iOS Devices

• iOS
• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• Apple News
• iPhone 6

Latest sketchy iPhone 6 battery rumor claims capacity jump over earlier ‘test battery’

Ben Lovejoy Aug 6 2014 - 3:59 am PT

6 Comments

A claimed iPhone 6 battery with a capacity of 1810mAh was a ‘test unit,’ claims a Chinese news analyst cited by GforGames, while the real thing “might” have a capacity of 2100mAh.

According to her supply-chain sources, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 might actually sport a larger 2,100 mAh battery as opposed to a 1,810 mAh unit. Reportedly, the 1,810 mAh battery we’ve seen in the aforementioned leaked picture is as real as it can be, but according to Sung Chang Xu’s sources, these units have been used solely for testing purposes.

It should be noted that GforGames specializes in quoting every Chinese source going, and even the source doesn’t appear too confident in this case, so we’re not putting much stock in it.

The battery-life of the iPhone 6 is an interesting question. Assuming the many leaked case parts are real, the phone will be significantly slimmer than existing models, and it’s likely that this will be achieved in large part by a thinner battery. The larger, higher-res screen will also use more power.

However, the larger form factor of the phone will allow the battery to be both longer and wider, and it’s also likely that Apple will further improve the power efficiency of the phone. If I were to guess, I’d say that Apple will aim to cancel out these effects in order to match the battery-life of the iPhone 5s in the 4.7-inch model, but there’s still room to hope for an improvement.

• Apps & Updates
• iOS
• iPad
• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• iPhone 5s

Original BioShock game coming to iPhone and iPad soon

Benjamin Mayo Aug 4 2014 - 5:35 am PT

4 Comments

2K games has announced that it is bringing the original 2007 BioShock game to iPhone and iPad later this summer, via Engadget. Graphics have been toned down significantly from the original Xbox title, but the game will no doubt offer plenty of nostalgia for fans of the series.

“BioShock delivers a true triple-A first-person shooter game experience on the iOS platform, by sending players on an underwater adventure to explore the submerged Art Deco city of Rapture, fighting deranged survivors of a failed objectivist utopia and genetically modifying their own DNA to gain superhuman powers.”

Although pricing and other specifics is not yet known, Engadget says that the developer 2K games wants a ‘premium game’ to carry a ‘premium price’, seemingly in the $10 to $30 range. Although visuals are substantially behind-the-curve of modern iOS games, the game will at least support MFI Game Controllers for more tactile interaction. BioShock will launch in the coming months, for iPad 4 and later, iPhone 5 and later.

• Apps & Updates
• Apps
• iOS
• Mac
• MacBook Pro
• iOS Devices

Make OS X Yosemite’s dark mode turn on automatically with this neat utility

Benjamin Mayo Aug 4 2014 - 4:39 am PT

25 Comments

Although OS X Yosemite is still a few months out from public release, the public beta and developer seeds means the OS is already seeing wide adoption — hence, apps for Yosemite are already starting to surface. In fact, the unreleased OS already makes up 18% of Mac users on 9to5Mac, already the second most popular version of OS X.

Expand
Expanding
Close

• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• Apple News
• BlackBerry
• Ryan Seacrest

The Typo iPhone keyboard is back again after lawsuit, but maybe not for long

Ben Lovejoy Aug 1 2014 - 4:32 am PT

9 Comments

Seacrest’s Typo, the BlackBerry-like physical keyboard for the iPhone, didn’t last long the first time around. BlackBerry sued, describing it as “a blatant infringement against BlackBerry’s iconic keyboard,” and succeeded in getting an injunction against the $99 accessory.

Seacrest – the company co-founded by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest – responded by redesigning the keyboard and is now taking pre-orders for the Typo 2. The new model features a backlight, battery indicator and lock key, but otherwise looks strikingly similar to the original.

Shipping is scheduled for mid-September – assuming BlackBerry doesn’t have another injunction in place by then …

• iOS
• iOS Devices
• iPhone 5s
• iPhone 5c

Windows Phone browser resorts to masquerading as iOS Safari to fix website issues

Benjamin Mayo Jul 31 2014 - 11:56 am PT

14 Comments

In a rather amusing change, Microsoft has decided to make their Windows Phone user-agent identify as Apple’s iPhone Safari browser. Essentially, browser communicate with webpages using a special identifier to tell the servers what kind of browser they are using. This is how websites distinguish between desktop and mobile versions of sites. However, because Microsoft’s browser is so insignificant in terms of market share, most websites simply ignore their specific user-agent entirely, and serve unoptimised desktop pages.

As a result, in Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft will fake its user agent as iPhone Safari, so that webpages return mobile friendly copies to Windows Phone users. The tables have certainly turned from a decade ago, when developers would go out of their way to support Internet Explorer’s non-standard way of doing things.

• AAPL Company
• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• iPhone 6

Questionable rumor of iPhone 6 launch on October 14th, iWatch announced the same month?

Ben Lovejoy Jul 31 2014 - 4:20 am PT

17 Comments

Apple retail employees are a great resource for advice on picking your Macs and iOS devices, but info on Apple’s secret launch plans for its biggest product launches of the year, not so much. The information was supposedly relayed during what Apple calls an “all hands meeting” at one of Apple’s stores. MacRumors cites an Apple retail employee for what would seem like a highly unlikely story of the iPhone 6 launching on October 14th.

Apple may be planning to launch the iPhone 6 on Tuesday, October 14 as the month itself will be an incredibly busy one for the company, according to a source that spoke to MacRumors citing an internal Apple Retail Store meeting.

The source notes that a senior Store Leader mentioned October 14th as being an “immense” day for Apple, adding that the whole month of October would be very busy for stores and the company itself. Apple is also said to planning a media event for Tuesday, September 16, coming a month ahead of the device’s launch.

The story seems exceedingly unlikely for two reasons (besides the questionable nature of the source having access to launch details). First, Apple traditionally launches new iPhones on a Friday, with first weekend sales an important early guide to the popularity of a new model. A Tuesday launch would not provide comparable data. Second, Apple usually announces new iPhones around ten days before they go on sale, yet the same source is claiming that Apple will announce the phone in mid-September, a full month before it goes on sale.

October has recently been the time period where Apple has launched its updated iPad lineup

The source also claims the iWatch will be announced the same month, alongside Yosemite, new iPads and new Macs.

Given the unlikely timings and the fact that the source is basing all this on claimed statements by a relatively junior employee we can’t put much stock in this. Our own sources have told us previously that Apple is tentatively planning to announce its new iPhone in mid-September.

• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• Bluetooth
• Kickstarter
• Bluetooth LE

SmartBrick Bluetooth LEGO controller replaces infra-red remote with your iPhone

Ben Lovejoy Jul 29 2014 - 5:35 am PT

1 Comment

If you your kids play with LEGO Technic, and the standard infra-red receiver feels just a little 1990s, a new Kickstarter project has the answer. The SmartBrick is a Bluetooth LE receiver that forms a direct swap for the IR one, enabling you to control your hi-tech LEGO projects with your iPhone.

The SmartBrick has four ports, enabling it to control four functions, and if that’s not enough you can control up to 16 SmartBricks from the app, providing a total of 64 controls. Because it’s Bluetooth LE, you can embed the controller inside your model, and you get around 300 feet of range – and even control your device over the Internet.

The app allows you to choose the remote control profile you’d like for your device. Joystick, gamepad and gyroscopic controls are offered as standard, and you can create your own custom controls.

A pledge of £40 ($68) gets you a brick from the first production run, but there are still some Early Bird specials available for £29 ($49).

• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• Apple Health
• Indonesia
• Medicine

Crowd-funding project aims to use iPhone kit to “eradicate malaria from an entire Indonesian island”

Ben Lovejoy Jul 29 2014 - 4:49 am PT

1 Comment

A crowd-funded project aims to use an iPhone-based malaria diagnosis kit to detect and treat the disease on the Indonesian island of Bangka. The team believes that early detection and treatment can enable the complete eradication of the disease from the island, and pave the way for larger-scale roll-outs in Africa.

We want to prove that we can have a significant effect on malaria case management throughout one of these regions. The first study of this kind will take place on Bangka Island in Indonesia. With this study, we have set ourselves the goal of eradicating malaria from the entirety of Bangka Island during malaria high season.

The IanXen RAPID kit comprises an iPhone with portable microscope attachment, blood slides and lancet pen. A blood drop is placed on the slide, examined through the microscope by an app with the result available within five seconds.

By enabling diagnosis to be carried out with fully portable kit and at a much lower cost than conventional equipment, IanXen hopes that it will be deployed much more widely.

3.3 billion people live at risk of malaria across 106 malaria-endemic countries. Although the risk is widespread, cases and deaths are concentrated in Africa. In 2010, over 80% of 216 million estimated cases and over 90% of 655,000 estimated deaths occurred in Africa.

Prompt diagnosis and effective treatment are the cornerstones of malaria case management; patients recover rapidly if diagnosed and treated early.

A donation of £5 ($8.50) helps fund the project and gets you a mention in the project’s twitter feed, with higher donation levels available.

• iOS
• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• Apple News
• Bluetooth

Upmarket German restaurant group testing iBeacons to recognize & reward frequent diners

Ben Lovejoy Jul 28 2014 - 7:06 am PT

2 Comments

iBeacons seems to be gaining momentum: the same day the Hudson’s Bay Company announced its rollout of the technology to its department stores, upmarket German restaurant group the Mook Group has told the WSJ of its own plans to use iBeacons to recognize and reward frequent diners.

The app clocks the time guests spend in the restaurant and uses a ranking system to reward them for their loyalty […]

Diners can use the app to climb their way from “Guest” ranking to “Addicted Connoisseur” level based on the amount of time spent at any one of group’s venues. Guests with higher-level app statuses are rewarded with a free welcome drink, automatic placement on the guest list for future events or even fast-track entrance.

Measuring how long someone spends in a restaurant might be a slightly odd basis on which to reward them, but owner Christian Mook says that they later hope to track items ordered and total spend.

“It will be even more interesting when we get to the next step and we know guest’s names, what people drink and eat, how often and when the client comes in – whether for private reasons or business reasons, all as a way to improve service,” Mr. Ladjimi said, adding that any access to information would be on a voluntary basis and with the client’s authorization.

Diners don’t need to interact with the app while they are in the restaurant – they simply need to install and authorize it beforehand. So long as it is installed on their phone when they visit, the app and the iBeacons do the rest.

If you’re not yet fully up to speed with iBeacon technology, you can check out our briefing here.

• AAPL Company
• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• iPhone 6
• iWatch

Apple unlikely to release the 5.5-inch iPhone and iWatch in December as rumored

Ben Lovejoy Jul 28 2014 - 5:02 am PT

25 Comments

GforGames is today running a piece based on a Weibo post, claiming that both the 5.5-inch version of the iPhone 6 and iWatch will be released in December.

December would be an extremely unlikely time for Apple to launch a new product. Many people will already have made holiday gift purchases by then, while others would have unleashed their gadget fund on Black Friday, which this year falls on 28th November. Apple has however released 27-inch iMacs and Mac Pro in December, likely due to production delays. Professional type machines like this are far less likely to be affected by holiday shopping.

There have been persistent rumors (silly and otherwise) that the 5.5-inch version of the iPhone 6 will go on sale later than the 4.7-inch model, with some even suggesting the larger model may not be available until next year. But the production schedule for the larger model has been reported to be lagging only a few weeks behind that of the 4.7-inch handset, with Apple reputedly placing combined orders of 70-80M units for this year.

A recent analyst analysis of Apple’s new product investment seemingly suggests a bumper quarter for Apple this quarter, suggesting that the iWatch will be launched alongside, or close to, the iPhone 6. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has, however, suggested that mass production of the iWatch may have been pushed back from September to November. While actually going on sale in December isn’t impossible, we’d expect Apple to announce it significantly earlier.

• AAPL Company
• iOS
• iOS Devices
• iPhone
• Apple News

As iPhone 6 enters production, even more internal components leak

Benjamin Mayo Jul 24 2014 - 9:34 am PT

21 Comments

Both NowhereElse.fr and Apple.club.tw have published images of a myriad of alleged iPhone 6 components. This includes pictures of home buttons, ribbon cables and other elements of the device. Yet another photo of the iPhone 6 design is also included, this time shown off in the gold styling. The hole for the Apple logo is also visible, as discussed a few days ago.

The two home buttons, pictured above, differ slightly different in their construction, clearly meant for two different form factors of device — if any more evidence for both 4.7 inch and 5.5 inch phones was needed.

These disparate photos don’t reveal anything particularly outstanding about the upcoming phones, but it’s just the last bit of a very long timeline of leaks. With the phones entering production, these leaks will only continue.