The iPhone 5s, which Apple launched some ten days ago, has proved incredibly popular across many markets, and at this moment in time, the company is struggling to ship in the numbers demanded by the consumer. But while the handset itself is difficult enough to get hold of, the new Gold model is a particularly scarce commodity, and with eBay sellers offering the device at up to and in excess of double the retail price, some Chinese customers have taken less expensive measures to achieve that champagne finish in the form of sticker-based conversion kits.
Playing games on a PlayStation 3 or PC is great fun using a game controller like the Dual Shock 3 from Sony, but inputting data like usernames, passwords or messages to friends using the controller and an on-screen keyboard is no fun at all. Yes there are chatpads and keyboards available with an aim of making getting words onto the screen less of a chore, but that's further expense that in this day and age we can all do without. But, as is always the case, there's another way to achieve the same goal without spending a penny.
Today's modern smartphones wear so many hats that it's often hard to truly compare them against each other. While it's true that at their core they are all indeed mobile phones, some are more like point and shoot cameras with built-in smartphone capabilities and others are powerhouse computers with a camera attached. When you're making your buying decision, many things have to be taken into account, but it's a fact of smartphone life that we are all taking photos on a daily basis, especially if you happen to be hooked on Instagram-ing everything you go near.
The iPhone 5s was yet another launch in the company's history that almost immediately became unavailable, with consumers seeing October as the next available shipping date. This year's introduction of offering iPhone 5s at a local Apple Retail Store pickup proved extremely popular with iPhone fans but stock levels - or the lack thereof - meant that the new option was almost instantly removed from Apple's site. It now seems that some consumers are reporting that the local pickup option is now available again through the official Apple Online Store.
Apple is rightly pleased with its inclusion of 120fps slow motion feature in the iPhone 5s, and if the videos we have already seen taken with the device are any indication, it will be more than another feature that never gets used beyond the first couple of weeks. We're looking at you, Samsung.
The iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c are still hot off Apple's manufacture line, and we've already done a lot of coverage here on Redmond Pie on both of them. I need a little more time to consolidate my opinion regarding the iPhone 5s, but as the iPhone 5c mainly consists of the iPhone 5 components, I felt ready to bring you my full video review. You may also have missed some of our other coverage regarding each of the two handsets, so you'll be able to find all of it within this post.
Everyone loves a good speed test video, and whenever a new flagship smartphone is released, YouTube is flooded with new videos showing how the latest and greatest device compares with the one that it just replaced. What we don't usually get to see though is a video showing the new hotness compared with every device that came before it.
There's little doubt that the big topic of discussion surrounding Windows 8's launch last year was the removal of the Start button that we had all grown to love ever since its addition in Windows 95. The cornerstone, and literally living in the corner of Windows ever since, the Start button was unceremoniously removed in Windows 8 as Microsoft tried to push its users towards the Metro/Modern interface that it hoped would replace the old way we navigated our apps, settings and documents.
A part of iOS 7 that has received next to no discussion but has the potential to be the biggest addition to the iOS feature set, iBeacon is Apple's attempt at taking location aware apps to the next level and, if the latest tests shown by Major League Baseball are anything to go by, then they might just be onto something.
One of Apple's biggest selling points for the iPhone 5s, or at least the one that is easiest to demo in-store, is the addition of the Touch ID system. Hidden below the Home button, Touch ID allows iPhone owners to unlock their device securely, without having to enter a passcode. Instead, the clever technology reads the fingerprint of the person pressing the Home button, and if it matches what it's looking for, then the phone unlocks. Magic.
