Apple releases Product Red charity bumper for iPhone 4 and 4S

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Apple has added a new color to its range of rubber bumper cases for the iPhone 4 and 4S, releasing a scarlet bumper in support of the HIV/AIDS charity initiative Product Red. The new case is now available to purchase from the Apple Store for $29, and joins existing colors including black, white, blue, and green.
With iPhone 5 rumors reaching a fever pitch and Apple expected to unveil its latest device in mid-September, it's something of a surprise to see the company pouring resources into older models. Existing bumpers are unlikely to fit the new iPhone, which rumors suggest will have a taller frame than the the 4 and the 4S.
Still, as MacRumors points out, Apple has participated in the Product Red charity program for a number of years, and currently offers red iPod Nano models and red smart covers for the iPad. With 26 million iPhone sales in Q3 — a figure considered disappointing compared to previous quarters — there are still going to be plenty of 4 and 4S owners looking to protect their beloved devices in the months to come.

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QuicklyChat Brings “Push-To-Talk” Video To Small, Remote Teams

QuicklyChat, a Y Combinator-backed startup participating in the Summer 2012 program, has an interesting take on video conferencing. With its newly launched solution designed for small teams working remotely, QuicklyChat is trying to bring back ad hoc conversations, which are still the most valuable aspect to the in-office work environment. With its “push-to-talk” video chat system, your co-workers can immediately reach you – but only when your status indicator says you’re not busy.
And here’s the key selling point – that status indicator updates automatically based on what you’re currently doing on your computer. In your IDE coding? It’s red. Surfing Reddit? It’s green. Reading email? It’s probably yellow.
“We think video is really the best way to communicate with anybody,” says co-founder James Harvey, “because you get more context than you do with IM. But Skype and things like that are too formal,” he adds. “It’s like having your phone ringing. You wouldn’t want to have your phone ringing every time someone asked you a 10-second question.”
Harvey and co-founders Yuran Lu and Shaung You, all of whom met while at MIT, felt that this system needed two main things to be successful: an automatically adjusting indicator and the elimination of the ring-then-answer connection process.
The system works quite differently than how IM, Skype and other messaging programs have worked in the past. In all those scenarios, users have to configure their own status indicator to reflect whether or not they can be reached or if it’s OK to bother them. It’s really difficult to guess, though, whether that status indicator is accurate. You may remember to go red when you jump on a call, but then forget and leave it red all day. Other times, you may be slammed, but your green light keeps telling people “please ping me!”
With QuicklyChat, which runs as desktop software on either Windows or Mac (Linux is in the works), you no longer have to manually switch your status light indicator from green to red throughout the day. (Hooray!) However, you also no longer have the ability to ignore a video call, either. It just appears.

To be clear, the system does respect your privacy – it doesn’t tell co-workers what you’re doing specifically (e.g. surfing Reddit, reading email) – it only shows them the green/red/yellow indicator. And this can be further customized in the app’s settings. For example, it’s likely that a video editor is working when they’re visiting YouTube,  not watching funny cat videos. Or you might feel that email reading is a “red” not a “yellow.”
Still, such a system takes a little getting used to. With most people, Harvey says that once they get over the initial “this is kind of weird” feeling, they appreciate the benefits. “We had one user say that he realized that this means when he works from home, he actually has to wear a shirt,” Harvey said with a laugh, “but that’s not that much effort to make,” he adds.
Eventually, the plan is to develop QuicklyChat into a freemium service, but for now the company is working on additional features like screen-sharing, for example, and they’re interesting in finding out what other additions users may want included, like file sharing or collaboration, perhaps. Meanwhile, during this public beta period, QuicklyChat is a free download from here.

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iPhones Are On Sale Everywhere, But It’s A Horrible Time To Buy

The iPhone is on sale at multiple retailers. Sprint cut $50 off the price of the 4S while the Verizon and AT&T models are $20 through Target. The aging iPhone 4 is only $50 from Best Buy. Best of all, Apple Stores are reportedly matching these prices.
But it’s a bad time to buy an iPhone. The new one is coming next month. You can wait. Plus, that means the older ones will get an even bigger price cut than what retailers are offering right now.
iPhone sales are slowing thanks to a steady stream of iPhone 5 rumors and leaks. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted this on Apple’s most recent financial conference call. Retailers are likely feeling the heat too and price cuts are an easy way to drum up some sales. But with all signs pointing to a new iPhone launching next month, it’s simply silly to buy an iPhone right now.
Retailers are trying to offload the current stock with as much margin as possible. If Apple follows its past pricing scheme, the iPhone 4S will drop down to $100 and the iPhone 4 will either be $50 or, perhaps, free with a two-year contract.
This isn’t anything new. When new products come out, the price of the old one drops.
However, there are times when you simply cannot wait a month. What if your young son gives your phone a soda bath? If you simply must purchase an iPhone now, AT&T is the best bet right now thanks to its 30 day return policy. Verizon and Sprint only offer a 14-day window. Theoretically, a person could purchase an iPhone 4S now (or anytime in the next month) and then return it for an iPhone 5 next month. But it could be tricky. The retailer would have to have the item in stock to do the exchange and finding an iPhone during its launch week has proven difficult in the past.
Still, the best bet is to skip these sales and just wait until next month. If your current iPhone is borked, just grin and bear it for a month.

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Is the Apple vs. Samsung patent litigation case bad for innovation?

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“Someday, this idea will be worth millions!” (Everett Collection / Shutterstock)

If you’re an avid follower of technology news today, you would be familiar with how Apple and Samsung are battling out their differences in court. Basically, Apple says Samsung stole their design ideas by copying the iPhone and iPad. Meanwhile, Samsung says Apple is using their 3G-related technology patents without permission.
But what does this mean for innovation? Patent experts and industry observers would usually say that the current patent situation in the U.S. may be stifling to innovation. Patent holdings firms would often buy intellectual property in hordes, just waiting for an actual application of these technologies. Then, they earn by charging licensing fees. Either that, or they sue companies that unwittingly use the patented ideas in some form.
These are usually called “patent trolls,” although, of course, companies with a collection of intellectual property would usually beg to differ.
But what if the so-called troll is, itself, manufacturing devices based on their patents? And what if these designs have made their way into the consumer marketplace, resulting in a vast improvement of consumer devices that are otherwise clunky and non-user-friendly?

What about innovation?

Take the smartphone. Before the iPhone gave mass market appeal to the touchscreen, various smartphone platforms were using QWERTY keyboards, resistive touchscreens and clunky desktop-like interfaces. When the iPhone popularized the straightforward, finger-based touch interface, other manufacturers followed suit.
The result is generally good, with millions and millions now enjoying more intuitive touch-based devices in various platforms like iOS, Android and even Windows Phone.
The concept of patents was developed to foster innovation. Inventors are basically given a period during which they have exclusive access to their technologies, or that they could earn from royalties from other entities wanting to make practical applications out of ideas. As patent owners, Apple does have the right to its technologies. Competitors can choose to use this as an opportunity to innovate.
For instance, when Apple laid claim to the slide-to-unlock feature on touchscreen phones, Android customizations worked around it through different unlock methods, like patterns, ring unlocks, swiping motions, and the like. But as Memeburn claims, patent workarounds may also result in ugly hacks if the motivation behind innovating is simply to avoid a lawsuit: “less intuitive software and unattractive hardware designs.” If Apple claims that every beautifully-designed rectangle is their intellectual property, then every other smartphone and tablet out there would be unaesthetically-designed rectangles.

Apple’s legal moves are effective

Some observers like to think about the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit as not just about design and wireless patents. Rather, the discussion has now escalated to what the issue is all about in the first place: Apple vs. Android.
Second quarter 2012 smartphone sales figures show that Samsung has fast overtaken Apple, at 32.6% vs. 16.9% market share. Moreover, Samsung’s year-on-year growth is at 172.8%. Meanwhile, Apple’s growth is at 27.5%. Android likewise dominates the mobile OS market, at 68.1% vs. Apple’s 16.9%.
ReadWriteWeb says that “68″ seems to be the magic number causing Apple to worry right now. Their legal moves have been effective, so far. With temporary injunctions against several devices, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Nexus, and even the HTC One X causing damage to these companies, revenue-wise.

Who wins? Will consumers bear the brunt?

Whichever party wins the patent game, it will be the consumers who will take the brunt. If Samsung is able to prove Apple unlawfully used its 3G patents, Apple would eventually have to pay licensing fees, and the iPhone might end up being more expensive (unless Apple decides to absorb the added expense within their hefty profit margins). If Apple were to win, Samsung’s products would be pulled off the shelves until it finds a way to work around Apple’s designs, thereby reducing consumer choice.
Thomas Jefferson was appointed to be the first head of the U.S. Patent Office in 1790, and said patents had “given a spring to invention beyond my conception.” Prior to that, though, he was against patents, as he worried “abuse of frivolous patents is likely to cause more inconvenience than is countervail by those really useful.”
With patent lawsuits flying across borders, corporations and brands, which side of the patent argument has dominated: frivolously abusive or springily inventive?

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Apple offered to license patents to Samsung in 2010: $30 per smartphone, $40 per tablet

A screen grab from Apple presentation to Samsung claiming the Galaxy S copied the iPhone, and offering to license its design patents for $30 per smartphone and $40 per tablet.

Apple and Samsung are currently in heated debates over design patents, and is currently undergoing litigation in a California court to determine liability. But even before Apple accused Samsung of “slavishly” copying its product designs, the Cupertino, CA company said it had offered cross-licensing agreements with Samsung to the tune of $30 per smartphone and $40 per tablet in 2010.
In a testimony by Apple patent licensing director Boris Teksler last Friday, he said that then-CEO Steve Jobs and then-COO Tim Cook approached Samsung about their smartphones and tablets, and were actually surprised “how a trusted partner would build a copycat product like that.”
In an October 5, 2010 presentation to Samsung, Apple offered to charge $30 per touchscreen smartphone and $40 per tablet for the use of its design patents. Apple likewise offered a 20% discount if Samsung were to cross-license its own design and technology portfolios back to Apple.

Given sales figures during that year involving Samsung’s Android, Windows Mobile and other OS phones, Apple said Samsung would have owed it about $250 million, which is a far cry from the $2.5 billion in damages that Apple is currently seeking. You can check out a copy of the Apple presentation via the Scribd link on the source citation.
Meanwhile, testimony be Apple’s experts also brought up additional Samsung internal studies that show how the Korean company often does a feature-by-feature comparison of Apple’s products with its own, and subsequently recommending to improve its smartphones by making them more like Apple’s. In response, Samsung has repudiated these claims by criticizing Apple’s experts’ authority on the matter.
Should Samsung have just gon

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 vs Apple iPad 3

Ever since the first iPad came out in 2010, tech companies around the world have tried to match its success, in about the same manner that many tech companies have tried to match the success of the iPhone ever since the first version came out in 2007. But, unlike the iPhone situation, and despite the abundance of Android tablets that have hit the shelves since 2010, Apple has managed to stay ahead of everyone else in the tablet market. But, as was the case with the iPhone, Apple is now starting to feel the heat from Android manufacturers.
With that being said, I find it very curious that Samsung was not able, up until now, to manufacture a proper competitor to the iPad. Basically, no Galaxy Tab model was able to match the experience offered by the iPad, despite the fact that some models are priced almost equally with the Apple tablet. Samsung is not only the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world by number of smartphones sold, but their Galaxy S line is also constantly beating the iPhone when it comes to hardware. In addition, they also manufacture both the CPU and the Retina display that Apple brags about when marketing the iPad. From where I’m standing, Samsung has all the resources needed to make a tablet that’s better than the iPad.
And then we get to yesterday’s Samsung announcement, one that confirms the previously rumored specs for the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. Could this be the moment that Android fans have been waiting for? Is the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 a decent competitor to the iPad? Are there any areas where the Note 10.1 is better than the iPad? Let’s find out, shall we? As always, we’ll break down our Galaxy Note 10.1 vs Apple iPad fight into five equally important rounds: Display, Internal Hardware, OS & Features, Design & Extras and Pricing and Availability.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 vs Apple iPad Round 1: Display

As I’ve mentioned above, Samsung is the company that manufacturers the best display currently available on the market, namely the Retina display of the new Apple iPad (third generation). At 9.7 inches in diagonal, the iPad three’s IPS LCD display uses an impressive 1536 x 2048 pixel resolution to bring up the Pixel Per Inch (PPI) density to 264. Under these circumstances, you would expect that the Galaxy Note 10.1 offers at least a 200 PPI ratio, right? Wrong, as the biggest downside to buying a Galaxy Note 10.1 is the poor resolution of its 10.1 inch display.
The Samsung Galaxy Note tablet uses a 800 x 1280 pixel resolution (actually, the same resolution used by the Galaxy Note’s 5.3 inch display), bringing down the PPI ratio to just 149, equal to that of the ASUS Transformer Prime (released back in October 2011). By comparison, the Google Nexus 7 has a PPI ratio of 216, while the ASUS Transformer Prime Infinity has a PPI ratio of 224. The original iPad showcased a PPI ratio of 132. If you’re looking for a tablet with a crisp display, the Galaxy Note 10.1 just isn’t it.
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend any device featuring a PPI ratio under 200 PPI, and this principle is not limited to top-end smartphone and tablet offerings, but all the way down to cheap smartphones (can catch a list of the best cheap Android smartphones of 2012 here).
If you ask me, this is a very weird situation, seeing as Samsung is the ultimate leader in the mobile display market. The South Korean giant basically owns the entire SAMOLED market, and it also manufactures the best LCD display on the market (the Retina display). We talked about the reasons why Samsung will not equip its tablets with “Retina displays” here, but I’m sure a lot of us expected a better quality display for their top-end tablet. Are there any conspiracy theorists amongst you guys that can imagine some sort of an agreement between Samsung and Apple?
The picture below shows the iPad 2 display on the left and the iPad 3 display on the right. Notice how sharp the icon is? That’s why the new iPad wins this round by a couple of lengths!

Clear Winner: Apple third generation iPad

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 vs Apple iPad Round 2: Internal Hardware

The new Apple iPad is built on the Apple A5X chipset, one that packs a 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor and a quad-core PowerVR SGX543MP4 GPU. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 uses the same Exynos 4212 quad SoC as the Galaxy S3, one consisting out of a 1.4GHz quad-core Cortex A9 processor and a Mali-400MP GPU. While the Exynos 4212 has a better performing processor than the A5X, the latter has a better GPU.
However, while the performance of the CPU is not influenced by the resolution, the video rendering frame rate is, meaning that although the iPad’s GPU is better, the Note 10.1 should be capable of maintaining more than decent frame rates, as the output is of lower resolution. It’s just that the level of detail won’t be there.
The third generation iPad also features 1GB of RAM, while the Galaxy Note 10.1 features 2GB.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 vs Apple iPad Round 3: OS and features

I’m going to be completely honest with you and tell you that this is probably the most difficult department to judge. From one side, there are surely a lot more good apps designed for the iPad than for Android tablets, but from the other, the Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with a unique accessory: the S-Pen, which is basically a pressure sensitive stylus, one able to recognize 256 different levels of pressure.
The S Pen is not worth using in apps that do not support it. But in apps that do support the S Pen, that’s where the Galaxy Note 10.1 shines. For instance, editing photos on a tab was never easier than it is with the S Pen optimized Adobe Photoshop Touch app (comes for free on all Galaxy Notes 10.1). Taking notes using Samsung’s S Note app, now also able to recognize mathematic formulas, is also something you can’t do on an iPad. In addition, the Galaxy Note 10.1 also uses most of the smart functions that have been introduced by Galaxy S3.
Yet another function that’s unique to the Galaxy Note 10.1 is its “Multiscreen” feature, one that allows users to use different applications side-by-side (for instance, you can watch a web page on half of the screen, and take notes with the S Pen on the other half), although just a few apps are currently supported. Although far from perfect, this is the best rendition of the multitasking principle that I have seen so far on a tablet, so I really hope that other tablet manufacturers learn from Samsung’s example.
Here’s an official video from Samsung showcasing all the unique features of the Galaxy Note 10.1:
As a conclusion, on one side we have the amazing number of high quality apps designed for the iPad, while on the other, we get a bunch of cool features that are unique to the Galaxy Note 10.1. I told you this is a tough one!
Winner: Draw

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 vs Apple iPad Round 4: Design and extras

Despite the fact that the Note 10.1 has a bigger display than the iPad by 0.4 inch, thanks to a very small bezel, the differences in size between the two devices are not as big as you would expect. The Note 10.1 measures 262 x 180 x 8.9 mm, while the iPad measures 241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4 mm, meaning that the Note 10.1 is actually thinner and less wide than the iPad 3. However, due to the fact that the new iPad uses an 11,560 mAh battery, I’m not going to hold its extra 0.5 mm thickness against it, since the Note 10.1 only uses a 7,000 mAh battery. Most of the extra battery goes to the iPad’s display, meaning that we should see similar battery life lengths. The huge battery is also what makes the iPad 3 a bit heavier than the Galaxy Note 10.1: 652 grams vs 597 grams. Both tablets are very slick looking, so neither wins in the design aspect.
Now to the extras, I must say that I applaud the fact that Samsung has decided to place a microSD slot on the Galaxy Note 10.1, something that the iPad does not feature. If you ever need more space, you can just buy a 64GB microSD card and you instantly get more storage than a tablet really needs, anyway.
Connectivity-wise, both tablets are equally prepared, as Samsung has announced that an LTE-compatible version of the Galaxy Note 10.1 will be available later this year, while Wi-Fi only and 3G versions will launch starting this month.
Winner: Draw

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 vs Apple iPad Round 5: Pricing and availability

At the present, the new iPad is available in roughly all corners of the world, in all its versions (Wi-Fi only, LTE). Pricing has remained consistent since the original iPad, so at least you know what to expect when you set to buy an Apple tablet.
Unfortunately, Samsung has not shared any details regarding the price of the Galaxy Note 10.1, so we’re unable to judge this category at the time being. However, Samsung has announced that their Galaxy Note 10.1 will become available worldwide by the end of this month, so we’ll soon update this section with pricing information for the Galaxy Note 10.1.

Conclusion

So… is the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 the iPad killer that Android fans have been expecting? Unfortunately not!
And this is all due to the fact that the Note 10.1 has a poor resolution display. Sure, it comes with a few cool features, the quad-core processor is powerful, while the S Pen and the S Pen optimized apps are certainly something that will draw many customers, but tablets are really all about the display. And when you fail in the display department, the tablet cannot be deemed as better than the iPad. The Note is a different kind of tablet, and that might help a lot with Samsung’s sale numbers, but from an end-user perspective, in the summer of 2012, I expect all top-end devices to feature a crisp display (meaning that the PPI ratio should rest well above 200).

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iPhone 5 Battery Images Leak: Only Slighter Larger Than iPhone 4S Battery

In the blogosphere’s continuing quest to assemble a virtual iPhone 5 before Apple unveils a real one in September, 9to5Mac has published images of what appears to be the next iPhone’s battery. Juicy stuff!
As expected, the battery is a bit larger than the last iPhone, but not by much. It jumps from 1430mAh in the iPhone 4S (up from 1420mAh in the iPhone 4) to a 1440 mAh battery. With the expected inclusion of LTE, plus Apple’s turn-by-turn mapping (which is a huge battery drain, at least in iOS 6 beta), we must simply hope that Apple’s dual-core SoC will use this relatively limited power source efficiently.
According to the label on the battery pack, it was created in June of this year, which is right in line with Apple’s iPhone 5 timing.
So what else can we expect in Apple’s next-gen iPhone? For one, a larger 4-inch display at a resolution of 1,136 x 640, along with a new two-tone back panel. You’ll also see a much smaller connector dock along the bottom, as Apple is allegedly replacing the worn out 30-pin dock Apple’s used for so long in its iThings with a 19-pin mini dock.
Of course, iOS 6 will ship with the device.

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iPhones Now Top 5% Of Total E-Commerce Website Traffic

It’s interesting to watch the impact that the mobile device explosion has on various industry verticals, and especially so in e-commerce – a market that has yet to take full advantage of the platform by offering mobile-friendly websites and apps. But that’s not stopping people from shopping on mobile by any means. According to new data from e-commerce technology company Monetate, top e-commerce websites receive 3.31% of their total visits from Android smartphones, which is up from 1.76% last year. iPhones, on the other hand, account for 5.41% of those sites’ total traffic, up from 2.45% a year earlier.
But even though the iPhone base delivers more visitors, it’s Android users who convert better. 1.26% of Android users convert as compared with 1.00% of those on iPhone.
Here’s another figure to throw into the mix: on tablets, Android users again are converting at higher percentage points, with 3.58% converting compared with iPad’s 3.19%. However, the iPad is driving the most tablet traffic to these sites. 88.31% of tablet visits to these e-commerce sites are from iPad, while Kindle Fire and other Android tablets now account for 10% of the market share. Seeing the chart below, you can tell that Android has made some headway into eating into iPad’s dominance here.

We asked execs at Monetate why they thought Android users were converting better (percentage wise), and they noted that the difference between the platforms was nominal, but interesting. They’re not sure why it’s the case, however. Could it be that iOS users have other means to shop, such as through native apps? Monetate CMO Kurt Heinemann hedges a guess.
“Android devices come in many different configurations whereas the iPhone only comes in one size, he says. “A large portion of Android devices that have been released over the last year have had larger screens and provide a better web surfing experience than a smaller iPhone. With a larger screen and the ability to display more website real estate the user has a more comfortable and less frustrating experience which results in higher conversion.”
In case you’re wondering what websites we’re talking about here, Monetate can’t talk in specific out of respect for its customers’ privacy, but it aggregates data from its top  150+ e-commerce customers and samples from over 100 million shopping experiences to reach these figures. Its customer lineup includes QVC, Urban Outfitters, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy and Brooks Brothers, to give you an idea of what types of sites may be included in this study.
While Apple and Google battle for market share in terms of traffic, the company’s report found that mobile is one of the fastest-growing customer segments today, and it’s now suggesting to its customers that they experiment with offering alternative ways to allow visitors to checkout without having to pull out a credit card. For example, try PayPal, Monetate tells its customers. It’s also stressing to its e-commerce customers that they need to invest in both web analytics and usability testing to make their sites work better for mobile shoppers because, by doing so, they have a real opportunity to increase their average order value significantly.

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The Fakest-Looking Part Of The Purported iPhone 5

If the glimpses of the purported iPhone 5 units that we’ve seen thus far are all fakes, then they are the best fakes we’ve seen to date. But there’s one angle to these supposed sightings of the New iPhone that look off to me.

The more and more we hear about iPhone 5 sightings, parts, “proof” in the iOS 6 beta code, and beyond, consumers, the media, and even case designers are increasingly believing the hype. The feeling is that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and the fact that so many of these parts are showing up, and all of them appear to match up with one another, point to consensus.

Skeptical holdouts have pointed to the odd elongated screen as a red flag for the iPhone 5 prototypes’ authenticity. Another eyebrow-raiser has been the slightly mismatched metal on the backs of both the white and black iPhone 5 prototypes that suggests to some that Apple tends to try to make their form factors look streamlined and seamless. But these arguments, while legitimate, are debatable as well: Apple could very well see their longer-but-not-wider display as a compromise between a larger screen that still maintains the profile of the classic iPhone dimensions. And the slightly mismatched metal could be an aesthetic flair to show off the fact that the iPhone 5 will have a metal back — maybe even made out of the now-mythic LiquidMetal.
I can actually buy both of those arguments. But there is another aspect of the iPhone 5 sightings that, to me, looks really bogus, and no one has ever brought it up. In fact, it’s an angle that gets shown off regularly. Take a look:

The bottom of these iPhone 5 units, to me, look really “off.” And it’s not just a gut feeling, either. First off, have we not heard that the MagSafe is coming to the iPhone 5′s dock connector, and that it will be somewhere in the 9-pin range? I’m not exactly sure that the MagSafe is ready to be able to transfer both power and energy, but even if it is, take a look at the MagSafe on a MacBook: you can clearly see the pins, and the socket itself is rather shallow — nothing like the gaping hole depicted above. It could be that this particular photo only shows the form factor and does not contain the innards, but even the purported “fully assembled” iPhone 5 sightings have looked like this.
Second, what’s with the headphone jack on the bottom of the device? Does it not seem rather odd that Apple would move it from top to the bottom? Perhaps it’s because of NFC hardware that could be positioned in the upper left quadrant of the device, but I’m still doubtful of that. And again, the hole for the jack looks nothing like it does on the iPhone 4 and 4S, which has a fine circle around it. The new jack looks like a “plain” 1/8″ jack that you would see on a Magnavox walkman from the mid 80s.
Third, what’s with the asymmetrical number of speaker holes in the bottom? I get it — the presence of the headphone jack reduces the lefthand number of holes to only five. But does Apple do asymmetry like this? The bottom speaker screens on the current iPhone are elegant — they look like mini versions of something Bose would create. The asymmetrical, clumsy look of the speaker array on this model is homely by Apple’s standards.
To make a truly believable iPhone 5, one would have to be a kind of “master sculptor,” taking into account every possible angle of the device, and crafting it in such a way that rings true as an Apple design. In my opinion, there are just enough questionable angles to this iPhone 5 to keep it in question up to the very day that Tim Cook walks out on stage with it — or not.

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Why a longer iPhone 5 screen needs to happen

 

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

For months, we've heard talk of an iPhone 5 with a longer screen. The latest stories around the Internet suggest not only that this is a likely reality, but that iOS 6 supports this new resolution: 640x1,136 pixels, to be exact. That's an extra 176 pixels longer than the current iPhone's 640x960 display.

When I heard of the next iPhone's longer screen, I thought: I'd just prefer a slightly bigger screen, not necessarily a longer one. My current iPhone 4S feels like it has a perfect aspect ratio. Why change it?
Then I thought about it, and quickly changed my tune.
A longer screen may sound strange, but it's a very good thing, for two obvious reasons.
HD video
The existing iPhone screen is a tweener: its aspect ratio doesn't fall into the laptop-standard 16:9 category, nor does it match the 4:3 aspect ratio of the iPad. It makes sense that the iPad's not 16:9 because books, PDFs, and digital magazines fit the 4:3 ratio better. The rumored screen of the next iPhone would be 16:9.
Video, however -- especially HD video -- works well with a 16:9 screen. Most Android phones are already 16:9. Apple's own 1080p video camera shoots in 16:9, and the video gets letterboxed or suffers slight digital zoom on the iPhone 4S.

1080p video recorded on the iPhone 4S camera is currently either letterboxed, or zoomed in slightly to fit the screen.

(Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)

A longer screen means less letterboxing, both for self-recorded videos and most TV shows and movies. Sure, some older shows aren't 16:9, while some movies have wider 21:9 aspect ratios. Those will be the outliers. The average piece of video content will fill the screen more, and make the next iPhone's viewing area seem that much larger as a result.

The iPhone (above) is letterboxed; the Android phone below is far less so.

(Credit: Joseph Kaminski/CNET)

For comparison, look at a 16:9 4-inch Android phone screen, which is what the next iPhone's screen size will purportedly resemble.
Games and virtual buttons
There's another, perhaps bigger reason for a longer screen. I sometimes forget how cramped the iPhone's screen can be for games. Unless a game has particularly good button-free controls, you're stuck with big semitransparent icons hogging the display. Your thumbs go there and start cramping the game screen.

Super Crate Box on the iPhone: Like many iOS games, it has superimposed virtual buttons.

(Credit: Screenshot by Scott Stein/CNET)

It's part of the reason why many iPhone gamers long for physical buttons, and why devices like the iCade Mobile exist.

Buttons on the sides with the iCade Mobile: the right spirit, but not the right solution.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

How about another solution: what if buttons were shifted to margins on the sides? Existing games could be framed by side bars, and extra controls pushed away from the center of the screen. iOS 6 reportedly supports up to five rows of standard iPhone App icons, as opposed to four on every other iPhone. That added space means extra added virtual buttons...not just for games, but for all sorts of apps.

If the new iPhone can support more onscreen app icons, it can support more onscreen buttons.

(Credit: 9to5Mac.com)

App icons measure 114 pixels wide on the Retina Display, but many virtual buttons in games are smaller than that. With a seemingly insignificant 176 pixels of extra width -- 88 pixels to a side -- you could fit a virtual button or two, especially oriented vertically, with ease.
The more those virtual buttons get shifted away, the more space gets cleared up for maps, browser windows, or unobstructed graphics.
In vertical portrait mode, it could mean more than just another row of apps; it could lead to an added row of controls on the bottom, possibly adding a whole new dimension to operational ease on the next iPhone (hot buttons for settings, shortcuts, and even dashboard information). I've envied Android phones for the type of added home-screen controls that an elongated iPhone screen could offer. That's not in the cards for iOS 6 (unless Apple's keeping a big surprise in store), but it could be worked into future versions of iOS more easily with the added vertical real estate.
Extra room for virtual controls, plus added room for letterbox-reduced video: would these be enough to help make the next iPhone a home run?

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Gratuitous advice for Best Buy: Fear Microsoft too

Surface could drive more sales to Microsoft stores.

Best Buy's founder fears Apple Stores. That anxiety should extend to Microsoft, too.
For better or worse, I live within walking distance of a Best Buy store in Los Angeles. (Well, a long walk).
But I typically elect to drive about 20 miles to the Microsoft Store in Century City.
That should worry Best Buy. Once consumers (I don't think I'm that atypical) get a taste of the Microsoft Store experience, it will be really hard to go back to the muddle that is Best Buy.
Luckily for Best Buy, there aren't many Microsoft stores right now. But that's changing.

And with Microsoft getting set to push its Surface tablets via its stores, that could prove to be a turning point.
Let's say Surface turns out to be successful and consumers begin to associate cool Windows products with Microsoft Stores.
And, meanwhile, Microsoft continues to open more outlets in prime locations near Apple stores. (The Microsoft store in Los Angeles is right around the corner from an Apple store.)
That could relegate Best Buy to an electronics retailer backwater -- and realize founder Richard Schulze's worst fears (i.e., going out of business). Yeah, it will still sell big-screen TVs, but that alone is not going to pay the bills.
Schulze is right to be very worried. And his existential anxieties will only increase in the coming months.

Originally posted at Business Tech

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Apple Continues Its “Google Cleansing” by Removing YouTube App in iOS 6 Beta 4

Apple is quickly ridding its OS of anything related to Google

Apple today released the latest beta for its upcoming iOS 6 mobile operating system. Although iOS 6 doesn’t make any huge leaps forward visually or productivity wise, the operating system has caught quite a bit of attention for what it lacks.

IOS 6 marks the first release of the operating system that doesn’t come preloaded with Google Maps. Instead, Apple kicked Google to the curb and included its own mapping service (which is actually not as functionally complete as Google Maps on many fronts).

Next, Apple passive aggressively removed the name “Google” from the search field in Safari, which signified that Google was powering search results (iOS also includes search options for Bing and Yahoo).

Now, Apple has taken the next step in ridding itself of Google’s “hooks” into iOS. In iOS 6 Beta 4, Apple has removed the YouTube app from the Springboard. The YouTube app has been featured on iOS ever since the iPhone’s introduction in 2007.

According to The Verge, this is what Apple has to say on the matter:
 

Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended, customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.

Apple says that its license has expired, but we all know that it’s secret for “We feel slighted by Google, and we hate everything they stand for.”

At least iOS users can rest assured that YouTube will continue to function normally through Safari. In addition, Google is working on a standalone Maps app that will be available in the App Store and should reintroduce the features that Apple stripped from its own mapping app with iOS 6.

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