The US has it, but we’re still waiting… iPhone 4 is on its way and Optus want to know if your interested. Launching a new site today http://optus.com.au/iphone4 Optus want to know how much liquid nitrogen they should pour on their servers to keep them up on launch day. Note, this is not pre-ordering, just registering your interest. If you do complete the form, you should be hearing from Optus shortly.

I went for the black 32GB iPhone 4.. which one are you after ?

See that big red ‘Order Online’ button on the top-right of Domino’s site ? Well apparently it’s working ! Combined the Domino’s iPhone app, Domino’s say that online ordering now accounts for almost 30% of their business. It’s clear consumers like this method of placing an order, but the benefits could be more than easy of use and convenience. Should this trend continue, it’ll mean they can spend less time answering your calls and more time making pizzas, potentially resulting in a reduced delivery time.

The free Domino’s iPhone app has reportedly had 300,000 downloads, if your a fast food company, pay attention. Domino’s, you should get to work expanding your mobile applications to even more platform in an effort to drive even more business online.

More @ Lifehacker

Just like the iPhone’s iPod application, podcasts can be played in the background while using the other features of the devices. This is in-line with Microsoft’s announcement of selective background processes. My only criticism of the UI is that it cuts off the podcast episode titles, sure this is not unlike the iPhone, but it could be solved by simply scrolling the text. Who knows it may be adjusted before the final release, which keep in mind is still between 7-9 months away.

Unfortunately the download of the .bin file has now been pulled, but I was lucky enough to get a copy. Check out the 10 minute video of Windows Phone 7.

Update
I’ve also spent some time going through all the settings screens. Check out the 2nd video for all the details.

Update 2
Ina Fried from cnet spoke to Microsoft about the unlock and got the following response, saying that they expected this to happen.

We are extremely pleased with the level of excitement we’re seeing for Windows Phone Developer Tools. When we decided to provide a Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator as part of the tools, we anticipated that people would attempt to unlock and explore the code. We have been very clear that the emulator is based on early code and is not reflective of the final user experience. Windows Phone 7 Series is still under development. The UI has been disabled to avoid confusion and allow developers to focus on testing applications on the underlying platform. We continue to recommend that developers use the emulator as provided to avoid any issues and unpredictability that may be introduced by an unlocked version."

Update 3
Dan has posted the Windows Phone 7 unlock ‘How to’ now.

More @ istartedsomething

In a demo a Tech.Ed Middle East, Eric Rudder showed how a single project (in this case a game) could be published and run on 3 entirely different platforms. Running on Windows, Xbox and Windows Phone 7 which all have different input mechanisms – keyboard and mouse, controller, touch-screen and accelerometer, this begins to get very interesting.

This gets a whole lot more awesome when you find out that your game/app can sync across platforms. So hit the save point on the Xbox, run out the door and continue playing on your phone. Someone should sort through the old beyond 2000 footage, this technology is probably in there somewhere. It sounds like futuristic and probably will be some ways off before you get a triple-platform app in your hand.

My biggest question out of this is the pricing model. Are we expected to buy the game 3 times to get ultra-portability ? It’s important to also recognise that this isn’t functionality everyone wants. So building it into the price of the first purchase will hurt those who only want it on one platform. For the right price, those that want ultra-portability should pay for that feature, but at a subsidised price. Maybe after the primary purchase, you could then pickup the same app/game on the other platforms for 5-10% of the original cost. I think that’s a model that would work.

For a $100 Xbox 360 game, you should be able to get the PC version for an additional $10 and maybe an additional $5 for the mobile version. Currently pricing models don’t recognise that people game in different places, when in reality that’s very true. Imagine if you didn’t have to make the console vs PC choice, but could have the game on both for an affordable price. Crazy thought right ?

More @ Engadget

During the Microsoft keynote at MWC, it was confirmed that Windows Mobile 7 will indeed have the Zune service integrated. Containing Music, Videos, Podcasts, Radio and the Zune Marketplace, this surely means the world-wide release of the Zune services.

In Australia we can of course download the Zune application, or rent movies through Zune Video marketplace, but if you wanted to use Zune Maketplace to purchase your music or videos, your out of luck. For the new Windows Phones to seriously compete in Australia, where smart phones have been very successful, the full Zune service (hopefully including subscription-based music) needs to be available.

Microsoft have revealed Windows Phones 7 Series which contains a number of phones from a multiple manufacturers, but run a brand new interface. This group of devices run Windows Mobile 7 which as you’ll see from the screens below has drawn strongly on the popular ZuneHD user interface.

The home page (above) is made up of a number of ‘tiles’ that contain information from data sources online. Facebook, Xbox Live for example, as well as other updates like SMS, email, and phone calls. These are customisable so your experience with the phone suits the services you use most.

Naturally Microsoft have a key arm to their mobile strategy that has really been under-utilised. That is full Microsoft Office support on a mobile device. While today’s keynote was very consumer orientated, a more important play is the business market, which can also take advantage of SharePoint integrations.

In the Q&A after the keynote, it was confirmed by Steve Ballmer that devices will not ship with Adobe Flash support “out of the gate” but added, they are not against having it on Windows Phones. With many months between now and launch, I’d expect Adobe will work with Microsoft to make this happen before launch.

Windows Phone 7 Series devices will be out before Christmas this year.

You can watch the full MWC Microsoft keynote video here.

Today was the Australian launch of the HTC HD2 Smartphone. Running Windows Mobile 6.5 it’s receiving a surprising amount of commendations. Whilst HTC have added their own UI layer with TouchFlo 3D, the overall user experience is reported to be the best of any Windows Mobile device on the market.

Not entirely surprising when they’ve taken so many cues from the industry leader in user experience – the iPhone. The elimination of a physical keyboard, the use of a capacitive, rather than resistive touch screen, accelerometer, disabled screen when in calls, are all similarities. When there HD2 has it over the iPhone, is the high res screen, faster processor, better camera and wi-fi hotspot features.

The HD2 features:

• 4.3” capacitive multi-touch screen (480 x 800 res)
• Windows Mobile 6.5 w/HTC Sense (Windows Mobile 6.5.3 not yet available)
• TouchFlo 3D user interface
• 5-megapixel camera (autofocus, dual LED flash)
• Wi-Fi sharing (becomes a hotspot for other devices)
• 1Ghz Snapdragon processor
• 448 MB RAM
• Tethering via USB or Bluetooth
• Digital Compass
• G-Sensor
• Proximity Sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
• Battery life (Up to 8hrs video, up to 12hrs audio, talk time: 320-380mins, standby: 390-490mins).

Despite all these features, it’s still hard to get around the App Store issue. Whilst WinMo has a massive amount of apps, the number of apps is essentially irrelevant, the number of high-quality apps is the number that’s important.

Long Zheng over at the istartedsomething blog has been hands on with the device all day and suggests its time to “stop generalizing Windows Phones”. Recognising that far to often the experience of a WinMo phone has been an ordinary one, Microsoft and HTC now have a phone to be proud of.

It still remains to be seen if this phone is upgradable to Windows Mobile 7, but we’ll have to wait to Mobile World Congress in February before we have that confirmed.

Telstra currently have an exclusive on the phone, but that’s got a limited timeframe, so if your on another network, its just a matter of time. The HD2 is currently selling for A$829 outright or $0 on an $80 per month plan for 24-months.

More @ HTC

The latest and greatest Smart Phone is about have its very own launch event in the US. If your really keen, you can tune into the Gizmodo Liveblog at 1PM US Eastern Time (Around 8am AEDST) tomorrow morning to get all the juicy details.

The Nexus One is particularly interesting as it’ll be the first phone to run Android OS 2.1. Pricing leaks indicate a US$530 unlocked. Don’t bother with a US-to-Aus converter, we’re all familiar with the Australian Electronics tax. My guess is you should expect around the A$700-A$800 range. I wouldn’t expect any Australian carrier support and subsidy tomorrow, although that may come in the future. Engadget got hands on with what they believe to be the production model and just posted a very timely review [Engadget].

What is interesting, is that the leaked Nexus One documentation, is this little gem – “There is language in the agreement of shipping outside the US”. Can we conclude from this that the Nexus One will be available via Google’s website with delivery options for Australia ? It’s hard to be sure at this point. Good news is we’ll know soon enough – tomorrow.

I love my iPhone, but I also really want there to be a viable alternative.

Update
Overnight the Google event happened and the official site is now live – http://google.com/phone – you’ll notice when visiting the site from an Australian IP, the right hand side of the page has this message – “Sorry, the Nexus One phone is not available in your country.”

As pointed out by GDGt’s coverage – “As of today Google is shipping to US, UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong.”

Who knew, Microsoft can actually make a funny ad. Traditionally Microsoft (or the advertising companies they hire) have attracted hideous amounts of criticism for missing the mark.

In the rare exception this video is actually quite funny. It’s a parity on the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, including so apps that didn’t quite make it.

All that seems very dated now, with LGs latest chocolate offering, the BL40. The 40 in the name is derived from the 4.0” multi-touch screen that’s in the ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio. It’s usefulness looks great for navigating the user interface elements, but you’ll end up with black bars beside any videos in the 16:9 standard.

Check out the impressive preview video below.

As impressive as this device looks, I really this (and the 21:9 Phillips TV) doesn’t create a new video standard. We already have far too many. Obviously 21:9 is used in films, but doesn’t mean there’s any good reason to filter that to consumer devices.

More @ Engadget

In an FAQs: iPhone OS 3.0 Software section of their website, Optus have outlined the cost of MMS to iPhone customers. This confirms Optus will indeed offer MMS to iPhone customers. This has been a question mark since Apple announced Software 3.0 would include MMS support, with the caveat of “not available on all carriers”.

So it’s great to know Optus will support the feature.. if you know of other Australian carriers also supporting MMS on the iPhone, please leave a comment.

Confirmed. Optus does support MMS.
After downloading the latest developer build of iPhone OS 3.0 this morning, I am now able to send MMS messages on Optus.

More @ Optus

The stakes are high so promotion is critical. Here is Palm’s first video advertisement of the Palm Pre.

More @ Slashgear

Anyone who’s used coverflow on the iPod Touch or iPhone may remember using it once or twice, maybe a third time to show off, but how useful is coverflow for selecting music ? Not very.

I think using Coverflow as to display your contact list would be a much better use of this display technique. As we become increasingly visual creatures browsing by photos of your contacts becomes more important. Currently the only benefit to adding attaching a photo to contacts is so it displays in a tiny square once you entered into the contacts details.

Sure hitting Contacts, then turning the device sideways and bringing up Contacts Coverflow has to be a better way of finding the person your after. Especially when it’s not a close friend that you happen to know both the first and last name of. Perhaps your doctor or taxi driver that you only see once in a blue moon could be accessed more efficiently by scanning through photos.

Apple have tried to solve the problem of sorting through a large number of contacts in Software 2.0 by adding search to contacts, this is a positive move, but still requires you to know the name of the contact your after.

Please Apple take this suggestion on board for the next generation iPhone. I doubt this is the sort of functionality that could be achieved through the SDK or I’d suggest a 3rd part developer get to work on this one.

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It was previously understood that Telstra would miss the iPhone 3G Australian launch of July 11th by a couple of weeks. Well today Telstra have confirmed they will in fact make it to i-Day. Telstra have developed the branding of ‘NextG iPhone 3G’ which is quite a mouth full.

Additionally Telstra are now the first Australian carrier to announce pricing.

iPhone 3G will be available from Telstra on July 11 with a range of specially designed Next G™ iPhone 3G plans that meet the needs of any customer. The Next G™ iPhone 3G™ plans start at $30 per month with an upfront cost of $279 for the 8GB model and $399 for the 16GB model. Customers will receive the 8GB iPhone 3G™ model at no cost with the $80 plan and either the 8GB or the 16GB model at no cost with plans starting at $100 per month. All plans include free Wi-Fi access at Telstra hotspots and require a 24-month contract.

As expected the phone is tied to a 24-month contract, with no mention of outright purchase price, call costs or data limits.

The problem with announcing your pricing first, is your competitors can always undercut you. With only 11 days before launch, Optus and Vodaphone pricing details can’t be far away.

You can register your interest with Telstra here.

More @ Telstra