The Cloud - Cheap UK Wi-Fi for iPod Touch

The Cloud has announced that it is giving Wi-Fi access to owners of Apple’s new iPod touch in thousands of hotspots across the UK. From Monday, users will be able to use their iPod touch to access the internet and Apple's online iTunes service in Wi-Fi hotspots provided by The Cloud.

The new Wi-Fi service, called Cloud Unlimited Music, will be available from Monday 1st October 2007 for £3.99 per month, specifically for iPod touch, and is not subject to any minimum term contract.

Owen Geddes, Group Director of Business Development at The Cloud, commented; “We believe this is a significant step forward in making music, podcasts and video available when, and wherever, people really want it. iPhone users will soon be able to make the most of our Wi-Fi network with O2 and The Cloud when the iPhone is introduced in November and we want to make sure people who have the Wi-Fi enabled iPod touch are able benefit from our network of over 7,500 hotspots too.”

iPod Touch users need to sign-up for the service at www.thecloud.co.uk/ipod, where they can register their individual device for use on The Cloud’s network across the UK and pay for the service. Once a user has registered their device, they are able to connect to any The Cloud Wi-Fi network without complicated usernames and passwords. The service is being introduced in the UK first and will become available in other European markets shortly.

iPhone 1.1.1 Software Update Available

If you plug your iPhone into iTunes today you will be offered the chance to update your software to version 1.1.1. The main part of the update brings access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, so you can preview, purchase and download your tunes whilst you are out and about. This is a nice feature and one that many users will be pleased to see (promised by Steve back when the iPod touch was announced).
This new version adds a lot of new features and fixes including;

• Access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
• Improved speakerphone and receiver volume
• Home Button double-click shortcut to phone favorites or music controls
• Space bar double-tap shortcut to intelligently insert period and space
• Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape
• Stocks and cities in Stocks and Weather can be re-ordered
• Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar
• Support for TV Out
• Preference to turn off EDGE/GPRS when roaming internationally
• New Passcode lock time intervals
• Adjustable alert volume

Apple have posted a video showing the new features here.

If you have third party applications installed, then the update is reported to restore your iPhone to its virgin state, removing all the extra apps. An unlocked iPhone seems to be returned right back to its pre-activation state, with no chance of using the various applications to hack again, so I guess it is just a waiting game for some.

Two great iPhone Videos

I stumbled upon these spoof iPhone videos on YouTube. You gotta love them for both their simplicity and unique take. Check them out below.

iPhone Update - Day 2 usage

After having had and heavily used the iPhone for over 24 hours now, I wanted to bring you a small gallery of images below and an update.

Throughout day one I played with the device off and on, pretty much all day, and this morning still had about two or three hours left. Because I was due to go out, I had to charge the battery for an hour. I did this off the mains charger, rather than my Macs USB port and for the first time I got a full charge. The iPhone can display the usage of your device and lets you know how long the battery has lasted since its last full charge. Strange this was that I had it plugged into my Mac for about six hours, and although the battery icon showed full, it did not register as full.

Anyway, that small discovery out of the way I headed out. During today I took a few calls and at lunchtime logged onto a wi-fi hotspot with no problem at all. As I mentioned in my last iPhone related post, EDGE is very slow, but my outside wi-fi experience was superb, nice and fast, just how it should be. I also used Meebo for the first time properly today. This is a web based chat client that uses your AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google, ICQ or Jabber account, to enable you to do instant messaging. Nice thing is that you can use it on any computer, but it also has a really nice iPhone interface. You can see an image of how a chat looks below (with names private bits deleted). It works very well, and you can easily flick between various conversations.

Using Meebo also showed me just how good the on-screen iPhone keyboard is. Yes, you can hit the wrong keys every now and again, but you have to just trust it and every time (in my experience) it auto-corrected every time with the right word. It took me until today to get used to the keyboard, but trust me you will love it.

To finish off my day I took in a quick cartoon. Wow, the screen really does rock. Colours are bright and vivid, with nice crisp lines. As I headed back to the office to take the photos for the gallery below, I realised that I had used my iPhone for eight hours without the need to use headphones. The big satisfaction was that it had not let me down once, the only sad thing was that not one passer-by had asked me about it, even when I was laughing at a cartoon in the coffee shop.

Google Calendar now iPhone & iPod Touch Friendly

Google have updated both its Google Docs and Google Calendar applications. The calendar is of most interest here, in that it has been updated to fit the iPhone screen nicely. Of even more importance is that iPod touch users have been complaining about the inability to add events to iCal on the iPod touch. Well, with some syncing between Google Calendar and iCal, it is not pretty easy to add this functionality. On your iPhone or touch, point your browser here: http://calendar.google.com

iPhone Review - UK get ready, this is the dogs danglies

So I managed to get my hands on an iPhone, and in true Geek style wanted to bring you my first thoughts on the must-have-phone from Apple. Being so keen to bring you the details, you are getting this even before I have had time to take photos of the iPhone. This is the first Apple product that I have ever had that hasn't had photos taken first in its virgin, fingerprint free state. That should give you some idea of how excited I was after opening it.

The iPhone form factor is superb, in fact a lot slimmer than I had expected. The actual screen real estate makes it comparable to the sleeker PDA's available today. The rounded corners make it feel smaller than it actually is. In the hand, it is weighted just right and feels (as Apple products normally do) like a really high quality product. The touch screen definitely needs a screen protector on, so if you are getting an iPhone on November 9th, be prepared and order some protection in plenty of time. The majority of the back is brushed silver aluminium, with a small portion at the base being black. This gives a very luxurious, yet slippery feel, but at least not a fingerprint magnet. The camera, also located on the back is tiny and recessed back into the unit, so again you would struggle to get a greasy finger on it.

Now, when you switch the iPhone on for the first time, make sure you are seated. The screen is just awesome, pin sharp, bright, vibrant, spot on. Only when I had dug a little deeper into the settings did I find it was set to half brightness, so bumping it up a couple of notches had those colours popping. On playback of some video podcasts and a few cartoon videos, I was wowed, for this alone, the device is worth its asking price. If the iPod Touch is anything like this, it will also be just as popular.

The internet worked just as I expected, but doing the double-tap to zoom in, as I had seen in the demo videos, was all the more satisfying. Email was also a very smooth experience, just like a mini Mail.app with all my account settings taken from my Mac and transferred onto the iPhone. Hopping into my car I tested making a few calls and the voice quality was again very good. Back onto Safari and the main let down was the speed on surfing the internet over EDGE. Not entirely Apples fault, but the network does not support lightning fast speeds, far from it. So, I hopped back on the road and headed to a local restaurant that has a Wi-Fi hotspot run by The Cloud. Logging on was really easy and made the internet, email and YouTube a joy to use. So my advice is that you will need to use Wi-Fi if you are a heavy data user, otherwise you will get frustrated. EDGE should be treated as a backup solution.

I have only really covered here my early experiences. My opinion of the iPhone so far is that it is superb. Most certainly one of the most exciting Apple products I have had the pleasure of using to date. When launched on November 9th, it will make a lot of people really happy. If you were having second thoughts, then don't, you will not be disappointed.

Updated version of iPod Touch + iPhone Test Movie

We have now updated the movie that allows you to test the screen on your iPod Touch or iPhone. It plays black, white, red, green, blue, allowing you to check for dead pixels. You can then check for the 'negative black' issue that so many are reporting, along with a gamma/contrast test and a gradient screen to check for banding.

The video can be downloaded here. Then drag it into iTunes or onto your device and touch play.

The new screens were supplied courtesy of http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/small/ - if you go to this website you can also download static versions of the images to load onto your device. There are also some additional test images on lagom.nl that we did not put onto the video, as the compression would have made them not suitable for testing.

Crave have video of the UK iPhone Event

We all know by now that the iPhone hits UK stores on November 9th. The event held at Apples Regent Street store to make the announcement was a press only event. Crave took some video footage of the event and have just posted it online. It is well worth a look, so point your browser here.

iPod Touch & iPhone Screen Test Movie

This is a very simple movie that tests the iPod Touch and iPhone screens. It plays black, white, red, green, blue and a nice scale at the end. Check if you have any dead pixels and it your blacks are the correct way around, not displaying the 'negative black' issue that so many are reporting.

In our early findings, having seen six iPod Touch screens, none that we saw had any display issues. So this cannot be something that is effecting every Touch, it must just be certain ones.

The video can be downloaded here. Then drag it into iTunes or onto your device and touch play.

Apple iPhone O2 Announced - Official Details

Apple and O2 announced today that O2, the leading wireless carrier in the UK, will be the exclusive UK carrier for Apple's revolutionary iPhone when it makes its debut in the UK on November 9. iPhone combines three devices into one—a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and the best mobile Internet device ever—all based on Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. Apple sold its one millionth iPhone just 74 days after it went on sale in the US on June 29.

"We're thrilled to be partnering with O2 to offer our revolutionary iPhone to UK customers," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "US iPhone customer satisfaction is off the charts, and we can't wait to let UK customers get their hands on it and learn what they think of it."

"Our strategy at O2 is to bring our customers the best products and experiences,” said Matthew Key, CEO, O2 UK. “The iPhone is a breakthrough that is changing the way people use their mobiles forever, and we're thrilled to have it exclusively for O2 customers in the UK."

iPhone users in the UK will be able to activate their new iPhones using Apple’s popular iTunes software running on a PC or Mac computer in the comfort and privacy of their own home or office, without having to wait in a store while their phone is activated. Activating iPhone takes only minutes as iTunes guides the user through simple steps to choose their tariff, undertake a credit check and activate their iPhone. Once iPhone is activated, users can then easily sync all of their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts and TV shows just like they do when they sync their iPods with iTunes.

In addition to all the revolutionary features that made iPhone so popular in the US, iPhone users in the UK will have access to Apple's latest music offerings on iPhone including the recently launched iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store offers customers the ability to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from iTunes over the built-in Wi-Fi on their iPhone. No computer is required and when the customer connects their iPhone back with their PC or Mac, their music automatically syncs back into their iTunes library.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone is scheduled to go on sale on November 9 and will be sold exclusively in the UK through Apple’s retail and online stores, O2 and The Carphone Warehouse's retail and online stores. iPhone will be available in an 8GB model for £269 (inc VAT) and will work with either a PC or Mac. Three new great value iPhone tariffs will be available from O2 starting at £35, which all include unlimited anytime, anywhere mobile data usage and, in a market first, free unlimited use of the UK’s largest single public Wi-Fi network, covering over 7,500 cafes, restaurants, airport lounges, pubs and other locations across the UK.

iPhone activation will require an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account or a major credit card; the latest version of iTunes available at www.itunes.com and a PC or Mac with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems: Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later; Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition. iPhone requires a new 18-month contract with O2. Existing O2 customers will have the option of keeping their existing phone number and upgrading their account to work with iPhone while new customers can also simply and easily transfer their current mobile number to O2.

Apple Event Regent Street London - Mum is no longer the word

The 'Mum is no longer the word event is due to start in London today at 10am. The likeliness is that we will see the launch of the iPhone in the UK, with carrier details, pricing, and possibly even stock. Steve Jobs is here too, so it must be a big thing. We will be bringing you news as it happens…

Update 1 - The O2 Store is currently offline. This could be an early indication of something about to be added to their store. Strange the Apple Store UK is still online.

Update 2 - OK, Steve has stood right up and announced the iPhone is with O2. £269 gets you the 8GB iPhone, on sale November 9th.

Update 3 - New advert for the UK. Well, same one as the US, but with a British voiceover.

Update 4 - Matthew Key from O2 UK is now up on stage. He is really excited about the iPhone , quote "I knew it was a breakthrough product".

Update 5 - Available through Carphone Warehouse. Unlimited data on £35, £45 and £55 tariffs. Sad news is that there is no 3G.

Update 6 - The Apple Store UK (online) is not available. This happened why I was busy bringing you this news.

Update 7 - Steve back on stage for Q&A. Why no 3G? It is due to 3G chips using too much power. This would take the iPhone down to 2-3 hours, the iPhone currently gives 8 hours. 3G is something we think we'll see later next year.

Update 8 - Partnership to bring over 7,000 wi-fi hotspots to iPhone users in the UK. These are via Cloud and are FREE.

Update 9 - What about iTunes activation? Yes, this works the same, allows you to select your plan and then activate.

Update 10 - What is the contract length and is unlimited data really unlimited? 18 months contract. 1,400 internet pages per day limit, over this would break the deal as part of the fair usage agreement.

Update 11 - Big question; Is unlocking a concern? Steve; "It's a constant cat and mouse game, we have the same thing with the iPod and music." Steve is not sure if they are the cat or the mouse.

Update 12 - Matthew Key is asked if he was aware of the iPod Touch coming out when he was negotiating the iPhone deal. He completely dodges the question.

**BIG NEWS** 10:33am The O2 online store has been updated with the iPhone Coming Soon page. You get free voicemail on all tariffs and special roaming rates. The £35 tariff gets you 200 minutes of calls and 200 SMS, £45 gets you 600 minutes of calls and 500 SMS, and £55 gets you 1,200 minutes of calls and 500 SMS. Unlimited data and unlimited wi-fi (with conditions).

Here is a screen grab of the O2 iPhone Tarrifs;

There were a few more questions about if the 2-megapixel camera is good enough for the UK, to which Steve replied that the camera is great. Plus 1st October will see the unlimited data plans rolled out to all existing O2 UK customers. That's it, announcements over, now to get our hands on an iPhone as quickly as possible.

Apple Store UK (online) is now back up and running, just with a new page accessible from the main store to one showing the iPhone available November 9th, plus the chance to sign up for more info. The main Apple website also features this iPhone page. Carphone Warhouse also updated with an O2 graphic, details and pricing on this page.

Apple UK Special Event for 18th September - iPhone?

Macworld have broken the news of an invitation they have received from Apple UK. A special event is being held in London on September 18th. The invitation states "Mum is no longer the word". This sounds like we might finally get UK launch details for the iPhone, that they have been keeping under wraps over the past few months.

**UPDATE** A visual of the invite can be found here over at MacFormat.