Apparently the hack will only work on jailbroken phones with firmware 2.11 and below. Just a word of warning to jailbreakers: Dev Team is recommending that people only use PwnageTool to jailbreak, not QuickPwn, or else the unlock might not work.

I don’t have any reason to unlock my iPhone 3G, but I know a lot of people are thrilled that the day is finally at hand. It’s so difficult to get your hands on an iPhone and NOT be tied into an AT&T contract that I imagine most of the unlockers will be using their phone internationally.

Are you going to unlock your iPhone? Do you have it jailbroken? Talk back in the comments.

I had done quite a bit of research on the iPhone cases out there, and of course none of the ones I really wanted were available at the Apple Store the morning after our iPhone purchases.  The only one they had that I’d looked at before was the Agent18 Eco Shield, which did not impress me in person at all.  The plastic looked cheap and dull, and I didn’t want to put my baby in a cheesy looking case.  One thing I had also realized was that I didn’t want to put my iPhone in a bulky case.  It’s a sleek design that fits great in my hand, and I didn’t want to add a lot of heft to it, even in the name of protection.

It’s quite funny–as we were searching for cases, I noticed an empty-looking box that had been opened and put back on the rack.  In the name of being a good Samaritan, I took it to the nearest Apple genius and explained that I had found this empty box over in the case section and I wanted to bring it to their attention.  The guy thanked me, looked at the box and said, “Oh, actually the case is still in here!  See, it’s right there!”  He held it up and I looked a little closer than I had before–what I thought was part of the plastic insert that held the case WAS the case.  It was so thin I hadn’t even noticed it!  Needless to say, I was intrigued–so intrigued I bought it!

The case in question was the Power Support Crystal Air Jacket for the iPhone 3G.  The Air Jacket consists of a back piece that snaps on to protect the plastic back of the iPhone and 2 full screen protectors (crystal and anti-glare) that cover everything but the Home button and the earpiece.  It comes in both Crystal, which I got for my white iPhone, and solid black, which Shawn got for his black iPhone.

The Air Jacket adds only 0.7mm to the body of the iPhone–the plastic back is thin but feels very protective.  I have noticed that it scratches easily, but you can’t really tell until you take the back off the phone.  And hey, it protects my iPhone from getting scratched, so it can scratch all it wants!  There are small, sticky clear plastic “dots” that you put in strategic places on the back of your iPhone to ensure that the plastic back fits without being too tight, which creates little gray pockets of trapped air that are harmless but unsightly.

I have quite a bit of experience with screen protectors given my background with PDAs, and I have to say that both the crystal and anti-glare screen protectors are among the best I have ever used.  I had issues getting mine on the first time (per usual) so I just cleaned it of hair and lint by running it under the tap, shaking off the water until it was mostly dry, and using the corner of a paper towel to barely touch the protector and soak up any remaining water droplets.  It went on very easily even after being cleaned, and after a couple of tries I got my protector on perfectly.  I used the crystal screen protector and Shawn used the anti-glare, and I think we’re both very happy with them.  I like that the case comes with both the crystal and anti-glare so that you can choose your favorite and also have one in reserve.  If you already have a case, the screen protectors can be purchased separately in packs of two.

The AirJ acket will not, of course, protect your iPhone from a steep drop or something really abrasive, but I think it does a great job of protecting from every day elements without adding bulk.  I have been really happy with my choice and I highly recommend both the Power Supply case and the screen protectors.

Here are my daily drivers:
- iPhone 3G
- iBook G4
- Seagate FreeAgent 500GB
- iPod nano 3G 8GB
- Canon SD750
- Eee PC 701
- Western Digital Passport 250GB

iPhone 3G: I absolutely love my 16GB white iPhone 3G.  My iPhone is my lifeline, my entertainment, and my productivity wrapped up into a sleek, small package.  It’s my most recent tech purchase and is already one of my absolute favorite pieces of gear.  I use my iPhone for email, light web surfing, reading my RSS feeds, jotting a quick idea into Evernote, keeping up with my busy calendar, communicating on Twitter, reading eBooks, listening to music, and of course making phone calls.  The 2.1 firmware upgrade has given me a great boost in battery life and I have never had a problem with 3G coverage and call clarity.  It’s the best phone I’ve ever owned.  I’ll talk about my favorite apps and iPhone features in another upcoming post.

iBook G4: I am still rocking my trusty and beloved iBook G4, which I purchased in March of 2006.  I’ve maxed out the RAM and it runs Leopard quite happily.  Right now, the iBook has a hinge issue which makes opening and closing the laptop very precarious, so it’s being utilized as a desktop rather than a laptop.  I have a 19″ HP LCD monitor and a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse hooked up to it, while it is stowed out of sight on the small set of drawers that slide under my desk.  I also have my all-in-one HP Printer, external DVD burner, and external hard drive hooked up to the iBook via a USB hub.  I am looking to eventually replace it on the desktop with an iMac, and I plan on getting a MacBook Pro hopefully sometime this winter, but the iBook is still a solid machine for my needs at home.  I use it for work (Microsoft Office and email), converting videos to watch on my iPhone, web surfing, writing, and some web design.

Seagate FreeAgent 500GB: This is a recent purchase that replaced a 250GB external drive that went out on me.  Because the iBook only has a 40GB hard drive, having an external drive is essential for me.  My husband and I have a large music collection that lives solely on the external drive, as does our iPhoto library.  I have the Seagate partitioned in half–one partition for Time Machine backups, and one partition for music, photos, movies and other things.  I am setting everything to back up to my Amazon S3 account so that if the external ever goes out again, it will not be an emergency!  One of the things I like about the Seagate is its power-saving function–when the laptop goes to sleep, so does the external drive.  That will really help lower wear and tear and increase the longevity of the drive.  It has excellent read/write speeds and looks kind of like a menacing orange Cylon.  Who doesn’t love having a Cylon on their desk?

iPod nano 3G 8GB: My “nano fatty” is one of my all-time favorite iPods.  After seeing the leaked specs, I was prepared not to like it when it was introduced last fall, but after seeing it in person, I fell in love.  It’s so small and sleek that sometimes I lose it in my bigger bags!  It has an incredibly long battery life, and the solid-state hard drive makes it perfect for working out with.  I’ve been using my iPhone a lot lately, but my iPod will not be tossed into some dusty drawer and not used any longer.  I keep it in my purse loaded up with music and audiobooks for my workout and my commute.  I like to keep different music on my iPhone and my nano so that I’m getting more leverage out of both devices.  It’s working great so far, I just need to build my music collection back up after a major hard drive crash!

Canon SD750: I really enjoy using this camera–it has a large, crisp LCD screen, uses SD cards, has a rechargable battery, and takes great photos!  My old camera, the Canon A510, was bulkier and difficult to fit in a smaller purse or a pocket.  The SD750 fits easily in my pocket or purse, which makes it handy for capturing moments on the go.  I’m still playing with the custom CHDK firmware that I loaded on it a while back, so watch the blog for an SD750 update!

Eee PC 701: “Netbooks” are becoming increasingly popular, with new ones popping up on the horizon every day or two.  I am happily rocking the one that started the craze, the Asus Eee PC 701.  I’ve got the 4GB version in Blush Pink, which makes it not only the smallest laptop I’ve ever owned, but also the cutest.  I have upgraded the RAM to 2GB, supplemented the 4GB SSD drive with an 8GB SD card, and added a Kensington USB Micro Bluetooth Adapter.  I am able to carry it almost anywhere in almost any bag I own because it’s so light and small.  I bought it with the intention of using it as a lightweight writing and blogging tool, but it’s so much more than that.  I have gone for days without using the iBook because I just don’t need to–I can do almost any computer task that I need to do on my little pink powerhouse.  I’m running Ubuntu Hardy Heron and it works fantastically well on the Eee PC.  I’ve become a big Linux fan because of this little laptop.

Western Digital Passport 250GB: Since the Eee PC only has 4GB (12GB if you count the SD card!) of storage on board, I thought it’d be nice to get a small external drive for bigger files and backup storage.  So, I picked up a 250GB Western Digital Passport drive (also in pink) that is not much bigger than a deck of cards.  It runs completely off USB power, eliminating the need for a separate power source, and it’s so quiet you can hardly hear it run.  My entire mobile computing setup weighs less than 3 pounds and fits in my purse–how cool is that?

A lot of people have a tech bag or two that they use to cart all their stuff around in, but I stick mainly to purses.  Just because I like electronics doesn’t mean I can’t carry them fashionably!  I favor Coach leather bags for my every day and professional use, but I do have a great Manhattan Portage bag that I use for travel, the gym, or places I just don’t want to carry a nice, expensive leather bag.  I have the Mini Map Bag in pink, which is essentially a vertical messenger.  It’s great for weekend jaunts to the lake or a trip to the coffee shop to write–it easily fits my Eee PC and accessories, plus my wallet, iPhone and other essentials.  It is also big enough to stash my current knitting project, a book, and my DS Lite.

What are your daily drivers and how do you carry them?  If you’re interested in being featured in My Daily Tech, send me an email at jessicafritsche at gmail dot com.

We catch up with our heroes at the mall, of course!

My husband and I were out having dinner and then intended to see a movie.  Since we happened to be at one of the big fancy malls here in Dallas that has nice restaurants, a stellar movie theater, AND lots of great shops, we swung by the Apple Store to see if they might just happen to have 2 iPhones left over at the end of the day.  No luck, but no worries either–we (individually) got the brilliant idea to check the AT&T store on our way out of the mall when our movie excursion didn’t pan out.  They happened to have a few left, and they were MORE than happy to sell them to us.  I have to give the AT&T store major props…they pushed for the hard sell right away when they found out we were interested buyers, but not in an overbearing, annoying way.  The saleslady was very helpful and answered our questions, and in return we were probably the easiest sale she’d made all day.

We discovered from AT&T that our T-Mobile contract didn’t actually expire until midnight on 8/31 (so, technically 9/1) and that AT&T would be closed for Labor Day.  Since we weren’t able to port our number over until Tuesday 9/2, we went ahead and got them and had temporary numbers put on our SIM cards.  I called on Tuesday and it took about 5 minutes on the phone with a rep to get the numbers ported–very fast, very easy.

I think we may have broken speed limits on our way home from the mall that night.  We walked out with the iPhones in our hand (hubby used his to take the pic of yours truly, right outside the store) and busted ass to get back to the apartment and set them up in iTunes.  I got mine registered and all loaded up with apps first, but much to my disappointment I discovered 3 dead pixels!  So it was back to the Apple Store Sunday morning, where I made a Genius Bar appointment to exchange it per Apple’s 1-pixel exchange policy on their iPhones and iPods.  We ate lunch next door, came back, exchanged the iPhone and I was on my way with a pristine, pixel-perfect model.  We also bought cases while we were there (more on that in another post) and all was right with my world.

So what’s the verdict?

I absolutely LOVE my iPhone so far.  The user experience is vastly superior to any phone I’ve owned.  It’s surprisingly small and sturdy, which makes me happy on a number of levels.  I can slip it into my smallest clutch purse with no problem, and it has a satisfying heft to it that makes it easy to hold on to–so easy that I’ve hardly put it down since I purchased it!

The screen is utterly gorgeous (especially with all the pixels working!) and bright.  I keep my brightness turned down to a lower level because at full-throttle, it actually hurts my eyes.  This also helps with battery  life a little bit.

I knew what to expect with the battery life of a 3G device going into the purchase, since I have worked with quite a few of them in the past while writing documentation and marketing materials for phone manufacturers and carriers.  I wish the battery life was a little better, but I just plug it in during the day while I’m at my desk, and make sure to charge it in full every night.  I keep wi-fi off unless I need it.

My biggest disappointment is the lack of support for older iPod accessories.  We have a small portable boombox with an iPod dock in it that will not charge the iPhone (even though it said iPhone compatible on the box–must be original iPhone only!), and my husband’s iTrip works despite an error message that it’s not compatible, but he gets a great deal of interference on it.  This is really annoying, but not a total dealbreaker.

My biggest surprise was how easy it was to get used to the on-screen keyboard.  I’m not 100% with it yet by any means, but it was my biggest concern when moving from a phone with a full QWERTY hardware keyboard.  The recognition and correction feature on the iPhone is superb, and I like that the character zooms out as you type it so that you know what you’re hitting.

I’m loving the apps–my most used apps at the moment are probably Stanza, Twitteriffic, Pandora, and Tris, plus the iPhone-optimized Google Reader page and the built-in Mail app.  I’m using Nueva Sync’s services to sync my Google Calendar and my Google Contacts to the phone, which has worked flawlessly so far.

Next up, I’ll review Stanza, talk about Nueva Sync, review my new iPhone case, and more!

What’s the key word here? It’s background, my friends. As we all know, the iPhone doesn’t allow for apps to be run in the background. For instance, the new, official last.fm client can’t run in the background while you’re playing songs from your iPod, so right now there is no mobile scrobbling. That is a HUGE bummer for me, because I was really looking forward to last.fm picking up tracks as I played them. Same with AIM–if you want to chat with your buddies, fine…but you can’t do anything else in between IM messages.

I understand the various reasons behind not having apps running in the background (chiefly memory and battery power), but I still hate not being able to do it. Thankfully, there is a sort-of solution on the horizon…yesterday Apple released the iPhone Push Notification API to a select group of developers. The Push Notification Service keeps your programs connected with third-party servers to alert you of any new happening (like an IM, for instance). Back in the WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs indicated that this service would be available to users in October, so I guess the heat is on to get it integrated into the 2.0 apps that have come out so far. I’m interested to see how it will actually work. Will it be disruptive to the iPhone user experience to have constant updates from various programs? I have to believe it will be more seamless than that, but I guess only time will tell!

How do you feel about background-running apps vs. push notification? Talk back in the comments!

After I decided which iPhone I wanted to get (white or black really isn’t a hard choice!) the first thing I started thinking about was the kind of case I wanted for my phone. I know that the iPhone is very elegant on its own, but I’m being realistic here–not only am I a girl who likes to accessorize, but I’m a clumsy girl at that. If I’m plunking down $299 for a phone, I want it to be as well-protected as it can be without losing any style or usability. I know lots of people like carrying their iPhones naked, which is all well and good for them, but it just makes me too nervous.

My case requirements are as follows:

1. Must be a hard case or really, really good silicone case
2. Must include a screen protector or be screen protector friendly
3. Must completely cover all parts of the iPhone except for the screen
4. Must NOT include a belt clip
5. Must include a color choice I like

The first case on my radar is the Griffin Wave. I love the wave styling on the side that gives the case its name, and I like that it includes a screen protector too.  It’s a hard case, which I really like, because I’ve grown very used to the Agent 18 Nano Shield I have my red iPod nano G3 in.  Investigation into the Wave has produced some great reviews on the original iPhone model, all which lead me to believe I would really feel good about choosing this case for my 3G iPhone.  I also think that the Wave is a great price–ony 24.95 for both a good case and a screen protector.  That’s a value!  And, of course, it comes in pink…I definitely like that!

Another case I want to check out is the Agent 18 Eco Shield.  As I said, I’ve been really happy with the Agent 18 case that I have on my iPod nano–I put it on almost as soon as I got my nano, and while the case looks a little dinged up in places, my iPod is in pristine shape.  A friend of mine is a huge fan of Agent 18 and he turned me on to their cases–I’m glad he did!  The Eco Shield is also a hard case that covers most of the iPhone while still providing access to all the buttons and the screen.  It features silicone pads for extra cushioning and a dock adapter so you can dock your phone without taking it out of the case.  It doesn’t come with a screen protector, so that’d be extra.  The Eco Shield runs at a very reasonable $29.95.  It also comes in pink!

My friend Kathleen is really happy with the iSkin revo that she has for her 1st Gen iPhone.  iSkin has come out with a version of the revo for the iPhone 3G–the revo2.  It has a lot of great things going for it, like full silicone coverage, antimicrobial material, good screen protectors, and much more.  Despite its list of impressive features, it is the one that I’m least sold on.  It looks really rugged and not very sleek in all the pictures, and none of the color choices are jumping out at me.  I’m also concerned that a silicone case may not be protective enough, or durable enough.  The last silicone case I had for my PDA phone tore in quite a few places.  I also hate how silicone cases pick up any lint or hair that is in the area–and I’m usually either covered in cat hair or shedding my own mane!  I’ll give it a look, but I’m not sold on the revo2.

What case is protecting your iPhone?  Do you have any other suggestions for me?  Talk back in the comments!