UK iPhone

A lot of cases seem to put all their emphasis on protecting the front and back of your iPhone. But let’s face it: if you accidentally drop your phone, it’s quite likely to land on one of its edges, or even a corner. You really need excellent edge protection to keep your phone safe in that scenario.

Enter the iBand iPhone protector. Thanks to its d30 substance, it’s a lot more protective than a standard case. Said to offer 100% more protection than a standard case, it also gives you full access to the front, back and all controls. And at under £20 it’s a good investment in protection.

Find out more at Firebox: iBand d3o iPhone Protector (New 2010 edition)

This cool-looking iPhone dock is much more than just a dock. Sure, it’ll accept your iPhone’s USB cable so your iPhone can be charging or syncing while it’s sitting in it, but it also contains some clever acoustic design.

It actually amplifies the sound of the standard iPhone speakers, using nothing more than swirly, curvy airtubes that amplify sound like an old-fashioned gramophone horn. Nothing old-fashioned about the clear acrylic design of course! And it doesn’t need any external power whatsoever.

Get your AirCurve here for under £20.

Your iPhone really can do it all! With this special protective, infra-red emitting case, and included app, you can use your iPhone as a universal remote control! Get rid of your TV, satellite, DVD, Blu-Ray and hifi remotes, all you need is your iPhone! Future-proof, as new remotes can be downloaded onto your app as soon as you get a new piece of kit. Genius!

Get it here!

So there’s been a flurry of news about the 4G iPhone recently. First, rumours of a lost prototype gained substance when pics of it appeared on Engadget. Then Gizmodo posted pictures and video of the actual device. It became incontrovertable when Apple formally requested that Gizmodo return the phone. So we know that a very late, possibly final, version of the 4G iPhone contains a forward-facing camera, a much-higher resolution screen, a bigger battery, and a back made of a glass-like ceramic substance.

Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference is scheduled for June 28th, so some speculate that the new iPhone will be launched then. The conference is devoted mostly to iPhone app development and the new version of the iPhone operating system, iPhone OS 4.0, which will almost certainly be released at the conference. Many of the new features of iPhone OS 4.0 will need the new phone, so it could be launched then. Or maybe before. Or maybe afterwards. The truth is no-one really knows! But I wouldn’t be buying a 3GS iPhone at this stage. Just sayin’.

When the National Rail Enquiries iPhone app debuted at £5, it came in for some criticism from rail users used to free train info apps. But the company behind the app, Agant Ltd, have strongly defended their right to make money from providing a quality app, and have pointed out that others are free to make apps using the same data that they license from NRE. They also point out that there are free apps available still.

The best free app that we have found is the Trainline one. Presumably it can be offered free because it supports purchases of tickets from theTrainline.com. The Trainline app is a competent journey planner, able to plan trips using either an alphabetical list of stations, or your nearest station (using the iPhone location service). You can see maps of the stations on Google Maps. The journey details screen includes a button to search for that leg on Twitter, for no easily apparent reason, and there is a handy “next train home” button on the main screen, which uses iPhone location and your previously entered home station to calculate the quickest route home from your nearest station.

The whole thing works reasonably well, without being strikingly brilliant, but then it is free! Get it here:

The National Rail Enquiries (NRE) app also has a very competent journey planner, including Google map locations, and the legs that traverse the Tube have detailed descriptions of lines and platforms. It also has a “next train home” button, and in general has a well-engineered feel to it; using it is easy and intuitive, like using an Apple app.

National Rail Enquiries app

If that were all there were to it, though, you’d be hard-pressed to justify spending money on it when the Trainline app is free and does the same thing, albeit a bit less elegantly. But the NRE app does have another feature: live departures and arrivals. Your chosen home station appears top of the list on the home screen, and you can select any other station as well. The live screen loads incredibly quickly, showing a series of trains, and tapping on a train gives a really nice display of the entire line, with your station highlighted in blue, and the train itself shown as a gently radiating blue dot as it moves down the line. Really nicely done, and a fine example of the attention to detail shown throughout the app.

If £5 is really a big deal to you, and you’re happy to do without the live departures and arrivals board and live progress, then the Trainline app is a workable make-do. But if I travelled regularly on mainline trains, I’d buy the NRE app in a second. iPhone users are generally people who are able and willing to spend a bit to get a really nice user experience (otherwise you’d be using a WinMobile phone, no?) and so it really shouldn’t be a problem to spring for it. Get it here:

If you don’t use mainline trains, but are stuck on the Tube most workdays, the best Tube app for us is TubeDeluxe. Get it here:

And if you take the same train every day, you know where to stand on the platform to get the carriage that’s closest to the exit on arrival. But what if you need to catch a different train? The brilliant Tube Exits app shows you where to stand for every conceivable train journey:

Protecting your valuable iPhone investment requires some serious case technology. One of the most highly-rated manufacturers is Otterbox, with a range of cases from the inexpensive Otterbox Impact Case, up to the virtually bulletproof Otterbox Defender.

With three layers of protection, the Otterbox Defender cradles your iPhone in a clear membrane, which is held within a tough polycarbonate skeleton case, that is itself encased in a silicon rubber outer case that is the only protection in some lesser cases. The Defender is perhaps the ultimate protection for your iPhone, in black, white and pink, for around £40.

The Otterbox Commuter has a similar three-layer protection construction, although not designed to stand up to the same level of abuse, it does cost about half as much, whereas the Impact Case is a more standard silicon rubber case for more casual protection, for around £16.

Your purchasing options are as follows:

• From Amazon, the Otterbox Defender Case in Black or White or Pink.
• From Play.com, the Otterbox Commuter Case in Black or Red.
• From Amazon, the Otterbox Impact Case in Black or from Play.com, in White.

So your iPhone is great for listening to music on the tube or in the car, and of course you can listen to that exact same music through iTunes when you are in front of your computer; but what about when you’re chilling in the lounge, or have some friends over for a few drinks?

That’s when you need a good-looking set of speakers to plug your iPhone into. We’re usually talking about a small dock with a couple of speakers built-in.

Those dinky little speaker sets are fine for a bit of background music but if you want to make a serious impression on the air in your room, you need the power of a subwoofer. This Sony conveniently connects the 50W subwoofer wirelessly, meaning no cables to trip over, and you get Harmonic Sound Bass Boost with 4 presets as well.

If you get tired of the music on your phone, no problem: the dock includes a DAB and FM tuner, with 40 presets and timer, while the convenience of a remote control rounds out the package.

Get the Sony subwoofer speaker dock for a great price here: Sony AIR-SW10Ti Wireless Speaker / Subwoofer With iPod / iPhone Speaker Dock

I think this is pretty ironic: Microsoft have announced that they are dropping cut and paste from Windows 7 Phone, the new version of the Windows operating system that runs on mobile phones. The weirdest thing is that they are claiming this is because “users don’t need it”.

This is ironic given the avalanche of negative publicity that Apple got when the original iPhone was launched without this functionality. It was the major charge against the iPhone by every Apple-hater. And even though Apple still sold plenty of iPhones without cut and paste, they did eventually upgrade the iPhone operating system to allow it.

So it’s pretty clear that people do want cut and paste. (I use it a lot.) For Microsoft to say they are dropping it because no-one wants it is stupid. And Microsoft fanboys were the leaders of the charge against the iPhone for not having it.

It’s far more likely that Microsoft, like Apple before it, are finding out that doing cut and paste is pretty difficult to do well. I think Apple’s solution is pretty good, but it’s not perfect: there is a delay while you hold the selection to get the context menu to come up, and sometimes the system doesn’t understand what you are trying to do.

So this is a shame, really, because if Microsoft had come up with a better way to do it, Apple would have been spurred to improve theirs. Windows 7 Phone looks like a very good effort from Microsoft, and it’s a pity that Microsoft are reverting to their bad old ways.

UPDATE: In this interesting take on the reactions to the news, there is this snippet at the end:

As it turns out, the development team actually knows exactly how they will be implementing copy & paste in WP7S but did not believe it could be implemented without affecting the release schedule they’ve committed too and therefore will be including it in an update down the road.

That is much more likely: the tech team can’t do it in time, so the PR team spin that as “no-one wants the feature”. Wonder how they will announce the feature when it is introduced “down the road”…

I’m loving these amazing Star Wars covers for the iPhone. I’ve never used a cover for my iPhone, but the number of dings and scratches on the case would suggest that I re-think that decision! If I were to get one it would definitely be one of these Star Wars ones, as I’ve been a fan since I was a kid. The only question is, which one?

Get them here: Star Wars Stormtrooper Silicon Soft Cover Case For iPhone 3GS / 3G or Star Wars Darth Vader Silicone Soft Cover For iPhone 3GS / 3G for only £17.99 each.

Not content with stealing license fee money from a helpless British public, the BBC has now turned its attention to iPhone app developers trying to meet a need. The Rewat.ch app, which would have helped iPhone users to find and watch BBC shows using its iPlayer functionality, has been trashed by the BBC legal department, despite every effort by the developers to meet any requirement, including making it free.

There are two possible conclusions: either the Beeb is shooting itself in the foot again, or it has plans to release its own app, and is clearing the way by eliminating the competition, in the same way that the free and useful railway timetable apps were shut down by National Rail so that it could launch its own ridiculously overpriced paid app with no alternative for long-suffering train passengers. Good old government monopoly strikes again.

UPDATE: The developer of the National Rail app has pointed out that his company is completely independent of National Rail, and that they have developed the app completely off their own bat. They pay a license fee for access to National Rail’s data, which is available to anyone who wishes to pay the fee. Furthermore there are free apps available still. So this is NOT an example of anti-competitive behaviour! Apologies to Dave and all at Agant.

We’ll be doing a full review of all the rail apps shortly. The review is here!