Apple : Apple iPhone 5C arrives with plastic body in tow |
- Apple iPhone 5C arrives with plastic body in tow
- Updated: iOS 7 release date, news and features
- Apple reveals iOS stats: 700 millionth iOS device shipping in October
- Exclusive: 'Walking away from Apple helped make it great,' says Atari founder
| Apple iPhone 5C arrives with plastic body in tow Posted:  A new, cheap iPhone is here for your consideration. The Apple iPhone 5C went from plasticized dream to hard and fast reality at Cupertino's international press event today. Apple CEO Tim Cook stood up on stage and said that Apple is "really excited" about the new, cheaper iPhone. Available in a variety of colors, including green, white, red, blue, and yellow, the phone is "made from all the incredible technology of the iPhone 5," Cook said. Along with the iPhone 5S, also made official today, the iPhone 5C is replacing the current iPhone 5. 'Beautifully, unapologetically plastic'Apple spent a while justifying the iPhone 5C's garish plastic body, saying it's "beautifully, unapologetically plastic," but considering how cheap the new iPhone is most people probably won't complain. The 16GB version will be $99 (about £63, AU$107) on a two-year contract, and the 32GB iPhone 5C will be just $199 (about £126, AU$215). Apple described the iPhone 5C today as being entirely one part, with no seams or joints along the back and sides, and made of denser hard-coated polycarbonate than is typical on mobiles. The cheaper iPhone 5C sports essentially the same specs as the existing iPhone 5, including the A6 chip (unlike the new iPhone 5S's A7), a 4 inch Retina display, an 8-megapixel camera, and Bluetooth 4.0. The front camera is reportedly improved, though, allowing for higher-quality FaceTime chats in low light. There are also new software additions with iOS 7, including a new camera app, live photo filters, and 3x video zoom - and the new OS will even match the color of your iPhone 5C. |
| Updated: iOS 7 release date, news and features Posted:  iOS 7 - all the latest newsApple has launched the all-new iOS 7, featuring a radically overhauled interface, new Control Center, transparent animations and more. The new system will be available for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, the iPad 2, iPad third and fourth generation, the iPad mini and the iPod touch fifth generation, likely due to some of the more powerful needs of the new OS. The last major iOS 6 update for Apple's mobile devices was mostly hit, but there was a big Maps-shaped miss. Lots of people were rightly angry about Apple ditching Google data, but beyond that mis-step there were things to like: a more useful Siri (App launching plus the recognition that a world exists outside of the USA), shared Photo Streams, handy Phone app controls such as 'send to voicemail', and major improvements to Mail, Safari, accessibility and the Camera app. However, with the new iOS 7 update we've been given the all-new interface, as well as new ways to control the phone and make sure that you don't have to worry about fumbling around in the dark for the torch. It's interesting to note there was nothing about Apple Maps on the iOS being improved, although it did state that its 'developers have been making great improvements to Maps' as well as bringing new features - as well as mapping information being pushed directly to iDevices from a larger Mac or MacBook. iOS 7 release dateAt the iPhone launch, Apple announced that the iOS 7 release date was September 18 and it will be available for iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. In terms of other devices, iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPad 4 will all be getting the shiny new iOS 7, as will the iPod 5th generation. It's been in beta for developers for a while, so there should be plenty of apps on the way to boot. We had heard earlier in the year that the new iOS would turn up on our iPad and iPhone devices a little later than usual: John Gruber claiming that iOS 7 is "running behind", with engineers being pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it. iOS 7 designA greater synergy between hardware and software design is something Apple is looking to achieve as it moves towards iOS 7. We saw the most overt 'leak' of iOS 7 from Apple-loving site 9to5 Mac, before the launch, and it looks like it was bang on the money with the render it created from the preview it was shown.
In reality, we saw a heavily-overhauled new operating system, one that bore more than a few similarities to Nokia's MeeGo in colour and layout. For instance, the icons have been given a more 'rounded' feel, as well as being given a colour overhaul. The font has also been tweaked as well, with some fancy-looking schematics showing how some things have been changed height wise... although it does look pretty similar though. Control Center is now a pervasive part of the whole ecosystem, allowing users to swipe up from the bottom of the screen to control everything from the Airplane Mode to the integrated Flashlight. Music is still available in this screen, while you can also control the brightness on screen without having to exit the app.
This isn't the most novel of systems, and was already in place when it comes to music and brightness control; but at least now it looks much nicer and there's a torch/flashlight to play with as well. The notifications bar is now a full-screen affair, and will also be available on the lock screen, meaning you won't need to wander around through the redesigned number pad any more to see who wants to play some boring game with you. The lock screen has been updated in the latest beta 5 version of iOS 7 to make it cleaner with less clutter, removing the step by step instructions to actually getting into your phone. A new version of iOS 7 has shown that there will be some icon tweaks from the version showed on stage; they won't be massive, but an encompassing square is a lot nicer to look at in our opinion.
We've seen a few renders now of how this will all look on the iPad screen too - everything looks a lot more flat, and older apps will draw in information from iTunes online in order to get the flatter version of icons.
iOS 7 featuresApple decided that while there were a large number of enhancements to get excited by in the new release of the software, there were ten that it wanted to get properly excited over and tell the world about. While the design was overhauled, the internal bits and pieces were something of a more incremental upgrade, but one that showed Apple was looking to the future in its battle against Android. What's interesting is the code seems to have unveiled a little factoid about the iPhone 5S: apparently it will have a fingerprint scanner, thanks to baked in biometric ability. But here's what you'll need to know about the OS that's coming to your current device: Control CenterControl Center is one of the big ones, as it now allows you to control the main guts of the phone; swiping up from anywhere on your iPhone or iPad will bring up the new hub for loads of options no matter where you are.
It's been given the same translucent sheen as with most of the iOS 7 updates, but gives a lot of space up to the music player and brightness controls, as well as making AirDrop and AirPlay the stars of the show at the bottom. AirdropYou're probably impressed with our segue there: Airdrop is now finally available on iDevices, allowing you to share anything from an app that supports Share Sheet. A quick tap on the screen will give you access to the functionality - Apple didn't miss the chance to mock the need to tap the phones together on Android here - and you can share multiple items at once by adding in more caresses of the screen. Gesture controlHere's something that's popped up post-launch: the idea of gesture control within the new operating system. It's been picked up in the developer beta, which include "Edge Swipe", "Corner Swipe" and "Press-and-Hold". Plus folders into folders looks likely to appear... but it's all getting a bit Inception for our liking. iTunes Radio and MusicMusic is obviously a big thing over at Apple and the Cupertino-based firm reckons the player it's chucked into in iOS 7 is "the best music player we have ever done". Instead of showing just the music stored on your iDevice, the Music app on iOS 7 also adds in your library stored on iCloud, allowing you to view all your tracks in one place.
Turn your iPhone to landscape mode and a wall of album art tiles appear which you can slide sideways through, and tapping on one will zoom you into that album. But wait, what's that coming over the hill? Is it an integrated music service with access to millions of tracks streamed to your device, is it an integrated music service with access to millions of tracks streamed to your device? (Please note: this is not repetition. It's a very boring joke, that you can understand here.) SafariSafari has gained something of an update, with the same visual overhaul coming to the browser to allow dynamic resizing of the URL bar, giving you more space to see what's on the screen, as well as allowing you to slide back and forth through your browser history. One cool feature is the updated bookmarks element, which sits on the start screen of the iDevice, and collates links posted through your Twitter friends in one place for easier information discovery - meaning you don't have to worry about that pesky Twitter app if all you like doing is passively watching your stream.
The Tab system has been updated visually too - you're no longer are limited to eight tabs open, as the new 3D rendering will allow you practically limitless tabs open at once, which can also be synchronised across multiple accounts and machines thanks to iCloud Tabs. CameraThe camera app has been given something of an overhaul - there's not a lot of extra functionality added in, more a change on the layout taking things to a simplier, swipe-friendly interface which has a few more options than on iOS 6. You do get some extra features in the shape of various lens shapes including square, circle and panorama elements to lay over the top of your snaps in iOS 7, while live photo filters let you see what your subject will look like in a multitude of effects before you even hit the shutter key. There's also a zoom feature enabled in the video mode too, which will work in the same way as photos do: namely, just pinching on the screen while shooting full HD video will get closer to the subject, and apparently it's 'pretty fluid' too. Photo galleryViewing your photos has also been given a Jony Ive finish, with iOS 7 automatically arranging pictures by location into groups, which Apple is calling "moments". Pinch to zoom out and the Photo app will re-draw your photo library into collections, recognising a day trip or recent holiday and then slinging them all into one group automatically.
There's no extra functionality like the Zoes found on the HTC One, or burst mode found on the Samsung Galaxy S3 or S4 - but then again, Apple didn't show the camera in that much detail. Zoom out once more and you get a year overview of all the images in your album, with locations tags to remind you where you were each year. If you want more fun-time functionality, then just hold your finger over the thumbnails to see an exploded view of each individual image, and release your digit on the one you wish to view full screen. SiriFan-boy favourite Siri hasn't been left out with a fancy new interface and, wait for it: new voices! Huzzah! You can now choose from male or female intonation of being told 'no internet connection present' while cultured French and German languages have also been added, with more promised "over time". There are a range of new commands for Siri in iOS 7 too, such as "play my last voicemail", "turn on Bluetooth" and "increase my brightness". The likes of Wikipedia and Bing search results have all been integrated into Siri, and Apple promises there's even more to come from its personal assistant in iOS 7 - such as the way Siri will learn your name if you tell it that things are being pronounced too. Offline dictation has been hinted at in new developer versions of the iOS code too - so we could finally stop having to listen to the incessant 'Siri needs to connect to the internet' messages every time we accidentally press the home button for too long. Plus, as announced at the iPhone launch, you can also ask Siri 'what is Lady Gaga saying?' and Siri will go off and get you the pop star's latest Tweet, and there's inline web search and photo search. iOS in the CariOS 7 allows car manufacturers to integrate the operating system with built-in screens in vehicles, as well as full Siri support for eyes-free usage. This means you can finally live the dream of owning a Ferrari, using Siri but not owning a single Apple device. Truly, the future. Cars will be able to read your iMessages to you and allow you to dictate a response, as well as use other features such as accessing Maps for directions and controlling the music player.
If you have a hankering to get hold of one of these iOS 7 enabled cars then you'll have to wait until next year when 12 manufacturers will produce compatible vehicles - but Nissan, Honda and Volvo are all there. Score. We've also got more information on this now: apparently versions of iOS in the car could allow for touchscreen haptics that allow drivers to 'feel' knobs and sliders without taking their eyes off the road, which would dramatically enhance safety. The new platform would also allow for wireless beaming of content from an iPhone or iPad that's chucked away in a pocket or bag, with iAP settings showing that Apple is keen to keep its devices as the reason to buy an iOS in the Car system. App Store overhaulThere's an all new look for the famous App Store, which we found out earlier now has over 900,000 apps, making it easier to find those tiny programs to fritter away precious moments before death. You can search for apps based on age range in iOS 7, which Apple is pushing as a great feature for parents, while the 'Apps near me' feature will show you the most popular apps based on your current location. We assume it's a good idea to drive swiftly away if you suddenly near a car park and apps to 'make friends easily' come up on your iPhone. And something which will probably please a huge amount of the Apple fan-base: apps will now update automatically in the background. Presumably this can be turned off, or simple changes that wreck an app will leave users helpless to do anything about it. Multi taskingAnd let's get to the end of this interminably long list: Multi-tasking has been changed somewhat to allow you to see what you're jumping to in a lovely visual manner, replacing the little bar that comes up at the bottom of the screen. We're going to miss that little user interface that flipped up and allowed us to see what was going on in the app above at the same time, but the new version is pretty neat to look at, with the app icon flipping along below the pane.
There's plenty more to come from iOS 7 in the near future, so keep having the odd look back if you want to know more about the future of Apple's mobile platform. More gaming controller supportFollowing the launch of the new OS, a few more surprises have leaked out showing that Apple probably still has some decent stuff up its sleeve. For instance, Apple has fully opened up iOS 7 to standardised third-party game controllers, which means that we'll be seeing more games and therefore peripherals that bring your iPhone, or iPad, into a whole new level. We've already had this with Bluetooth controller support, but with dedicated iOS controllers your phone or tablet will really be able to function as a gaming console, which makes sense given the expected boost in graphical power in the iPhone 5S and iPad 5.
Should Android be worried about iOS 7? Here's what we think: |
| Apple reveals iOS stats: 700 millionth iOS device shipping in October Posted:  Apple laid out some figures during its multi-national event today, revealing that next month sales of iOS devices will reach 700 million. That's 700 million iOS devices sold - a massive figure but unsurprising given what Apple's achieved since the iPhone launched all those years ago. The company also predicted that hundreds of millions of people will download iOS 7 when it launches on Sept. 18. That's right - Apple also revealed the iOS 7 release date, and the long-awaited (it seems like it, at least) OS update will arrive very soon. The most successful iPhone everApple revealed no specific figures in terms of iPhone sales specifically, but did reveal a vague chart that shows that the phone is more popular than ever. In fact, the company revealed that the iPhone 5 had the most successful first year of any iPhone so far. Of course the big news of the day is that the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S are finally official, and the cheap iPhone and its upgraded sibling arrive on Sept. 20. |
| Exclusive: 'Walking away from Apple helped make it great,' says Atari founder Posted:  He may have famously turned down the chance to buy a third of Apple from Steve Jobs for $50,000, but Atari founder Nolan Bushnell has told TechRadar he still feels he played a role in the company's eventual success. Bushnell, speaking at the O2 Campus Party, told us that his decision not to invest was based on how busy he was with another of his projects - Chuck-E-Cheese restaurants - but that he did help a young Jobs in a more indirect fashion. "I'm still an Apple fan and you know I think that hindsight is 20/20," he said when we asked him about his decision to say no and the forthcoming Apple iPhone 5S launch. "I can go through a thread very easily which, by me turning Steve down led to me introducing him to Don Valentine and he introduced him to Mike Markkula who is as responsible for Apple's success as Steve Woz[niak] and Jobs. "Markkula really was the adult supervision that mentored Steve and had him grow up. I think if I had put the money in, Markkula would never have shown up and it would have been different." Hard cheeseSo why did Bushnell make the decision not to buy into a company that was racing to develop an early personal computer? "I was so busy with Chuck-E-Cheese at the time that I couldn't have thrown my lot in with them," he added. "When I sold Atari, I'd been working on my own personal computer the Atari 800, but the 2600 was going so fast that we couldn't divert our resources." |
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