AT&T Supports VoIP on the iPhone

It’s been a long, battle with a lot of finger pointing, but AT&T has officially stated that VoIP over their 3G network will be supported, opening the door to Google Voice, Skype and other apps on the iPhone and other 3G phones. While VoIP applications such as Skype were previously available, they relied exclusively on WiFi connectivity. In a statement issued today, AT&T says they have taken the steps necessary to allow Apple to enable VoIP apps for the iPhone to run on their wireless network.

“iPhone is an innovative device that dramatically changed the game in wireless when it was introduced just two years ago,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. “Today’s decision was made after evaluating our customers’ expectations and use of the device compared to dozens of others we offer.”

The finger-pointing reached a head when the Google Voice app for the iPhone was apparently held up indefinitely for review. AT&T has previously stated that approval of the app was solely in the hands of Apple. Apple appears to have been threatened by the Google app replacing much of their own device’s built-in phone functionality, particularly the visual voice mail.

Customers have been clamoring for this for a long time, and at least for, the ball is very clearly in Apple’s court.

Source: Mashable

iPhone MMS: 3 Days In

Last Friday, AT&T added multimedia messaging (MMS) capability to the iPhone 3G and 3Gs, allowing customers to send and receive video, pictures and audio messages in the same way they could send text messages.

Start Messaging

To enable MMS messaging, connect your iPhone to your computer and click “Check for Update” in iTunes. Once the update is completed, restart your iPhone by turning it off then on again. Note that iPhone OS 3.1 is required so you may need to perform that software update first. Once you connect to iTunes, you will be prompted through the correct steps.

I’ve been able to successfully test this within the AT&T network, but still cannot send or receive MMS messages across carriers. Can anyone else confirm if this is working or not?

UPDATED: Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone

Last week, Yahoo! Messenger product manager Sarah Bacon put her foot in her mouth when she complained on the Y! Messenger blog that Apple was taking so long to approve their updated Yahoo! Messenger iPhone app. Somehow she missed the fact that the app has been resubmitted with some changes, resetting the review period. Nevermind that she’s a product manager and should know this. It’s a moot point now that the updated app has been approved and ready to download from the iTunes app store.

Yahoo! Messenger 1..2.2 for the iPhone incorporates several changes based on your feedback:

• Stay available, not idle. Now when you close the Yahoo! Messenger app, you’ll still show as “available” to your Yahoo contacts rather than “idle.”  Since you get push notifications of new chat messages, this is more logical.
• Get a better Buzz. No, not that kind of buzz. They’ve tweaked the Buzz feature with a new notification sound, the ability to turn it on or off, and added vibrating buzz notifcations.
• “Shorter and prettier” notification sound. – Apparently this was a big problem for a lot of people, based on feedback. Go figure.
• Address book integration fixed. Yeah, they broke it in the last version. Now it works properly again, so when you compose a new SMS to someone, you can access numbers in your iPhone address book, and not just your Yahoo contact list.

Resources

• Read more about the update from the Yahoo! Messenger blog
• Join the discussion in our Yahoo Support forum

Nimbuzz Launches on Android

Nimbuzz has launched an Android version of their “mobile social messaging” application.  Like it’s iPhone sibling, the Nimbuzz Android app lets you connect to multiple IM and social networks, including Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Facebook and others.

The interface is compact and efficient, complete with avatar display, online awareness (to determine if your contact is available) and an icon to show what network they are on.

The Android version has some unique features:

• Time Sensitive User Interface – Touch a contact’s icon lightly to see their profile. A stronger touch starts a new chat.
• Auto-reconnect – Keeps you connected using whatever signal is available. If you leave the range of your WiFi, Nimbuzz will automatically reconnect using your data connection.
• Support for some location-specific networks. Not a big selling point for me personally, but Nimbuzz even supports social networks such as Hyves from the Netherlands, StudiVZ from Germany, Gadu-Gadu from Poland, and Giovani from Italy.

I like the UI for the contact list. If you’re running Android, you’ll want to give Nimbuzz a try.

Texting Your Way to Love

Time have changed. People no longer send handwritten love notes. No, technology has forever transformed the way we connect with other people, as wickedly illustrated in this instructional video on text messaging your way to love. You’ll learn when to send that first “post-makeout” text; when (and when not to) drunk text; and how to turn even the most innocuous text message into a flirtatious, innuendo-laden communique.

Ring true?

Trillian for iPhone Screenshots

Cerulean Studios has begun beta testing Trillian for the iPhone, and BigBlueBall has new screenshots.

The closed beta began tonight, and requires the iPhone OS 3.0. I’ve been running this Trillian beta on my year-old iPhone 3G for less than an hour, and I’m already impressed.

Trillian for iPhone allows you to swipe to switch between open chats. Like the Trillian Astra web client which is now in public beta testing, this retains the groups you have already setup for your Trillian account and keeps them in sync.

Of course, it supports push notification so you can appear signed in even after you close the app (it’s configurable) and receive incoming instant messages. If you want to reply, it automatically launches Trillian and restores your chats.

Trillian for iPhone integrates with your iPhone camera, allowing you to take and send photos to your contacts, or to use it to create a new avatar or buddy icon.

Currently, there is no file transfer capability (other than for photos) and emoticons appear as plain text.

Being a beta, it’s still a little buggy. I tried sending a second photo and it crashed on me. Starting it back up I tried again, and it went through just fine.

Cerulean Studios has left the door open to add a few small enhancements before the launch this (apart from fixing any bugs found).

If you’re interested in signing up for the Trillian for iPhone beta, you can learn more here. They currently aren’t accepting any new testers, but that will change as they get closer to launch.

If you already use Trillian and have an iPhone, this could be an IM worth getting… when it becomes available. There is no word yet on when it will be ready for submittal to the iPhone App directory, or what the pricing will be.

Screenshots

Enable iPhone Tethering

Yesterday, Apple officially released the new iPhone OS 3.0 software update, which supports a slew of new features including the long awaited push notification and “catch-up” features such as support for MMS and tethering. Unfortunately, AT&T has said that MMS won’t be available on their network until “later this summer” and that tethering will be available eventually.

However, some bright minds have found a way to enable tethering on your iPhone right now, without jailbreaking. Just point your iPhone browser to http://help.benm.at/help.php and you can download and install a new configuration file for your iPhone and carrier. I tried it, and it worked! I was quickly able to setup a tethered Bluetooth connection on my Windows 7 laptop.

How do you enable tethering?

Once you locate the correct configuration for your carrier, download it directly on your iPhone, then reboot your iPhone. When it starts up, go to Settings > General > Network and you’ll see an option to enable tethering. Once you’ve done that, you can establish a tethered connection with your PC or Mac via either USB or Bluetooth. Surfing the web is actually not bad on 3G.

The same site also has the settings for enabling MMS, but I haven’t been able to find where to enter them.

Note that you enable tethering at your own risk. AT&T and other carriers may charge you for additional usage, if they figure out how.

via CrunchGear

iPhone 3G Ass

A hat tip to the Joy of Tech for skewering the latest Jesus phone — the iPhone 3G S — available beginning Friday June 19th. And if you want the iPhone 3G (not ’s’), you’ll be able to pick one up from AT&T for $99 with a two year commitment.

I’m not eligible for a subsidized upgrade on my iPhone 3G, so I’ll be passing on this phone. What about you? If you own an older iPhone, will you be upgrading to the new 3G S?

Microsoft Releases Facebook for Windows Mobile

Image credit: Mobility Minded

Microsoft has released a free Facebook application that gives Windows Mobile 6 users a way to stay connected on the popular social network. 

MobilityMinded has a great walkthrough of all the features, with screens. 

The only glaring omissions from this app are the lack of Facebook chat and the ability to view comments to photos.

The Bottom Line

This app isn’t perfect, but it’s good. If you use Facebook and have a Windows Mobile 6 device, it’s worth checking out. 

You can download Facebook for Windows Mobile 6 here.

Thanks to jkOnTheRun for the heads up!

Secret Moves of Antisocial Smartphone Users

Renny Gleeson gave this 3-minute presentation at TED, outlining how smartphones can lead to dehumanizing behavior by expecting availability. Just because we can be available, doesn’t mean we should be. As Gleeson notes, “…the technology we use to connect, actually separates and isolates.”

How available should we be? What about the here and now? Poignant for both mobile phone users and the people creating these brave new technologies.

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