Year: 2012

The Cellink I is the emergency battery boost your iPhone might need

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

There are those days when your on-board iPhone battery cannot handle the stress of a working day. Typically, I get around 4.5 hours of usage between charges, which on a busy news day, leaves me bumming a power cord around the office. Mobile battery backups and chargers are a great way to extend battery life if your cubical neighbor forgot to bring in the cable you always borrow. Cellink I by Cell Drive is a pocket sized – let's call it a snack portion – of battery boost to keep you reading, tweeting, posting, or blogging until you get home...

Apple reportedly in talks with cable operators over set top box

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2012

Speculation regarding the mythical Apple TV set has quieted down in recent weeks. Apple has long been rumored to be working on a full-blown television, but the product has yet to materialize.

According to a new report, that may be because Apple's TV plans have changed direction. The Wall Street Journal is claiming it has learned that the company is now working on a cable box...

Poll: is the next iPhone going to be world-phone LTE compatible?

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2012

Less than four weeks from Apple's September 12 iPhone 5 event, U.S. carriers continue aggressive deployment of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, making it all too easy to get carried away with the wonders of high-speed 4G networking on the next iPhone.

After all, 4G is thought to be one of the headline features of the device. On the other hand, this is going to be the first iPhone ever to have 4G, meaning some limitations and teething problems are likely to be expected, as is always the case with first-gen everything from Apple.

Regular users will probably assume that just because the next iPhone is 4G LTE, it's gonna work on whatever carrier's fourth-generation LTE network. That may not be the case and if the third-generation iPad is an indication, the iPhone 5 could disappoint some international users with limited support for LTE frequency bands.

That being said, we're asking you to take a long and hard look at the current state of technology and vote on the kind of LTE support you think the iPhone 5 will have...

This upcoming tweak adds a full screen app switcher to the iPhone and iPad

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

When it comes to jailbreak tweaks and apps, there are a few names, that when mentioned, instantly make you think of quality. IntelliBorn may come to mind, Ryan Petrich certainly deserves a nod, and of course you can't forget about folks like chpwn and Aaron Ash.

Obviously, there are a few others who are worthy of being included in the same conversation, including SBCoders — a developer that has recently created a significant amount of high quality tweaks.

Hot off the heels of Aero, Deck, and Color Banner, comes Dash — a new take on the app switcher, and one that is sure to turn a few heads. Take a look at our full video walkthrough for a hands-on preview...

Third-gen Apple TV jailbreak may not be so unlikely after all

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2012

Up to this point, the chances for a third-generation Apple TV jailbreak have looked pretty bleak. In fact, the last we heard, no one was even actively working on it.

But things may be starting to look up for ATV3 jailbreak hopefuls. Well-known iOS hacker p0sixninja says that the task may not be as unlikely as it once seemed...

Video comparison of the iPhone 5 Nano SIM tray and buttons to the iPhone 4S

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2012

You've by now seen gorgeous iPhone 5 renders based on a bunch of parts (that continue to leak out of Asia like there's no tomorrow), like a miniaturized Nano SIM tray and a slightly smaller home button.

Repair firm SmartPhone Medic took it all together and created a video that aims to compare the new Nano SIM tray to the Micro SIM standard found on the iPhone 4/4S.

It also puts other purported parts in direct comparison to their iPhone 4S counterparts, namely the volume buttons, the mute switch and the sleep/wake button...

Verizon’s LTE network will soon cover 2/3 of US population

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2012

Verizon just announced that it's going to flip the LTE switch on in 34 new markets tomorrow, and will also be expanding its 4G coverage in another 38.

We'll get to the new markets in a moment, but perhaps more interesting is the milestone. After tomorrow's rollout, Verizon's LTE network will be in more than 370 markets, blanketing close to two-thirds of the the country's population...

Use your iPhone to pull a 360 on Mars

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2012

Last November, NASA launched a car-sized vehicle into space called the Curiosity rover. Earlier this month, that vehicle landed in the Gale Crater on Mars. And if that's not enough to blow your mind, check this out.

The Curiosity rover has been sending detailed pictures of the red planet back to NASA throughout its travels. And you can actually view these photos in an interactive 360-degree panoramic image on your iOS device...

Nokia and Microsoft schedule September 5 event to talk Windows Phone 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 20, 2017

We've known for awhile that Nokia and Microsoft were planning to counter Apple's iPhone 5 launch with an event of their own. It's official now as Microsoft issued media invitations for a Windows Phone-focused presser in New York City on September 5, just a week before Apple is expected to take the wraps off its next iPhone. Talk about preempting what analyst Gene Munster likes to paint as "the biggest consumer electronics launch in history".

With Nokia close to being on life support and Microsoft's market share in mobile still eroding, there better be some darn exciting announcements if smartphone buyers are to consider upcoming Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia phones this holiday season...

FCC clears Amazon’s iPad contender, Samsung launches Galaxy Note 10.1

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 15, 2012

Google's Nexus 7 tablet launch a month ago has literally obsoleted Amazon's seven-inch Kindle Fire overnight. Three weeks ago, Reuters claimed Amazon was working on half a dozen new Android tablets, among them one with a larger display designed to take the iPad on the high-end.

The rumors were true as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday cleared an Amazon tablet with a larger display. Meanwhile, Samsung today launched its 10.1-inch Galaxy Note tablet with much fanfare.

It comes with a stylus (please, no jokes), has juicy hardware (a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM) plus some interesting multitasking features, such as split-screen functionality and a pop-up video player...

The iPad mini finally starts to take shape

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2012

After months of questions, Apple's long-rumored iPad mini is finally starting to take shape. Multiple reports popped up last night detailing what the tablet may look like, and this morning, a purported headphone jack surfaced.

The three write-ups that were released last night came from three different sources of Apple intel, but they all point to the same thing: a smaller iPad, with an iPod touch-thin profile, and smaller bezels on the sides of the display...

Mini iPad to have relocated headphone jack?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Remember a French blog which recently leaked a bunch of images purportedly representing the iPhone 5 Nano SIM tray, the full front assembly of the device and its smaller dock connector? They're back at it again with today's photo of the purported iPad mini dock connector flex cable.

It supports earlier claims that the rumored device will have a smaller dock connector, which is expected to debut on the iPhone 5 this September. Even more interesting, the part has the headphone jack at the bottom, just like the iPhone 5 is thought to have.

It would seem that Apple is ready to adopt the new dock connector and move the headphone jack at the bottom across all upcoming iOS devices...