I got a chance to look at the brand new version of LockInfo a bit early so I've put together my thoughts for you guys to check out while you (im)patiently wait for the public release.

For those of you that don't know, LockInfo is a great little jailbreak app that makes up for the poor (read: lack of) notification system Apple has left us with under iOS. I wrote a LockInfo setup and walkthrough a while back and now we're going to look at the newest version of LockInfo by David Ashman.

As you can see from the screenshot above, LockInfo has gotten a pretty big face-lift in 3.0. You now have the option to select different themes within the app. The themes provided are much cleaner than the add-ons in Cydia as well. As of now, you've got the option of classic, dark, light, and iOS. All of them look exceptionally good. I also like the fact that you don't have to respring in order for a theme change to take effect. You do, however, need to exit out of settings.

Besides themes, you'll now notice that LockInfo has added support for in-line images. When you receive a Facebook notification, the Facebook icon will appear in your notification feed. Same with Twitter, Boxcar, games, and pretty much anything you get notifications for. E-mails and texts also have in-line image support as well. It just makes the entire notification feed look more streamline. Less Windows today screen like and more iOS like. Along with in-line images, you'll also notice that text will wrap instead of cutting off. Extremely nice for reading a whole text message from the lockscreen. Obviously longer messages or e-mails will cut off at some point, but the preview is significantly longer.

Another new feature is the addition of favorites which aggregates all your favorite contacts from your phone book into LockInfo. I honestly don't know how I'd live without this feature after using it. To be able to just tap a favorite contact from the lock screen to call or text them is a breath of fresh air. It'll aggregate all your favorites so all you have to do is swipe left and right in order to page through them, just as you do on your home screen already.

The settings panel hasn't changed much except for the addition of themes. Everything will be exactly like your used to. It wasn't a huge transition from the last version. All your current settings and tweaks should still be there when you upgrade so no re-configuring everything.

Overall, LockInfo 3.0 is an amazing improvement to an already great application. It's obvious David Ashman has put a tremendous amount of work into making this version the best release of LockInfo yet. It'd be wise of Apple to take a look at programs like LockInfo and learn from them. LockInfo brings the iPhone to a whole new level of usability for me and bringing it to mainstream users should be inevitable by now. But if iOS 5 doesn't bring a new notification system with it, I'll be perfectly content with LockInfo 3.0.

LockInfo currently runs for $7.99 in Cydia. You can also follow the developer, David Ashman, on Twitter as well at @Stimpy5050.

To all you jailbreakers out there, let us know what you think!

We're planning something really fun for later in the summer and Otterbox was kind enough to send us out some Otterbox Defender Cases for iPhone 4 so we could start the prep work. If you've used an Otterbox Defender on previous iPhones, you know what you need to know. Same great protection, all new form factor. If you haven't used one before, this is basically the full plate armor of iPhone protection in AD&D parlance. You have the hard plastic inner shell for structural support, the soft silicone outer skin for grip and scuff proofing, and a holster to keep it loaded and ready to go on your hip.

They're just starting to come out, so if you absolutely have to have it as soon as possible, head on over to the TiPb iPhone 4 accessory store and place your pre-order.

Pictures after the break and much more to come!

Here we are - A gallery of the iPhone 3G in White and some comparisons to the original iPhone 2G. Short version: The iPhone 3G is a bit thicker, a smidge taller, and (most surprisingly) noticeably wider, it feels just as good in the hand because of the curved back. That wider part also means there's a slight border on the left and right of the screen -- but all in all the iPhone 3G is essentially the same slab as the original iPhone.

The plastic backing feels very solid -- it's very hard plastic and though it's not likely to be as scratch-resistant as the original metal, it's a damn sight tougher than most smartphone plastic we've seen. It is a fingerprint magnet back to front, even in white (though the white hides it better).

The headphone jack is flush (yay) and looks to be well-constructed. Unlike many a smarthphone we've used before, there's no jiggle whatsoever when you plug a headset in. Ok, we'll say it, the headset jack on Treos would often get busted because the soldier points would fail -- that doesn't look to be a concern here. Also great: Speaker quality and call quality are FAR SUPERIOR to the original iPhone.

We're going to have much much more throughout the day, including a full hardware review, a full review of the iPhone 2.0 OS, some app reviews, and a new chance for you to win stuff from TiPb. Keep on coming back all day, but for now check out our gallery and unboxing video after the break.

Ah, this isn't any ordinary map application. Sure it'll give you all the fun stuff that maps usually offer, but it also brings the iPhone's already unique controls to a whole 'nother level. Schmap for the iPhone is noteworthy because of its ability to take advantage of the accelerometer: portrait mode lists the attractions while rotating it to landscape mode displays the attractions on a googlemap-ified map.

Because it isn't June yet, we're still dealing with web apps, so basically punch in www.schmap.com in Safari and you'll be able to use this slick and innovative way of finding hotels, restaurants, bars etc. on your iPhone. Granted, it's only limited to select cities (mostly the big ones) and Schmap itself is in beta, it will obviously grow and mature over time.

Under brief testing, I found the layout to be clean and straightforward, giving you short descriptions, reviews, and pictures on popular attractions. Also, the ability to quickly see it all on a map is a wonderful bonus.

Go give Schmap a try and tell us what you think.

Thanks Donald for the Preview!

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