Will the Next iPhone Be the Best Yet?
The iPhone is a world beater. Even its harshest detractors, the kind of people who would never buy an iPhone for reasons of brand loyalty (or simply out of a dislike of Apple) cannot deny the style and ease of use which have become the device’s hallmark. Unfortunately for the Californian giant, though, consumers seem to be falling out of love with the iconic phone. Don’t take that the wrong way – Apple still possesses a commanding share of the market, and there are plenty of users who will always buy an iPhone, no matter what. However, that doesn’t mean that some consumers aren’t jumping ship thanks to the disappointing iPhone 4S and 5. Apple will need to do something special to regain their place as the dominating phone manufacturer.
The Rivals
Anyone who keeps track of technology-related news will be aware of the Samsung Galaxy S3, which Apple have been doing their best to suppress on a global scale with arguably frivolous patent lawsuits – my favourite is the one where they (successfully) argued that they had a patent preventing anyone else from making a phone with curved edges. Regardless of the legal antics, which are taking place in various countries, the S3 is readily available in the UK and is widely regarded as the best phone around. It boasts a larger-than-average battery, superbly clear and large OLED Gorilla Glass screen (wave goodbye to your iPhone screen repair costs) and powerful processor. The combination of large screen and powerful hardware make it a capable gaming device, but the real appeal of the Samsung over the iPhone lies in its software. Google’s Android is notably ‘freer’ than Apple’s iOS. For example, anyone may write an Android app and put it on Google Play. Apple’s App Store, by comparison, is strictly policed, with the apps available being controlled by the company. Windows Phone is improving, and could be a competitor shortly, but as of now is not really on the same level as Android and iOS.
The Features We Want to See
If the next iPhone is to be the best yet and reclaim its crown as the king of smartphones, improvements will need to be made in several areas. Firstly, the screen needs to be improved. Apple is using the latest iteration of the LCD, which was created 20 years ago and has served us well. However, it cannot be compared to the OLED screen manufactured by Samsung. Improving the next iPhone’s screen could increase the quality of visuals and help to cut down on thickness and weight, which are issues. The other area which could use some improvement is storage. Whilst rivals have expandable memory, giving users the chance to store up to 128GB on a removable card, Apple limits its users to 16, 32 or 64GB of fixed storage depending on the model. By boosting the top memory capacity to 128GB – which is completely achievable – Apple would make the iPhone a more viable multimedia platform.
Peter Smith is a blogger, IT technician and general technology geek.
Since the early days of iOS 5 I have been a big fan of the iOS reminders app, especially the ability to sync between my iPad, MacBooks and web for non Apple devices. Because of this, I maintained several separate lists for various things. However, recently (I believe it was one of the iOS 5 minor releases) Apple removed the ‘page markers’ at the bottom of the reminders screen, and seemingly the ability to swipe between lists. This morning, I noticed – purely by accident – that the ability to switch between lists by swiping had not gone anywhere.. It’s just had it field of ‘swipe’ narrowed to just the lists title. Swiping either left or right on the list title switches between the lists. This is a god send if, like me you have many lists!
Do you use something else for your reminders? The AppStore is flooding with App’s each with their own features and pit falls. Let me know in the comments below which one you use.
Apple have recently released an update to their latest revision in the iOS software range. The update takes iOS 6 to revision 1, and fixes a hand full of bugs along the way.
- Fixes a bug that prevents iPhone 5 from installing software updates wirelessly over the air
- Fixes a bug where horizontal lines may be displayed across the keyboard
- Fixes an issue that could cause camera flash to not go off
- Improves reliability of iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th generation) when connected to encrypted WPA2 Wi-Fi networks
- Resolves an issue that prevents iPhone from using the cellular network in some instances
- Consolidated the Use Cellular Data switch for iTunes Match
- Fixes a Passcode Lock bug which sometimes allowed access to Passbook pass details from lock screen
- Fixes a bug affecting Exchange meetings
For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
The update is available for most Apple mobile devices, you can download it either using the built in software update menu, or via iTunes now.
Since my very first iOS device I suffered the same annoyances as countless other newly found apple owners. That was the forced acceptance of applications that served a specific purpose to a specific audience, such as the stocks and shares or newsstand etc.
Now obviously getting rid of these apps could be done by jail breaking the device and simply removing them or hiding them etc. however jailbreaking isn’t really for the faint hearted and cam pose issues if your not tech savvy.
Which is where this little trick comes in. Thanks to this site its now possible to hide those annoying ‘stock’ apps from your iOS devices launch pad. Granted this is only a temporary fix, as a reboot will bring them back. However, Im pretty sure I could count how many times I reboot in a month on one hand, so its a small price to pay having to reapply the ‘fix’.
All you need to do is visit this site select the app you want to hide from the list
then follow the instructions. Works perfectly every time 
if you have a different method you use or find the one above useful, let me know using the comments section below!
For months now I’ve used MobileRSS to satisfy my need for RSS feed reading.. Well, I used it to pull in the contents of my Google Reader account anyway. However, of late its been suffering with a very annoying issue in that it would automatically start googling for code errors in the pages you were reading, making it almost impossible to use. So I decided it was time for a fresh start, I hit the AppStore and almost immediately stumbled upon Feedly.
Unlike MobileRSS Feedly serves its RSS content in a kind of newspaper\magazine layout. Making it far more appealing to the eye. Not only that but it pulls in all of the photo’s from the articles too. This makes skimming the news much easier to do when your pushed for time.
Feedly is available from the AppStore for both iPhone and iPad, and packs in some pretty cool features.
Feedly is a fine example of how HTML5 can be used to create a clean and minimalistic interface. Feedly works best (in my opinion) if you’ve already got a Google Reader account. However it does have some built in news feeds to wet your appetite.
Feedly also features the expected sharing abilities, allowing for quick and easy posting to Facebook and Twitter. It’s also got its own web client built in to make reading the RSS feeds full post a breeze.
All in all I really love Feedly and its features, and I’m yet to find anything which comes close to it. What are you waiting for? Get it downloaded!
