The iPhone 5s delivered a plethora of changes and alterations over the preceding iPhone 5, and as ever, we all got a little bit excited. As well as throwing in a dual-LED, 'True Tone' flash, 'Touch ID' fingerprint sensor and a new Gold model for everybody to drool over, the Cupertino company also revamped the processor with an A7, 64-bit offering, making the device the very first smartphone to offer such architecture. To cap things off, there's now an M7 motion coprocessor thrown into the melting pot, aiding overall efficiency by helping certain processes run in the background. Naturally, app developers have been steadfast in their adaption to the new features, and now, the popular RunKeeper app has been updated to take advantage of M7. Details after the break.
One of the positive trends which Android users are benefitting from at the moment stems from Google placing a lot of importance on getting its own first-party Android apps into the daily flow of as many users as possible through the Play Store. To keep the ball rolling on that commitment the company has today pushed out two major app updates to the Play Store for the masses to enjoy.
The Galaxy S and Galaxy Note line of smartphone / phablet have both been very successful for Samsung, but while they are both a couple of the mobile industry's most powerful devices, neither of their cameras are particularly awe-inspiring. The Korean company, it has been reported, will looking to atone for this issue with next year's flagships, and just this week during its analyst day, Samsung confirmed that the cameras of the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 will be significantly improved.
Google's Glass is still in beta, and as such, has only been offered to select individuals thus far. The Explorer Edition now has a more relaxed program allowing a broader range of interested parties to get involved, but selling the device on has hitherto been strictly prohibited. While the resale of Glass is still very much against the search company's terms of service, Google will no longer be deactivating the wearable tech if users are caught doing so, something that has occurred up until now. So, in essence, it's still an illegal act, but in this case, the police (being Google) will be turning a blind eye to those looking to sell Glass for potential profit.
Star Wars: Tiny Death Star first made its debut a couple of weeks ago in Australia, and after some delay, has now gotten its release for iOS and Android in the United States. The title, which does get the LucasArts stamp of official approval, has been created as a collaborative effort between Disney Mobile and Nimblebit, and if you're a fan of Star Wars and would like to enjoy an 8-bit epic based upon the legendary sci-fi franchise, then look no further than Star Wars: Tiny Death Star.
Google Glass has been a revolutionary product in many ways, but with certain limitations. The high price point has yet kept it out of general consumer reach, but aside from that, another major contributor to this was the fact that developers didn’t really have a lot of options to expand the capabilities of the new hardware. In fact, all that they had access to was the standard Android SDK for testing and playing, which was far insufficient. Now, starting November 19, Google is hosting a hackathon where the Glassware Development Kit (GDK) will be made available to developers, as outlined in an invite sent out by Google for developers.
It's commonplace for tech companies to mock competitors in ad campaigns, although in the mobile industry, it's usually between arch-rivals Samsung and Apple. The Cupertino company has today bore the brunt of some ribbing from a different source, though, with Amazon's new Kindle Paperwhite ad taking a not-so-subtle pop at Apple's iPad. Since, as we learned just yesterday, the Kindle Fire HDX can more than hold its own against the new iPad Air (read: display is far superior), perhaps Amazon has a little lee-way to sound off, and although this compares the Paperwhite's readability versus the iPad, it does seem as though Amazon is emerging as a real force in tablet circles.
A large proportion of road accidents can be attributed to texting and driving, which, as attractive as it can be for long drives, can lead to serious consequences. Still, it’s a shame (and wonder) that none of the major smartphone manufacturers have ever taken any measures to prevent this at the root level. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t bothered the user community, and that is precisely why New York-based designer Joey Cofone came up with a concept design of a Car Mode in iOS that would practically enforce that you cannot text while driving.
Both of Apple's major operating systems - iOS for mobile and OS X for Mac - have been the subject of heavy updates these past couple of months. The introduction of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks has meant that many apps, including the iWork family of utilities, have been altered rather significantly. But while some have been pleased with the changes made to the Cupertino company's famed productivity suite, which consists of Keynote, Numbers and Pages, many of the purists have been bemused with the apparent decision to omit some long-standing key features. As ever, they've been inundating the Support Forums with their complaints, to the point at which Apple has now announced some of the important features and changes to be made to iWork in the near future.
The Philips Hue range of light bulbs has benefitted from a number of important improvements during its relatively short life span. The initial Starter Pack has been upgraded with the addition of the Bloom table lamp bulb as well as the gorgeous LED lighting strip option. Philips has also responded positively to eager developers by opening up their API to allow software engineers to create new and innovative apps that interact with the Hue range. After teasing even further changes back in October the company has stayed true to their word by introducing two new bulb types as well as a rather unique tie-in with the Disney Corporation.
