedal to the floor and come through with something... anything.

Update: Early on the morning of 12/21, I received an email from Seth -- he's handling some of AT&T's public relations. It looks like the figures we reported here, while accurate, don't actually cover the whole story. He states that AT&T is actually working very hard on wireless network upgrades. The numbers we used to draw our conclusions covered a lot of aspects of AT&T's spending and not just upgrades. While AT&T won't give out a specific outline of their upgrade budget, they've spent $17 or $18 billion on network upgrades this year.

Let me just say that I've been pleasantly surprised with the reliability of Denver's service since they finished the upgrades in October. I had been dropping calls several times a week prior to the upgrades. Since the end of October, I have yet to drop a call. Obviously, the user experience varies from city to city and we understand that some cities are really struggling. If this upgrade trend continues, hopefully we'll be seeing more cities follow Denver's lead sooner rather than later. I'll let you read through his bullet points instead of re-hashing it for you.

In direct contrast to your headline, we are working very hard on network upgrades. Here's a look at how we're spending what's expected to be between $17 and $18 billion in improvements in 2009 to our wireline and wireless networks, with billions on wireless:

• We are nearly doubling the wireless spectrum serving 3G customers in hundreds of markets across the country, using high-quality 850 MHz spectrum. This additional spectrum expands overall network capacity and improves in-building reception.
• We are adding about 2,000 new cell sites to our network in 2009, expanding service to new cities and improving coverage in other areas.
• We're adding about 100,000 new backhaul connections, which add critical capacity between cell sites and the global IP backbone network.
• We're enabling widespread access to our Wi-Fi network - the largest in the country with more than 20,000 hotspots in all 50 states - allowing customers to take advantage of the best available AT&T mobile broadband connection.
• We're rolling out even faster 3G speeds with deployment of HSPA 7.2 technology and are preparing for field trials of next generation, LTE wireless networks next year, with deployment planning to begin in 2011. This schedule aligns with industry expectations for when a wide variety of compatible 4G wireless devices should be available.

Let us know what you think about this, and what your coverage is like, the comments.

AT&T isn't working that hard on network upgrades (updated) originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AT&T isn't working that hard on network upgrades (updated) originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here is quick round up of all the notable iPhone apps which graced our pages this week. The list covers a whole gamut of apps and believe us there is something for everyone.

The current hottest apps are:

 

Bing - Free

Bing is Microsoft's version of the Google Mobile suite and lets you search maps, lists local movies, has image search and even supports voice search.

 

Dragon Dictation - Free

Use this voice recognition application to see your text or email messages and never ever type on a keyboard.

 

N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance - $6.99

Fight of evil aliens and save mankind n this sci-fi FPS adventure.

 

Kindle for iPhone - Free

No need to spend big bucks on a Kindle and read Kindle books on your iPhone and iPod Touch.

 

TomTom U.S.A. $49.99

Use this app with the TomTom car kit with its built-in GPS receiver to make sure you never get lost again.

 

Ustream Live Broadcaster - Free

Stream live videos of precious and funny moments as and when they happen.

 

iVideoCamera -$0.99  

Record videos on your non 3GS iPhone and all you need is  3.1 OS installed.

 

Schlage LiNK - Free

Monitor and control your home security network remotely. You would need to have the Schlage LiNK system installed though to make this work.

 

MobileNavigator North America - $69.99  

Use the fully functional mobile navigation system app and never ask for directions!

 

AT&T Mark the Spot - Free

Tell AT&T where all their network sucks! Just mark the location where your call gets drop and send it across to AT&T.

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Keep an eye on our App Discovery Site for a more dynamic version!

Do you want more app reviews?  Well, you can get them right here!

A new beta for Firefox 3.6 is out, offering a number of new features and performance enhancements including the ability for users to easily reskin the browsers with a new visual theme.

Adobe says its waiting until mid-January to patch a critical PDF bug because issuing an emergency update would disrupt its quarterly security update schedule.

Sometimes there's something really good out there if you know what to look for.

Per this, Dragon Search [App Store, free] is a voice search app that aggregates results from Google, Wiki, Twitter, YouTube, and iTunes, and more. The application is currently available for free and the second app that developer Nuance has released gratis for a limited time this month.

A BusinessWeek report from last night has received significant attention today for its focus on Verizon's claimed readiness should the company and Apple strike a deal to bring the iPhone to the largest U.S. wireless carrier next year.