What is it that makes a smartphone smart? Is it the advanced, flexible operating system that grants users the ability to install apps to extend their device’s feature set? Is it a high megapixel camera? A touch display that can differentiate between accidental taps and real ones? An HD display? GPS? Wi-Fi? Support for 4G LTE? It’s features like these that – according to today’s standards, at least – make up a smartphone.
I think it's a pretty safe to assume that many iPhone users have found themselves in a precarious situation of being out and about somewhere miles away from home - or any usable power source - only to answer a phone call or send that all-important text message and watch their phone power down as the battery sinks past that horrible 1% mark. It's a horrible but an oh-so-familiar feeling, and unfortunately one that comes as part and parcel of owning a portable but power hungry device like the iPhone.
Whether it’s a guy taking a leak right on the roadside, your little children doing something you want to capture (but don’t want them to be distracted) or just popular celebrity you’ve spotted and want to take a photo of to sell to online blogs but don’t want to look like the paparazzi, we’ve all faced situations where you’ve wanted to take a photograph but the situation was far too awkward to take out your camera. Well, it turns out that there’s an app for that. Check it out after the jump!
September is nearly upon us and we are waiting with our fingers crossed in the hope that Apple take it upon themselves to push out some official invitations to their purported September 12th media event to allow us all to rest a bit easier in the knowledge that we will indeed be getting a new gadget in the next few weeks. Until that happens, we will have to console ourselves by flicking back over the numerous part and component leaks which we have seen in the last few months, which also give us a pretty good idea of what to expect from the sixth-generation iPhone.
It’s all over the (technology-focused) news! The jury in San Jose, California has passed the verdict for the Apple vs. Samsung case, with a ruling that goes completely in Apple’s favor: Samsung is guilty of multiple patent infringements in most of its smartphone lineup and is to pay over 1 billion dollars to Apple in damages; Apple is to pay absolutely nothing to Samsung because they are innocent (at least in thee eyes of the courts).
You can tell a lot about a person by just looking at their wallpaper. Are they using the same wallpaper that came with their device? From that, you can tell hey probably aren’t very tech savvy. Do they use a photo of Emma Watson as their wallpaper? They have a celebrity crush on her, guaranteed. Does the wallpaper significantly decrease text readability? Well, they could use a few tips on design. Does their wallpaper collection include photos of sweeping vistas? You’ve got a travelling fan right there. This is just how I sometimes read people.
Up until this week, it had been presumed Apple would announce the next iPhone, iOS 6, and a new, smaller iPad at a single event, but John Gruber - as informed as ever on the ins and outs of the Cupertino company - leaned towards the idea of the smartphone dropping first in September, with the "iPad mini" following in October.
The guys over at Facebook could be forgiven for going into the weekend expecting to have a nice relaxing time, considering the amount of effort that has been expended by the company in the last couple of days by pushing out updates to their mobile software. Both Android and iOS users have benefitted from the world's largest social network, eventually getting themselves into gear with a spree of updates, beginning with a new version of Facebook for Android that brought more efficient image handling and closer control of the creation of events through mobile.
A soon-to-be-finished Kickstarter project promises to make tangled, broken charging cables a thing of that past, and we can't wait for that to happen!
The most interesting thing about the recently purportedly leaked fully assembled housing of the “new iPhone” - besides the larger, more elongated display - is its two-tone metal back. It looks brilliant and is, of course, much more durable than the glass back of the iPhone 4 and 4S. Now, thanks to a conversion kit, you can enjoy a similar back design on your iPhone 4 / 4S. Check it out after the jump.
