Apple iPad mini stops by our office, poses for a hands-on video

With the announcement of the iPad mini, Apple will give the already handsomely growing 7-inch tablet market an extra boost. Now that the 7.85-inch slate in our hands, it’s time to take it for a quick spin and see what its deal is.

Some might say out that due to the price there isn’t any deal to be had here. Yet the really beautiful aluminum body of the iPad mini quickly makes you forget about that. The 7.85-inch LCD IPS display at the front packs a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels resulting in a pixel density of 162ppi. It’s a rather modest achievement and will have the Nexus 7 grin, but the vast catalog of tablet-optimized apps that the App Store offers might make you forgive that too.

You won’t be wrong if you view the iPad mini as an enlarged iPhone 5 (or iPod Touch if you will), mainly because of the design of the slate. The big Apple logo at the back is surrounded of aluminum, with the usual array of buttons at their usual places for an iPad.

At the back, the iPad mini sports a 5MP camera, which shoots video at full HD resolution. There’s also a 1.2MP unit at the front for video chatting.

The internals of the iPad mini are well familiar as this is the same chipset powering the iPad 2. Just like its bigger brother, the mini packs Apple’s A5 chip, featuring two Cortex-A9 processor cores. Graphics processing is taken care of the PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU.

Naturally, the iPad mini is running iOS 6 out of the box and comes with Siri to help you with your daily endeavors. As usual, we’ve prepared a quick unboxing and user interface video of the new iPad mini. Check it out below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Verizon welcomes Windows Phone back into the family with the Nokia Lumia 822

Verizon has welcomed Windows Phone back into the family with the announcement of the Nokia Lumia 822, an exclusive Windows Phone 8 device set to be released soon.

Verizon has announced the Nokia Lumia 822, a Windows Phone 8 handset exclusive to the network. The news comes a few hours ahead of Microsoft’s big Windows Phone 8 event, which will be held in San Francisco, where the last pieces of information regarding the new OS will be shared.

In the meantime, lets look at the Lumia 822. The screen measures 4.3-inches and hides behind a sheet of protective Gorilla Glass, and although no resolution is mentioned in the press release, it’s likely to be the same as the GSM Lumia 820, which stands at 480 x 800 pixels.

An 8-megapixel camera sits on the rear of the curvy device, complete with Carl Zeiss lens and 1080p video recording, while a 1.2-megapixel video call lens can be found above the screen around the front.

Nokia makes a point to emphasize all the applications it bundles with its Lumia phones, including Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, City Lens and the recently launched Nokia Music. This music streaming service has been out in Europe for a while, and is particularly interesting due to there being no subscription charge and no streamed advertising either.

Other features include NFC, Bluetooth and a choice of black, white or an online exclusive grey color scheme, plus the chance to swap the rear cover for one that enables wireless charging.

The Lumia 822 will connect to Verizon’s 4G LTE network, but aside from all this there is a lack of information on the device’s finer technical points. That won’t stop us hazarding a guess though, as the 822 will probably share the same dual-core, 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory as the Lumia 820.

All this is identical to the Lumia 810 too, which is exclusive to T-Mobile USA, while the Lumia 820 can only be found with AT&T. As they share the same spec sheet, the 810, 822 and 820 should really be considered network-exclusive designs, as the differences are all cosmetic.

The Lumia 822 is the first Windows Phone to hit Verizon since last year, when it carried the affordable Lumia 710, and confirms rumors dating back to August of the network’s plans to once again carry handsets running Microsoft’s mobile operating system. Verizon and Nokia have so far committed only to the Lumia 822’s “upcoming availability,” so we’d expect to hear more following Microsoft’s final big reveal later today.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Vic Gundotra shares photos taken with the Samsung Nexus 10, 2560×1536 pixel display confirmed in a specs leak

After its quick start guide leaked yesterday, the Samsung Nexus 10 is certainly just a few days away from its official announcement now. However this doesn’t mean that leaks will suddenly stop and we’ll just sit and wait quietly. This time it’s Google’s Senior Vice President of Engineering who spilled the beans by sharing a couple of photos taken with the slate.

The photo you see above is reported at a resolution of 2048×1536 (3.1MP) and I have to say it doesn’t look too bad.

Furthermore, we got to learn the Samsung Nexus 10 specs thanks to the GLBenchmark website. Before we get to them, take a look at the second photo Gundotra has taken.

Now about those specs. Happily, the rumors of a high-resolution display are confirmed — the benchmark reports a 10.1-inch display sporting 2560×1536 pixel resolution.

The Nexus 10 is powered by the Exynos 5 chipset, which sports a dual-core Cortex-A15 CPU clocked at 1.7GHz, a Mali-T604 GPU and 2GB of RAM. Internal storage is reported to be 32GB, with a more affordable 16GB model likely to be available, too.

Even though the leaked photos had 3.1MP resolution, the camera has a 5MP sensor. There’s a 2MP front-facing camera as well. More interestingly, the slate is running Android 4.2, which is all but confirmed, considering all the leaks recently.

Overall, if this new info turns out correct (we’ll know for sure on Monday), the Samsung Nexus 10 would be the most exciting Android tablet so far.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Tim Cook tells Apple’s story so far – in numbers

Apple CEO Tim Cook rolled out some big product-related numbers prior to the announcement of new and refreshed hardware at Tuesday's special event in San Jose, California.

An Apple event wouldn’t be an Apple event without its CEO first trotting out some product-related stats.

At the Californian Theatre in San Francisco on Tuesday morning, prior to the unveiling of the iPad Mini, as well as news of updates to other Apple products, Tim Cook took to the stage to let everyone know what everyone already knew – that things are going pretty well for the Cupertino-based tech titan.

Cook kicked off proceedings by confirming that, indeed, the iPhone 5 is the fastest-selling iPhone among its six iterations in its five-year history, selling 5 million units in its first weekend of sales in September.

Last month also saw the introduction of a new iPod Touch and Nano, selling alongside the Shuffle and Classic models. Cook said the company has sold 3 million iPods since its last special event on September 12.

As for iOS 6, also released in September, 200 million mobile devices are now running the new operating system, with Cook describing it as the “fastest upgrade rate in history.”

Apple’s iCloud service, which allows users to store their music and other content on the company’s servers and access it from any of their Apple machines or devices, appears to be garnering interest, with 125 million documents now stored remotely using the service.

Cook said 300 billion messages have been sent using iMessage, or 28,000 per second. “Maybe even more now,” the Apple boss quipped just prior to the unveiling of the iPad Mini.

Game Center, which makes it easy for gamers to share scores and compete against each other, has seen the creation of 160 million accounts, while 70 million images have been shared using the new shared photo streams feature launched with iOS just a month ago.

Turning to the app store, Cook said there are now 700,000 apps on sale in the store, including 275,000 for the iPad. “These [iPad apps] are not stretched out smartphone apps,” Cook was keen to point out, adding, “These are apps that have been custom designed to take advantage of iPad’s big beautiful canvas.” The app store has now seen 35 billion downloads since it opened for business back in 2008, with a total of $6.5 billion paid to developers in that time.

As for iBooks, Cook said over 1.5 million books are now available through its online store, with downloads exceeding the 400 million mark.

Leading up to the launch of the smaller iPad, the Apple boss said that two weeks ago the company sold its 100 millionth iPad – not bad going for a product that’s been on the market less than three years.

According to Apple, iPad currently accounts for 91 percent of web traffic share involving tablets, while 94 percent of companies in the Fortune 500 are now testing or deploying the iPad.

It’s going to be interesting to see what stats the company pulls up about the iPad Mini at its next special event. Are more superlatives on the way?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

What’s in store? Google to hold Android event in New York on October 29

Another day, another 'special event' announcement from a tech giant. This time it's Google, with an event planned for Monday in New York. Details unknown.

Not content with allowing Apple and Microsoft to hog the limelight in the coming days – with the former expected to unveil the iPad Mini and the latter launching the Surface tablet – Google has just piped up to let everyone know it’ll be holding an event of its own at Basketball City in New York at 10am on Monday October 29. October 29? Microsoft happens to be holding a Windows Phone 8 event on that day. Is this significant?

Google’s invite reads “the playground is open”, although, as is often the case with tech companies and their special events, there’s no concrete information about what’ll be happening.

It might involve the covers coming off the next-generation Nexus handset; it could be about a new 32GB version of the Nexus 7 tablet; it may be something to do with a new cut-price Nexus tablet, or a high-end 10.1-inch device; it might be about updates to its Android operating system; it could have something to do with the Google Play app store; it may be about to open a chain of children’s playgrounds across the country (unlikely). It’s possible it’ll be about all or none of these things. Or simply some.

If you’d like to watch the event live, Google will be streaming it here. And of course, we’ll be bringing you the news as it happens.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Lumia 820 and 920 wireless charging accessories pricing revealed

Since the next generation Lumia announcement lots of people have been wondering on the pricing of those shiny wireless charging accessories. Well, the good news is that it has now been reveals, but the bad news is that you probably won’t like it.

Clove UK is already taking pre-orders for the wireless charging shell, plate, stand and pillow. The accessories will release alongside the Lumia 820 and 920, whenever the two smartphones launch launch.

Starting off with the Lumia 820 wireless charging shell – that’s a new battery cover that will enable the wireless charging functionality on your smartphone. The cover costs £20 (€25), but you still need to buy the plate, stand or pillow to get wireless charging working. The Lumia 920 back is already equipped to work with the wireless charging accessories, so you won’t have to buy a new shell for it.

The wireless charging plate costs £55 or €68. The stand goes for £70 or €87 and finally the Fatboy pillow can be yours for £80 or €100.

In case you are interested in the official Nokia JBL Playup portable wireless speaker, you can pre-order it for £145 (€180).

Are you ready to pay such prices for those accessories have just suddently lost interest in the wireless charging functionality of the Lumia duo?

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

YouTube mulls possibility of paywalled content channels

Would you pay to watch content on YouTube? That hypothetical question may move into a practical realm soon, with the announcement that YouTube is considering allowing its content partners to install paywalls for their channels.

Since its creation, YouTube has been available to everyone – Well, aside from private videos, of course – for the grand price of zero dollars and zero cents. But that might be about to change, if an offhand comment from the global head of content at the Google-owned company carries the weight it seems to. Are you ready for pay-to-view YouTube channels?

Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s global head of content, was speaking at “The War for The Living Room” panel at this year’s Abu Dhabi Media Summit today when he suggested that the company is considering a proposal to allow some of its original content channel partners to install a paywall to monetize their content on the site. “The majority [of channels] will be ad-supported,” he said, but “there will be some that will be paid.” Expanding on the subject when talking to the Hollywood Reporter after his panel appearance, he said that YouTube has no set plans to allow partners to make their channels pay-subscription only at this point, and that discussions are at such an early stage that he wouldn’t want to speculate on potential subscription fees or a launch date for the subscription model.

The question of how to successfully monetize YouTube – a site that, more than most, relies upon a model where users can stumble upon content by accident, and freely share it without fear of being penalized for doing so – has been one that the company has wrestled with for some time. Currently, the site offers different levels of advertising for different videos, with Kyncl saying that more popular videos, or specifically branded content, can be offered at higher ad rates; the explanation he offered was that a video of a dog on a skateboard would normally sell ad time at $2 per thousand advertisers, but if the video appeared on Tony Hawk’s official channel, it could be offered at anything up to $20 per thousand viewers.

Currently, Kyncl says, YouTube is looking to “take the friction out” of the ad process, looking at ways to maximize revenue for the site and its content partners. The current model sees YouTube selling ads on the channels and keeping all revenue until its original investment has been repaid via ad dollars. When that goal is reached, he says, all advertising revenue will be split evenly between YouTube and the channel partner in question.

It remains to be seen whether or not installing paywalls would harm the new content partner channels in enough of a way that it would result in lowered revenue, at least in the short term. After all, even if viewership drops, is the resultant loss in ad income really going to be high enough that it’ll mean the site and partner earn less considering the remaining viewership will be paying to view…?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Facebook hits 1 billion active monthly users, celebrates with a video ad

Facebook celebrates 1 billion active monthly users today. The announcement came from the social network’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s company blog. He also used the occasion to post some more impressive stats.

Since the launch of the Likes feature on Facebook in 2009, there have been more than 1.13 trillion likes. Over 140.3 billion friend connections in total were made and 219 billion photos uploaded.

The mind-blowing numbers continue with 17 billion location-tagged posts and 62.6 million songs played about 22 billion times. Wow.

The average user age is around 22 with top five countries being Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and The U.S.

Mark Zuckerbeg also posted a personal note, where he expresses his gratitude to Facebook users.

This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month. If you’re reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you. Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life. I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too.

Today’s achievement was celebrated with Facebook’s first ever advertisement. Check it out below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Apple iPhone 5 display compared to Nokia Lumia 920, has its “Most advanced” title taken away

Back at the Apple iPhone 5 announcement event, Phil Schiller claimed that the new iOS flagship has the world’s most advanced display yet. It appears, however, that this might not be entirely true, as one Nokia fan is keen to point out. He did a spec-by-spec comparison of the iPhone 5 and the Lumia 920 and the latest Apple smartphone didn’t really manage to impress there.

The PureMotion HD+ screen on the Nokia Lumia 920 packs some impressive technology and it’s hard to argue with the facts listed in the following slides.

This is not the first case of the Apple’s iPhone 5 announcement event writing checks that the smartphone cannot cash, either. You might remember the slimmest smartphone claim, which also turned out to be inaccurate.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

FaceTime over cellular confirmed by Verizon for iPhone 5

As you may or may not recall from the recent iPhone 5 announcement from Apple, the new iPhone was claimed to support FaceTime video calling over cellular networks, although it wasn’t clear for which networks.

Verizon has since confirmed that FaceTime on the iPhone 5 will be available to customers on any of their data plans.

This is in contrast to what some other carriers are offering, such as AT&T, who are requiring iPhone 5 users to sign up for a new Mobile Share plan in order to use FaceTime over anything other than WiFi.

Verizon’s announcement, of course comes with the added caveat that data restrictions will apply, depending on the type of data plan you have, so you’ll have to keep an eye on your data cap.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Apple will soon release compatible VGA and HDMI to Lightning cables

Since the new Apple iPhone 5 comes with a brand new connectivity port called Lightning, many users were disappointed their old accessories won’t work.

After the announcement Apple unveiled two adapters – Lightning to 30-pin and Lightning to microUSB. As it turned out, though, the Lighting to 30-pin ridiculously overpriced gadget won’t support TV-out.

That’s the reason why Apple is preparing new Lightning TV-out adapter cables for VGA and HDMI output. They should hit the Apple Stores in the next month or two. Until then the iPhone 5 users are out of luck for TV connections.

I guess all iPhone 5 users will have to buy lots of new accessories – i.e. those with compatible cars, the owners of huge hotels with iPhone docks in each room, etc. The 30-pin might have been big and ugly, but it was at least spread over all iGadgets.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Fujifilm to end production of movie film as digital dominates

As the movie industry further embraces digital technology, Fujifilm has it announced it will soon stop making movie film for shooting and projection.

Perhaps the biggest surprise about Fujifilm’s announcement that from March 2013 it will no longer make film for motion pictures is that it didn’t come earlier. With movie makers and theaters turning increasingly to digital-based products, the Japanese manufacturer said it had no choice but to exit the market.

One of the big players in the business, Fujifilm has been making film for shooting and projection since it was founded in 1934. However, in a statement issued Thursday, the company said a dramatic fall in demand had led to spiraling costs, forcing it to make the decision to end production. It also pointed out that it will continue to make film for still photography.

“Digital cinema camera shooting has been gaining momentum, and digital editing that heavily uses CG composition and VFX processing has now become common in motion picture production,” Fujifilm explained in its statement. It added that the number of movie theaters abandoning film projectors in favor of digital projection has increased significantly in recent years, pushed by the increase in 3D motion pictures.

The company said that instead it intends to focus on other areas of the film industry, providing products and services designed for the digital workflow of movie production and projection.

Digital detractors

While digital-based movie making is undoubtedly gaining ground, there are still a number of high-profile Hollywood directors who don’t want to see celluloid die.

Christopher Nolan, director of blockbusters such as The Dark Knight Rises, which, incidentally, was shot on film, thinks celluloid still produces a better picture, and that the switch to digital production is being made purely to reduce costs.

At the recent Produced By Conference in California, Nolan said going digital risked “devaluing what we do as filmmakers.”

The filmmaker acknowledged that the quality of digital images has improved greatly in recent years, but that it will be some time before it equals that of film.

Nolan added that while he uses digital technology for editing and special effects, he wants to shoot and show his movies on film. He envisages a day when digital will be comparable to film, but insists it’s not there yet.

No doubt Nolan’s eye is better trained than your average movie goer, but I’ve never heard anyone coming out of a theater saying, “The image quality of that movie was terrible. Ah, I see, it was digital.”

Fujifilm is sensibly doing what it believes is best for the future of its company, abandoning a part of its business that no longer makes any money and instead turning to digital products. One wonders how long will it be before the entire movie industry goes digital, pulling the curtain down on celluloid forever.

[Image: K. Jakubowska / Shutterstock]

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Apple iPhone 5 rumors roundup: what came true and what not

Naturally, prior to its announcement, the iPhone 5 was surrounded by hundreds of rumors. Somewhat unexpectedly though, this time round most of them turned out correct and we knew almost all there was to know about the latest Apple flagship, long before Tim Cook took the stage.

The amount of leaks of hardware parts and accessories as well as reports of iPhone 5′s features that turned out to be true was staggering. In fact we knew more about the iPhone 5 than we knew about the iPhone 4 and back then a real unit escaped the R&D center. There were still a few persistent rumors that turned out incorrect, so we thought we might do a quick round up and see if we’d actually miss any of them.

But first thing first – here’s the list of rumors that turned out correct.

Bigger 4″ screen

First off, the screen. An iPhone with a 4-inch screen was rumored ever since the iPhone 4 went official and we started waiting for the 4S. It didn’t happen last year, but the iPhone 5 finally got the hotly anticipated bump in screen size.

The numerous cases and part leaks also confirmed this multiple times so there were few raised eyebrows when Phil Schiller confirmed it on stage. We even knew that the screen resolution will be changed accordingly and the aspect will be changed. Even the fifth row of icons wasn’t a surprise thanks to the iOS 6 emulator.

Smaller dock connector, redesigned earbuds, two-tone body

The smaller dock connector appeared a few dozen times, along with the new-two tone design, all of which we witnessed at yesterday’s event. We even got to learn the new connector’s name and price prior to the press conference, which is hardly ever the case with Apple’s products.

Aluminum and glass combination. That’s what Apple is using for the new iPhone. It’s cool, but not shocking, and once again we have the leaked parts straight from the factory floors where the new iPhone 5 is made, to blame.

So if the design of the iPhone 5 couldn’t be kept under wraps, what was left for the earbuds that come in its package? Yes, they too shared the destiny of the Lightning dock connector and surfaced well in advance, complete with pricing info and name.

iOS 6, nano SIM and LTE

Those three didn’t even need leaks, really. Everybody knew that the iPhone 5 is going to run iOS 6, it was just a matter of making it official.

The same goes for the nano SIM, which the iPhone 5 uses . Apple fought hard for its version of the nano-SIM standard, so from the moment it was approved, we knew the iPhone 5 would utilize it.

Last year, Apple decided to skip on LTE for the iPhone 4S, but leaving it out of the iPhone 5 would be too risky. Not to mention that most of the latest mobile chipsets support native LTE radio – 4G is no longer eating batteries for breakfast.

It’s named the iPhone 5

Up until Apple sent out event invites to the press, it was hotly debated whether the next iPhone will use the iPad naming scheme and just be called the ‘new iPhone’ or stick to its roots and add a “5″. As the invite for the event confirmed, Apple chose to stick with the numbered iPhones.

Now, let’s review some of the rumors that came out false.

NFC

Slowly but surely, more and more Android and Windows Phone devices started featuring NFC capabilities, but Apple decided to skip it with the iPhone 5. Mind you, their Passbook feature for storing loyalty and gift cards as well as boarding passes and tickets is as ready as it’s ever going to be, but maybe it just isn’t the right time for Apple.

Probably, the guys over at Cupertino are leaving the NFC feature for the iPhone 5S. By then, the technology will be more widely spread and Apple will havemore time to attract more partners and enable NFC-sporting iPhones to do more cool things.

T-Mobile partnership

T-Mobile continues to be the only major US carrier that isn’t offering the iPhone. Although the company teased that people should be expecting exciting news in the near future, it turned out the news isn’t related to the iPhone 5. Bummer, really.

Fingerprint scanning Home button

A fingerprint scanning Home button sounds like something taken out of a spy movie, but some rumors suggested it’s a real possibility. No matter the wow-factor it would’ve brought, many people though its highly unlikely for Apple to go this far with security of the iPhone 5.

But who knows, maybe the iPhone 5S will allow you to not only look like James Bond, but actually feel like one as well?

Apple CEO Tim Cook made an announcement couple of months ago that the company is doubling the security around future products to keep leaks away. The first ever product to go under the umbrella of this promise was the iPhone 5, but ironically almost every part of the new iPhone was leaked.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Watch yesterday’s Apple keynote right here

The new iPhone announcement is certainly an exciting industry events. As usual, Apple didn’t allow any live video streaming, so if you want to appreciate the whole demo on stage in its original glamor, please, join in.

I’ve certainly seen better quality clips from past year keynotes, but perhaps it’s just my connection to blame. See for yourselves.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

EDITORIAL: Why did the iPhone 5 skimp on true innovation?

Today’s announcement was one of the most hotly anticipated industry events. I waited and waited, ready to be wowed. But now that it’s over, I have bad taste in my mouth (and it’s not the Chinese I had for dinner).

These few past months I followed the iPhone leaks as closely as possible and during all this time I just hoped there will be more to the new iPhone than they suggested. Well, unfortunately, that was it. Even Samsung made a better job of keeping their Galaxy S III under wraps before it was ready for announcement.

The upgrades are easy to spot. The new iPhone is impressively slim and light and it comes with Apple’s next gen A6 processor, which is up to 2 times faster. The iPhone 5 has a single radio chip supplying GSM, HSDPA, CDMA and LTE communication while going easy on the battery. At 4 inches, the screen is certainly bigger and has a more movie-friendly aspect ratio. I’m not going to get into all the iOS6 specific features since those are coming to the iPhone 4S anyway.

On the negative side, the iPhone 5 screen is only 4 inches big, and not only this, but only height was added. The camera is mostly the same as on the 4S, and LTE connectivity in Europe is still as scarce as water in the Sahara to be really worth it. Finally, the new sleeker connectivity jack renders all previous docking accessories obsolete.

Honestly, I’m already tired of hearing Apple’s stale remarks how the new iPhone or the new iPod was Apple’s best thing so far. What I wanted to see today on stage was pure innovation, something that would again open new doors and make other manufacturers lose their breath in trying to catch up.

Instead, what I got was a predictable phone with unexciting specs; a phone that I would hardly call cutting edge, top-of-the-line, and all those labels that usually go hand in hand with Apple’s latest. After all, the iPhone has always been the most expensive SIM-free smartphone on the market.

Sure, people will probably continue to buy it in millions, since once it’s out, it would be the most sensible buy, if you are after an iPhone. But I still have that bad taste in my mouth. The iPhone 5 failed to meet my expectations. I didn’t have a feature wishlist, except perhaps a seriously bigger screen. But most of all, I expected to be surprised. Well, none of these two things happened. And I wonder, who’s to blame? Is it me, or is it Apple that’s changing into a conservative phone maker, who likes to play it safe like Nokia used to before it became clear it’s not getting them anywhere.

I’m more than sure that somebody in South Korea is having a big party right now. More than anything, it feels like this year’s iPhone is Apple skipping a turn a second year in a row all the while Android and Windows Phone have been seriously upping their game moves.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

iTunes 11 debuts with enhanced iOS compatibility, Facebook features

While the iPhone 5 was the big announcement, Apple's ever-present music store got a sizable redesign as well. Both iOS and application versions of iTunes have new looks coming soon.

While the big news to come from the Apple press conference was the highly anticipated iPhone 5, Apple also snuck in an update to its iTunes music store. After hyping up just how great the product already is, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddie Cue, told the crowd at the Cupertino headquarters that the “number one music store in the world” was going to get better — or at least different.

After realizing that two thirds of all iTunes purchases have come from iOS devices, Apple started with a redesign of the mobile app, according to executives. The new look is more streamlined and consistent throughout the store, from music to books and videos. The screenshots show a banner of featured content at the top of the store, followed by rows of new and popular items below it. The store is promising to yield better search results and improved performance. You’ll also be able to preview products while browsing, a handy feature for anyone that actually likes to try — or listen — before buying. The App Store also got a new layout that prominently features Facebook integration. You will be able to “like” and share your favorite apps through the Store. The iTunes iOS app will be available September 19 along with iOS 6.

While the iTunes app got a nice revamping, the desktop application also got its share of changes. The new iTunes comes with an edge-to-edge design will make the browsing and viewing experience more immersive, as options from your library and the store sprawl across the length of the screen. Clicking on an album cover will cause the album to expand in line, revealing the tracks of the selection. It’s very much a design cue from iOS. A new feature called “In the Store” will show top songs and albums from an artist, allowing you to finish off your discography of your favorite musicians. 

Browsing the new iTunes library by artist will allow for some artist-to-listener sharing. For instance, when you look at Coldplay’s library, you can also see pictures that the band is sharing with their followers. It feels like a feature borrowed from the ill-conceived Ping music network. 

If you’re playing music from a playlist or a full album, the music player will have a drop-down menu called “Up Next” that will show songs that are next in the queue. The pop-out mini player also got a redesign. It’s smaller, sleeker, and has the same handy drop-down feature. The mini player displays a small clip of the album art with the name of the song and artist currently playing. The same area becomes the control panel for when you want to change songs. You can also pull up the search bar, which now provides a live preview of your search term, including album covers.

Movies received an overhaul similar to the music department within iTunes, with the edge-to-edge view of all your video collections. Because iTunes has full iCloud integration, films you were watching on your iOS device can now be continued on your desktop or other computers running iTunes with the iCloud. The iTunes 11 download will be available late October.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

A Nokia VP explains why Lumia 920 lacks a microSD slot

Nokia’s yesterday announcement shook the mobile world for sure, one way or another. The new flagship, Lumia 920, managed both to impress and get involved in a PR sandal.

Then you learn that the Lumia 920’s PureView camera lacks the monstrous censor the 808 PureView has, instead it relies on other kind of magic. And finally, the smartphone lacks memory expansion slot. You probably wonder why that is. After all Windows Phone 8 introduced support for microSD slots.

Well, Kevin Shields, executive vice president at Nokia, explains the decision not to include an SD slot.

“We started with the premise that we wanted an uncompromised physical form…To put an SD card slot in it would have defiled it.”

Well that’s certainly one way to explain it. I’ll leave the conclusions to you.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

DT Daily: Motorola Razr revamp, Amazon event, Internet’s best cat video

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September 6, 2012

• DT Daily Syndication

Motorola debuts its new Razr lineup, Amazon gears up for a big announcement, Voyager 1 nears the edge of our solar system, hackers claim to have stolen Mitt Romney's tax returns, and the Internet finally has an official best-ever cat video.

Related Links:

• Motorola announces new battery-packed Droid RAZR HD, RAZR Maxx HD, and RAZR M
• New Amazon TV ad reveals large-screen Fire tablet and back-lit ‘Paperwhite’ e-reader
• After 35 Years, Voyager Nears Edge Of Solar System
• Feds investigate alleged hacking of Romney’s tax returns
• Henri 2 takes top honors at Internet Cat Video Film Festival

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Amazon’s new KIndles teased in a video ad ahead of today’s announcements

All tech enthusiasts are eagerly waiting for Amazon’s announcement later today, where we should see the next generation of the Kindle ebook readers and the Kindle Fire tablet. It turns out, however, that Amazon already showed these in a video spot, which was aired yesterday.

The commercial obviously shows what I was hoping for – that backlit (or sidelit, whatever) ebook readers are coming strong after Barnes&Noble debuted their illuminated Nook. It also shows that we’ll see a revamp of the Kindle Fire, and quite obviously, a bigger 10-inch version of that too. But enough talking, enjoy the video.

One question remains… Will we see the retail giant announce an Android smartphone as well?

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

CONFIRMED: Samsung Galaxy Camera has Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection

We knew the Samsung Galaxy Camera screen is guarded by the Gorilla Glass since its announcement. But the official press information didn’t say anything on the type of the Corning product used.

That’s why we decided to ask Samsung’s representatives at IFA about the protective layer over the Super Clear LCD screen on the Android-powered camera.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com