If you’ve pre-ordered a Pebble smartwatch, the first thing you’ll want to do when it arrives is connect it to your smartphone. After all, that’s the whole idea, right? Then you’ll be pleased to know that Pebble’s official apps for Android and iOS will be available before the device arrives on your doorstep.
Back in September, British carrier O2 teamed up with HTC and started an initiative to reduce the number of unwanted smartphone chargers in the United Kingdom. The carrier estimated that around 70% of handset buyers already had a charger that would be compatible with their new device, and so it started selling certain HTC devices without them.
O2 is now reporting that the initiative has been a big success. 82% of customers didn’t need to purchase a charger with their smartphone, the company claims, which surpasses its initial expectations for the effort.
If you lose a smartphone and you use a service that can track its location via GPS, ignore it when it tells you that your handset is a Wayne Dobson’s house. For the past two years, this 59-year-old retiree has had cellphone owners showing up at his Las Vegas home demanding their devices back. They turn up at all hours of the day, yelling and threatening to call the police.
But Dobson is no thief, and he doesn’t have their phones. It’s a strange glitch that appears to be affecting devices on Sprint, and its making this man’s life a misery.
Facebook is set to hold a press event later today, and it appears the whole thing’s going to be a massive kick in the teeth for Google. Not only is the social network expected to unveil its own smartphone, possibly powered by its own platform, but it’s also expected to hit Google where it really hurts — in search. Rumor has it the company will unveil its own search engine, which will rollout to users “very soon.”
Amazon has today launched a new music service called AutoRip, which offers customers a free MP3 version of every album they’ve bought on CD from Amazon since 1998. The service currently boasts more than 50,000 digital albums from all the major record labels, and Amazon insists that new titles are added on a regular basis.
Wireless speakers are often the best way to enjoy the music you have stored on your smartphone or tablet, but like other electronics, there are some places you wouldn’t want to take them — such as the beach or the lake. Filling them with sand and water will kill them incredibly quickly.
That’s not a worry with the NUU Splash, however, because it’s both dust and water resistant.
A day after AT&T announced its “best-ever” quarter for smartphone sales, rival operator Verizon Wireless is doing exactly the same thing. The carrier has announced that it expects to have reached a record 9.8 million sales during the fourth quarter of 2012, and it’s attributing that success to the popularity of the iPhone.
AT&T will announce its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 later this month, but the carrier has today confirmed that the quarter saw its “best-ever” sales of both Android and iOS devices. More than 10 million smartphones were sold during the three-month period, with an average of more than 110,000 smartphone sales a day.
Ballistic is at CES in Las Vegas this week showing off its latest lineup of iPhone 5 cases, the Aspira series. Decorated with bright and pretty patterns, the new selection delivers sleek, “sexy protection” for Apple’s latest smartphone, but it’s not all about looks. The cases are made from a combination of soft rubber and hard plastic to ensure protection against drops and dings.
Corning has today announced its third-generation Gorilla Glass, and as you’d expect, it’s significantly tougher than its predecessors. Gorilla Glass 3 boasts a new feature called Native Damage Resistance (NDR), which promises to provide three times the scratch resistance of Gorilla Glass 2. It’ll be on show at CES next week before making its way to the next generation of smartphones, tablets, and more.
Zinio, the popular digital newsstand available to Android and iOS devices, has slashed up to 50% off its top 100 magazine subscriptions until. The deal includes titles like Macworld, GQ, Wired, Playboy, PC Magazine, and many more, and it’s valid until Monday, January 7.
I can’t remember the last time I picked up a proper camera and took a photograph; every picture I take these days is on a smartphone. The problem with that is, I usually end up transferring them to my Mac, and then that’s where they stay. Forever. Making good quality prints isn’t as easy as it should be.
Polaroid is hoping to change that. The company has announced that is to open a bunch of new Fotobar stores across the United States that are dedicated to printing your smartphone snaps. You can pop in, upload your pictures, edit them, and then print them.
There’s a problem I often run into with my mobile devices, and that’s not enough storage space. I insist on purchasing devices with just 16GB of memory, and then I have to find ways to manage that storage the best I can. Some devices will take microSD cards that will allow you to bump their storage as and when you need it, but others — like Apple’s iOS devices — don’t come with that luxury.
Vantec’s new NexStar WiFi hard drive dock lets you bump your smartphone, tablet, and even PC storage over Wi-Fi. You can use it to store your audio and video collections on your home network, then use Vantec’s dedicated apps to access them wirelessly when you need to.
Towards the end of each year, IBM Research publishes a list of five things it predicts our gadgets will be capable of within the next five years. While some of its predictions seem a little too outlandish and farfetched, others — such as its 2006 prediction for realtime speech translation — become a reality.
IBM’s 2012 list is all about the five senses. It predicts that by 2018, our gadgets will help us touch, see, hear, taste, and even smell. Your smartphone, IBM believes, will use new technologies to simulate the physical sensation of touching something, while your tablet will be able to taste your food.
Research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that “smart connected device” shipments — which includes computers, smartphones, and tablets — reached a record high during the third quarter of 2012, largely thanks to Apple and Samsung. The pair’s hugely popular devices helped the market grow 27.1% year-on-year as it reached a record 303.6 million shipments valued at over $140 billion.
Samsung has once again taken the top spot for mobile market share in the United States after attracting more than a quarter of mobile subscribers. The Korean company claimed 26.3% of the market as of October 2012, but rival Apple is quickly catching up. The iPhone maker saw the highest level of growth among cellphone manufacturers, and managed to overtake LG to take second place.
When Hurricane Sandy left millions of people across the East Coast of the United States without electricity, portable, battery-powered devices like smartphones and tablets were all they had to rely on. Not only did they provide a means of entertainment, but they also allowed those affected by the storm to follow the latest news and weather information.
With that being the case, Sandy had some interesting effects on app statistics. Compared with the preceding week in New York City, use of navigation apps more than doubled, while those in the finance category saw a 74% boost. Photography and news apps also became more popular, while, surprisingly, weather apps remained closed.
You’ve got yourself a new iPhone 5 and are looking for something that just won’t show it off – but will show it off with style. You also want to offer it some protection at the same time and have it stand out from the crowd.
If that’s what you’re looking for, then look no further because the latest Cult of Mac Deals offer will leave you and your iPhone 5, well…glowing. We’re offering a limited quantity of Glow Gel Combos to our continental US readers for only $24 – and they won’t last long at that price.
Apple has lost its battle to secure the ‘iPhone’ name in Mexico and may have to cease selling its device under a court injunction. The Cupertino company attempted to secure the name in 2009, and wanted a local company to cease using the name ‘iFone’ under the grounds that it sounded too similar.
Unfortunately for Apple, the iFone name was secured four years prior to the launch of its smartphone, and the Mexican firm has won its bid to get the device banned.
Path, the popular “personal network” exclusive to smartphones and tablets, has today made its debut on the iPad. With a new interface designed to take full advantage of the iPad’s larger display, Path for iPad “allows for larger moments” and lets you see more of your family and friends on one screen.
Born on Kickstarter, the MobileMount is a nifty little tool that allows you to mount almost any smartphone or tablet to a flat surface. Its design is simple; it consists of two suction cups that are held together by a ball and socket joint, so you can angle the stand in almost any direction while it’s mounted.
Both suction cups utilize a ‘turn-to-lock’ mechanism in an effort to ensure it’s super secure, and that your device never becomes unstuck. And because they’re just simple suction cups, you don’t need to remove cases or chargers from your device before you use them with the MobileMount — provided the case you’re using has a flat surface, of course.
This also means you can use one mount for your iPhone, your iPad, your iPod, and more — you don’t need to carry separate, dedicated accessories for each device. The MobileMount comes in black or white, and costs $39.99. But is it really worth it?
During its iPad mini unveiling last week, Apple showed off an awesome video from the iPhone 5 launch day on September 22. The clip featured an uplifting soundtrack by The Rival, and lots of happy customers who had just picked up Apple’s latest smartphone.
If you didn’t see it during the keynote, you can now watch it online; Apple’s posted the video to the iPhone 5 page of its website, but you can see it below.
AT&T has announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2012 this morning, and once again, Apple’s iPhone has been its biggest-selling smartphone. The carrier sold 6.1 million smartphones in total during the three-month period, a whopping 77% of which were iPhones.
The first time you purchase your first LTE-capable smartphone, the biggest shocker of the device isn’t how wicked fast LTE download speeds are, it’s how sinisterly expensive it is to pay for all that super-fast LTE data. Just like 3G data plans, LTE is expensive. In fact, according to to the GSM Association, Americans are being charged too much for LTE data.
Apple’s efforts to be greener mean it boasts some of the most environmentally friendly gadgets on the planet. The new iPhone 5, for example, is one of the greenest smartphones money can buy. Apple also tries to make its packaging green. In fact, the packing for its new EarPods is so environmentally friendly that it turns to mush when you submerge it in water.
