MMS for iPhone Now Available

by Sebastien on Sep 25, 2009

You’ve been waiting for it. We’ve been bitching about it, but it’s here! MMS for iPhone is available for download from iTunes as a “carrier update”.

Open iTunes, plug your iPhone in and you should have a message saying that a carrier update is available for download.

As I wrote yesterday, I don’t think this carrier update can mess up your jailbreak but it might kill your tethering hack if you activated it.

Now the big question is whether AT&T’s network will be strong enough to handle all these MMS that are going to be sent.

Personally, I couldn’t care less about MMS but I know many of you are anxious to send and receive picture messages.

Are you excited?

Update: It seems you have to be on OS 3.1 to be able to download the carrier update. Yet another sneaky move from Apple. Oh well…

 

MMS and iPhone Jailbreak, Is It Safe to Update?

by Sebastien on Sep 24, 2009

MMS is finally coming to the iPhone in a few hours under the form of a carrier update. As usual when there is something to update on your iPhone, it is legitimate to wonder whether it will mess it up or not.

If you’re on a stock iPhone, then there is nothing to worry about. However, it can be a little tricky if your iPhone is jailbroken and you want to keep the jailbreak.

Some jailbreakers are concerned that they will have to update to 3.1 in order to install the MMS carrier update. I can’t be 100% sure until it’s actually out but I’m very confident you won’t have to update to OS 3.1 to have MMS.

The MMS capability was introduced with OS 3.0 and iPhone users in many countries have enjoyed MMS since then because their carrier allowed them to, not because they were on 3.1. In other words, you most likely won’t have to update to 3.1 to download and install the carrier update.

Now there is always a risk that Apple asked AT&T to make it so you have to be on 3.1 to download the carrier update but I really doubt it.

The biggest risk is actually you! Yes, you are the biggest threat to your jailbreak. When you plug in this iPhone in iTunes tomorrow, a message will probably pop up saying that there is a newer firmware and asking if you want to update. Don’t!

The carrier update should be a separate pop up. This is the one that you may agree to.

But hey, what do I know? These are just my thoughts and I might be way off so please follow my advice at your own risks. Something tells me you will be able to get MMS through this AT&T carrier update without losing your jailbreak though.

What do you think?

 

It’s Official! MMS Coming to the iPhone This Friday

by Sebastien on Sep 23, 2009

It was announced a few weeks back but it was confirmed again today on AT&T’s Facebook page. MMS for iPhone will be available this Friday.

We know you’ve been eager for this service so we wanted to offer a quick update on the launch plans for MMS on Friday, Sept. 25. Late morning, Pacific Time, on Friday, the new carrier settings update enabling MMS should be live and ready …to download through iTunes.

This will come in the form of a carrier update that you will have to download via iTunes. Yay!

Via Gizmodo

 

MMS Finally Coming to the iPhone On September 25

by Sebastien on Sep 4, 2009

Ladies and gentleman, after months of waiting and bitching, AT&T is finally bringing MMS to the iPhone masses. According to a press release, we should get MMS on September 25.

We know many of our iPhone customers are eager for an update on our rollout schedule for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). We’ve been working for the past several months to prepare our systems and network to ensure the best possible experience with MMS when it launches – and that launch date is: September 25 for iPhone 3G and 3GS customers. MMS will be enabled through a software update on that day.

Ok, so I was half right in my prediction. I said MMS would come via a firmware update around September 10. Well, close enough…

Now as you notice MMS will be only available for iPhone 3G and 3GS. If you have an iPhone 2G, then screw you! No seriously, if you have a first generation iPhone, you can still use this hack to enable MMS.

As for tethering… What tethering? AT&T didn’t deem it necessary to make any announcement and I guess it still plans to make this feature available “at a later date” which may be anytime between now and the end of times…

How do you feel about that?

 

Prediction: MMS Coming to the iPhone Within Two Weeks

by Sebastien on Aug 26, 2009

I am no psychic but if you read this blog on a daily basis, you should know that I am usually right when it comes to making predictions on future events or features coming to the iPhone.

My latest prediction is that within 2 weeks, Apple will release firmware 3.1. This is actually pretty obvious as they are about to unveil a new line of iPod Touch at an Apple even on September 7.

I also predict that this new 3.1 firmware will come with some type of carrier update that will allow AT&T users to finally be able to send and receive MMS through their iPhones.

As usual, as a measure of precaution, I want to say that I might be completely wrong and that Apple won’t unveil a new iPod Touch, and that there won’t be any 3.1 firmware or MMS for a while, but someone something tells me otherwise ;)

 

Dear AT&T, Where Are MMS and iPhone Tethering?

by Sebastien on Jul 22, 2009

When Apple introduced the new iPhone 3GS in June, they unveiled two new features that had been long awaited: MMS and iPhone tethering. Unfortunately, AT&T was not one of the major carriers that were going to offer these features right away and said that they will be available “later this summer”.

Later this summer, as part of the 3.0 software, AT&T will make multimedia messaging (MMS) available at no extra cost to customers with a text messaging bundle. And, in the future, AT&T will offer tethering capability for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

Very well, but we’re already one month into the summer and we haven’t heard anything at all from AT&T. No one on the major tech websites or blogs seems to really care about it either.

Hey AT&T, where the hell are my MMS and iPhone tethering?

I think AT&T has been taking its customers for granted. Not only it has overcharged its iPhone customers since day 1, but it doesn’t even provide a quality of service that would make it up for the high prices.

As MG Siegler wrote, AT&T is a big, steaming heap of failure and it is walking on thin ice right now. Its exclusive contract with Apple will expire next year and maybe it’s time for Apple to reconsider their partnership.

What do you think of AT&T? Are you satisfied by their service?

 

How to enable MMS on iPhone 3G 3.0 With T-Mobile

by Sebastien on Jul 11, 2009

iPhone Download Blog reader Charlie sent me this simple hack to enable free MMS on the iPhone 3G running 3.0 with T-Mobile. Note that this hack only works for T-Mobile on the iPhone 3G.

First, go to Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network.

Add the following in MMS field:

  • APN: wap.voicestream.com
  • Username: leave blank
  • Password: leave blank
  • MMSC: 216.155.174.84/servlets/mms
  • MMS Proxy: 216.155.165.50:8080
  • MMS Max Message Size: leave blank
  • MMS UA Prof URL: leave blank

Again, this only works if you have T-Mobile. It does not work with other carriers.

Feel free to contact me should you have iPhone tips and tricks you want to share.

 

How to Enable MMS on the iPhone 2G

by Sebastien on Jun 29, 2009

There is a new simple hack that allows owners of a first gen iPhone to enable MMS on their iPhone 2G. Your iPhone has to be jailbroken to enable MMS. If you don’t know how to jailbreak your iPhone, please read this.

Now go to Cydia and look for the application called ActivateMMS2G from the iSpazio source. Install and reboot your iPhone and bingo!

Very important: this hack only works on OS 3.0 and 3.0.1. Do not install on 2.X or 3.1. Thanks @Stilgar702 for the tip!

 

6 Reasons the iPhone 3G S Sucks

by Sebastien on Jun 16, 2009

If you read this iPhone blog on a regular basis, you know that I’m not a big Apple fan, and I take any chance I get to talk smack about them. There are enough fanboys, so someone needs to be the devil’s advocate… Last week I wrote about 7 reasons to buy the new iPhone 3G S and today I’d like to give a few reasons why the new iPhone 3G S is kind of a joke.

The Name Sucks

Lets’ start with the obvious: the name – iPhone 3G S. I had speculated about several names for the new iPhone and I really thought they would simply call it “iPhone”. You have to admit that “iPhone 3G S” is a pretty clunky name. If you were going to have a “S” in the name, why not simply call it “iPhone S”. It would have been a shorter and more “esthetically appealing” name.

The Design Is Boring

I think what I hate the most about the iPhone 3G S is the design which is exactly identical to the iPhone 3G. When I pay $560.16 for a new phone, I expect to have something that looks different from everybody else. Yes, the iPhone is a phone for the elite, I admit it. I kinda miss the days of the first iPhone, when people came to me and candidly asked me “wow, is this the iPhone?”. I was proud of it. Now everyone has an iPhone, and even worse, everyone has an iPhone that looks similar.

I was really looking forward having a revamped iPhone design. To those of you arguing with this, think about it this way. What would you say if BMW came out with the same car design twice, even though the engine was different? Any car critic would just roast BMW for their lack of creativity. Strangely, no one seems to care that the iPhone design is the same as the previous one.

The Camera Still Sucks

We went from a 2 to 3 megapixels camera. It’s better than nothing but it’s still 4 years behind every other smartphone, possibly more. The camera doesn’t even come with a flash. My old BlackBerry pearl did all this 4 years ago…

New Features Are Old News

Voice dialing, video recording and copy/paste were welcome as the messiah during WWDC. That’s BS if you want my opinion. This is just a software update, and once again, any smartphone on the market has had these features for years.

The Pricing Is Scandalous

The attractive $300 price tag for the 32GB iPhone 3G S is only applicable to new AT&T customers. While I understand the whole subsidize thing, I am really pissed I have to pay $560.16 for this new phone, especially when I see that the iPhone 3G S costs about 17% more than the G1 and 32% more than the Palm Pre over the course of a 2 year contract. AT&T is cashing in on existing customers, yet it won’t give throw them a bone and sell them the iPhone 3G S at $299?

No Tethering Or MMS At Launch

This is not specific to the iPhone 3G S, but rather to AT&T. AT&T has most likely been aware of these new features for months, and it still couldn’t manage to get its shit together on time. That’s a huge fail for AT&T who claims tethering and MMS will be available “later this summer”. At least AT&T won’t charge extra for MMS but I can’t see their future tethering plan under $30. I’ll stick to PDAnet for my free tethering.

The iPhone 3G S really is a non-event for existing 3G owners but the success of the pre-orders shows once again that fanboys are willing to throw money at anything Apple releases. If it wasn’t kind of my job to have the latest iPhone, I probably wouldn’t have upgraded.

I look forward to reading your comments and see whether you will upgrade or not.

 

AT&T Says No Extra Charge For iPhone MMS

by Sebastien on Jun 15, 2009

The long awaited MMS feature for the iPhone is finally coming with the release of 3.0. It is legitimate to wonder how much AT&T will charge iPhone users for this feature. Well, a good news uncovered by TiPB reveals that AT&T will not charge extra for sending MMS from your iPhone.

Later this summer, as part of the 3.0 software, AT&T will make multimedia messaging (MMS) available at no extra cost to customers with a text messaging bundle.

It makes sense but it’s always good to be reassured, especially knowing how AT&T likes to overcharge its customers. Now the question is: when? AT&T only says “later this summer”, which could be anytime from June 19th (which would make sense) to sometimes in September…

Click here for more answers from AT&T to your questions about the iPhone 3G S.

 
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