Cody Lee

Cody Lee, iDownloadBlog.com’s longest-serving Editor, joined the site in 2008. He specializes in uncovering the best deals on Apple products, apps, and accessories. With years of experience in technology journalism, Cody helps readers save money while staying informed about the latest trends and updates in the Apple ecosystem. Cody’s history with smartphones goes almost as far back as he does. As the son of a Nokia employee, he was exposed early on to handsets like the N91 and the Communicator. He has since been involved in nearly every aspect of the mobile phone industry. While going to college, he worked at a Nokia factory, building handsets, and later moved on to a sales position at a major wireless carrier.

Rockstar releases Grand Theft Auto V companion app ‘iFruit’

It's been a long time since I've been as excited about a game release as I am about Grand Theft Auto V. Set to go on sale at midnight tonight, the fifth installment in the popular GTA series looks impressive from every angle.

Ahead of tomorrow's launch, Rockstar has released a companion app today for GTA V called 'iFruit.' Available on both the iPad and iPhone, the app offers several useful features like the ability to customize in-game vehicles...

Good deal: 50% off Fantastical and Chatology Mac bundle

We're pretty big fans of Fantastical here at iDB. Flexibits' powerful, well-designed calendar and todo app has won us over on both the Mac and iPhone. So when we came across this software sale, we just had to pass it on.

The deal site Stack Social is offering what it calls a 'Flexibits Mini Mac Bundle' right now, and the promotion includes both Fantastical for Mac and Chatology for Mac at a significant discount. More details after the fold...

Sprint said to be preparing new ‘One Up’ early upgrade program

You knew this would happen sooner or later. Following in the footsteps of T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon, it looks like Sprint is preparing to enter the 'early equipment upgrade' club with a new program called 'One Up.'

Much like T-Mobile's Jump or AT&T's Next, One Up is a program that will allow Sprint customers to pay for their devices in monthly installments. And after a year, they'll be able to trade them in for an early upgrade...

Nokia was working on an Android phone before Microsoft buyout deal

In February of 2011, Microsoft and Nokia announced a joint strategic partnership that would see Windows Phone become the principal platform strategy for Nokia's mobile devices. And the Finnish giant took quite a bit of heat for putting all of its eggs in Microsoft's basket.

But according to a new report, the company had a plan b: an Android device. Sources familiar with the project say that a team within Nokia had Android up and running on its Lumia handsets "well before" it began buyout negotiations with Microsoft for its mobile phone business...

Microsoft admits its recent anti-iPhone ads were “off the mark”

Even though most of this week's news cycle was dominated by Apple and its new iPhones, Microsoft managed to snag a few headlines on Friday. But it wasn't positive press. The company was lambasted for its new series of anti-Apple ads.

The series, made up of 7 clips, was called 'A fly on the wall in Cupertino.' And each of the ads featured two high-level Apple executives pitching the new iPhone 5c and 5s handsets to a third character that looked an awful lot like Steve Jobs...

iOS 7 GM brings camera burst mode to your iPhone

Among the many improvements Apple has made to the iPhone 5s is its redesigned rear camera. It seems like everything on the iSight shooter has been updated, from hardware to software—which includes new slow motion video and continuous burst modes.

And as it turns out, folks with the just-released Golden Master version of iOS 7 can play with the latter feature right now. Simply open up your Camera app, and when you go to take a photo, hold your finger down on the shutter to take continuous, rapid shots...

‘Asphalt 8: Airborne’ free for the weekend

Great news gamers! Gameloft has made its recently-released 'Asphalt 8: Airborne' game free for a limited time. The developer made the announcement yesterday via its Twitter account, saying that the title would be free through the weekend.

Asphalt 8, which as the name suggests is the eighth installment in the popular racing series, made its debut just a few weeks ago in late August. The game features over 40 licensed cars, an extensive Career mode, and an all-new physics engine...

Job posting suggests Apple is working on solar-powered mobile devices

Apple is in search of a thin films engineer for its Mobile Devices team, according to a recent job posting. More specifically, it's looking for an engineer with extensive experience with thin-film technologies in either semiconductor processing or solar industries.

The posting suggests Apple is investigating a viable alternative energy source for future mobile products. And the fact that it says this position will work with suppliers to deliver scalable manufacturing processes means they may be coming sooner than later... 

Good deal: 60% off Borderlands 2 for PC and Mac

Looking for something to do this weekend? I've got two words for you: Borderlands 2. If you haven't played the game before, the folks over at Stack Social are running a sweet deal on the popular FPS sequel for both PC and Mac.

In the game, you return to the crazy planet of Pandora as one of 4 unique, playable characters: Axton, Maya, Salvado and Zer0. And upon selecting one of them, you'll embark on a journey of revenge, redemption and blood shed...

Pod2g says he’s becoming increasingly confident in iOS 7 jailbreak

Good news on the jailbreak front this evening, as pod2g has just tweeted out that he is becoming "more and more confident about an iOS 7 public jailbreak." He's careful to note, however, that this doesn't mean one is coming soon.

Still, this is a great vote of confidence from pod2g, as there has been little said about the state of the iOS 7 jailbreak since word got out last week that the evad3rs were looking into it. Well, planetbeing provided a minor update on Wednesday...

Apple to offer advanced iPhone 5s reservations on September 17 in China

With the iPhone 5c pre-order launch now well underway, the focus of the media turns to that of the iPhone 5s. Of course, we'll have to wait another week for that, since Apple has opted not to allow advanced purchasing of the handset.

Unless you live in China. While most of the world will have to wait in line to purchase an iPhone 5s on launch day, it appears that folks in the country can take advantage of an advance reservations system beginning September 17...

New Infinity Blade III video posts ahead of next week’s release

Chair has today posted a new video teasing its upcoming Infinity Blade III title, the third installment in the developer's popular hack-and-slash series. The game first debuted during Apple's iPhone event on Tuesday, where it demonstrated the power of the A7.

Today's clip is entitled 'Infinity Blade: Origins,' and it does a great job of summing up events in the first two games and introducing the third. In typical Infinity Blade-fashion, both graphics and audio of the video are top-notch—so it's definitely worth watching...