Area SmartPhone

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Virgin Mobile Offering iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c at 100 Off Regular Prices

In line with its previous announcement, Virgin Mobile USA began sales of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c yesterday, with the prepaid Sprint brand offering a $100 discount from normal unsubsidized pricing.

The 16 GB iPhone 5s is priced at $549 through Virgin Mobile, while the 16 GB iPhone 5c is selling for $449. Those models will be available both online and in retail stores while the 32 GB and 64 GB iPhone 5s and 32GB iPhone 5c are only available at Virgin Mobiles website.

Supplies appear to be somewhat limited at launch, with the yellow 16 GB iPhone 5c and all 32 GB iPhone 5c models with the exception of blue listed as out of stock. As for the iPhone 5s, all three gold variants and the silver 16 GB model are also unavailable. Interestingly, the 16 GB iPhone 5 remains available for $549, $100 more than the iPhone 5c, suggesting that pricing on the new models could be temporary.

Virgin Mobile first started carrying the iPhone in June 2012 with both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s. It did not start selling the iPhone 5 until this June, nine months after the former flagship phone debuted on major U.S. carriers.

Data source: via MacRumors (By Husain Sumra)

iPhone 5s Orders Begin in the United States and Canada

Apple started taking orders for its flagship iPhone 5s in the U.S. and Canada at midnight Pacific Time after the phone launched earlier today in 8 other countries around the world. Most locales have seen tight supplies of all capacities and colors, with the gold model said to be particularly difficult to come by.

The iPhone 5s is available directly from Apple via the Apple Online Store and the Apple Store iOS App [Direct Link], with the iOS app historically more resilient against traffic surges than the online store.

Initial orders from the Apple Online Store will ship within 1-3 days.

In the U.S., Apple is selling the 16GB iPhone 5s on most carriers for $199 with a two-year contract, while the 32GB and 64GB versions are $299 and $399 respectively. T-Mobile is offering the 5s for $99 down plus 24 monthly payments of $22.91 per month.

There is also an unlocked GSM version of the 5s available for $649 (16GB), $749 (32GB), and $849 (64GB). All capacities come in Space Grey, Silver, or Gold.

The iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c, with the latter available for pre-order for the past week, will be available in U.S. Apple Retail, carrier and select third-party reseller stores beginning later today. Lines are already forming at retail outlets around the country.

In the U.S., iPhone 5s orders are available from:

Apple:
- Apple Online Store
- Apple Store iOS App

Carriers:
- AT&T
- Verizon
- Sprint
- T-Mobile

Third-Party Resellers:
- Walmart (In-Store Only, iPhone 5s 16GB available for $189)
- Best Buy (In-Store Only)
- Radio Shack (In-Store Only)
- Target (In-Store Only)

Data source: via MacRumors By Jordan Golson

Apple Released Second Beta of iOS 8 to Developers

Just two weeks after the unveiling the new operating system at WWDC, Apple yesterday released the second beta of iOS 8 to developer, The update, build number 12A4297e, the beta 2 is available through Apples over-the-air updating system on iOS devices and via iOS Dev Center.

iOS 8 has come with several new features, including improved integration with OS X through Continuity, Family Sharing features, interactive notifications, a Health app, QuickType, and improvements to several apps like Messages, Safari, Siri, and Mail.

iOS 8 beta 2 also contains several tweaks, such as Podcasts app is now preinstalled, while in current builds, users who want to use the app have to download it from the App Store, Safari is able to block ads that redirect to the App Store, and a new introduction screen for Private Browsing in Safari. You can take a look at all changes in the new beta of iOS 8.

iOS 8 is available to developer in nowadays, the public release is expected to be in the fall, likely alongside the announcement of the new iPhone version.

Here are the direct download links (you need to a member of iOS Developer program to access them)

iPad

iPad Air (Model A1474)
iPad Air (Model A1475)
iPad Air (Model A1476)
iPad mini (Model A1489)
iPad mini (Model A1490)
iPad mini (Model A1491)
iPad (4th generation Model A1458)
iPad (4th generation Model A1459)
iPad (4th generation Model A1460)
iPad mini (Model A1432)
iPad mini (Model A1454)
iPad mini (Model A1455)
iPad Wi-Fi (3rd generation)
iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for ATT)
iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for Verizon)
iPad 2 Wi-Fi (Rev A)
iPad 2 Wi-Fi
iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (GSM)
iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (CDMA)

iPhone:

iPhone 5s (Model A1453, A1533)
iPhone 5s (Model A1457, A1518, A1528, A1530)
iPhone 5c (Model A1456, A1532)
iPhone 5c (Model A1507, A1516, A1526, A1529)
iPhone 5 (Model A1428)
iPhone 5 (Model A1429)
iPhone 4s

iPod touch:

iPod touch (5th generation)

Read also

iOS 8 Features

Take a Look of Some Hidden Features in iOS 8 (Video)

Photos App in iOS 8

Among the apps that knew a set of improvements in iOS 8 is the Photos app, both in terms of editing or organizing. The app in iOS 7 knew a quantum leap, so is received a new organizational system divided into Years, Collections, and Moments, that facilitated photos browsing and allowing you to sharing a set of photos at once within a certain collection, rather than on an individual basis.

In the current Photos app you can through Photo Stream feature when you enable it from iCloud settings to store up to 1000 photos on your iCloud account, while in iOS 8 with renamed feature to become "iCloud Photo Library" you can storing unlimited photos, initially you get 5GB of iCloud storage free. Those photos keep on the same pattern, so are organized into Moments, Collections, and years, you can add, edit, reorganize, and create albums, from any other device. that tied to the same iCloud account.

Finding a specific image become very easy, that thanks to a new tool search which lets you to look for your photo by the date, time, location, or album name. also enabling you to customise your search through a set of suggestions. The search button located at the top of the screen within the app.

Apple has also sought to improve some image processing tools, so you dont need to lot of skills to get a satisfactory result. In addition to the current ﬁlters and editing tools, now with "Smart composition", Photos app can automatically straighten horizons, even after you take your photo. And with "Smart adjustments" you can modify the overall light and color with a single control, Photos app in the background intelligently adjusts brightness, exposure, contrast, vibrancy and more. You will get these "Smart adjustments" when you select an individual image. Apple has also allowed app developers in iOS 8 to add their own filters and editing tools to Photos app.

App Photos in iOS 8 also brought a new layout to the Albums, you can now find instead of "Camera Roll" and "My Photo Stream" in iOS 7, a set of new albums like "Recently Added", "Recently Deleted," "Favorites," "Time-Lapse," "Bursts" and more. This will make browsing of those albums contents very easy.

Favorite photos

iOS 8 makes it very easy to select your favorite photos, so you can easily access them later, that just by taping on a heart symbol at the bottom of an individual photo. Special access of these photos will be through Albums by Favorite album.

Recently Deleted

Photos app in iOS 8 with "Recently Deleted." album gieves you the ability to recover the recent deleted photos in case you’ve deleted them accidentally. You will note items in Recently Deleted album contains an indicator shows the time remaining for the photos to be permanently deleted. By default 30 days after being marked for deletion.

The showing photos and videos in the Recently Deleted album, means these deleted photos and video will remain take up a space on your device for 30 days. Thus to free up your iPhone or iPad space you must delete these photos, but without the ability to recover them again. When you select a photo in Recently Deleted album you will get two options at bottom to Delete or Recover it.

Recently Added

As for "Recently Added" album is contains the photos or videos that you have added in the recent 30 days, you hove to know Recently Added is not a substitute for Camera Roll album in older iOS versions, so is not contains all photos that you have in Photos app, this available from collections view.

Time-lapse

Time-lapse album will contains photos that captured by new "Time-lapse" Camera mode. The new mode captures a series of images and then compiles them into a time-lapse video. The video below shown a number of nice clips that have been captured by Time-Lapse mode here are the Apples description of the mode.

A new mode comes to Camera: Time-lapse videos.
Capture the experience of the sun setting, a city street bustling, or a flower blooming with the new Time-lapse mode in Camera. iOS 8 does all the work, snapping photos at dynamically selected intervals. The result is a video showing an accelerated sequence of the photos over time. Just set up your device to shoot what you want. Swipe to select Time-lapse mode, tap the Record button, and let Camera record as long as you choose.

Hidden Photos

Now There are also the ability to hide your photos from the Moments, Collections, and Years view, but stil being visible in the albums view. To hide a photo hold a finger on it, to appear a pop-up, select "Hide" and confirm.

Location info

Now the Photos app displays the location where a photo was taken above a selected photo, addition to the date and time.

Last Updated

Photos received a new notification "Last Updated" lets users to know when images were last synced to iCloud. Theres also an iCloud Photo Settings option, you can get it through "iCloud" setting in "Photos" section, the option empowers you to store full resolution photos just in iCloud, while keeping device-optimized versions available on the device to save storage space.

In addition to Photos app there are also others app that knew significant updates like Messages, Mail, Siri you can take a look at these changes and other hidden features and changes in iOS 8 from here.

Read also:

How to Delete Photos from iPhone?

iOS 8 Features

A Comprehensive list of iOS 8 Hidden Features and Changes and how Can Be Accessed7 Apps that Every iPhone Photographer Should Use

Optrix, The Rugged, Underwater iPhone 5 Case For Photographers

A Tiny iPhone Photography Studio Built Into a Moleskine Notebook

How To Take Long Exposure Photographs On Your iPhone

Need more space on your iPhone? How to quickly delete all photos from your Camera Roll

iPhone scores big in Japan for October

Apple has scored a huge win in Japan in October with the release of the iPhone 5s and 5c, according to a note from research firm Kantar Worldpanel. In that month, Apples two latest handsets took a whopping 76% of smartphone sales in the country. As Japan and the rest of Asia are increasingly becoming the most important market for Americas technology giants, this is sure to be news Apple will be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

But perhaps the biggest winner is Japans DoCoMo, the countrys largest carrier who until this fall had never offered the iPhone. DoCoMo had been shedding customers for years because it wasnt carrying Apples device, but now the company has seen a massive boost in sales, with 61% of their handsets sold in the month of October being the iPhone.

Data source: via TUAW (By Michael Grothaus)