Gizmodo Australia » iphone 3g

Tethering Coming To Telstra iPhones

Nick Broughall — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:19:52 +0000

As picked up by David Flynn at APC, Telstra CEO David Thodey has responded to a comment on the Telstra Exchange blog to announce that the company is “working with Apple to enable tethering on the iPhone”, although he can’t reveal any specific dates. It’s kind of mind blowing that it hasn’t happened already, although I’m sure it’s what happens when you get two companies so focussed on doing things their own way that neither is willing to make the sacrifice necessary to bring this service to their customers.

[Telstra Exchange via APC Mag]

You Can Use Your Mobile Phone’s GPS In Victoria Again

Nick Broughall — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:14:27 +0000

So this whole GPS app on your phone situation is one big clusterf%*k of confusion, isn’t it? First there was talk that it could be illegal, then it wasn’t, then VicRoads said they were going to make it illegal in Victoria, and now they’re saying that it will be illegal, except if you use it in a cradle. Feel like buying a dedicated satnav yet?

According to Cade Lucas at The Age, the Victorian road authority has backed down on plans to make all use of GPS in mobile phones while driving illegal. It will now be legal if you have your phone in a dedicated cradle.

You can still use Bluetooth handsfree, as well as controlling music (but not video) while the phone is cradled as well, but all other uses of the phone while driving are illegal. Should you be caught once the rules come in on November 9, you’ll be looking at a $234 fine and three demerit points.

At least common sense prevailed…

[The Age]

Optus Clearing Out Old 16GB iPhone 3G Models

Nick Broughall — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:43:37 +0000

Let the speculation begin: Optus is offering the 16GB iPhone 3G (not the 3GS) for $0 upfront on a 24 month $59 plan. But why?

Is it just because they have way too many left over from last year and they’re trying to get rid of excess stock? Or are they paving the way for something new? Actually, it’s almost definitely the former, but this is an Apple post, so I just thought I’d throw in some random speculation so I’d fit in with all the other online news sites.

If you’re interested, the clearance sale will run “while stocks last”.

[Optus – Thanks Sonny!]

Optus Has 8 Million Mobile Customers – That’s A Lot Of iPhones…

Nick Broughall — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:30:42 +0000

Optus have announced that they have charged past the eight million mobile customer mark in the past quarter. Holy crap that’s a lot of people.

That number is an increase of 213,000 in the past quarter, which Optus claims is “underpinned by demand for Apple iPhone 3G, other smartphones, and ‘Timeless’ plans.” While the number includes wireless broadband customers as well as mobile phone plans, that’s still an absurdly high number, especially considering the negative press Optus got after the original iPhone launch.

Still, it just goes to show how much pulling power the iPhone actually has in this country…

[Optus]

Oh Noes! Australia Has An iPhone Shortage

Nick Broughall — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:00:40 +0000

Despite all the negative press the iPhone, iTunes and the App store has been getting in the past week or so, it doesn’t seem to have slowed demand. Jen Dudley-Nicholson at the Courier Mail is reporting that all the Telcos have sold out of the new iPhone 3GS across the country.

Apparently Apple have said that they can’t produce enough to meet global demand for the device. Sucks to be them, then, doesn’t it?

If you are trying to pick up a new iPhone, your best bet is probably heading to an Apple Store rather than a carrier’s shop…

[The Courier Mail]

Three Already Sold Out Of iPhones? (Updated)

Nick Broughall — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:05:14 +0000

Looks like snoozing does in fact lead to losing, at least when it comes to buying an iPhone from 3. We’re getting reports from readers that despite the fact the new iPhone only went on sale through 3 today, they’ve already sold out of the handset. Not only that, but they have no idea when (or “if ever” as they told one tipster) they’ll be getting more stock.

Naturally, we’ve contacted Three to try and find out what the situation is. ~~We’ll update when we hear back~~.UPDATE: Just heard back from Three. Here’s their official response:

3 confirms that current demand for the new iPhone 3G S is causing some stock shortages in a number of 3 stores, dealers and via www.three.com.au. 3 expects current stocks of the iPhone 3G S to be sold out this weekend. Stock of the iPhone 3G 8GB is still available.

3 advises customers who are interested in purchasing an iPhone 3G S to register their interest at www.three.com.au/iphonestock and we will advise them via email or SMS when stocks are available.

Three Tweaks iPhone Pricing Day Before Launch

Nick Broughall — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:40:34 +0000

Looks like Three failed to make the impression they were hoping for with their iPhone pricing earlier this week, because they’ve gone and tweaked it. Fortunately, it’s a better deal for potential 3 customers.

As you can see, to get the new 3GS iPhone, you still need to hop on a $79 cap plan, but that $49 plan with a free 8GB 3G is pretty tempting too. And the fact that the monthly handset cost for all phones has been dropped dramatically is good news as well.

What do you think? Are these prices likely to make you swing towards 3 over the other networks?

[Three]

Windows 95 Running On The IPhone Makes Me Nauseous

Matt Buchanan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:00:00 +0000

It’s probably just the horrible background music and the schizo camera work that makes Doug Liman’s look like butter, but this video of Windows 95 running on an iPhone by the iSoft team makes my tummy turn.

The hack makes use of a standard Windows 95 image and the Bochs emulator, though as you can expect, the performance is thoroughly crummy. They’re working on getting Windows XP to work too. An abomination, I say. [YouTube, Good iPhone - Thanks Steve!]

Three Announces iPhone Pricing

Nick Broughall — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:51:26 +0000

Three’s just announced their iPhone 3GS pricing on their website in the lead up to them selling the phone later this week. The good news is that current 3 customers will be able to buy the iPhone over 24 months on their current plan without having to break contract.

There are 4 main plans on offer for people signing up to 3 for the new iPhone:
* $39 cap – $150 worth of calls, 150MB of data and $10/month for the 8GB 3G, $18/month for the 16GB 3GS and $24/month for the 32GB 3GS.

* $49 cap – $350 worth of calls, 250MB of data and $5/month for the 8GB 3G, $14/moth for the 16GB 3GS and $18/month for the 32GB 3GS. If you opt for either of the 3GS models, you’ll get an extra 500MB worth of data.

* $79 cap – $650 worth of calls, 1GB of data and a free 8GB iPhone 3G or 16GB 3GS, or $10/month for the 32GB 3GS.

* $110 plan – The works: 3000 minutes of calls, 500 SMS/MMS and 3GB6 of Mobile Internet every month. The 16GB 3GS is free or $5/month for the 32GB 3GS.

They’ve also got pre-paid on offer, with the iPhone 3G 8GB for $759, iPhone 3GS 16GB for $929 or the iPhone 3GS 32GB for $1,129. Pre-paid caps start at $29 a month (with 150MB of data) to $99 a month (with 2GB of data).

For current 3 customers, you can buy the iPhone hardware over 24 months, get a gig of data included and continue your current plan without breaking contract. The 8GB will cost $35/month, the 16GB $40/month and the 32GB $45/month.

Overall it seems pretty competitive, although I still think that Vodafone has the best value offer for the 3GS at the moment. Feel free to argue with me in comments…

[Three]

Stream Zune Songs To Your IPhone

Jason Chen — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:00:00 +0000

Gear Live found a roundabout, but clever, way of streaming Zune tracks onto your iPhone. Why would you do that? Because Zune Pass gets you a basically unlimited amount of songs, and they don’t play natively on the iPhone.

What you do is set up Orb on a Windows machine to transcode, on the fly, your already downloaded Zune songs. This way you can listen to your music (your entire music library, not just 16GB or 32GB worth) wherever you have an internet connection. It works over 3G as well as Wi-Fi, but EDGE is a little too slow for full-quality music.

Head over to Gear Live for a walkthrough. [Gear Live]