iPad 3: release date, specs, iOS 5.5, screen, A6 news, rumors du jour

With Apple having steadied the iPhone lineup and finished its product releases for 2011, the focus now turns to what Apple has up its sleeve first for 2012: the iPad 3. There was some buzz that Apple might update the iPad in some form before this year ended, but that went out the window when the October press event turned out to be an iPhone-only affair. The only part of the event which related to the iPad, even tangentially, was the release of the iOS 5 operating system. True to form, Apple has said nothing regarding the iPad 3. Nothing is officially set in stone. but various details, from its release date to its likely specs to rumors regarding its screen, are beginning to emerge. With the caveat of pointing out that none of this is official, none of it confirmable, and most of it based on a mere combination of interpreting Apple’s pattern history and and common sense, here’s a look at what we think we might know regarding the iPad 3…

Release date: This one might be the easiest. Both the iPad and iPad 2 were introduced early in the spring and shipped around the end of March. That places the iPad 3 release date on track for March 2012, unless something goes wrong. The arrival of the iPhone 4S in October, after years of summer iPhone launches, demonstrated that things can in fact go wrong with Apple’s annual upgrade calendar, but most often don’t.

iOS 5.5: Apple could just as easily call it iOS 5.3 or some such, but whatever the name, the iPad 3 will arrive with a revised version of the current iOS 5 operating system. The quasi-headlining features of the new iOS update will likely tie directly into whatever new hardware features the iPad 3 delivers.

Screen: Scattered rumors have Apple’s inability to get the iPad 3 up to retina display quality as the reason why the device didn’t arrive in late 2011. Whether it can be pulled off by March 2012 is anyone’s guess…

Other specs: The iPad 2 marked the debut of the dual core A5 processor, which has since also found its way into the iPhone 4S. The year before, the iPad 1 marked the debut of the A4 processor. The safe-ish bet has the quad core A6 debuting in the iPad 3, giving the new tablet a level of computing speed which will finally begin to rival the horsepower found under the hoods of desktop and laptop computers, bringing Steve Jobs’ vision of tablets eclipsing home computers one step closer to reality.

Carriers and colors: Apple finally managed to deliver a single device in the iPhone 4S which can talk to AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon networks. The iPad 3 could do the same, eliminating the current carrier-segregated 3G models. That in turn could open the door for Apple to offer the iPad 3 in more colors than merely white and black, a limitation presumably placed on the iPad 2 out of respect for the eighteen different configurations on the market based merely on carrier, capacity, and two colors.

Source is
http://www.beatweek.com/news/12197-ipad-3-release-date-specs-ios-5-5-screen-a6-news-rumors-du-jour/

Can't not categorize your apps with folder on WP7? Solution is sonner

Whether you are Windows Phone users, or someone with smart phone, when you saw the huge variety of apps (include plenty of free apps) in app store, I believe you would be not help but start to download them. But when it comes to arrange those apps, windows phone 7 is really so weakness. There is always a started system with attractive UI seem to be so resistant to the "relatively ugly" folder function, so that these interesting apps can only scattered in the verbose start menu or the main page. But the aesthetic is fairly a small problem; sometimes searching a tool in the sea of apps without any result is rally a big problem.

Apparently many people think that instead of looking forward to the manufacturers bring you this function, why not just make one by us. Below this article there is a demo which published by WindowsPhoneHacker. You can see on the Live Title menu of Windows Phone, a folder successfully added as the feature that make the apps finally find their ownership of land. Want to have this feature? Unfortunately, this program is still in development stage and has not been officially released. But before that, you can prepare to unlock your Mango, and then make a wish to wait the release of this program with patience.

Author: Bruno+

10 Windows Phone 7.5 Apps That Showcase Mango’s Muscle

Apple iOS 5 and Google Android Gingerbread (as well as the company’s upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich) may grasp the lion’s share of the mobile operating system market share, but Microsoft is still a major player. Its Windows Phone 7 OS, the successor to the maligned Windows Mobile, uses Microsoft’s slick, tile-based “Metro” design (a vital component in Windows 8) as its core design element. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 update, otherwise known as "Mango," builds on that very solid foundation by including an improved Web browser, Twitter and LinkedIn integration, a terrific interface for creating ad-hoc groups of friends, the option for Wi-Fi hotspot mode and much more.

More importantly for this piece, Mango brings increased app functionality in the form of improved Live Tiles (which now serve up even more app-specific data), App Connect (includes relevant apps that you already have on your phone in Bing results, plus recommends others), Intelligent Multitasking (you can, for example, pause a game to send a text), and Xbox Live multiplayer support. Mango, in short, is a big league update.

According to Microsoft, there are over 30,000 apps and games in the Windows Phone Marketplace that you can download to your handset. Many of these apps were written pre-Mango, so only a portion of them support the features that the update brings (Facebook, Spotify). Microsoft, however, is encouraging developers, both new and existing, to write their code with Windows Phone 7.5 in mind.

That said, the following slideshow highlights several apps the leverages Mango’s functionality. ASome of your favorite non-Windows Phone 7.5 Mango apps may not be included, because they haven’t been updated, and not all of the apps here are marquee apps, because there simply aren’t that many apps (yet) that specifically make use of the new Mango features. Still, if you’ve upgraded to Microsoft’s latest phone operating system, you’ll want to check out these apps as they showcase Mango’s muscle.

As always, feel free to chime in with your own favorite Mango apps in the comment section below.

Every Android device now infringes Apple patent: Slide to unlock

Whatever your position is on patent infringement and the never-ending lawsuits in the mobile space, the fact is until the system is overhauled it is the law. I hate that design elements can be patented, instead of actual devices which makes more sense. Apple has been riding the patentability of design elements for a while, and has a number of Android device makers on the ropes as a result. A patent awarded today to Apple guarantees that every Android phone and tablet ever made infringes Apple’s design.

Anyone who has touched an Android device has come face-to-face with the slide to unlock feature. The device is inaccessible until a slider or similar control is touched and slid to a boundary, unlocking the gadget. This simple control has now been patented by Apple, removing it from the available design pool to anyone else.

Apple has been picking and choosing its targets for patent infringement litigation carefully, using various patents it owns to go after infringers. This new patent over the simple slide to unlock feature means the company can go after any Android device maker it wants, and likely have success in the courts.

Heck, the control on Windows Phone devices, sliding the lock screen up to access the phone functions, may very well infringe on this patent too. That could extend to the upcoming Windows 8 as early preview versions use this same control to unlock devices.
Apple filed for the slide to unlock patent before the original iPhone was released, and just received confirmation of the patent. That puts every Android device ever made firmly in the infringing category, should Apple choose to get nasty.

Source is
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/every-android-device-now-infringes-apple-patent-slide-to-unlock/5199

One Year Milestone Had Reached, Windows Phone 7

The first mobile phone with WP7 – HTC Trophy was officially on sale on 21 October, 2010 in New Zealand. As the first iPod had released for about a decade, Windows Phone 7 also hit one year milestone.

The master guru of Windows Phone 7, Joe Belfiore, wrote such words on twitter: Hey — HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY WP7! Our very first phones started selling (Europe only) 1 year ago! A lot’s happened in a year, eh? :) We also wish Windows Phone its first birthday and all the success for the times to come ahead.

The last year is a tough year for Microsoft. It still hard to believe that just over one year ago Kin was dead (with only 500 global sales) and few months later Microsoft also had to give up Zune. Fortunately is Microsoft does not abandon WP7 like as Kin in only 2 months. A year ago, this platform has just appeared and brought a brand-new mobile phone experience. And within a year, WP7 released two major updates, NoDo and Mango, which establish the foundation of its potential market. Those updates own tremendous significance for the future. For this platform, the only little change is the sales, but we still have high expectation for it.

In fact, it’s strange that mobile platform which can accept the criticisms continuously will go ahead better than the platform which with ever-increasing consumers. Even though Microsoft is working to change the status quo through advertising and strive for the OEM support. Whatever, we still believe that WP7 can gain a place in the field of mobile operation system.

Author: Bruno+

Androids taking over the universe

Smartphones now outsell computers, we know, but computer sales are slowing as other non-PC devices become more popular.

"The popularity of non-PC devices, including media tablets, such as the iPad, and smartphones, took consumers' spending away from PCs," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

Computers are still selling but more slowly and smartphone sales are increasing. Last week, US network Verizon said 39% of phones on its network were smartphones and half of phones sold in the last quarter run the Android operating system.

Putting the difference into perspective, analyst Horace Dediu noted last week: "There are currently 1.5billion global internet users and at least 5.5billion global cellphone users."

Technology is even more invasive in our lives than it was five or 10 years ago. It's due to the evolution of a range of factors: specifically, increased processing power, cloud-computing and faster broadband. Add in the surge in mobile devices such as smartphones and mobile internet speeds.

In the past two weeks, Apple launched its answer to Google's services and called it iCloud.

The major player in cloud-based services is actually Amazon, which spotted this trend before anyone else and built the vast data centres and server farms that are the backbone of our new world. It hosts Dropbox, the clever, Freemium storage system we use to run Stuff magazine, for instance.

The Silk browser included in its new Kindle Fire tablet is a clever combination of server-side and client-side processing (the old IT names for the cloud and whatever device you're using). Silk does the heavy crunching on Amazon's servers and then pushes it to the Fire. If you haven't heard of push technology, then no one has explained to you how your BlackBerry works.

The champions of this new cloud world are obviously Google, whose Android smartphone-operating system is an attempt to extend its dominance in the burgeoning mobile market. A very good attempt. Android is getting about 500000 activations a day, said Google's head of mobile, Andy Rubin.

It's going to be the Windows of smartphones and, perhaps, of tablets. Set-up involves fewer steps, including putting in your Gmail username and password. A quick sync and you're away.

The one major player desperately trying to jump the shark, or trying to stay relevant, is Microsoft. Despite being a cash cow and selling 90% of the operating systems on new computers, Microsoft is behind in the mobile space, where smartphones now outsell computers, and Android is moving into a position of strength by virtue of its volume.

This week, Nokia is expected to unveil its Windows Phone 7 devices at the Nokia World Conference in London. It announced the switch to the operating system of its former foe in February.

BlackBerry, which is still the gold standard of mobile e-mail despite gains by other manufacturers, is also making a belated push forward with a new operating system called BBX, announced last week. It combines the excellent QNX that runs the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and is sorely needed to keep the original mobile e-mail device in the running.

Source is
http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2011/10/24/androids-taking-over-the-universe

Android Ice Cream Sandwich: A coming of age and homage to Windows Phone 7

While watching the consummate, bigwig genius of Andy Rubin, Matias Duarte, and Hugo Barra introduce Ice Cream Sandwich, I felt an epic epiphany gently blink into existence in some far-flung corner of my mind. At the time I couldn’t quite put my finger on it — it was a nagging sensation that something wasn’t quite right, but I wasn’t sure what — but when the end of the event rolled around and Android’s new People app was demonstrated, everything clicked into place: Ice Cream Sandwich is a homage to Windows Phone 7.

To be honest, I should’ve realized sooner. The first thing hat Google showed off last night wasn’t resizable widgets or its new browser: it started with the Roboto font — a frickin’ font! It quickly became apparent that Roboto was more than just a font, though: it is a typography-based design aesthetic. Moving through the presentation, Google showed us that Ice Cream Sandwich has a very simple, clean, tile-based interface. There are no rounded corners, no brushed metal textures, visual contrast is very high, and most of all, content is king.

These are the exact same design guidelines that underpin Microsoft’s Metro style paradigm, the tile- and typography-based interface that governs Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8.

Is Ice Cream Sandwich’s similarity to WP7 a coincidence? We’ll probably never know, but ICS’s development definitely begun around the same time as WP7′s release in late 2010. To be honest, it doesn’t even matter — operating systems trade ideas and features all the time. More importantly, this complete interface overhaul is indicative of a much more significant shift: Android is ready and eager to drop its mantle as the nerd and power user OS.

We all know that Android is the geeky option. We all know that it’s built from the ground up to be the antithesis of Apple’s walled, iOS garden. The problem is, neither of these factors make Android phones particularly loveable or usable. Through sheer marketing dollars and low prices, Android is making serious inroads — but has your mom ever told you that she adores her Android phone?

This isn’t to say that Google wants to lessen the functionality or flexibility of Android — Android’s open source community is one of its biggest strengths — but with ICS it is acknowledging that WP7 (and of course iOS) are much easier to use. The Roboto UI is Google’s admittance that — try as they might — function cannot trump form, and that in fact they must be inexorably linked through a standard, easy-to-understand interface if users are to make the most of a device.
American Pie

What we have with Ice Cream Sandwich, then, is Android’s departure from spotty, painted-black malcontent teenagedom, and entrance into the mature, iOS-dominated adult workplace. It’s also impossible to ignore that Android’s newfound maturity very closely mirrors Google+, another Google product that has distinctly eschewed geekiness in favor of mass-market appeal. Along with the shuttering of Labs, its CEO’s promise to put more wood behind fewer arrows, and the resultant end of Google’s Wild West days, it really does feel like Big G is trying to deliver compelling, consumer-targeted products.

At risk, of course, is Google’s thriving developer, power user, and open source community. Ease-of-use, a consistent user experience paradigm, and compatibility are hard to maintain in an open ecosystem. It’ll be interesting to see if Google can retain its geeky panache and also become inherently more loveable and usable, or whether that’s an impossible compromise.

Source is
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/100591-android-4-0-a-coming-of-age-and-homage-to-windows-phone-7