Infinity Blade III Reborn made its big debut earlier this week when Apple used the game to showcase the processing power of the iPhone 5s and its A7 chipset. If you want another glimpse of Infinity Blade III look no further than Chair’s YouTube channel. Chair, the gaming development company behind Infinity Blade III, has posted up a new teaser video that’ll blow you away. The new clip, Infinity Blade: Origins, summarizes the first two games and introduces this third and final installment in the series. As you would expect from a game that bears the Infinity Blade name, the audio and graphics showcased in this latest version are impressive. According to Touch Arcade, which has been previewing the game, Infinity Blade III looks as good in real-life as it does in the clips. Because it is being promoted as the flagship game for iOS 7, Infinity Blade III Reborn will launch alongside the new version of iOS on September 18. It’s a universal app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and will cost $6.99 at launch. Hardware-wise, it’ll run on all iOS 7-compatible devices including the iPhone 4, iPad 2, iPod touch 5, and newer. [Via MacRumors] Continue reading →

Earlier today, Apple and its carrier partners in 8 countries started taking pre-orders for iPhone 5c. However, Apple didn’t start taking pre-orders in Hong Kong and China, where iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s are set to go on sale on September 20. MacTrast reports that Apple has different plans for China and Hong Kong. Apple will allow customers in Hong Kong and China to reserve iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c online beginning September 17 for pick up on September 20. This doesn’t come as a surprise. Last year, Apple had rolled out the reservation system for iPhone 4s and iPhone 4 in Hong Kong to tackle scalpers. Apple has used the reservation system in China as well after the iPhone 4s launch had to be cancelled due to unruly crowd. Here’s how the reservation system works: With the reservation system, customers have to enter the full credentials that match a government issued ID. This prevents scalpers from using bots to reserve all the iPhones. The reservation window is available for only 3 hours every day. Customers who have been successful in reserving an iPhone will be notified by 9:00 pm via email so that they can pickup their iPhone from an Apple Store the following day. Apple also won’t be selling new iPhones to walk-in customers, which should keep the scalpers from hiring migrant workers to stand in line for them. Apple has not started taking pre-orders for iPhone 5s in other countries as well. It will only start accepting online orders at 12:01 am on September 20, or customers who want to get it on launch day will have to visit their local Apple Retail Store, or carrier store or Apple Authorized Reseller. It would have been nice if Apple had rolled out a similar reservation system in other launch countries as well. What do you think? [Via MacTrast] Continue reading →

The transition from iOS 6 to iOS 7 is a huge one, with the whole OS getting a fresh new coat of paint, trimming out fake leather and linen textures, and adding flat, colorful UI elements. The transition is largely seen as a consequence of Scott Forstall’s ouster from the company, with Jony Ive taking up the task of redesigning iOS. The animated GIF embedded below perfectly summarises the transition from iOS 6 to iOS 7, showing iOS 6 icons morphing into their iOS 7 counterparts as well as Forstall’s smile changing into Ive’s very serious face. And here’s a still from the GIF showing a mashup of Ive’s and Forstall’s faces: [via GadgetLove] Continue reading →

Apple unveiled its hotly anticipated next generation iPhone at its media event on Tuesday. As expected, Apple is calling its new flagship iPhone, iPhone 5s, which looks exactly like the iPhone 5 but comes with new features and improvements. We briefly told you about the features of Apple’s new iPhone that were announced at the event. But the devil is in the details, so we take an in-depth look at iPhone 5s’ specifications and features. Design There are no surprises here. As soon as Apple announced that it plans to call the next generation iPhone, the iPhone 5s, we knew it would exactly like the iPhone 5, but come with improved internals. Just like the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s is made entirely of glass and aluminium. It comes with anodized aluminum backplate with inlays at the top and bottom made of ceramic glass (on the silver and gold model) or pigmented glass (on the Space grey model), which gives it the two-tone effect.  It also gets the chamfered aluminum antenna along the sides, which gets a matte finish. Expect the build quality of the iPhone 5s to be top-notch, from the oleophobic glass face and the smooth aluminum backplate to the matte metal bezel with polished chamfered edges. When Apple launched the iPhone 5, users had complained that the chamfered edges along the display were prone to scratches. It remains to be seen if Apple has made changes to prevent the scratches. Display iPhone 5s features a 4-inch display (diagonal) – half an inch bigger than iPhone 4s and the same size as the iPhone 5. The 4-inch display is taller, but has the same width as iPhone 4S, so you will still be able to type with one hand; something Apple thought heavily about when designing the device. Apple believes that anything bigger would feel oversized, awkward, and hard to use. The display comes with the same stunning Retina Display with pixel density of 326 dots per inch (dpi) and 1136X640 resolution. iPhone 5s features a 16:9 aspect ratio which is great for watching videos as you will be able to play movies in full widescreen format without any black bars at the top and bottom. Apple has used in-cell display technology in iPhone 5s(same as iPhone 5). The technology integrates touch sensors into the LCD, which eliminates the need of a separate touch screen layer. The absence of a separate touch screen layer not only helps make the screen thinner, but it also improves the quality of displayed images. A7 Chip One of the major new features of iPhone 5s is Apple’s next generation A7 chip. The highlight of the new A7 chip is, of course, the 64-bit “desktop-class” architecture. The A7 chip is in fact the first 64-bit smartphone system-on-chip, showing that Apple is way ahead of other smartphone manufacturers when it comes to silicon chips. Apple says that A7 chip’s CPU is up to twice as fast as iPhone 5′s A6 chip. Apart from the CPU, the A7 also has a new GPU which supports OpenGL ES 3.0, a graphical library extensively used in games and photography apps. Earlier iOS devices supported OpenGL ES 2.0, but support for 3.0 means more detailed and complex graphics, previously seen only on PCs, Macs and consoles. To demo the new GPU’s capabilities, Epic Games gave us a preview of Infinity Blade 3 running on iPhone 5s. Check out this post to find out more about Apple’s new 64-bit A7 chip. M7 Coprocessor: While the iPhone has had an accelerometer, compass and gyroscope since quite some time, all these sensors are packed into the M7 motion coprocessor in the iPhone 5s, which is a module independent of the CPU. This means that fitness apps can keep requesting motion related data without draining the battery or burdening the CPU. From Apple’s iPhone 5s product page: M7 knows when you’re walking, running, or even driving. For example, Maps switches from driving to walking turn-by-turn navigation if, say, you park and continue on foot. Since M7 can tell when you’re in a moving vehicle, iPhone 5s won’t ask you to join Wi-Fi networks you pass by. And if your phone hasn’t moved for a while, like when you’re asleep, M7 reduces network pinging to spare your battery. The M7′s focus on fitness and health related apps makes it fit not just for a phone, but even for a wearable, always-tracking, fitness-focused device. Camera The second major change in iPhone 5s, is the vastly improved camera system. Apple has upgraded the iSight camera lens with ”a new, five-element Apple-designed lens” that has a larger f/2.2 aperture, as compared to the iPhone 5′s f/2.4 aperture. Larger Image sensor: Notably, the megapixel count remains the same at 8MP. Apple instead choose to make the active sensor area 15 percent larger than before to let each pixel become bigger at 1.5 microns, capturing more light, and resulting in a better photograph. The larger f/2.2 aperture helps increase light sensitivity by 33 percent, which results in better, brighter images with even more accurate colors. The aperture upgrade and the larger sensor, collectively explain Apple’s cryptic “This should brighten everyone’s day” tagline. Apple calls the dual LED flash that was leaked before the “True Tone flash” with the name being a reference to the camera system’s capabilities to intelligently figure out how much light a shot needs. Of the two LEDs, one is white and the other is amber, and the software on the iPhone 5s determines the color temperature of the scene and accordingly illuminates the two LEDs. If you’ve ever used a camera flash on a phone before, you know that the resulting images are almost always of very bad quality. Photos taken using iPhone 5s’ new flash look quite impressive. Here’s an image from Apple’s site illustrating the difference: Auto Image Stabalization: iPhone 5s camera finally comes with auto image stabalization feature, which should help reduce noise and motion from shaky hands or moving subjects, and thus prevent blurry images. Burst Mode: Apple’s latest A7 chip has an all-new image signal processor on-board which can autofocus and shoot photos much faster. This new snappiness enables a “Burst mode” in the iPhone 5s camera, which lets you take up to 10 shots per second so that you don’t miss a moment. iOS will later analyse these photos to select ones with a good combination of sharpness and clarity, and where the subject doesn’t have his or her eyes closed. The new hardware on the iPhone 5s enables shooting panoramas at 30 frames-per-second, which means you won’t get that annoying alert telling you to rotate the phone slowly very often. The exposure level is also adjusted automatically as you’re panning the scene resulting in much better panoramic photos. The new camera can shoot 720p videos at 120 fps, which means the video can be slowed down to quarter speed and still appear normal to the human eye. After shooting a video, you have the option of selecting a certain portion to play in “slo-mo” mode. With the iPhone 5s, you can now zoom videos up to 3x by using the pinch-to-zoom technique. The front-facing FaceTime camera has been upgraded as well. It can now take 1.2MP still images and do 720p video as compared to the iPhone 4S’ VGA resolution. There’s a new backside illumination sensor as well, which should make the quality of your FaceTime videos much better. Phil Schiller also explained during the event that when you launch the Camera app, before you even take a picture, it is automatically setting the white balance to get the right colors, it is automatically setting new exposure levels to get the right brightness level, for the first time it is creating a dynamic local tone map around the image so you can get better highlights and shadows, for the first time you can autofocus matrix metering with 15 focus zones to get a sharper image, and when you take a photo, it will actually take multiple pictures, instantaneously analyzes in real time to display the sharpest image on the screen. In addition to the improvements in hardware of the camera system, iPhone 5s comes pre-installed with iOS 7, so it has the all-new Camera app, which sports a new user interface and includes features such as real-time filters. Apple has also significantly improved performance of the Camera app in iOS 7. The Camera app also takes advantage of a new image signal processor built into A7 to give you up to 2x faster autofocus, faster photo capture, and higher video frame rates. So thanks to the software and hardware improvements, taking a photo should be lightning fast. You can check out the photos taken using iPhone 5s camera, they are impressive. Touch ID Fingerprint Sensor As rumors had suggested, Apple has indeed embedded a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S’ Home button. Apple calls it the “Touch ID” sensor, which is a capacitive sensor that can scan your sub-epidermal skin layers. The capacitive sensor is 170 microns thin, has a 500 ppi resolution and has 360 degree readability, that is, it works in any orientation. It is built right into the home button, which is made out of sapphire to prevent scratches. If you’ve followed rumors, then you know that there was some buzz about a ring around the iPhone 5S home button. Turns out, the ring actually helps in detecting when a finger is being swiped, and activates the Touch ID sensor. We hear the setup process, which involves scanning your fingerprint takes less than a minute to setup. You have to place your finger on the Home button, lift it above the surface and put it back on the Home button till the fingerprint graphic on the display turns red. You can use any finger based on your preference. The key function of the home button is to act as a replacement for passcodes, which many people find annoying to use. After setting up your iPhone with your fingerprints, you can simply touch the home button to unlock your phone, which is much quicker than pressing the home button, sliding to unlock, and keying in your passcode. I expect Apple to use the fingerprint scanner for payments in the future. According to an Apple, the Touch ID system does not store your actual fingerprint on the phone. Instead, the phone only keeps the “fingerprint data,” which is stored encrypted in the iPhone’s processor. This means if someone stole your phone and somehow managed to hack into the encrypted chip, they would not have the information necessary to recreate your fingerprint. As a further security measure, Apple is not allowing third-party apps to access the biometric scanner. The company also requires users who activate the sensor to create a passcode backup. If the phone is rebooted or hasn’t been unlocked for 48 hours, then users will have to enter this passcode to unlock the phone. This is meant to deter hackers who are holding onto a phone while they figure out how to break into it. Apple did mention one drawback to the new fingerprint sensor. Though it performed reliably in testing under normal circumstances, it didn’t do so well when users fingers were sweaty or oily. Battery iPhone 5s comes with a slightly bigger battery than the iPhone 5. We’re assuming that Apple has managed to do this by shrinking the size of the logic board as some photos of leaked iPhone 5s internals had revealed. In terms of tech specs, iPhone 5s comes with a 3.8 V, 5.96 Whr (~1570 mAh). Thanks to the bigger battery, iPhone 5s offers 25% longer battery life compared to the iPhone 5. It offers the following battery life: Talk time: Up to 10 hours on 3G Internet use: Up to 8 hours on 3G, Up to 10 hours on LTE Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi Standby time: Up to 250 hours Ultra-fast Wireless Apple has expanded LTE support by making four different models of iPhone 5s. Some iPhone 5s models support as much as 13 LTE bands (iPhone 5 supported a max of 5 LTE bands). So iPhone 5s will be most likely be compatible with your carrier’s LTE network. Here’s a look at the frequency and the LTE bands that iPhone 5s will support: Model A1533 (GSM): UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25) Model A1533 (CDMA): CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25) Model A1453: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26) Model A1457: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20) Model A1530: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20); TD-LTE (Bands 38, 39, 40) iOS 7 iPhone 5s will come pre-installed with iOS 7 – Apple’s next generation mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, which comes with an all-new user interface and over 200 new features. Here are some of the major features in iOS 7: All-new Control Center Improved Notification Center All-new Camera app Smarter Multitasking AirDrop for iOS Find my iPhone with Activation Lock Improved Safari Redesigned Music app and iTunes Radio New Photos app Siri improvements New features for business users Colors iPhone 5s comes in three colors: Gold, Silver and Space Grey. Apple seems to have named the color based on the color of the anodized aluminum backplate and the antenna band. Gold is the brand new color. The gold iPhone 5s comes with gold or champagne color backplate and antenna band with white ceramic glass inlays at the top and bottom. Silver looks exactly like iPhone 5′s White & Silver color. The Space Grey is a tweaked version of iPhone 5′s Black & Slate color, it comes with a metallic grey anodized backplate and antenna band with black pigmented glass inlays at the top and bottom. The ring around the Home buttons, which activates the Touch ID sensor, comes in the same color as the backplate, which looks quite nice. As I mentioned earlier, it remains to be seen if the iPhone 5s is less prone to scratches, but it looks like Apple has selected colors, which should do a better job of hiding the superficial scratches. If you need help in figuring out which color iPhone 5s to get, check out this post. Apps Pre-installed Apps iPhone 5s comes pre-installed with the following apps from Apple: Maps, Messages, Passbook, Camera, Reminders, Notes, Phone, Videos, Weather, FaceTime, iTunes Store, Stocks, Music, Game Center, Calculator, Safari, Calendar, Voice Memos, App Store, Contacts, Mail, and Newsstand. Free Apps In addition to the pre-installed apps, you can also download the following apps for free from the App Store: iPhoto, iMovie, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iBooks, iTunes U, iTunes Festival, Podcasts, Trailers, Find My iPhone, Remote and Find My Friends. Storage iPhone 5s is available only in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage options. If you trying to figure out which storage option to opt for then check this post. Other noteworthy points: iPhone 5s weighs only 112 grams and measures 4.87 inches (123.8mm) in height, 2.31 inches (58.6 mm) in width and 0.30 inch (7.6 mm) thick. The iPhone 5s includes dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-fi support for up to 150 Mbits/s and Bluetooth 4.0. Requires Nano-SIM card iPhone 5s packaging includes Apple EarPods with remote and mic. Pricing iPhone 5s is available for $199, $299 and $399 with a two-year contract for 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models respectively, and for $649, $749 and $849 without a contract. Availability iPhone 5s will go on sale in 10 countries including the US, Canada, China, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore on September 20. Apple has announced that it will be available in over 100 countries by the end of the year. Apple is not taking pre-orders for iPhone 5s, it will begin taking online orders for it at 12:01 am PT on September 20. If you want to get iPhone 5s on the day of the launch then you will have to go to the local Apple Retail Store, your carrier’s retail store or Apple Authorized resellers like Best Buy. Most retail stores should open by 8:00 am local time for the launch. If you live in Hong Kong or China, then you will be able to reserver your iPhone 5s on September 17 for pickup on September 20. Accessories After discontinuing the bumper case and iPhone dock last year, Apple is back in the iPhone accessories business, it has launched companion leather cases for iPhone 5s. They’re made out of a stiff leather with a microfiber lining. The dye is infused into the leather giving it a uniform color. The case is designed to cradle your iPhone 5s and has cutouts so you can charge/sync, adjust volume and plug in some headphones to listen to music. It’ll be available in six different colors including black, beige, yellow, blue and red. Apple will also be selling a dock for the iPhone 5s, which will be compatible with iPhone 5 (not iPhone 5c). The iPhone 5s case will set you back $39, while the iPhone 5s dock will cost $29. Introduction Videos You can check out Apple’s introduction videos of the new Touch ID fingerprint identity sensor: and the all-new iSight Camera: Wrap up One of the first thing that hit me while watching the iPhone event Keynote was that Apple had just 3 major things to tell us about the iPhone 5s. As smartphones mature, the pace of innovation is indeed slowing down. This is not the case with Apple, but its rivals as well. I use iPhone’s camera quite a lot, so I hope the vastly improved camera system will reduce the often blurry and poor low-light photos that I get with my iPhone 5. With the new camera features, Apple has not only upped the ante for other smartphone vendors, but makes point and shoot cameras even more vulnerable. I also can’t wait to try iPhone 5s’ Touch ID fingerprint sensor. We seem to be stuck in the 20th century with passwords, and it is good to see Apple taking the lead in getting rid of them at least for the most frequently used things. I have horrible memories of using fingerprint scanners in laptops, which I hope Apple can erase with iPhone 5s’ Touch ID feature. It appears to be quite easy to setup and seems to work flawlessly according to folks who got a chance to try it. The significantly faster 64-bit A7 chip came as a big surprise. We did hear some whispers about it, but I didn’t expect Apple to launch it this year. I get the feeling that we will see the true potential of the 64-bit architecture in the future iOS devices, so I wouldn’t get too excited about it just yet. Though it is still to be confirmed, it looks like iPhone 5s’ A7 chip only has 1GB RAM, which would be very disappointing, as the additional RAM would have helped with iOS 7′s smarter multitasking feature. Who should buy iPhone 5s? If you’ve an iPhone 4s, iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS, you should definitely consider buying the iPhone 5s. It will blow you away, not only will you get the taller 4-inch display, it is significantly lighter, and would be significantly faster than your current device. More importantly it will be a joy to use iOS 7, which is quite laggy on these older devices. If you’re an iPhone 5 user, there are certainly not as many reasons to upgrade to an iPhone 5. But if you’re like me who uses the camera a lot or who always wants a device with better battery life, then you should certainly consider buying iPhone 5s. The faster A7 chip and support for OpenGL ES 3.0 should also make it an exciting upgrade if you use your iPhone as a handheld gaming device (I am referring to games like Infinity Blade and not Candy Crush). Though I feel those kind of games are best played on a console or an iPad. Who will be disappointed by the iPhone 5s? If you want a device with a bigger screen. There were rumors that Apple will launch an iPhone with a bigger screen, but we knew it wasn’t coming this year. Like you, I hope Apple does launch an iPhone with a bigger screen (4.7-inch – 5.0-inch) next year. If you wanted Apple to launch a high-end 128GB iPhone 5S. Since I started using cloud and music streaming services like Spotify, my need for local storage has reduced considerably, so I don’t share your disappointment. Though I think it would have been nice if Apple had offered twice the storage as the same price by getting rid of the 16GB model, and offered 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models instead. What you think of Apple’s new iPhone 5s? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Continue reading →

Apple launched Siri, its intelligent personal assistant feature in 2011. It was initially available only on iPhone 4s, but since then Apple has added available on iOS devices such as iPhone 5, iPod touch 5, iPad 4 and iPad mini that were launched last year and the new iPhones launched this week. After the initial hype, Siri has been tagged as a gimmicky feature as it came with limited support for languages, was quite slow to respond, and did not work occasionally due to server issues. Apple acknowledged some of the shortcoming, but highlighted that the feature was in beta. Ex-IBM Research engineer Benoit Maison, an expert in speech recognition had explained why Apple had no choice but to release Siri in beta as it wouldn’t have been possible to fine tune and thoroughly tested in the labs like their iOS devices and software updates. I worked on speech recognition with IBM Research for nearly six years. We participated in DARPA-sponsored research projects, field trials, and actual product development for various applications: dictation, call centers , automotive, even a classroom assistant for the hearing impaired. The basic story was always the same: get us more data! (data being in this case transcribed speech recordings). There is even a saying in the speech community: “there is no data like more data.” Some researchers have argued that most of the recent improvements in speech recognition accuracy can be credited to having more and better data, not to better algorithms. [..] [..] It is tempting to consider Siri as some kind of artificial intelligence, who, once trained properly, can answer all sorts of questions. The reality is that it is a very complex patchwork of subsystems, many of which handcrafted. To improve Siri, engineers must painstakingly look at the requests that she could not understand (in all languages!) and come up with new rules to cope with them. There are probably many, many gaps like “abortion clinic” in the current implementation, which will be fixed over time. When Apple states “we find places where we can do better, and we will in the coming weeks”, they are plainly describing how this process works. It looks like after 2 years, Apple is finally comfortable to remove the beta tag from Siri. 9to5Mac has noticed that Apple has updated its Siri webpages to drop all references to the feature being in beta. Last week, Apple had this to say about Siri on its product page: Siri is available in Beta only on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad with Retina display, iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation) and requires Internet access. Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas, and features may vary by area. Cellular data charges may apply. It now reads: Siri is available on iPhone 4s or later, iPad with Retina display, iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation) and requires Internet access. Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas, and features may vary by area. Cellular data charges may apply. As you can notice, there is no reference to beta. Apple has also removed the beta tag from the iOS 7 Siri page as you can see below: iOS 7 iOS 6 iOS 7 brings a number of improvements to Siri such as an all-new user interface, ability to enable or disable system settings toggles, deeper integration with Wikipedia and Twitter, new voices and a lot more clear and natural sound voice. One of the controversial moves Apple has taken is ditch Google in favor of Bing for search results. So when Apple releases iOS 7 on September 18, Siri will be officially out of Beta. What do you think about Siri? Do you use it a lot? Let us know in the comments. [Via 9to5Mac] Continue reading →

Here’s some good news if you’ve an older iOS device. You will be able to download an older version of an iOS app if the latest version is not compatible with your device. This was spotted by a reddit user, AutumnSprings, who wrote: Legacy iOS users, rejoice! App Store now let’s you download a compatible version of an app if the newest version isn’t compatible.  If you try to download an app whose latest version is not compatible with your device, then you will get the prompt, as seen below, asking if you want download the last compatible version of the app. However, before you get excited it is important to note that the older version of the app will not work if the external API has changed and hasn’t been updated in the older version. You should still be able to find a lot of older version of apps that will work just fine. This is also applicable for users who haven’t upgraded their device to the latest version. It is not clear when Apple made the change to the App Store, but it’s a very good move by Apple, which older iOS device users will definitely appreciate. Let us know how it goes in the comments. Continue reading →

While you maybe eagerly waiting for your iPhone 5c order to be delivered on Friday, September 20 – the official launch day, it looks like one lucky person in China has already got his hands on a blue iPhone 5c, and has just posted the first unboxing photos of Apple’s colorful iPhone. Folks at PhoneArena came across this video which was posted on Chinese microblogging site, Weibo. The video is quite shaky and low-resolution, but you can see iPhone 5c comes in plastic packaging, just like the iPod touch 5. So what’s in the box? iPhone 5c (of course), Apple’s EarPods, power adapter and the Lightning to USB cable. You will notice that unlike the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 5c EarPods do not come in a travel case. The user also powers-on the iPhone 5c running iOS 7 and goes through the setup process. Checkout the first iPhone 5c unboxing video below and let us know what you think in the comments. iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c go on sale in US, Canada, China, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore on September 20 [Via PhoneArena] Continue reading →

As expected, Apple has just announced that iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will be available on September 20 at 8:00 am local time at Apple retail stores and 12:01 am PDT at Apple Online Store. At last week’s iPhone event, Apple had announced that the new iPhones will go on sale on September 20, but hadn’t confirmed the time it will be available in its retail stores and the Online Store. From Apple’s press release: Apple today announced that iPhone® 5s, the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world and iPhone 5c, the most colorful iPhone yet, will be available to customers on Friday, September 20 at 8:00 a.m. local time at Apple retail stores and at 12:01 a.m. PDT at the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com). iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. Apple started taking pre-orders for the colorful iPhone 5c last Friday, September 13. We expect Apple’s carrier partners and Apple Authorized Resellers to also open their stores at 8:00 am local time, if not earlier. Since it is the first time Apple’s flagship device, the iPhone 5s hasn’t been available for pre-order, we expect long lines on the day of the launch. Some people started camping for the launch of the new iPhones as early as September 6th. What do you plan to do? Do you plan to order it online or wait in line? [Via Apple] Continue reading →

Yes, iOS 7 may be the biggest change that’s happened to iOS since the original iPhone and there are quite a few reasons to upgrade, but there are also some compelling reasons not to upgrade right away. Here are five them for you to ponder while you read about iOS 7 and decide what to do about this latest iOS update from Apple. Your favorite apps may break While most developers are working hard to get their apps ready for iOS 7, some won’t have their iOS 7 updates in the App Store when iOS 7 debuts on Wednesday. As a result, these older apps may not be compatible with the new OS right away. If there is a mission critical app on your phone that hasn’t been updated recently, then you should probably wait until that update rolls out before you install iOS 7. You’ll lose your jailbreak Though the evad3rs team is working on an iOS 7 jailbreak, there is no guarantee they will be successful and if they are able to jailbreak iOS 7, it will be a while before a public jailbreak is released. If you are running a jailbroken version of iOS 6 and don’t wont to lose all those handy jailbreak tweaks, then you should hold off on installing that iOS 7 upgrade. You can always make your iPhone look like iOS 7 while you wait. You have an older device and are concerned about performance Not every device will be compatible with iOS 7, and those that are compatible may not have to access to all the features of the OS.  If you are installing iOS 7 on an older device like an iPad 2 or an iPhone 4,  then you may want to think hard about making that switch from iOS 6 to iOS 7. I know from experience that iOS 6 runs well on older devices like the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4. Tack on these extra features in iOS 7 and your performance may slow as you push the capabilities of these older devices to the max. Bugs got you worried — you’d rather wait and make sure iOS 7 is stable If you need your device to work without glitches or unexpected errors, then you may want to wait for iOS 7 to get a few updates under its belt before you make the switch. Not surprisingly, Apple is already working on them. Yes, iOS 7 has been undergoing revisions for a few months during the beta period, but there undoubtedly are bugs that won’t rear their ugly head until the public starts using the release. If you don’t want to be a testing ground for Apple, then be patient and enjoy your stable iOS 6 device. You don’t want to lose your data and need time to backup The last thing you want to do is jump head first into an iOS update without making sure all your important data is backed up.  Take your time and go through your phone, especially if you have photos, text messages, financial information, and other documents that you just can’t lose. Don’t rush into the update and put your data at risk. Take your time to  do an iTunes or iCloud backup before you update or backup your photos, videos and documents to a cloud service like Dropbox. I made the mistake of installing an iOS 7 beta update and didn’t properly backup up my phone. When the install was done, there was no recent backup, and I lost a week’s worth of photos and messages. Let me know what you decide in the comments below. Continue reading →

The computing power of the iPad makes it conceivable that it could replace your normal computer in a pinch. The only problem is it’s not always easy to type on the touch screen. Sometimes you need to type a bit faster than the hunt and peck method allows you to. For those occasions, you need the revolutionary Touchfire Keyboard. You can get it on sale from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. The Touchfire Keyboard turns your iPad’s touchscreen into a physical keyboard that you can feel. That means no more searching for the next letter, you can type just like you would on your laptop or desktop’s keyboard. If you’re worried that the Touchfire Keyboard might be intrusive, then you’ll be happy to know it’s the world’s thinnest and lightest iPad keyboard. The creators of it knew people wanted functionality without ruining the portability of the iPad, and that’s exactly what they made with Touchfire. Successful Kickstarter project turned retail item, the Touchfire Keyboard is normally priced at $50. You can save 30% off when you buy it from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. Pay just $34.99 for a device that will change the way you interact with your iPad. Continue reading →

It looks like you got to be in China if you want to get early access to the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. Earlier today, we had posted the first unboxing video of iPhone 5c, we now have the first unboxing photos of Apple’s new iPhone 5s. The photos spotted by Italian website, HDBlog.it (via Mac Rumors) appear to be posted on Chinese microblogging site, Weibo and by Chinese website DGtle.com. The first photo (above) shows the packaging of a Space Grey iPhone 5s, which comes with a black wallpaper sticker. The second photo (below) shows the contents of the iPhone 5s box. It includes the iPhone 5s, Apple’s EarPods in a travel case, power adapter and  the Lightning to USB cable. You can also see a iPhone 5s and quite a few iPhone 5c units in the background. Apple has announced that iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will be available on September 20 at 8:00 am local time at Apple retail stores and at 12:01 am PDT at Apple Online Store. iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c go on sale in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. [HDBlog.it via MacRumors] Continue reading →

Last week, Apple and Burberry announced that the fashion house will be using the new iPhone 5s to capture photos and video of the London Fashion Show. Today, Burberry has released a 15-minute long video from the show, shot entirely using the iPhone 5s’ new camera. Pocket-lint managed to get an inside look at how the shooting took place by speaking to Burberry’s chief creative officer Christopher Bailey. The Burberry team used 14 iPhone 5s units (golden ones) to cover all angles of the ramp, with nine on the runway, 3 on a moving rail cam, one on the roof and one right in the front. So why did the Burberry team choose the iPhone and not any other smartphone camera? Bailey says that Apple’s focus on design and quality with the iPhone is what they liked. Of course, what also helped was Bailey’s friendship with Apple’s SVP of design Jony Ive, who helped Burberry get access to the iPhnoe 5s units before they go on sale. Bailey notes that he loved the new slo-mo mode on the iPhone 5s camera, which does seem pretty impressive, as we noted in an earlier post. Here’s the 15-minute long video: Tell us what you think about the quality of the video in the comments below. [via The Verge] Continue reading →

Apple’s next-generation mobile operating system iOS 7 is all set to be publicly released this Wednesday, September 18th, and here are some tips to help you get ready for the update, which comes with over 200 features including a whole-new look, an all-new Control Center, a smarter multitasking system and much more. Compatibility iOS 7 will be available as a free upgrade for the following iOS devices: iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 iPad 4, iPad 3, iPad 2, iPad mini iPod touch 5G Update to Latest iTunes Make sure you’ve updated to the latest iTunes version, iTunes 11.0.5. Backup of your iOS Device: It is always a good idea to take a backup of your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch before updating it with the latest iOS software update. (Note that if you choose to encrypt your backup using iTunes, along with normal data, secure information like passwords etc. are also backed up.) You can back up your iOS device using iTunes or iCloud. How to backup using iCloud How to backup using iTunes Added Precaution It’s always good to have redundant backups of your photos and videos. While iTunes as well as iCloud do photo backups, there are several third-party solutions like Dropbox (iTunes link) and Google+ (iTunes link) that auto-upload your photo library to the cloud, so you can recover your life moments if something goes horribly wrong. Save SHSH Blobs: While most new devices can’t actually be downgraded to an older firmware Apple has stopped signing, it is still a good idea to keep backing up your SHSH blobs. It’s very simple to save SHSH blobs using TinyUmbrella or save SSH and APTicket using Cydia’s TSS Center on older iOS device. How to save SHSH blobs Jailbreakers and Unlockers: If you have jailbroken and/or unlocked your iPhone and cannot live without your favorite jailbreak apps and tweaks then it is recommended that you avoid updating to iOS 7, until the evad3rs team releases an iOS 7 jailbreak. pod2g says that he feels increasingly confident there will be an iOS 7 jailbreak, so hopefully you won’t have to wait long. If you’re not sure what to do, then checkout our post, which gives the latest status update on jailbreaking iOS 7 and the comprehensive list of iOS 7 features. Delete Unused Apps A major OS upgrade is a good time to think over the apps you have installed, and delete ones that you hardly use. Installing iOS 7: iOS 7 will be available as an update from iTunes as well as an over-the-air update, which allows you to download iOS software updates (just incremental changes) without plugging your iOS device to the computer. How to update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch Over The Air (OTA) If you are not planning to upgrade, make sure that you don’t mistakenly agree to install iOS 7. Jailbreakers, note that if you’ve used evasi0n, OTA updates will be disabled, which is good if you plan to hold-off updating, but if do want to upgrade, you’ll have to restore via iTunes. You can also update your iOS device to iOS 7 using iTunes by plugging it to your computer. We’ll be publishing direct download links as soon as they’re available. When will iOS 7 be released Apple should release iOS 7 at around 10 AM PST/1 PM EST. Apple had released iOS 6 in 2012, iOS 5 in 2011 and iOS 4 in 2010 at that time. If you’re wondering what time it will be released in your timezone then we’ve you covered. Check the table below to find out what time it may get released in your timezone. * = adjusted for daylight saving time (DST) or summer time After you’ve followed the steps mentioned above, you should be ready to download and install iOS 7 as soon as it is available and start using the new features in the latest iOS. Continue reading →

Apple curiously left out the higher-end iPhone 5s when taking pre-orders, leaving a lot of folks to speculate that the company might want to push the $99 iPhone 5c as the mass-market device. But there might be another reason the company didn’t put the iPhone 5s up for pre-order: constrained supply. According to 9to5Mac, iPhone 5s will be available in limited quantity on launch, with 70-80 percent of new iPhone stock in Apple Stores being the iPhone 5c: The iPhone 5s will be available in limited quantity, and Apple is expecting the Space Gray model to be most popular, according to our sources. Of the iPhone 5s units scheduled for delivery to Apple Stores for the launch this Friday, about an average of three out of every four units will be a Space Gray model. The white/silver and white/gold options will be hard to come by at launch. Separately, AllThingsD reports that carriers, too, will have limited stock of the iPhone 5s on launch: “We will have grotesquely unavailable inventory,” was how one carrier source put it. A source at a second carrier also complained of extremely disappointing shipments from Apple, but said that demand for the high-end iPhone may also be slightly less than initially thought, too. Apparently it is the color of the iPhone 5c that seems to have captured more customer’s eye. So it looks like getting hold of an iPhone 5s on launch will be quite the task, for which you’ll have to be prepared for. Apple reportedly plans to help customers buy an iPhone 5s by updating the Apple Store app with information about stock of the device in each of its retail stores. This will help customers monitor stock in various stores without calling or visiting them. The update is due to be released by next week. While there’s no clear reason as to why the supply is constrained, an earlier report claimed that the slow production of the new fingerprint sensor is proving to be a bottleneck in the manufacturing process. The production is expected to improve slightly only by the holiday quarter. Continue reading →

In less than 24 hours from now, Apple will release iOS 7, its next generation mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. iOS 7 comes with an all-new user interface and features such as the Control Center, smarter multitasking, new Camera app with real-time filters and lots more. So the question of the day is, will you be updating your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to iOS 7 when it is released tomorrow. In case you are on the fence, you can check out these posts: iOS 7: Everything you need to know! Top Five Reasons to Install iOS 7 Top Five Reasons not to Install iOS 7 right now So please take the poll below and let us know if you plan to update your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to iOS 7, and feel free to leave a comment to tell us the reason. Will you be updating your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to iOS 7? Continue reading →

With the release of iOS 7, Apple has quietly increased the over-the-air limit for the App Store downloads to 100 MB from 50 MB. Apple had previously increased the limit from 20MB to 50 MB when the third generation iPad with Retina Display was launched last year. If the apps or app updates are above the over-the-air download limit then the App Store app prompts you to connect to a Wi-Fi network or use iTunes to download it. This should be good news for developers as previously they were quite constrained by the 50mb limit, and used to try to keep app updates below the 50MB limit. [via MacRumors] Continue reading →

Facebook has updated its iOS app with a new look for iOS 7, which also includes a new tab bar at the bottom for easy navigation between different screens of the app. From the company’s blog post announcing the new update: Getting around the app Now it’s easier to switch from News Feed to your friend requests, messages or notifications – just tap along the bottom of the screen. You can also tap on the bottom right to see options like your Timeline, groups, events and more. The new look Now if you’re using iOS 7, a translucent bar at the top of the app will change dynamically as you scroll through different photos and posts. If you’ve tapped through a story, you can also swipe from left to right to get back to News Feed. Here are a few screenshots, showing the new look of the app: You can download Facebook version 6.5 from the download link below or go to the “Updates” tab on the App Store. Of course, if you’re on iOS 7, you don’t need to do anything since iOS will automatically update the app for you in the background. Download link ➤ Facebook for iOS Continue reading →

iOS 7 is a huge update, that includes a radical new design as well as a number of new features like smarter multitasking, Control Center, AirDrop, iTunes Radio and a lot more. This is a lot for the average iOS user to digest, which is why Apple has released iOS 7 user guides for iPod and iPad on the iBookstore. Here’s the iBook description: Here’s everything you need to know about iPod touch, in a handy digital format. Get to know iPod touch and discover all the amazing things it can do, and how to do them. It’s the definitive guide for getting the most from your new iPod touch, straight from Apple. The iPod touch User Guide is an essential part of any iBooks library. The iPad description is similar too. Strangely, there isn’t an iPhone edition of the iOS 7 User Guide. The iBooks will work on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad running iBooks 1.5 with iOS 4.3 or later. Download link: ➤ iPod touch User Guide For iOS 7 ➤ iPad User Guide For iOS 7 Continue reading →

iOS 7 is known for its flat design, which takes the textures, bezels and gradients out of the UI and replaces them with simple and clear design elements. Apple set the trend for flat design in iOS 7 and app developers are following the Cupertino company’s lead. Check out the images below and see how some apps have changed their iOS 6 design and replaced it with an iOS 7 look and feel. Flat design places functionality over style as the cornerstone of its design ethos. The most common design change is the removal of bars and raised buttons from the UI. The bars are gone, and the buttons have been replaced with text or arrows. Color is used to draw your eyes to something important, not to make things look pretty. Images are used when the app calls for it and they often have a transparent appearance. It’s a much different look from the days of green felt and wood that graces Apple’s GameCenter app. eBay for the iPhone It’s the popular auction bidding and listing app, now with a new look and some improvements under the hood that’ll  make it easier to find items to spend your hard- earned money on. Instapaper Our favorite offline reader gets a makeover for iOS 7. The latest version is not yet available in the iOS App Store, but it is coming soon. IFTTT IFTTT online automation tool lets you create recipes with ease in its new iOS 7-inspired UI. A few bug fixes in this  latest version will help performance of the app. RecordOrders RecordOrders is a business tool that allows you to keep track of orders without finding a pencil and sone paper.   You can view even more of these dramatic changes over at TapFame, where they are compiling a long list of before and after shots. When you are done browsing through the screenshots, head into the comments and let us know what you think about iOS 7. Do you love the new design or is it abhorrent? [Via TapFame] Continue reading →

According to AppleInsider, Apple has sent out a high priority internal alert notifying support employees of problems with iOS 7 activation servers. The difficulty is caused by the large number of customers who are trying to activate their devices after installing iOS 7. Other unknown internal issues are allegedly contributing to this problem. Customers are running into the problem during the installation process, which requires a connection to an activation server to complete the update. The internal alert did not say how many users were impacted by these issues, nor did it mention when the servers would be fully operational. Though activation servers may be down, a quick check of Apple’s system status page suggests all other services are up and running without issue. [Via AppleInsider]   Continue reading →