Medialets ran the SunSpider test suite with Safari 4.0.1 on a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo White MacBook (as a baseline for relative comparisons), Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3G with iPhone OS v2.2.1, Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3G with iPhone OS v3.0, Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3GS with iPhone OS v3.0, the “Browser” app on the T-Mobile G1 with Android OS v1.5 (Cupcake) and the “Web” app on the Palm Pre with Web OS v1.0.2

The results of the iPhone-based tests alone are rather astonishing and seem to indicate that many of Apple’s claims about the performance gains of their 3.0 OS and the iPhone 3GS may hold some water. Using OS 3.0 on the same iPhone 3G yields nearly 3X the JavaScript performance in Mobile Safari vs. using iPhone OS 2.2.1. The iPhone 3GS ups the ante by another factor of 3, bringing JavaScript performance on the iPhone 3GS to just 12X that of a full-powered desktop machine that has well over four times the raw processing muscle alone. The T-Mobile G1 running the “Cupcake” version of the Android OS completed the test suite in about 91 seconds. This makes it about a third faster than the iPhone 3G running Apple’s previous OS (2.2.1). The Palm Pre came storming out of the gate with speeds that closely rival the iPhone 3G running Apple’s latest iPhone OS.

For full details of the benchmark test, see Medialets’ summary of results.

If you’re interested in iPhone development training there are now a few classes that you can take to get a good head start. Qantm College has launched a game development course and Edison Labs University has started a 4-day course in software development for iPhone. Those of you who remember Bubble Bobble will find Bubble Town for the iPhone and iPod Touch very familiar.

More rumors are coming about with the new iPhone Nano. Apparently someone out there is dying to have this device become a reality. Coolgorilla has launched a new talking phrasebook with language support for French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Apple has now given the go ahead for 3rd party browsers on the iPhone. The browsers that have already made it include Edge Browser, Incognito, WebMate and Shaking Web.

Slacker Mobile has finally brought the Slacker radio application to the App Store for a nice alternative to Pandora radio. If you have not already tried it out we suggest that you pick it up today. When the US Airways flight went down this week in the Hudson River one iPhone owner “Twitted” a photo from his iPhone earning the name “citizen journalist.”  Skype is also creating their mobile application just for the iPhone. The reason it is still being worked on is because the engineers are trying to cut the amount of power this application consumes.

Cisco makes on-the-go web conference calling possible for businessmen who cannot be in the office. The best part is the application is available for free with no subscription costs. iFlyz is a very interesting mobile version of a car mount that can be placed virtually anywhere without a huge phone cradle. This makes it perfect for bus rides and plane flights when you are watching a movie on your iPhone.

Squeaky – a browser that leaves behind no trace of your presence.  It’s history, cache, and bookmark free.

WebMate – Let’s you view sites on different tabs, so you can queue up multiple sites and switch back and forth as you view them independently.

Quick Surf – Takes out the non-sense and gives you a basic page for faster viewing.  (Gets you around waiting for photos to load up)

Edge Browser – Lets you view pages with out taking up the precious space where the address bar is normally planted.
Such as Safari, these apps are based on WebKit, and rather than being full on alternative browsers, they are more like add ons or extensions.  In conclusion it seems that there is little hope for iPhone versions of Firefox, or Opera to be approved.

[Via TheiPhoneBlog]   (Thanks Dani!)

MacRumors wrote:

While Apple has made no official acknowledgements, it appears these applications were likely in a special queue awaiting for approval. We had seen a similar “group” delays with other categories of apps. The most notable example involved flatulence applications such as Pull My Finger and iFart Mobile. Once Apple decided to allow the category within the App Store, a backlog of apps quickly appeared.

Hopefully, it could be a good sign for mobile versions of Opera and Firefox to be included into App Store. How do you think?

[via Engadget]

It appears that much of the online world is accepting and adapting to Apple’s iPhone. Walmart is the latest to adapt their online store specifically for the iPhone. Just navigate to Walmart.com and you will be directed to an iPhone specific portal.

The site is very much like the regular HTML version, just adapted for the much smaller touchscreen. From the initial home page you can browse through products by category, current specials or even the list of approved $4 prescriptions. You can even create your own shopping list while physically shopping at the store for those items you have to wait for.

Want to search the local store? Just pull out your phone and look to see if they have what you’re looking for for immediate pickup. Unfortunately you will have to visit the actual website to purchase an item. The Walmart web app is basically only for browsing products and getting information.

Today, the Google mobile ads team announced a new option that allows AdWord advertisers to show your desktop text and image ads on the iPhone and many other mobile devices with full HTML browsers. These ads can point to desktop landing pages so there is no need to create mobile landing pages at all.

These ads will have many of the same benefits as the standard ads, such as the delivery of mobile-specific calls-to-action. iPhone users may have already seen these ads on because Google Search shows desktop results pages that are modified for these handsets. Just recently, the Google mobile team launched new results pages formatted specifically for the iPhone.

Now advertisers can create ads to be displayed exclusively on the iPhone, create campaigns for them, and get separate performance reporting. If you choose not to have your desktop ads shown on these phones you may opt out and show these ads only on desktop and laptop computers. Also if you’re currently running mobile ads, the new option will not affect your campaign.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4R-wF6sdDg&eurl=http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-adwords-options-for-iphone-and-g1.html&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[Via GoogleBlog]

With the iPhone and iPod Touch being the only who devices that are able to play videos, Flickr plans on implementing this feature into other mobile devices in the future. It works by plying videos with Quicktime, avoiding the need for Flash support entirely.

You can also comment on photos or even save the to you’re your favorites list if you wish. This site still works at a very fast pace, as you would normally expect it to work. It appears that iPhone users are not the only ones who are very impatiently waiting for the Flash. Lets just hope that many other companies decide to work around the problem.

[Via DarlingFireball]

All the popular web browsers will be compatible with this web service including Mozilla’s Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Apple’s Safari web browser. Of course the question arises, will this service work with the iPhone? Sarah in Tampa has put together a quick Q&A to clear these questions up.

Fortunately for all of us who have decided to stick it out with the iPhone, our long wait is finally going to pay off.  The upcoming Web Office Suite will work just fine with the iPhone’s Mobile Safari Browser. There are a few rumors going around right now saying that a private preview of this service will be available by the end of 2008 but we wont be holding our breath.

[Via On10]

At the beginning of the week, we found out that the home activation available for the first-generation iPhone would be reinstated, at least in part, for iPhone 3G purchases. And then, we got the details of the new purchasing system Apple has put in place so you can buy the iPhone 3G from your home, input all of your information and simply go to your local Apple retail store to pick it up and have it activated.

We also learned that the iPhone 3G could reach sales of 5 million in Q4, which is exciting news. And an unlocked version of the phone is now available in Hong Kong, though at a significantly higher price than if purchased through a carrier. To continue Apple’s plan for rolling out the iPhone 3G across the world, Russia will be getting the device on October 3rd.

iPhone Firmware version 2.2 entered Beta 1 for developers only this week and while details were a bit sketchy at first, we eventually learned that MobileSafari would be getting a bit of a facelift. App Store rejections letters are also apparently under the NDA developers sign to upload their apps to the store. Whether this was also a stipulation or a recent addendum in response to the frequent posting of these letters on online forums is unknown.

And last but not least we had a comparison of the iPhone 3G and the recently announced T-Mobile G1. Even though I would have loved to pick a clear cut winner, I found the playing field uneven, especially when you consider that Apple is bringing their own hardware and software to the table and the T-Mobile G1 features hardware and software from different makers.

In fact, it looks quite similar but just has a few tweaks to it. The magnifying glass and refresh button have been removed from the top bar and are now replaced with the URL bar and Google search field.

This makes it look much more like the desktop version of Safari. Also, when you refresh a page now it will show a small icon within the URL bar. It’s not earth-shattering but definitely an improvement, I think. Are you excited for this upgrade?

[via iPhoneAtlas]

“It’s by far the porn-friendliest phone,” says Devan Cypher, representative for San Francisco–based Sin City Entertainment. As evidence of the gadget’s rocketing popularity in California’s capital, the San Fernando Valley, numerous iPhone-specific porn sites have been launched in recent months. “There are a few hundred iPhone porn sites now in use,” says Farley Cahen, vice president of business development for AVN Media Network, the adult industry’s trade body.

As the 3G release nears, the adult entertainment industries prepare to launch sites that will be able to be accessed by the iPhone. With the overwhelming popularity of the iPhone this industry has seen an opportunity and gone after it with full force.

“Three out of four iPhone users are men with above-average incomes, and iPhone users spend heavily on entertainment. More than a third of iPhone users shell out more than $100 on phone and data charges every month, as compared with just one-fifth of other cell-phone users.”

One feature that will be included in the 2.0 release is the ability to set Parental Controls, disabling ever ‘accidentally’ stumbling accross a naughty site or two, or three, or four…

“This new version is designed to offer many of the same features as the desktop, while making it quick and easy to act on items. If you’ve used list view, then it should be familiar to you. Scan the titles for an item that interests you, tap and it expands in place. Starring, sharing, and keeping unread are done in place, so you never have to leave the list view or refresh the page. We think it’s a very fast way to power through your reading list.” – Google Reader Blog

The application looks to bring a more desktop like Google Reader experience to the mobile Safari browser. To access the new Google Reader, just visit http://www.google.com/reader/i/ on your iPhone or iPod Touch. The service is still in beta and you will not be redirected to that page just by visiting Reader, so bookmark it for future use.

[Via Google Reader Blog]

Muxtape provides a simple way to share mixtapes with other people across the web. Users can subscribe to another users RSS feed of mixtapes in iTunes. When new music drops you then have the option to listen to it. You of course can upload your own mixtapes, and if you are lucky other people will subscribe and listen to your music too.

You can use the new Safari friendly Muxtape now, just head over to their website at muxtape.com. Now Muxtape has an even broader audience. Porting web applications to Safari seems like it is starting to become a trend, just me?

[Via Gear Diary]

Just as in Safari, it is very simple to save and store images from an email attachment to your iPhone. You hold your finger over the image for a few seconds, and a menu will come up and offer you some options for saving the image. The image is saved in your camera roll. More and more, the iPhone 2.0 firmware is appearing to make the iPhone a very formidable opponent to Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices.

Once again, iPhone Buzz has gotten you the story on the new iPhone firmware 2.0 to you first. If you want to be the first to know when a new feature drops, keep checking back. You will know when we do.

The exploit works through what Radware are calling a design flaw in mobile Safari, whereby multiple memory allocation operations on the dynamic memory pool trigger a bug in the garbage collector.  There doesn’t seem to be a lasting impact on the cellphone – switching it off and then on again should reset it – but I can see how this might be less than reassuring to your IT manager at work. 

Apple are yet to address the issue, and Radware would very much like you to buy their security software to prevent against it.  Of course, the obvious advice is – just like browsing the internet anywhere else – to not click on links from sources you don’t trust, to be cautious about random looking sites and to generally be sensible.  Though that wouldn’t make Radware any money, I suppose.

[via GigaOM]