[fb-exchange] Apple Tech News
- From: "Dominique Farrell" <hollyandopal@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "barry Farrell" <bazfarrell@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:10:05 +0100
iPhone 5 pre-orders begin in China
Apple's iPhone 5 is available to pre-order from a Chinese retailer.
The Asian store has become the first in the world to take orders for the next
generation handset, despite the fact it is yet to be officially announced,
Kotaku reports.
Reports suggest that the iPhone 5 will be released in September or October,
with Apple allegedly having ordered its production in early May.
Apple's next generation iPhone is believed to feature a larger display than its
predecessors, following speculation that the firm has begun ordering 4-inch
screens from its Asian suppliers.
The handset will run iOS 6, and is rumoured to run off an ARM S5L8950X
processor with 1GB of RAM. Earlier reports predicted that its casing will be
made of liquid metal.
Apple is also said to be working on its first budget tablet, the iPad Mini,
touted as a competitor to the Kindle Fire and the upcoming Google Nexus 7.
Apple's iPad Mini to have super-slim frame, says report
Apple's much-rumoured new small screen iPad could have the thinnest casing of
any Apple tablet to date and arrive in stores before Christmas, according to a
new report.
Japanese blog Macatakara (via Cult of Mac) says that it's source has already
seen a prototype for the so-called "iPad Mini", and revealed that the device's
frame is just 7.22mm thick.
This would make the tablet among the thinnest on the market, much slimmer than
main rivals, Amazon's Kindle Fire (11.43mm) and Google's Nexus 7 (10.45mm),
along with the Toshiba AT200 (7.7mm).
Macatakara said that Apple's tablet will be the same height as the Nexus 7,
Google's cheap but high specced tablet that will launch this month, but a bit
wider across the middle.
Previous reports have suggested that the iPad Mini will come with a 7.85-inch
screen, compared to the 7-inches in the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire.
According to Macatakara, the small-screen iPad will come with WiFi and 3G
connectivity, enabling users to choose how they get online.
This would put it at an advantage over the Nexus 7, which only supports access
via WiFi.
It is also thought that Apple would charge between $250-$350 (around £160-£230)
for the iPad Mini, putting it close to the pricing for the Nexus 7 - $199
(£159) for the 8GB model or $249 (£199) for 16GB.
Macatakara's sources say that the small screen iPad will go into production in
September at Foxconn's Brazil-based plant, rather than the Chinese bases where
previous iPad models have been made.
Apple has not commented on the speculation, and a blog's use of an 'unnamed
source' should possibly be taken with some scepticism.
But there has been a pretty consistent run of reports over the past six months
saying that Apple is readying a small screen iPad to help maintain its dominant
position in the tablet market.
This is, of course, despite the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs previousl
claiming that no tablet should have a screen smaller than the current iPad's
9.7-inches.
Android Jelly Bean begins rollout on Galaxy Nexus
vFirst to get the Android 4.1 upgrade will be owners of the HSPA+ version of
Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, the same smartphone used to launch Android 4.0 Ice
Cream Sandwich last autumn.
Unveiled at Google's I/O conference last month, Jelly Bean is claimed to
provide a smoother, faster and more fluid experience compared to Ice Cream
Sandwich.
The mobile OS includes a range of new features, such as offline voice typing,
resizable widgets on the home screen and improvements to the camera and Android
Beam.
It offers more sophisticated voice-based search results powered by the firm's
Knowledge Graph - a mobile system viewed as Google's challenger to Apple's Siri
system.
Jelly Bean users will also get access to Google Now, which scans their search
history, calendar and location data to bring relevant information.
The system is designed to present information to users without them having to
ask for it, such as weather forecasts when they wake up in the morning, or
traffic information as they travel home from work.
"Google Now tells you today's weather before you start your day, how much
traffic to expect before you leave for work, or your favourite team's score as
they're playing," Google said in an update to the Nexus page on its Google+
social network.
Alongside Galaxy Nexus handsets, Jelly Bean will also roll out this month to
Motorola Xoom devices following Google's recent multi-billion deal to acquire
smartphone and tablet maker Motorola Mobility.
Reports suggest that Samsung's multi-million selling Galaxy S3 will get the
operating system upgrade in the fourth quarter of this year, although nothing
has been confirmed as yet on that.
Also this week, Google launched an iPad application for its social network
Google+, which is claimed to have 250 million members worldwide.
Motorola unveils Motosmart Android phone
Motorola has unveiled its Motosmart Android smartphone.
The entry level handset is aimed at the budget end of the market, running the
Android 2.3 operating system and carrying a price tag of less than £100.
Powered by a 600MHz single core processor and 512MB of RAM, the Motosmart
features a 3.5-inch 320 x 480p display and 3-megapixel rear-mounted camera.
Motorola's Motosmart carries just 165MB of internal storage, meaning that users
will have to take advantage of its microSD support.
The handset faces competition at the lower end of the smartphone market from
other entry level devices such as the LG Optimus L3, HTC Desire C and Huawei
Ascend G300.
The Motorola Motosmart will be available in the UK later this month priced at
£99.99 pay-as-you-go or £7 per month on contract.
BlackBerry maker considers corporate jets sale in $1bn cost drive
Struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion could sell both of its corporate
jets, as the firm seeks to make $1 billion in cost savings.
At its annual shareholder meeting yesterday, RIM said that it was forging ahead
with a proposed January release for the BlackBerry 10, its delayed new mobile
operating system.
"We're doing all our homework to understand what our options are," chairwoman
Barbara Stymiest told reporters at the event in Waterloo, Ontario.
"We are doing this in parallel with delivering on BB10. Whatever happens will
be the best of the available options at the time."
Last month, RIM said that it intends to cut $1bn (£644m) in costs and almost a
third of its 16,500-strong workforce, as it attempts to turn around the
business following a torrid few years.
RIM's smartphones have lost ground to Apple's iPhone and Google Android
devices, but the firm has also failed to ignite the interest of customers with
the PlayBook tablet and suffered an embarrassing service outage last October.
The Daily Telegraph says that the Canadian company could look to sell its two
corporate jets to cut costs, including the nine-seater Dassault F50EX, which is
finished with Swiss woodwork and gold-plated hardware, and is thought to be
worth $7m.
RIM may also offload its 14-seater Dassault, enabling it to slash the costs
related to maintenance and ground crew for the jets.
"We're looking at options with both our aircraft costs and finding ways to
reduce our travel while still making sure we keep in close contact with our
partners around the world," a company spokesperson told the paper.
"It's all part of the effort to find ways to reduce costs and drive
efficiencies that [chief executive] Thorsten Heins has talked about."
Speaking at the meeting yesterday, Heins said that he wanted RIM to become a
"lean, mean, hunting machine".
Heins, who took charge of RIM in January after a management shakeup, said that
he was "not satisfied" with the firm's performance.
RIM shares plunged even further last month after the launch of BlackBerry 10,
the OS that will power RIM's new generation of smartphones, was pushed back to
2013.
Heins said that the setback was not related to the phone's "quality,
architecture or the functionality", but added that he "will not deliver a
product to market that is not ready to meet the needs of our customers".
However, the decision to push back BlackBerry 10 means that it will launch
after Apple's new iPhone and a generation of handsets running Microsoft's
Windows Phone 8 have been already established on the market.
Many RIM investors are angry at the firm's decline, particularly considering
that its BlackBerry line of products practically invented the smartphone
industry.
RIM said that it has hired a firm of headhunters to recruit new directors to
its board.
But around 20% of investors at the meeting this week refused to support the
re-election to the board of Mike Lazaridis, the company's co-founder.
Vic Alboini, chairman of the Toronto-based investment firm Jaguar Financial
Corp, was among the firm's most vocal critics at the meeting.
Speaking to Bloomberg, he said that RIM must make significant changes to its
board and move away from what he views as an "insular" structure.
"What this board is missing is more technologically-savvy expertise, marketing
expertise and a little more transaction expertise," said Alboini, who did not
say how much RIM stock he owns. "This is too cozy and clubby a board."
Twitter updates official mobile apps, boasts 'expansive experiences'
Twitter has released an update for the official iPhone and Android applications
just hours after "major upgrade" details were revealed in leaked release notes.
In a blog post, Product Manager Sung Hu Kim writes about "expansive
experiences" before explaining ways in which more context has been added to
tweets.
Twitter last month revealed expanded tweets and has since brought select media
partners including Digital Spy and Kickstarter on board.
Hu Kim explains: "When you tap a Tweet linking to a Kickstarter project, for
example, you can play its video directly from the tweet details view in your
app. You can also read article summaries when you tap tweets linking to
[approved] sources."
The update also incorporates enhanced push notifications allowing users to
better customise which events trigger alerts and adds the recent search and
autocomplete improvements to the mobile products.
The app icon has also been refreshed to feature the new Twitter logo.
iPhone physical keyboard seeks Kickstarter funding
A project to develop a physical keyboard for iPhone devices is seeking funding
through Kickstarter.
The 'Spike' keyboard has already garnered donations of almost $50,000 (£32,300)
on the crowd sourcing website, and requires another $27,000 (£17,400) to get it
off the ground.
A project to develop a physical keyboard for iPhone devices is seeking funding
through Kickstarter.
The 'Spike' keyboard has already garnered donations of almost $50,000 (£32,300)
on the crowd sourcing website, and requires another $27,000 (£17,400) to get it
off the ground.
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