28/09/2012

Tim Cook does the unthinkable! Suggests using other maps!

   

   The last few weeks since the release of iOS6 have been interesting to say the least. There's been various issues reported by iOS users especially with regard to dropping wifi signal. The other huge complaint has been about Apple's new Maps. The company chose to drop Google maps after Google refused to offer turn-by-turn navigation for Apple's products.

    The new solution has been nowhere near on par with the rest of Apple's historically excellent offerings. Today Tim Cook posted a message on Apple's website apologising to users for the poor performance of the new maps and he even suggested using alternative solutions until the team has had a chance to get them up to scratch! The full comment is just below:

"To our customers,

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.

While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard."

Tim Cook

Apple’s CEO

 In other news:

• Microsoft has been complaining that there are not enough highly-skilled workers coming into the technology world. The company publicly announced that they have had a lack of suitably qualified  applicants and the situation is reaching the point of being a “genuine crisis.” Microsoft has announced they are going to lobby the US government in an attempt to boost applicant numbers in a bit to fill some of the thousands of vacant technology and engineering jobs within the company.
  
  The company also wants to boost the number of visas available for foreign workers with technology skills to fill its vacant positions. On top of this the company is happy to pledge millions of dollars to help get school children into the field! 

• HP has reiterated to their investors that they are going to 'aggressively tackle' the smartphone and tablet market in the near future!

• Sony have invested $640m in Olympus. The deal involves buying 11% of Olympus with the primary aim to acquire new 4K medical camera technology.

And finally, is this picture below the upcoming HTC One X+ for O2? It may very well be and it might be coming without a charger to save on costs too!

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25/09/2012

The news in brief:

• RIM has announced that carrier testing for their BB10 devices will begin in approximately A months time. So the company is on for a 2013 release! The company has also announced that they will have native support for Twitter, Facebook, Four square and many more social platforms from launch!

• Google has announced that any work on a version of iOS6 maps until they get a special invite from Apple to do the work. Eric Schmidt said it was up to Apple whether the iPhone 5 and other devices would get Google maps. Schmidt said that Google would "welcome" Apple's cooperation but said that "we have not done anything yet" to prepare a new version, so looks like you'll have to make do with iOS maps guys.

• Apple A6 teardown reveals the chip has a dual-core CPU and a tri-core GPU configuration.

• Apple have also announced today that scratches on their aluminium backed iPhone 5 are 'normal' and should be expected. Are you going to let Apple sell this excuse to you as a sign of uniqueness?

• Today some of Samsung's Galaxy series of phones, particularly ones which had been 'Touchwiz-ed' were found to be vulnerable to a simply html code which would automatically reset the phone. The issue currently affects the Galaxy Beam, S Advance, Galaxy Ace, and Galaxy S II. However, the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus, which runs stock Android, is not susceptible. Neither is Samsung's latest beast, the Galaxy S3. “The USSD code issue in the SGS3 is patched, and has been for some time” TeamAndIRC said. “Current i747 [AT&T Galaxy S III] and i9300 [European Galaxy S III] firmware are not vulnerable.”
  
  Samsung has yet to comment on 'dialer-gate' but good things come to those who wait! We'll keep you updated.

• The Samsung Galaxy Note II is launching in the UK on October 1st.

And finally, here's a lovely little video from RIM explaining why they love their devs! It's kinda catchy!

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21/09/2012

iPhone 5 'teething problems'?

   The latest iPhone has again been greeted with huge queues in London and Tokyo today, as well as having over 2 million people pre-order and have the device shipped to their homes today, but is all as rosey as it seems? Now the title might be slightly misleading here, but those of you who have got an iPhone 5 and or iOS6 on your device will have noticed a couple of issues.

   The first of which will impact anyone with a device that will be running iOS6! You may have noticed that since the update you've lost Google Maps and it's been replace with Apple's own solution, aptly named, iOS Maps. Now, we know this is a new solution, but some of the things we've been hearing throughout the day have been nothing short of ridiculous. Lets start with Stratford-Upon-Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born, well that's not even in the maps at the moment. 

   To the right you can see for yourself how Apple's Maps see Colchester, in Essex. 

   But, there's an almost endless list of bloopers; for example Luton is apparently soon to become a popular tourist destination, having been relocated to the coast!

   Someone on the London Underground is obviously a tech fan and put this little announcement up at Hackney Wick station. (Right).

   

  

 Apple, in recent times have also been huge proponents of uniqueness and creating your own designs. But, it seems they are dismissing their own advise today after iOS6 featured one of the world's most famous clock faces, which appears to have been lifted almost straight from Switzerland. The clock itself is so important because it was originally designed by Hans Hilfiker and is described as an icon for the Swiss railway and Switzerland. The clock design is trademarked and copyrighted so Apple may well find themselves in some hot water for this slightly hippocritical blunder. The two designs are just below, in a nice side by side comparison and to quote Apple it does seem like this is a 'slavish copy' of the frequently licensed design?

 The final issue only affects the iPhone 5 and it's not so much of an issue as a feature. Basically your new 8mp camera can only take 4mp stills in low-light conditions. The reason for this is because Apple has boosted low light performance, they've had to implement 'quad-pixel oversampling' to make the pictures clearer and just better. So it's a fair trade and many of you will be a lot happier with the new pictures than the old ones.

ZTE announce the Blade III!

   Today ZTE have released details of another successor in their budget line of Blade smartphones. This time around everything gets slightly updated, but there's nothing mind blowing! We'll have to wait and see what price this phone comes in at before we jump to any conclusions though!

   The full specs include:

   

• 4 inch WVGA (800×480) 262K TFT Capacitive Touch Screen
• Weight: 130 gram
• Size: 123 mm x 63.5 mm x 10mm
• 1GHz Qualcomm MSM 7227 A processor
• Android 4.0
• Memory: ROM 4 GB, ca 2.5GB accessible to the user, RAM 512 MB
• Supports Micro SD memory card up to 32 GB
• 5.0 MP AF camera
• HD-ljud, Dual Mic
• Mobile standards: HSDPA (7.2Mbps) /UMTS/ GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Audio standards: MP3, AAC, AAC+, midi, wav, AMR-NB
• Dolby, DLNA
• Video standards: MPEG4, H.263, H.264
• Wireless communications standards: Bluetooth™ 2.1, A2DP, GPS, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Battery capacity: Li-ion1600 mAh
• FOTA (Firmware Over-the-Air) – funktion som används för att på ett smidigt sätt uppgradera smartphones
• FM radio

In other news:

• Jelly Bean has arrived for Verizon's version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus!!!

• Both Samsung and HTC have confirmed that their flagships, the Galaxy S3 and the One X respectively, will be getting Jelly Bean updates in October!

• Nokia, has been rather scathing of Apple's new Maps today. It's not surprising given that Nokia has a very capable mapping platform which they've built up themselves!

• The US Senate today accused Microsoft of skipping out about $6.5billion worth of taxes. We'll let you know how this story progresses!

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Apple, the next iPhone and the future.

   Some things happen once a year; Christmas, Easter, your birthday, your anniversary or your family holiday! In the same category is Apple's iPhone release! (Obviously it's importance equals the previous bunch!).

Wouldn't you love it to look like this?

   Every year since the iPhone's inception this one event has generated huge intrigue, excitement and some degree absurdity; it's a moment everyone reports on and everyone reads. Apple have managed to create a level of hype around this annual release that the IDC reported the company's sales have slumped recently as consumers hold their cash for the next version of the iPhone to land!

   But, what does Apple's iPhone need to be to maintain their dominance and hold the position of the highest selling single handset?

   Before we tackle that it's worth remembering that Apple makes and sells millions of devices at premium price points and it's this premium that means they cannot afford to get complacent! The iPhone 4S was widely viewed as a disappointment; on the surface the device didn't change, the internals changed slightly. Some viewed it as Apple putting in minimum effort, others viewed it as a genius stroke and asked why change something that is 'exceptional' already? Apple can't afford for the next device to be average, it needs to blow people away again.

Who needs to be wow-ed?

   You may ask why? Yes Apple will always have that core of people who buy anything Apple produces, the fanboys, if you will. But, Apple has competent challengers like never before. There are lots of people out there who have had their heads to Samsung's high end devices and the wonders of Android. I'm sitting in a room now with, 5 Samsung phones, a HTC and a dumbphone. The Samsung's sales to us have included 2 Galaxy S3's and some lower-end Android powered phones.

"It's very hard to justify buying an iPhone 4S over a Galaxy S3, unless you're very heavily invested in iOS."

   We are the people Apple needs to win back with larger, more appealing devices because at the moment it's very hard to justify buying an iPhone 4S over a Galaxy S3, unless you're very heavily invested in iOS. Apple must reverse this to ensure their dominance. The next iPhone needs to wow people in a way the 4S doesn't when faced with the competition.

Apple releases the iPhone at a challenging time of year!

   It's also worth remembering that Apple's releases are effectively half a year behind HTC, Samsung, LG and their crop of Android power houses. HTC and LG tend to release their phones in late January/early February, while Samsung has their Galaxy S range announcements in May. These guys have a whole half a year to offer up superior phones before Apple can come back with something just as good. Apple should try to best these competitors with their September release instead of playing catch up to the ones that their competitors just release! So please bare in mind that next year will usher in quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro's as standard, 1080p screen as standard, so the iPhone will have some serious competition within 5 months and the new 'set' of Nexus' within a couple of months of the release!

Will patents affect anything?

   There's not just pressure from other companies devices, Apple as a whole company needs to be wary of patent lawsuits too. If the company decides to go on an offensive and get hoards of devices banned from sale for various reasons they will become 'the bad guy' and consumers will start to punish them. But, this is something Apple should have the foresight to both predict and avoid. This is pretty much the only way Apple can go wrong with the next iPhone!

   So what would TheTechFella like to see from Apple's 'new iPhone'. Well if I had my way I would have a lot more than we're expecting.

What I want!

Which would you go for?

• I would love to see Apple step up to a 4.3" screen, this is almost the perfect size for ease of handling and giving you ample size to read everything you need to on your phone. 
• On top of this I would love to see a good processor in this one, maybe the A5X or even a slightly more updated version of this chipset!
• On the storage front there has to be a minimum of 16GB's of storage and an SD card would be a dream come true, but it'll probably remain as just that, a dream.
• A metal chassis would be good, but anything that will make iPhone's less likely to smash than the current crop is!
• A metal chassis doesn't have to be dull and understated either! What about a range of colours like the iPod's have?!

This is something like what Apple will release!

What we'll probably get!

• A 4" Retina display.
• Metal chassis, no glass in sight.
• An A5x chipset, the same one that's in the new iPad.
• A new charging/docking connector.

   As a final word I'd just like to mention that whatever Apple makes it'll sell by the bucket load because it's a premium, high quality, well made, well supported and all round great device. Apple is now what Nokia used to be; the leader, the innovator and the top dog. But, the question is 'will Apple be able to cement their position as we head into 2013 and the next wave of superphones.

   There's probably tonnes I've missed and there's probably things you'll disagree with in this post, let me know what you think in the comments!

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25/06/2012

RIM planning to separate and sell off Blackberry?

    There's been some interesting news today with regard to RIM and the future of their ailing Blackberry smartphones. The UK newspaper, The Mail on Sunday, has suggested that RIM is considering splitting up the BlackBerry business and selling off the handset manufacturing arm. The sources have claimed both Amazon and Facebook are potential suitors. Although, details of any possible deals are very near and far between, and the newspaper offered no sources in its report; RIM is also said to be weighing the possibility of using the messaging division to act as a standalone business, if that would boost performance.

   This would be a very interesting progression if this did happen and the buck doesn't stop with Facebook and Amazon rumours. Microsoft have also announced their own brand tablet just last week, so it is possible they want their own hardware department too, although they have categorically denied any plans for making their own Windows Phone for the moment.

   If there's any progression on this news then you'll be the first to know!

RIM's BB10 Plans!

   It looks like RIM have stolen the news today, with the second bit of news being that the company plans two of devices.

    The news has been sourced by N4BB and they claim RIM is readying the full-touch BlackBerry L-Series, complete with a 768 x 1280 display AND the BlackBerry N-Series, which will have a QWERTY keyboard and a 720 x 720 display. So good high resolutions on both counts here.

   The L-Series, which you may  previously have heard of under its codename of “London”, is very similar to the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device we saw earlier in the year.If the specs are to be believed the device measures 55mm wide and has a super good 356ppi screen.

   The N-Series was codenamed “Nevada” and is said to be 52-53mm wide, with a square screen with a 330ppi resolution, which is 6 pixels per inch less than an iPhone. The first model in this particular series is rumoured to use an OLED panel, but future devices might opt for LCD instead, something which would bring down the price noticably.

   If you can't wait for these new Blackberry's, then you could reportedly expect to get the L-Series as soon as September 2012. The N-Series, however, with that physical keyboard will have to wait until Q1 2013 at the earliest.

In other news.

• iOS 6 maps will have Yelp check-in built into it!
• Microsoft were asked directly whether they had plans to release their own brand Windows Phone, but for the moment the reply from Greg Sullivan, the senior marketing manager for Windows Phone, said, "No, we do not."
• AT&T's Galaxy S2 has finally got its Android 4.0!
• Two members of LulzSec have today pleaded guilty to hacking in a hope of reducing their jail time.
• Microsoft has suggested that they decided to built their own Windows 8 tablet because of a reluctance of OEM's to make devices for them!
• Latest iPhone prototypes are reported to be featuring NFC, something Apple will need to feature to catch up with Google's Android Operating System and to match Microsoft's plans for Windows Phone 8.
• The Galaxy S3 is projected to hit 10million sales at some point in July! Less than 2 months after it went on sale!
• Virgin Media have decided to best Three and T-Mobiles One and Full Monty plans with a ridiculously cheap deal which offers truly unlimited internet access from £21 ($33) per month. The new 'Virgin Media Premiere plan' also includes unlimited landline calls, unlimited text messages and 2,500 anytime minutes to mobile networks. But as always with Virgin you will have to be a current Virgin Media customer already to get that bargain price.
• And finally, Google TV will be coming to the UK in the very near future!

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