iLounge

iPodweek, iLounge’s weekly newsletter recapping the last seven days in news, articles, reviews, and more, will be sent out to our email subscribers later today. In addition to rounding up the week’s top stories, iPodweek also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. If you haven’t yet signed up to receive iPodweek, there’s still time to register and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone 3G outside a church in the town of Mitrovica in North Kosovo. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

The winners of our Just Mobile Xtand Giveaway have just been announced. In the giveaway, 20 iLounge readers won Just Mobile Xtands for the iPhone or iPod touch, with ten of each given out. Congratulations to all the winners! Don’t forget to enter our FastMac TruePower iV Giveaway, our Giveaway of the Month for May.

iLounge is pleased to announce the FastMac TruePower iV Giveaway. In our Giveaway of the Month for May, ten lucky iLounge readers will receive a FastMac iV Battery Extender and Charger for the iPhone or iPod touch. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—the giveaway will end on May 31, 2009 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. Good luck!

With nearly 2,900 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“Should Apple abandon iPhone carrier exclusivity in your country?” has ended. Readers could say “yes” in two different ways, one indicating that they would like to use the iPhone on a competing GSM carrier, and the other saying they would like to use it on a competing non-GSM carrier. They could also say no, indicating that they felt Apple’s choice of carrier(s) was fine. Other responses were available for readers who live in a country where the iPhone isn’t exclusive, or where the iPhone isn’t available, and for those who aren’t interested in the iPhone no matter which carrier offers it.

Of all responding readers, a plurality of 45% said they thought Apple should abandon carrier exclusivity in their country so they could use the phone on a competing GSM carrier, while another 19% said that Apple should abandon exclusivity, but their preferred carrier is non-GSM and would require Apple to make a different version of the iPhone. Meanwhile, 24% of responding readers said they were fine with Apple’s choice of carrier, while 5% said the iPhone wasn’t exclusive in their country, another 5% said they weren’t interested in the iPhone regardless of which carrier offers it, and, finally, only 1% said the iPhone wasn’t available in their country at all. Thanks for all your responses!

Our new poll focuses on the choice between the iTunes Store and DVR-based TV show recordings. We’d like to know: would you rather buy your shows from the iTunes Store, or would you rather transfer them from a DVR? Or would you like to purchase your shows from iTunes, but can’t wait until the next day for the content to appear, or do you not watch TV or are otherwise uninterested in adding TV content to your library? Our new poll, “Would you rather buy TV shows from the iTunes Store or record them on an iPod/iPhone-friendly DVR?” lets you answer that question. As always, you can find the iLounge Poll in the left-hand column of the main iLounge.com homepage. Vote today!

iPodweek, iLounge’s weekly newsletter recapping the last seven days in news, articles, reviews, and more, will be sent out to our email subscribers later today. In addition to rounding up the week’s top stories, iPodweek also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. If you haven’t yet signed up to receive iPodweek, there’s still time to register and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone 3G overlooking the Needles on the Isle of Wight, England. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

With over 2,900 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“Do you think you’ll purchase a new iPhone when it’s released in June or July?”—has ended. Readers were given choices including yes, they had been holding out for a new model and will buy it no matter what, yes, they’ve bought both prior models and plan on continuing to buy each new iPhone, yes, but only if it includes significant hardware improvements, or yes, but only if it’s smaller or less expensive than previous models. Negative responses included no, they’ve just purchased an iPhone 3G and/or will otherwise not be eligible for upgrade pricing, no, they’re happy with their current phone/service provider, and no, they don’t have any interest in cell phones.

Over half—57%—of responding readers indicated that they hoped to purchase a new iPhone when it’s released, though there was a major split based on different release scenarios. A solid 16% said that they’ve been holding out for the new iPhone and will purchase it no matter what, and 8% said that they’ve purchased both prior models and plan to continue this time. However, 28% said that they will buy a new iPhone only if the new model includes significant hardware improvements, while 5% said their purchase depends on a smaller or less expensive model being introduced. Another 23% of readers said they wouldn’t be purchasing the next iPhone because they just purchased the iPhone 3G and won’t be eligible for upgrade pricing, 16% said they were happy with their current phone and service provider, and, finally, 4% said they have no interest in cell phones. Thanks for all your responses!

Our new poll focuses on iPhone exclusivity agreements. We’d like to know: do you think Apple should abandon iPhone carrier exclusivity in your country? Would you like to use the iPhone on a different GSM carrier, or would you like to use it on a different, non-GSM carrier, which would require Apple to make a different model? Or do you think the exclusivity agreement is fine, or is the iPhone not exclusive to one carrier in your country, or simply not offered at all, or do you not care about the iPhone, no matter who offers it? Our new poll, “Should Apple abandon iPhone carrier exclusivity in your country?” lets you answer that question. You can find the iLounge Poll in the left hand column of the main iLounge.com home page. Vote today!

iPodweek, iLounge’s weekly newsletter recapping the last seven days in iPod, iPhone, iTunes and Apple TV news, articles, reviews, and more, will be sent out later today. In addition to rounding up the week’s top stories, iPodweek also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. If you haven’t yet signed up to receive iPodweek, there’s still time to register and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone on the Stampede Trail near Healy, Alaska. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

If you haven’t yet submitted your entry for our Just Mobile Xtand Giveaway, there’s still time to do so. In our Giveaway of the Month for April, Just Mobile and iLounge are giving away twenty Xtands for iPhone or iPod touch to lucky readers. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—the giveaway will end on April 30, 2009 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. Good luck!

iPodweek, iLounge’s weekly newsletter recapping the last seven days in news, articles, reviews, and more, will be sent out to our email subscribers later today. In addition to rounding up the week’s top stories, iPodweek also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. If you haven’t yet signed up to receive iPodweek, there’s still time to register and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone in the desert outside Las Vegas, Nevada. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

With over 3,000 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“What’s the feature you’re most excited about in iPhone OS 3.0?” has ended. Readers were given the choice between cut, copy, & paste, stereo Bluetooth, Spotlight search, MMS support, expanded widescreen keyboard support, push notifications, or other improvements, with an option for those who don’t own an iPhone or iPod touch.

After adjusting for the 10% of responding readers who said they didn’t have an iPhone or iPod touch, Cut, Copy, & Paste was the most popular new feature amongst iLounge readers, with 29% of the remaining vote. MMS support and more widescreen keyboards were tied for second with 18% of the vote a piece, followed by stereo Bluetooth with 14%, push notifications with 11%, Spotlight search with 5%, and other features with 4%. Thanks for all your votes!

Our new poll focuses on the next-generation iPhone. We’d like to know if you be buying one when it’s released this Summer. Have you been holding out, and will buy one no matter what, or are you an iPhone veteran who looks forward to picking up the next model? Or perhaps you’d consider buying one, but only if it features significant hardware improvements, or is smaller/less expensive than prior models? Or did you just pick up an iPhone 3G, and will be ineligible for subsidy discounting, or perhaps you’re happy with your current phone and/or provider, or just don’t have any interest in owning a cell phone? Our new poll, “Do you think you’ll purchase a new iPhone when it’s released in June or July?” lets you answer that question. As always, you can find the iLounge Poll in the left hand column of the main iLounge.com homepage. Cast your vote today!

The new iLounge Discussion Forums are now live with the latest version of the forum software and a whole new look. The new system provides some significant new features, including more advanced posting and reply options, a more sophisticated private messaging system and fully customizable user profile pages. Additional community and social networking features are also available in the new system and we will be looking at rolling these features out in a phased approach in the coming weeks.

See our Welcome thread in the Forums for more detailed information on new and coming attractions.

While we are still responding to readers’ feedback regarding any issues they might spot, and tweaking layout and performance issues, we think you will like the latest step in our continued drive to ensure that the iLounge forums are the world’s largest, and best, independent source of all things iPod, iPhone, iTunes and beyond. We hope you enjoy the new forums!

The iLounge Forums will shortly be undergoing a substantial upgrade, and will be temporarily unavailable during that time. When the Forums reopen, they will sport major enhancements, hopefully making them an even better area for our readers to share information, ideas, and questions. We thank you for your patience during the upgrade, and look forward to bringing you the improved design.

Update: The forum upgrade is scheduled to begin at 11:00 PM EDT tonight. The forums will be unavailable for approximately four hours during the upgrade process. 

If you haven’t yet entered our Just Mobile Xtand Giveaway, there’s still time to do so. In our Giveaway of the Month for April, Just Mobile and iLounge are giving away twenty Xtands for iPhone or iPod touch to lucky readers. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—the giveaway will end on April 30, 2009 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. Good luck!

This week’s edition of iLounge’s weekly newsletter, iPodweek, will be available later today. iPodweek is a weekly summary of the best iPod news, reviews, and feature articles we’ve published, and it also features giveaways and iPod accessory discount offers from various companies and retailers. There is still plenty of time to sign up for this week’s edition, if you haven’t done so already — just use the simple form below to submit your email address.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

iLounge is pleased to announce our Giveaway of the Month for April: Just Mobile’s Xtand. Twenty lucky iLounge readers will receive Xtands for iPhone or iPod touch: ten of each type of Xtand are available. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—the giveaway will end on April 30, 2009 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. Good luck!

This week’s featured photo is from our iPods Around the World gallery, and shows a first-generation iPod touch near the shore of the Caribbean Sea at the Laguna Tortuguero in Costa Rica. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!