iOS Devices

With Photos for OS X not being released until early next year, it seemed like there would be no way to view your photos backed up in iCloud Photo Library away from an iOS device for Mac customers. However, screenshots and error messages from iCloud.com show that a Photos app is in development for the website, so that users could access their pictures in some fashion on a computer. This will likely act as a stopgap before the official native client is ready.

The above screenshot is captured from an Apple help page, clearly showing a Photos app in the menu, which is currently absent from the public site. The app features the same icon as the Photos app, but its unclear what exact functionality it will bring. Poking around a bit, we discovered something that means it is unlikely the screenshot is simply a Photoshop mistake.

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With recent reports of the iPhone 6 Plus suffering from a bendable body while in pockets and other tight places, YouTuber Lewis from Unbox Therapy decided to put together a proper “bend test” and see what all of the fuss is about. Obviously this is going to be an extreme situation, but as others have specified it doesn’t take much to bend Apple’s new phablet…

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Although dozens of custom keyboards have been launching left and right just in time for iOS 8, most of them have stayed rather traditional. Yes, there’s new features here and there that are firsts for iOS like the ability to swipe to type using Swype and SwiftKey, but these are still just keyboards for typing letters. A new keyboard from Riffsy called GIF Keyboard, on the other hand, isn’t really a keyboard—it’s a great way to quickly and easily send GIFs to friends using your favorite apps.

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A product teardown of both the new 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus devices last week confirmed earlier reports that Apple is indeed opting for TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) to produce the 20nm, second generation 64-bit A8 chip that drives the new iPhones. Research firm IHS, however, has shared a teardown analysis report with Re/code that claims Samsung is still responsible for a fraction of Apple’s A8 chips produced.

Rassweiler said the processor he saw during the teardown was manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the massive chip-factory-for-hire based in Taipei. […] Rassweiler says TSMC is manufacturing about 60 percent of the chips for Apple, while Samsung is still turning about about 40 percent.

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Some iPhone 6 owners have found that Apple’s latest and greatest phone comes with an unexpected (but patented!) new feature: flexibility. According to reports, the iPhone 6 is slightly bending beyond repair while in pockets. Some users say that the bending occurred after normal sitting, while other people have had more active lifestyles. Unfortunately, it does not appear that Apple will replace these more fragile-than-expected units at no cost. Some users are reporting that replacement costs are in the hundreds of dollars range. Additional bending pictures below:

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The Bing Search app has been updated to include the translation feature first demoed at WWDC, as part of the initial unveiling of iOS 8 extensions.

Very simply, downloading the update adds a Bing Translate action to your Activities list in Safari. Enable the action and then visit a website in a foreign language. Pressing the Translate action in the share sheet will machine translate the webpage’s text to the system language, by default. The text content changes inline and happens very quickly.

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With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple made several improvements to the camera quality. It’s still packing an 8-megapixel sensor (f2.2 aperture), but there are a few new features that make the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus camera stand out. There’s a certain level of quality that most people expect when shooting video or photos with an iPhone, but this cinematic camera demo takes it to another level…

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3uAoeQBpcQ]

Apple has started airing two new iPhone 6 ads starring the duo of Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake. Tim Cook unveiled two ads starring the pair during the iPhone 6 announcement earlier this month with ads that focused on the Health application and size of the phone.

The new ads, dubbed “Huge” (above) and “Cameras” (below) started hitting airwaves tonight and focus once again on the size of the display and the upgraded cameras with enhanced image stabilization, slow-motion and time-lapse capabilities.

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As has been previously rumored, Apple is said to be preparing for an October event to introduce an updated model of the iPad Air, according to the Commercial Times. Though earlier rumors of an event on October 21st have been shot down, there are still plenty of other days in October that Apple could hold the event.

In fact, the company is already expected to announce and release OS X Yosemite next month, as indicated by notes on the iOS 8 website stating that the “SMS Relay” feature (which requires OS X 10.10) will be available at that time.

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Update: We’ve rounded up some nice 2.1A AC/Car charger and battery upgrade options for the iPhone 6/Plus

Apple has apparently enabled much faster battery charging in the newest iPhone models, but you’d never know it if you only use the included power adapter. According to a change in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus discovered by iLounge, both of the new smartphones are equipped with the hardware to support 2.1A charging.

The problem? Apple only includes a 1A charger in the box. If you’ve been using that AC power adapter to recharge your phone, there’s a much faster way to do it. Since the iPad has long supported 2.1A charging, you can grab a charger for the Apple tablet and use that to achieve a much quicker charge.

Another way to benefit from this new capability is to plug your iPhone directly into a newer-model Mac, which will charge it at the appropriate speed. iLounge noted that the Macs tested for this feature were running Yosemite with no mention of OS X Mavericks, so it’s possible that the change may require the upcoming OS, which is currently is public beta.
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While iOS 8 adoption was lagging behind last year’s release at just 15% before the official launch of the new iPhones on Friday, it’s now hovering at approximately 30% after record first weekend sales for the new iPhones. That stat, which comes from research and analytics firms Fiksu, Mixpanel, Appsee, & Chitika is below the almost 50% of users iOS 7 had this many days into launch last year.

Fiksu and Mixpanel also offered data on iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus adoption following the first weekend of sales. Both show that iPhone 6 is outpacing iPhone 6 Plus quite significantly after the first few days in customers’ hands, but it’s quite likely that could be due to a much tighter supply of iPhone 6 Plus.
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With the release of iOS 8 and the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, a ton of new video shooting features are now available to iPhonographers including Time-lapse mode, 240-fps Slow-mo mode, 60-fps HD capture, and Cinematic Video Stabilization. Apple demoed some of these video shooting features earlier this month at the September event, and the iPhone 6 camera microsite includes sample videos of each mode.

With Apple selling over 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets from pre-sales and launch weekend, we’re likely to see a more and more incredible videos shot on Apple’s new devices, and below we’ve put together a collection of some of the best videos shot in each mode from early iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus adopters.
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It’s iPhone season once again and most of us are faced with a tough decision. Should you upgrade or wait around another year for a better device? That may be a tough decision, but it’s always easier to see the pros and cons of both sides with a good old-fashioned comparison.

We’re taking a look at Apple’s new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and last year’s iPhone 5s and going over the details and specifications for each device. Knowing the facts is half of the battle, but hopefully this will help you see the benefits from each side…

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Apple has today announced that it sold 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units in the first three days of sales. This includes the 4 million units sold in the first 24 hours of preorder sales. Apple’s newest iPhones have consistently been out of stock across the world, particularly the iPhone 6 Plus which is believed to have faced production issues, limiting the number of available devices for sale.

For comparison, Apple reported 9 million iPhone 5s and 5c sales in the first three days. This means the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus set a new record by over a million units. Apple is unlikely to give any more color regarding iPhone sales performance until its quarterly earnings call in October. As usual, Apple has opted to not share the breakdown of sales between the two new devices.

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Climate Week NYC is an annual conference about environmental sustainability. For 2014, there is a particular focus on lowering carbon emission across business, government and individuals. Apple CEO Tim Cook is scheduled to speak at the event, for the first time, at 12 PM EST. The livestream for the event is embedded below.

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New data released by mobile analytics firm MixPanel (via TechCrunch) has revealed a trend in adoption rates of the 4.7-inch iPhone versus the 5.5-inch model. According to the report, the smaller model appears to be outperforming the larger one is deliveries today, and by no small margin. While the larger model has claimed about .30% of hits in MixPanel’s survey, the smaller version has achieved an impressive 2.46%.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the 4.7-inch version is outselling its counterpart by such a large gap, if at all. It’s entirely possible (though unlikely) that more of the larger version have been sold or ordered overall, but weren’t available for delivery or in retail stores today. Of course, this makes a lot of sense given the ongoing reports of extremely limited iPhone 6 Plus supplies both in retail stores and online, even during the pre-order phase.

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Along with the launch of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, Apple also released a much larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. Because of the larger display on this device, you can expect a much larger form factor, but there are a few benefits that go along with it as well…

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