iPod touch teardown: cheaper display assembly, weaker home button, low repairability

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 11, 2012

Apple's fifth-generation iPod touch, which debuted alongside the iPhone 5 during the September 12 keynote, is on sale now, first reviews are great and already the wizards at iFixit have done what they do best: they tore apart the device to peek under the hood and analyze its innards.

Unlike the iPhone 5 that runs the latest A6 chip with 1GB of RAM, Apple's ultra-thin (just 6.1mm) media player packs in the Apple-designed A5 processor with 512MB of Hynix-supplied RAM. The same silicon also powers the iPad 2 (the iPad 3 runs a souped up variant labeled the A5X). Perhaps unexpectedly, the new iPod touch has a weaker home button than that on the iPhone 5...

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Japan’s Softbank wants to buy Sprint

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 11, 2012

This just in. According to a new report out this morning, Softbank, Japan’s third-largest wireless operator, is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Overland, Kansas-based Sprint, the nation's third-largest carrier. The transaction is said to be worth an estimated 1.5 trillion yen, or $19 billion, and would file as the largest purchase of a foreign company by a Japanese firm.

SoftBank used to be the only official iPhone carrier in Japan until the release of iPhone 4S last November. According to people familiar with the situation, Softbank is aiming to buy all of the outstanding shares in Sprint, which had more than 56 million users at the end of June...

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Google+ app gains iPhone 5 support, new features

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 11, 2012

Google today finally updated its slick Google+ mobile client with some much-needed support for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5's four-inch display, so people don't experience the ugly letterboxing. More importantly, the program has received a couple new features that finally make it easy to edit posts on the go. And if you have your own page on the Google+ social network, you can now view, post and comment as your Google+ page...

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HTC discontinues sales of tablets in the US

Cody Lee ∙ October 11, 2012

Much like it did with the MP3 player market, Apple breathed new life into the tablet space in 2010 and has dominated it ever since. Despite numerous attempts from the competition, the iPad has remained the best selling slate for the past two years.

But it's not just that Apple is selling more tablets than other companies — it's knocking them out of the marketplace. Last year, HP pulled its TouchPad due to lack of sales. And today, HTC announced it's pulling its tablets from the United States...

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New iPhone 5 case claims to fix purple flare issue

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 22, 2018

A few weeks ago, early iPhone 5 adopters started complaining of a purple haze in their photos taken with the handset. Apple responded to the issue, saying that users could remedy this by repositioning the phone.

But if that isn't good enough for you, you might be interested to hear that Fotodiox, an Illinois-based case-maker, has created an iPhone 5 case that it claims will eliminate the purple flare. Meet the camHoodie...

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Joy of Tech on Apple’s Lightning to 30-pin adapters

Cody Lee ∙ October 11, 2012

Apple upset thousands of users last month when it introduced a new charging port for its mobile devices. It replaced the decade-old 30-pin dock connector with a new Lightning plug, rendering millions of cables and old accessories virtually useless.

Of course, Apple offers adapters that will allow users to connect their new iPhones and iPod touches to older accessories. But, at a minimum of $30 bucks a pop, this hasn't exactly won over the angry. In fact, for some this may have been the last straw...

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This web app tells you if your device can be jailbroken

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

If you're a frequent reader of iDB, then chances are you know which iOS devices and firmware can be jailbroken. We are always quick to announce when a new jailbreak is released, and every now and then we even do a "state of the jailbreak" post to bring everyone up to date.

But for casual readers, or novice jailbreakers, device eligibility is not necessarily common knowledge. That's why mathyr, Peter Em and mofodox decided to create JailbreakStats...

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We unbox the new 5th generation iPod touch

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 10, 2012

Just about an hour ago I was able to get my hands on a brand new 32GB Slate Black 5th generation iPod touch. Here is our official unboxing video of Apple's revamped mobile gaming everything device.

The first thing you'll notice about the new iPod touch is how thin it is when compared with the iPhone 5. If you thought Apple's new iPhone was thin, wait until you get a load of the 5th generation iPod touch!

The second thing you'll notice is how drastically better the 5th generation is when compared to the previous generations. The new iPod touch is leaps and bounds above any previous touch when it comes to build quality. Even the screen looks amazing. What do you think? Oh, and uh, the Lightning cable is $19, not $29 like I mistakenly stated in the video.

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Apple doubles down on the iPod touch, finally posts ‘new’ ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

Apple just uploaded to its YouTube channel an old ad for the new iPod touch that started shipping along the seventh-gen iPod nano yesterday, landing on store shelves today to some raving review. Here's that ad, again. The clip is titled "Bounce" and depicts a bunch of colorful iPods jumping to a catchy tune. The homepage was also updated with a prominent link leading to this ad, streaming direct from Apple...

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Google redesigns mobile site with slide-out navigation bar, it’s pretty dope

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Google is rolling out a revamped mobile experience on smartphones as we speak. It's pretty slick as Google has finally adopted the design language used across its other web properties. The company really hit the ball out of the park in terms of design: the refreshed site features a black navigation bar which slides in and out of view smoothly, akin to the Facebook app.

Matter of fact, it almost feels like a native app. Knowing it's been ages since Google updated its Search app on the iPhone, the prettified mobile site will certainly better serve your needs. My favorite capability has to be the ability to navigate Google's most popular services with ease, all without losing track of content at hand...

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Two months later, Apple still hasn’t approved Google Search update

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Back in August, Google showed off an update for its iOS Search app that included its new Google Now digital assistant technology. It's the same tech it uses in Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).

During the showing, the company said that it had submitted the update to Apple and was awaiting approval. But more than two months have passed now, and we haven't heard a peep...

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