Canadian iPhone User - iPhoneUser.ca

We are back and working again at http://www.iphoneuser.ca. I finally got the site up and running. Still working on a few minor details but everything looks good. This site here will remain for the time being and as a test site. Thanks for checking us out.

Hi everyone. I'm in the process of changing webhosts so the site may be down temporarily some time later today or tomorrow. Please check back later if we are down as I hope to have everything set up ASAP. The mirror address for the site is - http://iphoneuserca.blogspot.com.
Visit us there in the meantime if the main address isn't working. We will have a nice new set up and hopefully you will find it more user friendly - much like the iPhone is.

Thanks.

I found an interesting app today in installer. I'm not sure when it came out but once I saw it, I had to try it out. It's the iPhone video recorder. It's available in the featured section right when you open up installer.

The video quality actually seems quite decent. The one you download is basically a trial version and will let you record up to 30 second clips and will let you record 30 times. You have to buy a registration code to do more than that. I guess the 30 tries will last me a little while. To buy the full version it costs $19.95. Just a little expensive for an iPhone app. I wonder how much apps will be in the official Apple App Store once it opens.

Overall, this is a good program. But I wouldn't pay 20 bucks to use it. I'm not going to be recording stuff everyday so that doesn't really seem worth it to me. Enjoy your free trial version.

One thing that I've noticed over the past couple of months is that the iPhone is not just for us younger generation. Lots of older people have iPhones too.

I've met a guy who is over 50 who has an iPhone and I asked him a few things about it. He said he loves his iPhone and that it is the best phone he has ever had. He also said that his son who is only 10 taught him how to use everything on it. He also said that he had bought a lot of Apple products like a mac and Apple TV and his son set it all up too. He said that he loves the technology of the iPhone and is glad he got it. His son unlocked it for him.

About two months ago I saw a lady in her 40's who had an iPhone. I also asked her about it. She too said it was the best phone she's ever had, maybe even the best thing she's ever owned. A couple weeks ago I also saw an older man taking photos with his iPhone. Today even, I heard the signature Apple iPhone ringtone, I knew it was an iPhone, but guess who answered, a man who is at least 50, maybe even 60.

This just goes to show that anyone can get excited about the iPhone and cool gadgets in particular. The iPhone really bridges the generation gap. Once the iPhone is available in Canada, I'm sure I will see ever more older folks using an iPhone. I bet not all older people know the ins and outs of unlocking and hacking some of the younger tech savvy generation. Do you know anyone over the age of 40 with an iPhone? Do your parents have one? Let me know!

I finally got the Super Nintendo roms working on my iPhone. It is pretty cool actually. I guess the graphics are a little better than the regular Nintendo roms. The games tend to lag a bit once in a while but I found that they are still playable.

Here's how I did it.

1. The programs you need on your iPhone from installer are as follows:
- snes4iPhone
- zottd required library
- bsd subsystem
- openssh

2. Download the roms you want from http://www.theoldcomputer.com

3. Use cyberduck on mac or winscp to transfer the roms onto your iPhone to the directory
private/var/mobile/Media/ROMs/SNES

4. Right click the rom and click 'info', now change the permissions to 644.

5. Now it will work

For info on how to ssh into the iPhone click here
For info on installer source of snes4iphone click here

I actually made my first youtube video of this process. The video isn't great but will show you what I'm doing to get the roms going on your iPhone (or iPod touch). Hopefully you like it. I plan to make more in the future on other iPhone related stuff and hopefully my video making skills will improve over time. Check it out.

I know there is a lot of people with Telus and Bell or even Verizon and Sprint that want to get their hands on the iPhone. The main thing holding them back is the early cancellation fee or special retention plans or other plans that are keep them tied or loyal to their current carriers. I wasn't afraid of being charged the ECF and I got lucky in my situation but to pay anywhere from $100-700 plus tax just to switch carriers seems unacceptable.

The answer is probably no. There will never be a CDMA iPhone. One reason is that it is just not enough of a popular technology to make it worthwhile. CDMA holds about 50% of North American market share but less than 1% worldwide. That probably just isn't good enough according to Apple standards. The other reason that we wont see a CDMA iPhone is that Apple signed a 5 year exclusive deal with AT&T for the iPhone in the USA. Apple is not going to make a CDMA version just for Telus or Bell. The agreement prevents them for making one for the only viable carriers of Verizon or Sprint.

I know you guys on Telus and Bell want to join us in iPhone-land. My recommendation is to jump ship once your contract expires, and if you really can't wait, pay your ECF and jump ship once the iPhone is released here in Canada by Rogers. At this point, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to switch until Rogers does have the iPhone.