Apple's decision to allow third-party keyboards into iOS with its latest release took many by surprise, mainly because after all these years it was generally accepted that Apple simply didn't want to give third parties access to everything its users typed, but that also meant that users of iPhones and iPads were going to miss out on some of the excellent keyboards and keyboard features that have been available to users of other platform devices for years.
Samsung is having something of a bad time right now. Having already announced three consecutive quarterly drop in profits, the South Korean firm has announced that it expects a decline in profit of almost 60% for the third quarter of 2014 after having already warned that the second half of the year would 'remain a challenge.'
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have both brought an abundance of new features to the table. Among them, Apple has squeezed in a new M8 motion coprocessor, an upgrade on last year's M7, which adds a barometer alongside other notable tweaks. Now, a free new app lets you use the barometer to check atmospheric pressure, and although the app is pretty bare-bones at its current duration, it is the only one that currently doesn't cost any money.
We've barely had time to recover from the hysteria that is the iPhone announcement and subsequent release, but Apple isn't standing still. Set to be announced during a special event on October 16th are two new iPads, with the iPad Air and iPad mini on the verge of receiving refreshes.
On its website, Apple waxes poetic about the improvements in LTE speed offered by the iPhone 6. The fact that it, as Apple states, "has more LTE bands than any other smartphone" and "supports more advanced wireless technologies to boost performance" should, in theory, mean that it's considerably quicker in terms of speed than the preceding iPhone 5s. Taglines and promises are one thing, and as we've learned only too many times, real-world performance can often be another, and so to dispel any lingering notion of doubt, you can see the iPhone 6 in a side-by-side speed test with last year's flagship iPhone 5s below.
While most smartphone vendors release maybe half a dozen new devices per year, Samsung makes a habit of adding new handsets on an almost monthly basis, and with the Galaxy Note 4's launch still in progress, press renders of the Galaxy A5 suggests that it too is on the cusp of launching. The A5, which will apparently hit the market alongside two other 'A' devices, looks reasonably similar to the Galaxy Alpha that the Korean company introduced back in August, and as per leaked specs, it appears that the new series will target the mid-range market with decent specs and enticing price points.
Apple's decision to launch a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone may have ruffled a few feathers and divided opinion right down the middle, but there's one thing that's for sure; the jumbo-sized iPhone 6 Plus will definitely appeal to those who love to create, edit and consume media on the move. The 5.5-inch Retina HD display of the iPhone 6 Plus makes watching high-definition videos, swiping through photograph galleries and just generally interacting with any visual content an absolute pleasure. For those individuals who love creating and sharing moving masterpieces, Adobe has just launched its Premiere Clip application for iPhone & iPad, designed and developed to make editing videos a much simpler and more enjoyable task.
If you're lamenting the loss of Launcher on iOS 8 following Apple's rather disappointing decision to pull it from the App Store, then Quick-Tap widget could be right up your street.
There is already quite the war going on amongst messaging apps on mobile, with Facebook, WhatsApp and Google amongst the players trying to become the way we communicate via text. If SMS is going to die, they are the ones who want to take over.
Nothing captures the imagination more than a good leak of a prototype Apple device, except perhaps that device finding its way into the public domain. It has happened a handful of times in the past, most notably when an iPhone 4 turned up in a bar before it was announced. One thing you don't do when you get your hands on something like that is to try and sell it in a public forum, because that inevitably attracts the wrong kind of attention.















