Can’t wait for the iPhone 5? Get your minor improvements with Apple’s latest instead.

IT’S A revamp rather than a breathtaking redesign but Apple’s iPhone 4S is a worthy heir to the throne.

Extra grunt under the bonnet, a spruced-up camera and improved reception – that’s the iPhone 4S in a nutshell. It’s an incremental upgrade in the tradition of the iPhone 3GS, retaining the form factor of the previous model while improving the spec sheet to give resource-hungry apps more headroom.

The iPhone 4 is certainly no slouch but the 4S raises the bar with its A5 processor, first seen in the iPad 2. That extra grunt isn’t immediately obvious, especially as the iOS 5 software upgrade doesn’t appear to have slowed the iPhone 4 (a welcome change from previous iOS updates).

You will also want to upgrade to the latest versions of Lion and iTunes to take advantage of all of iOS 5′s features, which will chew through almost two gigabytes of your monthly data allowance (perhaps more if you have multiple computers and iGadgets).

Spend time with the 4S and the A5 processor’s extra grunt peeks through in several places.

The time it takes to launch the camera has always been a telltale sign of a sluggish iPhone. With nothing else running, an iPhone 4 running iOS 5 takes about 2.5 seconds to launch the camera and open the iris so it’s ready to shoot. The 4S cuts this down to about 1.5 seconds.

Under iOS 5, you can also launch the phone’s camera from the lock screen and use the volume button to capture shots, which is an improvement for when you’re trying to quickly capture the moment. The volume button trick is one of many features owners of hacked iPhones have enjoyed for some time and it’s good to see Apple finally acknowledging the iPhone’s shortcomings rather than dictating how people should use their devices.

There’s also extra grunt from the new processor when browsing the internet. Throwing complicated webpages at the mobile version of Safari, such as the non-mobile version of theage.com.au and other media sites, shaves anywhere between 10 per cent to 40 per cent off page loading times. We’re only talking about a few seconds of difference, but it is clear the 4S’s faster powerplant helps.

The A5 processor really makes its presence felt when you start to push the phone. For example, the iPhone 4S is clearly happier than the iPhone 4 when running the TomTom satnav app while playing music in the background. The iPhone 4S also has less trouble keeping up when editing large files in Apple’s Pages word processor app.

Along with a performance boost, the A5 also lays the foundation for new features.

Graphics-intensive games don’t always look better on the iPhone 4S but this is deceptive, as some games now tone down the effects for older iGadgets. Firemint’s Real Racing 2 is a classic example: it plays almost as smoothly on the iPhone 4 but look closely and you see the effects are ramped up when running on the 4S’s faster processor.

Apple has also introduced AirPlay mirroring to the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Rather than just streaming video clips and photos to an Apple TV via your home wi-fi network, these devices can now mirror any application on your television. This could be handy for work and play, whether for business presentations or using the handset as a gaming controller while watching the action on television.

AirPlay mirroring is an obvious threat to the Wii, particularly as some games such as Real Racing 2 are adding split-screen support for multiple devices. This lets up to four players race on the television simultaneously, like Mario Kart Wii.

In terms of hardware, the improved eight-megapixel camera is the iPhone 4S’s other big drawcard – not just the extra megapixels but also the new optics and improved aperture. You’ll see more detail in your photos, particularly when peering into the shadows of an otherwise bright scene. Low-light photos contain less fuzziness, or ”noise”. Unless you’re a purist, the 4S’s camera is probably good enough to replace your digital happy snapper.

The iPhone 4′s reception issues are well documented but the 4S’s redesigned antenna eliminates the so-called ”death grip”. Reception suffers if you hold the iPhone 4 the wrong way but not so with the iPhone 4S Livewire used, on loan from Vodafone. Even if your telco’s network is partly at fault, the new 4S should be happier in areas with dodgy coverage.

Most of the iPhone 4S’s other improvements are courtesy of the iOS 5 software upgrade. Older models miss out on a few features, such as the Siri voice-interaction system, which is in beta. Early reviews have been a little gushing – Siri is a technological marvel but not always the most practical way to interact with your phone. Frustratingly, Siri’s location-aware features are restricted to the US for now.

Siri alone isn’t reason enough to upgrade from the iPhone 4; it’s a sleeper that will mature in time.

So, what’s the verdict? The iPhone 4S is an impressive upgrade and the extra grunt lays the foundation for a new generation of apps and services. If you’re buying a new iPhone today, spending extra on the 4S compared with a discounted 4 is a wise long-term investment. But the improvement isn’t enough to ditch your iPhone 4 if you’re in the middle of a two-year contract, unless there’s a feature exclusive to the A5 processor you simply can’t live without.

Unless the iPhone 4 is already starting to feel sluggish, current owners might want to hold out for next year’s mythical iPhone 5.

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??CHECK OUT THE WORDWIDE SMARTPHONE PHOTON 4G

If you frequently travel overseas for business or pleasure, a smartphone with world-roaming capabilities is a good thing to have in your travel kit.

Not only do these phones allow you to stay in touch with friends and family back home, but with their built-in functions and various apps, they can also organize your travel itinerary, provide recommendations for things to do, capture memories, and much more. So which phones make good travel buddies?

Well, first, you’ll need a world phone that supports the four GSM networks (850/900/1800/1900). T-Mobile and AT&T phones already offer this compatibility, but Sprint and Verizon Wireless customers will have to check their carrier’s respective lineup for a handset that offers dual-mode CDMA/GSM technology.

To make it a bit easier for you, below you’ll find a selection of some of the latest and greatest smartphones that will support international networks. You’ll also want to check and sign up for international calling and data plans, so you don’t return home to a shocking cell phone bill. Alternatively, you can purchase an unlocked phone, which isn’t tied to a service provider, so you can insert a prepaid SIM card from a local carrier while overseas to save money. Some of the U.S. carriers will also unlock the SIM (for example, Verizon has a policy where it will unlock the included SIM if you’ve been a customer for more than 60 days and are in good financial standing) so you can do the same.

Our quick guide to world phones provides a more in-depth explanation on the topic and is definitely worth a read if you’re new to the subject, but if you’re simply after some recommendations, head on over to our roundup of the latest world phones.

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SMART PHONE EXODUS BY INVESTORS

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Reuters) – Smartphones may have good looks and a lot of whiz-bang features, but this week they just have a bad reputation.

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IS GOOGLE ANDROID -SAMSUNG THREATENED BY APPLES FALSE PATENTS?

Google’s chief legal officer has launched a blistering attack on competitors, including Apple, for attempting to stifle innovation by using “bogus patents” to target Google’s Android partners including Samsung.

David Drummond, who is also Google’s senior vice-president, wrote in an explosive blog post that the patent wars were pushing up the prices of Android smartphones and tablets. This was part of a “hostile, organised campaign” being waged by Apple, Microsoft and others to “strangle” Android, which Google provides free of charge.

His remarks come after Apple succeeded in hobbling the Australian launch of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 after accusing it in the Federal Court this week of infringing 10 Apple patents including the “look and feel” and touchscreen technology of the iPad.

Mr Drummond implied that Microsoft and Apple were getting “into bed together” to stifle Android’s success. He revealed that more than 550,000 Android devices were being activated worldwide every day through a network of 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers.

He said this competition was yielding “cool new devices and amazing mobile apps for consumers”.

“But Android’s success has yielded something else: a hostile, organised campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents,” he wrote.

Apple sought injunctions preventing Samsung from selling or advertising the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia – and demanded all of Samsung’s stock be sent to it to be destroyed.

Samsung has agreed not to market the US version of the tablet in Australia but has said it will launch a modified version and has agreed to send Apple samples of the device seven days before it goes on sale. It is likely Apple will also seek injunctions preventing the sale of the Australian version upon receiving the samples.

Patent experts claim that Samsung will not be able to modify the tablet sufficiently to avoid infringing Apple’s broad and far-reaching patents on multi-touch, gestures, list scrolling and other features.

Separately, the FOSS Patents blog has broken down some of the patents in question and argues it will be difficult for any Android maker to escape an Apple infringement suit.

Apple is suing Samsung in nine other countries as well and has launched other legal attacks on HTC and Motorola for allegedly infringing its patents with Android devices and stealing its ideas. Google itself faces patent suits from Oracle, which seeks billions of dollars in damages, claiming Google’s Android infringes its Java patents.

Mr Drummond cited these patent battles as well as the fact that a consortium including Microsoft and Apple recently bought thousands of Novell and Nortel’s old patents and were using them to demand a $US15 licensing fee for every Android device. He said this would make it more expensive for phone manufacturers to license Android than Windows Mobile.

“Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it,” he wrote.

“A smartphone might involve as many as 250,000 (largely questionable) patent claims, and our competitors want to impose a ‘tax’ for these dubious patents that makes Android devices more expensive for consumers. They want to make it harder for manufacturers to sell Android devices. Instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation.”

Mr Drummond said this was an “anti-competitive strategy” designed to “strangle” Android.

Google has responded by attempting to buy up its own cache of patents and has hired one of the US Federal Trade Commission’s top patent lawyers. Despite its criticisms of Apple and Microsoft for joining to buy Nortel’s patents for $US4.5 billion, Google also put in a bid.

Microsoft’s general counsel Brad Smith fired back with a tweet: “Google says we bought Novell patents to keep them from Google. Really? We asked them to bid jointly with us. They said no.”

Microsoft’s PR team backed Smith’s tweet up with a picture of an email that appears to corroborate his remarks.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has previously accused Apple of responding to Android’s success with lawsuits rather than innovation.

“We have not done anything wrong and these lawsuits are just inspired by our success,” he said last month, commenting on Apple’s battle with HTC.

Kimberlee Weatherall, an Australian intellectual property lawyer, blogger and academic, wrote on The Conversation website that “the breadth of monopoly Apple is claiming” over basic smartphone features was “breathtaking”.

“I’d like to think Apple won’t be able to maintain a claim that broad, but in patent law, you never know – it all depends on what existed before the date of the patent,” Ms Weatherall said.

One of the patents “seems to cover most commands given using more than one finger on a touchscreen of any computing device (mobile phone, tablet, or anything else). Think ‘pinch to zoom’ and everything else”.

Technology companies, particularly Microsoft, Apple and Google, are buying up stacks of technology company patents in order both to demand licensing fees and to protect themselves from patent litigation by other companies.

In a recent interview with TechCrunch, Google general counsel Kent Walker argued that a patent wasn’t innovation but rather “the right to block someone else from innovating”.

“Patents are government-granted monopolies. We have them to reward innovation, but that’s not happening here.”

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Nokia slashes

7000 jobs

as it struggles

to compete

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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Your smartphone

spies on you

for Google, Apple

Charles Arthur

April 25, 2011 – 8:08AM

Apple and Google are using smartphones running their software to build gigantic databases for location-based services, according to new research following revelations that iPhones and devices running Android collect location data about owners’ movements.

iPhones and Android smartphones swap data – which does not contain information directly identifying the user or the phone – back and forth with their respective companies.

The news has led some European governments to announce investigations into whether either company is breaking privacy laws.

Samy Kamkar, a hacker and researcher, has shown that Android phones, which run on software written by Google, collect the location data every few seconds and store it in a local file, but also transmit it to Google several times an hour.

This functionality is almost certainly used in any phone that provides mapping services, meaning that similar files will exist in some form on all smartphones, including those from Nokia and BlackBerry-maker RIM. It is not known whether these models synchronise data from the phone to the companies’ servers as well as storing it locally on the handset.

Sources familiar with Google’s systems said the location data was used to help the phones orient themselves by identifying nearby mobile phone masts and wi-fi sources and comparing them with Google’s own database, with which they are synchronised continually. The file is also updated so that if the mobile signal is interrupted – for example when the user is on a train and goes into a tunnel – it will be able to re-establish contact more quickly by knowing which towers are in the vicinity.

Apple and Google are collecting the data, which amounts to an international map of the locations and unique identities of cell towers and wi-fi networks, to improve targeting of their adverts based around mobile phones.

In a letter to the US congress last July, Apple confirmed it collected the data and said that, in order to be useful, “the databases [of tower and network locations] must be updated continuously”.

The value of location-based services, which feature advertising, is reckoned to be $US2.9bn already and forecast by the research group Gartner to grow to $US8.3bn by 2014.

In 2009, Google itself pointed to the value for users of having Android phones upload real-time location data to its servers, suggesting it could give “a pretty good picture of live traffic conditions”. It said: “We continuously combine this data and send it back to you for free in the Google Maps traffic layers. It takes almost zero effort on your part – just turn on Google Maps for mobile before starting your car.”

A Google spokesman said Android phones explicitly asked to collect anonymous location data when users turned them on.

Apple iPhones and iPads also ask whether users want to have “location services” turned on, and the iPhone licence has a passage that says Apple “and its partners and licensees” may transmit, collect, maintain, process and use location data, including the real-time geographic location of the iPhone, though it points out that this is anonymised and can be disabled by turning off the “location services” feature.

However, even if users disable location services, the iPhone and Android phones are believed to continue storing locations of cell towers and wi-fi networks in what is known as a “neighbour list”.

Google’s list is limited to the most recent 50 cell masts and 200 wi-fi networks, while Apple’s list is retained for up to a year. Sources close to Apple have suggested the long-term retention may be an error which it will correct in a future software update.

Privacy advocates fear that although the data is anonymised, the Apple data is not encrypted and could be misused by law enforcement or others who wanted to capture information about someone’s movements.

One security researcher, Alex Levinson of Katana Forensics, said on Thursday that US law enforcement had already made use of the location data recorded by the iPhone in investigations.

Some police forces, such as those in Michigan, already carry readers that can copy all the files from a smartphone even if it is protected with a password, and that it has been used on motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union says such examination amounts to an “unreasonable search”, which would be illegal in the US.

In Germany, the Bavarian Agency for the Supervision of Data Protection said it would examine whether and why Apple’s devices were capturing the information, and that it had asked Apple for more information.

“If it is true that this information is being collected… without the approval and knowledge of the users, then it is definitely a violation of German privacy law,” Thomas Kranig, the agency’s director, told the New York Times.

Italy and France are expected to do the same. France’s data protection authority suggested that a major source of concern would be over whether Apple transferred any of the data to any commercial partners. “If the information is marketed without the knowledge of the consumer, it is much more serious,” Yann Padova of France’s CNIL said.

The Guardian

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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IPHONE APP FOR TESTING PULSE RATE

Measure Your Heart Rate Ever wanted to know how fast your heart is beating? It’s never been easier! Use your smartphone’s built-in camera to get an accurate reading almost instantly. Anytime, anywhere. * Authentic Visual Style Beautifully designed, authentic visual interface inspired by real-life medical equipment. Watch as every beat of your heart is drawn on paper and reported on the monochrome LCD screen below. * Interesting Facts Enjoy dozens of interesting, insightful and fun facts about the heart while you measure your pulse. Just don’t get too excited about them, it may interfere with the results… * Authentic Audio Design The stride for authenticity and the attention to detail carry over to the audio department, with convincing sound effects that wouldn’t sound out of place in a hospital. *** Operational Manual Step 1. Power on the device by tapping the START/STOP button. Step 2. Gently place the tip of your index finger over the camera, so that it covers the lens completely. Step 3. The readings will appear after a few seconds. The heart-shaped bars indicate measurement accuracy. Hint: If you are getting wrong readings (or none at all), please try adjusting the position of your finger on the camera lens. Also, please be sure to take measurements in a well-lit environment if your device does not have a torchlight. ******History and Profiles coming soon.****** Recent changes: * Added Droid / Droid X / Droid 2 support * Fixed broken ad overlay * Huge drawing optimization and performance boost * Various small bug fixes

Surced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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IBM smartphone app

predicts traffic jams

IBM’s Smarter Traveler initiative could soon be helping you find the quickest run into work.

IBM is testing smartphone software designed to predict traffic jams and warn motorists before they even take to the roads.

IBM said that its employees in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley areas of Northern California have been testing technology that “will ultimately help drivers around the world” avoid fouled traffic.

Those involved in the pilot project agree to have location-sensing capabilities in their smartphones automatically track where they drive and when, according to IBM Smarter Traveler program manager John Day.

The information is fed through the internet to computers that identify patterns such as commutes to and from work.

Meanwhile, data collected from roadway censors commonly used for online traffic maps is analysed to determine conditions that usually lead to trouble.

For example, congestion at a certain off-ramp or bridge entrance may consistently lead to traffic backing up in another area.

The results are combined to form personalised predictions of when a motorist is apt to run into highway headaches.

“We wanted to take advantage of analytic tools to provide predictive capabilities; to get correlations with minor slowdowns and major ones that happen after that,” Day told AFP.

“So you can run a query at any point for a journey and predict 35 or 40 minutes in advance what it will look like, then couple that with a personal approach for the individual traveler.”

IBM researchers worked with California state highway authorities and a Mobile Millennium Team at the University of Berkeley, California, on the project.

The smartphone application lets people receive customized alerts warning of probable traffic trouble before they set out on commutes or other routine drives.

The service is powered by a “first-of-its-kind learning and predictive analytics tool” called the Traffic Prediction Tool (TPT) developed by IBM Research.

TPT continuously analyses congestion data, commuter locations and expected travel start times throughout a metropolitan region that can affect commuters on highways, rail-lines and urban roads.

“The idea is to learn a traveler’s habits, then run it on the predictive model to see what traffic they can expect,” Day said.

“The objective was to make it much more personal and provide it to them just before they were about to leave.”

IBM researchers envision integrating real-time data from bus or train systems into the equation so the service could advise people when it would be smarter to divert to public transit.

Privacy protections included obscuring start and end points of trips as well as letting people manage their travel data online.

The pilot project has been going on for about five months.

“The predictive capabilities are head and shoulders above what exists today,” Day said. “Everything out there is showing you traffic as reported five or 10 minutes ago. Nobody does predictive.”

While testing is in California, IBM is intent on building a system that can work around the world.

“Unlike existing traffic alert solutions, we’re helping take the guesswork out of commuting,” said Stefan Nusser of IBM Almaden Services Research.

AFP

Received & published by Henry Sapiecha

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White iPhones ready

after 10 month delay:

sources

Apple CEO Steve Jobs poses with a white iPhone 4. Photo: Reuters 

Suppliers to Apple have begun production of white iPhones after a delay of almost 10 months, pointing to a launch date of within a month, two people familiar with the situation said today.

Hon Hai Precision Industry, flagship of Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, would assemble the iPhone, one of the people said. They declined to be named because the information was not public.

An Apple spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment, while calls to a Hon Hai spokesman went unanswered.

Apple senior vice-president of marketing Phil Schiller first said in a Twitter post in March that the white iPhone would be available for sale by spring, which ends in May in the northern hemisphere.

The white iPhone would be available in the US from AT&T and Verizon Communications by the end of April, Bloomberg News reported on its website, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs first unveiled the white version of the smartphone when the iPhone 4 was launched in June last year, but it has been delayed because of a manufacturing issue that the company has not elaborated on.

Many telecommunications operators have been eager to sell the iPhone, hoping that the feature-jammed device will help boost data network use and increase revenue. For example, China Mobile, the world’s biggest mobile operator, has been in talks with Apple for more than a year on distribution rights for the handset.

More than 16 million iPhones were sold in the last quarter of 2010, accounting for more than a third of Apple’s sales in those three months.

Reuters

Received & published by Henry Sapiecha

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Your mobile phone is watching you … closely
While most of us know it is theoretically possible for our movements to be tracked by detecting which tower our mobile phone is connected too, it might come as a shock to see just how much of a digital footprint we leave as we go about our daily lives. German Green Party politician Malte Spitz and German newspaper Die Zeit have provided a frightening insight into just how much information can be gleaned from the digital breadcrumbs we drop every day by creating an interactive map showing Spitz’s movements and activities over a five month period based on mobile phone data and information freely available on the internet. Read More

Want spy equipment contact >> admin@acbocallcentre.com

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

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