A launch event invitation has already given us a glimpse of the ASUS PadFone 2, but Bloomberg TV India caught up with the firm's CEO Jerry Shen and snagged a video tour of the device before its October 16th reveal. The second iteration of the PadFone packs a 4.7-inch HD (presumably 720p) screen and 13-megapixel camera, which jives with specs on supposedly leaked packaging. Rather than having to fuss with a cover flap to slide the smartphone into its tablet shell, users will be able to dock the device straight into a lighter and thinner slate component. Other details are scarce, but we're sure to find out more when the curtain is ceremoniously pulled back next Tuesday. In the meantime, you can forge past the break to see footage of the hybrid starting at the 1:40 mark.
Just a while ago, Sony has revealed its Xperia miro on Facebook with little info. Now they have officially announced the Xperia miro and tipo with more details on its hardware and dimensions.
For the Xperia miro, it runs on a modest 800MHz Qualcomm MSM72275A processor with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage (2.2GB user accessible). Fortunately the storage is expandable via microSD up to 32GB. Over at the front, it has a 3.5″ TFT display that pushes a rather low 480×320 resolution. It comes with a 5MP camera at the back (HD not mentioned) and a front facing VGA camera. It is 9.9mm thick and it weighs 110grams.
For an entry level device, the Xperia miro packs a rather huge 1500mAh capacity battery which is one of the biggest in its class. Sony claims a battery usage life of more than 24 hours for the miro. Considering the better spec dual-core 1GHz Xperia U is priced at RM899, we would expect the Xperia miro to be priced around RM700 range or less. More information on the Xperia miro at their microsite.
Next is the new Xperia tipo which is formerly known as the Tapioca ST21i. Just like the Xperia miro, the Xperia tipo also runs on a 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7225A processor with 512MB RAM and 2.9GB of storage (2.5GB user accessible) that’s also expandable with microSD. The screen is smaller at 3.2″ TFT with 480×320 resolution and the glass is said to be scratch resistant. In terms of imaging, it comes with a 3.2MP camera that shoots VGA video. The Xperia tipo comes in 4 colours – Classic White, Classic Black, Deep Red & Navy Blue.
Despite its low specification hardware, it also runs on the current Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS. The Xperia tipo is juiced up with a 1,500mAh battery which claims to provide more than 24 hours of usage. For those that uses more than 1 SIM card, there’s also a dual SIM version called Xperia tipodual. No pricing details were given but both devices are said to be commercially available in Q3 2012.
More information on the Xperia tipo can be found here.
Head after the break for more photos and videos of the Xperia tipo.
HTC is making a two-pronged attack on Windows Phone 8, and while it may not match up to the specs on its new flagship, the Windows Phone 8S by HTC (yes, that's the official moniker) has some charm all of its own. The screen is a pretty underwhelming Gorilla Glass-coated 4-inch WVGA LCD, with a similarly middleweight 5-megapixel camera peering out from the other side. Given that it's looking to be priced closer to the One V than the One S, we're not all that surprised. The phone itself is a good-looking slab, thanks to the breezy color schemes and while the build is certainly solid enough, we'd be hard-pressed to put it in league with the 8X, which felt at home in our hand from the start. The 8S is cocooned in a matte plastic finish, arriving in four different color options -- depending on carrier and territory.
The two-tone color scheme, aside from a few color licks around the lens and ear piece, keeps the second color limited to the bottom edge and the detachable cap. This offers access to the microSD slot (upgrading the built-in 4GB of storage up to 32GB), but like the 8X, no access to the battery. Yep, these new Windows Phones look nothing like HTC's One series, and while the same design studio is responsible, this time, it took its inspiration from Microsoft's tile interface. There's a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon S4 processor inside, but the phone wasn't quite ready to be put completely through its paces. While the software was still locked down, you can take a video tour -- and read more of our hardware impressions -- after the break.
Windows Phone 8S hands-on
Unfortunately, until Windows Phone 8 gets its official release next month, HTC is keeping the software out of bounds. There are some things we can glean from the specifications of the device, however, including the lack of a front-facing camera on the 8S. Given that the Microsoft-owned Skype looks likely to be a core feature of the new Windows mobile OS, it seems a shame to not include -- if not the wide-angled front-facer of the 8X -- then something a little tamer. While HTC has apparently entered into a "close relationship" with Microsoft and Windows Phone 8, there will be nothing to match the scale of HTC's Sense additions to Android. You can expect an FM radio inside, while the Windows Phone staple, a two-stage camera button, is also reliably housed along the right edge with the volume rocker. The power button is along that tapered top edge, alongside the headphone socket, while charging and data transfer is handled by the micro-USB port along the bottom.
That colored strip along the base also reminds us ever so slightly of the Xperia U from Sony, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least, if nothing else, we can be sure that mid-range phone designers think the cool kids want colored chins. That very same section houses the central Windows key (complete with new logo) as well as back button and search key. These are touch sensitive, so fear not, the design remains flush and lip / ridge free. If you flip the phone over, and remain gazing at the derriere, you'll be greeted with the familiar beats logo. The 8S might not have the deep integration, and extra amplification that the 8X sports, but the Doctor's touch is still present here, meaning that extra musical "oomph" is also on offer.
What else is there to say about the Windows Phone 8S? Well, much like its bigger X-rated sibling, we won't really know until that shiny new operating system gets to see the light of day. Until then all we know is that this is a bit of a curious cocktail. Simple, solid, geometric design, middle-weight features and a few dashes of colorful spice to make it easier on the eye. We just won't know the kick it holds until we've spent some time with it.
James Trew contributed to this report.
Source: Engadget
Thinner. Lighter. Faster. Simpler. The moment the iPhone 5 was unveiled we knew that it was checking off all the right boxes, folding in all the improvements and refinements people have been demanding over the past year -- yet plenty of folks still went to their respective social networks to type out their bitter disappointment. iPhone upgrade ennui seemed to be sweeping the nation, a sentiment that appeared to quickly dissipate when it came time for people to vote with their wallets.
The iPhone 5 is here -- or will be soon, anyway -- and it's every bit the device that people were asking for when the iPhone 4S came out. Its new design has less mass yet leaves room for a larger display and LTE wireless, all while increasing battery life. In nearly every respect, this is an upgrade over the 4S that came before, though it arrives almost a year later than many had hoped. Is it too late to keep pace with the rapidly iterating Android offerings, or is it so good it was worth waiting for?
Hardware
Clearly, the company is confident that it's knocked it out of the park again when it comes to the design of the latest iPhone, and we have to agree.
Apple introduced the iPhone 5 to the world by elevating it from a hidden pylon, rising from the floor and literally sitting on a pedestal for the world to admire while precisely focused lights made the thing gleam like a jewel. Clearly, the company is confident that it's knocked it out of the park again, and we have to agree. But, that new design isn't perfect -- not quite a grand slam, if you'll allow us to continue the metaphor.
The iPhone 5 is a clear evolution of the stark, industrial design introduced two years ago with the iPhone 4. That collection of square edges and raw materials was a huge contrast to everything else the company was producing and, frankly, everything else on the market. It was like an artifact from another dimension where ergonomics lost out to purity of vision, and Apple saw no reason to compromise that purity for the 4S nor, as it turns out, for the 5.
Visually, much has stayed the same, but the biggest change is impossible to see. Pick up the iPhone 5 and you're immediately struck by the reduction in weight. At 112 grams it's 20 percent lighter than the 4S, a figure that doesn't seem like it would make much of an impact. It does -- so much so that it's the lightness, not the bigger display or the thinness, that nearly everybody praises when first getting a chance to hold the iPhone 5 in their own hands.
iPhone 5 vs. iPhone 4S
Meanwhile, the changes in dimensions are surprisingly difficult to detect. That's largely thanks to the iPhone 5 being exactly as wide as the 4 and 4S that came before. This continuity of proportions on the x axis brings familiarity, while a slight increase on the y axis adds functionality. The iPhone 5 measures 4.87 x 2.31 x 0.3 inches (124 x 59 x 7.6mm), making it about a third of an inch (nearly 1cm) taller than before. Since all the extra room happens outside of your grip you hardly notice it, and this also shifts the phone's center of mass away from the center of your hand, which we think helps augment the perception of lightness.
Visually much has stayed the same, but the biggest change is impossible to see.
The new height makes room for that 4-inch, 1,136 x 640 display -- the most progressive change by a long shot. Steve Jobs famously said that the 3.5-inch screen size is the "sweet spot" and, frankly, it was about time Apple added a little more sugar. The new height results in a phone with more usable space and better presentation for HD content (the iPhone is finally 16:9). Yet, it's still easy to use with one hand. Each corner is comfortably reachable by thumbs of nearly all sizes.
That reachability is also helped by the decrease in thickness: 7.6mm, down from 9.3mm on the iPhone 4S. It isn't the world's thinnest smartphone that Apple claimed it was (the original Droid RAZR is thinner, among others), but this is still an impressively svelte device.
An all-new aluminum construction extends around the back, which is either anodized black or left raw depending on whether you opt for the darker or lighter of the two offerings. The white phone is bright and clean-looking; the black, dark and menacing. We'll let you draw conclusions about personality based on color preference, but we will say that the black surface seems to suck up fingerprints that are difficult to clean. Even so, we're glad the all-glass back has been retired, though traces of it remain: two slivers of the stuff punctuate the top and bottom of the back sides. These glossy bands break up the matte uniformity, but help boost antenna performance.
That said, the antennas still comprise the rim of the device, thinner now and the gap between them filled with a material whose color matches the body -- yet more evidence of the design team's attention to detail. These are the same sort of dynamically reconfiguring antennas used on the 4S and, as with that phone, we weren't able to death grip our way into any sort of signal issues.
The face of the device is still fashioned out of glass (no surprise there) and while Apple wouldn't confirm whether that front is indeed the sort of primate-proof silica produced by Corning, we'd hazard a guess that it is. With the metal back now sitting flush to the chamfered edge of the device, the slightly elevated glass surface gives the profile view of the phone a bit of unfortunate asymmetry -- it's now thicker on top than on the bottom.
But that elevated glass does mean your finger doesn't hit any rough edges or unfortunate surfaces when tracing the edges of the panel. The front-facing FaceTime HD camera now sits centered, directly above the earpiece. The Home button, meanwhile, has moved a fraction of a millimeter down and its resistance feels slightly different than that on the 4S, a touch more progressive with a more definitive detent. Hopefully the internal mechanism will prove more durable over time.
The position and design of the other buttons is likewise largely unchanged from the 4S, with the discrete, circular volume up and down buttons on the left just below the (slightly thinner) toggle switch. The headphone jack now moves to the bottom, a change that will cause some to modify their well-established pocket-retrieval mannerisms. But, as users of the iPod touch will tell you, having that jack on the bottom feels quite natural, and we agree. This is a good move.
The phone's speakers are also positioned on the bottom, playing out through a series of 26 holes that flank another major change in the iPhone 5: the Lightning connector.
Lightning
Goodbye, venerable Dock connector. Hello, Lightning. For nearly 10 years the 30-pin Dock connector has been ubiquitous, sprouting out of accessories small and large, but ever since iPods started getting thinner we all knew its days were numbered. The giant, clunky connector is a painful legacy of an earlier time that needs to be removed from the ecosystem and, with the iPhone 5, Apple decided it was time to rip off the Band-Aid. Indeed the Dock connector must go and we won't miss it, but Lightning doesn't always feel like a confident step forward.
First, the good: the Lightning connector is infinitely easier to connect. It slots in nicely and does so regardless of orientation, plugging in right-side-up or upside-down. We were able to drive it home without looking the first time, and every time thereafter. (If only the same could be said for the USB connector on the other side.) It's also small, seems infinitely more durable than its flimsy-feeling elder and even stronger than micro-USB alternatives.
Superficially, it hits all the right marks, but Lightning comes up short in a number of important areas.
Superficially, it's hitting all the right marks, but Lightning comes up short in a number of important areas. It is, of course, incompatible with the roughly 350 million billion iPhone and iPod accessories currently on the market -- a problem mostly rectified by a $30 adapter. But, that's not a perfect solution, as even that won't support iPod Out, the specification used in some cars (most notably BMW and Mini) to enable in-dash control of an iPod or iPhone.
That's an admittedly low number of users left with no way forward, as the adapter will provide the power and analog audio that the vast majority of docks and accessories (and cars) in the world need, but it's still disappointing to see those automotive users, owners of some of the most expensive iPod docks on the planet, left out in the cold.
More problematic is the speed of this new connector. Lightning's name comes as a cheeky play on the Thunderbolt connector, yet Lightning is, at least for now, wholly independent from that standard. In fact, the implementation that comes with the iPhone 5 is based on USB 2.0, meaning that theoretical maximum data transfer rates are no faster than what came before. In practice, though, we were surprised to actually find a tangible difference between the two phones.
To test this we lined up an iPhone 4S next to an iPhone 5 and ran both through a number of syncs with large files. Pulling 5.5GB of data from iTunes to the iPhone 4S took five minutes and six seconds on average. Syncing those same files to the iPhone 5 took three minutes and 57 seconds on average. So, nearly 20 percent faster, but we're not sure how much of this is due to the new connector and how much can be attributed to faster internals in the phone itself.
We confirmed with Apple that the iPhone 5 itself only supports USB 2.0, so a faster interconnect on the other end wouldn't help anything (and it's unclear whether the internal storage could consume data more quickly if it were there), but there's nothing stopping the company from expanding the Lightning standard to work with Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 in the future. For now, at least, the new connector remains confusingly at odds with Apple's own next-generation and similarly named data interconnect. That's no problem if you're using one of the many and myriad wireless ways to pull content directly onto the device (hello, iCloud), but if you're still pushing your media over a cable from your main iTunes library, it's still going to take awhile.
Internals
The heart of the iPhone 5 is the new A6 processor, a chip that Apple wasn't too keen to describe other than it being "twice as fast" as the last-gen A5 and "22 percent smaller." Thankfully, we have ways -- namely, Geekbench, which identifies this as a dual-core 1.05GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM.
Why not tell this up front? It's clear the folks in Cupertino are sick of people trying to draw conclusions based on core count and gigahertz goals, so they're just sitting this one out. Apple isn't alone, with Intel emphasizing names like Core i5 and Core i7 over raw clock speeds, and Qualcomm and NVIDIA using iterative designations like S4 and Tegra 3 for their respective processors. Still, none have gone so far as to stop publishing key specifications altogether.
We've long-since departed from a time when clock speed or core count could be directly correlated with performance.
Maybe they should. We've long since departed from a time when clock speed or core count could be directly correlated with performance across CPU architectures and, with Apple constructing its own, custom SoC for the A6, that's doubly true. Why, the dual-core A5 chip in the iPhone 4S shows as 800MHz, so looking purely at numbers this new phone should only be 25 percent faster, not twice as fast. We'll put that to the test a little later.
For storage you have a choice of 16, 32 or 64GB models priced (on contract) at $199, $299 and $399. Unsurprisingly, storage is not expandable, but hey, dig that iCloud.
Apple has also greatly improved the iPhone's wireless connectivity options, with the addition of LTE being the biggest talking point. Across the regional variants that will be sold around the world, 700MHz AWS bands for LTE for AT&T in the US are supported, plus Rogers, Bell and Telus in Canada and various carriers in Europe and Asia using bands 1, 3 and 5. Meanwhile, a CDMA version handles Verizon and Sprint LTE in the US plus KDDI in Japan using Bands 1, 3, 5, 13 and 25.
That's a lot of spectrum to cover -- and we haven't even broached the GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, DC-HSDPA support in the GSM model, nor the CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B support in the other. What remains to be seen is just what will be open and what will be locked by the various carriers and whether international LTE compatibility truly means international LTE usability. That, in the short term, seems unlikely -- at the very least until the new nano-SIM standard becomes a little more available.
The choice of CDMA vs. GSM will likely come down to which carrier you're on, and which carrier you'd like to be on. In the US, it's naturally AT&T offering the GSM model, Sprint and Verizon with CDMA. Beyond the availability of bands, an important distinction is the ability to do simultaneous voice and data. None of the iPhone 5 models can handle Voice over LTE, so when doing voice calling the phone falls back to either GSM or CDMA, and CDMA doesn't support simultaneous voice and data. So, if you absolutely need to talk and surf at the same time, you're stuck on AT&T in the US.
On top of all that is an expanded selection of WiFi connectivity options. The iPhone 5 adds 802.11a support to complete the set of a/b/g/n compatibility. That connectivity is now dual-band as well, so you can step up out of the crowded 2.4GHz into the clear air at 5GHz. Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and GLONASS support all return. Looking to get directions up the Road of Bones? You're covered here.
Display
The iPhone 4S already has one of the best displays on the market with regard to pixel density, brightness and contrast, and the iPhone 5 brings that up another notch.
The iPhone 5 uses a new 4-inch display that provides a half-inch of additional diagonal extent compared to those iPhones that have come before. Massive difference? Absolutely not, but it does give the phone enough surface area to stay competitive without sizing it beyond the thumb reach of your average consumer. In fact, its four corners seem just as attainable as before, helped by Apple shifting the display down just a few millimeters to get it closer to the center of your hand.
But we've talked enough about how it works in the hand. How does it look? Fantastic, frankly. The iPhone 4S already has one of the best displays on the market with regard to things like pixel density, brightness and contrast, and the iPhone 5 brings that up another notch -- and not just because it has an additional 176 rows of pixels. Putting both under the microscope, indeed, shows the same basic subpixel structure.
If there was one complaint about the 4S display it's that it suffered from a somewhat greenish hue. The 5 fixes that -- if anything, extending just a smidgen to the warm side, but displaying imagery that's much more chromatically neutral than before. The phone also moves up to full sRGB coverage, meaning it can accurately represent every color provided by that spectrum, a claim to fame few smartphones can match.
Apple also promises fewer layers sandwiched between the subpixels and the surface of the glass, the idea being greater contrast when you're outside. Sure enough, the iPhone 5 is a great device for using out in direct sunlight, though to be fair it's a minor improvement over the 4S, which likewise doesn't fear the sun.
Cameras
The iSight camera here is basically unchanged from the 4S. The overall mechanism has been pared down a bit to fit within the tight confines of the iPhone 5, and the protective bit of glass on the outside has been replaced with a 6mm disc of crystal sapphire for durability, which we rather regrettably did not have a chance to put through a torture test.
So, that means we have an 8-megapixel, backside-illuminated sensor shooting through a five-element, f/2.4 lens. And, with the bigger screen, we now have a larger shutter release button, which is slightly easier to tap by big thumbs.
Whether or not you actually want a higher-quality front-facing camera depends on just how much time you spend putting your face on before getting your FaceTime on.
Image quality is still among the best out there for a cameraphone, unimproved but quite impressive in varying conditions. What has improved, though, is the speed. Tap that big ol' thumb as quick as you can and the iPhone 5 will keep up, whereas the iPhone 4S eventually fell behind. It's at least on par with the Galaxy Nexus, which also has a ridiculously quick shooter.
So, while the camera on the back is minimally improved, the one on the front is a big step forward. Replacing the VGA FaceTime camera is a 1.2-megapixel FaceTime HD unit capable of capturing 720p video. Resolution is obviously massively increased, but so too is overall image quality, with far more accurate color reproduction. Of course, whether or not you actually want a higher-quality front-facing camera depends on just how much time you spend putting your face on before getting your FaceTime on.
New with iOS 6 is Panorama mode, where you can tap one button and just sweep the phone around to create a massive image. Resulting files are something like 11,000 x 2,500, with the exact resolution varying based on how smoothly you panned from left to right. If you wander up or down the display will warn you to keep in line, and you'll want to, as every time you stray you're effectively cropping the resulting image.
The file is captured in one seamless motion and the final product is almost always free of the sort of glitches and visual aberrations typically found in these self-stitching panoramas. That said, it isn't totally error-free. We took one panorama inside the New Museum in New York City, a room full of thin black lines against a white background. It's about as tough a test as Panorama mode will ever see and indeed you can make out some slight glitches in those lines, but in normal cityscapes and country scenes we struggled to find signs of artifacting. The results are almost always very impressive.
Video capture remains the same on the rear-facing camera -- 1080p30 maximum and offering bright contrast and colors plus the same digital image stabilization that we saw before, which results in reasonably smooth shots even when you, yourself, aren't so smooth.
Performance and battery life
Two times faster? Twice the graphics performance? Better battery life? Actually, yes. The iPhone 5 over-delivers on all those promises.
Two times faster? Twice the graphics performance? Better battery life? Actually, yes. The iPhone 5 over-delivers on all those promises. Running the Geekbench test suite on the iPhone 4S gave us an average score of 634. The iPhone 5 netted an average of 1,628. That's more than twice as fast and, while you won't necessarily see such huge increases in day-to-day usage, apps do load noticeably quicker, HDR images are processed in half the time and tasks like video rendering in iMovie are equally expedient.
SunSpider scores average at 924ms, which is more than twice as fast as the 2,200ms the iPhone 4S manages and still quite a bit quicker than the 1,400ms scored by the Galaxy S III and the 1,700ms managed by the HTC One X. More important than numbers, web pages load very quickly, snapping into view as fast as your data plan can shovel the bits into Safari and, once there, smoothly reacting to your gestures.
Naturally, we'd be telling just half the story if we only talked performance. There's an important question that's left: what kind of battery life can you expect? Power is nothing without longevity and, shockingly, the iPhone 5 copes amazingly well. In a day of heavy usage with LTE, GPS and WiFi all enabled, we managed 14 hours and 18 minutes before the phone succumbed to the elements.
On our standard battery rundown test, in which we loop a video with LTE and WiFi enabled and social accounts pinging at regular intervals, the iPhone 5 managed a hugely impressive 11 hours and 15 minutes. That's just 10 minutes shy of the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx.
When it comes to wireless performance, the iPhone 5 didn't disappoint either. We tested a CDMA variant on Verizon's network, going between 3G and 4G connectivity as we traveled about this great nation. Overall, the iPhone 5 did an excellent job at finding and keeping signals, and call quality is quite good. Callers came through loud and clear and said we sounded great as well -- though most of the time we sadly couldn't tell them what we were calling them on. Data transmission speeds were at or above comparable Android LTE devices held nearby, usually in the 10-20 Mbps range both up and down.
Software
The iPhone ships with Apple's latest mobile operating system, and for our full take on that we'll direct you toward our full iOS 6 review. But, let's discuss a few things that are particularly applicable to smartphones. It's the new Maps app that will have the biggest impact on most users, and in general we found Maps beautiful and fast, a smooth and very aesthetically pleasing way to get from place to place.
But, it isn't nearly as comprehensive as Google's offerings on Android. The biggest drawback is the unfortunate lack of public transportation directions. If you haven't quite mastered New York City's subway system, you won't get any help from your iPhone 5. Curiously, the app offers to give you public transportation directions, but should you choose that option it pops you straight into the App Store with a search for "Routing Apps." Right now, there are zero results.
It also lacks the detailed layering that you can apply in Google Maps and Google Navigation, showing you whatever you want to see. Maps will list some important POIs -- mostly gas stations and convenience shops -- but if you want to see all Mexican restaurants on your route you'll have to dig deeper. Finally, while Maps does show traffic, we never saw it give a warning about traffic along a route currently being navigated. That's important information for road trippers.
Passbook is similarly incomplete. This is Apple dipping its toes into the virtual wallet space, providing the ability for companies to write custom apps that will slot in here and provide access to things like movie tickets and value cards. But, as few major players have pledged to deploy their services here, this serves as a framework for something that will be cool rather than something that actually is right now. We're expecting good things.
The new Shared Photo Streams feature, however, is a welcome addition. Here you can select a few pictures from your roll, or indeed a new picture you just snapped, and share it with one or more friends -- or post it in the public for all to see. New photos added to the stream popped up within about 30 seconds and, while it isn't quite as seamless and fun as Google+ Events, it's a nice way to share photos with friends.
In general, iOS 6 has seen some nice nips and tucks where it needed it. iCloud integration is tighter, Safari is better and the overall experience is more polished. But, it isn't a major step forward in any regard. Suffice to say, conservative iPhone users won't have to worry about anyone moving their cheese, but if you didn't like iOS before, you still won't today.
Wrap-up
The iPhone 5 is a significant improvement over the iPhone 4S in nearly every regard, and in those areas that didn't see an upgrade over its predecessor -- camera, storage capacity -- one could make a strong case that the iPhone 4S was already ahead of the curve. Every area, that is, except for the OS. If anything, it's the operating system here that's beginning to feel a bit dated and beginning to show its age.
Still, the iPhone 5 absolutely shines. Pick your benchmark and you'll find Apple's thin new weapon sitting at or near the top. Will it convince you to give up your Android or Windows Phone ways and join the iOS side? Maybe, maybe not. Will it wow you? Hold it in your hand -- you might be surprised. For the iOS faithful this is a no-brainer upgrade. This is without a doubt the best iPhone yet. This is a hallmark of design. This is the one you've been waiting for. Zach Honig and Edgar Alvarez contributed to this review. Source: Engadget
Tomorrow may well be the day that Apple reveals their next-generation iPhone 5, a device that’ll be bringing their newest mobile operating system, iOS 6, to the forefront. We’ve seen quite a bit of this operating system already as it was revealed in part as an “iOS 6 Preview” back at the developers conference known as WWDC 2012. Let’s have a look here at what iOS 6 is set to bring to the iPhone 5 before we liveblog the main event in less than 24 hours – it’ll be fun!
NOTE: We’ve also got a hardware round-up prepared for you for your pre-event consumption – have a peek!
One of the more important elements that Apple’s made clear here with iOS 6 is that it’ll be “free and easy to upgrade wirelessly on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.” This is a move that’s really not replicated at such an all-encompassing level by any other company at the moment, and now that it’s all wireless, it’s easier than ever before. Not all devices will be compatible with the upgrade, but chances are if you’ve got an Apple mobile device that was released in the past several years, aka everything except the oldest generation devices, you’ll be good to go.
Safari is still the web browser that you’ll be working with, and now you’ll be seeing iCloud Tabs to keep track of what you’re looking at – and were looking at recently – no matter what device you’re working with. This browser also has offline browsing so you can save pages you want to read on the airplane, and includes the ability to select and post images to webpages from your Camera role without leaving the app. This new OS comes with Lost mode and Find My Friends – your device will be able to transmit its location – if you want – even if you’ve not got it in your hands when you want it.
Guided Access is a new feature which allows you to turn off certain areas of the screen and/or your hardware buttons. This will be great for users hoping to use their device as a display for an art project or if they’re handing it off to a child who – believe it or not – is able to accidentally access the bits you don’t want them too – keep them in the game! Mail has also been bumped up with swipe-down for refresh, VIP list inclusion, and a much more streamlined user interface.
The Phone interface has been updated with Do Not Disturb, Reply with Message, and Remind Me Later buttons. Never again will you have to hang up on a call that you can’t take just because you can’t take it right that minute. If you’re planning on calling with video, you’ll be glad to find FaceTime now working with your cellular connection – before you had to rely on wi-fi for this video chat system to work.
Passbook is one of the more stimulating stand-alone app upgrades you’ll find in iOS 6 since it is indeed a whole new app that’s not existed on the standard build of the software before. With Passbook you’ve got a collection of cards you can use for various situations – there’s a Starbucks card you can fill up with cash, a set of coupons for various retailers, and Airline check-in cards as well.
You’ll be able to share your Photo Streams with new sharing tools, connected with iCloud to your Mac and back across your mobile devices and over to your Apple TV. It’s simple to use and works over wi-fi as well as cellular networks. Facebook is also much more present throughout iOS 6 than ever before – you can post directly to Facebook from a webpage in Safari without leaving that page. You can access your Facebook contacts and calendar right from your basic Contacts and Calendar apps. And of course the omnipotent “Like” button will be present in quite a few places.
Siri will be bringing you a collection of new languages and will now be able to give you sports scores and statistics, movie information – including a connection to Rotten Tomatoes, and restaurant information. Siri will also be able to set up a reservation for you at a local restaurant via OpenTable. Then there’s Maps – now using Apple’s non-Google interface and data sources. You’ll now have turn-by-turn directions, 3D follow-along live interaction (with live rerouting), and tappable nearby locations along your way – these will connect with Passbook cards as well – it’s all intertwined!
This new Maps app and interface includes traffic information and nearby alerts for construction, accidents, and the like, and you’ll have ETA information for your intended final destination. What’s set to be the most impressive element here with Apple’s new Maps in the visual spectrum is “Flyover”, a 3D map of cities able to show you not just where you’re going, but what the environment looks like as near to reality as you can get without actually being there.
See all this and more in both our Apple portal as well as our liveblogging portal, the big event set to bring on a whole new device – or set of devices – as well as iOS 6 in its final form. You’ll more than likely be able to download iOS 6 for yourself within the month as well with legacy devices
Another image has appeared showing off what
very well may be the hero device at this week’s Nokia/Microsoft event, this being the Lumia 920, a Windows Phone 8 smartphone for the next generation. This
model has been leaked with information leading us to believe that it’ll be
working with PureView technology in its 8 megapixel camera, this notion all but confirmed by Nokia’s
PureView chief this morning. His comments including how “it’s NOT about the
number of pixels but what you do with them” appearing as a direct response to
criticism over the not-yet-confirmed Lumia smartphone.
This newest image shows the Lumia 920 in a
variety of colors, the white and the black casings being ones we’d not yet seen
at this point in time. The rest of the leaks suggest that this device will
indeed be running Windows Phone 8 complete with its new smaller set of tiles for
a more diverse range of abilities on the device’s home screen. This device will
likely be popping up with a dual-core processor from Qualcomm and will have both
front and back-facing cameras.
You’ll see a volume rocker on the right
along with the power button and a physical camera shutter button as well. The
whole model appears quite similar to the previous Nokia smartphone range with
Windows Phone, particularly in the case of the Nokia Lumia 900. Nokia will be continuing their
image branding here and will be pushing hard with Microsoft to keep the Windows
Phone universe strong – and growing, of course.
The Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system
from Microsoft will be part of the company’s big push for the next generation of
Windows software on the whole, this including Windows 8 and Windows RT for
tablets as well. Stay tuned for more information on Nokia’s contribution to the
party as we head to the New York media event tomorrow bright and early – be here
at 9:30 AM EST for all the newest blasts straight from Nokia!
BONUS: the back of the Nokia 820 has also
been shown by the same source – in purple!
Those rumors about Samsung naming their new Windows Phone lineup the “ATIV” appear to be quite accurate after today’s latest leak. It looks as if Samsung is getting prepared to launch a few new Windows devices and today we have our first look at the 4.8-inch ATIV S Windows Phone 8 smartphone. It isn’t quite the Galaxy S III — but sure comes close.
Samsung plans to be one of if not the first to announce a Windows Phone 8 smartphone, and that is stacking up to be the above pictured ATIV S. This phone will indeed be their flagship WP8 device if rumors are true, and it packs just as much punch as its Android counterpart.
The Samsung ATIV S will be sporting a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display with an unknown resolution but most likely 1280 x 720p. Under the hood will be a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor (probably Qualcomm’s S4) along with an 8 megapixel rear camera and 1.9 MP front shooter as well. Other specs have not been detailed or leaked at this time.
The pictures, leaked by The Verge, shows some similarities to the Galaxy S III with a few subtle changes like the speaker being placed down below instead of near the camera. Otherwise they appear to be extremely similar in design, size, and thickness. We are hearing Samsung could possibly unveil this new flagship Windows Phone 8 device at IFA 2012 during their Samsung Unpacked event. That will be starting under the hour so stay tuned for full details as we are here live! Follow along at our IFA Hub for all the news.
