Year: 2012

Report: the iPhone 5 may be headed to China Mobile

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

Outside of North America, China may be Apple's largest market. Although the iPhone 5 is set to be introduced by China Unicom and China Telecom during the first three months that the new smartphone is available, the biggest audience is still China Mobile's 700 million subscribers.

Now Apple watchers believe new technology quietly added to the iPhone 5 could improve the chances the iconic handset could soon be sold by the world's largest mobile carrier.

According to The Wall Street Journal, TD-SCDMA is supported in a Qualcomm chip found in the iPhone 5 when the phone was torn down by the folks at iFixit. The transmission technology is China Mobile's version of 3G and a clue that Apple wants the carrier as its third partner in the Asian giant. It's intriguing then that Apple doesn't mention TD-SCDMA in its technical specifications of the iPhone 5.

Apple poaches Google’s Sally Cole as Communications Director

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

Apple is already thought to be aggressively recruiting Google Maps employees and now it appears Cupertino is after other high-ranked individuals currently employed by the search giant. Like Sally Cole, who had up until last month used to be Google's Director of Internal Communications for almost six years.

She is now employed in a very similar capacity by Apple. Cole arrives at a time when the growing rivalry between Apple and Google is turning into an all-out war. Perhaps Cole will reorganize Apple's PR department which appears to be out of sync lately.

Scuffgate, reports of teething problems with the iPhone 5 and recent cutbacks blamed on the new retail head John Browett all seemingly indicate that Apple is increasingly becoming prone to unusual PR missteps...

pod2g: I’m not working on a jailbreak for iOS 6

Sébastien Page ∙ September 25, 2012

With the recent release of iOS 6, many jailbreakers have held back on the update so they can keep enjoying their favorite tweaks. Looking at conversations on iDB and Twitter, it appears that most jailbreakers are anxious to get on iOS 6, but not at the expense of their jailbreak. Those that find themselves in this situation are now patiently waiting for a jailbreak to be released.

Though there is definitely encouraging news on the iOS 6 jailbreak front, an untethered jailbreak as yet to be released. Pouring some cold water on everybody's hope, iOS hacker pod2g confirmed on Twitter today that he is not working on a jailbreak for iOS 6...

Samsung-made A6 chip has dual ARM CPU cores, 3 PowerVR GPU cores, 1GB RAM

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Apple claims the iPhone 5 is twice as fast as the iPhone 4S (which is no slouch) in terms of processing and graphics power, thanks to the in-house designed A6 chip. You could even say that the A6 pushes the iPhone 5 ahead of competing smartphones, at least in Javascript and Geekbench tests.

The A6 is clearly a beast of a chip, not just in terms of sheer power but also in delivering the world’s first phone powered by ARM’s Cortex-A15 CPU platform, completely customized to Apple's needs. In addition to two CPU cores, the first diffusion image by UBM TechInsights has also showed three GPUs.

And now, repair wizards iFixit teamed up with chip experts Chipworks who put the A6 silicon under a sophisticated microscope. Here's what we could glean from so-called "floorplans"...

Apple’s marketing honcho on Scuffgate: scratches are normal

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 25, 2012

Phil Schiller, SVP of Worldwide Marketing, is also known as steward of Apple's relationship with app developers. Increasingly, Schiller is becoming the public face of Apple, which shouldn't come as a surprise given how he "channeled Jobs’s perspective so consistently”, according to a Businessweek profile.

Schiller was the guy who told us why the iPhone 5 doesn't have NFC, he also lowered expectations that the Passbook app would become an e-wallet solution and reminded us of the Apple way of doing things.

And now, Apple has dispatched its marketing honcho to help alleviate growing concerns that the iPhone 5 is susceptible to scratches and scuffs due to its anodized aluminum surface being only skin deep...

Report: Apple’s in-cell displays causing iPhone 5 delays

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

The answer to the question 'where's my iPhone 5?' may have an answer. The smartphone's advanced display technology is so complex that one supplier was slowed by defective screens, one Wall Street analyst said Tuesday.

To produce the iPhone 5's display using in-cell technology, Apple relied on two suppliers: LG Display and Sharp, Barclays told Bloomberg. The in-cell display allowed Apple to combine the touchscreen layer with the display layer, giving consumers a slimmer handset profile and improve color quality. However, due to problems controlling defects, Sharp only began shipping screens for the iPhone 5 after the device went on sale.

The iPhone 5 user guide, now in iBookstore

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 28, 2017

Apple's user manual entitled The iPhone User Guide for iOS 6 was released as a downloadable PDF document four days ago, but it wasn't immediately available via the iBookstore. The 155-page document is meant to help new users get acquainted with the iPhone 5 and iOS 6. And now, it is available as a free e-book on the iBookstore so those that prefer electronic books optimized for iOS devices - as opposed to importing and reading PDFs in the iBooks app - are advised to download this handy guide...

DisplayMate: the iPhone 5 has the best smartphone display

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 25, 2012

Display experts DisplayMate put the iPhone 5 display through its paces and walked away pretty impressed, ranking it the best smartphone display they have ever tested. A lengthy analysis confirms that Apple improved upon pretty much every aspect of the iPhone 4/4S display. No longer are colors undersaturated and brightness doesn't drop as much when looking at the iPhone 5 from side.

Moreover, the display on the iPhone 5 has excellent calibration plus accurate color and contrast. Overall, DisplayMate rates the iPhone 5 display as "A" versus "A-" for the iPhone 4 and "B+" for the Galaxy SIII...

Eric Schmidt: a Google Maps app is up to Apple

Cody Lee ∙ September 25, 2012

As Apple continues to take heat over its new mapping software, the question on everyone's mind seems to be: will Google release a standalone Maps app for iOS? It's a fair question, considering it recently published a YouTube app for the platform.

But a report that surfaced last week claiming Google had already submitted a Maps app to Apple and was awaiting approval was quickly debunked. And Eric Schmidt himself confirmed yesterday that his company hasn't made a move yet...

Poll: How is your iPhone battery on iOS 6?

Oliver Haslam ∙ September 25, 2012

It's a fairly simple question isn't it? But if you remember the furor that surrounded the release of iOS 5 and the subsequent battery-gate shenanigans, you'll know only too well what software can do to a phone's battery.

Back in the ill-tempered days of iOS 5, we covered the situation extensively and even offered a spot of advice that seemed to help a great many people. Today though, we want to know how iOS 6 is treating you all, and whether Apple may finally have gotten the iPhone's battery to last like it did pre-iOS 5.

So, let's begin...

Consumer Reports gives iPhone 5 a thumbs-up

Cody Lee ∙ September 24, 2012

Consumer Reports is an 80+ year-old American magazine that publishes reviews and opinions on new consumer products and services. It's physical publication has more than 7 million monthly subscribers and is highly regarded among shoppers.

The magazine has quite a history with Apple, once giving the iPhone 4 a "cannot recommend status," back in 2010, and then sensationalizing the iPad 3's overheating issue earlier this year. But as it turns out, it actually really likes the iPhone 5...

Messages app now automatically switches to the last international keyboard used in a conversation

Sébastien Page ∙ September 24, 2012

If like me you use two or more international keyboards when typing Messages on your iPhone, you know it can sometimes be a bit frustrating to have to switch between them. As a matter of fact, I've wished iOS could automatically figure out what keyboard to use for a while. And I'm hardly the only one. A few months ago, MacStories' Federico Viticci tweeted that iMessage should be able to automatically switch international keyboards based on the recipient's language.

It seems that someone at Apple heard him, as this is now a feature in iOS 6...