Leopard, Bluetooth and my new Pantech Breeze

It may be a personal preference, but I try not to use or abuse phones that can’t survive a 3-foot drop onto concrete. That’s why last week I ordered myself a sweet little Pantech Breeze.It offers one killer feature that I refuse to live without: a dedicated speakerphone button. I have this on my beloved Kyocera Slider and I demanded it on any new phone that I would buy. The Breeze brings that to the table along with a video camera and full Bluetooth support. After rebates, the phone cost about $70 and works perfectly with my iPhone SIM.

So after unboxing my new toy, I enabled Bluetooth on the phone and opened Leopard’s Bluetooth File Exchange.

BFE isn’t some super-spiffy CoverFlow all-dancing all-singing phone interface. It’s a simple little utility program (with the emphasis on “utility”) that allows you to browse your BT connected devices and use its drag-and-drop interface to transfer data to and from the unit.

Leopard recognized my phone without incident and opened the browsing window shown here. It took just a few clicks to offload my latest pictures from the phone and drag them into iPhoto. Going the other direction, I threw a few mp3 files into my Download > Audio folder and they instantly appeared onboard, ready to play.

Obviously the Pantech Breeze isn’t the iPhone (even as I end up tapping its screen and wondering why it’s not responding) but in some ways, it should have been. Why does Leopard offer this fantastic Bluetooth interaction between phone and Macintosh for an also-ran third party phone, while balking at any iPhone interactions? This is the interaction that should have been on my iPhone, using functionality already built into Leopard. I wonder why it wasn’t baked into the flagship Apple product of the century. [Read]

Popularity: 6% [?]

The OpenFrame Home Phone iPhone Clone

The team at OpenPeak is hoping to spice up the outdated landline phone by “borrowing” the entire iPhone concept and repackaging it as a feature-rich communication hub for the home. Initially, the “OpenFrame” will include core touchscreen apps like calendar, news, weather, etc., and it doubles as a digital photo frame and an internet radio. Beyond that, the idea is to get developers interested in creating third party apps—just like the iPhone. The device is expected to be sold through telcos like Verizon and AT&T for between $200 and $300 sometime in early 2009, but I say just pick up an iPhone and stop wasting money on landlines altogether. [OpenPeak via Wired Gadget Lab]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Buying an iPhone 3G (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)

Kudos to AT&T. They’ve assembled a very useful FAQ page and cut several videos to lay out all the necessities of picking up an iPhone 3G. It includes topics like what you should have on hand if you’re transferring a phone number from another carrier (bring you current wireless bill, they suggest, along with your old account PIN or passwords) and the costs of various plans (they start at $69, but expect to be jacked for text messaging). So hit the links if ever wondered if hair will start growing in funny places once you buy your new iPhone (which it will).

[iPhone FAQ and Helpful Videos]

Popularity: 8% [?]

T-Mobile Will Offer iPhones for 1 Euro (With Hefty Monthly Contract)

This 3G iPhone deal from T-Mobile isn’t quite free, a la O2, but at one euro it’s pretty darn close. Like the 02 deal, however, the low price point is available only for customers that are comfortable signing away large chunks of their life via a mobile phone contract. To get the T-Mobile deal, you must choose the highest monthly plan, which will cost you 89 euros per month (about $136).

[I4U]

Popularity: 6% [?]