Consumer reports is an American Magazine (and web resource) that has been bringing its readers reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services for nearly 80 years now. So needless to say, their opinions are highly regarded but many.
But I know a few iPhone 5 owners that aren't going to agree with its latest report regarding flagship smartphones. In its February 2013 issue, the magazine ranks Apple's handset as one of the worst high-end devices available on the larger US carriers...
As most of you know, iDB will be at The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week. And though Apple itself won't be there, there will be tons of iOS-flavored products and peripherals worth reading about. Take these new Lightning-compatible audio docks from iHome, for example...
iOS hacker Planetbeing posted on Reddit earlier today about the status of the iPhone 5/iOS 6 untethered jailbreak. While there have been many messages regarding the viability of a jailbreak, the famous iOS hacker insists that it's only a matter of time before a jailbreak is a reality.
In other words, we need to be patient while the guys who have proven themselves time and time again put in work...
Get ready to rumble! Best Buy, a gadget retailer that sells more iPhones than anyone but Apple, is charging the world's biggest retailer Walmart with unfairly pricing the iPhone 5 during holiday.
A number of states' attorney generals are looking into the allegation. Best Buy says it lost $65,000 a day trying to match the $150 price (later cut to $127) Walmart promoted in December.
The electronics retailer charges Walmart didn't have sufficient supplies to fulfill its holiday promotion of the regularly-priced $199 smartphone...
It's a new year, but talk of Apple's need to produce an inexpensive smartphone is back. This time there is a name for the device: the iPhone mini. Friday, an analyst forecast the company could unveil a cheap iPhone in 2014 to combat Samsung's handset lead in the face of the high-end smartphone market "nearing saturation". To break out of its #2 position, Apple must follow Samsung's success of marketing to many different groups of consumers.
That's at least the main line of reasoning by analyst Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics. To date, Apple has only subsidized iPhones that sell with a contract, in addition to the expensive contract-free offering and the somewhat discounted previous versions of the smartphone. Sooner than later, the company will need to recognize the untapped segment of inexpensive prepaid handsets, an area that could boost it beyond its chief rival...
What should we expect to hear from Apple when it announces quarterly earnings later this month? One Wall Street observer Thursday forecasts a huge December quarter of 50 million iPhones and 24 million iPads sold. Although the company could report iPhone sales 86 percent higher than the previous quarter, an aggressive roll-out of the iPhone 5 may prompt Apple to reduce production by mid-year.
According to analyst Rob Cihra of Evercore Partners, the December quarter will reveal 86 percent growth of iPhone sales, compared to the previous three-month period. What's more, the iPad mini will sell ten million of the 24 million Apple tablets moved during the holiday period, up 71 percent over the September quarter...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G_NB97dRoWg
iPhone5mod, the makers of unofficial Lightning docks, cables and adapters, today announced an interesting new accessory that will appeal to gaming and messaging fans who desire a tactile feedback ad physical gameplay controls. The EX Hybrid Game Controller is billed as "the lightest and thinnest keyboard for iPhone ever-made" and consists of two parts.
There's a back case that attaches to the back of your iPhone 5 and a second plate which provides physical gamepad buttons. The accessory connects to your phone via Bluetooth 3.0 wireless technology and each plate adds only 2mm to the overall thickness of your iPhone 5...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLJN_d2sVjk
Talk about ill-timed advertising! Apple's first new television commercial in 2013 which highlights a Do Not Disturb mode on the iPhone 5 has been spotted in the wild. We reported earlier that some folks were irked to wake up this morning to muted alerts for incoming calls and messages despite their iOS Do Not Disturb mode being outside its scheduled time.
I guess Apple's ad agency wasn't keeping tabs on tech news today. The 30-second clip above features tennis celebrity Serena Williams and her sister Venus. The ad can also be found on Apple's official YouTube channel in its high-def glory...
There's still no way to jailbreak the iPhone 5, or other post-A5 devices running iOS 6, and that makes a lot of people sad, us included. But the lack of a jailbreak hasn't totally stifled the flow of creativity, as it's given rise to a bunch of popular "no jailbreak required" hacks and tweaks.
The latest such example is CarrierEditor — an app that runs on OS X that allows you to easily change your iPhone or cellular enabled iPad's carrier logo without being jailbroken.
There are, of course, plenty of ways to alter the carrier logon on a jailbroken device, but if you're like many who have the iPhone 5, or a non-jailbroken iPhone 4S, then CarrierEditor is a great workaround until a jailbreak finally touches down. Take a look inside as we step through the complete process of altering the carrier logo on an iPhone 5...
All of the concerns voiced about the impending leap off the 'fiscal cliff' and its associated increase in capital gains taxes on stock sales have sent Wall Street into a tizzy. The end result: knocking Apple's target share price down to $740. Nearly a dozen analysts have cut their target price for Apple stock amid talk that the iPhone maker has a dodgy future, what with supply questions hanging over the executives at One Infinity Loop. Despite all the rain clouds, the $740 per share target price reduction is about $225 more than Friday's opening on Wall Street...
You love your iPhone 5 and pride yourself with being an environmentally conscious person? How about putting your money where your mouth is by considering this awesome-looking iPhone 5 dock from iSkelter? Handmade entirely from bamboo, one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, it "perfectly compliments your iPhone's minimalistic design features" with a touch of eco-friendliness. As the images attest, the dock will keep your iPhone 5 firmly in place either in portrait or landscape.
As a nice touch, there's even a carving elegantly leading the Lightning cable out, thus reducing incidences of tangled cords. I'm a big fan of Feng Shui and the minimalistic interior design so I'm already thinking how this could enrich my home office setup. I've got more shots and a video for you right past the break...
Some days, you almost wish the Mayan Calendar believers were right and today was the end of the world. Executives at Apple headquarters have likely been popping antacids like Christmas candy as wave after wave of pessimism washes through Wall Street.
Now comes word Apple is destined to be a has-been unless it cranks out an iTV - or cheapo smartphone. The depression-laded missive of the day arrived last Thursday from Toni Sacconaghi, analyst with Bernstein Research. In a note to bewildered investors, he alternated between calling the iPad "an absolute juggernaut" worth $32 billion in annual revenue and forecasting Apple will languish in single-digit growth by 2015...