BlackBerry may find itself facing a whole myriad of troubles in the consumer and business smartphone market, but it seems they still have one extremely loyal and extremely influential user. U.S. President Barack Obama became extremely well-known for relying heavily on his BlackBerry handset during his initial 2008 presidency campaign, and it seems his trusty smartphone has stayed by his side ever since. Now into his second term as U.S. President, Obama has claimed that he would love to switch to an iPhone to handle his mobile needs but is unable to do so due to legitimate security concerns.
Apple can be, and has been, criticized for a lot of things in the past, and for good reason. However, one innovation that the fruit company deserves to be lauded for is the Lightning connector on newer iDevices and Macs. Forget about the fact that it has faster speeds and other similar advantages; the biggest gain is being able to plug the connector in both ways and have the “right side up” every time. It seems traditional USB is finally catching on, with the USB 3.0 Promoter Group announcing a new connector that can be plugged in both ways, and still work.
Early benchmark results are often a good way of discovering whether a new device is being tested out, and with talk currently rife regarding Samsung's next batch of flagship smartphones, benchmarks found over at GFXBench could already show the full list of specs of the Galaxy S5. The S4 only arrived in the late spring, but with sales having not reached expectations, the Korean company is said to be working doubly hard on its eventual successor. According to the GFXBench results, the device will boast the latest and greatest Android 4.4 KitKat, a Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.5 GHz as well as a potentially jaw-dropping 2560 x 1440 resolution, or 2K HD display.
It's no secret that Apple is looking to make a lot more of its Apple Store app than it has so far. Over the past few years, it has been used to place orders, pay for purchases wirelessly when in the Apple Store, and to check out the latest products released by the Cupertino company, but in more recent times, we've seen Apple promote the app by giving away free stuff. With this this in mind, as well as the fact that the holiday season is now upon us, Apple has released a playlist of Christmas-themed songs from famed artist such as Mary J. Blige, Kool and the Gang and Kelly Clarkson, and all are available for free through the Apple Store app.
An intriguing new concept for iPhone shows just how a rather endearing, whimsical and simplistic interface could help us to once again appreciate the look of 3D shapes and effects on our device's display. Designer Doug Hindson has, along with his colleagues, created a short demonstration video of his idea, and although the 'Skew' concept perhaps makes little practical sense given the current state of iOS 7, it does look rather nice. Catch the full clip, which we've embedded for your viewing pleasure, right after the break.
Three UK is quickly establishing a reputation as being among one of the best carrier services in the world. Here in the UK, it's the only network to offer truly unlimited, all-you-can-eat data for a flat monthly fee, and with the company's big 4G LTE roll-out beginning this month, the company has already advised customers that its famously relaxed data packages will continue to apply as if it were running 3G. On top of that, Three UK has also been seeking to offer customers a better deal when travelling abroad, with UK users able to use their tariff as usual in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy or Sweden. Today, the United States has been added to that roster, meaning those on Three UK can roam the Web in the States without incurring any of those nasty post-holiday bills.
VSCO Cam has long since been regarded among the best photo editing apps for those on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and today, it makes its long-awaited debut over at the Google Play Store. As you'd expect, most of the iOS app's powerful features are present on the Android iteration, and provided your device is running 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or newer, you can now enjoy one of the most powerful photo utilities on the mobile market.
In some capacity or another, most of us find ourselves streaming content between devices, and with mobile devices becoming smarter with every new generation, it becomes that little bit easier to beam video, music and other content right to our TV sets. The CyanogenMod team, which suffered a minor setback last week when its CyanogenMod Installer app was pulled from the Google Play Store, has long since expressed interest in helping push the boundaries of streaming, Koushik Dutta, famed developer behind CM, has created a nifty little Android app that allows users to stream content to an abundance of set-top box devices including Apple TV, Roku, and Sony's new PlayStation 4.
Since the introduction of Siri back with the iPhone 4s two years ago, production car manufacturers have sought to offer consumers better integration with their smartphones, and Honda has long since been an advocate of the Siri 'Eyes Free,' integration of which the company announced last week for select models on its production line. But following the lead of many other companies in harnessing Siri's voice-recognition capabilities isn't the only trick Honda has up its sleeve, for now, the Japanese company has revealed that the 2014 Honda Civic Coupe and 2015 Honda Fit will be sporting even more integration by way of 'HondaLink' technology. Details, as ever, follow after the break.
CyanogenMod 10.2 final based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean has been released. This marks the end of CM based on Jelly Bean and work on CM 11 Android 4.4 KitKat has been started.
