News tagged ‘test’
Apple ships iPads to reviewers this week
According to BusinessInsider, reviewers will receive iPads from Apple reportedly this week:
"We've heard from an industry source that Apple is either shipping iPads to reviewers this Thursday, or has already shipped them to be received this Thursday."
It is interesting, that there is no information whether Apple will send wifi or 3G versions of the device.
As iPad goes on sale April 3, reviewers will have approximately a week to test the device before they will publish their reviews.
Apple now offering iPhones contract free
Today Apple began selling iPhones without AT&T plan. Apple's new policy is that anyone can walk into an Apple Store and pick up an iPhone 8GB for $499, 16GB for $599 and 32GB for $699. They allow one unit per customer per day, up to 10 iPhones.
The iPhones are still locked to AT&T's network. Of course, these devices will be sold with the latest baseband which is not yet unlockable; however, you can use RedSn0w to perform a tethered jailbreak.
BlackSn0w unlock updated to support iPhone OS 3.1.3
The BlackSn0w Unlock utility by Geohot has been updated by MSFTGuy and PushFix to work with the latest firmware 3.1.3. However it works only with baseband 05.11.07 (!!!).
This modified version of BlackSn0w works for iPhones upgraded with PwnageTool or Sn0wbreeze, preserving the baseband version 05.11.07. Users who have updated to OS 3.1.3 by any other method have the 05.12.01 baseband so BlackSn0w and UltraSn0w will not work.
This new version of BlackSn0w will be very useful for iPhone 3GS OS 3.1.3 / Baseband 05.11.07 users who can’t downgrade to earlier versions but still need unlock.
According to iHackintosh, this new version also fixes a small bug making WiFi much more stable.
Blacksn0w RC2 will be available on ModMyi repo soon. If you don't want to wait just add the source http://cydia.pushfix.info/ to Cydia and install it now.
Important: Blacksn0w for 3.1.3 is still in RC stage and there may be some issues or bugs. This is not an official update performed by Geohot, who has clearly indicated that he will not be updating any tools for the 3.1.3 firmware.
Google develops an alternative to Apple TV
It seem like Apple have always been concentrated on Macs and iPhones/iPods/iPads, so their Apple TV product may be considered more like a hobby. But the company's main rival thinks of it as of another field to work on.
Intel, Sony and Google created a team to work on the device called GoogleTV. The latter already has its prototype. The New York Times says it consists of Intel's Atom processor and Android OS with Chrome web-browser. The project has been under development for a few months and there is still a work to do, but preliminary the device will be introduced this summer. To test their set-top box Google cooperates with Dish Network.
The NYT's source say:
“Google wants to be everywhere the Internet is so they can put ads there.”
It sounds plausible, because GoogleTV device is planned to allow users to browse the Internet, watch YouTube videos, check out Hulu content and even run Web apps and games.
New Gestures coming to an iPhone/iPad: triple tap and long press
9to5mac reports that the latest iPhone 3.2 Beta 4 SDK has the new gestures folder. And there are two new types of commands (3Tap.plist and LongPress.plist), that are certainly not implemented in the iPhone SDK 3.1.
Apple will probably allow developers to use these new capabilities in the next version of the iPhone OS. We might even see these next month in the shipping version of the iPad.
External Microphone for iPhone and iPod
Today we will take a look at an interesting accessory - external microphone for iPods and iPhones. As for the iPod everything it is quite simple - in order to record something you need an external mic. iPhone has it's own internal microphone. However the quality of the recording would be better with external one.
We performed a simple test: recorded the iTunes radio using Voice Memo application on the iPhone. First we used internal microphone and later we attached the external one. The quality of the external is slightly better. It is more sensible and the level of noise is lower which is good. Here are the sample recordings (m4a format): Internal, External.
This external microphone is compatible with:
- iPhone 3G/3GS
- iPod Touch 2G/3G (you need to download and install some recording application from AppStore)
- iPod Nano 4G/5G (with pre-installed software)
- iPod Classic 120G (with pre-installed software)
You can buy one for $3.12 at
More photos:
iPad surveys results
Changewave published their latest iPad survey findings today. Quite interesting. For example, only 37% of iPad buyers are going to read ebooks, while 68% will use it for internet surfing. Take a look at other results:
Apple Accuses HTC of infringing its patents!
Yesterday morning began with shocking news about lawsuit that was filed by Apple against HTC. As it turned out, Cupertino's company is accusing smartphone manufacturer of infringing 20 Apple patents tied to the iPhone. Google Nexus One, Droid Eris, T-Mobile G1, Touch Pro2, Touch Diamond and the Imagio are listed as exhibits in the litigation.
Copies of the suit can be read
Attention: fake jailbreak utilities might have viruses
The number of jailbreak utilities for iPhones and iPod Touches with the latest iBoot is dramatically increasing. All of them are FAKE. Some of them will fill your computer with viruses, which is not good.
gull1hack, spartanbr3ak, br0k3n_appl3 are just some of these new programs that in one way or another deceive the user and then run malicious code. We therefore ask you to stay away from ANY such software. Some time in the future GeoHot or DevTeam will release new jailbreak and unlock software. Other than that is fake and dangerous. Install only programs you trust or the ones recommended by iPhoneRoot.
Here is a twitter comment from DevTeam:
According to MuscleNerd the Gull1hack utility is fake
Gull1hack, the tool that promises to jailbreak all iPhones and iPod Touches with the latest iBoot, is a fake. Here is a twitter comment from MuscleNerd, hacker from DevTeam:
It looks like the guys who created Gull1hack used two different iPhone 3GS's (or perhaps 3GS and 3G) - one with the old iBoot and one with the new one. Here is a quick conversation between MuscleNerd and Gull1hack:
Front Camera, Flash, Zoom and Video Conferencing found in latest SDK
Macrumors found interesting information in the latest Beta 3 iPad SDK. Apple's private framework which controls the camera, has 3 additional camera characteristics that are not found in the iPhone 3.x SDK:
It looks like Apple built in API support to test if your iPad had a Front Facing Camera, Zoom and a Camera Flash. The front facing camera could be used for video chat, while Zoom and Camera Flash are often requested features for the iPhone's back camera.
9to5Mac made further investigation and found the following icons which clearly show an interface to accept or decline a video chat:
The size of these buttons show that they will be used on the the iPad's screen rather than the iPhone.
It is still unknown, if these new features will be available in the first version of iPad. We hope to see them in future versions of the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
iPad SDK adds ability to set home screen wallpaper
Apple has added the ability to set the wallpaper for iPad Home Screen in the latest beta 3 of the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK. Such functionality is not currently available for iPhones and iPod Touches.
On iPad in the Photos app when you select an image, you can choose to set it as the "Lock Screen" or "Home Screen" wallpaper (or both). It is also possible to have different images as the lock screen and home screen wallpapers. Here are the screenshots:
iPad SDK 3.2 Beta 3 Photos.app video walk-through
Yesterday Apple released new firmware and new SDK. Today 9to5Mac has posted an interesting video walkthrough of the Photos app from the latest iPad SDK (iPhone OS 3.2 Beta 3). Take a look:
iPhone OS 3.2 beta 3 for iPad is out: what's new?
Apple released the third beta of the iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad. There are no official reports on what changes are included in the update. Here are several screenshots: the newly included Photos app and the Camera tab in the same application:
Rumors that iPad could have a camera have been around for a while. These new photos might be one more evidence.However the iPad has a USB interface for camera and SD card reader, so this might just be the interface for importing pictures.
Update: According to MacRumors Apple pulled the Beta 3 release shortly after its initial release due to a major bug.
Update2: It's back.
Update3:
- iPad SDK 3.2 Beta 3 Photos.app video walk-through
- iPad SDK adds ability to set home screen wallpaper
- Front Camera, Flash, Zoom and Video Conferencing found in latest SDK
Time Machine concept for iPhone/iPad
Someone who calls himself Epoc is the author of this new concept of Time Machine integration on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Time Machine, the utility created by Apple was primarily designed for the Mac. It is intended for the automatic saving of the latest copies of documents, settings, videos, photos, music, etc. you happened to work with. In case you delete something you can always take a step back and restore everything.
The iPhone variant of Time Machine will be a very much welcomed application. Initially it is sure to consume much power and data, but we can expect its further modifications will be very interesting.