Posts tagged iphone
Next-Gen iPhone 4G Rumors: iPhone HD?
Mar 30th
Front panel from the iPhone 3GS (left) vs. alleged iPhone 4G (right)
As expected, Apple is currently working on its next-generation iPhone. Following the company’s yearly cadence, the fourth-gen iPhone is apparently due for release on June 22. According to the latest rumors, the phone may be called “iPhone HD,” packing a new processor from the same family as the 1 GHz Apple A4 found in the iPad (which is likely an ARM Cortex A8), along with a 960×640 display (4x higher resolution than the current iPhone’s 480×320) and possibly a front-facing camera for video chat. iPhone OS 4.0 may introduce multitasking for third-party apps, as we reported earlier.
As usual, there are also rumors of a CDMA-based variant for Verizon. The Wall Street Journal reports that the GSM iPhone would continue to be produced by Hon Hai (Foxconn), but the new CDMA version would be made by Pegatron, a subsidiary of the Taiwanese firm ASUSTeK Computer. No word on whether the iPhone 4G will include 4G wireless support (Sprint’s WiMAX or Verizon’s LTE), but given that America’s 4G networks are still in their infancy, we’re guessing Apple will stick with 3G.
There’s also a new video out of a screen, apparently from the 4G iPhone, that seems to match the photos we saw earlier. If accurate, we’re looking at a slightly larger screen (3.7″ vs. 3.5″) and slightly taller body than the current iPhone.
Video after the break.
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Windows Phone 7 Series Back Story: The Sleeping Giant Awakes, Reboots Windows Mobile
Mar 26th
Microsoft stopped developing Windows Mobile 7 (left) in favor of a total reboot to create Windows Phone 7 (right)
In early 2008, Microsoft was busy working on Windows Mobile 7. The OS was an evolutionary step forward from WinMo 6.x, based on the company’s Windows CE 6.0 embedded OS, with bigger changes planned for the next version, Windows Mobile 8. But in the fall of 2008, after seeing Apple’s iPhone 3G fly off store shelves and the iTunes App Store grow exponentially to soon overtake Microsoft’s decade-long lead in mobile apps, Microsoft realized that Windows Mobile was dying. An evolutionary step was not going to be enough to save it, so Microsoft decided to take drastic measures to respond, and today the result is Windows Phone 7 Series.
How exactly did this come about, though? Read on to find out.
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iPhone hacked in 20 seconds at Pwn2Own, SMS messages stolen through web
Mar 25th
The CanSecWest Pwn2Own hacking contest in Vancouver has resulted in a number of exploits, from Charlie Miller taking down yet another MacBook through a critical hole in Apple’s Safari browser to successful attacks on Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer 8, but perhaps the most interesting was the iPhone attack. European researchers Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf Philipp Weinmann lured an iPhone to their web site and in just 20 seconds managed to compromise the phone and steal its entire SMS text message database, including deleted messages.
Through their exploit, Weinmann and Iozzo were able to bypass Apple’s sandbox and gain access to a user account in the iPhone operating system called “mobile.” Through this account, they could have accessed and stolen everything from the phone’s contact list to the email database, photos, and iTunes music and video files.
The current exploit crashes the Safari browser after stealing the data, but the researchers say they could build a version that would continuously steal information as the user — who wouldn’t know that anything was wrong — browsed the site. “Basically, every page that the user visits on our [rigged] site will grab the SMS database and upload it to a server we control,” Weinmann said.
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Opera Mini browser submitted to iPhone App Store [UPDATE: Video added]
Mar 23rd
Opera has just submitted the iPhone version of its mobile browser, Opera Mini, to the iTunes App Store. Opera Mini uses techniques like server-side rendering (loading pages on Opera servers and relaying only the end result to the phone) to dramatically speed up mobile browsing– on an iPhone 3GS, Opera Mini loads pages up to 5 times faster faster than Apple’s Safari browser. Yet Apple is virtually guaranteed to reject the app, since it “duplicates functionality” already in the phone (a reason Apple uses to anything that might compete with its own apps on the iPhone).
So the question is why has Opera gone to such lengths to develop a version of Opera Mini for the iPhone and submitted it to the App Store if it’s just going to get rejected anyway? First, Opera genuinely wants to have its browser available on the iPhone. The company’s been building buzz around its new iPhone browser through closed-door demos, likely to build up public support which could be mobilized to put pressure on Apple if it rejects the application. Second, Opera was one of the driving forces behind the 2007 European antitrust investigation into Internet Explorer on Windows, and there’s a possibility the company is looking to launch something similar in the iPhone space.
In 2007, Opera claimed it wanted to give “consumers a genuine choice of Web browsers,” a line the company’s CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, recently repeated: ”Opera Mini is the world’s most popular mobile browser and users on the iPhone deserve a choice.” Opera also just put up a page tracking how long it’s been since it submitted the app. Certainly a nice publicity stunt– now let’s see where the company goes with this.
Update: Video added after the break.
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Apple vs. Google: Getting Personal
Mar 14th
The New York Times just posted an article about the expanding conflict between Google and Apple. Apparently it’s turned into a deep personal conflict between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google chief Eric Schmidt. The two were happily cooperating against Microsoft just a few years ago, and most visibly at the launch of the iPhone in 2007, but things have turned sour since, with Google launching the Android mobile OS to compete against the iPhone and Apple entering the mobile advertising space. Google outbid Apple to buy mobile ad firm AdMob, though the FTC is likely to oppose the deal (based on antitrust concerns), so it might not happen after all.
Most interesting is that the head of Microsoft’s online services group has been spotted around Cupertino, leading to speculation that Apple may switch its iPhones, iPods, iPads, and the Safari browser to use Bing by default instead of Google– which would of course be a huge coup for Microsoft’s search group. Apple working with Microsoft to beat Google? Stranger things have happened…
Source: NY Times
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iPhone SDK 3.2 hints at 3rd party app multitasking
Mar 11th
Apple’s newly-released iPhone SDK 3.2 beta has an interesting new reference to “multitasking dialog box,” a new feature of “Apex” (possibly iPhone OS 4.0?) that suggests users might finally be able to multitask with third party apps (currently only Apple’s apps like the iPod and email apps can multitask). This could be an iPad-specific feature, or it could just be referring to a method for managing Apple’s stock apps.
The text says “some devices have spotlight [the search feature] lumped in with the multitasking dialog box,” followed by a reference to a new way to get back to the iPhone springboard (home screen), by double-tapping the home screen. Currently double-tapping brings up the iPod controls.
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Apple Sues HTC for Infringing 20 Patents: First Battle of the Apple-Google Proxy War?
Mar 3rd
It’s on! A few hours ago, Apple launched two lawsuits against Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC, alleging infringement on 20 Apple patents ranging from the early 90s to just a few weeks ago. The suits, filed with both the U.S. District Court and the International Trade Commission, focus mostly on software patents– an area of some controversy. You can see details of the patents at issue here– Apple has apparently filed over 700 pages of exhibits to the District Court, and based on the complexity of some of these patents, this might well take years to resolve.
HTC is the most prominent manufacturer of phones powered by Google’s Android OS. Is this the opening act of an Apple proxy war against Google? There certainly are some signs of it. More info after the break.
Update: Google just issued a short statement on the case:
Sphere: Related Content“We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it.”
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