iPhone News

Russian government dumps iPads for Samsung tablets

Russia's telecoms minister Nikolai Nikiforov told news agencies yesterday that government officials for the country recently traded in their iPads for Samsung tablets. Reporters spotted the new devices at a cabinet meeting, and the minister explained that the changeover was due to security concerns.

"Some of the information at government meetings is confidential in nature," he said, "and these devices fully meet these demands and have gone through the strictest system of certification." And the timing of the switch is certainly interesting, considering what's going on at the Russia/Ukraine border...

New photos surface of Apple’s Arizona sapphire plant, possible expansion rumored

According to a new report from AppleInsider, contractors are working around the clock and on weekends to finish Apple's new sapphire plant in Mesa, Arizona. The site says that work on the facility is progressing, and that the company may be expanding the project with an additional building.

Word that the iPad-maker was teaming up with GT Advanced to build a sapphire production plant first came in November of last year, and it has since remained a popular topic. The Cupertino firm is believed to be using the plant to manufacture components for yet-to-be announced products...

Survey finds 33% of iPhone owners would pay an extra $100 for bigger display

We don't really know anything about Apple's plans for the next-gen iPhone, but the consensus seems to be that it will feature a larger display. As Samsung and other rivals continue to gain marketshare with their 5-inch+ handsets, it's believed that Apple cannot continue to avoid the so-called 'phablet' space.

And analysts couldn't be happier. Why? Well just look at this new survey data published by Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt. According to the data, one-third of American iPhone owners would be willing to pay an extra $100 for Apple's next smartphone if it featured a larger display than its predecessor...

iH8sn0w confirms his iPhone 4s is jailbroken on iOS 7.1

Despite our warnings, a number of folks have updated their devices to iOS 7.1 within the last few weeks, and they've quickly learned that the update kills the iOS 7 jailbreak. Many have asked us if we think evasi0n7 will be updated to work with the new firmware, but it doesn't seem very likely.

That doesn't mean it's impossible though. Last week, winocm posted a video of his fully jailbroken iPhone 4 running iOS 7.1, and yesterday iH8sn0w one-up him. Amidst a flurry of responses to questions regarding the state of the jailbreak, the hacker confirmed his iPhone 4s is jailbroken on 7.1...

Glitch discovered in iOS 7.1 lets you hide stock apps

Folks who updated to iOS 7.1 earlier this month may be interested in this newly-discovered glitch that allows you to hide stock iOS apps. It's very similar to last year's Newsstand glitch, in that it involves a multi-step process and doesn't [obviously] require a jailbreak.

The glitch is present on both iPhones and iPads, and is relatively easy to exploit. All you have to do, essentially, is create a folder full of apps you wish to hide, drop it in another folder, and then remove it. Interested? Keep reading for a full step-by-step video tutorial...

Drag and drop iTunes tracks to Google Play Music using new Chrome lab feature

Google's official Play Music app lets you access both Google’s subscription-based All Access and standard music services on your iPhone and iPad, but Apple-imposed restrictions prevent your iOS device from actually uploading song files to Google's music locker in the cloud.

Desktop users can upload their music using Google's Music Manager application for Mac and Windows PCs, but now there's a ridiculously easy way of adding those iTunes tracks to Google Play, using only the Chrome browser.

Now available in the Labs section of the Google Play Music web interface, and only on the Chrome web browser, this nicely done web app lets you upload individual tracks to the cloud literally by dragging and dropping them from iTunes, Windows Media Player or folders...

Study shows mobile game developers are seeing success with TV ads

With more and more users moving to smartphones these days, some major mobile game publishers have taken their advertising business to television in an effort to cast a wider net. Chances are you've seen one of these commercials within the past month, including this one for Clash of Clans.

And you're probably going to start seeing a lot more of them, because apparently they're working. According to new data from analytics firm App Annie, some mobile game developers are seeing significant boosts in App Store and Google Play Store rankings for their titles following TV campaigns...

Twitter announces photo tagging, multiple photos per tweet

Following a minor update earlier this morning which added enhancements to sharing and uploading photos in its free iPhone and iPad app, the popular micro-blogging service Twitter has just announced a pair of new features that will be making their way to mobile apps.

The first one is the ability to tag people in tweeted out photos, similar to Facebook and other services, and the other lets you attach and share up to four photos in a single tweet. More on both right after the break...

In time for Season 4 debut, HBO releases the official Game of Thrones Ascent game for iPad

If you, too, take part in HBO's international Game of Thrones phenomenon, the official iPad game's a no brainer.

Available now free of charge in the App Store, Game of Thrones Ascent for iPad comes ahead of Season 4 debut, courtesy of developer Disruptor Beam who teamed with Kongregate to bring the game to Apple's iPad and Android.

Based on the award-winning HBO show and literary works of George R.R. Martin, the iPad edition improves upon the Facebook and web editions of Game of Thrones Ascent (which already has 2.5 million players) with crisp Retina graphics, Game Center leaderboards, full iOS 7 support and thousands of story-driven quests, regularly updated each Monday with content seen on TV the night before...

Total War: Shogun 2 hitting Mac this Spring

Strengthen your citadel, gather your samurai and prepare to lead your clan through the legendary warfare of the Sengoku period because Total War: Shogun 2 is coming to a Mac near you this Spring, developer Feral Interactive announced this week.

The sequel to the popular 2000 turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game, Shogun: Total War, the game is set in Japan's Sengoku, or Warring States period of the 16th century.

You, the leader of one of nine competing clans, are challenged with using diplomacy, espionage and military brilliance to dominate the feudal Japan and unify the country under one undisputed ruler, the shogun...

The New York Times launching NYT Now app next week with cheaper subscriptions

The New York Times newspaper is scheduled to launch new digital offerings on the iPhone come next Wednesday, April 2. I cancelled my digital subscription to both the Times and The Wall Street Journal a year ago due to their overpriced subscriptions and sluggish apps.

Realizing as much - and taking note of sleek looking apps such as Flipboard and Facebook's Paper - the paper sent its digital team back to the drawing board with the goal of rethinking the company's digital offerings and how its content should be reformatted for mobile devices.

The result of their work is a brand new iPhone application that offers staff-curated content wrapped inside a nicely done interface, called NYT Now...

Twitter for iOS updated with enhanced photo sharing and uploading experience

Twitter has just updated its free iPhone and iPad client with unspecified "enhancements to sharing and uploading photos". Behind the cryptically worded iTunes description is a slightly reworked interface for attaching a photo to a tweet, akin to Facebook's Paper app. The update is now live in the App Store and I've included a detailed description along with a few screenshots depicting the feature in action...