iPad

From the latest news to the most comprehensive tutorials, learn how to get the most out of your iPad with our step-by-step guides and expert tips.

Analyst says Apple sold 52 million iPhones last quarter

Cody Lee ∙ January 16, 2013

Apple's quarterly earnings call is coming up next Wednesday, where the company will reveal its iPhone sales and other figures from the holiday quarter. And given its recent stock drop due to iPhone demand concerns, all of Wall Street will be watching.

Essentially, if the Cupertino company wants to stop the bleeding, it needs to report big numbers for last quarter. And according to KGI Securities' well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, it will. He thinks Apple sold 52 million iPhones and 23 million iPads...

The best iPhone to PC file browsers

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated April 14, 2013

As someone who writes about iOS software and jailbreak tweaks for a living, I am constantly using software to connect to my devices. The right software can make it a snap to access the file system, transfer photos, manually install software, and make backups, but the wrong software can make your work flow slow to a crawl.

This is an overview of some of the most popular tools for browsing the iOS filesystem from a computer. Depending on your preferences, you might choose one tool over another...

Flex developer answers questions and explains how Flex patches work

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

Yesterday iDownloadBlog reported on Flex, an upcoming jailbreak app that allows users to create their own tweaks on the fly. We had reason to be excited, as Flex can create custom patches for the Springboard or almost any app, all without requiring programming knowledge from users.

While we were optimistic about Flex, some of our readers were curious about how Flex works, and others raised concerns about the unreleased app. Because we felt these concerns deserved addressing, we got in touch with Flex's developer, John Coates, who was kind enough to answer our questions and provide more screenshots for our readers...

Want buttons for gaming in iOS? Here are your options so far

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

While there are certain video games that work well with touchscreen controls, if you're playing retro action games on an iPhone or an iPad, you're likely to find yourself craving the precise click of real buttons.

There are a few options for physical controls on non-jailbroken iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, but if you want to use classic controls for more than a handful of games, you will need to turn to tweaks. Luckily, we have you covered...

Supply cuts a result of Apple’s adoption of IGZO screens for upcoming iDevices?

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2013

The reduction in orders of iPhone 5 displays and other components isn't a sign of weak demand as sober analysts paint demand as robust. Nevertheless, the rumor has opened door for more speculation that the Cupertino, California company is winding down production of the iPhone 5 ahead of the iPhone 5S release in June or July.

Be that as it may, it would be very atypical of Apple to pull the current-generation model from shelves after just six months. Even as the company switches to a bi-annual refresh cycle, it will still want to continue offering the iPhone 5 at a reduced price after the next-gen model becomes available. According to a new report, these supply cuts are actually the result of Apple considering IGZO displays for upcoming iOS devices...

‘EnablePixelQuadrupling’ constant could suggest Apple is working on a “super Retina” device

Mike Schnier ∙ January 15, 2013

Users of retina iPhones and iPads are used to the phenomenon of pixel doubling, where two-by-two squares stand in for a larger, lower density pixel. But how would you feel about a display that needs pixel quadrupling?

Just hours ago Ryan Petrich, the developer behind excellent jailbreak tweaks such as BrowserChooser, FullForce, and Display Recorder, stumbled across a constant in Quartz Core which may suggest that Apple is working on a super retina device...

Survey: the iPad mini becomes ‘kid’s tablet’ for holiday gifts

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

We're still gaining insights from holiday sales of Apple products. The latest finding: the iPad mini is now dubbed the "kid's tablet" after one survey found post-Christmas usage of Apple's smaller tablet rose 270 percent among families with young children. The new data comes from the makers of Kindertown.

Kindertown makes an app which helps parents find child-suitable apps. Among other findings culled from the software's more than 200,000 users: while the iPad 4 was popular as a family gift, children also adopted the original iPad as a technological hand-me-down. Elsewhere, iPhone's were not a big gift item for this demographic, after-Christmas usage of Apple's handset not rising following the holidays...

Smartphones top tablets as hungriest data gadgets

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

For carriers, the name of the game is data consumption. The more data consumed, the more revenue. For observers, data consumption also provides a clue to how new devices are used.

For the first time, smartphones are outpacing tablets as the "hungriest" mobile devices.

In 2011, tablets comprised two out of three of the devices consuming the most data. By 2012, all of the top three mobile devices were smartphones, led by the iPhone 5.

According to Arieso, a European company helping optimize networks to meet changing demand, iPhone 5 users consume four times as much data as the iPhone 3G users, and 50 percent more than the iPhone 4S owners. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S III and the HTC Sensation XL rounded out the most voracious devices in Europe...

Cellular version of new iPad and iPad mini to go on sale in China on January 18

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Back in December, Apple rolled out the Wi-Fi only versions of both the 4th generation iPad and new iPad mini in China. The Cellular version was missing from the launch, however, and there was no word when it would land.

Then last week, Tim Cook confirmed that carrier-flavored versions of the two tablets would be available in the country in late January. And today, Apple delivers on that promise, announcing an official arrival date of January 18...

Write your own jailbreak tweaks on the fly with upcoming ‘Flex’ utility

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

John Coates, the developer behind the MissionBoard Pro jailbreak tweak, has posted a thread on Reddit about an upcoming jailbreak app called Flex. Flex is an exciting new app that allows users to make and share their own runtime patches, not just to iOS itself but to any app you have installed.

What can you do with Flex? From the looks of it, you can modify just about any app's behavior. In the preview screenshots, there are patches for unlimited skips in Pandora, removing the lock screen's camera grabber, nixing the ratings warning when downloading from the the App Store, and even cheating in games like Tiny Tower. Think of it as a Game Genie for iOS...

“Tap to unlock” from the lock screen instead of sliding with ‘tapUnlock’

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

tapUnlock is a new jailbreak tweak from the makers of MapsOpener and BrightVol. The tweak replaces the 'slide to unlock' bar with a 'tap to unlock' button. Personally I'm a fan of the classic slider, as it's part of how Apple introduced a new paradigm of capacitive screens to the mass market, and it's something I will always associate with the iPhone.

Unfortunately 'slide to unlock' isn't for everybody. If you know someone who has difficulty using the 'slide to unlock' gesture on the lock screen, maybe because of arthritis or another fine motor control difficulty, you'll get good mileage out of tapUnlock. Alternatively, you might just want it to have something different...

Macworld takes a look at Apple’s pricing strategy

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Marco Tabini of Macworld takes an interesting look today at how Apple manages to keep the prices on its products, and subsequently its profits, so much higher than other manufacturers. It turns out, the company uses a unique, two-pronged pricing strategy.

The first part of it has to do with wholesale pricing. Apple, unlike most hardware-makers, doesn't offer resellers much of a discount on products like the iPad or iMac, even if they're buying in bulk. This doesn't give retailers much incentive to carry the products, but with the kind of foot traffic they produce, it doesn't really have to...