This isn’t so much an app review as an excursion into the hinterland of the unfinished iPhone user interface. There are always tweaks – and sometimes wholesale changes – to be made to an operating system’s interface. But on mobile devices these changes face higher scrutiny, as there are usually more constraints on the end-user being able to install workarounds to better suit their preferences. This is especially true on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

So this is a look at an app that provides a different way of navigating your iPhone, borrowing from Exposé and Spaces on the Mac’s OS X. But, because it radically changes the method of switching between pages of apps, you won’t find it in the App Store. This one is jailbreak only.
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The App Store: An incredibly successful market for developers to sell their wares, undermined by the shop owner’s inconsistent and unpredictable rules about what can be sold.

Once again, Apple has done the customer a dis-service. You may have heard about the removal of GV Mobile and VoiceCentral apps from the App Store, and the blocking of the official Google Voice application. These are apps that allow you to interact with a Google Voice account (currently US-only), which gives you one number for multiple phones, and is really providing new innovations in voice telephony. The reasons Apple gave (duplication of features, user confusion) are not credible, especially as the apps have been selling for months. It seems that AT&T have exerted some presuure to have these apps removed, fearing that their cash cows of long-distance calling and SMS would be hit.
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Have you heard? There’s been a bit of discontent about O2’s attitude towards existing iPhone 3G customers who would like to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G S, which is due to be released in the UK on Friday.

There is no special upgrade deal available (unlike AT&T users). When the iPhone 3G came out last year, existing iPhone customers on O2 with original (2G) iPhone were allowed to break their contracts and upgrade to the new device. No such joy this time.

So how can existing O2 customers get an iPhone 3G S now?
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The dust has settled, mostly. Apple have made their big iPhone OS 3.0 announcement – covered very well by posts at Intomobile and iPhone, Therefore I Blog. The video podcast of the announcement has been released. And those who have installed it are rapidly finding more than Apple was prepared to demonstrate on Tuesday – internet tethering, finding your lost iPhone, better podcast scrubbing, uploading video. iLounge has a great gallery of screenshots.

Personally, I’m glad some of the frustrating omissions from iPhone OS are being filled (MMS, handling vCards, cut ‘n’ paste). It’s basic stuff but it makes a difference when it’s not present. But aside from filling in the blanks, what did Apple really announce on Tuesday?
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Here’s some instructions on how to change the colours within iPhone’s calendars.

Since iPhone OS 2.0 was released, I’ve been slightly frustrated that the calendar colours on the iPhone are not the same colours used for the same calendars in iCal. For Windows users, I understand the same problem arises with Outlook calendar colours. Colours on the iPhone seemed to be assigned at random.

It’s only a small thing, but it’s slight mental disconnect. Such inconsistencies detract from the overall experience of a polished device.
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Yesterday Hackulo.us released Crackulous, which strips the DRM protection from iPhone applications. This allows any application bought from the App Store to run on any other iPhone. Writing about this, The Unofficial Apple Weblog has gone with “Crackulous is released, chaos imminent”. I don’t buy that.

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