Dieter’s at the IFA show in Berlin, Germany and he’s scored us a first look at mophie’s upcoming juice pack air for iPhone 4. It’s got soft touch paint and they claim ZERO signal degredation because the entire PCB board is on the bottom, so there are no electronics around the antenna. It’s shipping to Apple now and will be available in “Nationwide retailers” next week for $79.95.
Mophie Juice Pack air for iPhone 4 comes in black, white, red, and green and “virtually doubles your power”. 6 hours talk time, 5 hours internet 3G, and 9 hours on wifi courtesy of a 1500mAh battery. It also sports pass-through USB for power, iTunes sync, and can be switched off when not in use.
What Dieter saw was prototype hardware, but felt very thin and good to him, especially the soft touch finish.
Also being shown off was the juice pack power station, which sports 2.1 Amp output so it can power an iPad. This one rates 3600 mAh and has a USB cable included to charge it. And the Marketplace, which we saw an early version of back at Macworld, is now ramped up with Intuit GoPayment and is available now for $179.95 plus GoPayment service.
If Steve Jobs announced that iOS 4.2 would be coming to iPhone during his keynote a the special music event yesterday, I missed it, but that’s what Apple.com’s new preview page says:
Look for iOS 4.2 coming in November for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.1
(That footnote reads “not compatible with all models” so likely iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 miss out again).
What will distinguish iOS 4.2 on iPhone from iOS 4.1? Only a few things leap out at me:
Wireless printing, so we can shoot docs from our iOS device to a receptive paper printer. (Not word on compatibility requirements yet though).
AirPlay, which takes AirTunes to another level with streaming video and pictures, and should let us beam content from iPhone or iPod touch to the new Apple TV. (Perfect to take a movie to friends or family).
Find text on web page, finally. In Safari, easily search for and highlight specific words and phrases.
Most importantly, does this mean we’ll finally see Grand Unification of iOS in our lifetimes? Have the forces of fracture failed? Developers will hopefully find out soon. Consumers get it in November.
If Steve Jobs announced that iOS 4.2 would be coming to iPhone during his keynote a the special music event yesterday, I missed it, but that’s what Apple.com’s new preview page says:
Look for iOS 4.2 coming in November for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.1
(That footnote reads “not compatible with all models” so likely iPhone 2G and iPod touch G1 miss out again).
What will distinguish iOS 4.2 on iPhone from iOS 4.1? Only a few things leap out at me:
Wireless printing, so we can shoot docs from our iOS device to a receptive paper printer. (Not word on compatibility requirements yet though).
AirPlay, which takes AirTunes to another level with streaming video and pictures, and should let us beam content from iPhone or iPod touch to the new Apple TV. (Perfect to take a movie to friends or family).
Find text on web page, finally. In Safari, easily search for and highlight specific words and phrases.
Most importantly, does this mean we’ll finally see Grand Unification of iOS in our lifetimes? Have the forces of fracture failed? Developers will hopefully find out soon. Consumers get it in November.
Compared to the other Samsung Galaxy S phones, the Sprint Epic 4G has a leg up in several departments. There’s the keyboard, of course, which is pretty darn good. Not perfect, but above average. The addition of a 4G radio is a big plus. But along with that comes a slightly higher phone bill, and battery usage. (Same is true with the Evo 4G, of course.)
And is the Galaxy Tab fit for launch?
As it is, we can’t say for sure just how the Galaxy Tab will fare – its fate is tied to the release date, carrier customization, and most-of-all app support from developers. It’s not enough that the Tab has access to the market, it needs Android apps that by hook-or-crook take advantage of this extra screen size and the powerful processor. Samsung’s fate isn’t entirely out of their hands, though, as we still have yet to hear the full Media Hub story for getting ahold of video content.
Based on our short time we think the Tab should be on your short list, but while Samsung has made a great device here, the devil will be in those carrier/pricing/app details.
Epic 4G seems like it will be another monster. Not as polished as iPhone 4 but more open and adaptable. Galaxy Tab is harder to predict given the “pad” market didn’t really exist before March. Are there enough people who want a “pad” just not an iPad to create a competitive market like we have for smartphones?
During his 2010 Apple special music event numbers breakdown, Steve Jobs said that Apple is activating 230,000 iOS devices a day. He made sure to point out those were new activations and said some of their “friends” (read: Google) are counting upgrades in their numbers (200,000 Android activations a day).
“If we counted upgrades in our numbers they’d be way higher than 230,000″
Jobs thinks, using that metric, Apple is ahead of everybody else.
Google, however, told Fortune that Jobs has it wrong:
“The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services.”
What’s interesting is that Apple and Jobs went to the trouble of bringing the numbers up. Why try to play that game with a competitor in the commodity OS business?
As usual, Steve Jobs began his Apple music event keynote today by giving a breakdown of iOS devices sold to date — 120,000,000. It took them from June 2007 to June 2010 to reach 100,000,000 and only 3 months to add another 20,000,000 on top of that. Jobs also said they’re activating new devices at a rate of 230,000 a day.
While older, 2007 devices are no longer compatible with iOS 4, iPad apps won’t run on iPhone, and camera apps won’t run on iPad or older iPod touches, that’s still a huge number of broadly compatible devices for developers to target. Case in point…
App Store downloads have hit 6.5 billion, which is an astonishing number. And yes, whoosh, that’s increasing at a rate of 200 a second. There are 250,000 apps in the App Store now, 25,000 of which are iPad apps. Speaking of stores…
In terms of Apple Retail Stores, they now have 300 in 10 countries with one in Spain set to increase both counts soon. On some days they get more than 1 million visitors. They teach 80,000 one-to-one classes a week. Over 50% of Mac buyers are new to the platform.
One of the highlights of today’s Apple special music event was Epic who showed off their first iOS game. The game, an action-packed, sword-fighting, RPG adventure looked beyond gorgeous (it’s from the people who made Gears of War, what do you expect?) and it’s coming later this year.
But you can snag a copy of the demo in the iTunes App Store now.
From the circus bazaar on the outskirts of the castle grounds to the mysterious cathedral at the center of town, Epic Citadel will dazzle you with a visual parade of special effects that recreates a stunning and realistic world only imagined by Epic Games, and powered by the critically acclaimed and award winning Unreal Engine 3.
Are you ready to explore the realm of the Epic Citadel and all the beautiful secrets it holds?
Epic Citadel was created using the same tools and technology used to develop high-end consoles games, now delivered for iOS devices!
As part of their special music event today, Steve Jobs announced iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod touch would be coming next week, and iOS 4.2 for iPad would be coming in November.
iOS 4.1 includes everything we’ve seen so far, including bug fixes for the proximity sensor, Bluetooth, iPhone 3G performance. It also adds HDR photos, HD YouTube uploads, TV rentals, and Game Center.
iOS 4.2 includes all of iOS 4.1 along with wireless printing and AirPlay, which replaces airtunes and adds streaming video and pictures.
Cult of Mac claims a source has told them Apple is live streaming today’s special music event as a way to test their massive new, North Carolina data center, set to go fully operational later this year.
Apple’s first live video broadcast in years is a test of the server farm’s ability to stream a future version of iTunes for iOS devices, our tipster says.
“The goal is to monitor traffic load and quality,” says our tipster, who asked to remain anonymous to preserve their connections at Apple.
Apple product events are the Oscars or Superbowls of the Internet, with traffic numbers high enough to take down the biggest sites, and sometimes entire data centers (plural). So if they’re going to test something as bandwidth intensive as video, does it make sense to test it under the harshest conditions imaginable?
Either way, we’ll find out soon enough how it holds up. Hey, why not watch along with us?
Apple will be streaming this year’s special music event live, and we’ll be here to provide all the color and commentary you’ve grown to love… or to love to hate. So if you’re watching, come watch with us. The party starts at 12:45pm, EDT right here on this very post.
“People familiar with the situation” (yes, them again) have told the Wall Street Journal that both Fox and ABC are good to go on $0.99 iTunes TV show rentals, and will be announced later today at Apple’s special music event. Since ABC is owned by Disney, whose largest shareholder is Steve Jobs, their getting on board isn’t a huge surprise. Likewise, Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox, introduced Jobs at D8 and is all up in Apple rescuing print media (like the Wall Street Journal) and TV alike.
NBC, recently sold to Comcast — whose cable empire would compete with iTunes — and CBS, who likely isn’t sure what these new fangled ‘puters and gizmos are all about anyway, is disappointing but also not surprising.
How this will mix and match with Netflix and other, similar apps already on iPad and iPhone — and rumored to be coming to a new Apple TV — is also unknown. $0.99 a pop might not be enough for myopic media companies, but compared to a far bigger Netflix pipe at $10-$15 per month, it’s likely too much for high volume consumers.
Throwing caution — and bandwidth! — to the wind, Apple has just announced that tomorrow, for the first time in recent memory, they’ll be live streaming one of their keynote events:
Apple® will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac® running Safari® on Mac OS® X version 10.6 Snow Leopard®, an iPhone® or iPod touch® running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad™. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.
No word on Windows, Linux, Android, webOS, or any other kind of compatibility, so have your Apple gear ready. TiPb will be following along and providing our usual commentary and color so if you plan on watching, come watch along with us.
Tomorrow at their annual special music event, Apple might announce a new version of iTunes (iTunes X?) — maybe with $0.99 TV rentals or streaming cloud music — and thinking about that made me realize I hardly if ever sync my iPhone with iTunes anymore.
Just before iPhone 4 came out the Apple Store swapped out my 3GS due to cracks along the dock that had been preventing me from syncing. Because I couldn’t sync, I’d been downloading apps directly onto my iPhone, streaming podcasts via the iTunes app (iOS 4 made that rock solid), and otherwise existing pretty much entirely from the cloud.
When I got my replacement iPhone 3GS, I just stuck in my MobileMe, Exchange, and Google logins and all my personal and work data started syncing over the air (OTA). I re-downloaded the few apps I use regularly — Twitter, RSS, online file storage, password management, etc. and I was fully operational before I left the store. (Though, yes, they did have to tether it to iTunes in the Apple Store to activate it, and if not I would have had to do so when I got home.)
When I got my iPhone 4, same thing.
Now I do sync my iPad to iTunes a lot and I have way more apps — especially games — on my iPad than I do on my iPhone. The introduction of iPad and iOS 4 for iPhone, however, let me change my habits enough that my iPhone is now pretty much iTunes free. I can’t remember the last time I synced (probably for iOS 4.0.2 and it annoyed me when iTunes pulled off apps I’d re-downloaded because they weren’t checked off on the desktop side — can’t we do a sync for most recent changes on that?)
How about you, do you still regularly sync your iPhone with iTunes? As much as you used to? Why or why not?
The Speck Fitted Case for iPad is a hard shell case with a soft fabric backing. It snaps together from two parts — the plain black bezel that wraps around the top and outlines the ports, and the textured, pink and black plaid that covers the back plate.
Two part cases are typically more secure but more of a pain to put on and take off. Both of those are true for the Speck Fitted Case, which means it’s best suited for people who like to put a case on and leave it on. I’m usually so not that type of person (my job here at TiPb doesn’t let me be!) but I like this case so much it’s stayed on way longer than I originally expected. I just really like it.
Now with the colors being gray, pink, and black the Speck Fitted Case could be considered girly, though Rene claims he or any other man would be proud to have a Bret the Hitman Hart pink and black attack case for their iPad. Fair enough. He does know something about pink cases, after all…
The bezel extends up over the top so you can, if you want, lay your iPad down flat on its face without risking scratches on the glass. It also has wide cutouts for the ports so many, if not all, accessories should fit. (Not Apple docks, of course).
It’s nice to hold as the cloth has a little bit of grip to it. Because it’s so light colored, I do worry about it getting dirty eventually but I haven’t had any problems so far.
Do you like old-school shooters? If so, Dodonpachi Resurrection is the game for you! Cave has brought out another awesome shooter on the iPhone (the first being Espgaluda II).
There are two game modes in DoDonPachi. The first is iPhone mode which is a great way to jump in and play. It uses a hit variable to determine the strength of your weapons (the slider is indicated in the top right) and has an interactive hypermode to unleash the ultimate destruction on your enemies. The other mode is Arcade. This mode has you pick the fighter style you want and requires a bit more strategy while playing since you don’t have the freedom you have in iPhone mode. You can also configure how much screen is displayed while playing (I am partial to large so I see as much of the screen as I can) as well as button placement for attacking enemy ships.
You start the game as you do in any shooter of this type as a lonesome ship against an onslaught enemy armada bent on destruction. Fortunately, you have technology on your side and you are packing enough firepower to send the enemy back where they came from. One of the things I like about iPhone mode is that when you die, you automatically drop a bomb and become invincible for a short while. Little details like this make the game more accessible to the casual shooter fan. However, Arcade mode is where it’s at if you need a true challenge. Of course the OpenFeint integration keeps it old school allowing you to compete with friends and strangers for the highest score possible.
I was looking forward to this game’s release and especially having the sharp graphics that are in on the iPhone 4’s retina display. Sadly, this is not the case. So as awesome as this game is, it ends up being a tad fuzzy on the iPhone 4 but looks great on the latest generation of iPod Touch devices and iPhone 3GS. Make no mistake that the graphics are great and there is no slowdown. All of the ships and terrain have tons of detail and move effortlessly around the screen.
I can’t recommend this game enough for shooter fans. It is hands down the best offering in the App Store. I am hopeful that Cave will create iPad specific versions of their games for the masses to take advantage of the full screen real estate that device has to offer. For now, you can’t go wrong with this title. I am still giddy about it.
At their annual special music event tomorrow, could Steve Jobs announce that Apple’s iTunes song previews are doubling to 60 seconds? That’s what CNET is hearing rumored:
Currently, iTunes offers 30-second snippets of songs, a feature designed to give users a taste of the music to help them decide whether they like it enough to buy. Some users have long complained that half a minute isn’t enough time to really hear a song.
30 seconds has sometimes been enough for me, sometimes not. It depends on which 30 seconds they preview. The first 30 seconds of long, building instrumental intro to a rock song usually doesn’t provide any context for the song itself. Part of the chorus with enough overlap on one side or another and I’m good.
Given the plethora of other announcements we expect, iPod touch 4, iPod nano 6, iOS 4.1, maybe Apple TV/iTV, etc. how important is this one to you?
As part of their grand re-introduction to Mac, AutoDesk has announced that they’ll also be bringing AutoCAD to iPhone and iPad:
The Mac version will cost $3,995, the same as the PC version, and will be released in October. AutoDesk will soon introduce a free mobile version of the software that will run on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. That version has more limited capabilities, Mr. Hanspal said. But with it, an engineer, for example, could bring drawings to a job site on an iPad, rather than on a big roll of paper, and make annotations on them.
The mobile version will be able to read any AutoCAD files, whether they were created on a PC or a Macintosh.
Any AutoCAD users out there anxious to take their work around on iOS?
The TiPb forums are naturally a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven’t already head on over and register now!
I have to admit, I am not much of a Sudoku player. Not because I don’t like it, but because I am horrendously slow at it and I always feel inadequate playing since my wife is about twice as fast as me solving puzzles on even a much higher difficulty. However, I sucked up my gumption and thought I would give Finger Arts latest release a try.
Sudoku 2 HD Pro is simple enough. Tapping play will start you off with successive difficulty levels which will only be unlocked after beating the previous difficulty twice. Fortunately, there is a super easy mode called “Flash”.
I won’t go over the play mechanics of Sudoku, instead let’s elaborate what Sudoku 2 HD Pro does to enhance the game on iPad. After your game starts you have numbers on the bottom (portrait) or on the sides (landscape). To place a number on screen, tap the space you wish to place the number to and then tap the number. Once placed, other numbers on the sudoku board will have a green highlight to them. This helps you by pointing out other numbers so you can isolate where to play your next number. You can do this for any number at any time, you don’t have to place a number, instead simply tap any number in the field and it will highlight the same number tiles in green.
If you are not sure what number to play, you can use the convenient drawing tool to place the numbers you think might be needed on a particular tile on the board. To do this, tap the empty tile on the board then the drawing icon. Next, just tap the number(s) you want in the space and you are done. The game will even remove all obsolete notes in a tile once the correct tile is placed. If you get stuck, you can also tap the hint button. You are allowed three hints per game. The hint will highlight the suggested corresponding next move (you are also allowed three mistakes that don’t count against your score. The devs feel this is the appropriate number to include accidental screen taps).
Once you register for OpenFeint you can start playing games and saving your high scores online, but you still have some options to choose from. First You have your typical volume and music volume levels. Next you have game specific options to turn off the auto green tile select for like numbers. This is an incredibly useful option that can help you spot patterns more easily. I would only turn this off if you are a gluten for punishment.
The OpenFeint integration is really a nice added bonus to the game. Typically Sudoku games are individual but this adds a layer of social-ness to the game. You can see who has the highest score (this is calculated by the number you are placing… errr, it’s a really fancy formula) and it also keeps track of your runs (a run is an uninterrupted sequence of games own) and achievements!
I really like Sudoku Pro 2 and will be playing it for months to come. Perhaps one day I will even break the 10,000 point barrier, but likely not the current point leader with a whopping 105,622 point lead…
Angry Birds for iPhone and its big brother, Angry Birds HD for iPad, have been updated to make it even birdier and, I fear, angrier. New features in version 1.4.1 consist of:
15 levels have been reconstructed
A new golden egg has been added
Fresh new achievements are included
And, um… fantastic feathered fun is plentiful
The iPad version hit a couple of days ago. The iPhone version is just hitting now. If you try out either update, let us know what you think.
Intel has announced that they’ve bought Infineon’s wireless solutions business (WLS) for 1.4 billion dollars, which includes the Infineon 3G radio baseband used in iPhone. Here’re the PR bullets:
WLS sale enables Infineon to expand leading position in markets for automotive, industry and security technologies.
WLS will operate as a standalone business. Intel is committed to serving WLS’ existing customers, including support for ARM-based platforms.
The acquisition expands Intel’s current Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX offerings to include Infineon’s 3G capabilities and supports Intel’s plans to accelerate LTE. The acquired technology will be used in Intel® Core processor-based laptops, and myriad of Intel® Atom™ processor-based devices, including smartphones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers.
The deal aligns with Internet connectivity pillar of Intel’s computing strategy.
What if anything this changes for Apple or iPhone remains to be seen. (Queue A4 baseband chipset rumors for next year…)
While rumors persist Apple will be introducing a 7-inch version of iPad at some point, it looks like Samsung is wasting no time getting their 7-inch competition — the Galaxy Tab — ready for launch. Hey, at least they’re not calling it GalactiPad or SammyPad, right?
Here are the purported specs:
HD video playback
7″ screen
Android 2.2 (Froyo)
Video calling
Augmented reality
Swype
A Sept. 2 coming-out party in Berlin (at the IFA conference).
Samsung manufactures the Apple A4 chipset that powers the iPad and iPhone 4, and we expect they’ll use the similarly specced Hummingbird that powers their Galaxy S-class smartphones here. While Android 3.0 Gingerbread is rumored to have true tablet-sized UI scalability, skinning 2.2 up to fit 7″, especially at a rumored 1280×600 resolution shouldn’t be a huge stretch from the current 800×480. They’ll also, apparently, be offering a range of iPad-like accessories, including a keyboard dock.
So what do you think? Is getting the Galaxy Tab out before a 7-inch iPad (if Apple ever actually releases one) a smart move to grab market share for Samsung? And how does 7-inches of Froyo compete with 9.7-inches of optimized iOS on the current, non-speculative iPad?
Pros
