Posts with tag ios
Still has a long way to go
Windows Phone becomes the third most widely used mobile operating system in the world
Things have been pretty bad for BlackBerry for quite some time now, but today they just got a little worse – market firm IDC has just released their latest look on the mobile landscape and have discovered that, for the first time, Windows Phone has overtaken BlackBerry’s spot as the third most widely used mobile operating system platform in the world, behind Android at #1 and iOS at #2.
According to IDC’s numbers, Windows Phone made up 3.2% of all mobile handsets shipped this quarter, while BlackBerry only made up a mere 2.9%. Android devices meanwhile made up 75% while iOS dropped to 17.3%, a huge shift in the tides towards Android’s favor. That said, the iPhone 5 has been on sale for quite some time now while Android competitors such as Samsung and HTC continue to make constant improvements to their products.
Source: IDC
Improves speakerphone performance
Apple releases iOS 6.1.4 for iPhone 5
Apple has just released a minor update to the iPhone 5 in the form of iOS 6.1.4 that reportedly improves speakerphone performance for the handset. The update is not available for any other iOS device as of yet, suggesting this is an iPhone 5 specific release. iOS 6.1.4 identifies itself as Build 10B350 and can be nabbed over iTunes or through an OTA update.
There’s no word as of yet as to whether or not this update brings any other improvements, but we’ll let you know if we learn more.
Source: MacRumors
Siri or Now?
Google Now for iOS now available
Yes, the rumours were right: Google Now has come to iOS. The Now functionality comes as an update to the Google Search app. The only downside is, it’s not a 1:1 duplicate of the Android version. Google Now for iOS will not include integration with notifications or alerts nor will it include support for all the cards such as events, concerts, boarding passes, etc.
It may be that over time the iOS version grows closer to its Android counterpart. In the meantime, iOS users will have to put up with a slightly less-featured version of Google Now.
Source: Engadget
Now available on Github, Cydia soon
iOS Chat Heads jailbreak tweak released under the name “Message Box”
Developer Adam Bell, whom we talked to just the other day, has just released his newest jailbreak tweak, which allows Facebook’s Chat Heads feature to exist outside of the Facebook app as it does on Android. The tweak has currently been submitted to Cydia’s BigBoss repository. It’s currently pending approval, however if you can’t wait that long you can head on over to Bell’s Github and download and install it manually yourself.
I’ve personally installed and are currently using the tweak, and it’s truly as astounding as it sounded the other day. If you’ve got a jailbroken iPhone around and are interested in using Chat Heads more efficiently, this is the way to do it.
Source: Adam Bell (Twitter)
Data is reportedly anonymized
Apple keeps Siri’s data for up to two years
An Apple spokesperson told Wired magazine today that the company does indeed keep records of user’s Siri data for a fairly lengthy period of time – two years, to be precise. Of course this is nothing unusual in the industry – Google, Microsoft, and other companies and services keep sensitive data for similarly long periods of time.
What is important to note here is that Apple promises that all data is anonymized, saying that neither your Apple ID nor your email address are ever associated with the data. Instead, Apple’s servers randomly generate numbers that represent your account, minus the identifying information. Apple reportedly keeps this number attached to the voice clips for six months, and then the clips are stored on servers with absolutely no organization for another year and a half.
The differences are settled
Apple no longer blocking Skydrive for iOS updates
Back in December last year, we reported on how Apple was blocking Skydrive for iOS updates until Microsoft complied with new app policies – that is, no apps may offer links to purchase content from outside the app, and that Apple must take a 30% cut of all sales. Microsoft was complying with the first of these two rules but would not comply with the 30% rule, so Apple blocked Skydrive for iOS updates until they complied.
Today, Skydrive for iOS 3.0 has been released. According to The Verge, the two came to an agreement and so the matter was settled. We’re not sure what the agreement was, but it has allowed Skydrive for iOS to continue to update once again.
Skydrive for iOS 3.0 brings a refreshed UI, as well as support for the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini. It is available to download through the App Store right now.
Source: Windows Team Blog – Inside Skydrive, iTunes App Store
Via: The Verge
iPad media event potentially scheduled for April
Apple to introduce next generation iPhone this summer
Good news to those who have been eagerly sitting on their behinds, waiting for the day we get some real meaty, juicy rumors as to what Apple’s 2013 plans are – finally, after one of the longest droughts in trustworthy Apple news in as long as I can remember, multiple sources are indicating that Apple will indeed be launching their next generation iPhone (presumably to be called the iPhone 5S) this summer, potentially giving those who purchased last year’s iPhone 5 upgrade-envy a couple of months early.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple will be putting the 2013 iPhone into production this quarter, leaving things wide open for a “sumer 2013″ release. WSJ’s sources indicates that the iPhone will maintain a similar “size and shape” to the current generation iPhone 5, lending credibility to the suggestion that this year’s update will be in the same vein as 2009′s iPhone 3GS and 2011′s iPhone 4S.
Other sources are indicating that Apple is planning on actually launching the 2013 iPhone in August at the latest, but is eagerly gunning for a release in July. Chances are slim to none that Apple will be ready to unveil the 2013 iPhone at WWDC in June – rather, they will more than likely take that opportunity to focus on iOS 7, which is said to be a “significant update” to iOS 7. Popular Apple pundit John Gruber today posted on Daring Fireball that engineers have been pulled from the development team of Apple’s next major version of OS X (10.9) to work on getting iOS 7 ready for prime time.
Apple has also been said to be eagerly getting ready for a potential media event in April to launch their next generation iPad, what could be called the “iPad 5″. It is important to note however that Apple has by no means made established, even internally, that this event will happen as they hoped in April – everything has yet to be scheduled.
Source: Wall Street Journal / Daring Fireball
Make a $25 donation to charity
Get Windows 8 Pro and Parallels Desktop 8 for “free”
To try and bribe convince Mac and iOS developers to develop for Internet Explorer, Microsoft is giving away copies of Windows 8 Pro and Parallels Desktop 8 for “free” – A $25 donation to one of three charities will get you a flash drive containing the two products.
If you’re outside the United States, you will have to pay a $16 fee – even so, paying $41 for a full copy of Windows 8 Pro and Parallels Desktop 8 is still an amazing deal. There are only a limited quantity of these flash drives available, so if you’re interested in getting Windows 8 cheaply, you might want to act now. The flash drives will ship in late April.
Source: modern.IE (Microsoft)
Via: The Verge
Get blazing LTE on the newest network around
iPhone 5 jailbreak tweak allows AT&T device owners to hop on T-Mobile’s LTE network
Apple and T-Mobile may be publicly saying you’ll need to buy a new version of the iPhone 5 hardware if you want to hop on T-Mobile’s new LTE network, but hold your horses and read this – the enterprising folks at Leimobile.com have apparently managed to get the old AT&T version of the iPhone 5 up and running on T-Mobile’s LTE network with a simple carrier update, and has posted some easy to follow intructions to help you get started.
The tweak of course requires that you own a jailbroken iPhone 5 – stock users won’t be able to get in on this sort of unofficial, unsanctioned, and potentially dangerous fun. It’s also worth reiterating that this will only work on AT&T’s iPhone 5, also known as A1428. If you bought your iPhone through one of the other guys, you’re out of luck.
Be however warned, T-Mobile iPhone users – this hack won’t allow you to piggyback on everything T-Mobile now has to offer, as no firmware or carrier patch in the world will bring you the new model iPhone 5′s support for T-Mobile’s AWS bands. This means that you’ll get 4G LTE speeds where available, or the significantly slower 2G “EDGE” speeds elsewhere – for the in-between, you’ll still need to buy yourself some new hardware.
Has Jony Ive spoken?
Apple updates Podcasts iOS app, removes all traces of skeuomorphism (Updated with comments by WSJ)
When Apple released their popular Podcasts iOS app last year, the app came with a heavy dose of skeuomorphism - that is to say that, like many of Apple’s other iOS (and even OS X) apps, it visually replicated the look of the real world object it was meant to replicate the functionality of. By this point, some had said that Apple’s obsession with replicating these real world objects had come to far, and the industry had begun a trend towards flatter, less ostentatious looking designs (see Android 4.0 and Microsoft’s “Metro” user interface). Many had long known that iOS’s then big-man-in-charge, Scott Forstall, pushed for these skeuomorphic designs, whilst Apple’s hardware designer Jony Ives had spoken out against such an aesthetic. Then a short couple of months later we heard that Forstall was ousted from Apple, and Ives would be picking up some of the slack by becoming Apple’s chief authority on software design – which brings us to today’s release of their updated Podcasts iOS application.
That’s right, folks, today’s Podcasts for iOS update is completely devoid of all traces of skeuomorphism. Gone are the ridiculous faux-magnetic tape designs, and the emulation of casette tapes. In its place we instead have a nice, smooth black player design reminiscent of Apple’s original design for iOS’s iPod application back in the day.It’s difficult to say whether this redesign is a sign that Jony Ive will officially be killing all traces of real world imitation in iOS in the expected upcoming release of iOS 7, but something tells me that we’ll be seeing a lot less of it for now on.
The new Podcasts iOS app is available as a free update for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPod on the App Store.
Update 03/21/13 @ 5:00 PM EST: The Wall Street Journal as also just posted a story confirming that this is indeed the work of Jony Ive, and that the famed designer has been pushing for a more “authentic” flat design for the next version of iOS.
Some suggested that in Apple’s next mobile operating system, Ive is pushing a more “flat design” that is starker and simpler, according to developers who have spoken to Apple employees but didn’t have further details. Overall, they expect any changes to be pretty conservative. For the past few years, Apple has unveiled versions of its mobile operating system in the summer.
Source: App Store
Waiting on Apple's verdict
Eric Schmidt hints Google Now for iOS is stuck in limbo
A few days ago, we reported on a rumor that Google Now might be coming to iOS and today we more or less have confirmation that it does exist thanks to a little hint by Eric Schmidt.
Although he did not directly mention Google Now, he did mention the fact that “Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of the apps we make they approve and some of them they don’t,” which strongly suggest that Google Now for iOS does exist, it has been submitted to the App Store but it has yet to be approved. We’ll see as time goes on what Apple’s final verdict is.
Source: TechCrunch
Via: The Verge
Loading ...
