Archive for April, 2014

The company from Cupertino has topped another rating. This time it's a J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study -- Volume 1. As seen from the title, this is a kind of rating, which deals with consumer evaluation of modern smartphones.

The rating is based on responses from 13,237 smartphone users, who own their gadgets less than a year and who are customers of four major U.S. carriers.

Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of days ago, Apple has released a new iOS version, which contained a number of Touch ID tweaks as well as other improvements and bug fixes. Since that time, some users have begun to report that the battery life of their devices running iOS 7.1.1 has become longer. Good news for iPhone and iPad users.

Read the rest of this entry »

Many users think of buying new modern wireless headphones to replace original old-type ones that came with a player or a smartphone. Today we will show you Hitz WP-380 headphones from Creative.

First impression always starts from the process of unpackaging the box. Hitz WP-380 looks great, at first sight one can tell that these headphones are very well made. The design is modern. These on ear type headphones have professionally-tuned 34mm neodymium drivers that must deliver excellent sound. There is also a microphone, so Hitz WP-380 can be used to make calls as well. Official web page positions Hitz WP-380 as a Lightweight On-ear Bluetooth Headset with NFC.

The box has the headset, small travel pouch, mini-USB cable for charging, standart 3.5mm audio cable and user manual.

The design is simple and modern. The quality is very good, just as you'd expect from device made by Creative. The headset sits comfortable and can be adjusted in several ways. The cups do fold, which is good. We find these headphones fairly comfortable and experienced no problems wearing them for a long time. WP-380 weights just 5.3 oz (150 g).

The microphone is hidden in the earcup, it's a little far from the mouth, it is  it is hard to use the WP-380 headset in a noisy place.

It is very easy to start listen to the music: you need is to turn on WP-380 and keep holding on/off button. The light goes blinking blue, which means it is ready to connect to some gadget. On the iPhone just navigate to Settings - Bluetooth, then find and select Creative WP-380 in the list of found devices. That's it. Easy! The working distance is approximately 33 ft (10 meters), which is enough to walk around the house with no need to carry your player or smartphone with you.

WP-380 can also connect to devices with NFC technology (Near Field Communication). Unfortunately Apple smartphones do not support NFC, while Android users will be happy to try NFC.

Another interesting fact about WP-380 is Creative ShareMe and Creative Multipoint. Creative ShareMe (one source, two headsets) allows you to share your music wirelessly with your buddy or loved one using another Creative ShareMe-enabled wireless headset. Creative Multipoint (two sources, one headset) allows you to pair two separate devices to the headset at the same time. This means that you can easily switch your music source between these two Bluetooth stereo devices.

There are several buttons to control the headset. The on/off button is used to turn headset on and off, to set up BlueTooth connection, and to answer the incoming call. Using next, previous, play/pause (combined with on/off button) is is possible to control the music, stop/play, skip to the next track or play the previous one. Volume buttons are used to control the volume. Unfortunately it is not possible to use Siri voice assistant on the iPhone, there is just no button for that.

The quality of the sound is very good. This is not a surprise, since Creative uses different software and hardware trick s to improve sound playback and recording quality. Middle and high frequencies are well done, bass is good as well. The built-in speech microphone with ClearSpeech Engine actively suppresses external noises and digitally enhances speech clarity so that your conversations are loud and clear.

By the way, users of iPad tablet and iPod Touch player can use this headset to talk via Skype and similar voip apps.

The compatible list of devices is quite high. Hitz WP-380 works with Bluetooth enabled devices as well as with with every phone and player that has a standart 3.5mm jack.

Creative WP-380 charges in about an hour. Internal battery gives us approximately 12 hours of playback time.

Technical Specifcations:

iPhoneRoot thanks Creative and Powersales International for providing Creative WP-380 review sample.

According to the rumors, which appeared on the Internet earlier today, Apple's next-gen iPhone will look slightly different from the current model. Well, of course, it will feature a larger sapphire-covered display, but this is not the thing I'd like to mention in this post.

iPhone 6 will get a new shape. I'm now talking about the curved screen and the edges of the device.

Read the rest of this entry »

So far, we have seen several different cases for the upcoming 4.7-inch iPhone 6. In a video below we can see one of such cases compared to Apple's iPhone 5s, Google's Nexus 5 and Samsung's Galaxy Note 3. The video has been uploaded to YouTube by a user nicknamed Unbox Therapy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Apple on Wednesday announced its quarterly financial results for the second quarter of 2014. The guys from Cupertino managed to earn $45.6 billion. The net profit is $10.2 billion.

Read the rest of this entry »

As we already know, Apple is expected to release its iWatch in the fourth quarter of 2014. The wearable gadget will come in two sizes and feature a bunch of health-tracking sensors.

This is good news. However, as Christopher Caso of Susquehanna Financial Group claims, Apple's iWatch will replace the iPod. And that's definitely not good.

Read the rest of this entry »

Apple's 5.5-inch iPhone 6, which is also known as "iPhone Air", is said to be so thin that the suppliers have encountered difficulties producing batteries for this device. Well, at least this what Taiwan's "Commercial Times" reporters write.

According to the same report, Apple's next-gen handset won't be released this year as the battery suppliers haven't met the demands of the company.

Read the rest of this entry »

Apple on Tuesday released iOS 7.1.1 for users worldwide. The update contains no new features; only a bunch of stability improvements and bug fixes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Apple on Monday released a new OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 beta to developers for testing. As to the previous beta, it was released on Wednesday and contained minor improvements and bug fixes.

Monday's beta-version has a build number 13D45a. There're no noticeable new features. Apple has again asked its registered developers to focus on Graphics Drivers, Audio, Mail, Safari browser, Contacts and Calendar sync over USB in iTunes.

Read the rest of this entry »

As I already told you, Samsung thinks Apple has exaggerated the worth of its patents. In the ongoing trial on Monday, Samsung's damage expert Judith Chevalier said the South Korean manufacturer should pay only $38.4 million for the five allegedly infringed patents, not $2.19 billion Apple is seeking.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to the latest rumors, Danny Boyle will become a director of the new Steve Jobs biopic. Moreover, Leonardo DiCaprio might star in the film as former Apple CEO. Looks like Sony Pictures executives know how to attract people to movies, huh?

Read the rest of this entry »

A new iPhone concept has recently appeared on the Internet. This time it is called iPhone 6 Pro. What is interesting about this device is that it features iController - an accessory for those people who like playing games on their iPhone.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to numerous complaints found on Apple Support Communities, first generation Apple TV owners have some difficulties connecting to iTunes from their set-top boxes. And the number of users, who encounter suchlike issues is growing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Apple wants major game developers to release their new games exclusively for iOS. This will allow to lure many customers from the competitive platform - Android. The problem is that Google also plans to get the so-called first rights for many games.

Both tech giants promise to promote new games and their developers placing them to all kinds of ratings and lists. Now it’s up to developers to decide what company - Apple or Google - to choose.

Read the rest of this entry »