iOS

Razer’s Kazuyo iOS controller redesigned for slimness, has fully remappable buttons

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 9, 2017

I'm sorry if this thought sounds a little depressing, but there's no two ways about the fact that the first batch of iOS controllers leaves a lot to be desired. The iPhone controllers from Logitech, Stratus Moga and others have all received poor reviews, with critics slamming their high price tag, less than stellar build quality and lacking features.

Razer, a privately-held American accessory maker that specializes in high-performance hardware specifically marketed to gamers, is thinking differently when it comes to its own iOS 7 controller, the Kazuyo.

We previously highlighted this 'Made for iPhone' (MFi) controller and now new details surfaced Tuesday helping paint a better picture of the upcoming accessory...

LaCie Fuel now offers 2TB of wireless storage for your Mac and iOS devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

LaCie, a Seagate Technology brand that makes premium storage solutions and accessories, has refreshed its Fuel external wireless hard drive with an expanded capacity of two terabytes.

That's double the storage of the previous Fuel and LaCie claims the updated product now offers "more storage than any 2.5-inch wireless hard drive on the market."

It uses Seagate's free Media app to make available your files to Apple devices over a Wi-Fi network.

The Fuel also includes a built-in ten-hour battery and plays nice with AirPlay so you can mirror content on your big screen TV through the Apple TV.

The full reveal is after the jump...

Study takes a look at app stability on iOS and Android

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Crittercism, a mobile application performance management (APM) solution, has posted a new study this weekend entitled Mobile Experience Benchmark. The 19-page document covers several topics, but perhaps most interesting is the section on app stability.

The firm took a look at mobile application crashes on various versions of iOS and Android, running on a wide range of devices. And what it found was that on Apple's platform, iOS 7.1 is the most stable, and on Google's platform, Android Gingerbread is the least...

Apple looking to add more diversity to emoji character set

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 26, 2018

According to Apple’s VP of worldwide communications Katie Cotton, the company is looking to expand its emoji character set to include emojis that are non-caucasian. The spokeswoman recently provided a statement to MTV Act about the lack of diversity in the 400+ set.

In the statement, Cotton points out that there's a universal lack of diversity in emojis, as the characters are based on the Unicode standard. But apparently Apple is working with the Unicode Consortium to update the standard by adding new, multicultural emoji characters...

According to Apple, 85 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices run iOS 7

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2018

Apple on Monday refreshed iOS usage numbers, publicly available via the App Store Distribution section of its portal for developers. As measured by the App Store during a seven‑day period ending March 23, 2014, 85 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild were on iOS 7 or later.

Twelve percent of devices, or about one out of each eight iOS devices, are running iOS 6, with just three percent of active devices having remained stuck on older versions of Apple's mobile operating system...

Google Play Games gets cross-platform multiplayer gaming between iOS and Android

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 17, 2014

First announced at the Internet giant's I/O developer conference last May, Google Play Games services provide Android, iOS and web developers with APIs for Apple Game Center-like features such as leaderboards, achievements, cloud saves, sign-in services and more. There was just one piece of the puzzle missing for the full cross-platform gaming nirvana: support for multiplayer sessions between iOS and Android devices.

As announced today on the official Android Developers blog and at Game Developers Conference, the newly-updated SDK now makes it easy to implement both Google Play Games turn-based and real-time multiplayer modes. When implemented by a game developer on both iOS and Android, player with an iPhone can challenge his or her Android-totting friend to multiplayer matches, and vice versa...

More iOS 8 Healthbook details emerge

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

Back in January, the usually reliable blogger Mark Gurman first shared details of a new Healthbook application said to debut in iOS 8 later this year.

Since then, we've seen a cool Healthbook app icon mockup and now Gurman has shared a plethora of details about the software.

As it turns out, Healthbook will be Apple's foray into health and fitness tracking as the app is said to source activity data from a variety of sources.

Think the M7 motion coprocessor, Apple's rumored wearable device as well as third-party applications and accessories. Reminiscent of the iOS Passbook app, Healthbook should be a singular place for all the accompanying health and fitness related data to be stored and viewed.

Jump past the fold for the full reveal and a bunch of screenshot mockups...

iOS 8: better inter-app sharing, improvements to Messages, Notification Center, CarPlay and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 14, 2014

Continuing on his series of iOS 8 scoops, the usually reliable Apple blogger Mark Gurman is out with a new story offering alleged new findings pertaining to iOS 8's Notification Center, Messages, Game Center, Voice Memos, CarPlay and inter-app communication.

The latter is obviously the highlight of the report because unlike Android, iOS has been plagued with very limited inter-app sharing. As a result, operations that are normally trivial on Android are virtually impossible on iOS.

For instance, there's no way to edit a photo in one app and send it, say, to the Instagram app without having to go through the cumbersome process of exporting the image to your Camera roll first and then manually importing it into Instagram.

According to the report, iOS 8 could finally fix this problem. Jump past the fold for the full reveal...

Suspected iOS 8 screenies show Preview, TextEdit and Healthbook app icons

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 13, 2014

Following a credible report earlier this morning claiming that the Mac's Preview and TextEdit applications will make their way into iOS 8 with full iCloud support minus editing functionality, a pair of supposed screenshots allegedly depicting the iOS 8 Home screen has popped up on a Weibo account.

The images, included below the fold, are believed to depict purported prototype iOS 8 Home screen icons for the previously rumored Healthbook app, as well as the suspected Preview and TextEdit applications. By the way, iOS 8 is thought to be codenamed 'Okemo' after a ski resort in Vermont.

On the surface, the screenies look genuine. However, as we can't vouch for their authenticity, you're definitely advised to take them with a grain of salt, even though multiple reliable sources have allegedly confirmed their legitimacy.

We're only reposting them here for entertainment purposes so join us in comments...

Toyota says CarPlay coming to 2015 vehicles, then changes its mind

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

You probably know by now that Apple's CarPlay feature in iOS 7.1 has 100 percent guaranteed support from Ferrari, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz in their select 2014 models.

The company also hinted in a media release that BMW Group, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia Motors, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor Company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota Motor Corp will be bringing CarPlay to their drivers "down the road."

It now looks like one of the aforementioned manufacturers, Toyota, may have officially joined the initiative. According to the car maker's original announcement, CarPlay was supposed to be "coming soon" to select 2015 vehicles, but it's quickly backpedalled on the claim without saying when exactly CarPlay will hit the dashboard of its vehicles...

iOS 8: Apple apparently working on TextEdit and Preview apps with iCloud integration

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 13, 2014

After reporting yesterday that Apple is considering moving iTunes Radio to its own standalone app in iOS 8, the same reliable blogger is now citing sources with knowledge of Apple's initiatives as claiming that the next major revision to Apple's mobile operating system will bring two apps over from the Mac - Preview and TextEdit - both supporting Documents in the Cloud, a feature that lets software store documents in iCloud to be readily available on all devices.

Preview and TextEdit in OS X Mavericks already have support for iCloud documents so this development indicates Apple's intent to make iOS 8 and OS X even more tightly integrated...

Pioneer exploring aftermarket CarPlay compatibility

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 12, 2014

Apple's CarPlay, a new iOS 7.1 capability designed to integrate select iOS features right into your car's infotainment system, has a major problem on its hands: it's currently hinging on the good will of manufacturers to support it in their future vehicles. Thus far, only Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Volvo have confirmed that some of their upcoming 2014 models will support CarPlay.

A bunch of other vendors have hinted they're considering implementing the feature. So, unless I buy a brand new car with CarPlay integration, I'll be left out in the cold, right?

Not so fast.

For starters, Mercedez-Benz has decided to cater to owners of unsupported vehicles by promising aftermarket CarPlay upgrades as a dealer installed accessory for select previous models.

But what about CarPlay in unsupported cars? That's where Pioneer Electronic jumps in. The maker of many in-car electronic systems, Pioneer's reportedly exploring the possibility of adding CarPlay compatibility to its existing and future products...