I Phone Review

Are you ready for your next match-three app purchase? Seriously? These days you can browse the App Store without tripping over four or five of these match-three games. So, no one is arguing that the iTunes App Store needs another game riding the coattails of hits like Bejeweled. However, Groovin' Blocks is nothing of the sort. Zoo Games has positioned Groovin' Blocks as more of a jam session than a run-of-the-mill puzzler. With success as a Wiiware title, Groovin' Blocks rides off its own success into the world of iPhone apps.

Spending some time with Groovin' Blocks is like hittin' up your favorite clubbin' scene. OK, enough with the apostrophes. Seriously, if you're a fan of techno beats and pulsating lights you'll probably like this app. Yet, if rhythm is its soul, puzzling is its heart. Laid out in a Tetris-like format, players are made to arrange stacks of colored blocks within an empty room. Matching touching colors of three or more eliminates those blocks, freeing up space for those jiving on down from above. Building off this idea, Groovin' Blocks introduces multipliers and powerups into the mix. Multipliers are obtained by hitting the down arrow simultaneous to a beat vibe scrolling in from both sides of the screen. When a multiplier is activated, it remains active as long as the player continues to nail beats when dropping block into place. Powerups are awarded as blocks with special power symbols on them are place with a beat. Some powerups increase the value of nearby blocks while others explode blocks around the powerup holder.

50 levels are included in the game, all being arranged by songs. The goal to open locked levels is to reach certain scoring achievements through matches, powerups and multipliers. When entering the playing arena, the choice of difficulty is presented -- either Casual, Experienced, or Hard. Each song is noticeably different from the last and all seem to have a happy, yet trippy, Nintendo feel to them. The UI is easy enough to navigate but we would like to see more flushed-out text box graphics. They seem too default gray looking. No online scoring system is available as of yet but we think Zoo Games will probably add one soon enough.

Groovin' Blocks is definitely not your run-of-the-mill match-three puzzler. While it is Tetris-like at its core, the app offers enough surprises along the way to make it stand out in a night-club crowd. For its current price of $1.99, we recommend you take a look at Groovin' Blocks if you feel like bustin' a move in the grocery store waiting line.

Rock Band, the wildly popular music game that has been causing a stir across the nation for some time now, has been released by Electronic Arts into the app store. With its near-console quality graphics, varied song selection, and spot-on controls, Rock Band cranks the fun dial to 11.

There are three game modes offered in Rock Band: Quick Play; Word Tour; and a cool Multiplayer mode where players can join friends online or over Bluetooth to rock out a party. All the available tracks are categorized by difficulty level. Some are fairly easy while others take it to a nearly impossible level. Once a song is chosen, it's time to pick up and instrument; Drums, Bass, Guitar, and Vocals are all available. Each song has its own difficulty setting (easy, medium, or hard) which offers increasingly more difficult tapping constraints. Within World Tour mode, players will experience the highs of traveling to Boston, New York, Seattle, Paris, and Moscow. With the exception of Boston, all the venues are locked at first. Leaderboards are available online but a Facebook connection is required. While playing online, two friends can play the same song separately using different instruments. Both scores combine to total the final scoring. Real-time play can be had using Bluetooth, which we found to be a lot more fun. Achievement statistics can always be viewed in the World Tour menu. Fans will gather to see you play as you travel on tour.

Graphically, the game is very impressive, even on the small screen of the iDevice. Bass and guitar require you to tap on pick-shaped spots at the bottom of the screen as notes stream vertically down a fretboard. Band animations play in the upper part of the screen. Tapping as the "notes" cross the target mark will earn you points and keep the song in tune. If you miss notes, the instrument sound will drop out and you'll hear pick scratching noises. Long streaks of successful notes earn multipliers and greater points. Flicking the iDevice at the appropriate time puts you into overdrive. When using drums, you'll still see notes streaming down a fretboard, but you'll be tapping objects that resemble drums at the screen bottom. Missing notes on drums results in drumstick sounds. Vocals are a bit different. You're still required to tap, but the notes stream horizontally across the screen. If you miss enough notes, the song will stop completely and indicate that you've failed.

Sounds, of course, are terrific. There are 20 CD quality songs of a good variety, including songs from bands such as Blink'2, Foo Fighters, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Motorhead, Joan Jett, All-American Rejects, Smashing Pumpkins, and more. There is a music store available in-game that allows you to purchase pairs of songs for $0.99. Controls utilize tapping, with the occasional flick for overdrive. In our experience, the controls work flawlessly.

Replayability is very high, as it can be quite difficult to play through a song without missing a single note. It's also a flat out fun game to play. There are some similar games in the app store, most notably the Tap Tap Revenge series and the Guitar Rock Tour series. However, neither have the full package that Rock Band offers, and both feel a bit more forgiving than Rock Band. For the fullest, most demanding music tapping experience on the iDevice, Rock Band is top dog. Priced at $9.99, it will cost significantly more to own this game than its competitors, but die hard fans will find that it's worth it. Rock Band shreds a 5-star solo in the palm of your hand.

Apple announced the new features of the iPhone OS 3.0, that the iPhone would be capable of streaming video and audio directly over HTTP. Apple also advertised HTTP streaming as a feature of QuickTime X, the update of its media architecture coming in Snow Leopard. What it failed to explain, at least publicly, is how this streaming would be accomplished. Fortunately, Apple submitted its proposed protocol last month to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in the hopes that it will become a ubiquitous standard.

For the last decade, Apple has been selling QuickTime Streaming Server, which uses an RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol) server to stream live or rebroadcast video feeds to viewers. Apple uses this technology to stream some of its own live events. However, despite offering royalty free streaming and also delivering it as an open source project, QuickTime's RTSP streaming server hasn't gained the traction it was once expected to achieve. A large part of this is due to the fact that RTSP traffic is blocked by many firewalls, making it difficult to deliver streams reliably. The audio and video conferencing used by iChat also relies on RTSP, causing some users frustrating problems for the same reason. Getting RTSP video streaming to work on the iPhone would be even more difficult, as it routinely moves between mobile and WiFi networks.

Enter HTTP Live Streaming. The basic mechanics involve using software on the server to break an MPEG-2 transport stream into small chunks saved as separate files, and an extension to the .m3u playlist specification (.m3u8) to tell the client where to get the files that make up the complete stream. The media player client merely downloads and plays the small chunks in the order specified in the playlist, and in the case of a live stream, periodically refreshes the playlist to see if there have been any new chunks added to the stream.

What's next? The obvious followup is to add support for HTTP Live Streaming in Apple TV, allowing for HD streams direct from broadcasters, facilitating the ability to only pay for channels you want to watch, skipping around the local cable monopoly while gaining access to content they don't carry. The same content would also be accessible on the iPhone, a desktop PC, or any other device with the capacity to play modern video codecs. And that's why Apple is not supporting Mozilla's efforts to use the obsolete Ogg Theora on the web, which lacks silicon support for hardware acceleration on mobiles and appliances.

The real benefit to HTTP Live Streaming is that the server can maintain multiple versions of the clips in different formats. This allows an iPhone user with a WiFi connection to negotiate a higher quality version of the video than if only EDGE were available. Even better, the phone can renegotiate a higher or lower quality dynamically if it improves or loses signal. This enables the watcher to experience the best video quality possible at the current bandwidth available, continually optimized as new segments are requested. Unlike Microsoft's Smooth Streaming trojan horse for Silverlight, HTTP Live Streaming works with any playback client on any platform and does not involve a layer of DRM, although it does support encryption, allowing broadcasters to limit access to their content. Because support is built directly into the iPhone's embedded QuickTime player, users don't even need to download apps for every broadcaster or channel; content creators can simply publish their feeds within a standard website, and iPhone can access them just like a desktop client. Other phones can similarly support the same interoperable standard, providing a leg up for mobile platforms with less commercial attraction or no ability to run real applications, like the Palm Pre.

While I'm not such a big fan of the way my iPhone handles calls, I have to say that the games make the phone worth owning. There are some incredible games that go way above and beyond anything I've ever seen on a cell phone.

These provide hours of fun and some of the games are simply addicting. While there are thousands available for download, some are for free and others require some money for purchase. I generally like to stick with free games, so the three games that I mention here will all be free ones. Anyway, here are my favorite three iPhone games.

If you've never played Paper Toss, I would recommend downloading it. It's a free game, so you have nothing to lose by trying it out. All you have to do is take a crumpled piece of paper and throw it into a garbage across the room.

What makes the game hard is the fact that a fan influences the direction of your paper toss, making it harder to get it into the garbage with each level. This makes it a lot of fun as you try to build a streak.

Have you ever played that game in a bar where you have to touch the differences between pictures? If you have, you'll probably enjoy ESPN's game, which is just like this. It's called Camera Man and you'll basically be doing the same thing, only on your phone.

This game might keep me occupied more than any other. Sometimes I'll sit down for hours at a time with this game.

The last one I'll mention is a challenging game called Scramble. You're basically asked to make different combinations of words by connecting letters, and you get points for each word you create. You can also play against friends, or against a lot of people online at once.

Try any of these games out. Based on their overall popularity, I have a feeling you'll enjoy them very much.

There are many different styles to choose from when a person is selecting a bluetooth earpiece. Over the last few years manufacturers have advanced the use of the devices to individuals who use mobile phones, workplace users, and many other uses.

Using a earpiece for a n office environment requires very little adjustment of the phone system that is in place. A simple adapter that is attached to the telephone enables the use of a bluetooth. In addition some offices are adapting bluetooths to desktop computers for use during web conferences and training sessions.

The bluetooth earpiece has proved to be a cost effective methods for providing quick and efficient customer service without paying someone to sit by the phone and wait for it to ring. An individual that was once required to stay near a phone is now able to move about an office and answer the phone from the location they are at.

By incorporating the regular use of a bluetooth device into the position of receptionist that role has now been expanded. A receptionist is now able to retrieve documents or materials from anywhere in the work while talking to a client and provide answers to questions that, in the past, required that the individual be placed on hold for several minutes.

This also increased their ability to respond to questions which needed documentation to answer. A receptionist could be talking and walking to the documents at the same time without putting an important client on hold.

With a bluetooth headset an workplace staff member can walk up to thirty feet away from the telephone and still maintain clear communication with the caller. The earpiece does not require extra accessories to function properly. It can be worn comfortably throughout the day and comes with several different ear pieces so that the user can select the one that will be most comfortable for them.

Market research firm iSuppli said Apple's launched iPhone mobile phones in China, are expected to help lift the 2010 and 2011, global shipments of smart phones to grow.

In 2010, the global smart phone shipments are expected to grow from 184.2 million to 235.6 million, in 2009 to 2010, a growth of up to 27.9%. In 2011, it will grow to 334.1 million, a growth of 41.8%. In 2008, the global smart phone growth rate of 20.6% in the global economic recession in 2009, is expected to slow down 11.6%.

But troubled mobile phone market, it is still contingent a fairly rare bright spot. In 2009, global handset shipments fell 12.3%.

"China Unicom in the fourth quarter of iPhone handsets sold in China's move marks the beginning of China's smart phone market, Ming-gun start," iSuppli senior analyst TinaTeng said, "iPhone's arrival will force rival China Unicom, China Mobile launched their smart phone products and applications store, which all have helped to promote China's smart phone market. "

According to iSuppli estimates that in 2010 China's smart phone shipments than 2,120 million units in 2009 grew 42.5%, reaching 3,020 million units, is the fastest-growing country.

The next few years, China is about to undergo is much higher than in any other parts of the world's smart phone shipments in high-speed growth period. In 2013, the place smart phone shipments will grow from 1,670 million units in 2008 to grow to 6,360 million units, the annual compound growth rate of up to 63.6%.

In mainland China, is actively deploying 3G networks, operations, also contributed to the rapid growth of smart phones.

Smartphone into maturity

Another push factor in the success of smart phones, is the world gradually become more mature the product supply chain.

"Smart mobile phone market has grown from the initial period of the past, entered a new stage, for equipment manufacturers, service providers, semiconductor suppliers, platform suppliers and other industries a key chain manufacturers, presenting a huge opportunity for development , "Teng said.

"Global have been widely deployed 3G networks, the coverage of broadband service more widely, and a variety of mobile devices for the development of multimedia applications are already in place.

Because of all these efforts, carriers will provide a competitive information services, as well as the more active in the subsidy program to reduce the price of smart phones.

In addition, in encouraging users to upgrade, the carriers and mobile phone brand manufacturers are working to provide consumers with more mobile value, rather than just selling hardware.

If you're done exploring your iPhone by now, then you're probably looking for ways to make it even more exciting. While there may be hundreds of games and apps to make that happen, there's also something more and that's more than just fun, it is also an interesting change for your iPhone and that's called Ringtones. Though all phones can support ringtones, ones played on the iPhone surpass all phones in terms of sound quality; and that's all thanks to some awesome engineering from the folks at Apple!

Once you download a ringtone, you have to save the ringtone in your computer, drag it to the iTunes Ringtones folder and then sync your iPhone. Once you do this, the ringtone gets added into your iPhone immediately. Here are some fantastic ringtones which you will surely want on your iPhone.

There are several websites that direct you on how to convert MP3 files to the format required for the iPhone, there are also few websites that let you download them directly in the required M4R format. And websites like www.free-ringtone.cc let you download your favourite ringtones and transfer them your iPhone without a fuss.

There are plenty of categories on this website where ringtones can be found, but one of the most popular one would be the musical category. When you click on this category, you will be surprised by the sheer number of ringtones that can be found there in just music.

This category features popular artists such as Rihanna, Akon, Chris Brown, and Jonas Brothers to name but a few. Of course, any list would be incomplete with the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and there plenty of his chartbusters here which you can play on your iPhone. The quality is good, the ringtones are free, so what are you waiting for? Don't waste even a moment more. Check them out!