Google Voice iPhone App Breaks the Law, AT&T Launches iPhone MMS

The excitement of the iPhone finally getting multimedia messaging, is overshadowed by the Google Voice drama

After a long wait AT&T finally rolled out support for the multimedia messaging service (MMS) protocol. This means that iPhones can at last send pictures, video, and audio recordings like users of other smartphones.

IPhones have actually had MMS support built in since June when the iPhone OS v3.0 was released. AT&T, however, kept the functionality disabled for fear it would overload and break its network. Meanwhile, AT&T upgraded much of its network and built extra capacity to handle the service.

On September 22, early last week, it sent a free SMS text message to inform its customers that it would be rolling out the update on Friday. The message read, "AT&T Free Msg: Picture & video messaging (MMS) will be available for iPhone on 9/25. While we prepare your account for MMS capability, the current 'view my message' experience will be turned off but your ability to send and receive text messages will not be affected."

Users began receiving the update when they synced their phones with iTunes on Friday. The update wasn't without its problems -- most of which appear to be software/firmware related. Some users found that their attempts to send MMS failed. Apple and AT&T suggested users first try to reset their networks settings. A more extreme fix involves selecting your iPhone's settings in iTunes and choosing "General > Reset All Settings > enter your pin if prompted". That fix appears to get MMS working, but you may have to reenter your Passcode, Wi-Fi passwords. You may also lose your VPN connections and remembered Wi-Fi networks. A perk, though, is that your apps are arranged alphabetically, something previously not easily done.

[via Daily Tech]

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Airplane passenger detained for playing movie on iPhone

My colleague Tom Krazit notes a Consumerist report that an ATA Airlines flight attendant tried to get a passengerto turn off his iPhone because, well, cell phones are not allowed to be used in flight and he was watching a movie on his iPhone.

The passenger, who we know as Casey, tried to explain to the flight attendant that the iPhone was in airplane mode, really truly.

If you’ve flown at all, you know that as a general rule, airplane mode use is generally allowed above 10,000 feet. And hey guess what, the plane was above the Pacific Ocean.

The passenger was briefly detained in Hawaii but was allowed to go.

There are two aspects of this story that strike me as at least somewhat relevant.

As Tom writes:

First of all, “airplane mode” doesn’t appear to be a universally defined state of being by the FCC, FAA, the airlines or the mobile phone industry, and perhaps it should. Apple’s Web page on the iPhone’s airplane mode clearly states, “If you turn on airplane mode, the wireless features of iPhone are disabled, and if allowed by the aircraft operator and applicable laws and regulations (emphasis mine), you can continue to use the non-wireless features after takeoff.

Probably this is a good juncture to note how Apple explains iPhone’s airplane mode:

Turn on airplane mode to disable the wireless features of iPhone on a plane.

Read the whole article @ ZD Net

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Disability Advocates Gripe to FCC About iPhone

A group representing people with a hearing loss filed complaints with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month, accusing Apple Inc. of not making its iPhone compatible with hearing aids.

The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), a Bethesda, Md. advocacy group, filed formal complaints with the FCC in August, Brenda Battat, the HLAA's associate executive director, said in e-mailed comments about Apple's iPhone. "The phone [is] not usable with a hearing aid, either on the microphone or telecoil setting," said Battat. "Clearly it was not designed to be hearing aid compatible. It should have been."

Under its Section 255 regulations, the FCC requires phone manufacturers, including those selling mobile handsets, to make their products accessible to people with disabilities, if such access is "readily achievable." That standard is defined by the agency as "easily accomplishable without much difficulty or expense."

Read the whole article @ PCWorld

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