söndag 30 september 2012
IRL: Dyson DC44, NUU ClickMate PowerPlus and the Galaxy S III
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Can't get more random than this, folks: in this week's edition of IRL, we have Darren recommending a vacuum cleaner, Dan Cooper continuing his search for a backup phone charger and Jon Fingas putting the Galaxy S III to the test against his beloved HTC One X.Continue reading IRL: Dyson DC44, NUU ClickMate PowerPlus and the Galaxy S IIIFiled under: Misc, SamsungIRL: Dyson DC44, NUU ClickMate PowerPlus and the Galaxy S III originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Listen offers innovative iTunes interface on iOS
I'm sort of torn about Listen. For US$0.99, this iOS utility from Daft Logic Studio offers a lively and engaging music interface. At the same time, most people experience audio with their ears, and not their eyes and fingers.
The app is well made, with lots of features and special effects -- as you can see in the video that follows. It was nice to use even if I think a few of the effects are slightly over the top, such as the ripples on play/pause.
To sum up Listen, it offers a suite of custom gestures for controlling your music, social-network integration and caffeinated auto-lock override, so your phone stays awake if you so desire.
As far as apps go, this may be a "love it or leave it" title. Me? I like it. I appreciate the design effort that went into its GUI. It showcases lots of clever ideas like dragging the playing music to the feature you want to invoke.
Will it be a successful long-term app on my phone? That, I'm less sure of, but I give snaps to the developers for their creativity and I look forward to giving it a good trial run over time.Listen offers innovative iTunes interface on iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
The app is well made, with lots of features and special effects -- as you can see in the video that follows. It was nice to use even if I think a few of the effects are slightly over the top, such as the ripples on play/pause.
To sum up Listen, it offers a suite of custom gestures for controlling your music, social-network integration and caffeinated auto-lock override, so your phone stays awake if you so desire.
As far as apps go, this may be a "love it or leave it" title. Me? I like it. I appreciate the design effort that went into its GUI. It showcases lots of clever ideas like dragging the playing music to the feature you want to invoke.
Will it be a successful long-term app on my phone? That, I'm less sure of, but I give snaps to the developers for their creativity and I look forward to giving it a good trial run over time.Listen offers innovative iTunes interface on iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Here?s Why Tumblr Will Be Down Next Weekend
Tumblr announced a planned major service outage for next weekend. Here's why.
More About: Social Media, technology, trending, tumblr
More About: Social Media, technology, trending, tumblr
Get yourself an extra entry in iMore's Follow and Win giveaway by commenting on Youtube!
� Here's the deal -- you follow iMore on your favorite social networks, and we give you awesome accessory prizes... EVERY MONTH! We know our loyal readers already visit iMore.com daily, subscribe to our RSS feeds and get the iMore Podcast on iTunes, but we wanted to do something a little extra to reward our loyal fans and grow our audience in some of the off-iMore social networking and content sharing sites that iPhone owners hang out and visit. It's easy! All you have to do is follow iMore on Youtube, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook and as a thank you for doing so we're going to pick a lucky winner each month from among our iMore followers / subscribers / fans on each of these sites to win some great iPhone prizes! That's four winners each month - one picked at random from each site. All you need to do is click the links below to follow us on each site, and just keep following us! We'll pick our four winners on the last day of each month and announce them around the first day of the new month along with the prizes to be won for the new month. You can subscribe to all of Youtube, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook to maximize your chances of winning. This month we want to help you stay charged so you never miss a beat! See the list below for links to the sites and the prize you could win on each one. On Youtube - You could win Seidio SURFACE Plus Case! On Twitter - You could win a mophie Juice Pack Plus! On Google+ - You could win a mophie Juice Pack Air! On Facebook - You could win a Seidio Charging Vault Kit! And don't forget to follow our sensational staff -- they often have extra accessories and apps so you never know when they'll surprise you with something special -- @imore, @reneritchie, @GeorgiaTiPb, @llofte, @iMuggle, @chrisoldroyd, @bla1ze, @_Miche11e_! Youtube Bonus Entry! The past couple of weeks have been mad with� and the new iPhone 5 both coming out. Rene and the rest of the team have been hard at work bringing you everything you need to know about the new updates, and even stuff you didn't know you needed to know! Beyond that you can find accessory reviews, game and app reviews, interviews, and so much more on the iMore Youtube channel. And that brings us to this week's bonus entry. Go subscribe to the iMore Youtube channel if you haven't already, and then watch some videos. Leave some comments on the videos, letting us know what you thought of the video or discussion about the subject of the video. That's it! Leave a constructive comment (meaning not "Here's a comment for an extra entry!") and you've got a bonus entry. Good luck! Follow iMore and Win rules and regulations contestGiveawayfollow and winContestsFeatured
Google?s New Hyper-Local City Guide Is a Real Trip
Field Trip, a new local search app for Android smartphones, is a mixture of a hyper-local discovery tool and one of those city guidebooks you buy in tourist shops.
More good news from Africa - RIM opens a new BlackBerry retail store in Nigeria
Things are still on the up for Research in Motion in Africa these days. As planned they have sucessfully opened a new retail store in computer village, Lagos, Nigeria. Robert Bose, Regional Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa said, "As the leading smartphone provider in Nigeria and in Africa overall, our customers are our number one priority, so we are very pleased to cement our physical presence with local staff, establish a new legal entity and work with local business partners to expand our retail and customer care across Nigeria." RIM, in association with mobile phone distributor Slot Nigeria, officially opened the BlackBerry� by SLOT store in Nigeria at Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday, designed especially to provide Nigerian customers with a first-class, authentic BlackBerry purchasing experience, including free software upgrades from the facility in the Computer Village store. BlackBerry smartphones that can be upgraded to OS 7.1 include the BlackBerry� Bold 9900, BlackBerry� Torch 9810, BlackBerry� Torch� 9860, BlackBerry� Curve 9360 and the BlackBerry� Curve 9380. read moreCrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. More good news from Africa - RIM opens a new BlackBerry retail store in Nigeria
That iPhone 5 appeal (or, confessions of a swayed Galaxy S III owner)
I’m an Android user. I love my Samsung Galaxy S III. So why am I punching my details into the iPhone 5 reservation site every day? For the past week or so I’ve been using a borrowed iPhone 5, tracking how it holds up – and where it falls short – to the Android experience Read The Full Story
New Bugless Beast Released for Verizon Galaxy Nexus
Our buddy, Peter Alfonso, released new builds of Bugless Beast for the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, along with a handful of other devices. This new build is based off of the latest source and proprietaries, so basically, you will be running the newest version of Android available. As always, you can expect a stable ROM [...]
Navita Translator updated to version 3.0 - New look, new features
If you use Navita Translator you'll be happy to know an update to version 3.0 was rolled out and it not only enhances the user interface but also brings a selection of updated features. If you have not tried the app before, it is the perfect companion if you are going on holiday to another country as you can type any word or phase into Navita and it will show you the answer in the native language. If you can't be doing with trying to pronounce the word/phrase fear not as Navita will also speak it for you, therefore kind of allowing you to have a conversation in a different language via your BlackBerry - clever stuff. The update brings the following new features: Voice recognition New languages and idioms Universal search integration Word and phrase examples Navita is free to download, which is always nice but extra bonuses include it being BBM connected and you can also share results via email, SMS, PIN, Facebook, Twitter or even just save as a memo. The app gives you a choice of which provider actually gives you the results so you can switch between Google and Bing as you see fit. More information/Download Navita Translator for BlackBerry smartphones CrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Navita Translator updated to version 3.0 - New look, new features
Neil Young Begins His Long Quest Towards True Audio Fidelity With Pono, A New Music Service And Device
Singer-songwriter-rocker Neil Young has been talking about problems with modern audio codecs for decades. He was angry at CDs back in the 1990s and most recently he lashed out against MP3s and digital audio compression at a popular tech conference, saying "My goal is to try to rescue the art form that I?ve been practicing for the past 50 years. We live in the digital age and, unfortunately, it?s degrading our music, not improving it ? It?s not that digital is bad or inferior, it?s that the way it?s being used isn?t doing justice to the art. The MP3 only has 5 percent of the data present in the original recording. ? The convenience of the digital age has forced people to choose between quality and convenience, but they shouldn?t have to make that choice.?
lördag 29 september 2012
PSA: $25 Google Play credit for Nexus 7 ends this weekend
Those who have been keeping a close eye on Google's 7-inch, Jelly Bean-loaded Nexus 7 would know that the company kindly includes 25 bucks worth of Play credit with any purchase of said tablet. Unfortunately, as the famed cliché would tell us, all good things must come to an end -- and, well, such is the case with this neat promotion, which will expire on Sunday, September 30th. Here's the good news, however: there's still a relatively good amount of time for folks interested to get it on the Google Play deal, so now would be the perfect moment to snag what some are calling the best $200 tablet -- and who knows, this might even lead to a post-order Gangnam Style celebration of your own.Filed under: Misc, Tablets, GooglePSA: $25 Google Play credit for Nexus 7 ends this weekend originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Google | Email this | Comments
Prometheus Blu-ray specs unveiled, arrives with seven hours of extras October 9th (video)
While Ridley Scott's latest flick is already available on just about every downloadable movie store you could name, Prometheus is still a few weeks away from making its debut on disc and now Fox has officially released all the details. The extras listed in an earlier leak appear to be accurate, with a Second Screen iPad app that promises access to character Peter Weyland's archives, while much of the 15 minutes or so of deleted and alternative scenes have already been posted on the internet (search around if you absolutely must know what else there is and can't wait / don't want to spend the cash). Arriving October 9th, there's a four disc set with both a Blu-ray 3D edition and bonus extras disc with featurettes for a total of seven hours of bonus materials, while the two disc set trims it to just one Blu-ray and DVD / digital copy. The two disc set is currently selling for $24.99 on Amazon, while the four disc edition bumps the price another $5. A trailer with a peek at some of those extras and the full list of details awaits after the break, but an explanation for why anyone would ever try to touch some weird space snake is something you'll have to find on your own.Continue reading Prometheus Blu-ray specs unveiled, arrives with seven hours of extras October 9th (video)Filed under: Home Entertainment, HDPrometheus Blu-ray specs unveiled, arrives with seven hours of extras October 9th (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Amazon | Email this | Comments
Apple CEO Tim Cook writes open letter to customers concerning iOS 6 Maps
Apple CEO Tim Cook has posted an open letter to customers on Apple.com concerning iOS 6 Maps. iOS 6 Maps, which replaced the original, Google-powered iOS Maps app with one that drew data from TomTom and others, but which was more wholly owned, controlled, and realized by Apple, has been the subject of controversy since launch due to the quality of data in many areas. In the open letter, Cook apologizes for the current state of iOS 6 maps, and even goes so far as to recommend competing products from the App Store and the web. He also assures iOS 6 users that Apple will be working "non-stop" to make iOS 6 Maps live up to Apple's standards. (If you want to help Apple improve it, you can submit corrections using the built-in tools.) Apple began buying map-releated companies in 2009. Earlier this year, iMore learned Apple planned to remove as much of Google from the core of iOS as possible, including at the location data level. It later became known that Apple and Google had been feuding for some time over features, branding, and data usage in the original maps app. Interestingly, in a poll of iMore readers conducted last night, more than 50 percent reported a positive outlook on maps. Back before iOS 6 Maps was even announced, iMore reported on the realities of Apple's the upcoming Maps product, trying to set realistic expectations. That report now seems to have been largely accurate. Due to the nature and importance of the problems with iOS 6 Maps, mainstream news organizations have been reporting on it throughout the last week. When that happens, Apple typically knows they have to issue a statement and take back control of the story. Previous open letters have included the iPhone 4 "antennagate", the lack of Flash plugin support in iOS, the health of Apple's late CEO, Steve Jobs, and the use of DRM (digital rights management) on iTunes music. In other words, It's a BIG DEAL and a very public sign that Apple is taking a situation very seriously. Google is expected to release a version of their popular Maps product into the iOS App Store eventually, although they're playing it coy at this point. The deeper problem Apple still has to address is -- how could Apple let this happen? How could Apple release a product that could reasonably be seen to have this consequence, without internally identifying and pre-emptively addressing it at either of their two announcement events, WWDC or the iPhone 5 event, and how could they let the story run away from them for a over a week before responding? This isn't a case of measuring a response to an unforeseeable situation twice and cutting it loose to the press and public once. This is a case of risk assessment and mitigation gone wrong, and of brand currency expended. Apple doesn't only have to fix maps, they have to fix the process that resulted in Tim Cook having to write this letter. Source: Apple.com To our customers, At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better. We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up. There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you. While we?re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app. Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard. Tim Cook Apple?s CEO MapsFeaturedNews
PSA: $25 Google Play credit for Nexus 7 ends this weekend
Those who have been keeping a close eye on Google's 7-inch, Jelly Bean-loaded Nexus 7 would know that the company kindly includes 25 bucks worth of Play credit with any purchase of said tablet. Unfortunately, as the famed cliché would tell us, all good things must come to an end -- and, well, such is the case with this neat promotion, which will expire on Sunday, September 30th. Here's the good news, however: there's still a relatively good amount of time for folks interested to get it on the Google Play deal, so now would be the perfect moment to snag what some are calling the best $200 tablet -- and who knows, this might even lead to a post-order Gangnam Style celebration of your own.Filed under: Misc, Tablets, GooglePSA: $25 Google Play credit for Nexus 7 ends this weekend originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Google | Email this | Comments
Apple?s music streaming service reportedly hit a road block over licensing fees
Apple (AAPL) has reportedly been unable to come to an agreement with the�world’s largest music publishing company over licensing fees for its Pandora-like music streaming service that was set to debut alongside the iPhone 5, according to the New York Post. Sony/ATV is said have wanted a higher rate per song stream, however Apple refused to agree to the publisher’s request. Music distributors, such as Pandora (P), usually pay a statutory rate that has been set for all songs played on the Internet. Apple is looking to do more than Pandora, however, and instead had to negotiate with individual rights holders like Sony/ATV. According to the New York Post’s sources, Apple is interested in more flexible licenses that will permit
Caturday: cat and mouse
Reader Jeffrey H. sends in this snapshot of Gorky going to town on an uncaring mouse.Caturday: cat and mouse originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Give your BlackBerry a sheet of armor with a Clear-Coat protection for your BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930
"The Clear-Coat protection for your BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 will provide you with all the protection you need without the added bulk that is accosiated with traditional cases." In Short: "Thin, clear, and ultra-protective" Should I Buy? "If you hate cases you'll love the Clear-Coat for your BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930" BUY NOW More and more I see people giving up those bulky cases and leaving their BlackBerry Smartphones completely naked, completely unprotected. With an unprotected Smartphone you are just asking for it to get damaged. Remember, that phone you?re holding is worth about five hundred dollars, so isn?t some sort of protection worth it? Now, if you?re still choosing to go without a case, I recommend taking a look at the invisible Clear-Coat full body protection for your BlackBerry Smartphone. Continue reading to see if the Clear-Coat protection for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is for you. read moreCrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Give your BlackBerry a sheet of armor with a Clear-Coat protection for your BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930
Will we see these Gameloft and Halfbrick games on BlackBerry 10 at launch?
Back in May at BlackBerry World, Gameloft announced they would have 11 games ready to go for the launch of BlackBerry 10. We saw one of those games, Shark Dash, demoed today during the BlackBerry Jam keynote as well as Jetpack Joyride by Halfbrick (which was mentioned back in April), but what's also interesting is what we noticed in the video that wasn't mentioned or demoed. During Alec Saunder's portion of the keynote he and Marty Mallick took a look through the new BlackBerry App World and while scrolling through the games we noticed a few gems that we can't wait to see on the upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices. As you can see in the screenshots above, three Gameloft titles (Let's Golf 3, Nova 3, Asphalt 7: Heat) and Fruit Ninja by Halfbrick are all listed in the future version of App World, so we're guessing these are some of the other titles that will be ready to go when BlackBerry 10 launches. While we know a lot of you are tired of seeing so many games, I think it's great to see these big name game developers committing to BlackBerry 10 and the future of BlackBerry. CrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Will we see these Gameloft and Halfbrick games on BlackBerry 10 at launch?
9700 with OS 6.0.0.448 - hear winding sound listening to voice messages
I have a person with a 9700 blackberry. The OS system was upgraded to 6.0.0.448 so that an application called Proof Point could be used.
But now if...
But now if...
Element's new Sector case for iPhone 5
I'm a fan of Element Case iPhone cases, made in the USA by trained machinists using premium parts. No, they aren't cheap. Yes, they are amazing. The latest from Element is the Sector, and it will fit the iPhone 5. Not only that, but the case debuts a single-screw connector, whittling down the number of screws needed to remove the case to one. That's a welcome relief for those of us who like to remove their cases once in a while.
Full press release is below, but the Sector 5 will be US$159.99 with suede backing and $149.99 without. Element Case is now taking pre-orders.
Show full PR text
September 27, 2012 - San Carlos, CA - Element Case (www.elementcase.com), the premier manufacturer of premium, luxury accessories for Apple iPhone and iPad, today debuted its latest creation - the Sector 5 FE (First Edition) case for iPhone 5. This unique design features a modular "multi-link" design never before utilized in iPhone protection. The Individual links are each CNC machined in the USA from aircraft grade 6061 aluminum billet as well as special non-disclosed aerospace grade polymers to prevent signal loss. US made Stainless steel fasteners are used to attach the links to form an ultra-strong, feather light design.
The Sector 5's new multi-link perimeter frame design is comprised of 8 individual links to create a modular design that allows endless customization or upgrade possibilities. A single screw removal system allows the multi-link design to "unfold" for quick and easy installation.
The interchangeable back plate on the "First Edition" model will be genuine Ultrasuede with more back plate options to come on later models including carbon fiber, genuine leather and more. The highest quality US machining techniques, aerospace grade materials and unrivaled designs yield Element Case's finest case to date, and once again an entry into the iPhone accessory market unlike any other.
"Sector 5 is the culmination of years of design research and refinement since Element Case was founded in 2007," said Jeff Sasaki, Founder and Lead Designer. "We've crafted something really unique, innovative and completely outside the concept of an iPhone case for the ultimate Apple enthusiast."
Available now for iPhone 4, and with a limited units of Sector 5 FE or "First Edition" to be released only to the Element Case Loyal Customers program, Element Case has asked for new customers to expect a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks for delivery from time of pre-order. Each product requires precision machining, hand finishing and expert assembly for completion in small, made-to-order batches. The Sector 5 FE model will be available only in a special Gunmetal grey Flux finish with a matching ultra-suede back plate. More colors to be made available after FE production.
The Sector 5 is $159.99 with the Ultrasude backing, or $149.99 without.
The Sector's features include:
· Ultra thin "Multi-link" system for fast and easy install
· Modular design for replacement and upgrade parts option
· CNC machined in the US using aerospace grade materials
· Large volume control ports for easy access
· Laser engraved FE "First Edition" insignia
· Large peripheral ports, fully compatible for the 30 Pin or Lightning cables
· Protective Zipper case with transit kit (screen protector and speed wrench)
· Carbon Fiber back plate and Genuine Ultra suede back plate.
About Element Case
Founded in 2007 by veteran Industrial Designer Jeff Sasaki, Element Case Inc. (www.elementcase.com)
has become the market leader in premium iPhone and iPad accessories. Sasaki's California team continues to surpass the expectations of even the most discerning Apple fans by continually offering breakthrough designs which incorporate precision machining, top quality craftsmanship and the highest grade materials. Element Case products are available online at the company's website and through retailers and distributors. Made in USA, Element Case products are very exclusive but can found in more than 20 countries.
Element's new Sector case for iPhone 5 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Full press release is below, but the Sector 5 will be US$159.99 with suede backing and $149.99 without. Element Case is now taking pre-orders.
Show full PR text
September 27, 2012 - San Carlos, CA - Element Case (www.elementcase.com), the premier manufacturer of premium, luxury accessories for Apple iPhone and iPad, today debuted its latest creation - the Sector 5 FE (First Edition) case for iPhone 5. This unique design features a modular "multi-link" design never before utilized in iPhone protection. The Individual links are each CNC machined in the USA from aircraft grade 6061 aluminum billet as well as special non-disclosed aerospace grade polymers to prevent signal loss. US made Stainless steel fasteners are used to attach the links to form an ultra-strong, feather light design.
The Sector 5's new multi-link perimeter frame design is comprised of 8 individual links to create a modular design that allows endless customization or upgrade possibilities. A single screw removal system allows the multi-link design to "unfold" for quick and easy installation.
The interchangeable back plate on the "First Edition" model will be genuine Ultrasuede with more back plate options to come on later models including carbon fiber, genuine leather and more. The highest quality US machining techniques, aerospace grade materials and unrivaled designs yield Element Case's finest case to date, and once again an entry into the iPhone accessory market unlike any other.
"Sector 5 is the culmination of years of design research and refinement since Element Case was founded in 2007," said Jeff Sasaki, Founder and Lead Designer. "We've crafted something really unique, innovative and completely outside the concept of an iPhone case for the ultimate Apple enthusiast."
Available now for iPhone 4, and with a limited units of Sector 5 FE or "First Edition" to be released only to the Element Case Loyal Customers program, Element Case has asked for new customers to expect a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks for delivery from time of pre-order. Each product requires precision machining, hand finishing and expert assembly for completion in small, made-to-order batches. The Sector 5 FE model will be available only in a special Gunmetal grey Flux finish with a matching ultra-suede back plate. More colors to be made available after FE production.
The Sector 5 is $159.99 with the Ultrasude backing, or $149.99 without.
The Sector's features include:
· Ultra thin "Multi-link" system for fast and easy install
· Modular design for replacement and upgrade parts option
· CNC machined in the US using aerospace grade materials
· Large volume control ports for easy access
· Laser engraved FE "First Edition" insignia
· Large peripheral ports, fully compatible for the 30 Pin or Lightning cables
· Protective Zipper case with transit kit (screen protector and speed wrench)
· Carbon Fiber back plate and Genuine Ultra suede back plate.
About Element Case
Founded in 2007 by veteran Industrial Designer Jeff Sasaki, Element Case Inc. (www.elementcase.com)
has become the market leader in premium iPhone and iPad accessories. Sasaki's California team continues to surpass the expectations of even the most discerning Apple fans by continually offering breakthrough designs which incorporate precision machining, top quality craftsmanship and the highest grade materials. Element Case products are available online at the company's website and through retailers and distributors. Made in USA, Element Case products are very exclusive but can found in more than 20 countries.
Element's new Sector case for iPhone 5 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Samsung Galaxy Note II variants for AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon possibly caught at the FCC
It's no secret that Samsung plans to bring the Galaxy Note II to many US carriers by mid-fall. Even so, getting there requires the FCC's blessing -- which makes us glad to see the regulator approve what might be three carriers' variants of the giant Android phone. The SGH-i317 looks to be the model for AT&T and Canadian carriers, having been greenlit for their key 3G and 4G bands while lining up with a briefly available benchmark of the device sharing the Note II's HD screen and use of Jelly Bean. The SCH-i605? Based on its inclusions of both CDMA and GSM, a lone 700MHz LTE band and a past screen capture leak, it's a dual-mode Note II destined for Verizon. As for the SGH-T889, it's even more conspicuous beyond what we've already seen: the T889's HSPA includes the 1,700MHz AWS frequency that T-Mobile will still call home for a long while. LTE likewise exists on the 1,700MHz and roaming-friendly 700MHz bands in possible instances of futureproofing. While we rarely want to say a mobile device is confirmed until we see it first-hand, the convenient timing and natures of the three FCC approvals only help to fuel suspicions that Samsung's pen-focused event on October 24th is all about the Note II's American launch.Filed under: Cellphones, MobileSamsung Galaxy Note II variants for AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon possibly caught at the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | FCC (1), (2), (3) | Email this | Comments
Tim Cook apologizes for Apple Maps failure
Apple CEO Tim Cook has apologized to customers today for the failed Apple iOS 6 maps software.The exec even encouraged users to seek out better alternatives from Google and Bing.Cook says the company is "extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers." The mapping software "fell short" of the company's normally high standards and he promised a quick improvement.Added the CEO: "While we're improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like (Microsoft's) Bing, (AOL's (AOL) MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia (NOK) maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their Web app."Apple removed Google Maps, the golden standard of the industry, with its own software during the launch of iOS 6 on September 19th.The new Maps app has quickly become infamous, however, due to its incorrect directions, incorrect locations, and blurry or incomplete maps and points of interest.Permalink | Comments
fredag 28 september 2012
Microsoft details its own Windows 8 rollout, lessons learned from 'dogfooding'
If a company won't use its own products, how can it expect others to? Many customers, especially on the enterprise side of the equation, are understandably a little wary of the drastic change that awaits them when upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8. So, Microsoft decided to share what it has learned from its own experience dogfooding the new OS around the Redmond campus (and likely beyond). While the company is a little light on specifics of the low-volume rollout, it does highlight some of the features available to IT departments that should make transitioning easier. It even offers a few pointers along the way. Sure, there's plenty of back-patting involved, but tips like using IT Easy Installer to automate deployments and trim install times by half shouldn't be dismissed. There's also some information about its support system for early adopters which included a knowledge base called Pointers that helped highlight the most important issues needing to be addressed. For more details hit up the source link and get ready to embrace your inner IT nerd.Filed under: Software, MicrosoftMicrosoft details its own Windows 8 rollout, lessons learned from 'dogfooding' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | MSDN | Email this | Comments
Armchair analysis of BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012 and Research In Motion earnings preview
This year is a first for me. I've attended every single BlackBerry developer's conference, held annually in California, since DevCon started several years ago. But not this year. I ran into a schedule conflict and had to make a decision. So here I am, back at home, catching up on the keynote videos and reading everything I can to understand stakeholder reactions to the show. It's an interesting week, that's for sure. The stock hit yet another low on the back of the iPhone 5 release, which happened to coincide with an ill-timed BIS quality of service issue (it wasn't an "outage" - all data got through just fine... things we're just delayed for a bit). This all happened ahead of the�BlackBerry Jam keynote, which is now over. And following this we'll soon see RIM announce quarterly results in just a few hours. read moreCrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Armchair analysis of BlackBerry Jam Americas 2012 and Research In Motion earnings preview
China certifies iPhone 5, sales may begin in October
It looks like China will get the iPhone 5 sooner than previously thought, M.I.C. Gadget reports. Two models of the iPhone 5 received China Compulsory Certificate approval less than a week after it officially went on sale. Previous certifications took two months on average, with the iPhone 4S gaining its certification in December 2011 for sale in January 2012.
The iPhone 5 must also receive a MIIT network license and approval from China Radio Management before sales begin. M.I.C. Gadget suggests that sales will begin in October, but whether that's fact or fodder for a Rumor Roundup, we'll find out soon. But with the certification, the Magic 8-Ball is pointing to all signs looking good for a Chinese rollout of the iPhone 5 soon.China certifies iPhone 5, sales may begin in October originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
The iPhone 5 must also receive a MIIT network license and approval from China Radio Management before sales begin. M.I.C. Gadget suggests that sales will begin in October, but whether that's fact or fodder for a Rumor Roundup, we'll find out soon. But with the certification, the Magic 8-Ball is pointing to all signs looking good for a Chinese rollout of the iPhone 5 soon.China certifies iPhone 5, sales may begin in October originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
HP reportedly plans to ?aggressively attack? smartphone and tablet markets
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) CEO Meg Whitman recently admitted that the�company�will “ultimately” offer another smartphone. The executive was�reluctant to give further details, however recent reports claimed�HP was testing a device on the Android operating system. In a research note to investors on Thursday, per ZDNet, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said that he believes HP will “aggressively attack” the smartphone and tablet markets. The analyst notes that it is a risky investment, however. “While the move makes sense strategically, we see it as a high risk move,” Misek said. “On top of adding costs and working capital burdens to an already stressed balance sheet, there could be additional write-offs.” The analyst concluded his arguments by pointing out that nearly all PC manufacturers have
NASA's Curiosity rover finds ancient streambed on Mars, evidence of 'vigorous' water flow
Curiosity may have spent a while limbering up for the mission ahead, but now it's found evidence of an ancient streambed on Mars that once had "vigorous" water flow. Photos of two rock outcroppings taken by the rover's mast camera between the north rim of Gale Crater and the foot of Mount Sharp reveal gravel embedded into a layer of conglomerate rock. The shape of the small stones indicate to NASA JPL scientists that they were previously moved, and their size (think from grains of sand to golf balls) are a telltale sign that water did the work instead of wind. Evidence of H2O on Mars has been spotted before, but this is the first direct look at the composition of riverbeds NASA has observed from above. According to Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich, it's estimated that water flowed at the site anywhere from thousands to millions of years ago, moved at a clip of roughly 3 feet per second and was somewhere between ankle and hip deep. "A long-flowing stream can be a habitable environment," Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger said. "It is not our top choice as an environment for preservation of organics, though. We're still going to Mount Sharp, but this is insurance that we have already found our first potentially habitable environment."Continue reading NASA's Curiosity rover finds ancient streambed on Mars, evidence of 'vigorous' water flowFiled under: Science, AltNASA's Curiosity rover finds ancient streambed on Mars, evidence of 'vigorous' water flow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Computer World, CNN | NASA (JPL) | Email this | Comments
Cellcom to offer iPhone 5 for $149 and up starting Friday
Small carrier Cellcom just announced pricing details for the iPhone 5, which it will offer starting this Friday, September 28th. Apple's latest smartphone will run on the carrier's 3G network, and pricing for the various models is as follows: $149 for the 16GB version, $249 for 32GB and $349 for 64GB. iPhone 5 owners on Cellcom will have to choose one of four plans, ranging from $69.95 for unlimited testing and 200 voice minutes to $109.95 for unlimited voice, text and 2,048MB of data. (Of course, there's a mandatory two-year contract as well.) Head past the break for the carrier's full press release.Continue reading Cellcom to offer iPhone 5 for $149 and up starting FridayFiled under: Cellphones, MobileCellcom to offer iPhone 5 for $149 and up starting Friday originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Apple reportedly had one year left on Google maps contract
It would appear Apple and Google could have kept the Maps app powered by Google for another year, at least according to sources who spoke to The Verge. The decision was made before WWDC this year, and caught Google unaware (according to sources), which is why we still don't have a Google Maps app.
According to the report, Apple felt Google's offering was lagging behind. Plus there's the contractual limitation of turn-by-turn directions (available on Android), as well as the added drama of Google requesting more branding and the inclusion of Latitude.
Despite having a year left on the established app, however, Apple decided to go it alone. The Verge, and we here at TUAW, are already seeing progress on data points which were missing or incorrect, but mapping the planet and adding relevant data for businesses and such is -- quite literally -- no small matter.Apple reportedly had one year left on Google maps contract originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
According to the report, Apple felt Google's offering was lagging behind. Plus there's the contractual limitation of turn-by-turn directions (available on Android), as well as the added drama of Google requesting more branding and the inclusion of Latitude.
Despite having a year left on the established app, however, Apple decided to go it alone. The Verge, and we here at TUAW, are already seeing progress on data points which were missing or incorrect, but mapping the planet and adding relevant data for businesses and such is -- quite literally -- no small matter.Apple reportedly had one year left on Google maps contract originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Here Are The 23 Nintendo Wii U Launch Titles
The Nintendo Wii U launches on November 18 with the support of 23 games. Nintendo stated previously that there would be 50 available before March 31, so, relatively so, the Wii U is launching with a strong amount of games including New Super Mario Bros U, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and, yes, Nintendo Land, the game Nintendo hopes will be the Wii Sports of its new console (it won't).
Synch with Desktop Problem
I use a Torch 9800 and Desktop Manager 6 and MS Outlook. I also use two separate computers. When I travel I copy all the Blackberry and Outlook...
smart forstars concept includes projector-snout and smartphone remote
What’s that, your car doesn’t have a projector hidden in its hood? You’re obviously not as achingly cool as smart, with the German car brand outing its forstars�SUC (Sports Utility Coup�) at the Paris Auto Show today. Tipped to offer “a glimpse of the brand’s future design idiom” the electric two-seater features a�60 kW magneto-electric Read The Full Story
European regulators set to file antitrust suit against Microsoft
Regulators in Europe are reportedly set to file an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft (MSFT) related to the company’s failure to comply with a three-year-old ruling ordering it to offer users a choice of Web browsers on Windows PCs. An investigation into Microsoft’s breach of the order was opened this past July, and the company had previously acknowledged the violation last year. “The next step is to open a formal proceeding into the company’s breach of an agreement. We are working on this,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Thursday. “It should not be a long investigation because the company itself explicitly recognized its breach of the agreement.” Reuters reports that if the Redmond, Washington-based company is found guilty, it
torsdag 27 september 2012
What do you think of iOS 6 Maps? [Poll]
What do you think of iOS 6 Maps? So iOS 6 has been out for over a week now, and that means everyone has had a chance to test out the new iOS 6 Maps apps for over a week. So what do you think of it? Is it the best Maps app ever? Is it okay with a few rough edges? Is it bad but you hope it gets better? Or is it a totally mapping disaster? Back before Apple even announced the new Maps app at WWDC 2012, Rene wrote a post on what to expect in terms of both potential features and problems. And I dare say it's turned out to be pretty accurate. Do you think people were expecting too much? Or do you think Apple failed to deliver too much? Should Apple have done a better job warning users that there might be growing pains? Apple can make beautiful map tiles and fancy flyover views all they want, but if the core map data isn't accurate, it's a big problem. If it's accurate in some places and terrible in others, that's still a big problem. Especially since Google doesn't seem likely to have a Google Maps app ready for the App Store any time soon, and the Google Maps mobile website is a stop-gap at best. I know you've got an opinion on this one, so vote up top and tell me how you really feel in the comments! Mapsios 6 mapsGoogle MapsPollFeaturedPoll
Action! 15 Jaw-Dropping Videos Shot on a GoPro
1. Mountain Biker Gets Wiped Out by Antelope
Waaaiiit for it ... ouch.Click here to view this gallery.
A camera that can survive shark bites, skydiving free falls and probably a stomping by Godzilla is bound to produce some pretty stellar footage. The GoPro line of durable, wearable digital cameras has filmmakers and amateurs alike testing the limits of the device.
SEE ALSO: 10 Animals Confused by Their Own Reflections [VIDEOS]
Whether the camera is hanging ten on massive waves in Hawaii or taking a ride in the mouth of a mischievous seagull, the result is almost always impressive. So we put on our adventure caps and scoured YouTube for 15 of the most incredible GoPro videos.
Take a flip through the gallery above for a front row seat to some wondrous experiences. Got any to add? Le… Continue reading...
More About: Watercooler, YouTube, viral videos
Waaaiiit for it ... ouch.Click here to view this gallery.
A camera that can survive shark bites, skydiving free falls and probably a stomping by Godzilla is bound to produce some pretty stellar footage. The GoPro line of durable, wearable digital cameras has filmmakers and amateurs alike testing the limits of the device.
SEE ALSO: 10 Animals Confused by Their Own Reflections [VIDEOS]
Whether the camera is hanging ten on massive waves in Hawaii or taking a ride in the mouth of a mischievous seagull, the result is almost always impressive. So we put on our adventure caps and scoured YouTube for 15 of the most incredible GoPro videos.
Take a flip through the gallery above for a front row seat to some wondrous experiences. Got any to add? Le… Continue reading...
More About: Watercooler, YouTube, viral videos
Beam RPD telepresence robot costs over $16,000
A company called Suitable Technologies is unveiling a new remote presence robots system. The robotic system is called the Beam Remote Presence System or Beam RPS. The robotic system is designed to allow people to travel instantly to remote locations using video conferencing on a mobile platform. The Beam RPS system has three components, including Read The Full Story
Leaked internal marketing video containing BlackBerry 10 L & N series phones appears online... first look at BB10 w/ keyboard!
* Update 2: And it's back... watch above while it lasts.�*� * Update: The video has been removed from the vimeo account. I'm sure it's been downloaded a bunch of times by now though so I'm sure it'll be not that hard to find if you look through the comments below in a bit as people re-upload it... *� We've all been waiting to see it, and today a video surfaced online which gives us a pretty proper look at both BlackBerry L Series and N series devices. The L Series is the full touchscreen which we already have a pretty good understanding of (see this hot video render). As for the N series, this is the first time we've been able to get a good visual of what the long-awaited�BlackBerry 10�phone with a full qwerty keyboard will look like. As we saw when CrackBerry�leaked the first photo of a BlackBerry 10 phone�in January, it looks like this video is coming from creative that was produced for internal use only (marketing agency pitches). There's a lot of photo chopped looking stuff in here, but it's looking pretty legit based on other leaks we have seen to date. As for the source of the video, it's looking like this may be the dumbest leak of all time. It appears the video was posted online to�vimeo�by a guy named Rob Jury, who appears to be the guy who edited the video. Ouch. We've pulled a few screen caps from the video which you see below. Be sure to check out the video and photos, drool, and sound off in the comments! Source:�Vimeo�� CrackBerry.com's feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Leaked internal marketing video containing BlackBerry 10 L & N series phones appears online... first look at BB10 w/ keyboard!
Siri and iPhone 5 vs. the World ? of Smartphones [VIDEO]
Apple's Siri artificial intelligence voice assistant is almost a year old, but remains a highlight of innovation for Apple, especially in its iOS 6 update and the brand-spanking new iPhone 5.
But how good is it, really?
Generally, we're fans of Siri, for her politeness, ability to ferret good answers out of natural-language questions and sense of humor. Apple's Siri is not, however, alone in the world of voice recognition, especially not on smart phones. Those carrying around a variety of Google Android-based devices also have some pretty powerful voice capabilities.
With Jelly Bean (A.K.A. Android 4.1), Google significantly increased the p… Continue reading...
More About: apple, iPhone 5, siri, smartphone, trending
But how good is it, really?
Generally, we're fans of Siri, for her politeness, ability to ferret good answers out of natural-language questions and sense of humor. Apple's Siri is not, however, alone in the world of voice recognition, especially not on smart phones. Those carrying around a variety of Google Android-based devices also have some pretty powerful voice capabilities.
With Jelly Bean (A.K.A. Android 4.1), Google significantly increased the p… Continue reading...
More About: apple, iPhone 5, siri, smartphone, trending
Xbox Music pricing details outed in Windows 8 app
Microsoft is beginning to pare back its Zune offerings to make way for Xbox Music, a brand new service that is still a mystery for the most part. Today, however, we’re getting some details on Xbox Music’s pricing and an ever-so-brief glimpse at the user interface it will sport on Xbox 360. The pricing information Read The Full Story
Google Play Books Updated with Maps and Translations
Google recently updated its Play Books application for Android devices and added a number of new features. Google Play Books can now translate text that users highlight as well as provide definitions. Users need only select the text in order to gain access to the translations or definitions. Play Books also adds the ability to interaction with Google Maps. Users can select a location named in the text, and the app will open a pop-up box with the location placed on a map and links to Google searches about the location. The update is a free download from the Google Play Store.
FIFA Soccer 13 lands on iPhone, iPad with online multiplayer -- at last!
EA Sports has just launched its latest iteration of the hugely successful soccer franchise FIFA 13. The new version of FIFA has some nice new features over and above last year?s version but the most significant is the long overdue ability to play against your friends in an online multiplayer mode. JOIN THE CLUB! Are you ready for the most authentic football game on the App Store? FIFA 13 is more realistic than ever ? with all the authenticity and innovation you?ve come to expect from the FIFA franchise. Matches come to life with groundbreaking graphics and the most responsive controls ever delivered on iOS. Challenge friends and other football fans from all over the world with the all-new Online Multiplayer mode! For the first time ever! Compete with friends anytime, anywhere using Online Multiplayer. Rise to the top of the Leaderboards and use superstars like Messi and Benzema to crush your competitors around the world. FIFA 13 offers some great soccer gaming features like teams from 30 of the top leagues in the world, 500 officially licensed teams with real player names, management modes and of course the long awaited multi-player. Unfortunately multi-player is done via EA?s own Origin service rather than Apple?s Game Centre but if it works well, who really cares. FIFA 13 is a universal binary so works great on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, the new iPad, iPod touch 3 (16 GB and above), and iPod touch 4. EA claims that the best gaming experience will be on the iPhone 4S, iPad 2 or the new iPad; no mention of the iPhone 5 in the write up although they do claim it is compatible. $6.99 Download Now Fifa13SoccerEaMultiplayerApp Store AppsGamesNews
iPhone 5 review
The definitive guide to Apple's taller, thinner, lighter, brighter iPhone 5 The iPhone 5 was, is, and remains inevitable. An iPhone, new to be certain, but still an iPhone. Some say this is a sign Apple has lost their drive for innovation. Others, a sign Apple has kept their sense of focus. Both are facets of a single truth -- that through craft something is revolutionized, refined, and one day, replaced. The question then becomes, where is the iPhone 5 along this continuum? Is it a boring, uninspired, end-of-line update that should have Apple desperately seeking to once again "think different", or is it iconically, deceptively, insanely great enough to delight customers, inspire developers, and once again drive the entire industry forward? Previously on iPhone... A lot of the features found in the iPhone 5 can also be found in earlier generation iPhones. Rather than repeat any of it, here are our previous iPhone reviews: iPhone 4S review (October 2012) iPhone 4 Review (June 2010) iPhone 3GS review (June 2009) iPhone 3G review (June 2008) iPhone 5: The technology Gone is the sandwich of chemically treated glass, and stainless steel antenna of the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4. And in their place the iPhone 5 offers a lighter, thinner unibody that houses not only a new, all-digital Lightning connector, fast LTE 4G networking, a monstrous Apple A6 processor, but for the first time, a taller, in-cell display. iPhone 5: The design The iPhone 5 doesn't offer a radically new shape, but the shape is about the only thing that's not radically new this year. Measuring 123.8 mm high, 58.6 mm wide, and 7.6 mm deep, the iPhone 5 rises higher than the iPhone 4S but no wider. It's also 18% thinner and 20% lighter. It's so light and thin that it almost feels fake, like a dummy phone at a carrier store. Almost. Apple claims it's both bigger and smaller, that there's both more of it and less of it. And that's absolutely true. In fact, it takes a moment -- an awkward, giddy moment -- to adjust to the sensory paradox. Because the overall volume of the iPhone 5 is 12% less than its predecessor, it feels like it's gone from a short, substantial slab to a long, lithe slice. With a chassis carved from anodized 6000 series aluminum, hardened Gorilla Glass on the front, and inlays of ceramic or pigmented glass on the back, the iPhone 5 has been compared both favorably and ludicrously to precision, luxury time pieces. Hyperbole aside, the manufacturing process literally does have to be seen to be believed. The iPhone 5 still only comes in two colors, but this year those two colors are also two-toned. There's black and slate, and white and silver. The black is Darth Vader black, and can all but disappear on a dark surface in low light. The white is Storm Trooper white, its crystalline diamond-cut chamfers brighter and shinier than ever. While the blackout look of the anodized aluminum on the black and slate iPhone 5 is more singular, more monolithic, it will also show chips, scuffs, and scratches more readily than the naked aluminum of the white and silver model. Neither, however, are immune to that particular phenomena. I exchanged my first iPhone 5 after noticing a chip in the bezel, but the new one has held up just fine under normal, careful use. Unfortunately, there's no adamantium/vibranium super metal in the real world. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S had glass backs that were susceptible to shattering with sufficient impact. The iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS had plastic backs that were susceptible to cracking along the edges. The iPods had and have stainless steel backs that have always been susceptible to scratching and scuffing with normal use as well. If maintaining a mint-condition iPhone 5 is a concern, look into getting a case or skin. So back to the shape. Yes, the iPhone 5 is every bit the flat, rounded rectangle the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 were before it. That's intentional. It's inevitable. It might be boring or unimaginative to some, and that's a fair point. But Apple's not playing at dice. They're not spinning fashion. They're building an iPhone. An iPhone that looks like an iPhone the way a Lamborghini looks like a Lamborghini, and a MacBook Pro looks like a MacBook Pro -- the way any product from any high end brand looks like and embodies that brand. Apple conceived of this iPhone form back in 2005 and have been working inexorably towards it ever since. They're closer this year than any year past, achieving an unprecedented level of thinness and lightness, a screen that dominates the front as never before, and they've finally been able to return to aluminum for the back, albeit with glass still lingering at the top and bottom. In that regard, the leap from the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5 is no less significant, ambitious, or impressive than the leap from the original MacBook Pro to the unibody MacBook Pro in 2008. In both cases, it wasn't about making something that looked radically different but about making something that worked radically better. That's how it should be. That's how great design works. And if there's one thing Apple nails more consistently and constantly than any other company in modern memory, it's great design. The real question is, once Apple fully realizes this vision of the iPhone, once they've gotten as close to perfecting it as technology allows, what will they do next? iPhone 5: The 16:9 display The 4-inch, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1136x640 resolution, 326ppi in-cell display is the iPhone 5's most obvious, most visually impressive new feature. Up until now, every iPhone has had a 3:2 aspect ratio display. The original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS all had 3.5-inch, 480x320 resolution, 163ppi displays. With the iPhone 4 in 2010, Apple switched to the Retina display. It was still 3.5-inches, still 3:2 ratio, but the density doubled to 960x640 at 326ppi. That made the pixels essentially disappear. With the iPhone 5, for the first time, Apple has changed not only the screen size, but the aspect ratio as well. They've made it taller but not wider, bigger but no less dense. Retina was all about the quality of what you see. 16:9 is about the quantity. The reason for the screen size change was likely competitive, at least in part. Some percentage of the market was choosing a bigger screen instead of an iPhone. By switching to a bigger screen, Apple has increased their addressable market, and now people can choose an iPhone with a bigger screen. At the same time, Apple wants to maximize content and minimize distractions like bezels and casing. Given LTE 4G and the new, thinner design, Apple couldn't decrease the screen-to-casing ratio by staying with a 3.5-inch display. They can and did by switching to a larger, 4-inch one. So why 4-inches and 16:9 and not any bigger or the least bit wider? Likely because Apple didn't want to reduce the pixel density of the Retina display, impede the one-handed ease of use of the interface, or sacrifice the pocket-ability of the iPhone. Personally, I would have have liked to see Apple prototype a 4-inch, 3:2 ratio display. It would give up some pixel density, staying at 960x640 but reducing the ppi to 288, and it wouldn't have increased the amount of information that could be displayed, like the 1136x640 resolution does, but it would have made everything bigger, including text, and maintained app compatibility. For some, any change from the original 3.5-inch screen will be too much. For others, anything less than 4.5-inches or more is too little. Apple typically ignores the fringes and aims squarely at the mainstream middle. This year 4-inches at 16:9 was the biggest compromise Apple was willing to make, and the best one in their opinion. In addition to making the iPhone 5 display taller, Apple has also made it thinner. To do this, they used in-cell technology. This allowed Apple to combine the touch sensor into the LCD display, turning what were previously 2 discreet layers, into a single layer that's 0.5mm thinner. That might not sound like a lot, but when you consider the iPhone 5 is only 7.6mm to begin with, it's significant. The iPhone 5 display is still an LED-backlit LCD, so it's still bright and beautiful. It's still IPS (in-plane switching) so the viewing angle is still excellent, but in-cell makes the iPhone 5 display even better. If the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 looked like traditional cell animation, with images painted right below the glass, the iPhone 5 looks like they're painted right into it. Once again, it looks so good it almost seems fake, like a sticker instead of a screen. It also makes the iPhone 5 screen easier to read on a sunny day. Not exceptionally so, not even at a high brightness level, but better than previous generations. Add to that a 44% greater color gamut, and blacker blacks than ever before, and you have richer, truer images for everything from interface to avatar, photograph to video. It's stunning, even when compared to the already excellent iPhone 4S display. 4-inches at 16:9 is a compromise, one that avoids turning the iPhone into a tiny tablet, or losing the density and the specific type of usability Apple values. The in-cell Retina display itself is not. As of right now, it might well be the best display in the business. iPhone 5: Apple A6 performance Apple says that the iPhone 5 is twice as fast as the iPhone 4S, which sound impressive enough. Apple doesn't typically talk in GHz or RAM when it comes to iOS devices. They prefer to bring experience to a spec fight. But it's the specs that drive the experience. It's the engine in the meticulously appointed car. It's the stats behind the championship team. It's the science behind the art. In this case it's the Apple A6 system-on-a-chip (SoC), and it's the first custom processor to grace the iOS platform. Previous versions of Apple's A-series, including the A4, A5, and A5X, all ran existing processor designs like the ARM Cortex A9. This year, instead of sticking with the Cortex A9 or moving on the new ARM A15, Apple zigged instead of zagged. They licensed the ARM v7s instruction set and rolled something uniquely their own -- a 32nm CMOS dual-core 1.2GHz Apple CPU. Likewise, instead of going with the dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics chip found in the iPhone 4S, or the giant quad-core PowerVR SGX543MP4 found in the iPad 3, Apple went with the triple-core PowerVR SGX543MP3 GPU. And they topped it all off with 1GB of RAM. Storage isn't any bigger or any faster this year -- you have the same 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB options you had before -- but everything else about the iPhone 5 feels perceptively faster, and it's because of the custom Apple A6. I didn't think Apple would go the custom CPU route for another year or two, but clearly they're investing heavily in chipset architecture and its paying off. Existing between the ARM Cortex A9 and A15, and between dual-core and quad-core PowerVR chips, freed Apple to find the best balance of performance vs. power consumption. What's more, Apple laid out the processor manually. Which is to say, by hand. That's almost unheard of these days, and shows just how seriously Apple is taking every bit and atom of the iPhone's design. First, the numbers. While Geekbench and Sunspider are the perfunctory performance metrics, they're neither scientific measures nor real-world indicators. There's simply no way to account for the differences in architectures and "optimizations" across platforms. Likewise, HTML5test measures only iOS 6 Safari's compatibility with standards, and nothing iPhone 5-specific at al. Still, for what they're worth, here they are: Complete iPhone 5 vs iPhone 4S vs iPad 3 vs Android: Benchmark shootout Real world performance is more important. How long it takes the iPhone 5 to boot, to launch and app or game, to render a website, and to resolve things like location and dictation are what really matter to real people. In that regard, both the iPhone 4 and the iPad 3 bore the burden of being the first devices of their class to have to run Retina displays, and that drained performance away from the overall system. With that already "paid" for, the iPhone 4S flew, and the iPhone 5 flies even faster. It's so fast now, especially when combined with the new network connectivity (see below) that the mechanics really, truly disappear. Apple nailed the 1:1 multitouch tracking with the original iPhone, but some lag and stutter and delay has always lingered around the edges of the OS. Not any more, at least not that I encountered. With the iPhone 5, you're not waiting for pixels to push or on-device data to load or system processes to catch up. You're just doing. And you're doing it flawlessly enough that you don't even notice. Apple sought to make the iPhone 5 twice as fast as the iPhone 4S and they've succeeded brilliantly. The Apple A6 is an absolute beast. iPhone 5: LTE 4G and the radios Apple has significantly upgraded wireless networking on the iPhone 5. Firstly, while 802.11n Wi-Fi has been an option for a while now, the iPhone was previously restricted to more the crowded 2.4GHz frequency. Thanks to a Murata Wi-Fi module, which includes the Broadcom BCM4334 chip, the iPhone 5 can use 802.11n on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Bluetooth 4.0 has been carried over from the iPhone 4S, and while its low-power, instant pairing holds the same promise today that it did last year, we're still waiting for the accessory industry to catch up and make good on that promise. What there isn't is NFC (Near-field Communications), which is used for commercial transactions, rapid checkins, and other, similar, touch-and-go data exchanges. Apple doesn't seem to believe NFC is the solution to any current mainstream problem, at least not yet. There are other technologies Apple can and is using for similar purposes, like the mobile checkout option on the Apple Store app, but it'll likely be a while before Apple thinks the market is ready for a full-out Apple NFC or NFC-like solution. It's chicken-and-the-egg, of course, but Apple has traditionally been conservative when it comes to radios. They waited until the second generation iPhone to add GPS and 3G, after all, and until now to add LTE 4G. LTE 4G (Long Term Evolution) provides for a theoretical maximum of 100Mbps, which is faster than many home-based ISP connections. The iPad got LTE 4G support back in March, and performed incredibly well with it. The iPhone 5 adds newer, more advanced radio chipsets -- the Qualcomm MDM9615 and RTR8600. It also keeps Apple's dynamic antenna design, so it can switch to provide the best connection possible LTE 4G support is split over three models, two GSM and one CDMA, in order to meet the needs of different international carriers on different bands, and segments of those bands. According to Apple, current iPhone 5 LTE 4G supports: Model A1428: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (AWS, 700b MHz) for AT&T, Rogers/Fido, Bell/Virgin, and TELUS/Koodo Model A1429: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (2100, 1800, 850, 700c, 1900 MHz) for Verizon, Sprint, and KDDI Model A1429*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (2100, 1800, 850 MHz) for Deutsche Telekom, EE, Optus/Virgin, Telstra, Softbank, SK Telecom, KT, SmarTone, M1, and SingTel. LTE 4G is particularly important for Verizon and Sprint customers. While the iPhone 4S could reach a theoretical speed of 14.4Mbps on the HSPA networks used by AT&T and other GSM carriers, Verizon and Sprint iPhone 4S customers were stuck on EVDO rev A's meager 3.1Mbps. So, customers were forced to choose between fast (AT&T) and reliable (Verizon) or unlimited (Sprint). Verizon had the first and fastest LTE 4G roll out in the U.S., so not being able to take advantage of it, especially considering how slow EVDO is, was especially irksome. No longer. The iPhone 5 on Verizon is now a first class data speed citizen. My tests of LTE 4G performance have been a little strange, however. Given current tower loads, I average 30Mbps on the iPad 3 on the Rogers network. I spike at 30Mbps with the iPhone 5, but average 15Mbps. Tethering my iPad or my Mac to my iPhone 5, however, averages 30Mbps, just as I would expect. I'm inclined to chalk this up to some aberration on my phone or my carrier, however. Our community iPhone 5 speed test results show a much more normal, much more expected pattern of LTE 4G results. Technical details aside, the iPhone 5 on LTE 4G is fast. It's so fast you may forget you aren't on Wi-Fi. For that reason, just as with iPad 3 LTE 4G, you're well advised to keep an eye on bandwidth caps, especially if you're streaming a lot of video or doing a lot of tethering. (The iPad 3 is still a better choice for tethering given that it's battery is much, much bigger, and if you drain it, you aren't without your phone.) There are compromises here as well, however. Because Apple is prioritizing battery life, they're doing everything on a single radio with a single process, and because no carrier yet supports VOLTE (Voice Over LTE), the iPhone can't handle simultaneous voice and LTE data connections the way phones that use dual radio connections can. That means, if you're using LTE data and a voice call comes in, you'll drop down to HSPA data on AT&T and other GSM networks. And -- you guessed it! -- because Verizon and Sprint don't offer HSPA/GSM data, unless you're on Wi-Fi, you'll drop completely off of data while you talk, just like EVDO rev. A on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The good news is, in addition to LTE 4G, the iPhone 5 supports speedy DC-HSPA (Dual Carrier HSPA) and HSPA+ data, with a theoretical maximum speed of 42Mbps. Also, unlike early LTE 4G phones, the iPhone 5 seems to handle the drop down to HSPA and return to LTE 4G with incredible speed and grace. It works well enough in my tests that I doubt most GSM users will even notice the change. Because of LTE 4G, every iPhone now has a SIM card slot and tray, even on Verizon and Sprint. And just like the iPhone 4 switched from mini-SIM to micro-SIM, the iPhone 5 switches to nano-SIM. It's the same chip, just absent almost all the plastic surrounding it. You'll need one to use the iPhone 5, and most carriers are supplying them now. If you buy an unlocked iPhone 5 with the intention of traveling and using local SIM cards to save on roaming, you might have trouble finding them, especially on pre-paid/pay-as-you-go plans. At least for now. (Buying a mini- or micro-SIM and cutting it down is an option.) iPhone 5 pay-as-you-go options In addition to telephone service, with iOS 6, Apple and the carriers have mostly gotten FaceTime enabled over 3G/4G. Mostly. Some carriers -- like AT&T -- are only allowing it on certain plans, which is a move composed of utter cattle refuse. Be that as it may, it's not a feature specific to the iPhone 5 but it is a feature made better by the iPhone 5's LTE 4G networking. As far as I know, Apple still hasn't lived up to their promise to release the open-standards based FaceTime protocol as an open standard, so other platforms beyond iOS and OS X can implement it and make it truly, universally useful. If you are all in on Apple's ecosystem, however, it works incredibly well of LTE 4G. Again, well enough that you don't even realize you're not on Wi-Fi. And when it comes to LTE 4G, that's exactly what you want. iPhone 5: The iSight and FaceTime cameras On paper, it doesn't seem like the iPhone 5's rear-facing iSight camera got much of a boost this year. It reads as the same 8 megapixels, backside illuminated, hybrid IR filtered, 5-element, f/2.4 aperture lens as last year's iPhone 4S. And, even though the iPhone 5 now has a 16:9 screen, still photos remain 3:2 at 3264x2448px. Likewise, the LED flash seems to look and work the same as last year. Apple does list some improvements to the iPhone 5 iSight, however. There's a new, dynamic low-light mode that combines pixels together for what Apple claims is up to 2 f-stops better performance. Apple also claims the 5-element lens has been aligned with even greater precision for even greater sharpness. Also, the surface of the iSight is now made out of sapphire crystal to make it more scratch resistant. The Apple A6 chipset lends a hand here as well, with a new image signal processor (ISP) that allows for spatial noise reduction by looking at surrounding pixels to better detect and remove noise, especially in low-light conditions, while at the same time preserving large areas of contiguous color. It also makes getting to the camera, both through the fast camera swipe on the Lock screen and the Camera app itself, much quicker, and increases the shutter speed to make taking a photo faster as well. Apple says 40% faster, but regardless of the exact number, it's a perceptible increase. Most impressively, Apple has done all this in a camera that's 25% smaller than the one in iPhone 4S. Camera lenses dislike thinness, but humans like thinner phones. While some other manufacturers have resorted to adding crude bumps to allow large cameras on the backs of their otherwise thin phones, Apple's compromise here was to keep the same quality camera, enhance it slightly, but engineer it into the 18% thinner iPhone 5 body. That's a remarkable feat of engineering. So, boiling it all down, photos are much faster to take on the iPhone 5. Standard photos look great, though about as great as you'd get on the iPhone 4S. They do seem much, much better on screen, however, but only because the iPhone 5's display is so much better. HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos show marked improvements, and so much so that if you're taking landscapes you'll want to turn it on and leave it on. Sadly, while low-light has also improved and noise has been reduced, it's not by much and blur will still occur if and when your subject moves. Happily, Apple seems to have fixed the problem with focus that plagued macro shots on the iPhone 4S. You can now get really close without worrying that your subject will elude capture. If you're looking for the highest end glass you can hang off a phone, however, Apple's not on that particular bleeding edge. Nokia recently grafted a 41 megapixel lens on a Symbian camera just to show they could. Sure, it looks like it's face-hugging the body, but it shoots amazing pictures. Likewise, the upcoming Nokia Lumia 920 will use a much less pornographic version of the same PureView system, including an optical image stabilization system that actually floats the lens hardware, allowing the shutter to stay open longer and capture a better photo. Both Nokia and HTC are fielding f/2.0 lenses now as well. But the Nokia Lumia 920 is 10.7mm thick compared to the iPhone 5's 7.6 mm. That's the tradeoff for someone who values a light, thin phone that can also shoot really good photos. While not unique to the iPhone 5, iOS 6 also has a new panoramic photography mode built-in. It uses the iSight in standard mode, so you don't get many of the benefits of the iPhone 5's specific iSight camera, but it still lets you make remarkably good looking panoramas at up to 240 degrees and 28 megapixels (~10800x2332px), with remarkably little effort. The front-facing FaceTime camera is still meant more for videos than stills, but since it's been upgraded from 0.3 to 1.2 megapixels and given backlight illumination and face detection, if you need a new avatar or profile pic, you'll get a much better one with the iPhone 5 than you would have with any previous model. For anything else, you'll still want to use the iSight on the back. iPhone 5 camera tests iPhone 5 vs. iPhone 4S camera comparison Video likewise remains 1080p and 30 FPS on the iPhone 5 iSight -- there likely won't be, nor will there need to be, a 4K camera on a mobile device any time soon. Unlike still photography, however, video recording benefits greatly from the 16:9 aspect ratio. Apple drops away the menu bar when in video mode, switching to a translucent interface that really lets you see the full frame Previously, if you wanted to capture a photo while recording video, you had to press Home and the On/Off button at the same time to grab a screenshot, either while you were filming, or later, while you were playing it back. Now you simply tap the Camera button and a photo gets taken while video continues to record. And with excellent shutter speed too. There is a compromise, however. Photos captured while recording video are only 1920x1080px resolution. That's significantly smaller than the still camera's 3264x2448px. For most situations, however, the convenience eclipses the pixel cost. Like with stills, lowlight performance has been nominally improved for iPhone 5 video, though it varies from slightly to unnoticeably depending on the specifics of any scene. Either way, there'll still be grain. Video stabilization, however, has been more noticeably improved, though it can still shimmer at times when motion is minimal. Face detection for up to 10 faces, previously available on the iPhone 4S for still photography only, is now also available for video as well on the iPhone 5. The front-facing camera has had a more significant update, with Apple finally bringing the same 720p FaceTime HD capability to iOS that they brought to the Mac over a year ago. It works great, especially compared to the profoundly lackluster VGA camera that preceded it, and is now more than good enough for a video call or a YouTube-style chat-at-the-world video. iPhone 5 video recording tests iPhone 5: Audio and EarPods Back when Apple introduced the iPhone 4, they added a second mic to the top. With the iPhone 5 they've added a third mic, nestled between the iSight camera and the LED flash on the top back. Along with the traditional mic at the bottom, all three are multifunctional, now in recognition of the multifunctional ways we now use our phones. Having all three spread out the way they are means that whether you're using your iPhone as a phone, as a speaker phone, for a FaceTime call, to record a video, or to use Siri or Dictation, there's a greater likelihood you'll be heard. It also means there's a greater chance one of the mics will be well-positioned for noise-cancellation. Having three mics also means Apple can do beamforming, allowing Siri and Dictation to better discern words from the noise around them. Apple has also -- finally -- paid some attention to the main speaker at the bottom of the iPhone. With the iPhone 5, it now has a five magnet transducer, up from the two magnet transducer in previous models. Apple says that gives a better frequency response, even though the speaker itself is now 20% smaller. In our tests, the speaker did sound louder and slightly clearer, but not blow-your-hair-back better. While I certainly wouldn't want gimmicks, it would be nice for Apple to continue do everything they can to improve external speaker quality -- they are the company that brought us iTunes + iPod, after all. For everything from conferencing to hands-free to FaceTime calls, when you don't have a headset handy, the main speaker simply has to deliver. The iPhone 5 earpiece speaker has gotten noise cancellation now as well, which aids in removing ambient sounds and makes conversation cleaner and clearer. Apple has also added support for wideband audio (HD Voice being a popular brand thereof), which uses a compression method that better fills out the frequency spectrum to make voices sound more natural, and pulls them out from surrounding audio to make them more distinct. (Would that Music.app could apply it to undo the effects of AutoTune...) However, wideband audio requires carrier support and compatibility, and not all carriers support it yet, and of those that do, not all are compatible with the iPhone. Apple did say they had 20 carriers ready with wideband audio at launch, including Deutsche Telekom and Orange, but that's few enough that it should still be considered more of a bonus at this point than a standard feature. In other words, it's a big mess, and we'll probably have several more generations of iPhone released before most of us see the benefit of it. Anecdotally, however, calls I've made with the iPhone 5 do sound much better and sometimes much more human than any cellular phone I've used before. The 3.5 mm headset jack on the iPhone 5 has been moved to the bottom of the device, similar to where it's always been on the iPod touch. This isn't great news for people who liked to put their iPhone in a dock while listening to music or making calls using a headset, but it'll be welcomed by those who frequently pocket their iPhones while doing just that. Apple isn't even selling a dock for the iPhone 5, so their numbers probably tell them the latter group is more common than the former. Included in the box with the iPhone 5 is a pair of Apple's brand new EarPods. (They're also available separately for $29.) 3 years in development, they're Apple's attempt to improve upon the ubiquitous but not well loved little white earbuds that previously shipped with iOS devices. The EarPods come in a proper package, similar to the one Apple's offered with their higher-end in-ear headsets for years, which is a great way to prevent tangles or damage in pockets, purses, and bags. The shape of the EarPods is a significant divergence from the original earbuds. Instead of being uniformly round, the EarPods are asymmetrically shaped and, according to Apple, ergonomically designed to better fit a wider range of ears. No one product could ever truly fit every shape and size of ear, however. The original earbuds wouldn't stay in my ears for more than a few moments, and I've even found high end in-ear headsets challenging to keep in. The EarPods are much better than the earbuds ever were in that regard, though still not perfect, at least not for me. Sound is noticeably improved with the EarPods, however, especially clarity and bass. A large part of that is due to their new, multi-port design. The main EarPod speaker directs sound into your ear. The port on the back is tuned to mid-range frequencies and is intended to improve consistency of experience. Ports in the stem are meant to improve bass. Air channels reduce pressure on the speaker so it can concentrate on providing greater low-frequency sound. The remote and mic functions the same with the EarPods as it did with previous iPhone earbuds, allowing you to control both music and phone calls. The in-line remote is larger now, though, making it much easier to fumble for and use in real-world situations. The new Apple EarPods won't replace your $100+ in-ears or cans, much less your high-end custom jobs, but they're a fantastic replacement for the generally poor earbuds that came before. iPhone 5: The Lightning connector After almost 10 years and who knows how many cables, Apple has officially retired the fat, thick, unidirectional, 30-pin Dock connector and introduced a new, small, thin, ambi-copular interconnect for the next decade. Branded Lightning, it's 80% smaller and offers 8-signals that are all digital. Apple couldn't use their new desktop connector, ThunderBolt, because iOS devices don't have the required PCI architecture to support it. That means, yes, Lightning is not as fast as ThunderBolt. It also means that, while Lightning is all new on one side, it's still stuck on chunky, unidirectional USB 2 on the other. (It's possible Lightning may support USB 3, though the read/write speeds of current NAND Flash memory will at some point become a bottleneck.) With the advent of technologies like AirPlay, which wirelessly streams video and audio, Wi-Fi Sync which wirelessly exchanges data with iTunes, AirPrint, which wirelessly sends jobs to printers, Bluetooth 4.0 which will -- eventually -- enable a new generation of wireless accessories, and iCloud which cut the cord to the PC, why not just eliminate the Dock connector entirely? Because wired connectors still remain useful for more quickly moving large files around and, critically, for charging. Unlike Palm, Samsung, and Nokia, Apple doesn't yet see wireless charging as viable mainstream feature, and even if they did, it would be years before it could replace wired charging completely. So, the cable has to stick around and, instead of eliminating it, Apple's making it smarter. Because it's digital, Lightning can be adaptive and provide the right signal for the accessory you're plugging in. (The old 30-pin Dock wasn't, and so needed those 30-pins for everything from USB to HDMI to serial to line-in to component and composite video to... you get the idea.) For legacy accessories, Apple is currently offering 30-pin Dock to Lightning adapters, both with and without a short extension cord. To comply with European Union regulations, Apple is also offering a micro-USB to Lightning adapter. These don't support video-out, unfortunately, though Apple has said HDMI and VGA adapters will be available at some point. Analog video and serial breakouts for older TVs and scientific instruments probably aren't on the agenda, though, and while it's possible they may appear in some form in the future, changes to Apple's licensing that coincides with Lightning might make it more difficult for small suppliers to manufacture niche cables and accessories, "encouraging" the move to modern video standards and Bluetooth 4.0 for connectivity. I only ever plug my iPhone in to charge any more, and Lightning really makes no difference for that, at least not yet. It requires new cables or adapters that cost money, however, which is annoying. Inarguably, Lightning is better and more modern than 30-pin as an interconnect, but there's no compelling new accessories to "sell" that yet. That might make it sound like all Lightning gives us is pain and turbulence right now, but there is one killer new feature that Lightning did immediately enable -- a thinner iPhone. iPhone 5: The battery life Like all recent iOS devices, the iPhone 5 has a lithium-ion battery that can be charged via USB connected to a AC adapter or computer. Talk time on 3G is rated the same 8 hours as the iPhone 4S, though standby time has increased by 25 hours to 225 hours. (There's no voice over LTE yet.) Internet use time is also up, increasing 2 hours on 3G and 1 hour on Wi-Fi to 8 and 10 hours respectively. The iPhone 5 is also rated for 8 hours on LTE. Audio and video playback remain 10 and 40 hours respectively. In our tests, these numbers have proven roughly accurate. Leaving an iPhone 5 for extended periods of time, for example overnight, has resulted in minimal battery drain, and with moderate use the iPhone 5 has easily lasted a day. With heavy use, like a day on the road or at a conference, you'll need to re-charge, perhaps more than once. Until battery packs and battery cases are updated for Lightning and the new design, you'll need adapters and maybe some McGyver skills. Because of all the push, location, and iCloud services in iOS, and the speed of LTE data, you can hit the iPhone 5 really hard if you try. If you restored from a previous iPhone, you could also have problems at the system level that reduces battery life. If you set up as a new iPhone and are still having issues, check with Apple. On an iPhone 5 that was set up as new, and running a decent amount of push, location, iCloud, and other services, my battery life has been excellent. How to troubleshoot battery life issues with iOS 6 or iPhone 5 iPhone 5: The Experience The iPhone 5 ships with iOS 6, which boats over 200 new, customer-facing features including an all new Maps app, new Siri functionality, deep Facebook integration, shared Photo Streams, Passbook, new capabilities for Phone, Mail, and Safari, FaceTime over cellular, enhanced Accessibility, and improved support for China. Unlike previous years, where video recording, FaceTime, and Siri were all exclusive to the new hardware, almost none of the new features in iOS 6 are exclusive to the iPhone 5. Make of that what you will. For a complete look at iOS 6, including all of the features mentioned above, see our definitive guide: iOS 6 review iPhone 5: The Interface The major difference for iOS 6 on the iPhone 5 is the change in aspect ration from 2:3 to 16:9, and in pixel count from 960x640 to 1136x640. That means everyone from Apple to App Store developers have an extra 176x640 pixels to play with. For Apple, 16:9 allows for an extra row of icons on the Home screen and in folders, an extra list item in Mail or in Music, and a bigger display area in Maps and FaceTime. Since, unlike the iPad, the iPhone is based on a single-column interface, the lack of additional width is seldom if ever an issue in portrait mode. In landscape mode, 16:9 allows for most HD video content to fill the screen with nary a letterbox in sight, and Camera's translucent video recording interface makes excellent use of the aspect ratio (see screen shots in the display and camera sections, above). Calendar can now show 5 full days in week view rather than just 3.3 and Apple has enhanced Safari with a full-screen mode which, like the new, icon-based Share Sheets minimize the perceptive loss of vertical height and, frankly, the ridiculously long horizontal interface elements. (Except for the landscape keyboard, that's wider and thicker, but not much better.) What Apple hasn't done, however, is take any advantage of the bigger screen on the system level. Banners still overlap and obscure menu bar buttons instead of elegantly pushing them down, and notifications still don't present any actionable interface for quickly replying to a text or adjusting an alarm. And there's no bonus number row on the portrait keyboard. Apple has used those extra 176x640 pixels merely to add more content, not add more functionality. Hopefully it's early days still, and future versions of iOS will do something more interesting with the space. For third party App Store apps, developers have to add support for the 16:9 display and signal it by including a special PNG file in their build. Many developers have already updated their apps. Most of these are list-based (UITableView) or grid-based (UICollectView) or use new, flexible methods (AutoLayout) that allow for relative positioning regardless of screen size. That's important, because they still have to support 3:2 on older devices still on the market and still being sold. Likewise, games that use OpenGL can go 16:9 but could still have interface elements that require work to get right. Apps or games with a ton of custom graphics will have to be redone, and redone in a way that lets them properly fill the screen, regardless of which screen they have to fill. That'll take time. Until then, Apple will letter-box them (or pillar-box them in landscape mode), centering them on the screen and filling the empty space with black. On the new black and slate iPhone, it's almost invisible. On the white and silver, it's more visible. A bigger problem is system overlays. On letter-boxed apps, the status bar and the keyboard still render relative to the app, not the the phone. So the status bar is lower than you'd expect at a glance, and the keyboard, higher. It's awkward and takes some getting used to. It might have looked funny if Apple bound them to the absolute top and bottom of the screen, but it might also have worked better. Unlike Apple, some App Store apps are offering different interfaces on 16:9 displays. Given the fat status of binaries already, what with universal apps that support iPhone and iPod touch interfaces and separate iPad interfaces, in standard and Retina (@2x) densities, one of the last things download sizes need is another interface to cram in there. Other apps are simply revealing extra content areas -- opening on 16:9 what is closed on 3:2, or adding something in wide screen that's not there in standard. No doubt we'll be seeing a lot more from developers and designers when they've had a chance to really work on the new hardware. Best apps to show off your iPhone 5 Best games to show off your iPhone 5 iPhone 5: Apple Retail and iCloud This might seems like a strange combination for a review section, but if you've ever had a problem with your iPhone, it'll make perfect sense. When you buy an iPhone 5 at Apple Retail, they'll help you choose it, set it up, and teach you how to use it. And if you have a problem with it, they'll often go out of their way to fix it for you. Contrast this with non-Apple devices, where your problems are left to the mercy of big box or carrier customer service reps who, even if they're inclined to help you, typically need to mail your device away, a process that can take days or more. And when you get the replacement, while some information can be resynchronized over-the-air or via cable, it's often not an easy or complete process. On launch day, my original iPhone 5 had a chip in the bezel. I returned to the Apple Store, was greeted, explained the problem, and immediately received a replacement iPhone. Then I entered my iCloud ID, and walked out with everything setting, app, piece of content, and bit of data exactly the same as I'd walked in with. A brand new phone, but exactly my phone. No matter how you want to parse it, that's a feature of a phone, one Apple gets right, and one few if any competitors can or will match. iPhone 5: App and accessory compatibility The iPhone 5 is compatible with all of the hundreds of thousands of iPhone apps in the App Store, though not all of them have yet been updated to support the new 16:9 display (see Interface, above). iPhone 5 apps and games The iPhone is not compatible with most previous iPhone 5 cases due to differences in physical dimensions (see Design, above). Some large pouch or bag cases might fit. The iPhone 5 may be compatible with some accessories that require a Dock connection, including cradles and stereos, provided the current 30-pin to Lightning connector adapters provide the right signals and can be properly attached. Anything that uses composite or component video out is not currently compatible, though Apple says HDMI and VGA adapters are in the works. (See Lightning connector, above.) Headsets are compatible and Bluetooth accessories should be compatible, though we've gotten reports of bugs with some systems which may require a software updates from the vendor or Apple to rectify. iPhone 5 accessories at the iMore store iPhone 5 accessories at Amazon.com iPhone 5: Price and availability iPhone 5 pricing remains the same this year as last: $199/16GB, $299/32GB, $399/64GB on contract $649/16GB, $749/32GB, $849/64GB off contract The iPhone 5 is available now in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and the U.K. and will launch on September 28 in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. iPhone 5: The bottom line The danger of being overly focused is that you lose sight of the periphery. The key is to be fixed but not fixated. It can be a razor-fine line, and one Apple often seems to cascade down with reckless abandon. On one hand, some may say Apple is trapped by designs and ideas of the past, obsessed with aesthetics and compromised by self-interest, at war with one-time partners, and oblivious to user pain and competitive pressures. On the other hand, some may say Apple is better than any other company in the world at determining what exactly the market really wants, at pushing the boundaries of manufacturing and technology to make the future manifest in the present, at taking calculated risks, going all in on them, and concentrating on years rather than months, and at following well-timed revolution with indefatigable evolution, even if it costs them parters, and sometimes customers, over the short term. Elements of both are likely true. When you swing for the home run every time, sometimes you strike out. When you make one phone a year, you risk a dud that will totally derail you. So is the iPhone 5 another home run, or did Apple finally strike out? Not surprisingly, it's a home run. Apple's major problem now is that they're not the only one hitting them anymore. It's become a game of home runs, with several platforms and manufacturers knocking them out the park, and having one among many makes it harder than ever to stand out. If you don't happen to like iOS or the iPhone at all, however, then there's nothing in the iPhone 5 to change your mind. Get something else. There are several good options. If you've previously been interested in iOS and the iPhone but the lack of a bigger screen or LTE made you hold off, then go check it out. Chances are you'll like, if not love what you see. If you currently have an iPhone 4 or earlier, the iPhone 5 is an excellent upgrade. It's everything you love about your current iPhone, only better. Much better. If you currently have an iPhone 4S, unless you really want the bigger screen and the LTE networking, there's little reason to upgrade. The iPhone 4S is still a great device, and iOS 6 does pretty much everything on it that it does on iPhone 5. Taller, thinner, faster, lighter; the iPhone 5 represents nothing more nor less than the latest, relentless iteration on the Platonic ideal Apple has been striving towards for almost a decade. Redesigned in every way but shape, compromised but true to its purpose, the iPhone 5 is once again the best iPhone Apple has ever made, and one of the best phones ever made. Period. Iphone 5FeaturedDevice Reviews
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