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.
Last month, we documented code within iOS 5 which contained references to some new panoramic camera functionality for iOS devices.
The latest build of iOS shows that Apple continues to do work on this functionality. They’ve added a few more strings which weren’t in the earlier Beta:
Here’s what happens when you jailbreak and enable panoramic
Nuance has announced a new iPhone application called Dragon Go, which is basically search software that works hand-in-hand with the company’s phenomenal voice recognition technology. The concept is quite similar to Siri, which Apple owns, and all voice-searches connect to services like OpenTable and Fandango. The concept is pretty neat, and hopefully this is a taste of what we’ll be seeing in the eventual fruition of Apple’s rumored partnership with Nuance and purchase of Siri. According to All Things D the application is free and is now available.
Developers wishing to sell apps to business in volume for discounted rates now will be able to according to an email just sent to developers. Apple upgraded its Paid Applications Agreement today which allows for a new type of pricing.
For instance, a hospital could buy a medical app for its 2000 employees in one big swoop rather than hitting the buy button 2000 times. Expand Expanding Close
Want that face on your big screen? No problem! Just Facetime with Rene Ritchie over at TiPb. You see, the latest build of iOS 5 Beta 3 has support for Airplay.
With all of the new trickery in the AppleTV 5.0 software, it wouldn’t surprise us to see a family-like FacetimeHD option for the current AppleTV or even a new 1080P version.
Apple TV 2G bluetooth keyboard support via jailbreak
Just like Apple has done in some of its mobile devices (namely early generations of the iPod touch), Apple has included hidden bluetooth support in their second-generation Apple TV. Bluetooth support is not present within the Apple TV operating system (iOS), but Apple’s next major operating system, iOS 5, will turn on this bluetooth support. Apple is positioning this bluetooth support mainly for keyboards, but perhaps the bluetooth Apple TV will be able to connect to bluetooth iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches.
Users will be able to activate the device’s built-in bluetooth support via the standard settings menu. A standard pairing menu will then appear and users will need to connect with a provided passcode. Pretty standard stuff as far as bluetooth device setups go. The interesting and compelling part about these SDK findings is that Apple is opening the door for bluetooth, in general, in their $99 set-top-box. Additionally, this new bluetooth and wireless keyboard support opens up the door for the next-generation of Apple TV services. (Thanks, Sonny Dickson!).
Apple has introduced an upgraded version of the “AssistiveTouch” accessibility feature in beta 3 of iOS 5. The feature takes the previously available custom gesture support to the next level and brings a new control panel. This control panel (as you can see in the video above and images after the break) is an accessibility feature – but also has applications as a replacement for the iPad and iPhone’s hardware buttons.
This control panel is activated with a swipe from a user-designated corner of the screen (in apps, the home screen, and the lock screen, Notification Center, etc). Once this new panel is activated, an HUD (heads-up-display) type of menu will appear. From this menu a user can rotate the screen orientation, control the device’s volume, “shake” the device (is an API for developers in applications), lock the display and more.
We realize that this is an accessibility-feature, but this is something that can come in handy for just about anybody. Apple has started to wean off the need for home button usage for iPad users, and this accessibility-feature can technically turn into a replacement for all of the iPad’s (and iPhone/iPod touch’s) hardware buttons. Expect for the power on and off switch, which would only be needed to actually power on the device. Screenshots after the break for both iPads and iPhones! (Thanks, Ian A., Dnwrld, iJorge)
Apple has already announced that they will be building a new mapping service based on crowd-sourcing, and in iOS 5 Apple is more clear about this. Apple is also more clear about their use location in iOS 5 beta 3, putting in a clear and descriptive boot screen (on first setup) that discusses the device’s location services. This screenshot is shown above. (Thanks, Devin and PiratX!)
In addition, we are noticing speed improvements and bug improvements throughout the operating system. Notably, the camera application is much faster to boot with the iPhone 4. More snappiness is present in Safari. Also, a slight user interface tweak in the iTunes WiFi sync menu is present. That is shown after the break. Let us know if you find anything else… tips@9to5mac.com.
Update: Reminders.app got a new icon! Shown after the break.
Update 2: New location services preferences! After the break..
Update 3: You can now disable/enable voice roaming. Neat.
Apple has just seeded the third beta of iOS 5 to registered to developers. Beta 3 of iTunes 10.5 is also available and will be required to sync with iOS 5 beta 3 devices. This new iOS 5 beta is compatible with the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4 (GSM/CDMA), iPod touch 3/4, and the Apple TV. Xcode 4.2 Preview 3 is also available for developers. Additionally, Xcode 4.1 has gone Golden Master and should be released soon. We have all the release notes after the break!
If you find anything… tips@9to5mac.com. We’ll be updating the site with findings, so stay tuned!
Hot on the heels of reports that claim Apple is gearing up to launch a new iPad model this fall, Digitimes reports that Apple will be adding a second manufacture to augment the tablet’s current manufacturing from Foxconn. Foxconn is currently Apple’s exclusive contractor for iPad 2 production and since the plant’s devastating incident in May and with a new tablet right around the corner, Apple is looking for a second manufacture to build their popular tablets.
According to the report, Apple’s second iPad manufacture will either be Pegatron or Quanta Computers. Pegatron, notably manufactures the Verizon iPhone and reportedly landed 15 million iPhone 5 orders for a fall release. Quanta manufactures some Macs and other Apple products. With Apple reportedly gearing up to launch a new iPad 2 model – dubbed iPad HD by This is my next – now is a perfect time for Apple to use more manufacturing power.
The ‘iPad HD’ is expected to be a professional-minded tablet from Apple with a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Artwork of this high resolution has already appeared in iOS 5 exclusive SDKframework files and has been a long-rumored feature for the tablet family. This new iPad is pegged at being another iPad model, not the iPad 3.
In a note last night, Wayne Lam of IHS-iSuppli made the case against Apple going with 1st generation LTE chips in its next iPhone.
“It remains to be seen whether the next Apple iPhone set for introduction in September will support 4G LTE,” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for IHS. “However, if it does, two things are clear. First, the iPhone’s minuscule printed circuit board (PCB) will have to grow in size in order to support the first-generation LTE baseband processor as well as all the supporting chipset. Second, the next iPhone’s BOM value certainly will increase substantially compared to the iPhone 4 if LTE is implemented in the same manner as in the HTC Thunderbolt.”
I think Apple is more concerned with the extra space and battery life the new chips would consume much more than the extra cost of the components.“The first generation of LTE chipsets forced a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those we are just not willing to make,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple chief financial officer, speaking at the company’s April 2011 earnings call.
The next round of chips which would allow Apple to put LTE in a similarly sized package won’t hit the streets until the first half of 2012.
I don’t see an iPhone as big at the Thundebolt or Charge, ever. Expand Expanding Close
One of the more controversial components of the iPhone 4 is its non-Gorilla glass backing. Glass is a great material for displays obviously because it is transparent, relatively strong and scratch-resistant. However, it is more questionable for the back of a device because it breaks spectacularly where traditional materials are stronger and lighter.
But it does look awesome on the back of the iPhone 4.
So the question of the day: Should Apple’s next iPhone continue to use a glass backing or should they move to a different material like plastic, aluminum or liquid metal?
Apple advertises its iPod touch as an iPhone without a phone (and as discussed last night, they might actually merge them). For kids and teens (its primary audience), the iPod touch is an App Store machine that lets them play jaw-dropping games, listen to music, run social apps to share stuff online and what not. Despite these treats and really low $229 price point, the gizmo is seriously lacking in the connectivity department: It works only with wireless hotspots and does not connect to cellular networks.
Now, a Dutch blog called AppleSpot.nl is running a report this morning which asserts that a fifth-generation iPod touch will contain new antennas and circuitry for 3G data connectivity. Bad translation courtesy of Google Translate:
This will be as his work as the iPhone, where you have a 3G subscription from your ISP, then the SIM card into your iPod Touch key. The choice to add to 3G iPod Touch lineup is not even a very bad idea from Apple, it was obviously true. The only question is how this is received by the telecom farmers, since the use of Skype then will shoot up considerably.
In plain English, 3G in the next iPod touch will be for data-only traffic, like on iPad, rather than voice calls over a cellular network (excluding VoIP apps, of course). Note that 9to5Mac is putting a heavy amount of skepticism on this report because the blog’s track record is literally non-existent. In addition, they provided little information about the alleged 3G feature. However, the idea has legs and could easily hit the ground running, here’s why…
[UPDATE July 8, 2011 11:05 Eastern]. Reader Peter from Netherlands sent in a much better translation:
It will work just like the iPad; you get a 3G enabled simcard from your provider and put that in you iPod Touch. Apple’s choice of bringing 3G to the iPod Touch isn’t all that weird, if it’s true of course. Question remains how the providers will react to this, since the use of for example Skype will skyrocket.
Bit.ly, a popular URL shortening service, has analyzed web usage data of the millions links flowing on a daily basis through its network. Their findings (via ReadWriteWeb) confirm what many of us iPad owners have known all along, that we use our beloved gizmo mostly during evenings, when we get home from work. Normal usage patterns for smartphones and computers (also corroborated by 9to5Mac’s logs) involve two big spikes, in early morning and mid-morning. This reflects a typical usage pattern for the vast majority of employed: We grab our smartphone when we wake up to catch up on the latest news, email and weather.
Then, upon arriving to our workplace, most people drill through their reading list and consume news articles that matter to them before hitting the water cooler. When we get home, however, the tablet comes to the rescue. Who wants to sit hunched in their chair for another 2-3 hour browser session when they can lay back and relax with a tablet in their hand? As expected, peek usage times for iPad are between 8pm and bed time:
Usage dips after breakfast, remains low during traditional working hours and does not peak until much later in the evening. During the weekends iPad usage between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. is higher than it is during the week at those same hours. No other device sees a heavy increase of use during the weekends, showing that the iPad is used as an entertainment device and differs from both smartphones and browsers
Another interesting observation: The study counts iPad numbers from 203 different countries, a far cry from the 39 countries worldwide where iPad is officially available. The analysis is based on clicks on short URLs from Windows, OS X and Linux desktops plus iPad and iOS Android and BlackBerry smartphones.
A new patent application published yesterday by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) outlines in excruciating detail new multitouch gestures based on physical metaphors letting users share documents between devices by the means of flicking objects outside the screen boundaries, “pouring” content from one device into another (depicted in the above illustration) and more. The system taps your device’s many sensors, namely accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope, in order to determine its physical position relative to other devices in the vicinity. Combined with visual clues such as repelling forces, the user interface would communicate to the user when and how objects between devices can be exchanged. There’s a lot to be excited about this invention.
Apple provides limited file sharing options that require a computer, such as iTunes syncing, iTunes File Sharing and running a WebDAV server on the device to wirelessly share app documents through a desktop browser. In addition, come this Fall the iPhone maker will roll out the free iCloud online service and new iOS APIs so third-parties could build apps that can share private documents across devices via the user’s iCloud storage. Also, the new AirDrop feature in Lion could eventually arrive to iOS to enable drag-and-drop file sharing between Macs and iOS gadgets.
However, none of those methods provides an easy way to directly exchange files between nearby devices and the lack of full file system access for end-users doesn’t help either. While Apple is certainly not going to sacrifice ease of use by exposing file system intricacies to the user, the proposed file sharing metaphors based on new multitouch gestures should solve the file sharing issue once and for all. Check this out….
Swirling rumors about a fifth-generation iPhone have gone mainstream with the news that Episode 2, Season 2 of television show “Covert Affairs” featured a brief appearance of what could only be described as a poorly designed next-generation iPhone prop rocking an edge-to-edge display. I know what you’re thinking, “What’s with the fugly steel edge”, right? I guess the show producers didn’t get the memo about current iPhone 4 design being “out of favor” at the highest levels of Apple as the company “moves on to an entirely new product”. Nevertheless, the clip’s entertaining enough to waste forty seconds of your life (fun starts at 0:08).
This afternoon, we recieved some intel from an iPhone source that has been reliable in the past. Most of the information is already known but it is important to weigh in on what’s going around. The “big” news is that Apple will be selling two totally distinct iPhones in September. One will be a low-end variety that will address the cheap Android market, according to the source. The other will be a high-end device and will be an all new design. There will be no mistaking these two devices, they will be immediately discernible. The iPod touch, like it always has, will get updated in September as well.
So that’s where the info path trails off, and to be frank, it isn’t all that surprising. There are currently two totally distinct iPhones on the market: the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4. The 3GS is at a cheaper price point while the iPhone 4 is the high-end line.
So we’ll have the same thing in September? iPhone 4 is the low end and iPhone 5 the high end?
I’m not so sure. For one, the price of an iPhone 4 isn’t going to compete with cheap Android phones in any way. Apple is currently selling them for over $600. They aren’t going to cut the price in half overnight. The 3GS doesn’t currently compete on price either. I think that to compete on price with Android, Apple has to make a totally new low end phone as well.
What’s it going to be? I think a good place to start looking is the curent iPod touch. The iPod touch has the same resolution screen as the iPhone 4 but with poor(er) viewing angles because the screen doesn’t have In-Plane Switching. (video below)
Also, the back camera is an order of magnitude worse than the iPhone 4’s, it doesn’t have GPS, has less RAM and the battery doesn’t last quite as long.
…and obviously the iPod lacks the “phone” bits.
But Apple somehow makes a lot of money selling this “almost iPhone” for just $229 retail (and under $200 at discounts) vs. the $650 that the iPhone 4 fetches without a plan. It doesn’t seem infeasible to me that Apple could use the iPod touch platform that debuted a full year ago to build a cheap iPhone device.
Here’s how:
Start with the same hardware. Add the GPS/3G baseband chips and some phone wiring and a solid 3 megapixel camera and you are 99% of the way to an iPhone lite. iPhone Air? Whatever.
Apple could make this device, one that is thinner than an iPhone 4, with most of the same specs, for $299. But here’s the best part: Expand Expanding Close
DigiTimes reports that Apple’s share of the tablet market in Taiwan has dipped from 60 percent in May to 50 percent in June. Don’t worry, the decline is attributed to an demand and supply imbalance rather than competitive pressure from other tablet vendors. Of the 35,000 tablet PCs that shipped in the 22 million people market of Taiwan during June, iPad accounted for 50 percent of the volume and the other half was split between Asustek, Acer, ViewSonic and HTC. In other words, Apple sold 17,500 iPad units in the Taiwan market last month, amounting to a run-rate of 210,000 units. Industry sources warn that even though iPad should regain its share when supply is balanced, the onslaught of Android devices will put pressure on Apple:
Since demand for iPad 2 in Taiwan is still strong, the sources believe once the supply issue is resolved, the device’s shipment share in Taiwan should be able to climb back above 60 percent. However, as Android-based tablet PCs from non-Apple brand vendors are mostly set to appear in the third quarter, the appearance of these machines may still affect the share of iPad 2, the sources added.
In another report from this morning DigiTimes writes that panel maker Chimei Innolux shipped about half a million touch sensors for iPad 2 in the month of June, an increase suggesting improving yield rates compared to the first quarter of 2011.
Swype is a keyboard system for touch mobile devices that enables users to type faster in some instances because it doesn’t require as much ‘tapping’. Apple has shown little interest in putting Swype on iOS devices however.
That’s where the jailbreaking community comes in. Andrew Liu (@WyndWarrior) is working on porting Swype to iOS. With the recent Jailbreakme.com, making it incredibly easy to jailbreak your phone, many others will try it (remember it is in beta).
This is my nextruns this story based on unnamed sources who claim that come this Fall tablet fans will have a choice between iPad 2 and an-all new high-end iPad aimed at creative pros, apparently dubbed ‘iPad HD’:
Our sources are saying that not only will there be a newly designed iPhone coming in the fall, but there is going to be a new entry into the iPad family as well. As hard as it might be to believe, the new tablet is said to sport a double resolution screen (2048 x 1536), and will be dubbed the “iPad HD.” The idea behind the product is apparently that it will be a “pro” device aimed at a higher end market — folks who work in video and photo production possibly — and will be introduced alongside something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture. This product is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line. Think MacBook and MacBook Pro.
As for Final Cut Pro/Aperture, it would perhaps explain why Apple made such a drastic change in its X product, but the extra pixels don’t exactly make a professional video editor. A bigger screen could, however :D.
Overall, we love the idea of an iPad HD and all of the previous evidence points to it (below from the iS 5 SDK). But why wait until the Fall? Perhaps the screens just weren’t ready yet at price points that made sense. That is a lot of pixels to throw on a 9.7-inch display.
Analytics company Localytics today published a report on the rise of the Verizon iPhone. In the July month, it accounted for 32% of all iPhone 4s purchased (AT&T is still selling iPhone3GS, and has the US exclusive on the $49 iPhone). That’s with AT&T’s 8-month head start.
It’s not all gravy for Verizon. Localytics surmises that the biggest selling point to US users was the ‘unlimited’ data plans…which end today.
Why the recent uptick in Verizon adoption? One reason may be Verizon’s unlimited data plan, which they are scheduled to do away with on July 7th. AT&T officially discontinued its unlimited data plan in mid-2010, although existing customers were allowed to keep their plan as long as they remained AT&T customers. We’ll continue tracking the shift in iPhone 4 market share to see if Verizon loses momentum post-unlimited-data.
It will be interesting to see the split on iPhone 5 when all carriers (including Sprint T-Mobile and others?) are equally pitted against each other. Expand Expanding Close
China Mobile, by far the world’s largest carrier with more than 610 million subscribers as of March 2011, still doesn’t offer the most popular phone on the planet. Although we’ve been hearing whispers that Apple and China Mobile are engaged in talks over the iPhone, no hard evidence has been provided until today’s leaked shots allegedly showing off a next-generation iPhone prototype running on China Mobile’s 3G network.
Chinese-language web site Sohu.comre-published the images which we also included in this article for the sake of discussion. The phone appears to run baseband software with version number 06.10.01, which hasn’t been released yet. It also lacks an IMEI number, just like an iPhone 4 prototype we spotted on eBay. Evaluation devices normally have no IMEI number.
