iOS devices refer to any of Apple’s hardware that runs the iOS mobile operating system which include iPhones, iPads, and iPods. Historically, Apple releases a new iOS version once a year, the current version is iOS 10. Here is the complete list of iOS 10 compatible devices.
We mentioned earlier that some new iPad owners were reporting issues with Wi-Fi. The problem seems to affect all models of the new device with both users of the 4G LTE model and the Wi-Fi-only model experiencing poor Wi-Fi reception. Many forum posters compared Wi-Fi reception with their other iOS devices and MacBooks on the same network:
“My iPad 3rd generation has much worse range than my iPad 1. Two places I use it most My Driveway, and “down the hall at work” iPad 1 (iPhone 4s, and Macbook) all have solid connections. New iPad nothing. not a thing.”
One user reports only receiving good reception within six feet of a router while another claims to have had issues with four different third-generation iPads. The good news is that the fix is likely software related, as many in the forums pointed to temporary fixes like rebooting the device or toggling Wi-Fi on and off. OS X Daily confirmed resetting Wi-Fi and network settings seems to fix the issue for some and provided instructions. In 2010, the first generation iPad had Wi-Fi connectivity issues for some users and Apple eventually issued a software update to fix the problem, which is detailed in this support document. According to Apple, only “a very small number of iPad users” experienced the issue and that seems to be the case with the new iPad as well.
While it is no secret that LTE devices are capable of burning through data quicker than their 3G counterparts burn, several reports claim many new iPad users are concerned about how quickly they are reaching their data cap. In some cases, users reported reaching their 2GB monthly cap within hours of just streaming video. According to a new report fromThe Wall Street Journalthatprofiled several disgruntled AT&T and Verizon customers, Apple’s “promise of superfast wireless connections collides with the reality of what those services cost.”
Doing some math that any consumer could: LTE speeds often hit 2 Megabytes/second. You would hit 2GB in 1000 seconds—or under 17 minutes.
One man profiled in the story, Brandon Wells, went through 2GB of his Verizon plan streaming March Madness college basketball games to his new iPad. WSJreports:
Just a small tidbit from the iOS 5.1 release regarding Siri and Yelp: now, when you click a Yelp listing in Siri, you are taken to Yelp’s App Store app rather than nowhere.
Well, last week, Apple launched iOS 5.1 and with it, an updated Siri and Yelp integration on iPhone. Now when searching for a recommendation on local businesses, Siri will return Yelp-reviewed businesses and when you tap the star rating (BOOM!) you are immediately taken to the Yelp business profile page. Oh, the places you’ll go… now that you’ll have faster access to Yelp review highlights, quick tips, hours of operation, address, phone number, photos — the list goes on.
This is seemingly a nice addition to Siri as it gives Yelp fans a quicker way to access more details on the place they are looking for. The video above from Yelp demonstrates the minor enhancement. If you don’t have the app it takes you to the App Store download page.
Also Zerozero, mentioned above, makes a solid pizza.
Verizon is set to announce shared family data plans for smartphone and tablet users.
PhoneArenaobtained a leaked screenshot (above) that indicated Verizon plans to launch its shared family data plans soon. The service will allow customers to pay one data fee for the entire family and all their devices.
As seen in the screenshot, family data usage is calculable for e-mail, web surfing, and other data tasks extending to 30 GB and beyond. Pricing and other details are not revealed in the leak, but it seems like Verizon is just weeks away from debuting the new system. Now let’s hope fair rates launch with the carrier’s upcoming strategy.
In related carrier news, Sprint plans to offer its Total Equipment Protection coverage for the iPhone.
Earlier today, we reported that the “heatgate” controversy was starting to pick up media attention with Consumer Reports announcing it is officially investigating the issue. Consumer Reports has now published its report claiming the new iPad “can run significantly hotter than the earlier iPad2 model when running an action game.” In fact, its tests with a thermal imaging camera found the new iPad could hit 116 degrees, which is much hotter than 92.5 Fahrenheit recorded in earlier GL benchmark tests. The tests were conducted with LTE turned off and Wi-Fi running.
We reported this morning that a 5-minute GL benchmark of the new iPad versus the iPad 2 proved the third-generation iPad was indeed running noticeably hotter than the previous generation (10 degrees F to be exact). Apple chimed in with a boilerplate response claiming the new iPad is “operating well within our thermal specifications.”Now the story is being picked up by mainstream media with several reporting Apple could have another “antennagate on its hands” (I just heard this on the radio, by the way).
Following complaints online from concerned customers, Consumer Reports is now investigating the issue and will report its findings on Tuesday. Reutersreports:
I mentioned in my review that the new iPad runs a little hotter than the iPad 2. While it is not a game-changer on its own, it is certainly something to note when choosing between an iPad 2 and a new iPad. Those extra graphics cores powering all of those beautiful little pixels likely cause the extra heat. For me, the heat was strongest on the left side of the device where the motherboard strip is.
Dutch website Tweakers.net (via Engadget) did 5 minutes of GL benchmark on both an iPad 2 (right) and the new iPad (left). According to the website’s measurements, Cupertino’s new flagship slab reached 33.6C (92.5 Fahrenheit) versus 28.3C (82.9 Fahrenheit) with the iPad 2.
As you can see from the image above, the gradient of heat gets strongest where the motherboard is positioned toward the bottom.
“The new iPad delivers a stunning Retina display, A5X chip, support for 4G LTE plus 10 hours of battery life, all while operating well within our thermal specifications. If customers have any concerns they should contact AppleCare.”
While Apple’s new LTE-capable iPad launched on AT&T and Verizon last Friday, NetZero announced today a new contract-free 4G-hotspot service that provides consumers with another option for data. You might remember NetZero from its ad-supported freemium dialup service in the 90s. The new service will also provide a free plan that offers users up to 200MB of data per month at no charge.
First you will have to buy one of NetZero’s reasonably priced hardware options: Expand Expanding Close
Following Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook announcing a record weekend for the new iPad, AT&T just issued a statement confirming “a new single-day record” for both sales and activations for the launch of the new device. Apple never released official sales numbers for the launch of the iPad 2, but it was estimated to have sold between 500,000 and a million units on its début weekend. The full press release from AT&T is after the break.
On Friday, March 16, AT&T set a new single-day record for its iPad sales and activations, demonstrating robust demand for the new iPad on the nation’s largest 4G network, covering nearly 250 million people.
Update: Verizon issued a decidedly less upbeat statement:
“We are quite pleased with sales, which have been brisk through the weekend, and we are excited to offer customers an alternative that lets them enjoy their new iPad on the nation’s largest 4G LTE network.”
When Apple launched the new iPad on Friday, it did so with a new dual-core A5x processor and quad-core graphics inside. During the product’s unveiling, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller talked about the new chip noting that it provides four times the performance of Tegra 3. Nvidia was quick to question the slide displayed by Apple onstage (pictured right), which did not provide any specific benchmark data. We now finally have some solid benchmark tests courtesy ofLaptop Magthat provide us new insight.
For the benchmark tests, Laptop Magused an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, which is powered by Tegra 3, and put it up against the new iPad in GLBenchmark 2.1, Geekbench, and browsers’ benchmarks with Sunspider and Peacekeeper. In its last test (video above), the publication did a side-by-side subjective gaming performance test to try to spot any noticeable differences between the same title running on both devices. Here is what the publication found:
Apple has seeded developers with the second preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. The download is, again, available via the Mac App Store, and developers must get a redemption code from the Mac OS X Development Portal in order to download. Apple is yet to provide release notes for the second version, so send in what you find to tips@9to5mac.com. The build number for this new preview is 12A154q. Mountain Lion brings many iOS 5 features to the Mac including AirPlay Mirroring, Game Center, Notification Center, and a Messages client.
Update: Apple has also seeded Mac OS X 10.7.4 to developers.
That did not take long. Just hours after today’s launch of the new iPad, jailbreaker MuscleNerd posted (via iFans) screenshots of what he claimed is a jailbroken third-generation iPad. Do not get too excited, because MuscleNerdwarned there is “still lots of work to do.” Therefore, the jailbreak is far from prime time. There is “No ETA,” but he provided screenshots of Cydia running for further proof that it is on the way. We will keep you updated as progress is made.
Over on the Dev-Team Blog, a new post noted: “It’s impossible to predict how or when these things turn out,” but the team also highlighted the progress made so far with iOS 5.1, as well as the possibility of jailbreaking the new iPad.
With the introduction of the new LTE iPad on Verizon and AT&T, many were wondering whether AT&T’s 3G network would work on a new Verizon iPad. According to a poster on the Mac Rumors forums, popping an AT&T SIM card into the Verizon iPad’s micro-SIM slot appears to work fine as long as you adjust the AT&T APN carrier settings. Of course, this does not mean you will be able to use AT&T’s LTE network on the Verizon iPad. However, if you already have an AT&T SIM for the iPhone, this is an alternative for data when LTE is not an option. Expand Expanding Close
With reports of retailers in Australia offering early midnight sales of the new iPad before it officially goes on sale at 8 a.m. local time through Apple, it looks like at least one retailer stateside will do the same tonight. Walmart apparently announced (via Insanely Great Mac) that the third-generation iPad will go on sale at 12:01 a.m. local time on March 16 throughout all of its 24-hour locations.
If you want to be the first person amongst your friends and colleagues to have the new iPad, you will need to head to your local Walmart. Starting at 12:01 a.m. local time on March 16, a limited supply of the new iPad will be available at your local 24-hour Walmart. Other retailers’ doors don’t open until 8 a.m. local time, so you can get to work on time and beat the rush by coming to Walmart.
We’ve been following the prospect of a Harrods Apple Store-in-store for a while now. First, we broke the news in January that the store would be coming later this year, then we pinpointed the March 16th opening date. Now, Harrods has announced that their “Apple shop” will be opening tomorrow at 10 AM to sell the new iPad.
It does not seem like Apple was too worried about Apple TVs arriving early. Mine was sitting on my doorstep for the last few hours. Yep, it looks just like the old one… Expand Expanding Close
If you plan to trade-in your iPad 2 and pick up a third-generation iPad when it launches on Friday morning, Apple is now giving you another option by offering up to $320 in trade-in value (Apple Store gift cards) for an iPad 2 depending on the condition and model. To get the full $320 from Apple’s Reuse and Recycle program, you will need a 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G model in near perfect condition. On the entry-level 16GB Wi-Fi model, Apple is offering $205. Before the new iPad unveiling, we told you our Top 10 places to trade an iPad for cash or credit, and a few of those options are still providing slightly more than Apple in many cases.
A quick look at a couple of the other popular options—Gazelle and Amazon—will get you just over $400 for an AT&T 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad in “flawless” condition, which is quite a bit more than Apple is offering. Of course, for your iPad to qualify for that much, it will have to “look like it has never been used,” according to Gazelle. Some listings on Amazon are as high as $450. Those options also give you alternative payout methods. In the case of Gazelle, you will be able to get your trade-in value by check, PayPal, or an Amazon gift card. Trade-in values will likely start to fall after the new iPad’s rollout, but Gazelle told us it has seen a 700-percent increase in trade-ins since the new iPad announcement with over 150,000 iPad offers in total so far. Apple’s announcement that the iPad 2’s new $399 price tag was great for education and it certainly did not hurt demand for the iPad 2.
Before you sell your iPad, you will want to get it prepared, cleaned, and packed to get the maximum trade-in value. After the break, you will find step-by-step tips for doing exactly that, courtesy of Gazelle: Expand Expanding Close
We told you yesterday that Vietnamese website Tinhte.vn, which acquired yet-to-be-released Apple products in the past, appeared to have a legit third-generation iPad. Following an unboxing video, the website quickly Geekbenched the device and now posted images taken with the new iPad’s 5-megapixel iSight camera.
The website also posted some screenshots of apps optimized by Apple for the new iPad’s Retina display and claimed most apps are 2.5 to 3 times larger. The website noted Keynote, as an example, jumped to 327MB from 115MB before. iMovieis now 404MB, compared to the 70MB app before being upgraded for the new iPad. Of course, many new features packed into the latest updates could account for the increased file size. You can check out a screenshot of iPhoto running on the third-generation iPad and the full gallery of photos taken with the new camera after the break. Expand Expanding Close
In the weeks and months before Apple’s media events, the newswires are stormed by tons of reports about Apple’s upcoming announcements. Due to the frenzy, it is hard to keep track of who said what and when. Therefore, we are putting together the more notable calls and how those reports turned out:
We did this for the iPhone 4S in October 2011, and this is our Apple iPad and Apple TV media event rumor wrap-up:
What came true?
March 7 keynote:In early February, AllThingsD called for an Apple iPad media event during the first week of March. At that time, we speculated a March 7 keynote due to the availability at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center (the location where Apple likes to hold these events) and Apple’s recent fondness for Wednesday events. iMore later outright reported on a March 7 third-generation iPad announcement.
Pre-orders and availability:The first clue at when Apple would publicly release the new iPad was when we broke the news that Apple would open a new store in London’s Harrods on March 16. In the days leading up to the event, our sources confirmed a March 16 launch in the United States and other countries, and these sources also pinpointed more international launches for the following Friday. In terms of pre-orders, we pinpointed a March 7 pre-order date for the new iPad.
The design:iLounge, which typically offers accurate Apple design information, perhaps because of its close relations with case manufacturers, was first to pinpoint an iPad 2-like design for the new iPad. It also said that this new design would be roughly half a millimeter thicker than the iPad 2’s design–which it is. In the weeks running up to the iPad’s announcement, The New York Timeschimed in and said the design would be very similar to the iPad 2’s design.
Apple TV announcement:We first noticed shortages in the Apple TV supply chain on Feb 12. While some called the launch of an Apple TV at the iPad event ludicrous (30:00), “because it would take the focus away from the main attraction,” we broke the news that Apple would launch a new Apple TV model at the third-generation iPad event. At the time, we said that the new iPad would launch with a 1080P video service, and we pinpointed the device’s new Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities and J33 codename in the months’ prior. We also found Apple TV 3,1 references several months ago.
Siri Dictation:One of the notable features of the new iPad is its Siri Dictation support. It is a feature that allows users to dictate what they would like to type instead of using Apple’s touch-screen keyboard. In January, we broke the news that Siri Dictation would make its way to the new iPad thanks to some leftover strings in the early iOS 5.1 beta.
LTE:One of the most important upgrades in the new iPad is the new wireless system. Besides the new Bluetooth 4.0 and HSPA+ capabilities, the new LTE integration will do wonders for attachment loading, web browsing, and video watching. In August 2010, way before the “iPad 3” rumors started running at full-force, we reported that Apple was field-testing iOS 5 devices with LTE chips. We also said that the next-generation iPad was a very likely candidate to be a LTE device. In January, Bloombergreported that the new iPad would sport LTE connectivity, then WSJ,iMore, and Reuters each followed up in the weeks after. The morning of the iPad event, Mr. X “confirmed” that 4G iPads would be sold worldwide.
The cameras:Alongside the third-generation iPad casing leaks came speculation surrounding the new iPad’s cameras. With the hole being bigger for the camera lens in the case leaks, many figured the new iPad would sport either the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S camera. In the end, Apple merged the two ideas into what it is calling the “iSight” camera. As for the new iPad, this means the merging of the iPhone 4’s 5-megapixel shooter and the iPhone 4S’s advanced, custom optics system.
Retina Display:The Retina Display was perhaps the most rumored feature in the new iPad. After all, the 2,048-by-1, 536-resolution screen is the new iPad’s headline feature. Several news websites threw in their own sourcing for a Retina Display “iPad 3,” but it seems that the very first reports on a Retina Display iPad 3 (not iPad 2) came from analysts. The first major publication to confirm a Retina Display was the WSJ in August 2011, and MacRumors notably acquired a 2,048-by-1, 536 display in the weeks preceding Apple’s early March media event.
Pricing: We were able to report that new iPad prices would stay at the original iPad and iPad 2 price points ($499 to $829) a week before the event. We also said capacities would stay the same–which they did.
B82: We had all kinds of high-hopes for this $39 mystery accessory, but it turned out to be an updated Apple Digital AV Adapter (this)
Processor:The new iPad’s processor situation came to an atypical end. While reliable publications like Bloombergand iMore claimed that the new iPad would include a quad-core processor, The Vergereported that it would stay dual core but would include better graphics performance. The result was actually a combination of the two: The new iPad sports an A5X processor with a dual-core processing unit, but it adds quad-core graphics. Confusion and situations involving “broken telephone” between sources and publications seems likely here, but do not worry… Apple is still working on that promised quad-core CPU.
Even though the third-generation iPad was announced less than a week ago, the iPad rumor mills have not slowed down a bit. The latest whispers come from The Korea Times, which quoted an unnamed Samsung official and claimed Apple will release a smaller iPad by the end of this year with Samsung displays.
The choice of Samsung seems possible, because we learned that Samsung is currently the only supplier of iPad Retina displays (as well as other components like the new A5X processor) after other manufacturers failed to meet Apple’s quality standards.
However, we are not entirely certain this project is going to get the green light. Recent reports said that such a mini iPad would have a diminished bezel more like a phone and less like a tablet.
Do you think Apple will make a 7.85-inch tablet? Take our poll below.
Following an overwhelming launch day for the iPhone 4S in China plagued by massive crowds of scalpers, Apple suspended in-store sales of the device to walk-in customers and employed a lottery system for reservations that did not operate on a first-come-first-serve basis. Customers also had to bring government-issued ID when picking up their device. Apple confirmed on its website it will be doing the same for the new iPad launch with reservations beginning the morning of March 15 and pick ups available March 16 at the IFC Mall store in Hong Kong. Expand Expanding Close
Tether made news in November, 2011 when Apple seemingly accidentally accepted their application into the iTunes App Store. The $14.99 piece of iPhone software allowed anyone to simply download the iPhone app, install a Mac app, and have unlimited tethering by way of a USB cable. The service still didn’t compare to the ease-of-use found in Apple’s built-in wireless Personal Hotspot feature, but is much cheaper for users as no carrier plan is required. That application was pulled only a few days later by Apple, so iTether has been working on a replacement solution. The solution is meant to work for all iPhones (jailbroken or not) and uses the web versus an application that must pass Apple’s App Store guidelines.
As the company explains in their video above, the new solution allows users to setup an Ad-Hoc network on their Mac, connect to that network from the iPhone, turn on their Mac app (download here) and then just login to iTether’s HTML5-based to get started. The company tells us that their patent pending technology works with 3G connections, is data encrypted, and that the entire experience is wireless. No USB connection is required like in their old iOS-application-based solution. The service costs $30 per year, which is much less than the usual $30 a month tethering plans that some carriers require. However, the new iTether will be sold for $15 to those who order during this launch week.
