iOS Devices

In case you want to sit in the parking lot of a Best Buy rather than the parking lot of an Apple Store: Best Buy will have iPad 2 at launch.  Wooo!

Will the other usual suspects (Verizon, AT&T, Walmart) as well?  We certainly hope so!

(Update: We’ve just gotten word that Sam’s Club and by extension Walmart will have them at launch too.  The SKU’s just entered the system according to a tipster)
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Just like the iPhone 4, the iPad 2 is more than half battery.  It is interesting that these incredibly small devices are almost completely battery by size and weight.  Every generation the batteries get bigger and the electronics get smaller – like a reverse Moore’s law or something.

Contrast with iPad 1, below:
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Apple has just posted their iPad 2 keynote video… watch it!

Thanks Del and Adam.

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Infinity Blade ($2.99) for iPad and iPhone today got an upgrade, the timing couldn’t have been better…

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In a word: FAST!

http://www.viddler.com/simple/b3dd935d/

For those w/o Flash, talk to Engadget.

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720P is Airplay. 1080P is this thing.  BTW, it works with iPods and iPhones as well.

After going to[PDF] the Agency Model this week, Random House titles are now appearing on the iBooks Store.  The World’s largest publisher had been a holdout on iBooks but miraculously just two days after changing to the Agency Model for distribution, we are seeing multiple books from Random House in the iBooks Store.  Coincidence?

We have a feeling this might get a mention later on today.
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There are a lot of expectations for iPad 2 hardware out there but ours largely falls in line with AllThingsD:

Aesthetically, the iPad 2 is expected to be slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, with a larger speaker and an improved display designed to deliver a better experience in bright sunlight. It will likely run on a 1.2GHz, dual-core, ARM Cortex-A9 chip and Imagination’s SGX543 GPU architecture–a big improvement over the SGX535 Apple uses today. A Qualcomm multimode chip will allow it to run on both GSM- and CDMA-based networks around the world. And it will have double the RAM–512MB, same as the iPhone 4. Finally, it will feature those front- and back-facing cameras we’ve been hearing about for some time now–one for FaceTime and Photo Booth, the other for POV FaceTime and shooting photos and video.

The star of the show might be iOS 5 preview which will likely showcase new voice navigation features with Siri’s AI, perhaps a new maps application and certainly Cloud/MobileMe/iWork/iLife integration.  And notifications have to be getting updated.

We’re getting pumped.  24 hours to go.
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http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

According to The Street‘s Scott Moritz (who doesn’t give a source for his info), although initial lines for the Verizon iPhone 4 appeared to be mild, Verizon and Apple still managed to clear a million units during the opening weekend.

Verizon’s Apple iPhone sales, while deceptively slow, still managed to fly past the 1 million-sold milepost.

TheStreet and Moritz in particular don’t have a stellar track record and we’ve inquired to both Verizon and Moritz for details. (old video above)

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Here is new look on a nine month old iPhone.  A Chinese parts manufacturer offers up a kit to replace those iPhone glass panels with transparent ones.  Click below to see the finished project and twice click on images for full sized glory.  Downsides include possible “less than Gorilla” glass strength and transparent glass letting in light for degraded picture quality (same issue with orig. white iPhone 4).

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According to SAI and Asymco’s tweets (follow!) this morning, Tim Cook in an interview with Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi had some enlightening information on how Apple sees the future of the iPhone.

• Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said Apple would not let carriers dictate terms, which Sacconaghi says reinforces, “the notion that Apple might be willing to act to disintermediate carriers with a soft-SIM.”
• While Tim stopped short of explicitly stating that Apple would pursue a lower price iPhone, he did state that Apple was working hard to “figure out” the prepaid market and that Apple didn’t want its products to be “just for the rich,” but “for everyone”; he also stated that Apple “understood price is big factor in the prepaid market” and that the company was “not ceding any market.” Cook noted that Apple executives – including himself – had spent “huge energy” in China, noting that it is “a classic prepaid market.” He further noted that the handset distribution model was poorly constructed and that Apple would look to “innovate” and do “clever” things in addressing that market.

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It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but Apple has stopped production of the original iPads and cut of supplies to the channel.  We are getting reports that global retailers are no longer able to get their hands on iPads.  We’ve been told that this indicates Apple have halted production of 1st gen iPads and ceased shipments.

MB292LL/A – iPad 16GB WiFi – Constrained – No ETA
MB293LL/A – iPad 32GB WiFi – Constrained – No ETA
MB294LL/A – iPad 64GB WiFi – Constrained – No ETA
MC349LL/A – iPad 16GB 3G – Constrained – No ETA
MC496LL/A – iPad 32GB 3G – Constrained – No ETA
MC497LL/A – iPad 64GB 3G – Constrained – No ETA

The retailers we’ve talked to say that they only have what is currently on the shelves and could be sold out today or tomorrow – which sounds exactly right.

Thanks Mr. X!
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(Click twice for larger)

Imagine the look on our faces when these pictures of a white second-generation iPad part landed in our inbox. Yes folks, it looks like the new iPad could come in white. That seems strange since Apple could not pull off an iPhone 4 with a white front, but I’m sure they figured out a way. Also, one of the reasons for the black frame that surrounds most of Apple’s displays is that it presents the image better visually.  However, this image above, seems to refute all of that.

The piece that we have (from Shenzhen City), thanks to the folks at the iFixYouri iPhone repair shop, is the “digitizer” sometimes known as the the thick bezel.

If you look closely at the back of the part, below, you will see the camera hole, which happens to fit perfectly with the iPad 2 screen protectors from our friends in Asia. This is in addition to the ambient light sensor found on the top of the first-generation iPad. We don’t know whether or not the new iPad will also come in a black finish but, we’ll surely know all come March 2nd. The iPad 2 is expected to be thinner, faster, sport cameras, and work on both GSM and CDMA networks.
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Apple has been working on a new gesture-based lock screen for iOS devices that works similarly to Android’s “dots” lock screen feature. The user sets up a pattern and needs to input that same pattern in, instead of a password or a four number code. Apple has already deployed this new lock screen internally for use in the employee ‘Apple Connect’ application for iOS devices.

There is no word on whether or not this new lock screen will make its way to iOS devices for users. We were told, though, that Apple will be pushing this lock screen down to some of their internal applications in the future. For example the applications retail-store employees use.

Apple is even planning on bringing this down to their new mobile payment system business, on the EasyPay machines. The lock screen looks just like Android’s lock screen, which Google probably has patents on, so this might never see the fingers of consumers. Three more screenshots of the system are after the break.

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Peter Hajas, the creator of MobileNotifier, created a video for us of his new update. In short MobileNotifier is how we think iOS notifications should have been implemented. It’s obviously jailbreak-only and you can grab it from Cydia at this repo: http://phajas.xen.prgmr.com/repo

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A purported image of an iPhone 5 part has appeared on a Chinese reseller of Apple parts’ website. Specifically, this part may be the digitizer panel for the fifth generation iPhone’s touch screen. The part’s design appears to be similar to that of the one found on the current iPhone 4, and past iPhone models, but the screen cutout of the panel appears to be much larger. No measurements for this cutout have been posted, but the cutout could be for a four-inch display, and this matches up with reports from Apple’s production lines in Asia.

Apple is said to be working on a “completely re-designed” iPhone for debut in Summer 2011 with a four-inch display to take on the larger screens found on some of the latest smartphones running Google’s Android operating system. Apple’s next generation iPhone is said to cost less and might feature a new integrated SIM card to be easily configurable on any supported carrier. The iPhone 5 may also carry an upgraded A4 processor, already dubbed the A5 chip, in addition to a new Gobi WWAN chip already found in the Verizon iPhone, designed to work on both CDMA and GSM networks.

The purported iPhone digitizer (above) also appears to have a thinner bezel on all sides: right, left, top, and bottom. This matches up well with a well-sourced report claiming that the next smartphone from Apple will feature an edge-to-edge display. This would allow Apple to increase the display’s size, while keeping the actual device’s size the same or even smaller. Information about this rumored display’s resolution is yet to surface, but one concept pegs the rumored 4 inch display to stay “Retina” with the new bottom portion being a stationary control switch bar for iOS multitasking.

We have a lovely mock up below:

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The Wall St. Journal talked to Verizon CEO Daniel Meade about the iPhone launch and the lack of lines. He said 60% of sales were online and staggered and that the lack of lines were planned. Apple was just being cautious by having all hands at the Apple Store early as well. Regardless, Verizon isn’t announcing numbers until their earnings release.

More importantly, he talked of 4G.

Mr. Mead also said he expects Apple to offer mobile devices on the carrier’s 4G technology, although he declined to specify the nature of those products or when they would be released. Verizon’s fast fourth-generation wireless network, which it recently launched, runs on a technology known as Long-Term Evolution, or LTE.

“You’ll see more coming from Apple on LTE,” he said. “They understand the value proposition of LTE and I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it.”

Here’s what’s interesting: We saw three different types of iPad 2 in the SDK: K93, K94 and K95.  Initially we thought: One GSM, One CDMA and one Wifi.  However, since then we discovered that the Verizon iPhone and likely the iPad 2 use a Qualcomm GOBI chipset that allows both CDMA and GSM connectivity. We also know someone at Apple is working on LTE right now.

That leaves another class of iPad.  Could that mean 4G?
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http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

Consumer Reports is almost  comical at this point.  They say the Verizon iPhone has the same issue as the GSM version but since Verizon’s network is better, people don’t notice the degradation.

We subjected the Verizon iPhone 4 to a full complement of regular tests in order to add it to our smart-phone Ratings, available to subscribers. We also put it through the special tests we carried out last year on the AT&T iPhone 4 after a rash of consumer complaints about signal reception with that model. There has been no such outpouring of complaints about the Verizon version of the phone.

In addition, to provide a comparison to some alternative models available from Verizon, we also tested five other Verizon smart phones that we rate highly: the Samsung Fascinate; Motorola Droid 2 Global; HTC Droid Incredible; LG Ally; and Motorola Droid X.

Oh, boy.  Any non-Androids?  How about BlackBerry or Palm…or a Kin?

The special tests were all carried out in the controlled environment of CU’s radio-frequency isolation chamber at our National Research and Testing Center in Yonkers, NY. In this room, which blocks interference from outside signals, our test engineers mounted each phone on a stand and established a continuous signal connection to our base-station emulator, a device that simulates the signals phones receive in the field. We then placed a finger to each phone in a range of locations around its edge, and monitored any changes to the phone’s performance at each position.

The only phones in which the finger contact caused any meaningful decline in performance was the iPhone 4, the sides of which comprise a metal band broken by several thin gaps. As with our tests of the AT&T iPhone 4, putting a finger across one particular gap—the one on the lower left side—caused performance to decline. Bridging this gap is easy to do inadvertently, especially when the phone is in your palm, which might readily and continuously cover the gap during a call.

Bottom line, they can’t recommend it even though it is their highest rated smartphone on the highest rated network.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6pT_2E5xI0&fs=1&hl=en_US]

The number one paid app in the App store right now is a great little game called Tiny Wings that ever so slightly riffs off of Angry Birds(now #2).  The gameplay looks excellent and it is $.99 cents.  The reviews are somewhat comical but almost 100% good.

I’m going to keep this short because I need to get back to playing this game. Basically, you can forget about Angry Birds, it’s all about this happy hopeful bird. Simple, yet addictive casual gameplay will keep you coming back for more. So what are you waiting for? Just press the download button, no need for hesitations here.

If you aren’t already addicted, get there.

Engadget has retracted its earlier report claiming that Apple’s second generation iPad will include an SD card reader and a “super-high resolution” display, and is now backing up much of what we have heard about the iPad 2 already. Engadget‘s sources claim that the new iPad will feature the same display as the first generation model (screen size and resolution) and will be mostly a tech spec update. The new specs are said to include a brand-new, faster processor called the A5 in addition to a RAM upgrade to match the 512 MB found in Apple’s flagship smartphone (iPhone 4).

Engadget is also backing up the reports that the new iPad will rock cameras. Engadget does not seem too sure about the back camera, and seems to be going off the of purported physical mockups of the device, but they are certain about the front-facing camera for FaceTime calling and such. Engadget also touches upon the mystery behind the iPad 2’s unknown port found on our very own iPad 2 case at 9to5mac HQ and on our exclusive iPad 2 mold drawings from a few months back. They are not too sure about the purpose of this new port, or if it will even come in the final hardware, but it may have something to do with some last-minute engineering shifts.

On a final note, the report presents some hints at what else we might be seeing on March 2nd at the Yerba Buena Center in San Fransisco. They think we’ll be seeing a preview of iOS 5, which makes sense since Apple usually holds iOS developer previews in March/April, in addition to some talk about Apple and the cloud. The cloud point is still very vague at this time.

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iLounge claims that tomorrow’s new MacBook Pro will be a modest upgrade, like we’ve seen so far, and will look just like the aluminum unibody models of today. They report also claims that Apple is already working on an all new MacBook Pro family for launch next year. iLounge calls this new MacBook Pro family a “milestone” so this may be what Apple was talking about when they said “next-generation of notebooks.”

Next is the second generation iPad. iLounge claims that the new iPad we will be seeing on March 2nd may be a “modest,” incremental upgrade versus a feature-packed redesign. They say this might be due to the production issues we have been hearing about lately. iLounge says we may be seeing another new iPad this year, which mirrors earlier reports, but we have our doubts. iLounge has a good track record when it comes to these types of rumors so take it for what it’s worth.

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