iOS Devices

Activision has just dropped a brand new Call of Duty game built from the ground up specifically for mobile devices. Strike Team is set in the year 2020 and puts gamers in control of a Joint Special Operations Team attempting to bring justice to an unknown enemy. Gamers are able to freely switch between the traditional first-person shooter view as well as a third-person view. This game features a Campaign mode which promises to be “full of epic, cinematic moments in diverse locations around the world,” and Survival mode that “Put[s] your skills to the test as you fight off waves of increasingly difficult enemies.”

Call of Duty: Strike Team is available exclusively as a universal iOS download for $7. It requires iOS6 and an iPhone 4S/iPad 2 or newer. No word yet on future release dates for Android or Windows devices.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbQkwsW8GlU&w=640&h=480]

Call of Duty®: Strike Team delivers an all-new, first-person and third-person Call of Duty® experience built from the ground up for mobile and tablet devices. Fully customize your squad’s loadouts and abilities before leading them into combat in diverse gameplay environments. Call of Duty®: Strike Team features the revolutionary ability to dynamically switch from run-and-gun first-person view to reconnaissance and coordinated squad attacks in third-person view.

The year is 2020. Tensions run high amongst the world’s superpowers. In a surprise attack, the U.S. finds themselves in a war with an unknown enemy. Your mission is to lead a Joint Special Operations Team in a global effort to hunt down those responsible.

Play your way. Switch between first-person and third-person action at almost any time. Strategically customize the members of your squad with weapons, perks or body armor.
CAMPAIGN MODE: Experience an immersive single-player campaign full of epic, cinematic moments in diverse locations around the world.
SURVIVAL MODE: Put your skills to the test as you fight off waves of increasingly difficult enemies. Compete against family, friends and the Call of Duty®: Strike Team community for leaderboard domination.

Samsung is so far the only company to announce an LTE-A compatible phone

A statement by Deutsche Telekom is adding to speculation that at least the European model of the iPhone 5S may support the high-speed LTE-A standard (also known as LTE+). The prospect of the 5S supporting the faster version of LTE had first been suggested back in July.

In announcing that the carrier will be launching its high-speed LTE-A data service this month, offering speeds of up to 150MBit/s, the company said:

Samsung will offer an updated version of the Galaxy S4 with LTE +. Appropriate devices from other manufacturers will follow the end of September.

Given the timing, some are suggesting that one of the ‘other manufacturers’ may be Apple … 
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An analyst note from a usually reliable Ming-Chi Kuo (郭明錤) seemingly confirms our expectation that Apple will not announce new iPads on September 10th, but at a separate event later in the year.

The note makes supply chain forecasts suggesting that assembly production of the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 will start with low-volume production this month, and enter mass-production in the final quarter. If the tablets were to be announced on September 10th, we would expect them to be much further along the production cycle by now.

As expected, both iPad models are said to use the A7X processor, which should see be a particularly noticeable improvement on the existing A5-based Mini.

There were a couple of surprises in the note … 
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A new leaked doc from Canadian carrier Telus (via MobileSyrup) shows that the carrier has plans to discontinue the iPhone 5 on September 28 just days after the next-generation iPhones are rumored to launch. Although it would lend weight to the theory that Apple could get rid of the iPhone 5 since the rumored iPhone 5S and especially the lower cost iPhone 5C are so close internally to the current device, the doc only shows that the 32GB and 64GB models will be discontinued, which might be a clue the 16GB iPhone 5 will stick around as an entry level model.

Keeping the 16GB iPhone 5 seems to line up with what we’ve been hearing at Verizon and adds even more weight to the theory that Apple will keep the iPhone 5 around as a lower cost option perhaps in between the 5S and the 5C in much the same way that the last-gen iPhone 4S currently occupies the $99/plan spot in Apple’s lineup.

On the other hand, often-accurate KGI analyst Mingchi Kuo said earlier this month that he thinks Apple will stop selling the iPhone 5 at the end of Q3 2013 and continuing selling the iPhone 4S until the end of the year.

Apple yesterday sent out invites to the September 10th event and is expected to start selling the iPhone 5S and 5C starting around the 20th of September.

Update: Similar chatter is coming out of Vodafone Germany, indicating that the 32GB and 64GB iPhone 5 and 16GB iPhone 4S will soon be discontinued.

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Apple has just sent out invites for their September 10th event, scheduled for 10 AM PST, via The Loop. Apple is hosting the event on campus in Cupertino.

The invite reaffirms expectations that Apple will launch two new models of iPhone for the first time, dubbed the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C. As indicated by the numerous case leaks over the last few months, the iPhone 5C is expected to be available in a variety of colors. The invite seems to back this up, showing many different colored dots and uses the strapline “This should brighten everyone’s day”, which further hints at the possibility of different colors.

For the 5S, the design will be similar to the current iPhone 5, with improved internals (such as a faster, more efficient A7 processor), a possible fingerprint sensor and be offered in a gold variant, alongside the usual black and white color choices.

Apple will announce the official launch dates for these new devices at the event. Apple’s behaviour in the previous years would suggest that the new iPhones will be available to buy on the 20th September, two weeks after their announcement. On Friday, we reported that Verizon is blocking employee vacations between the 18th and the 22nd of September, a very good indicator that new iPhones will be released in this timeframe.

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Update: A bunch more cases have been added below.

Evleaks, a source with an excellent reputation for reliability, has tweeted two photos of aftermarket iPhone 5C cases, together with a very specific shipping date: 8am on 20th September.

It’s widely expected that Apple will announce the 5C (along with the iPhone 5S) on 10th September, and that it will go on sale on the 20th. Both T-Mobile and Verizon have blocked employee vacations around this date.

The photos as posted were rather small – we’ve enlarged them to give a better look … 
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As Apple’s September 10th iPhone event approaches, a few new photos claiming to show packaged “iPhone 5Cs” and accompanying materials have surfaced online. The first photo comes from website iApps.im, and it purports to show several “iPhone 5C” units in packaging. The “iPhone 5C” is what many are calling Apple’s upcoming lower-cost, plastic-backed iPhone. The packaging in these photos appears to line up with a purported packaging leak from earlier this year…

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In line with a rumor from earlier this week, we’ve heard from our sources that AppleCare+ is indeed set to soon launch in Europe. AppleCare+ is Apple’s premium support service, and it provides customers with technical support for both the iPhone and iPad for two years from the original purchase date. AppleCare+ also provides support for up to two instances of accidental damage.

We understand that the launch is “imminent,” but no formal launch date has been announced internally. Apple, this week, has begun training its AppleCare support and Apple Store Genius Bar employees on the upcoming launch of the support initiative. At first, the European launch will occur in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and Switzerland…

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Ahead of Apple’s iOS 7 launch (presumably alongside the new iPhones in September), Apple seems to be asking developers to submit larger app icons. As part of iOS 7’s dramatic interface changes, the Home screen icons have been slightly enlarged compared to the iOS 6 icons.

For example, as shown in the image above, the non-iOS 7-optimized Netflix icon has a small white border compared to Apple’s icons.

In order to avoid this interface issue, developers will need to include larger icons in their applications. iOS 6 icons on the iPhone come in at 114 x 114 pixel resolutions, while iOS 7 icons are slightly larger at 120 x 120 pixel resolutions. For the iPad, iOS 6 icons are at resolutions of 144 x 144, and on iOS 7 they come in at a resolution of 152 x 152:

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As Apple’s September 10th iPhone unveiling approaches, we’ve heard that Verizon Wireless is blocking its retail employees from requesting vacations between Wednesday, September 18th and Sunday, September 22nd. Based on Apple historically shipping new versions of the iPhone about a week and half following the unveiling, it would make sense for the new iPhones to arrive for customers on Friday, September 20th.

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Photo from trade-in program training

In line with our reports from earlier this week, Apple has announced that its Apple Store iPhone trade-in-program has launched today. The confirmation comes by way of comment to CNBC.

The trade-in-program is officially called the “iPhone Reuse and Recycling Program” and it is available in Apple Stores across the United States. It is powered in-part by BrightStar…

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After Sonny Dickson posted credible photos of an iPad 5 front panel yesterday, he’s now got hold of the claimed rear casing (which we first showed you back in January) and put the two together. Now all he needs is a screen, a touch-panel, a few buttons, a battery, some circuit boards …

More photos below … 
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With a gold iPhone 5S and multi-colored iPhone 5C expected on September 10th, Mophie has responded by offering a choice of five different colors for the Juice Pack Helium external battery-case for the iPhone 5/5S which we reviewed back in March.

[We] today announced five distinctive new colors for the juice pack helium: blue, purple, pink, green and red. The new matte-finish, jewel-tone cases wrap serious protection and power in a burst of color, delivering 80 percent more battery life and edge-to-edge protection against the drops, bumps and scratches of everyday mobile device use.

The units are otherwise identical to the standard Juice Pack Helium, with a 1500mAh battery that we found delivered on Mophie’s claim of between 6-7 hours additional usage.

You can pick up Mophie Helium Juicepacks at Amazon starting at $68 or on Mophie.com for $79.99 retail price.
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In what seems to be a never-ending string of “gold” iPhone 5S part leaks, new high-quality videos analyze what appear to be legitimate rear shells for the upcoming iPhone 5S…

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Hawaiian Airlines, beginning September 1st, will replace its in-flight entertainment systems on some of its routes with iPad minis. This marks the first time that a United States-based airline will offer iPads as in-flight entertainment solutions.

The change will take place on all 767-300 aircraft. Across 14 planes and 14 routes ranging between Hawaii, the continental United States, and countries in Asia, 1500 iPad minis will be deployed:

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Apple has started training its AppleCare technical support staff on the changes and feature-set of iOS 7, according to multiple AppleCare employees. These people say that training began today, and AppleCare employees are required to complete the iOS 7 training by the second week of September.

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