iPad By Davis: “Upcoming iPhone email app ‘Mailbox’ now taking reservations for staggered roll out” plus 15 more |
- Upcoming iPhone email app ‘Mailbox’ now taking reservations for staggered roll out
- Creating iMovie and iPhoto, and working with Steve Jobs, the ultimate product guy
- MacBreak Weekly 334: Kobe Beef Bandwidth
- Documents by Readdle updated for iPad with fresh look and better interface
- iPhone passes 51% marketshare in US
- Apple removes photography app 500px over nudity concerns
- How to change Calendar view options on your iPhone and iPad
- iFluids HD for iPad Updated – Adds Undo Support
- Email: The ultimate guide
- A Television from Apple? Part II
- How to DIY repair a stuck or broken iPhone 4S power button
- Gelaskins Causing Problems with Siri Voice Dictation on iPad mini?
- Imagining a 5-inch iPhone
- Deal of the Day: 35% off Incipio KICKSTAND Case with Stylus for iPad 4th gen and The new iPad
- Verizon sells 9.8 million smartphones in Q4 2012, 6.2 million of which are iPhones
- Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad to appear at Macworld’s opening keynote
| Upcoming iPhone email app ‘Mailbox’ now taking reservations for staggered roll out Posted: 23 Jan 2013 12:53 AM PST
The Mailbox app looks like a beautiful way to access and handle your day to day email. It has a very slick user interface and looks like it will be a very popular app. Having said that, in order for any third party email app to be really useful, it would have to become the default email app on the iPhone. There is nothing more frustrating than clicking a link in Safari and the stock app opening when you are using Mailbox or any other third party app. Currently Apple does not allows you to change default email apps but hopefully that may change in the future. If that doesn't put you off and you want to get access to the staggered roll out of Mailbox as early as possible, you will have to register your iPhone number with the Mailbox team. You will then receive a reservation place and a private code that you will need to access the app when it is available. You shouldn't have to wait too long for that, it should be out in the coming weeks. Source: Mailbox Meet Mailbox from Mailbox on Vimeo. 
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| Creating iMovie and iPhoto, and working with Steve Jobs, the ultimate product guy Posted: 22 Jan 2013 10:37 PM PST <img src="http://cdn.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/images/stories/2012/01/Steve-Jobs-with-iPad.jpg" width="620" height="370"" alt="" class="aligncenter" /> Glenn Reid left Adobe to join NeXT, left NeXT to make NeXT software, and left that to join Apple just after Steve Jobs returned to the company, and brought with him what would become OS X. Reid was eventually tasked to build iMovie and iPhoto, and worked a lot with Steve Jobs on both projects. He's written up some of what that was like on his Inventor Lab Blog:
Or as John Gruber put it on Daring Fireball, a designer with Carte Blanche. Contrast this with Microsoft, run by a sales and marketing guy, and Google, once run by a software politician and now a founding engineer, and other companies where design is given a backseat to all of those things, thanks to all of those people, and you get a sense of the difference Jobs made to Apple. Tim Cook isn't a product guy. He's an operations guy. Time will tell what, if any difference that makes. He's got Jony Ive on product still, though, and if you've ever heard Cook talk about the staircases in Apple Stores or the finishes on MacBooks, you can tell he cares very deeply about the product designs he turns into product realities. There's a lot more great stuff in Reid's piece. Go read it. Source: Inventor Lab Blog via Daring Fireball 
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| MacBreak Weekly 334: Kobe Beef Bandwidth Posted: 22 Jan 2013 09:38 PM PST This week on MacBreak Weekly, Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and I discuss the rumors about new Apple products in 2013, Apple's upcoming quarterly earnings report, and more. Download and subscribe: TWiT.tv 
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| Documents by Readdle updated for iPad with fresh look and better interface Posted: 22 Jan 2013 03:01 PM PST
There's lots of document editing suites for iPad out there and Readdle is not new to the game. Documents by Readdle comes as an update to the popular ReaddleDocs app for iPhone and iPad. While Documents by Readdle is currently only for iPad, it's a huge improvement over the previous version. Most of the updates to Documents by Readdle are interface driven. Where the old interface felt more like working in Microsoft Office on the desktop, the new version feels like it's made for the iPad. Everything from the way Documents by Readdle is laid out to how it handles the editing of documents is better. Menus no longer contain cheesy folder icons and outdated graphics. Sometimes, less is more and that certainly holds true in this case. From what we can tell, no features have been stripped out but not a lot has been added in either. You'll still get the same syncing options you had in ReaddleDocs such as iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, SugarSync, and more. As far as editing documents, you can still edit text documents as well as view tons of others including Excel, eBooks, and more. When it comes to PDF's, you also have the ability to annotate them. While Documents by Readdle is a great update to an already good app, it still doesn't provide a lot of the functionality some of its competitors do, such as editing spreadsheets and other common file types. If you have a need to do that, we recommend a more full featured editing suite such as the iWork collection, QuickOffice, or Documents To Go. The aforementioned apps can, however, come with a pretty hefty price tag. If you're more concerned with reading and viewing documents and only need the ability to manage text documents and mark up PDF's, Documents by Readdle is a great choice that will cost you nothing.
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| iPhone passes 51% marketshare in US Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:23 PM PST
The iPhone continued it's upward motion for marketshare in the US, capturing 51.2% of the US smartphone market, this is an increase of 6.3% from the same period last year. Android now holds 44.2% of the US smartphone market, down .4% from the same quarter last year. These numbers come after the first full quarter after the launch of the iPhone 5. These numbers break Apple's previous marketshare record of 49.3%, seen after they launched the iPhone 4S, and were reportedly helped by the iPhone 5 and older iPhone models. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech analyst Mary-Ann Parlato says:
People switching from other smartphones accounted for the largest single block of new iPhone sales at 36%, with 19% of new iOS sales coming from people who were switching from Android. Those upgrading from a previous iPhone made up 35%, while 30% of iPhone buyers purchased their first smartphone. These numbers come after Verizon released their sales figures earlier today showing that they had sold 6.2 million iPhones in the last quarter, a record number and more than double the number of iPhones sold in the same quarter a year ago. After many weeks of pundits shouting about the doom of Apple, the numbers are beginning to paint a different picture. We'll have an even better one tomorrow, when Apple releases its Q4 earnings. Source: Kantar Worldpanel ComTech 
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| Apple removes photography app 500px over nudity concerns Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:05 PM PST
Apple has removed the photography app 500px from the App Store over concerns that images of nudity are too easy to find. And... wow, unless there's some huge part of this story we still don't know, the jokes, ridicule, frustration, face-palming, condemnations, complaints, and triple entendres pretty much all write themselves. What makes this even more asinine is that the update that got 500px pulled was the one designed to make nude images even harder to find. Sarah Perez reports for TechCrunch:
It's important to remember we're not talking with porn here. 500px doesn't allow porn. We're talking about nudity in artistic photography. Apple's always made it clear they had two developer platforms, the App Store for curated apps, and web apps for anything goes. Porn has gone the web app route. There's no reason 500px shouldn't be in the App Store with every other app that allows access to nude photos, including, as Phil Nickinson of Android Central pointed out, Instagram, Twitter, and Google+, and of course, every web browser app, including APPLE'S OWN SAFARI. That's why any app with full web access has to display a warning for the kinds of content that can be found on the full web. If 500px didn't include the proper age rating and warning, however, it seems like that could have been easily corrected before things got so public. I won't mention the tethering apps, knock off platform games, scam apps, and other nonsense that actually does get approved, because when you're dealing with humans, human mistakes happen. This feels like one of those mistakes, and hopefully it gets corrected quickly. It's also important to point out that this isn't "censorship". Apple has the right to decide what's in, and what's not in their store. No government or other power forced Apple to remove any apps. They exercised their own discretion, just like Walmart does with its shelves, and NBC and the New York Times do their content. That doesn't mean it sucks any less, just that it's not censorship. Update: The Verge received a comment from Apple PR saying 500px contained "pornographic" images and customers had complained about "possible child porn" in the app. The developer claimed it was the first 500px heard of that. Oy. Source: TechCrunch, The Verge 
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| How to change Calendar view options on your iPhone and iPad Posted: 22 Jan 2013 11:04 AM PST
The default Calendar app on your iPhone and iPad gives you lots of options when it comes to viewing your data. While the default view may be month view, you can easily change between them based on the data you need to view. Each options has its own advantages and there are probably times when you'll prefer one over the other. If you aren't sure how to change views within the Calendar app or want some advice on which view is suited to what, follow along and we'll help you along. How to switch Calendar views on your iPhoneYour iPhone gives you the choice of three different views within the default Calendar app - list, day, and view. The list option is good if you're quickly scrolling through events and looking for something specific. It's also a great place to search for items that you need to find quickly as there will always be a static search bar at the top. On top of searching, the list view also is a nice way to get a brief overview of your week. Day view will show you a graph of what you have going on that day. This is a nice place to make sure none of your events and appointments overlap each other. You can also tilt your iPhone on its side and view each day for the week by scrolling up and down or side to side. The last view that is available is the month view. This view allows you to tap on any day and view the events that you have planned for that day underneath the month calendar. Tapping on any of these events will expand upon the details of that entry. To switch between these views, perform the following steps -
How to switch Calendar views on your iPadThe Calendar app on the iPad is set up a little differently than the iPhone, mainly due to the extra screen real estate you have to work with. While the iPhone only gives you list, day, and month views - you're iPad gives you those plus week and year. You'll also notice that the list, day, and month sections on the iPad look quite different as well. The week view looks very simliar to the day view on the iPhone but you won't have to tilt your iPad in order to see more than 1 day at a time. You'll automatically see an entire week regardless of your orientation. The year view will give you a grid layout of each month and what days you have events on. The darker the color on the day, the more appointments and calendar entries you have for that day. To change between views on your iPad, perform the following steps -
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| iFluids HD for iPad Updated – Adds Undo Support Posted: 22 Jan 2013 10:15 AM PST iFluids HD, the iPad app that combines artwork and fluid simulation, has been updated recently – to Version 1.5. This is a fun little app for creating striking images from scratch or based on images from your photo library. Some of you may recall I wrote about it when I created a few iPad wallpapers [...]         Related Stories
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| Posted: 22 Jan 2013 10:25 AM PST
Everything you need to know about settings up and using email on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPadMail is one of the core apps of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Rich, HTML email was shown off by Steve Jobs in 2007 when he first introduced the iPhone, and again in 2010 when he introduced the iPad. It was and is so important, he put it in the iPhone and iPad Dock, and by default there it still remains. Whether you use the free iCloud account that comes with your Apple device, or Yahoo!, Google's Gmail, Microsoft's Hotmail, Live, or Outlook.com, your local ISP email or something else entirely, whether you have an IMAP, ActiveSync, or POP account, your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad can keep you connected to it wherever you go, and whatever you're doing. Bookmark this page and check back often, because we'll be updating it regularly. And f you already know everything there is to know about email on iOS, then forward it on to friends and family who need it. We'll do the heavy support lifting for you!
How to set up Apple iCloud Mail on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
The free iCloud account that comes with your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad includes equally free push email. That means whenever you get an email, it's immediately made available on all your devices. Typically you set up iCloud email, and other services, when you first setup your device. If you didn't, however, you can still set it up at any time via the iOS Settings app, and access the service via the iOS Mail app. You can also access your iCloud.com email via the website from any desktop browser, or through popular mail, calendar, and contacts apps on your Mac or Windows PC.
How to setup Google Gmail on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
As of January 30, 2013, Google will no longer allow new iPhones, iPod touches, iPads, or other devices to be setup using Google Sync (their implementation of Microsoft's excellent ActiveSync protocol). While existing Google Sync setups will keep working, the next time you want to add Gmail to a device, you'll have to use something else -- namely Google's eccentric IMAP service, which works with Apple's Mail app and allows for a unifed inbox with other, non-Gmail accounts, and the Gmail app, which is excellent but is a silo unto itself.
How to set up Microsoft Exchange, Hotmail, Live Mail, or Outlook.com email on your iPhone or iPad
Microsoft originally bought Hotmail (née HoTMaiL after HTML, get it?) and turned it into their web-based email service, a complement to their corporate Exchange service, which came to use ActiveSync. Eventually Hotmail kinda-sorta became Live Mail. More recently, Microsoft has released Outlook.com, what they consider to be the next-generation of email. And much to their credit, Microsoft have gone above and beyond to make sure you can access all their mail services not only on the web, but from any and all of your devices, including the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
Note: While setting up Exchange on iOS is straight forward, the exact settings can vary depending on whether you're using Microsoft 360 or a server run by your employer. When in doubt, check with your IT administrator. How to delete or disable an email account on your iPhone and iPad
If you no longer need an email account on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, say if you changed schools, jobs, or service providers, you can easily delete. If you're simply going out of town, on vacation, or otherwise off-the-grid and you don't want the distraction or data demands that might go with mail, you can also temporarily turn it off and give yourself a break. How to create and use email signatures on your iPhone and iPad
Thanks to iOS 6, not only can you have multiple email signatures -- one per account -- but you can also include rich HTML content like links and images in the signature. If you've got more than one email account on your iPhone or iPad, for example, an iCloud account, Gmail account, and/or a Hotmail/Outlook/Exchange account, or a work, school, and/or personal account, you'll probably want and need separate email signatures for each account. And once you've got them, you might even want to jazz them up!
How to change which email account you send from on your iPhone and iPad
If you've got multiple email accounts set up on your iPhone or iPad, the Mail app will automatically send a new message from your default account, or a reply from whichever account received the email. However, you can not only change you default account, but you can also quickly and easily change which account you're sending emails from at any time.
How to use the VIP Inbox on your iPhone and iPad
iOS 6,lets you favorite specific Contacts and have their messages filtered into a special VIP Inbox so they're always easy to find. You can also set up specific tones and alerts for your VIP contacts, which makes knowing who is contacting you easier than ever. For your significant other, your boss, or anyone you can't afford to miss a message from, VIP Inbox has your back.
How to mark an email as read or unread on your iPhone and iPad
If you come back to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad only to find a ton of new emails you really don't want to go through, or if you opened an email by accident and don't want to forget about it later, you can easily mark one or more messages as read or unread right in the built-in Mail app. How to flag an email message on iPhone and iPad
If you get an email that you want to easily find again later, maybe to follow up, maybe just to keep handy, you can flag it right in your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad Mail app. Flagged messages are easy to spot, thanks to an icon, and even easier to find, thanks to a dedicated smart mailbox that keeps them all handy. How to add new mailboxes to your email account right from your iPhone and iPad
If you got a lot of email, you might want to start managing it better by filing it away into specific mailboxes. You can have separate mailboxes for certain people, for projects at school or at work, for sorting important messages you want to deal with immediate, from things you want to keep handy to reference later. Best of all, you can create new mailboxes right on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. How to move messages to different mailboxes on your iPhone and iPad
The iPhone and iPad are great for quickly handling email. However, if something is important, or requires a lengthy reply, or you can only get to it later, or you simply want to keep your inbox close to zero, the iPhone and iPad are also great for quickly sorting and filing your mail into well organized mailboxes.
How to insert a photo or video into an email on iPhone and iPad
While older versions of iOS required you to email pictures and videos using the Photos app, or more recently, tediously copy and paste them into a Mail app email, iOS 6 adds the ability to insert them directly into an email. How to get more help with emailIf you need more help with using email on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, check out iCloud, Gmail, and other discussions on the iMore forums. 
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| A Television from Apple? Part II Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:37 AM PST I'm pretty firm in my belief that Apple will not release a television. However, I'm equally firm in my belief that Apple will get into the "television business" in a big way. The question is, how? I think the answer is not only out there, but fairly clear: Apple's television push will come in the form of a materially enhanced version of the AppleTV. It will include content availability and features not currently available to the device. Let's look at the AppleTV today. Currently, the TV content available on the AppleTV is limited to library content you can purchase or rent, and a little bit of live content available via apps. The library content consists both of shows long since aired, as well as shows just aired (or, in the case of select shows like Downton Abbey, prior to airing with the purchase of a season pass). The live content is currently limited to sports via apps for baseball, basketball, etc. In order for Apple to transition the AppleTV from hobby to mainstay, they need to do two things: get all live content onto the box, and provide DVR functionality. In other words, they have to replace the cable company set top box. That's good news because even the best of these boxes are downright awful. There are two primary ways Apple can get TV content onto the AppleTV from here. One is pretty easily dismissed, and that is to include a CableCard slot. For those who don't know, CableCard is a clumsy attempt by the FCC to force cable companies to open up their networks to alternative set top boxes. It allows access to cable content without the cable company set top box. For a while many TVs were sold with cablecard slots, and it is still used by TiVo for its DVRs. However, in practice cablecard generates the kinds of consumer ordeals and confusion that Apple usually stays away from. Many cable companies require a truck roll to install the cards, they can be finicky, present issues when cable providers mix digital and analog stations, and, well, are generally just not a very simple solution for most households. If they were, they would have more than miniscule market penetration. Google cablecard problems if you don't believe me! Fortunately we have already seen alternative – and better – ways of getting live content onto our screens: apps. The most common are individual network apps which function only if you otherwise subscribe to (ie pay for) that channel via your cable provider. This has the added benefit of not alienating the cable provider from the process and profits, and saves Apple from untold numbers of negotiations for individuals shows. HBOgo is a prime example of this. You install it on your iPad, provide your cable subscription credentials, and voila – HBO on your iPad. In addition to a live stream, the app allows access to library content. One could easily envision a collection of these "channel apps" giving us all the live programming we want, in addition to library access to previously aired shows. And technically there is no reason they couldn't be installed on the AppleTV should Apple choose to allow it (and work out the details with cable providers…) One challenge this solution poses is the lack of integration across channels. Though I do believe that Apple will attempt to provide direct navigation via Siri, sometimes you really just want to channel surf, or look through a consolidated guide. You can't do that if you have to switch from app to app every time you want to change the channel. The solution here: Apple could provide a consolidated "meta app" which draws content and scheduling information from all your channel apps. As it turns out, cable companies are already making these apps. Cablevision, TWC and others already make iOS apps which provide a full interface to all live cable programming to which you subscribe. They only work in your home (ie on your cable company provided network) but a TV in your living room would fit this mold. Here again these apps could easily work on the AppleTV. My prediction:
The other feature Apple needs to provide is DVR functionality. I think the writing is on the will here as far as how Apple will address this. Apple – and everyone else these days – is all about the cloud. I think the in-built storage of the AppleTV will be increased somewhat to allow space for apps and a larger buffer to stream shows. But when you set up recordings they'll be stored in the cloud for streaming later on when you want to watch. I think this functionality will be handled in the unified meta app itself so that Apple can provide and control its usually robust user experience. It's likely that individual channel apps may also offer their own channel-specific DVR type functionality, though in general my bet is that the meta app will be the primary. Taken together, the solution I've outlined:
As for timeframe, I think this is something we will see in CY2013. Personally, I can't wait to chuck the Scientific Atlanta DVR that Cablevision rents to me for $15/mo or whatever it is. I'd happily pay that – or more – to Apple for a better solution. Maybe Apple turns around and gives the cable provider a cut of that. Either way, Apple takes over the television.   | ||||||
| How to DIY repair a stuck or broken iPhone 4S power button Posted: 22 Jan 2013 09:35 AM PST
The iPhone has been prone to power button issues ever since the iPhone 4 made its appearance. As it turns out, the iPhone 4S isn't immune from stuck power buttons either. Over time, the cable wears down and causes the actual power button to become harder and harder to press. In some cases, it becomes completely recessed resulting in presses not even registering. If this issue sounds like something you're iPhone 4S is experiencing, a DIY repair can get it back to normal with some patience and the right tools. It'll also cost a heck of a lot less than a brand new iPhone. If you're up for it, follow along. And if you're not, follow along anyways and we'll refer you to the professionals that can do the repair for you. Disclaimer: As with any repair, neither iMore nor The Pod Drop can be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It's also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don't feel comfortable opening your device, don't. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device. Not comfortable with DIY repair? Leave it to the prosIf you aren't comfortable performing a DIY repair on your own, don't. It is possible to cause more damage or run into issues you aren't ready for. In this case, it's probably better to either pay the money for a replacement device from Apple or use a local or mail-in service that will handle the repair and any issues that may arise for you. The Pod Drop has many locations in the midwest and is a rapidly growing company. You can check for a Pod Drop location near you, mail it in, or use another third party repair service. For more information on mail-in repairs or possible Pod Drop locations near you, you can visit their website. If you are comfortable with repairing your own device, put your ninja pants on and keep reading! What you'll need to DIY replace an iPhone 4S power button cableWe recommend using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like eTech Parts. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs. You will find links to the specific parts you'll need for this repair in the list below.
Video walkthroughOur video guides are simply a breakdown of the main disassembly steps minus small components. Depending on what you're replacing, the video teardown may not cover everything. It it meant to be a supplement to the written steps for each guide. We highly recommend reading ALL the directions below before proceeding with the video walkthrough. Power off your iPhone 4S
Before performing any repair you should always power off your device before opening it up. Remove the back plate
   Remove the battery and grounding clip
     Remove the top logic board shields
   Unclip the top logic board cables & remove the rear-facing camera
Using your spudger or pry tool carefully disconnect all the cables at the top of the logic board. There are seven cables total. One of the cables lies underneath the bottom most cable so you'll need to disconnect the cable over it before folding it back and revealing the shorter cable underneath.
Once you unclip the seven cables, you can lift the rear-facing camera directly out of the iPhone. It was only connected by one cable. Disconnect the dock connector
  Pry up the cellular antenna
 Remove the SIM card and tray
Using a SIM removal tool or a bent paper clip, eject the SIM tray and set it, and the SIM card aside. Remove the logic board
 Remove the front facing FaceTime camera
  Replace the power button flex cableThe actual button in the iPhone 4S is not what causes issues, it's the actual power and sensor cable, which is what you should have ordered to replace. This is the tricky part so make sure you're very careful while performing the following steps as the cables are very delicate.
       You'll replace the power button and sensor cable very similarly to how you took it out, just in reverse order. Remember to take your time and make sure that cables are folded and bent the correct way. It sometimes helps to look at how your old cable is bent and folded and make sure the new cable looks the same. Pro tip: When screwing back in the power button bracket, test the power button and make sure it depresses correctly and you hear it "click". Don't screw the bracket screws in too tight or you'll have issues with the button not depressing. Reassemble your iPhone 4STo reassemble your iPhone 4S, you can either follow all these directions in exact reverse order or view our reassembly video guide above which will walk you through how to reassemble it. Note that the reassembly is everything from the screen back to completely reassembled. You'll only need to watch from the point of replacing the logic board after you've got the front facing camera secured again. And ...done!Once you've completely reassembled your iPhone 4S (extra screws are bad!), you can go ahead and turn your iPhone back on using the power button. If you see an Apple logo, mission accomplished! You now know your power button is working again. Once your iPhone 4S boots back up, make sure you test everything to make sure all is working well again. Tap the power button several times to turn the screen on and off just to re-confirm everything is back in working order. That's it, you're done! More DIY helpWant to know how to perform another type of iPhone repair or modification? Send me suggestions to ally@imore.com. For questions or to inquire about mail-in repairs through The Pod Drop, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or e-mail us directly! Additional resources: 
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| Gelaskins Causing Problems with Siri Voice Dictation on iPad mini? Posted: 22 Jan 2013 08:59 AM PST I discovered something interesting today in trying to resolve a problem with using Siri Voice Dictation on the iPad mini: it looks like my beloved Gelaskins do not play nicely with the Voice Dictation feature. Recently I've been getting exceptionally poor results when using Voice Dictation. It has been taking far longer than it used [...] Related Stories
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| Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:31 AM PST
Never mind rumors of an awkwardly named 4.8-inch "iPhone Math", the concept of a much larger iPhone has been floating about ever since the realities of early LTE chipsets -- and the batteries that came with them -- forced Android and Windows-based competitors to break the size barrier. Before the 16:9 iPhone 5 was announced, I examined some of the different ways Apple could go to 4-inches. More recently, following the launch of the iPad mini and the Droid DNA, I took a quick look at how Apple could achieve a 1080p+, 440ppi+ phone, one that would sit between 4-inches and 7.9-inches. But it's worth a deeper look. Because, when you're dragging hundreds of millions of users, hundreds of thousands of developers, and hundreds of... hundreds of accessory makers behind your platform, it makes turning on a dime hugely problematic. Small, incremental steps, with adjustment periods after each, is the prudent way to go. And that's exactly how Apple has handled the iPhone so far. Apple introduced the now-standard 1x pixel density, 3.5-inches at 480x320 and 163ppi, with the original iPhone in 2007. They introduced the Retina 2x density, 3.5 inches at 960x640 and 326ppi, with the iPhone 4 in 2010. They introduced the 16:9 aspect ratio, 4-inches at 1136x640 and 326ppi, with the iPhone 5 in 2012. If -- an it's a big if, no pun intended -- Apple intends to offer a larger screen alternative one day, it makes sense they'd do it in the same way. Let everyone get used to 16:9, let developers update their apps and accessory makers update their products, and then take the next step. Whether that's in 3 years like the switch to Retina, or 2 years like the switch to widescreen, or 1 year if acceleration continues, keeping things grounded as you push previous limits, and balancing stability with change, is how you move a platform forward. I still believe 2013 needs to be more about iOS and iCloud than new hardware, but putting that aside, and asssuming we've not seen the last or the largest iPhone screen Apple ever makes, what steps could they take to get to 5-inches? 5-inches at 2x
The first way Apple could go to, or at least get closer to, 5-inches is simply by increasing the physical size of the current iPhone 5 display and keeping the 1136x640 pixel count the same. That would result in larger pixels, however, meaning lower pixel density. At 4 inches, the the 1136x640 iPhone 5 has the same pixel density as the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, or 326ppi. What happens if you stretch that out close to 5-inches? Interestingly, it goes to 264ppi. That's the pixel density of the Retina iPad. It's a density Apple already manufacturers, much like the shrunken iPad mini display was also a density Apple already manufactured, the 163 ppi of the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS. Retina is a function of pixel density at distance. That's why, from 10-feet away, a reasonably sized 1080p television looks "Retina", and why the 264ppi iPad 4 looks as good from your lap as the 326ppi iPhone 5 does from your hand. Similarly, a 5-inch phone wouldn't need to be held as closely as a 4-inch phone. So, while it would certainly lose sharpness, there'd be some mitigation. Developers and designers wouldn't have to create any new graphical assets to support a 5-inch iPhone at 264ppi. However, it would increase the size of existing interface, text, and other pixel-based on-screen elements and touch-targets, which could make them overly, borderline comically, large. (Except for people with visual accessibility issues who currently find the iPhone's interface elements and text too small to read comfortably.) For videos and games, a scaled up screen is a plus. You could even shrink down a website or photo smaller to see more if it at the same physical size. Unlike to switch to the iPhone 5's 16:9 screen, however, there aren't any additional pixels. You're getting bigger, not more. Going to 5-inches while staying at 2x could work, especially considering the step-by-step approach Apple's taken so far, but it's not ideal 5-inches at 3x
That's an example of, from left to right, of what happens when a display goes from standard, to Retina, has its size changed, or gets scaled by a non-integer amount (i.e. 1.5x). As you can see, it's fine in all cases but the last. That's the reason Apple went to 2x for Retina and not some arbitrary size -- it allowed them to maintain as much app compatibility as possible. When 1 standard size pixel becomes 4 Retina pixels (2x in each direction) everything still falls "on the grid" and stays nice and sharp. Arguably, as densities get high enough, and displays far away enough, you no longer notice the blurring. But phones aren't held at arms length like a Retina MacBook Pro. If Apple wants to go closer to 5-inches, and add more pixels to do it, it makes sense they'd stick with multiples of the original screen size. So, after 2x, we have 3x. After 1136x640, we have 1704x960 which at roughly 5-inches is 391ppi. That's more pixels than 720p, and well past Retina. Just like when Apple switched from 1x to 2x, a switch from 2x to 3x would mean developers and designers would need to create new @3x assets for their apps. Depending on how many graphics are in an app, that can be a lot of work. The benefit is that you're not just getting bigger, you're getting more. Small text continues to look great, and when you zoom out, details on web pages or photos are still crisp. On the downside, the more pixels you have, the more graphics power you need on the chipset to drive them, and the denser they get, the more LED you need to punch through and light them. That means more battery to drive them, and that's the reason the iPad mini isn't Retina. Granted 1704x960 isn't 2048x1536 like the Retina iPad, but few people would want an iPhone anywhere nearly as thick and heavy as the Retina iPad either. (At least as it exists now...) Going to 5-inches and increasing density to 3x feels like a double-step, but if the technology is in place to do it at the right lightness and thinness, it could also be the best compromise. 5-inches at 4x
That's how the various 5-inch iPhone options look when you compare them both in terms of pixel count (top) and physical scale (bottom), with an iOS standard touch-target grid overlay (44px). From left to right, the iPhone 5 (black), theoretical iPhone @3x (purple), theoretical iPhone @4x (red), theoretical iPhone with iPad display @2x (blue), with the HTC Droid DNA 1080p (green) thrown in for good measure. Yes, HTC has made 1080p (1920x1080) phones at 440ppi, which while positively pornographic, show what's already out and on the market. If Apple decides it wants to exceed that the way the original Retina display exceeded other panels at the time, they'd have to skip 3x and go straight to 4x -- 2272x1280 at 522ppi. It would require even more graphics processing power, more light, and more battery, and it would be absolutely batshit insane, but hey, we're considering all options here. Going to 5-inches at 4x probably isn't something within the current realms of technology, economics, or reason, however. 5-inches using the iPad mini display
While I won't call them phablets -- or tablones -- devices that blur the boundary between phone and tablet continue to be released. However, they're typically larger than 5-inches. 5.5-inches and now 6-inches are the norm. Also, unlike the iPhone 5, which has a 16:9 aspect ratio, and previous iPhones, which had 3:2 aspect ratios, the iPad has a 4:3 aspect ratio. In other words, it's wide. 1024x768 at 5-inches works out to 256ppi. If it were technologically possible cram a 2x iPad Retina display in there, 2048x1356 at 5-inches works out to 512ppi. On the plus side, it would unify the app ecosystem and let the iPhone run iPad apps. On the minus side, if an iPhone interface starts to look ridiculously large at 5-inches, an iPad interface would be ridiculously, likely unusably, small at that same size. Existing iPhone apps, letterboxed, would probably be okay if they filled something close to their current 4-inch size. iPad apps would be another story entirely. The iPad mini is probably represents the bottom end of tap-target size, and shrinking from 7.9 to 5 would necessitate a stylus. The size of a toothpick. Going to 5-inches by switching to an iPad display is a non-starter. 5-inches at some arbitrary or standardized pixel count
Other options include Apple switching from the traditional iPhone screen size, and its more modern multiples, to something arbitrary -- keeping the same 326ppi and just adding pixels to fill 5-inches -- or switching to a standard display size like 720p or 1080p. To hit 5-inches at 326ppi, Apple would need to go to 1420x800 for the iPhone display size. 720p translates into 1280x720 and at 5-inches, that's 294ppi. 1080p translates into 1920x1080 and at 5 inches, that's 441ppi. Neither approach seems to offer Apple any advantage over pixel trebling or even quadrupling, would result in scaled apps and interface elements falling off the grid and looking fuzzy, and create huge compatibility headaches in general for Apple, developers, and users. Going to 5-inches at some arbitrary on standardized pixel gives you some of the benefits but all of the drawbacks and also seems like a non-starter. 4.5- or 4.8-inches
If Apple considers a screen size of 4.5- or 4.8- instead of 5-inches, the basic premises stay the same. Either way, if Apple stays at 2x, interface elements wouldn't be blown up as much at 4.5- or 4.8- as they would at 5-inches, nor would density decrease as much. At 4.5-inches the current 1136x640 display would be 290ppi, and at 4.8-inches it would be 272ppi. 3x would be 435ppi or 408ppi. 4x would be a silly 560ppi or 543ppi. Given that, going to 4.5- or 4.8-inches could be a more reasonable alternative to 5-inches. Yeahbuwhy?!Apple has said as recently as the iPhone 5 introduction that they don't want to make a screen that the average person can't reach, corner-to-corner, with the thumb of one hand. And just like never making video iPods, or 7-inch tablets, Apple absolutely means that. Until they don't. That's why you can never say never with Apple. For the sake of this discussion, lets assume there's a larger screen iPhone in the labs or sketched out on a napkin, or something. One handed ease of use is a feature that can be tackled in both hardware and software. Right now Apple's handling it in hardware. BlackBerry 10 will be tackling it in software, using corner gestures to allow for more navigation with less thumb travel. (Apologies for the gobsmacking cheesiness of this video, it's the only BlackBerry Flow example I could find.) Apple's a really smart software company. If they ever go to 5-inches, they'll figure it out. (Hell, they'll invent it. But will they ever go to 5-inches? Not surprisingly, the go-to-market for a bigger iPhone echo and mirror those for a smaller iPad. From my previous post:
Or more simply put, if people are buying massive amounts of premium large-sized handsets, Apple could one day decide they'd rather those people buy premium Apple-made large-sized handsets than competing brands. If Apple sees value in increasing the scope of their addressable market, and thinks it will help them make a better product and sell more units, then that's why Apple would add a bigger iPhone to the mix. And that's when as well.
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| Verizon sells 9.8 million smartphones in Q4 2012, 6.2 million of which are iPhones Posted: 22 Jan 2013 06:25 AM PST
Verizon has announced their financial results for Q4, 2012, and out of 9.8 million smartphones sold, 6.2 million of them were iPhone. That's over 63%. They also announced that their 4G LTE network now reached 273 million people in 476 U.S. markets. According to [Verizon] chairman and CEO, Lowell McAdam:
It was also a record quarter for tablet sales, including the new introduced iPad mini and iPad 4. This comes following the usual doom-and-gloom rumors and reports which seem to precede earnings announcement weeks, the last 10 days of which suggested demand for the iPhone 5 was weak and Apple should pack their bags and go home. If that turns out to be the stock manipulation at the expense of Apple and regular, more easily frightened investors, then it would be nice to think oversight would occur and such reports wouldn't find purchase in the most trusted financial papers of record in the future. But who am I kidding, that particular type of bullshit services way too many agendas for anything approaching ethics or common sense to counter. Meanwhile, more the 3 out of every 5 phones Verizon sold over the holidays were made by Apple. Winning. 
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| Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad to appear at Macworld’s opening keynote Posted: 22 Jan 2013 01:16 AM PST
Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad's appearance will take place at the opening keynote at Macworld / iWorld which starts on January 31 at 9am. The jOBS biopic is set to debut at the Sundance Film Festival later this month before its wider release in April. Macworld runs from January 31 to February 2 and will take place at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco. iMore will be attending Macworld so we will bring you all of the news as it happens! Source: Macworld / iWorld 
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A new email app will soon be available for the iPhone that wants to change the way we deal with email on our iPhone for the better. The new app created by Orchestra is said to be inspired by the simplicity of the "Clear" to do app and the beautiful interface of the Sparrow email app. The developers are so confident of its success that they have decided to stagger its availability by creating a reservation system where the app will be rolled out to avoid any server meltdowns.
Posted with Blogsy
Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad will make an appearance in the opening keynote at this year's Macworld / iWorld event. Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad play Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak respectively in the upcoming movie biopic jOBS. They will be followed later in the day by musician will.i.am and Intel's futurist Brian David Johnson.| You are subscribed to email updates from iPad By Davis To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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