Mobile Devices - Page 359

The iPhone 5 is slowly getting more details leaked about it and it was only last month that the design specification which claimed to be for the iPhone 5 leaked out from Chinese case manufacturers. Now we're seeing some proper mock-ups from 3D modelling software and the iPhone 5 seems to be a slight change over the iPhone 4 and even features some Samsung Galaxy S II-esque designs.

As you can see from the above picture, the iPhone 5 could be thinner and have a larger display. It also sports a larger home button and dives away from its usual circular design to more of a rectangle shape, ala the Samsung Galaxy S II. For all the bitching Apple did with Samsung "copying their design", you would think they would not use a home button that resembles the second- most powerful smartphone maker in the world's phone. Tsk, tsk, Apple.

Rumor has it that the new, larger home button could be used for finger-gestures, that would allow users to quickly switch between multitasking apps. The bigger screen size will be welcome as iOS 5 features a "swipe-down" notification system that is strikingly similar to Google's Android notification bar. The extra screen space would be nice as it would allow a user to drag from top to bottom easier.

What's the best way to reach a friend quickly? Facebook message? Wall post? Text message? Well, it seems to be getting easier with the introduction of Messenger from Facebook, a new mobile app that is said to simplify how messaging works, giving you a faster way to message friends and small groups. Messenger is a separate app and only takes one click to get to your messages or send a new one.

Messages are delivered through notification and texts, so your friends should get them virtually instantly. Messenger is capable of reaching all of your friends, whether they're on your friends list on Facebook or part of your phone contacts, all that is required is for you to type their name. The new Messenger app is an extension of Facebook messages which means all of your conversations are in the single place, inclusive of texts, chats, emails and messages. So if you're on your phone or on the Web, you'll have a full history of your messages.

But, that's not all - Messenger also uses locational services to spice things up. If you're planning something or a last minute change to a trip, with Messenger, you can quickly start a group conversation and message everyone at once. If you choose to add your location, the people you're messaging can easily find each other on the map. Also included is the ability to attach photos so that everyone included in the message can see and comment on what you're looking at.

There are only a few tablets on the market where the operating system and the hardware are all made in house. The Apple iPad is the most famous, Blackberry has the Playbook and now we've got HP releasing the TouchPad. However, unlike the iPad, both the Playbook and the Touchpad launched with a somewhat beta-ish feeling.

The operating systems on both units are glitchy at launch, but I'm happy to say that the Playbook has matured nicely into a market ready tablet in just a few short months. HP's TouchPad seems to have a similar pattern, but has only been on the market a few weeks, so they've got a few major updates to go before they get there.

Having said that WebOS, the TouchPad's OS, is a great piece software. It seems naturally suited to the 9.7-inch screen size, with a card-based interface that makes multitasking easy and even fun. There's no rear-facing camera and the selection of native apps available for the device is minimal, but for basic browsing, emailing and reading, the device performs beautifully and the app selection should only get better in time.

Telstra have announced today that they are launching their 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology on August 29, ahead of the national launch of 4G-based services expected later this year. Telstra switched on its first 4G base stations back in May based on the LTE technology. 2000 Telstra USB 4G mobile broadband modems would be made available to business and enterprise customers who live in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane from August 29.

Thodey has been quoted:

Dates have been shifting around quite a bit lately, but the latest indication of when the Apple iPhone 5 will launch looks to be September 23. A little more concrete shows that either way, this is also the launch date for Nokia's MeeGo powered N9 smart phone, at least in Sweden it looks like it. A countdown page on Nokia's swedish webpage gives the hint, but it doesn't necessarily mean it applies to all the markets getting the N9, though it's becoming safer to assume most markets should have it by late September.

Running back over the N9, it is Nokia's first MeeGo device, featuring a 3.9-inch curved glass AMOLED display (running 854x480 res). It has a 1GHz TI OMAP 3630 processor, 1GB of RAM, between 16 and 64GB of built-in storage, rear facing 8MP Carl Zeiss equipped auto focus camera and dual LED flash allowing for 720 video recording, and front facing camera for video calling.

The phone has a built in GPS, NFC, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and a microUSB port with pentaband WCDMA, quad-band GSM and HSDPA 14.4Mbps support. The phone will be available in three color options; black, cyan and magenta.

It looks as though Apple might be merging its iOS and Mac OS X operating systems into a single unified platform for applications and cloud-based services as soon as 2012, starting with the MacBook Air. Peter Misek with Jefferies & Co said in a note to investors on Wednesday that he sees this transition possible with the next-gen MacBook Air's custom next-generation "A6" processor. This would mean the new iPad, iPhone and MacBook Air would be A6-powered by 2012.

Misek has been quoted:

Google's Android OS has taken an amazing 48% of the smartphone market in Q2 of 2011, which is an all-time high according to a report by market research firm Canalys. Android overtook Symbian in Q4 of 2010 to become to top smartphone platform representing 32.9% market share at the time. Smartphone shipments have increased exponentially also, seeing a total of 107.7 million units shipped in Q2 of 2011 which is a 73% year-on-year growth.

Android was also the biggest driver of smartphone shipments in Q2, with Android-based smartphone shipments being 379% year-over-year higher, coming in at 51.9 million total units shipped. This is thanks to Android being on so many different branded phones such as Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, ZTE and Huawei.

Apple also did well, iOS taking Nokia's Symbian platform on and winning, rising from third to second place. 20.3 million iPhones were shipped and Apple took a 19% market share in the smartphone world. Apple also became the world's leading individual smartphone vendor, taking the throne that was previously owned by Nokia. Samsung also passed Nokia, with Nokia facing a rapid decline in demand across multiple markets.

Apple have just posted their third quarter results, giving them an all-time record revenue and earnings. Apple saw a quarterly revenue of $28.57 billion and record quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion or $7.79 per diluted share. To compare to the same quarter of last year, revenue was at $15.70 billion, net quarterly profits say at $3.25 billion or $3.51 per diluted share. International sales make up 62-percent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter which is a 142-percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. iPads flew out the doors with 9.25 million sold during the quarter resulting in a 183-percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. 3.95 million Macs were sold which was a 14-percent increase over last year and 7.54 million iPods were sold which actually resulted in a 20-percent decline from the year-ago quarter.

Steve Jobs has been quoted saying "We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82-percent and profits up 125-percent. Right now, we're very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall."

Apple are finally catching up with my good old trusty Nokia 3310, custom text message alert sounds. Sarcasm aside, its about time Apple started offering custom text message alert sounds and iOS 5 beta 3 includes them. The new beta allowed users to fish for new features and one of the first ones was of course the custom alerts for SMS. Others weer subtle like a new icon for Reminders, a toggle for location/GPS settings added to the initial, iTunes-free setup and small tweaks to the wording of certain options.

The biggest thing was a "Buy More Tones" button sitting right in the Text Tone selection screen, where it has never been, ever. Scrolling down further and the custom ringtones people had made themselves or purchased are sitting there waiting to be used as an SMS tone.

WHAT! This is amazing, revolutionary almost... until you remember that Jailbroken iPhones have had this feature for eons and virtually every other handset on this planet allows this except the great Apple. But, finally, Apple are letting users use their phones in a way they want, and not in Apple's almost Nazi fashion.

Back in late December, I mentioned that a company called HEX had a cool silicone watchband in several colors that would turn your new iPod nano into a watch. The only downside to that is that geeks that like to use their nano for working out with the NIKE+ accessory couldn't use the HEX band. HEX has announced that in April it will have a new version of its cool watchband.