It hasn’t even been a month since Apple’s iPhone 4S first hit the market, and already its 8-megapixel camera is proving to be a huge hit amongst Flickr users. The device has quickly rocketed up the Flickr charts to become the second most popular camera phone on the photo sharing service, overtaking the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the HTC EVO 4G.
The biggest shopping day of the year is fast approaching. This Friday, countless retailers all over the U.S. will be slashing prices for Black Friday, causing a frenzy amongst shoppers who cannot wait to spend some of their hard-earned cash on discounted goods.
Apple famously recognizes the event by discounting some of its hottest products in the Apple online store for one day only, with savings to be made on new Macs, iOS devices, iPods, and even the latest accessories for your beloved Apple gadgets. This year will be no different, so based on the past few years’ reductions, here’s what to expect at the Apple online store on Black Friday.
Yes, the iPhone design is sleek and sexy – and the Apple device is full of jaw-dropping features. But while that may convince some, what really puts the cash in Cupertino’s pockets are those boring, unexciting carrier agreements. Indeed, 50 percent of cell phone growth comes from adding new carriers. Although Apple has inked deals with 230 carriers, that is just 30 percent of the nearly 800 global service providers.
Carved from aircraft-grade aluminum with two tripod mounts, the iPhone Lens Dial defiantly asks — and responds to — the question, “Who says you can’t put external frickin’ lenses on your iPhone? Stupids, that’s who!” But who is stupider: the guy who doesn’t think you can put a lens on your iPhone, or the guy who pays $250 for a bulky case to do just that?
The U.K.’s Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, has slammed Apple and its co-founder Steve Jobs for creating an egocentric and selfish consumer society that has only led to unhappiness. He claims the company’s advertising methods only make shoppers aware of what they don’t own, and he singled out Apple for creating a culture in which people only care about themselves. What hypocritical nonsense.
While we all eagerly await an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S, many of us are using custom settings shortcuts on our iOS homescreens to duplicate the functionality of a more robust Cydia hack like SBSettings.
The only problem? While the shortcuts work really well, some of the icons can be ugly and distinctly un-Apple-like.
Why settle for some puked-up icons, though, when you can have icons sexy enough to lick? Just go over to https://brdrck.me/settings/ on your iDevice and get downloading. Follow our previous how-to if you need guidance on setting these up.
[via iDB]
Sprint’s debut iPhone 4S commercial (unsurprisingly) boasts about the biggest reason for choosing Sprint over its rivals, and that’s “truly unlimited” data. It also praises Apple’s App Store, which is home to half a million apps, by floating popular app icons around New York City.
The Apple iPhone dominates the world of consumer smart phones, but is a bit of a laggard in the business market, right?
Wrong! It turns out that the opposite is true. Apple is in fact a relatively minor player in the global consumer smart phone market, but by far the dominant player in business.
According to Gartner, Android has 52.5% global smart phone market share, Symbian 16.9%, iOS 15%, BlackBerry 11%, Bada 2.2% and Microsoft 1.5%.
In business, however, the iPhone has recently emerged as the top market-share leader with 45%. To achieve this dominance, Apple recently edged out BlackBerry, which has now fallen to 32% of the market. Android gets 21%, recently surpassing Nokia.
To be accurate, these numbers are apples and oranges, so to speak. The Gartner numbers are for both consumer and business and worldwide, and the iPhone numbers are businesses worldwide.
Android’s big global consumer numbers and iPhone’s big business numbers say more about whose got money and who hasn’t than what people’s preferences would be if all phones were priced the same. The fact that very cheap Android phones exist in the world, but very cheap iPhones do not exist, explains much.
Still, it’s a shocking result that’s counter to the conventional wisdom.
Perhaps even more shocking is BlackBerry’s recent second-place status in businesses and enterprises to the iPhone. Business is all BlackBerry’s got. Yet iPhone clobbers RIM in this space now.
More to the point, how can a phone that supposedly ignores business concerns surpass a phone that’s totally designed for business in the business marketplace?
Here’s why iPhone beats BlackBerry in business.
Hauling my back end out of bed each morning is a horrible task, especially during the winter months. Even with the recommended eight hours sleep, I never wake up feeling refreshed. However, I was hoping all that was about to change, thanks to a little app-enhanced headband.
The WakeMate ($60) is an accessory and app for your iOS device that has two main objectives: to help you track and analyze your sleep pattern; and to wake you up at the optimal time in your sleep cycle so that you feel better about waking up early — which is just what I needed.
It’s that time of the year. The busiest shopping day in existence is nearly upon us: Black Friday.
As Apple and iOS fanatics, we naturally look to the App Store for useful apps when life’s obstacles are thrown our way. The topic of Black Friday is no exception, so we’ve collected some of the best, free iPhone apps available to help you make the most out of your shopping experience this year.
When Apple first announced the new $99 AppleCare+ program along with the iPhone 4S, there was a lot of confusion about it, largely because Apple required the coverage be purchased at the same time as the iPhone.
Luckily, Apple’s now cleared up its AppleCare+ policies. You now have 30 days to purchase AppleCare+ after you pick up a new iPhone.
What is AppleCare+? It replaces the previous $69 AppleCare for iPhone coverage that didn’t cover accidental coverage. With AppleCare+, you have coverage for up to two accidental breaks of your iPhone, each subject to a $49 service fee. For clumsy butterfingers like me, not a bad deal at all.
Want the iPhone 4S but still unsure which carrier to commit to? It was easier when there was just one, right? Well maybe this will help you decide: A test performed by Metrico Wireless highlights the strengths and weaknesses of all three iPhone 4S providers — AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon — with Verizon coming out on top when it comes to reliable calls, and AT&T beating the others to faster data.
Myxer, which just released its iPhone app, is alot like Pandora, only with a huge side of friends. Instead of being based around a solitary experience, Myxer encourages users to listen to what their friends are into — which is great for discovering new tunes.
Jabra isn’t an organization afraid of veering off the main road; it seems to use many of its high-end Bluetooth gadgets as design and technology showpieces — sometimes with unfortunate results (the Stone sacrifced performance for a radically shaped body, and the Halo headphones were all kinds of awful).
But when Jabra isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, it’s actually able to give us stuff that’s pretty darn good. The outfit’s newest creation is the high-end Jabra Supreme ($100), the first monoaural Bluetooth headset to offer active noise-cancelling technology in its earpiece, along with all the other goodies usually stuffed into a primo ‘set. So Jabra’s definitely gone the showcase route with the Supreme — but this time, the headset is also an outstanding performer.
What do the kids want under the Christmas tree this year? According to new market research by Nielsen, youngsters in the US want iPads, iPod touches, and iPhones.
As the holiday season quickly approaches, kids between the ages of 6 and 12 desperately want a precious iOS device from Apple. The iPad is the most desired product on the nation’s collective Christmas lists, while the iPod touch and iPhone sit comfortably in the second and third spot.
With the Kindle Fire, Amazon has proved that it is possible to compete with the iPad, at least in the budget tablet market. Will they try to take the crown from the iPhone’s head next with a so-called Kindle Phone? Yup, maybe!
Apple’s iOS devices, especially the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, are famous for their inability to endure even the smallest of drops without their displays shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. However, according to a patent application from the company, future iPhones could employ a fancy airbag system that prevents them from cracking when they hit the ground.
A new study contains more evidence the iPhone is taking hold at work, even displacing the stolid business-centric BlackBerry as the smartphone of choice. Of enterprise workers carrying a smartphone, 45 percent said the handset is an iPhone versus 32 percent for the BlackBerry.
Apple’s Texas Hold’em game was one of the first titles I purchased from the App Store when it opened for business in 2008, and the only game Apple has developed for iOS devices. And while it was a fantastic purchase at the time, the Cupertino company hasn’t exactly been committed to maintaining its popularity.
Its last update came in September 2008, and today, the game has been removed from the App Store completely.
aTV Flash (black) from FireCore has now dropped its beta tag and hit version 1.0. The software package is designed to supercharge your second-generation jailbroken Apple TV, introducing a whole host of functionality that isn’t available from Apple. In addition to a media player which supports a huge variety of formats, aTV Flash will also introduce a web browser, weather and RSS feeds, a Last.fm radio, and more to your set-top box.
Fanhattan is absolutely the required guide for TV/Movie junkies who frequently view titles on the iPhone. Just like on the iPad version, the app acts as a gateway to entertainment — it gathers a heap of information about shows or movies that can be watched on the iPhone, then serves up that information in a super-cool, easy-to-navigate interface (that looks absolutely stunning on the iPhone 4).
https://vimeo.com/31513704
Ticket to Ride began as a hugely successful, massively award-winning board game, then jumped to the iPad and rocked the gaming world all over again as a shining example of what a board game should be on the iPad. Today, it’s set to take the mobile gaming world by storm again as it emerges on the iPhone — and it’s going to go through the roof.
After a rather thorny relationship with the corporate class, Apple is getting downright chummy with businesses buying thousands of iPhones and iPads. The Cupertino, Calif. company now has access to the boardrooms co-founder Steve Jobs once rejected.
Apple and several Chinese environmentalists met Tuesday to clear the air on disputes over pollution they claim comes from factories supplying the tech giant with much sought-after iPhones and iPads. Following the Beijing meeting, one environmentalist questioned Apple’s sincerity.
Do you prefer to do your typing on a real keyboard with your iPhone or iPad? iOS already allows you devices with a Bluetooth keyboard, but what if you don’t have a spare one handy? Let’s say, for example, that your Apple Bluetooth Keyboard is already paired to your Mac, or you’re on the go and only have your MacBook Air handy. What then?
Enter Type2Phone, a great new app that allows you to make your Mac show up as a Bluetooth keyboard to iOS 3.2 or above. Now you don’t need a dedicated keyboard to type on your iPhone or iPad… your Mac can do it for you.