Archive for category Apple
iPhone to get 4.6-inch Retina display, report says
Apple is said to have yet another product in the pipeline with a Retina display, and this time it’s an iPhone with a really big screen, according to a report from Reuters.
Apple is purportedly already placing orders with suppliers for a 4.6-inch iPhone Retina display, Reuters said today, citing a report in South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper. The phone is due in the second quarter, according to the report.
If accurate, that would be Apple’s third device with a Retina display. The others include the just-released 9.7-inch iPad and the 3.5-inch iPhone 4S.
The 960-by-640-pixel Retina display on the iPhone packs in 326 pixels per inch while the new iPad’s 2,048-by-1,536-pixel screen squeezes in 264 pixels per inch.
A relatively massive–for a smartphone, that is–4.6-inch glass screen would be a big step for Apple from the 3.5-inch iPhone. A larger phone may also allow Apple to include updated chips such as the A5X. That chip’s marquee feature is quad-core graphics.
Source: cnet
Apple Quantifies Their iPad “Record Weekend”: 3 Million Sold In 3 Days
Earlier today, AT&T announced record sales and activation numbers for the new iPad. During the Apple dividend/buyback call, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke of a “record weekend” for the new iPad. Unfortunately, neither had actual numbers to share. And that was odd since normally when Apple has a new record number to crow about, crow they do. This was more of an Amazon maneuver where “records” are set by products selling 4x of another unstated number.
Turns out Tim Cook just didn’t want to spoil the surprise. Apple has just issued a release with their actual sales numbers for the first weekend of the new iPad. And the numbers are big. Very big. Three million iPads sold in the first three days big.
So how does that stack up to the previous versions of the iPad? Well, Apple didn’t officially announce first weekend sales for the iPad 2, likely because they were very constrained. Analyst estimates pegged the number sold somewhere between 500,000 to somewhere just north of 1 million. So even using the bullish numbers, this iPad launch was roughly 3x as large as the launch last year.
Two years ago, Apple sold 300,000 iPads on the first day of sales. Again, the pace here seems to be about 3x that. For comparisons sake, Apple sold 4 million units of the iPhone 4S in its first weekend late last year.
Over the weekend, a few analysts were jumping over one another to be the first to predict timid sales of the new iPad. Those analysts, once again, now look like huge assclowns.
The quote part of the release below:
“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”
Source: techcrunch
PSA: Apple offering up to $320 if you trade in your iPad 2 in reuse and recycling program
Eyeing the iPad 3, but have yet to take the pre-order plunge? Per The Next Web, your patience is about to be rewarded as Apple’s updated its Reuse and Recycling program, which means owners of iPad 2s in “good condition” can sling them back to their maker in exchange for an Apple Store gift card. How much the mothership will subsequently send back naturally varies on what iPad 2 you’ve got — ranging anywhere from $205 for the base 16GB WiFi model, all the way to $320 for the most capacious 64GB WiFi + 3G variant. Or you could try your luck with similar programs such as eBay’s Instant Sale or the one from Cupertino’s tablet rival to the north. And would you look at that, we’ve even gone ahead and put links to all three just below.
Source: The Next Web
Western Digital MyBook Thunderbolt Duo is available now starting at $600
Back at Macworld, we laid our peepers on Western Digital’s MyBook Thunderbolt Duo and were able to take a demo setup for a quick spin. Now, the dual-wielding external HDDs are officially on the market. You can snag 4TB (2x 2TB) and 6TB (2x 3TB) versions of this “über-fast” MyBook for $599 and $699, respectively. Don’t forget: you can daisy chain up to six of these bad boys via the dual Thunderbolt ports on the kit’s backside (if you have quite the piggy bank, of course) — just like the four-unit set we encountered sporting 700MB/sec read and 500MB/sec write speeds in RAID 0. WD also says the storage devices are Time Machine compatible as soon as you can unpack ‘em. If you’re anxious to grab one of your own, hit the source link below to part with your funds. And for a quick refresher, take a gander at the gallery below.
Source: Western Digital
Apple iPad 3 Specifications, and Price
Apple has announced iPad 3, the New iPad at iPad media event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In following you can find the iPad 3 specifications, iPad 3 prices, and preorders information.
iPad 3 Specifications
- A5X processor
- Retina display, 2048 x 1536 resolution
- 44% greater saturation
- iSight 5 megapixel camera, with 1080p video recording
- HSPA+, LTE support
- Battery life 10 hours
- 3G, 4G, LTE
iPad 3 Price
- 16GB $499
- 32GB $599
- 64GB $699
- 16GB$629 (4G)
- 32GB $729 (4G)
- 64GB $829 (4G)
iPad 3 preorders will start today.
iPad 3 Launch Photos
Adobe unveils Photoshop Touch for iPad 2 at MWC, slate-style photo editing for $10
Keeping its promise to include iOS users in the Photoshop-enabled slate party, Adobe has announced the arrival of its Photoshop Touch iPad app today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Sporting a number of core PS features and new tools especially designed for use on tablets, the new release joins the Adobe Touch Apps family with further iOS software expected to drop in the coming months. This mobile version of Photoshop enables users to create layered images from several different photos, make edits, apply pro-style effects, touch up photos and carry out several other essential tasks directly on their Apple slate.
A Scribble Selection Tool makes for easy deletion of unwanted objects simply by scribbling on what’s a keeper and then on what needs to go. Refine Edge technology offers some help for those tedious soft-edged selections and integration with both Facebook and Google Image Search makes sharing your edits a breeze. The aforementioned upcoming iOS releases include Collage (moodboards), Debut (presenting and reviewing work), Ideas (sketches), Kuler (color exploration) and Proto (web and mobile application prototyping). But for now, you can snag Photoshop Touch for your iOS 5 wielding iPad 2 from the iTunes App Store for $9.99. If you’re in search of some more details before taking the leap, hit the gallery of screenshots or the full PR below.
Apple sold more iOS devices in the year 2011 than all the Macs it sold in 28 years
CRAZY STATS for Apple.
There’s an amazing quote from Tim Cook about the 55 million Ipads sold so far.
This 55 is something no one would have guessed. Including us. To put it in context, it took us 22 years to sell 55 million Macs. It took us about 5 years to sell 22 million iPods, and it took us about 3 years to sell that many iPhones. And so, this thing is, as you said, it’s on a trajectory that’s off the charts.
The Next-Generation MacBook Pro 2012
Have no doubt about this: Apple is revamping their MacBook Pro line in 2012 in a radical way—not merely evolutionary. We know this not because of the usual rumors, but because there is no way this will not happen.
This is what we expect.
A radical but logical change
When Steve Jobs said that the MacBook Air was the future of laptops, he was right. To the disgust of a vocal minority, Apple destroyed lots of ancient technology with the Air. They simplified its guts and squeezed its industrial design to create an amazing machine. The result was a huge success—and the whole industry started their photocopiers once again.
It’s only logical that they will take the same steps with their MacBook Pro. It’s not only a rational consequence of the Air, it’s also extremely convenient for their bottom lineand their public image: The new MacBook Pros—and not the beefed-up iPad 3—will be the first real test for the new executive team at Apple.
They need to make a statement. Here’s how.
Faster guts
The new MacBook Pro will use Ivy Bridge, the new Intel 22-nanometer architecture with 3D transistors that will provide quite a speed boost over the current MacBooks. Intel estimates that it Ivy Bridge will provide a 20 percent performance boost with comparable Sandy Bridge laptops. Ivy Bridge also provides a 30 percent boost in integrated graphics performance, although these machines will use something stronger to drive graphic intensive applications (more on this later).
No hard drives
Screw the hard drives. It’s antiquated technology with a negative impact on battery life. Apple loves SSD and Apple users love SSD. They may not be the cheapest, but it’s the fastest, safest and most power efficient storage technology for mobile devices. Moving their entire laptop line to SSD will also give them more buying power, which will help them keep the same price and benefit margins.
SSDs are also key for speed. In fact, for most consumers, it’s also one of the key factors to boosting speed perception, even more than the processor and the graphic cards. When everything loads and saves almost instantly, people instantly get it, which is what happened with the Air.
No legacy stuff
The new MacBook Pro 2012 line will get rid of legacy technology. That means no more optical drives, and no more Ethernet port and FireWire. These machines will have nothing but a bunch of Thunderbolt and USB ports, plus the SD memory card reader, just like the MacBook Air. By taking this out, the new machines will save space and simplify the electronics on board.
I can’t remember the last time I used my optical drive. All my media and application consumption goes through online services, like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and iTunes. Apple and thousands of developers have already shifted to 100% digital downloads for software distribution. The optical drive is dead.
And I can’t remember the last time I used my Ethernet port. Most consumers are in the same position. And while FireWire is the only point of conflict I may have—since I use it for backups and extra disk space—an adapter will easily an cheaply take care of any legacy equipment. In fact, there’s plenty of Thunderbolt adapters at this point, for FireWire, Gigabit Ethernet, and even PC Cards.
Retina-ish display
The machines will have a high definition Retina-ish display. This is part of Apple’s ongoing move to HiDPI.
How much? They will not be as dense as the iPhone’s 326 pixels per inch—which is as high as your average printed page—but they will be close enough. The current 15-inch MacBook has a 128-pixel-per-inch display (1440 by 900 pixels), while the 17-inch runs at 133 pixels per inch (1920 by 1200 pixels). These relative resolutions are similar to the current MacBook Airs.
The question now is if they would be able to double these resolutions to 2880 by 1800 pixels and 3840 by 2400 pixels. It seems insane and there’s no evidence of anyone manufacturing these kind of displays.
But we know that there are graphic cards that can push that kind of power. We also know that, before the iPhone 4 came out, nobody had heard of a 326ppi Retina Display before. Apple had bought all of them and they kept the lid on them until the iPhone 4 was announced.
Perhaps Apple will just increase the resolution to 180 or 200ppi. Given the distance from your eyes to the screen, 200ppi will be enough to achieve close to the effect of a “retina” display in the iPhone, the point in which you can’t see pixels. And still, it will be a lot of extra pixels.
Killer graphics
All those extra pixels will require a lot of graphic muscle. Apple uses AMD Radeon graphics in all their MacBooks now, so most probably they will stick with them. AMD is set to introduce their new high end, mobile 28nm process graphics engine in the second quarter of 2012. They will be part of the Radeon HD 7700m family.
If Apple continues with AMD, the top of the line MacBooks will likely use the HD 7770M (their current notebooks us the HD 6670M). Given the boost in resolution, I wouldn’t be surprised if the highest end came with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. The current top of the line MacBook has 1GB of GGDR5 RAM. The cheaper option could be the HD 7750M, with 1GB of GGDR5 memory.If Apple decided to change with Nvidia, it’s not clear what would they use. Someone leaked that Samsung’s Ivy Bridge laptop would use a Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M with 2GB DDR5, but GTX graphics would probably run too hot to be incorporated into a super-slim product like the MacBook Pro 2012.
Redesigned enclosure
That will be the biggest selling point of these new MacBook Pros. These things will have a super-slim wedge profile. Perhaps even more so than the Macbook Air, given that they will have a largest surface to spread the components. They will also be really light compared to the current machines, all thanks to the saving achieved by getting rid of so much legacy crap. Although maybe they will be less aggressive on the weight shaving and increase the space used by the battery.
Battery capacity
Something that will make everyone extremely happy and will be truly disruptive: some insane battery life. Given the reduction of components and the lack of a hard drive, an increased battery life seems more than reasonable no matter what. If they decide to increase the amount of battery cells, then maybe we could witness a laptop that will run for an entire work day on a single battery charge. Or close enough. If Apple is going radical on these, I would expect a radical battery life.
One more thing: Full surface trackpad
This is something that has been rumored before, but now I believe it may happen: the entire palmrest of the new MacBook 2012 will be a multitouch trackpad. It’s obvious that, technologically, Apple can accomplish this. But they would not do it just because they can. They would do it mainly for two reasons.
The first, because the full surface would be the cornerstone for the final step in the metamorphosis of Mac OS X. A metamorphosis that started with the success of multitouch and direct interface manipulation on iPhone and iPad.
But there’s perhaps a more important reason for the introduction of such an innovation: the “one more thing” factor. Cook and the new executive team need to show the world that they have what it takes, that they can keep innovating and pulling rabbits out of their hats just like the old boss did. He would have gone something like this:
“But why have just a trackpad? The current trackpad is very good, but too limiting. What about if we could give you the entire palmrest as a trackpad? It’s a hard technological challenge, but we found a way to differenciate between your palms and your fingers, so your MacBook doesn’t get confused and you can use multitouch with Mac OS X as easy as you can do it in your iPad! So we did it. We are eliminating the little trackpad and giving you a trackpad when you can freely use multitouch. We love it. And we think you will love it too. Let me show it to you.”
Showing the world that they can pull something like this will be the perfect “Yes We Can Kick Ass Without Steve” statement from Cook’s Apple. Because, even while they have their amazing economic results, they need to demonstrate the world that they can keep “making magic” happen for a long time.
Source: gizmodo
Apple Releases iOS 5.0.1 To Fix iOS 5 Battery Issues
Remember those frustrating iOS 5 battery issues? It looks like they’re about to be a thing of the past, as Apple has just released an update to its iOS mobile operating system, iOS 5.0.1, designed to fix the problem. The software update includes a few of other tweaks, too, including bug fixes for document syncing via iCloud, the addition of multi-tasking gestures for iPad 1 and improved voice recognition for Australian users.
After customer complaints filled Apple’s Support Forums, the company admitted to finding “a few bugs that are affecting battery life” and promised an update shortly. It was difficult to pinpoint the cause of the battery drains, with a number of suspected culprits being called out, including a calendar bug, a time zone bug and issues with iOS 5′s location services.
No matter what the exact cause (or causes) was, it looks like we’ll find out soon if Apple has fixed the problem for good. If you’re not seeing the update pop up in iTunes, click the “Update” button to force iTunes to check for it from the iPhone’s summary page.
The iTunes download is 790 MB in size and is taking around 10 minutes to download at present. There’s also a 44.6 MB OTA delta update available that will show up for users connected to Wi-Fi sometime today, if it hasn’t already.
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