Arguably a week late due to Apple’s developer portal security breach and then that portal subsequently being offline for far, far too long, iOS 7 beta 4 is now finally in the hands of developers. Three weeks after the third beta was pushed out, this new fourth iteration brings with it the usual raft of interface changes as well as some tweaks under the hood. I've been using it for a good few hours at this point, and following on from my previous posts along the same vein, here's how beta 4 is shaping up in these early hours after I updated my iPhone 5.
One of the so-called "killer" new features of the upcoming iPhone has frequently been suggested as a fingerprint sensor, which would be somehow integrated into the home button and would offer added security whether shopping or unlocking. Although we did catch wind of a patent suggesting iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor would instead be integrated into the display rather than the home button, the new iOS 7 beta 4 seems to have slipped that the initial notion may instead be true.
Apple has been releasing new betas for iOS 7 like clockwork since its announcement at WWDC, with every second Monday seeing the fruit of the Cupertino company's development work. But the fourth beta saw a break in the release pattern due to a security breach over at the dev portal that happened about two weeks ago. But thankfully, Apple has been keen on fixing the security issues and after a early leak of iOS 7 beta 4 download links, it is now officially available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on Dev Center.
Apparently, the download links of iOS 7 Beta 4 are already up ahead of official release on the Dev Center.
After a lengthy eight day stretch of downtime, the Apple Dev Center is now finally back online, and so registered developers should be able to carry on about their business as usual. Late last week, it became apparent that systems were completely down, and after Apple stepped out and confirmed that it had been indeed subjected to a security breach, and that while all passwords and sensitive data were secure and out of reach of any hacker activity, it would be working on overhauling the system completely to prevent any such mishap from occurring in future. That initial memo was then followed by a server status update tool earlier this week, and now, just over a week after the Dev Center first went down, the main sections of the system are now back online.
In a poll of 38,500 Americans, Apple has fought off competition from some of tech's biggest names to hold the crown as favorite brand in the categories of smartphone, tablet and computer, which will certainly serve as a kick in the teeth to rivals. Tim Cook's company has long since been the favorite when it comes to computers, but with the iPad and iPhone seeing off the likes of Google and Samsung, it appears America just cannot get enough of the company's famed gadgets.
The next-gen iPhone will probably take a similar form factor to the current flagship iPhone 5, leading many to believe the device will carry the 'iPhone 5S' moniker. However, Apple has a habit of changing things up and pulling the wool over everybody's eyes, so until we see the device as revealed perhaps later this year, there's scope for everybody to dream up their own ideas of the shape the next generation iPhone will take. That's exactly what designer Pritesh Chavan has done with his transforming iPhone 6 concept that sees the device unfold into a phablet-type device before eventually revealing another seam to create a fully-fledged tablet.
It has long since been common knowledge that Apple could finally be bringing an affordable budget iPhone to the fold. Some years ago, this would have seemed more than improbable, but with the iPad mini arriving late last year and several leaks of the shell having since surfaced in various different locations, its release would now seem almost certain. Michael Kukielka, who some of you may know as the DetroitBORG on YouTube, runs a show-and-tell channel of all things tech, and now, he's run a pretty insightful video showing the rear shell of the budget iPhone against some of the older models of the Cupertino's famed iOS device range.
Intel's astonishingly efficient Haswell processors have already worked wonders for the 2013 MacBook Air range, and KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo - one of the more reliable Apple analysts out there - seems to believe the iMac could be the recipient of the new chip in a refresh set to roll out as early as next month. Furthermore, Kuo also believes Apple plans to roll out new MacBook Pros in September, which are also expected to be powered by Haswell.
This year's Worldwide Developers Conference, and much of the time since, has been dominated by the talk and controversies of Apple's new mobile OS. Yet despite the significance of this major mobile release, lest we forget that OS X is also a pivotal component of the Cupertino's product line. OS X Mavericks 10.9 is also under constant development, and today, the fourth Developer preview of the upcoming Mac operating system has just been released.
