iPhone - page 379

Today, your iPhone is a gadget, a mere consumer appliance. But your future iPhone will become increasingly human. You’ll have conversations with it. The phone will make decisions, prioritize the information it presents to you, and take action on your behalf — rescheduling meetings, buying movie tickets, making reservations and much more.

In short, your iPhone is evolving into a personal assistant that thinks, learns and acts. And it’s all happening sooner than you think, thanks to the guy pictured above.

What’s got a folding boom, Jabra’s most-advanced noise-canceling and wind noise-reduction technology and a massive ear cushion even that princess in the pea story would be comfortable with? You guessed it (probably because it’s in the headline) — the just-announced Jabra Supreme Bluetooth headset.

If you keep up to date on your Apple news, then you hear the numbers. Market share, market share, market share. It’s always about comparing Apple and Android’s dominance.

We’re all familiar with how the big players are doing in terms of market share. Companies like Google, Apple, Samsung, RIM, Nokia and HTC make the headlines every day. But what about the 36% of the mobile market that doesn’t get mentioned? That chunk of the cell phone space usually gets dubbed as the “other” part of your typical analyst graph. The graphs basically say, “Nothing to see here, move on.”

Just who are these no-name phone makers that are outselling all of the industry’s ‘top dogs’?

The news just never seems to be good for RIM. Thursday, the Canadian company announced it sold just 200,000 PlayBook tablets during the last quarter. Today, an analyst predicts the iPhone 5 will “steamroll” RIM’s upcoming BlackBerry 7 smartphones.

Sources have reportedly confirmed that there are indeed two new models of Apple’s iPhone on their way: one of which will be a cheaper version of the iPhone 4, and the other a fancy new iPhone 5. However, thanks to production delays with at least one assembler, the best one may not arrive until 2012.

I was just speaking with another reviewer here about how surprisingly common it is for manufacturers to copy each other’s designs. To ‘port an entire line of products, though, is a little more unusual: iHealth has just announced an app-enhanced digital scale, blood pressure monitor and baby monitor that mirrors Withings‘ entire lineup, gadget for gadget.

With rumor after rumor claiming that Sprint will carry Apple’s iPhone next month, many are wondering if the carrier can handle the expected influx of iPhone customers.

Without blatantly stating that it will carry the iPhone, Sprint has reaffirmed that it can in fact handle the traffic associated with iPhone users.

After nearly doubling its early termination fee, Sprint is making more changes that point towards the iPhone’s unveiling on the carrier’s network.

Mainstream outlets have said that Sprint will being carrying the iPhone after Apple’s Fall announcement, and Sprint is now realigning the qualifying time for smartphone upgrades to early-October. In case you didn’t know, the iPhone 5 is expected to come out in early-October.

Could Broadcom be the reason Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. announced a boost in business from “rush orders.” Some Wall Street analysts point to the Apple supplier needing parts to meet unexpected iPhone demand. In a bit of sleuthing, experts say Broadcom’s stable revenue in an otherwise faltering economy makes the most sense.

China Mobile’s chairman, Wang Jianzhou, revealed in an interview today that Apple has given the carrier a “positive answer” to its request for an iPhone compatible with 4G LTE networks.

I’m sure you’ve already heard a lot about Facebook’s latest iPhone application, Facebook Messenger. However, unless you live in the U.S. or Canada, you’ve been unable to download it… until now! Facebook Messenger has gone global, and is now available to download from App Stores worldwide.

Back in 2008, the Malibu Beach Inn billed itself as the world’s first iPhone hotel.

Now apps like that one are helping people get more comfortable (or complain more quickly) in hotels around the world.

The California hotel offered guests loaner iPhones or iPod Touch devices to order room service, set wake up calls, request dry cleaning, extra blankets or replace forgotten toothbrushes, check messages or set “Do Not Disturb” notices plus shopping, eating and cavorting info.

The whole shebang runs on an app called “Hotel Evolution” from Los Angeles software firm Runtriz.

Given the hilarious nature of HTC President Martin Fichter’s recent comment on the iPhone’s cool factor, it’s only fitting that a web comic be put together to summarize the event.

Apple and carrier Sprint have finished preparations for offering the iPad ‘before the holidays,’ according to a report citing unnamed sources. The iPad will follow an Oct. 7 launch of the iPhone 5, according to the Wednesday report.

For the last thirty five years, time after time, Apple has revolutionized the way we look at technology and dragged the rest of the industry kicking and screaming into the future. If we listed all the ways in which Apple has changed the way we interact with technology, we could fill a book, so here are some of our favorite examples of how Apple has led the tech industry every step of the way.

Apple has been pressured into changing its iPhone returns policy in South Korea following complaints from regulators. The South Korea Fair Trade Commission insisted the Cupertino company changes the way in which it handles defective iPhones that are returned within one month, and after a 12-month wait Apple has complied.

While Apple is still yet to announce its highly-anticipated iPhone 5, that hasn’t stopped a number of carriers from advertising the device and taking pre-orders. China Telecom is the latest to begin preparations for Apple’s fifth-generation device, reportedly taking orders from the end of this month.

Here’s something cool from the team at the Institute for Machine Tools and Manufacturing in Berlin, Germany: an iPhone that’s been turned into a remote control for industrial-size robots.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Verizon Wireless is launching an unlimited voice and data prepaid plan. The plan will compete directly against Sprint and T-Mobile’s prepaid options. AT&T already offers a prepaid plan for $50 called GoPhone.

Verizon’s new $50 plan will include unlimited talk, text and web usage. Starting this Thursday, the plan will be available to eligible Verizon Wireless customers. It looks like iPhone users have one more reason to switch to Verizon.

The music options on the iPhone have sure gotten exciting over the last few months. First Apple unveiled iTunes Match, then Spotify launched their app in the US, and now Turntable.fm has brought their amazing social music experience to the iPhone. Earlier this morning Turntable.fm released their new iPhone app that enables users to listen to Turntable.fm DJ Rooms wherever they go.

Those who jailbreak their iPhones have access to a plethora of interesting and unusual themes. While some of these themes are less impressive than others, a new theme has popped up that stands out from the rest.

Want to make your iPhone look like it runs OS X Lion? There’s a jailbreak theme for that. And it looks incredible.

If you’ve been hanging around in Apple’s developer center since iTunes 5 beta 8 dropped last week, impatiently awaiting the release of iOS 5 beta 8, you might want to give yourself a break. According to a “trusted source,” the eighth beta of Apple’s next major iOS firmware will not drop until this Friday, with the Gold Master release scheduled for September 23.

All of the chatter surrounding the iPhone 5 has created ‘unprecedented’ demand, one analyst announced Tuesday. More than 30 percent of consumers surveyed indicate they are either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to purchase Apple’s latest smartphone, expected in October.

This component, currently for sale through a Chinese parts store, is purportedly the flex cable for the iPhone 5’s home button. But we’re hoping that’s complete rubbish.

Why? Because if this really is the iPhone 5’s home button, it seems to rule out that capacitive touch home button that we’ve all been dreaming about.

If you recall, we told you earlier about HTC president Martin Fichter’s comment on the iPhone’s ‘cool’ factor. According to Fichter, “iPhones are not that cool anymore.”

In a follow-up comment, Fitcher has stressed that HTC is not out to “kill” Apple’s iPhone. According to HTC, the two smartphone makers serve different customers, and HTC is apparently cool with that.