Apple iOS 5 review

At long last, iOS 5 is finally here, two days before the launch of the iPhone 4S.

(Related: We've heard that a number of users have had problems installing the update this afternoon. Get the latest news on install issues in this post)

Though iOS 5 is not as drastic of an upgrade as we saw with iOS 4 in June 2010, it does offer some much-needed and exciting enhancements for iOS users. A few are quiet and long overdue and others will seriously change how you use your Apple handset.

On that note, perhaps the biggest of all is the addition of over-the-air updates, which obviate the need to tether your iPhone to a computer for syncing. But there's a lot more under the hood with this upgrade, and we think users should be excited to plug in their iDevice one last time. iMessage also adds a new way to keep in touch and a way to circumvent your carrier's monthly allotment of messages. 

A few improvements simply make the user experience easier, like Twitter integration in the major Apple apps, basic image-editing tools for the camera, and a Notification system paired with reminders that keep you informed with a glance at your Home screen. Smaller upgrades abound, of course, some of which we've listed here. We haven't found all the "Easter eggs," though, so as you find other changes, let us know in the comments. 

We've documented many of the major changes here, but we tried to limit our coverage to the big tweaks that will affect users most. Apple says there are more than 200 new tweaks for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, and we'll be covering many more of the minor changes with features and How To posts in the coming weeks.

Available for free, iOS 5 will be compatible with the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, both versions of the iPad, and the third- and fourth-generation models of the iPod Touch. Keep in mind that the quality of iOS 5 may vary by device. When Apple released iOS 4 last year, many iPhone 3G users complained of degraded device performance after they downloaded the update (one group even filed a lawsuit). Apple mostly fixed the issues with the release of iOS 4.2, but we'll be taking a close look as to how iOS 5 fares on the 3GS

Notifications
Instead of pop-up menus that interrupt your work, a new Notification Center will combine messages, missed calls, app updates, a stock ticker, and the current weather in a single place. You can access it by swiping your finger downward from the top of the screen, and notifications will appear on the lock screen as well. You then can jump directly to the related feature for each notification and delete items by tapping the small X next to each line.

Though not exactly original--the pull-down menu has long been a hallmark feature of Android--the ability to see all notifications in one place in iOS 5 is certainly welcome. Since the first iPhone's debut more than four years ago, the iOS notification system has remained largely unchanged so we were long overdue for an upgrade. 

While simple, in the pre-iOS 5 world, the current application running is unusable until you dismiss the message. Even worse, several messages in a row quickly become annoying. We think iOS users will appreciate this small, but time-saving change. Check back later this week to see how these notification features compare with Android. 

Newsstand
This app will bring together magazine subscriptions in a central place. The concept is similar to iBooks, even down to an icon that looks like the periodicals shelf at your local library. As you subscribe to a publication through a new channel in the App Store, new issues are delivered in the background, eliminating the need to manually grab them when they publish.

Newstand's success on the iPhone depends largely on how much reading you do on the smaller device, and how much digital content you purchased through Apple, but it's a great way to have content you like delivered to you. iPad users will probably benefit most here--with the added screen real estate--and reading magazines on your iPad will now be easier than ever. Worth noting is that Apple's done something interesting with this app, letting it expand into a user's home screen, just like a folder of applications. The company doesn't let third-party apps do this. All of the Newsstand features will become available at launch. We will add to this portion of the review when we learn more. 

Twitter
Thankfully, users now will be able to post photos to the social networking service without leaving the image gallery or camera application. It's a nice change, given that it will end the need to take a photo, switch to the iPhone Twitter app, and then post the photo. You'll be able to add a location, sync Twitter with your contacts list, and tweet directly from YouTube, Safari, and Maps.

When you send your first tweet from any of the designated apps, you can enter your Twitter info or create a new account. You'll also have the option to download the free Twitter client from within the sign-in screen--probably part of the deal Apple set up with Twitter to get integration into iOS 5. While there are third-party apps that might be a better choice as your Twitter client (iOS 5 Twitter integration does not include browsing Twitter), we think users will appreciate the ability to quickly send a tweet. 

Safari
The mobile version of Apple's Web browser now has the Reader option that was announced at the 2010 WWDC. Rather than having to deal with complicated layouts of various Web sites, the reader streamlines multipage articles in a RSS-like view while stripping out ads, but leaving photos. You also can e-mail the entire text of a Safari page to a contact (under iOS 4, you could send only a link). 

The Reader option is fantastic for reading strangely formatted Web pages, giving you a clear and iOS optimized layout for reading articles. We think people will be especially happy to finally get away from reading Web sites meant for a desktop computer, when there is no mobile option available. Our only problem with the Reader is that it may strip out too much--we often want to see comments on an article, but the Reader deems them unnecessary.

In other Safari news, tabbed browsing is now available on the iPad and you can add a Web page to a Reading List list for future perusal on any iOS device. The latter feature keeps a story on your reading list until you have time to read it, and it can be synced between multiple Safari devices. Be sure to check out our post exploring iOS 5 on the iPad from Donald Bell.

Reminders
This handy addition lets you store multiple to-do lists with dates for each event; you can categorize reminders by GPS location. So, for example, if you have a reminder of "Call home when I leave work," the app will use GPS to note when you're on the move and send the reminder via push notification. Reminders can be shared between devices and sync with iCal on the Mac with CalDAV, and on Windows with MS Exchange. The app has its own sleek-looking scrollable calendar as well, so you can browse or add new tasks and reminders for future dates.

Sure enough, the iPhone reminded us once we got about a half block away from the building. You also can have it remind you to do something when you arrive at a location, like "Call Mom when I get home." These will both be extremely useful for those of us who don't remember all the details.

Browsing through your reminders is easy with a starting page where you can quickly track and search for reminders using a search field. You also have the option to create tasks for more-open-ended reminders that don't need to be done by a specific time. We think Apple did an admirable job with this app, but we think many of the plethora of to-do apps at the iTunes App Store offer more options. For simple reminders and tasks, however, the Reminders app will probably be enough for most users.

Camera
iOS 5 adds several requested features to the camera app, making it much more like a point-and-shoot camera. You get a shortcut on the lock screen that will launch the camera immediately, even bypassing the lock code. A simple double-tap of the Home button brings up both the basic music controls (as before) and the camera icon in the lower right. You then can use the volume control to snap a photo. The picture is saved to your camera roll, but for security (having not used your access code) you'll only be able to delete the shot (keeping unwanted users from browsing your iPhone photos). Inside the camera you'll get grid lines, pinch to zoom (in addition to a slider bar at the bottom of the screen), autofocus, and the ability to change the exposure.

After taking photos, you can edit your shots with crop, rotate, red-eye reduction, and a single-tap color correction option. The cropping features let you crop your images with a resizable box, or you can constrain the aspect ratio to keep a standard size. Rotate options let you spin an image in 90-degree increments so you won't have to worry about sideways photos. Red-eye reduction is a simple process that has you select the red-eye tool, then tap the red eyes of your subject for instantaneous and impressive results. The single-tap color correction tool balances your colors and, in our tests, did indeed make the image look better. Though we welcome these additions, Apple is way too late to the photo-editing party, as this functionality has existed on basic phones for years. Also, while we like the basic editing features, we doubt it will mean the demise of third-party apps like Photoshop Express.

Mail
The iOS mail app now has rich text formatting, better indent control, flagging of messages, and the ability to drag addresses between To, CC, and BCC lines. Also, you now can search within the body of a message instead of just in the From, To, and subject lines.

Mail for iOS has needed many of these features for a long time, so it's good that we finally have them. Flagging e-mails as important will certainly help the business crowd. The selection tool (when you double-tap a word and drag selection anchors) are a still a little awkward to use--especially for large blocks of text, and it's important to note that you'll need to select text to apply any rich text formatting (bold, italics, or underline options once selected). Still these are needed steps forward for the mail app, and users will appreciate the changes.

One thing on our wish list for a future iOS release is for Mail to get Safari's Reader feature. With iOS 5 we still stumbled upon the occasional e-mail with its own special formatting that the app didn't adjust to make eyeball-friendly on the smaller screen. Considering how much e-mail reading people do on their iOS devices, this would be a welcome addition.

PC Free and iCloud
Arguably the most notable change, PC Free will bring over-the-air software updates and device activations. So as on Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry OS 5 devices, you'll no longer have to plug your device into a computer or even own a computer at all. The updates will serve only the changes, so they'll be shorter, and you'll be able to sync, back up, and restore your device using the new iCloud features. You'll also find new features within apps, like wirelessly editing photos, managing e-mail folders, and creating and deleting calenders. 

To sync your iOS device to iTunes on your computer, you need only be on the same Wi-Fi network and your device needs to be charging (plugged into a charger). You can then go to Settings > General on your iPhone to select iTunes Wi-Fi Sync. From there you can select Sync Now on your iPhone and your photos, music, and calendars will be backed up in iTunes.

While not pretty or particularly novel (especially with so many other smartphones offering the same features), over-the-air updates might be the most important of all for iOS in this update. We've heard many stories of users complaining about sync times, and not having your phone tethered to your computer for long periods will be appreciated by all. We'll add more details about iCloud as we use explore it further.

Game Center
Additions for gamers in iOS 5 include the addition of profile photos, the ability to compare achievement points, friends of friends lists, recommended friends and games, support for turn-based games, and a way to buy games directly from Game Center.

We like the added personal touch of adding a photograph to our profile in Game Center, but we think people should have more fun options for page customization (it is "Game" Center, after all). Game recommendations (based on your current library) seem pretty solid, but we did find a few games in the list we had previously deleted. The ability to buy games from within Game Center makes it a bit more of a destination, but it still seems like the service will still be a behind-the-scenes social connector as it was in iOS 4. 

iMessage
Apple takes a shot at BlackBerry with this instant messaging app that will work across all iOS 5 devices. As with BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), you'll be able to exchange unlimited text messages, photos, and videos with your friends, family, and colleagues. Also, your messages won't cost you anything and they won't count against the monthly allotment of messages from your wireless carrier.

You'll also get group messaging, an indicator to see if someone is typing to you, delivery and read receipts, secure encryption, and conversation syncing that is pushed to multiple devices. iMessage will work on 3G and Wi-Fi networks.

The updates to the iPhone messaging system are welcome changes, with some of the new features mimicking what third-party paid chat apps in the iTunes App Store already do. We're a little disappointed that the location and contact sharing features don't come straight from iMessage (you need to share them from the Map app or your contacts) as found in third-party apps. Still, the ability to send that data to a friend is an improvement. For example, to send a contact, you'll need to go to your home screen, open your contacts, select a person, choose the Share Contact button, then choose iMessage. It would have been better if we could bring up the contact list straight from iMessage. We will be comparing these features more in depth to BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) later this week.

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Little iPhone, big lenses

While I don't understand why you'd want to do it, other than because you can (and a desire to be able to say in your Flickr stream that you did), you can now attach Canon and Nikon lenses to your iPhone. Photojojo, a source of photo-accessory awesomeness, grants your wish with the $190 iPhone SLR Mount. 

It's an idea that's easy to mock, especially given Photojojo's suggested photo of it with a huge Canon lens attached, but it might not be quite so laughable with a pancake prime or Lensbaby. Or if it were a mount for a smaller Micro Four Thirds lens. But Photojojo's got a lot of cheaper, more size-compatible add-on lenses for your iPhone, like this iPhone Telephoto lens. Even better, if you want that kind of creative flexibility, use a came

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Drawings show big changes for iPhone 5

 

The site "This is my next" had this rendering done, based on 

information the site claims to have obtained of the next iPhone.

                                                       (Credit: This is my next)

New renderings of what the next iPhone iteration could look like have surfaced on the site This is my next, and they indicate a major overhaul. Multiple sites claim to have confirmed that the iPhone 5 will not be a simple update of the last generation, but a substantial redesign, complete with a new tapered shape to the case.

Related link
• iPhone 5's 20 most-wanted features

The reports also say the home button will be enlarged, rather than scrapped--which had been another rumor--and that the front of the phone will be almost all screen, lending credence to previous rumors that Apple was working with special rounded glass for this generation. TIMN also speculates that the phone could be able to go global with both GSM and CDMA capability. The site had its renderings done based on information it claims to have obtained from multiple sources. 

This latest rumor contradicts earlier reports that the next iPhone would be little changed from the current model.

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Report: Next iPhone not coming until October?

Those who were expecting Apple to ship a follow-up to the iPhone 4 this summer may be in for a longer wait than usual. 

A new report from Japanese Mac blog Macotakra says Apple is behind its usual schedule of ordering parts that go into the manufacturing process for the device. That change in pace could result in Apple shipping out a phone a few months later than the June time frame for the previous two models, and July for the iPhone 3G. 

AppleInsider, which picked up on the report this morning, notes that the later timing would result in the next iPhone missing Apple's fiscal 2011, which concludes on September 24 this year. 

Along with the timing news, Macotakra's report, which is based on its sources in China, notes that Apple has still not committed to changing the materials used on the back of the iPhone from glass to metal. Rumors of such a change had first cropped up in March, with a follow-up report a few weeks later by 9to5Mac that said Apple was indeed testing out prototypes of future iPhone designs with metal backs. 

That move had originally been said to help set the device apart from the iPhone 4 since there were many other design similarities, as well as cut down on shattering incidents for dropped phones. 

If the rumor proves to be true, it would likely be unwelcome news to those who had been banking on upgrading their phones this summer. But with expectations that Apple now has to juggle both GSM and CDMA versions of the device, possibly implement a near-field communications chip (and the infrastructure that goes with it), as well as cook up the next major release of iOS, there are plenty of moving parts that can push back that time frame.

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Developers plan for iPad 2 graphics boost

Though the iPad 2 doesn't hit store shelves the end of this week, developers are already planning to give their games and applications a boost with the extra power. 

The iPad 2 sports a dual-core processor and graphical performance Apple says is about nine times as powerful as the first-generation iPad. This is likely to have the biggest impact on things like installing and switching between applications, but it will also impact 3D games, where the system will now be able to push a higher number of polygons and pixels around on the screen, as well as allowing 3D game engines to do some new tricks. 

A number of developers TechAce talked to following last week's iPad 2 announcement, said they were planning to create games and application features specifically for the new hardware, with some holding off on a release until seeing what Apple had in store with its sequel. One of those is Firemint, the makers of hit 2D game Flight Control, as well as the top-selling Real Racing series. The day the new hardware was announcement, the company said that it had been expected a beefed up version of the iPad and had shifted development efforts of its Real Racing sequel just in case. 

"While we were not aware of the specs for iPad 2 before the keynote [by Apple CEO Steve Jobs], we made some educated guesses about where we thought the hardware might head," the company said in a blog post. "So for many months now we have been developing a much more graphically intensive version of Real Racing 2 HD to take advantage of the anticipated performance improvements." 

The result is a game that Firemint says is "significantly enhanced beyond what could work on existing devices." Firemint also said that it's taking advantage of the new gyroscope sensor, which first appeared in the iPhone 4, then later the iPod Touch to further tune the game's steering. 

"All these attributes combined with our enhancements to Real Racing 2 HD will create the most precise and intuitive car racing experience on any device. The 1080p HDMI output also opens up some great possibilities," the company said. 

Besides Firemint, Venan Arcade--the makers of the Space Miner series--told TechAce that it too planned to add some iPad 2-specific filters for extra graphical flourishes in the upcoming sequel to Space Miner: Spare Ore Bust, and anticipated seeing a similar boost in Apple's next iPhone. Another developer, who asked to go unnamed, told us that the newer hardware would enable them to "rethink" the cartography in its GPS application with better 3D effects, as well as a higher degree of accuracy to user orientation with the inclusion of the gyroscope. 

Under the hood
But it's not just the developers, it's the tools they're building their games on top of. One of those is Unity, the 3D game engine that powers a number of iOS games, as well as games on Android and consoles. 

Speaking to TechAce last week, Unity co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Nicholas Francis said his company plans to make changes to the engine to enable it to do new things on the second-generation hardware and that the speed bump was welcomed. 

"It's really nice Apple put in a faster GPU because the iPad had a very large screen, but the same GPU as the iPhone 3GS. So the iPad had a lot more pixels to pull, but developers had a lot less horsepower to pull per pixel," he said. "Unity already takes advantage of multiple cores within a system. So we'll need to go in and really fine tune and really optimize it to run fantastic on the iPad." 

Francis said that the graphics boost means iOS developers will be able to bring over a handful of additional effects available on PC and console gaming, and that they'll be able to do it with the company's tool. 

"Unity's always been really extensible. You use the same shaders on the iPad as you do for the PlayStation 3, so we have to sit down and say 'OK, how do we really do we really tweak it and bend it to make sure all our users have all those resources?'" 

Those effects could include shafts of light coming from between tree branches and through windows, as well as real-time shadows, giving games and landscape rendering applications more realism. "Essentially it means that a lot of the stuff that was developed for consoles will now run on the iPad," Francis said. 

One of the other big players that's come into Apple's corner within just the past year has been Epic Games, the makers of the Unreal Engine. While Unreal can be found in a large number of PC games, it didn't show up in iOS games in earnest until Epic Citadel, a technology demo of the Unreal Engine for iOS shown off at the unveiling of the iPhone 4. 

This was later followed up by Infinity Blade, which the company released at the end of last year and has gone on to become one of the top grossing games on the App Store and the primary example game in Apple's iPad 2 marketing materials. 

Like Unity, Unreal is an engine developers use to power their 3D games. In the process of bringing it to the iOS platform, Epic Games had to make a number of concessions in its graphics processing. At the Game Developers Conference around this time last year, a company spokesperson, explaining how Epic had squeezed it down into the iPhone and other mobile devices, said that having an extra processing core on the iPhone would be good, and that "four would be great." 

In an e-mail to  last week, vice president of Epic Games Mark Rein said that "Unreal Engine 3 is fully capable of taking advantage of the extra power of iPad 2" and that "UE3 developers can already put this extra power to use and make even more amazing apps and games for iPad 2." 

A few days earlier, Rein had told blog VentureBeat that new hardware improvements mimic what's gone on in the PC gaming space. 

"You can see Unreal Engine 3, what happens as we get more power, you can take a PC and put a much more powerful graphics card in, and turn all the dials up in your game to get more detail, more textures, more shaders--things like that. Clearly those are the kinds of opportunities here," Rein said. "More CPU means potentially more physics and more enemies on the screen, a wider view of an environment. It's just really fantastic." 

Left behind
As we've seen with the move from the first batch of iOS hardware to the next, there are the occasional titles that really shine on the newer devices and will only run on them. However, the vast majority of games continue to aim as broad as possible in terms of hardware requirements. 

For developers, one solution to ensure that has been to offer toggles that can scale back on the effects, or that detect which generation of the hardware a user is on, and turn certain shaders on or off. Others--though not many--have gone with a segregated approach, and offered titles that went with specific hardware type.

There is a risk, of course, depending on how aggressive Apple gets about phasing out older iOS devices from getting software features, as it began with iOS 3. The iPhone and first-generation iPod Touch were later left out of the update process completely in the move to iOS 4, and now the iPhone 3G faces the same problem with the upcoming 4.3 software update at the end of this week.

Why is this important? Some games and applications begin to take advantage of the APIs and features within these software updates, which has left some with earlier devices unable to run applications that are targeted at newer hardware. Since the iPad continues to be relatively new to this process compared with the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as having a higher price point, it's unclear how its support cycle will compare.

These concerns may sit heavy with consumers, though ultimately it comes down to Apple and its approach to positioning the iOS brand as something that is all inclusive. At least if it wants to keep knocking competitors like Google for being fragmented. Those more than 350,000 apps are not something the company wants to have users worry about splitting up in their minds into groups of "will run" and "won't run," even though it offers a not-so-subtle push in the direction of a hardware upgrade with apps like the new iMovie, which will only run on the newer iPad.

One thing that shouldn't have first-generation iPad owners too scared about being left behind is that developers rely on the largest audience possible to achieve good sales. There are more than 15 million first-generation iPads in the hands of users and that number is likely to creep up now that the older models have gone on sale.

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Report: Next iPhone might be cheaper, but not Smaller

Is the next iPhone going to be smaller? Bigger? Or maybe cheaper? 

"Cheaper" is the latest in a series of confusing and seemingly contradictory rumors about the nature of the next iPhone Apple has in store. Today the New York Times chimed in to say that contrary to a previous report in The Wall Street Journal, the next iPhone is not going to be smaller, but Apple is working on ways to make it cheaper and more accessible for buyers. 

Apple is focused on making the iPhone attractive to a larger audience, according to the report. That includes offering a phone more easily controlled by voice commands for those who have no interest in or can't use a virtual keyboard. 

As for how the company is considering bringing down the cost of the phone, it wouldn't be by downsizing the screen. Rather, using cheaper internal components, less memory, or a lower-quality camera are options Apple is considering, according to the Times source who has apparently worked on several iPhone prototypes. 

Another source says it wouldn't make sense to make a smaller iPhone (we agree) because of how it would affect developers who make their apps formatted to a particular screen size. A "senior Apple executive" also tells the Times that Apple isn't interested in having a lineup of multiple models of iPhones. 

It doesn't sound like a cheaper iPhone is a sure thing yet, just something Apple is thinking about. One thing's for sure: the next iPhone isn't expected until this summer. So anticipate many more months of rumors to come.

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Report: Smaller iPhone 'intended' for Summer Release

After Bloomberg last week reported that Apple was working on a smaller, cheaper iPhone, the Wall Street Journal has added some more details to the rumors, suggesting the new, smaller iPhone could be available as soon as this summer. 

According to the report, a person who saw a prototype of the new iPhone said the "device was significantly lighter than the iPhone 4 and had an edge-to-edge screen that could be manipulated by touch, as well as a virtual keyboard and voice-based navigation." The source added that the new line of iPhones along with a revamped MobileMe "are intended for release this summer, though those plans could change." 

As previously reported, the new iPhone would be about half the size of the iPhone 4 and be available to carriers for half the price of the current model, potentially allowing them to subsidize its entire cost, making it a free phone with a two-year contract (that would obviously help Apple compete with new, cheaper Android smartphones). 

The new model--the Journal says one of its codenames is the N97, which ironically is a Nokia model number--would offer the same functionality as the current iPhone and not be a stripped-down model. However, the report offered no hint as to what screen the new phone would have or what chips would power it. That said, Bloomberg reported that the smaller iPhone would likely use components of the current-generation iPhone to lower costs. 

The Journal's source also said that Apple, "also plans to upgrade the iPhone 4," which isn't news. However, the choice of words is interesting because it suggests the next iPhone might be more of an "upgrade," not a substantially redesigned phone. In other words, we could be looking at an iPhone 4GS instead of an iPhone 5. 

Either way, we should officially know in June what Apple's iPhone line looks like. But expect plenty of rumors between now and then.

More: Apple mulls turning MobileMe into film, music hub

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Apple Overhauling iPhone Notification System?

To cap off a week chock-full of Apple-related rumors, we now have this: is Apple about to acquire a company in the process of giving its iOS notifications system a major makeover?

Apple blog Cult of Mac says it's hearing exactly that from a source, who is not named. The company Apple is allegedly buying isn't confirmed in the report, but is said to be "small" and currently has an application available for sale in the iOS App Store. 

Now that would describe about a thousand companies. But there aren't that many that do slick notification apps. Cult of Mac has zeroed in on App Remix, the company that makes the app called Boxcar. 

Boxcar pools all of your social media feeds and delivers your notifications from each into one app. (App Remix's CEO apparently had "no comment" on Cult of Mac's query as to whether Apple plans on making the company an offer.) 

Apple's own notification system isn't regarded as the most stellar implementation. The original iPhone actually shipped without any real push notification system for third-party apps. It took Apple three iterations of the iPhone's software before it found a system it liked. But the system employed in Palm's original Pre smartphone featuring WebOS is still roundly praised as the best in the business. Hewlett-Packard, of course, owns WebOS now and recently introduced the software on several new phones and a tablet. 

The man who invented the WebOS notification system, Rich Dellinger, actually quit Palm just after the HP acquisition last year to return to his former employer, Apple. The rumor mill heated up then that iOS' notifications were in for a big change, but nothing more has come of that--at least not yet. Apple updates its iOS software on a yearly basis, usually in June, and there's a preview event usually around March to see what will be in the next version, in this case iOS 5. It's possible we could see a new push notification process included in the next big software update for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

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Google Shopper App Hits the iPhone

  (Credit: Google)

iPhone users can now rely on Google for a helping hand the next time they go shopping.

The search giant yesterday launched a version of its free Google Shopper app for the iPhone. The app, which has been available for Android users the past year, is essentially a mobile search engine for products, letting you compare prices and read reviews before you open your wallet.

The app offers several ways to search for products. You can type the name of the item in the search field. You can snap a photo of a book, CD, DVD, or video game or of a product's barcode. Or you can speak the name of the product.

In return, Google Shopper reveals a list of stores, both online and offline, that sell your chosen item along with their respective prices.

Tapping on a particular store drills down further where you can read product details, check out customer reviews, and bounce between a list of local retailers and online merchants who offer the item. Drilling down even further to certain retailers, such as Best Buy, the app can check on inventory at your local stores to tell you where you can find the item.

The app keeps a history list so you can always return to any past search. You can also mark your favorite products with a gold star, putting them into their own easily accessible category. Finally, you can share the details of any product you find with other people via Facebook, Twitter, or Google Reader, the company's online RSS feeder.

Google's description says the app requires iOS 4.0 and is compatible only with the iPhone and the fourth generation iPod Touch.

I tried Google Shopper with a variety of products, using text, voice, and photos, and the app performed nicely. It did have trouble at times picking up product barcodes through my iPod Touch 4G, but no problem zeroing in on the front cover of CDs, books, and similar items. Once it found the product, it typically showed me a lengthy list of retail outlets where I could buy it, even tapping into auctions from eBay.

Google Shopper is part of a growing list of similar mobile apps that deliver prices, names of retailers, and other details on a wide array of products.

Amazon released a Price Check app in November, which like Google Shopper, lets you find products by text, voice, or scanning the front of a product or its barcode. Another app called Scandit helps you track down products by scanning their barcodes. eBay also lets you search for products by scanning their barcodes, both through its own iPhone app and RedLaser, an app it acquired last year.

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iPhone 5 rumours: what you need to know

iPhone 5 (or the iPhone 5G, as some are calling it) rumours are flying thick and fast already.

Will there be a rush release to erase memories of the iPhone 4's antenna problems?

Will the 5th generation iPhone deliver ultra-fast mobile internet? Will it ever end up on Verizon in the US?

Let's raid the iPhone 5 rumour fridge to find the tomatoes of truth amid the stinky stilton of baseless speculation.

The iPhone 5 isn't the Verizon iPhone, and vice versa

The Verizon iPhone rumour has been around forever, and one day it'll come true - but it won't be the iPhone 5. The Wall Street Journal said a Verizon iPhone was nearly ready back in October, and we'd take that one seriously: the WSJ is the paper Apple tends to share its secrets with.

It says that "the [Verizon] phone would resemble the iPhone 4 currently sold by AT&T, but would be based on an alternative wireless technology used by Verizon, these people said." Which people? "People familiar with the matter".

The iPhone 5 will have a different form factor to the iPhone 4

WSJ: "Separately, Apple is also developing a new iPhone model, said people briefed on the phone. One person familiar said the fifth-generation iPhone would be a different form factor than those that are currently available… it was unclear how soon that version would be available to Verizon or other carriers."

This has since been backed up by reports from Engadget we reported on 17 January 2011, which state the design will be a 'total rethink'.

The iPhone 5 specs will be evolutionary, not revolutionary

According to the Chinese Economic Daily News (via AppleInsider), with the exception of Qualcomm chipsets - which would replace the current Infineon chipsets in the iPhone 4 - Apple's sticking with the same suppliers for the 2011 iPhone 5G components.

We'd expect the basics of the iPhone 5 specs to get a bump - more memory, faster processor, more storage - but DVICE quotes a single insider who claims to have handled Verizon prototypes.

The specs? A new antenna, 1.2GHz processor and a larger screen: 3.7" instead of 3.5". The iPhone 5 may also be made from a new kind of alloy, or maybe meat.

However, we're also hearing word of a multi-core design, in keeping with the rest of the mobile world, as Apple looks to improve both battery life and performance.

The iPhone 5 will also get a massive graphical boost as it moves to a dual-core GPU - this could herald true 1080p output from the new device, according to our news story on 18 January.

The iPhone 5 specs may include a digital wallet

There's been some speculation that Apple might include Near Field Communication (NFC) technology in the iPhone 5G, turning it into a kind of credit/debit card. However, as Techeye.net notes, "Apple has looked into NFC before" so this might not be imminent.

PAY PHONE: Apple patents show how a near field communication-equipped iPhone 5 could act as a kind of credit card

The iPhone 5 release date will be in the summer…

Apple's established a rhythm with iPhone releases, with new models appearing in late June or early July each year. It's a safe bet that the iPhone 5 release date will also be late June or early July.

As Beatweek magazine points out, Apple's A-Team can't be everywhere at once; by staggering the releases of the iPad 2 and the iPhone 5, they get to work their magic on both devices.

…or maybe the iPhone 5 release date will be earlier

iLounge said its source reckoned Apple would push the iPhone 5 release date forwards - possibly to January 2011 - because of the iPhone 4 antenna problems, although iLounge itself said the claim was "hard to believe". The source could be confusing the Verizon iPhone and the iPhone 5.

The usual July release date was mentioned by Engadget's source too in January 2011 - meaning the standard release cycle looks set to continue.

The iPhone 5 specs may include LTE support

At least one analyst thinks the iPhone 5 will support LTE, super-fast mobile broadband, in the US. That would make the iPhone 5G a 4G phone, which won't be confusing at all. LTE is certainly coming - AT&T plans to roll out its LTE service in 2011 - but an LTE iPhone has been rumoured for a while. USA Today floated the idea of an LTE iPhone on Verizon last year.

The iPhone 5 price won't change

If the iPhone 5 is an evolutionary step like the move from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 3GS then we'd expect the price to stay more or less the same, although in the UK higher VAT rates may well mean a higher price tag.

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Apple iPad2, The Next generation iPad

 

Apple about to launch iPad2 "The Next generation iPad". iPad2 would have more advanced features that may faced competition with Samsung Galaxy Tab , Motorola Xoom

BlackBerry PlayBook 4G etc.

These iPad 2 features not presented in earlier iPad.

iPad lover waiting for the new Apple's iPad 2 and are too eager to know whether Apple will be launching an LTE 4G compatible Verizon iPad 2.

Apple launch iPad 2 as early as possible, because various new tablets as Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy is about to hit the market in 2011 as shown in CES 2011.

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Google Voice finally on iPhone 3Gs

Google's end run around Apple's App Store is complete: Google Voice is ready as a Web application.

Owners of the iPhone and Palm's WebOS devices can now get in on the mobile Google Voice experience with the Web app, which will run in the browsers of iPhones with the 3.0 software installed and all Palm WebOS devices, said Vincent Paquet, senior product manager at Google. The application should be available for current users of Google Voice--which is still an invitation-only service--as of Tuesday at m.google.com/voice.

Google Voice allows incoming calls to ring mobile phones, office phones, or desk phones depending on how the user sets their Google Voice profile. It also treats voice mail like e-mail, transcribing voice messages into an in-box where they can be read and deleted.

Last year Google submitted a native version of Google Voice to Apple in hopes of getting the software onto the iPhone. As most will recall, Apple and Google then entered into a semantic war of words over whether Apple rejected the application (Google's version) or merely continues to study it (Apple's version). Either way, the FCC got involved and Google Voice remains in App Store limbo, Paquet said.

"We haven't had any updates regarding our native app for the iPhone, unfortunately," Paquet said. However, now that the Web app is ready iPhone users will be able to get essentially the same experience that the native app would have delivered, although the user interface will be slightly different because the application will be running in the browser. Paquet declined to comment on whether Google plans to continue the App Store approval process with the native version.

The Web application is another sign of Google's strong desire to encourage people to think of Web-based applications as a ready alternative to native applications. The company has spoken about its plans for Web development at length, and even plans to develop a lightweight operating system based on its Chrome browser as a sort of proof-of-concept for the Web development mindset.

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Verizon iPhone 4 Launch Date and Pricing Revealed

Everybody seems to be waiting for the launch date and pricing of Verizon iPhone and finally at special press conference in New York City, Verizon has confirmed that it will be carrying the iPhone 4 early next month.

Apple COO Tim Cook joined Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam on stage to announce the new partnership, saying, “We’re incredibly pleased to give Verizon’s customers the choice we’ve been waiting for.”

Click to Enlarge Image!

The Verizon iPhone will be a specially designed iPhone 4 that connects to a CDMA network. It sports the same features as the non-CDMA iPhone, including FaceTime, the Retina Display, a 5-megapixel camera, HD video and the A4 chip.

Calling this “just the beginning of a relationship between Apple and Verizon,” Cook said that he is “very optimistic” about the future.

The Verizon iPhone 4 will be available on February 10. Existing Verizon Wireless customers can pre-order beginning February 3.

The 16GB iPhone 4 will be $199.99 with a two year activation and data package. The 32GB version will cost $299.99, the same cost offered by AT&T. Verizon Wireless customers can go to this page to sign-up for more information.

One already apparent difference between Verizon and AT&T, Verizon customers will be able to use their phone as a mobile hotspot.

Subscribe to our RSS Feed for more information on this news and stay tuned!.

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Get Amazon Deals Into Your iPhone - A Free iPhone App

Wants to get updates about latest Amazon Deals? Now you can get all Amazon Deals direct into your iPhone, Amazon has finally launched "Amazon Deals", a free iPhone App that provides you an overview of the new and latest daily deals from Amazon.

From this iPhone App, you can monitor deals and even act on them, purchasing items from Amazon directly from your iPhone.

Features include browsing through active deals or upcoming Lightning Deals, setting alarms for individual deals and receiving category-specific notifications (with support for Apple’s push notifications). You can also share deals via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook or SMS.

Amazon seems to be getting serious about offering users a great mobile experience. It has recently launched Price Check, a price comparison app for the iPhone that allows users to easily compare in-store prices with the prices on Amazon.

You can find this Amazon Deals iPhone Application on iTunes or learn more about it over at www.amazon.com/dealsapp.

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Windows Phone 7 Gets "VoIP"; iPhone "FaceTime" Competitor ?

Microsoft had a solid CES appearance with the announcement of many new key products. But sometimes it’s not what’s said at the main events but inside conversations that can provide a peek into the upcoming products from the company.

At a high profile CES Event, a key WP7 employee delivered, in an off comment fashion, a few tips about where the platform may be headed. One feature that was discussed was that Microsoft is working on a FaceTime type like application for Windows Phone platform.

Now we have confirmed the news that Microsoft is working on a Apple iPhone's "Facetime" competitor, a feature of the platform that allows the user to make video phone calls to other users of the iPhone.

The registry keys "VoIP" and "SIP" are hidden inside the "ControlPanel" portion of the registry, and both seem to be set to be off (by having "0" under their "Enabled" value). It's worth noting that for some reason, these keys are in a portion of the registry that contains other features that are fundamental to the platform, such as theme colors. Right now, we don't have write access to the registry to attempt to turn it on, but hopefully in the near future the homebrew community may allow us to do this.

The VoIP feature has not been revealed before, and it is not certain whether or not this will be used for the "Facetime" like feature, or if it would be available for actual VoIP calling to other Windows Phone 7 users.

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Android Overtakes iPhone in U.S.A

As we told you in our post last year regarding Android overtakes iPhone by 2013, It seems that we were correct that time and now it seems that Android overtakes iPhone in early 2011. 61.5 million people in the US owned smartphones during the three months ending in November 2010, up 10 percent from the preceding three-month period. For the first time, more Americans are using phones running Google's Android operating system than Apple's iPhone, but RIM's BlackBerry is still in first place, according to comScore.

RIM fell from 37.6 percent to 33.5 percent market share of smartphones, Google captured second place among smartphone platforms by moving from 19.6 percent to 26.0 percent of US smartphone subscribers, and Apple slipped to third despite its growth from 24.2 percent to 25.0 percent of the market. Microsoft, in fourth place, fell into single digits from 10.8 percent to 9.0 percent while Palm was still last and further slipped from 4.6 percent to 3.9 percent.

What you have to say about this? Speak in comments!

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