Category Archives: Apple

How Many Apps & Games Do You Own – Logic Analysis

Time to own up. Are you a person who buys an app, uses it fully and until such time will only purchase another app if it does something different?

Are you a person who buys a game, plays it to the end and then might consider buying another app?

Or are you the sort of person, who sees a few games promoted or reduced and buys several at a time?

I would imagine many of you fall in to the category above. I know many people who have over 500 apps/games. If you ask yourself seriously, do you ever use all those apps, do you really play all those games. Answer is no.

So, here’s a challenge. Look at all your apps and games and only keep on your device the top 20. See if you can survive a day, then a week and then a month.

Let me know how you got on below in the comments.

iOS Apps & Games – illegal website

There is a website in China where you can download and install apps and games for free. I am not going to post the link as I am totally anti such practices.

What I cannot understand is people will spend up to £700 on a smartphone, but will not spend £0.69 on an app. Even £5 on an app is cheap. If you buy a coffee in Starbucks that will cost you £2.

Developers work really hard to produce these quality apps. Surely rewarding them will only encourage them to produce more apps, which in turn will add to your enjoyment.

iOS 7 is being tested – Potential New Features & Wishes

iOS 6 feels like it has only just been released to us, with its 200 plus improvements over iOS 5. So with iOS 7 what would you like to see improved.

One person by the user name of BlogB13 produced a YouTube video showing how he would like notifications to appear.

The problem with this slick solution, is that it’s not really a proper solution. The notification improvements really just need to include a few icons on the status bar to indicate their is a missed notification. That way, you will know for certain that you need to slide down to reveal the Notification panel and take the appropriate action.

I personally feel that the only major change other than notifications is dynamic changing icons. So as well as badges, the calendar app can display number of appointments, the weather app icon shows the forecast & temperature, and so on. In essence the app icon is a live tile.

Other changes are tight integration with other social networks, or the ability to allow them to integrate including with your calendars and contacts. The camera app is simple, but surely a few more options can’t hurt, like burst mode and timer.

And my final request would be to allow the changing of a default app to another third party app eg chrome over safari.

What would you like changed?

Samsung vs Apple – Legal Opinion update

In the latest legal wrangling the US Judge has ordered Samsung to reveal its actual sales figures per device.

This should make fascinating reading as Samsung always declares shipped numbers not actual devices sold. For the first time we might actually get to see how the disparity between shipped and sold.

I’m sure the numbers will still be substantial due to Samsung’s increasing profits.

Lets see if Samsung’s legal team can find a way out of this demand.

Rumour – Apple is launching 2 new iPhones in 2013 – updated

Apple is launching 2 new iPhones in 2013

Apple said 7 inch tablets were wrong. 7 inch android tablets pick up market share. Apple responds with a 7.9 inch tablet. Something they initially sad they wouldn’t do.

In 2012 Apple launched the iPad 4 only 6 months into the cycle of the iPad 3. This was a first for Apple.

CES is going to see 5 inch phones become the norm. Samsung’s replacement for the S3 will feature a 5 inch screen. This will make a statement against Apple. Apple will strike to avoid losing a large market share to the 5 inch phones.

So in 2013 we will see the iPhone 5S released which will be a spec bump on the 5 with better camera and chip and then the iPhone + which will feature a 5.2 inch screen.

This is going to surprise everyone. So be prepared. Due to the size and the lightning connector it will be super thin and have a massive battery life. The design is rumoured to be made of liquid metal, so it will be super strong.

2013 is looking likely to be a cracking year. Do you concur?

Update – the larger size iPhone is rapidly hotting up on interwebs.

NFC – Unlock your Doors – Would You Use it?

At present several android phones have NFC built in. I used it when I had the Samsung Galaxy S3 with tags. These little tags were programmed to do certain actions. So when I got in the car, one swipe over the tag meant my S3 had been switched into Car Mode, Bluetooth on and volume at full blast. When I got home, I swiped the NFC tag by the hall table. Wifi was switched on, vibrate and silent turned on, Bluetooth turned off and my news feeds started fetching the news.

NFC can also be used to pay for services. But now there are plans a foot to use NFC as your car and house keys. One swipe over the lock and your car is unlocked and the same for your front door.

Now this all sounds good but what about the security implications. 10 years ago if you lost or had your phone stolen, it was a pain but that was about it. Nowadays if you have your phone stolen, it is more likely to be a smartphone worth £300-£700. So first up you have the actual cost of replacement. Then there is all the sensitive data and data apps hold on your device. Would you then feel happy if your phone was also the keys to your property and car?

Sadly, the way technology is moving forward this is more than likely to happen.

What do you think?

To Use a Case or Not – Are we Mad?

You have just unboxed your new device. It looks amazing. It’s so thin and feels wonderful.

So what do you do next? Buy a case and conceal its beauty. Do you use a Otterbox Defender type case and bury your phone is heavy duty protection. Or do you go still for some form of protection but not as over the top as the Defender range.

But it doesn’t stop there. You can then decide on a slim back cover or bumper style. In fact the options are endless. You have colours and materials to choose from, the size, protection and design and so much more. For each phone I have owned I have over time had 30-40 cases. It was like trying to find the perfect device made of the perfect material and designed so well it adds to the device rather than take away any style. There are aluminium cases and bumpers. These do look ok and some cost the earth. They also reduce your signal strength. This to me is a poor design. Why build a case that reduces the signal strength.

I currently use an iPhone 5 and have around 12 cases. However I have settled on 2 so far. A Gear4 Tread GT for lightweight protection and a Trident Aegis for full blown protection.

I also like using the iPhone 5 without any case.

What do you like to use and why?