Friday 27 January 2012
Wednesday 11 January 2012
Apple iCloud
Apple introduces iCloud, a set of free new cloud services that work seamlessly with applications on your Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or Personal Computer to automatically and wirelessly store your content in Apple iCloud and automatically and wirelessly push it to all your mobile devices. When anything changes on one of your mobile devices, all of your devices are wirelessly updated almost instantly. Thanks to Apple iCloud purchased iOS apps via the Apple App Store and Apple iBookstore will now be downloaded to all your mobile devices, not just the device it was purchased on.
Apple iCloud Storage
In addition, the Apple App Store and Apple iBookstore now let you see your purchase history, and simply tapping the Apple iCloud icon will download any apps and books to any iOS device (up to 10 devices) at no additional cost. Apple iCloud Storage seamlessly stores all documents created using Apple iCloud Storage APIs, and automatically pushes them to all your mobile devices. When you change a document on any device, Apple iCloud automatically pushes the changes to all your devices. Apple's Pages, Numbers and Keynote apps already take advantage of Apple iCloud Storage.
Apple iCloud Backup
Apple iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up your iOS devices to Apple iCloud daily over Wi-Fi when you charge your Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Backed up content includes purchased music, apps and books, Camera Roll (photos and videos), device settings and app data.
Apple iCloud Photo Stream
Apple iCloud's innovative Photo Stream service automatically uploads the photos you take or import on any of your devices and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices and computers. So you can use your Apple iPhone to take a dozen photos of your friends during the afternoon baseball game, and thank to Apple iCloud the pictures will be ready to share with the entire group on your Apple iPad (or even Apple TV) when you return home. Apple iCloud will store each photo in the cloud for 30 days, which is plenty of time to connect your devices to Apple iCloud and automatically download the latest photos from Photo Stream via Wi-Fi.
Apple iCloud Price & Availability
The Apple iCloud beta and Apple Cloud Storage APIs are available immediately to iOS and Mac Developer Program members. Apple iCloud will be available this fall concurrent with iOS 5. Users can sign up for Apple iCloud for free on an Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or a Mac running Mac OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. Apple iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. Apple iTunes Match will be available for $24.99 per year (US only). Apple iTunes in the Cloud is available in the US and requires iTunes 10.3 and iOS 4.3.3. Using Apple iCloud with a PC requires Windows Vista or Windows 7; Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended for accessing contacts and calendars.
Lenovo moving to launch smartphones
Lenovo Group Ltd, which is making a concerted global push into tablets and ultrabooks, now expects to launch a smartphone in a lucrative U.S. market dominated by Apple Inc and Google Inc gadgets.
The No. 2 computer maker - China's standard-bearer in consumer electronics - sells smartphones on its home turf but has yet to make inroads abroad, nor is it in any hurry to do so.
"I think we will," David Schmoock, Lenovo's North American chief, said when asked if the company planned to launch a phone in the United States.
"It's more of an evolution over time," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Personal computer makers are increasingly looking to mobile devices such as smartphones to drive up razor-thin margins. Lenovo's operating margin clocked in at 12.2 percent in the fiscal second quarter of last year.
The company, which has carved out a 7 percent share of the U.S. computer market, said it is in the process of establishing relationships with wireless carriers - AT&T, Sprint and Verizon - and distributors as it assesses the marketplace.
"Clearly, we are playing hard on two of the screens," Schmoock told Reuters, referring to PCs and tablets. "The other two - smartphones and smart TVs - you will see over time."
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
Schmoock plans to lay the groundwork for the launch of a U.S. smartphone over the next few years. The company sells the S2 smartphone in China.
"I will spend time over the next couple of years building out the relationship with the mobile providers - AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc.," he said. "You have to build out that network first, then that allows you to put products on the shelf."
Lenovo moved in 2009 to reacquire the cellphone business it had previously sold off, and launched the "LePhone" smartphone two years ago at CES.
The device is still only available in its home market. Schmoock did not provide a timeframe for a U.S. launch but said the U.S. market still has room for more smartphone players.
At CES, the company showed off one of its expanding ultrabook laptops, including new additions IdeaPad U300s and the IdeaPad Yoga, a touchscreen notebook that flips and folds backward, making it a large tablet.
Traditional PC makers have seen tablet PCs - a category dominated by Apple's iPad - taking business away from laptops and desktops, particularly among increasingly Internet-savvy consumers.
The No. 2 computer maker - China's standard-bearer in consumer electronics - sells smartphones on its home turf but has yet to make inroads abroad, nor is it in any hurry to do so.
"I think we will," David Schmoock, Lenovo's North American chief, said when asked if the company planned to launch a phone in the United States.
"It's more of an evolution over time," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Personal computer makers are increasingly looking to mobile devices such as smartphones to drive up razor-thin margins. Lenovo's operating margin clocked in at 12.2 percent in the fiscal second quarter of last year.
The company, which has carved out a 7 percent share of the U.S. computer market, said it is in the process of establishing relationships with wireless carriers - AT&T, Sprint and Verizon - and distributors as it assesses the marketplace.
"Clearly, we are playing hard on two of the screens," Schmoock told Reuters, referring to PCs and tablets. "The other two - smartphones and smart TVs - you will see over time."
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
Schmoock plans to lay the groundwork for the launch of a U.S. smartphone over the next few years. The company sells the S2 smartphone in China.
"I will spend time over the next couple of years building out the relationship with the mobile providers - AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc.," he said. "You have to build out that network first, then that allows you to put products on the shelf."
Lenovo moved in 2009 to reacquire the cellphone business it had previously sold off, and launched the "LePhone" smartphone two years ago at CES.
The device is still only available in its home market. Schmoock did not provide a timeframe for a U.S. launch but said the U.S. market still has room for more smartphone players.
At CES, the company showed off one of its expanding ultrabook laptops, including new additions IdeaPad U300s and the IdeaPad Yoga, a touchscreen notebook that flips and folds backward, making it a large tablet.
Traditional PC makers have seen tablet PCs - a category dominated by Apple's iPad - taking business away from laptops and desktops, particularly among increasingly Internet-savvy consumers.
Monday 9 January 2012
Apple iPhone 5
As the 5th generation of the iPhone is on the verge of being released, and with all the speculations spreading on the Internet about the iPhone 5, people are anticipating and desperately waiting for the launch of the smartphone. Many fans and current Apple iPhone consumers are wondering what groundbreaking features Apple will add to the new iPhone 5.
iPhone 5 Features
Although Apple does not reveal the exact specifications and features until the device is officially unveiled, we could dictate some of the main features that are expected. However, rumor of the new iPhone 5 features, in terms of both hardware and software upgrades, will definitely entice any smartphone buyer.The upcoming phone is expected to sport the Apple’s latest and greatest A5 processor chip, iCloud service, higher-resolution camera, and a 4-inch screen size. Here are some of the most anticipated iPhone 5 features:
iOS 5
Apple announced iOS 5.0 and its features during the WWDC 2011 keynote address on June 6, 2011. The user interface is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. It is expected to come with more than 200 new features that will include improved Notification System, News Stand and iMessage.iMessage is an application that is developed to compete with Blackberry Messenger. The app will allow iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad users to communicate (much like a chat service) with each other. The iMessage feature has been integrated into the SMS/MMS application used originally on the iPhone models.
iCloud
The iPhone5 is expected to have the iCloud service.Apple’s iPhone 5 is expected to feature the new iCloud service for wireless remote access of music from all computers and mobile devices.
The iPhone5 will automatically sync with the iCloud which will allow users to store photos, apps, calendars and documents without having them to store in the phone’s memory. Apple is also looking to tie up with top music label companies to license songs for the iCloud service.
However, rumours state that Apple might release a low-cost “iCloud iPhone” alongside the iPhone 5. It could be named the “iPhone Mini”
“The iPhone Mini (or iPhone Nano, or whatever) could have significantly less storage than a typical iPhone. Most likely 8 gigabytes of storage – the same as the lowest end iPhones right now. Apple won’t prevent users from storing their own content, because that would be crazy. But since it has a small amount of memory, Apple will likely push the ability to stream media via MobileMe as well.”
A5 Processor to power the iPhone5
iPhone 5 will house the A5 as the main processor, which technically is the same chip that currently powers the iPad 2. The A5 contains a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with NEON SIMD accelerator and a dual core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, which means that the iPhone5 can do twice the work at once. The processor speed will be somewhere between 1.2 to 1.5 GHz, with probably a 1GB RAM.The processor upgrade is done not just to increase the processing speed of the phone, but also to compete with the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S II.
The A5 chip might effectively increase the power use, however, it is said that the chip has “got a dynamic power management”, which can lower the [speed] depending on the workload, and thus efficiently make use of the power.
iPhone 5 to Sport a Better Camera
The iPhone 4 sports a 5 megapixel camera, so I’m expecting that the iPhone 5 will have a rear-facing 8MP dual-LED flash camera. However, this isn’t really “awesome”, since most of the high-end Android smartphones come with an 8MP camera. Along with that, the iPhone 5 is expected to have a front-facing camera for video chatting.
According to sources, Apple has filed several patent applications relating to 3D picture capturing to the US Patent and Trademark Office later in March. This indicates that the iPhone 5 might feature a 3D camera. The filing indicates that the device will be capable of capturing, processing and rendering 3D images with dual-camera hardware.Another interesting feature is that the iPhone 5 will be capable of taking pictures in Panorama. It will work similarly to the ’360 Panorama’ application in the App Store. It will let you take pictures in a sequence as you move the camera from one side to another, which in the end will effortlessly stitch the images together to create a panorama.
Additionally, if Apple really wants to keep up with the competition to Android, then it might consider improving upon the video resolution to a full 1080p HD recording. Currently iPhone 4 has a 720p video capture at 30 frames per second.
Display and Resolution
There hasn’t been a better screen resolution since the release of the iPhone 4. Currently the iPhone 4 has a 3.5 inches screen size, and sources indicate that Apple might stay locked with the current size. But a few other sources say that Apple is planning to increase the screen size to 4-inch with higher screen resolution. I feel that Apple could compromise at 3.7-inch or 3.75-inch.
Image credits: PhoneArena.com
Other iPhone5 Features
Here are some of the other features that we can expect from the iPhone 5:
Other iPhone 5 Features
- Face Recognition Security
- 4G/LTE support *
- A new, sleeker body design
- OLED screen
- Scratch proof and shatter proof screen
- Wireless sync with iTunes
- Extended battery life
- Flash support
- SIM-less phone **
- Physical keyboard
- Increased RAM (from 512MB to 1GB)
- New multi-tasking look
- HD audio
- Built-in GPS
(**) According to International Business Times, it is rumoured that the iPhone 5 will feature a new SIM-less design with 2 to 3 internal antennas for CDMA and GSM compatibility, which will make it a “worldphone”.
The above mentioned features are some of the improvements that we can expect from Apple. However, we cannot assure you that they can be true, but most of the upgrades are more likely to be utilized.
Apple definitely wants to fight back against Android smartphone makers like HTC and Samsung, and perhaps it is why the new iPhone 5 will host some of the outstanding features.
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