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Apple granted Nano SIM-related patent that Nokia is “not aware” of

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 27, 2012

Once again, the Finnish cell phone giant Nokia is opposing Apple's proposal for a new requirement related to the emerging Nano SIM card standard, dated back to 2011. According to a rumor yesterday, Apple wants to license its version of the Nano SIM to others royalty-free in exchange for any Nano SIM-related patents held by other companies.

Today, Nokia said in a statement it does not know of any Apple patent related to the iPhone maker's Nano SIM variant. Essentially, Nokia just slammed Apple's recent strides aimed at promoting its Nano SIM variant ahead of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's (ETSI) ruling later this week...

Australian Government to sue Apple over “misleading” 4G iPad name

Cody Lee ∙ March 27, 2012

Well this isn't too surprising. TheNextWeb is reporting that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced plans to file a lawsuit against Apple in the next 48 hours regarding its "misleading" iPad WiFi + 4G advertising.

As most of you know, the wireless version of Apple's new tablet is indeed compatible with 4G networks here in the US and in Canada. But in other countries, including Australia, the slate is limited to 3G data speeds and, if available, HSPA+...

Almost 90% of iPhone 4S owners use Siri

Cody Lee ∙ March 26, 2012

Siri's popularity has been somewhat of a controversial topic over the last 6 months. Although the digital assistant dropped some jaws when Apple introduced it to the public last fall, a lot of folks have since written the feature off as a novelty.

But according to a recent study from Parks Associates, a consulting firm, Siri is much more popular than you probably would've guessed. Surprisingly, 87% of iPhone 4S owners surveyed use at least one Siri-related feature each month...

Meet the girl who downloaded the 25 billionth iOS app

Cody Lee ∙ March 26, 2012

Earlier this month, Apple's 25 billion app countdown contest came to an end. The winner, a Ms. Fu Chunli, was awarded a $10,000 iTunes gift card for downloading the 25 billionth app from the App Store — Where's My Water.

Up until now, not much was known about the China native. But that quickly changed this morning with a report from M.I.C. Gadget, which gives an in-depth look at the contest winner and how her life has changed in the last 20 days...

‘AppUpdateNotifier’ keeps you informed about App Store updates

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 26, 2012

First there was CydiaBulletin, and then there was the dead on arrival Aptdate. These jailbreak tweaks were conceptualized and/or created to provide notifications whenever an app or tweak had a pending updated waiting in Cydia.

Due to traffic concerns, it's unlikely that either of these tweaks will ever see the light of day. That's unfortunate, but it's the reality of the situation unless the developers can come up with a way that won't put too much stress on the repo servers.

But what about the App Store? This sort of functionality would be useful for pending App Store updates as well, would it not? Thankfully, someone was listening.

Check out our video walkthrough of AppUpdateNotifier, a jailbreak tweak that provides banner notifications when updates are waiting in the App Store...

Why you won’t see ‘pull-to-refresh’ function in native iOS apps anytime soon

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Users have been calling for Apple to implement the popular 'pull-to-refresh' feature into Mail and other native iOS apps for quite some time now. The function, which is found in Tweetbot and several other third-party applications, allows you to refresh the on-screen information by pulling down on the app's UI.

But judging by this report from designer Dustin Curtis, we won't be seeing the easy refresh option integrated into native iOS apps anytime soon. Why? Well apparently Twitter owns the patent to it...

Review: SPIGEN SGP Kuel F16s Battery Pack for iPhone

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

There is no doubting that our iOS devices are beginning to use even more power than their ever-increasing batteries can provide them. It's an unfortunate fact that while we continue to crave smaller, thinner and lighter device, something inevitably has to give. In most cases, that thing is battery life.

The iPhone 4S for example isn't exactly known for its ability to hold a charge. We've covered various power-related issues with the iPhone 4S over the months since its release, and alas, things don't really seem to have improved with subsequent iOS releases. What we need is a way of extending our iPhone's battery prowess, and the easiest way to do that is to get a battery pack.

One battery pack that we've been putting through its paces recently is the SPIGEN SGP F16s battery pack for the iPhone. After a few weeks of living with the F16s and at times very much relying on its ability to keep an iPhone going beyond its usual capacity, we're finally ready to announce our verdict...

‘SendAny’ and ‘ReceiveAny’ now available on Cydia

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 26, 2012

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXzXqZtFYwU[/tube]

SendAny and ReceiveAny are two jailbreak tweaks that work in harmony to let you send and receive unsupported files via iMessage.

Be sure to take a look at our full walkthrough for more information on how these two tweaks work together to make iMessage much more useful for sending files.

ReceiveAny is a free download, while SendAny will set you back $1.99. Both can be acquired via Cydia's BigBoss repo.

Get a better understanding of your iPhone’s signal strength with Bars

Cody Lee ∙ March 26, 2012

Has your iPhone's signal strength indicator ever lied to you? Perhaps it showed that you had poor cell phone reception, but you were still able to make perfectly clear phone calls. Or vice versa?

Well, if you're losing faith in the 5 little bars that sit in the top left hand corner of your handset, you may want to check out Bars. The new jailbreak tweak promises to give you a more accurate reading of your iPhone's cell service...

Apple spoke with Samsung multiple times in 2010 to try to avoid litigation

Cody Lee ∙ March 26, 2012

Even though the patent war between Apple and Samsung has seemingly fallen from the media spotlight for the time being (which we're totally OK with), the battles are still very much going on.

As you may know, the two companies have been in and out of courtrooms all around the world over the past year entangled in patent litigation. And there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. But what you may not know is, Apple actually approached Samsung multiple times two years ago to try and avoid this entire mess...

Who needs NFC when you can pay wirelessly right now using Square?

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 18, 2019

NFC (near field communications) technology has been a rumored "upcoming" iPhone feature for quite some time now. It was supposed to turn up in last year's model (obviously it didn't). And of course it's expected in this year's release.

What's the big deal? Well NFC is the backbone of many mobile payment systems. And everyone is waiting for Apple to enter that space. But why wait for NFC, when you can pay wirelessly with your iPhone right now using Square?

We’re giving away a bunch of JailbreakCon goodies

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

The Word Wide Jailbreak Convention is scheduled to take place in San Francisco, on September 29th. A few high profile iOS devs are already lined up to speak or attend, and word on the street is that some iDB staffers will also be there, me included.

As an official sponsor, we work pretty closely with the whole JailbreakCon team. The guys have been really generous with us so far as they've sent us hats, t-shirts, and skins for iPhone.

Today, they take this one step further and are partnering up with us to give away some JailbreakCon gear and tickets to iDB readers...