Most analysts, or anyone else who judges a product's success by sales numbers, would find it difficult to describe the iPhone 4S as anything else but a smash hit.
The handset, which Apple just started rolling out in mid-October, is already one of the year's (if not the) best-selling smartphones. But that didn't stop the folks at tecca from naming the device one of the year's biggest tech flops...
Most jailbreakers will recognize the hacker known as chpwn. Grant Paul is responsible for many of the most popular iOS jailbreak tweaks in Cydia, including Infinidock and Gridlock. He also helps manage sites like JailbreakQA and works on jailbreaks with the Dev Team.
Grant has started a new blog called "ICS Paper Cuts." His site is dedicated to critiquing the Android platform, particularly the recent 4.0 version, Ice Cream Sandwich. Needless to say, he's been dealing with plenty of hate for his critiques of the operating system's design and usability.
No surprise here. It appears that Apple has just pulled iMAME, the arcade game emulator we told you about a few days ago, shortly after it surfaced in the App Store.
Judging by Apple's history with controversial apps, we figured it was only a matter of time before Apple removed it. Especially since iMAME can play illegally-downloaded arcade games...
You're going to have to take this one with a huge grain of salt as it comes straight from unreliable sources. According to Focus Taiwan, via 9to5Mac:
A local Chinese-language newspaper reported Friday that iPad3 might be launched on Feb. 24 to mark the anniversary of the birth of Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs.
While the rumor of the launch date itself doesn't sound completely out of this world, the source is unknown and probably not worthy of trust.
For reasons that we cannot begin to imagine, known hacker and security guru Stefan Esser (i0n1c) has tweeted that he will do an untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.5. Yeah, not iOS 5, but iOS 4.3.5. We don't get it, either.
Dedicated jailbreakers that haven't wanted to ditch their untethered jailbreaks are likely still on iOS 4.3.3 (it was the last firmware that was accompanied with an untether, ala JailbreakMe). Then there's the possibility of a few users who truly hate iOS 5 and haven't updated for that reason. Whatever the intention, i0n1c seems to think that we need an untether for 4.3.5.
We love surveys here at iDB. Sometimes we get results that surprise us, and other times – and this is a prime example – we are mildly amused, but far, far from surprised.
The survey we are speaking about was done by the Software Usability Research Laboratory and shows that 84% of iPad owners are satisfied with their choice of tablet – a stat that should take few by surprise.
After asking users how happy they are with their iPads, the survey also asked how they use their tablets, probing the use of apps and the location where people use those apps the most. The results are just as predictable here, too...
With the success of Amazon's Kindle Fire, 7-inch tablets have become all the rage these days. Rumors and analysts have suggested over the last few months that Apple is looking to introduce its own 7-inch iPad in 2012 to compete with the new tablets on the market.
While there seems to be supply chain evidence that Apple is gathering 7.85-inch displays for its next-generation iPad, a new report says that Apple has no plans to introduce such a tablet in 2012. Instead, the iPad 2 is expected to remain available at a reduced price when the iPad 3 is announced.
It may seem something of a departure from the usual iDB content, but just bare with us for a second.
According to Bill Colton, a VP at ExxonMobil, just one gallon of the company's gas has the power to charge an iPhone once per day for a whopping twenty years. That's a lot of charges.
While it is highly unlikely that Apple's next iPhone charger will come with a tank instead of a plug, Colton's point is well received – there's a fair bit of power in that thar gasoline...
There has been some confusion recently over Apple's latest iTunes and iCloud venture, iTunes Match. The service, which allows users to basically sync their local music libraries with Apple's servers, was originally made available only in the United States. Since then, there have been one or two false starts across the globe, with some now having access when they possibly should not.
In order to clear things up, Apple has taken the step of announcing which countries do officially have access to iTunes Match.
At the same time, Apple has also announced which territories have access to iTunes in the Cloud – allowing customers to re-download content multiple times across devices – as well as clarifying which types of content the service offers across the globe...
Both AT&T and the FCC continue to make headlines today, as reports are surfacing that the Federal Communications Commission has just approved the carrier's purchase of 700MHz wireless spectrum from Qualcomm.
You may recall that the FCC recently announced its disapproval of AT&T's T-Mobile buyout, eventually forcing the carrier to pull out of the deal. But it seems like the two organizations are on the same page this time around...
Yesterday we told you about iMAME, the free iOS emulator that somehow managed to sneak its way into the App Store. The app allows users to play classic arcade games by loading ROM [read only memory] files onto an iOS device.
iMAME comes with 10 classic arcade games, but is compatible with thousands more if you can figure out how to transfer ROMs onto your handset (or iPad). We put together this easy tutorial to show you how to do sideload retro game ROMs for iMAME.
Multi-functional iPhone cases seem to be all the rage these days. Just look at the iPhone wallet. We've seen more than a few case-makers churn out iPhone case/money-holders in an effort to ride the trend.
Now we've come across a different kind of multi-purpose iPhone case. The Opena Case not only protects your precious handset from nasty falls, but it can also help you pop the top off of your favorite beverage.