Oliver Haslam

India Set to Get Apple’s iPhone 4S on November 25th

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 14, 2011

Those living in India won't have much longer to wait before they can get their hands on an iPhone 4S, according to reports.

The Times of India is reporting that Apple will begin selling its latest iPhone through at least one of its usual carrier partners in the country on November 25th, with both Bharti Airtel and Aircel set to offer the popular handset.

Aircel has already begun teasing the iPhone 4S to customers via its official Facebook page, similar to what UK and other international carriers did before their respective launches...

Users Now Watching More Video on Tablet Devices Than Desktops

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

When Apple first unveiled the iPad in January of 2010, the world immediately began debating whether the first real mass-market tablet was going to be used as a content consumption device, or whether it could also be used to create that content. Almost two years later the argument has almost settled on the side of consumption, and video is one of the types of content we're consuming.

In fact, according to a new report by analytics firm Ooyala.com, we're watching more video on our tablets than on desktop computers these days.

To be exact, the report suggests that we're now watching around 30% more video on our tablets, such as the iPad, than on desktops...

ATARI’s Asteroids: Gunner Now Available on the App Store

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 13, 2011

ATARI is one of the biggest and oldest names in the gaming space. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs even worked there before starting Apple way back when, and all these years later ATARI is happily releasing some great games for Apple's touch-based iOS devices.

The latest release to come out of the team at ATARI is Asteroids: Gunner, which the company describes as "a free-to-play, dual-stick action shooter for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad."

Bringing a spot of the old arcade magic to the iDevices, Asteroids: Gunner is sure to be a real hit amongst those looking for a shooter that won't break the bank, and with 150 waves of enemies, the game shouldn't be one that's over in a flash, either...

Apple Geniuses to Begin Using iPads Instead of MacBook Pros

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 13, 2011

If there was ever any doubt about just how seriously Apple is taking the transition from the 'trucks' of the old generation, MacBooks and Macs, to the new generation of touch-enabled iOS devices, then this should end it. According to a report by 9to5Mac, Apple is planning to change the way it operates its Genius Bar, by incorporating the iPad into its workflow.

Currently, Apple's staff use MacBook Pros to help diagnose issues and then work to rectify them, but it would appear that the company will now begin using iPads running custom software.

The change sees Apple replace its own premium notebooks with tablets, offering increased portability to the technical customer service process...

Ever Wondered How Angry Birds Works? Take a Look at the Math Behind the Madness

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 12, 2011

Some things just blow our minds here at iDB. One such thing is the lengths some people will go to in order to analyze something that most of us find mildly interesting at best, and the epitome of that is the work WIRED's Rhett Allain has been doing on the Angry Birds games.

Now, don't take that as a sign that we don't think his research is indeed super awesome, because it is. It's just that we're not convinced we find it as awesome as Rhett does. Or, perhaps, we're just not clever enough to get our collective heads around it!

The series of posts that Rhett Allain has been working on delve into the inner workings of Angry Birds, and more importantly, into how we can better understand the game with the aim of flinging birds from catapults. Told you it was awesome...

iPhone 4S Launches to Huge Lines in 15 More Countries Around the World

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 11, 2011

People in fifteen new countries can now walk into a store and pick up an iPhone 4S, as long as they can find one, that is!

Hong Kong and South Korea are the headline-makers amongst the group of new countries getting their sticky little fingers on Apple's latest and greatest, along with Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, and Romania.

That list, in addition with the countries already selling the iPhone 4S, makes this the fastest Apple product rollout yet...

The iPhone 5 Prototype Was Apparently Real?

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 11, 2011

You'll probably remember that before the iPhone 4S was announced, it was pretty much open season on rumors. We had all kinds of them.

If you believed the rumors, we were going to get a new, smaller iPhone with a larger screen. It was going to be thinner, too. It was going to be even more awesome than something that's really awesome, and we were going to need one. Badly.

What we did get was the iPhone 4S, and while we're not saying that's a bad thing, it's no iPhone 5. But was there any truth to some of those iPhone 5 rumors after all? According to one Business Insider source, there may just have been some...

Apple Begins Offering Unlocked iPhone 4S in US Store

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 11, 2011

We knew it was going to come at some point during the month of November, but we didn't know when Apple was going to officially start selling the unlocked iPhone 4S in the United States. Turns out, it was today.

With Apple already selling unlocked handsets on other countries, this is bringing the United States into line with everyone else. But if you've been waiting for the chance to buy an iPhone 4S without a 2-year contract, well, now you can!

All three capacities are available, along with both white and black models...

Sprint to Begin Locking iPhone 4S SIMs Starting Today

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 11, 2011

There has been more than a little confusion surrounding the state of play with the SIM slot on Sprint's iPhone 4S handsets. Are they unlocked? Were they unlocked? Will they ever be unlocked? We've gone through the whole gamut of options over the last few weeks.

SprintFeed has got hold of some clarification via internal Sprint documents, and the waters may be starting to clear. It's a mixture of both good, and bad news.

According to their analysis of the aforementioned document, it seems that Sprint will begin locking iPhone 4S smartphones during the activation process, and that will begin on 11/11/11...

iOS 5.0.1 Not Helping Improve Battery Life

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 11, 2011

When Apple dropped iOS 5.0.1 yesterday, the hope amongst many was that it may help to fix the battery issue that was introduced with iOS 5.0.

It is becoming apparent that iOS 5.0.1 may not have actually fixed the battery bug we told you about before, with our own location-based fix still appearing to be the best way of saving precious battery life...

Your iPhone Camera Can Follow You Around Using the Awesome Swivl Mount

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated February 6, 2016

The iPhone's camera is becoming so good that you can arguably do without a 'real' camera these days. Packing a 8 megapixel camera, the iPhone 4S outperforms most point-and-shoot cameras, and it also kicks out some impressive 1080p video.

Unfortunately, your iPhone can't track your movements, all the while keeping you perfectly framed.

With Swivl, any iPhone can be turned into an auto-tracking camera, and it looks great...

Android and iOS Gaming Now Worth More Than Sony and Nintendo’s Portable Divisions Combined

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated March 12, 2018

Just read that title again. Perhaps a third time. Ready? Let us continue.

According to new research by Flurry, a mobile analytics firm, both Sony and Nintendo's battle to own the portable gaming market may well be over sooner rather than later, and the winner might not be either of the two gaming behemoths.

See, Flurry believes that the combined pair will generate $1.4 billion in gaming revenue for the year 2011. While that's not a number to be sneezed at, it is considerably lower than the last two years. It's also lower than the revenue Flurry expects the real competition to generate, with iOS and Android gaming combined expected to rake in $1.9 billion...