iOS UZER #29: Free Rumors!

This week Reece and Mike discuss some iOS 5 and iPhone 5 rumors that keep pouring in every week. iPhone 5 to have a bigger screen? No NFC technology? Mike also gives his impressions of Garageband for iPad now that it’s out. iPad 2 smokes the graphics benchmarks on anandtech.com. Microsoft stops making the Zune and nobody will miss it. Windows Phone OS updates don’t seem to be going smoothly at all. We discuss how to get mulitouch gestures on your iPad with Xcode. Is hot spot tethering plans on your iPhone worth it? We discuss the pros and cons. Twitter decides it wants to be more like Apple with it’s new developer rules. We also discuss some rumors about Motorola Xoom sales in Verizon sales. iOS data sharing is discussed as a frustration to iOS users.

Updated iOS apps we talk about this week include: Infinity Blade, Real Racing 2 HD, Flipboard, The Daily, & Instapaper.

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Tags: Garageband, Infinity Blade, Instapaper, iOS 5, iPad, iphone, NFC, Real Racing, The Daily, Windows Phone 7, Xoom, Zune

iOS UZER #28: More iPad 2

This week on iOS UZER we discuss the official announcement of the iPad 2: Mike doesn’t understand weight, iMovie and Garageband for iPad, Photo Booth, and Smart Covers. We discuss the validity of some early iPad 2 benchmark claims. Was the idea of the Smart Cover stolen? Random House is now on the iBooks Store. iOS 4.3 details, does personal hotspot make the iPad 3G insignificant and will the Verizon iPhone ever get iOS 4.3? We discuss human versus computer multitasking and the idea that people have no idea what specs mean. We also discuss pants. Yes pants.

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Tags: att, Garageband, iMovie, iOS 4.3, iPad 2, multitaksing, Photo Booth, Smart Cover, verizon

iOS UZER #27: iPad 2 Predictions

This week on iOS UZER we predict what will happen at the already past Apple iPad 2 announcement. We also discuss the possibility of an iOS 5 announcement. We also discuss new methods of notifications on iOS using MobileNotifier as an example. Why Mike thinks the iPhone 5 is the iPhone Nano, and Tim’s Cooks discussion on a cheap iPhone. All that and more this week on iOS UZER!

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Tags: iOS 5, iPad, iPad 2, iphone, iPhone nano, MobileNotifier, Oscars

iOS UZER #26: Scoping Out the Competition

This week on iOS UZER we mainly talk about the competition. Specifically we have a long chat about WebOS and HP’s new products the Pre 3, Veer, and TouchPad. We also discuss the idea of the iPhone Nano, a potentially smaller iPhone. Have you ever wanted to run an Android app on your iPhone? We discuss an upcoming jailbreak application to do this called Alien Dalvik.

App Time: Google Translate

Pick of the Week: Monter iBeats by Dre.

http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/i/x/129804084666/config/k-11bbb60f44473e8d/uuid/root.m4v

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Tags: android, Beats by Dr. Dre, Beats headphones, Dalvik, HP TouchPad, iOS, iPad, iphone, iPhone 5, iPhone nano, Pre 3, Touchpad, Veer, webOS

Why the iPhone Nano IS the iPhone 5

With all the rumors and “insider sources” I thought I’d share my perspective on why this “iPhone Nano” IS the iPhone 5.   Lets start with the obvious, we heard a while back that the iPhone 5 would have a total redesign. When you have something like the iPhone 4, what more can you really do in terms of design?  With Apple investing so much in their tough-as-nails glass, I don’t see them changing materials.

Instead we can make it thinner, lighter and “smaller”.  When I say smaller I mean the physical footprint of the device. The screen size of the iPhone will not change. I am convinced it will never change; even if 4.5″ screens become an overbearing, outselling standard on Android.

How will we make it smaller?  Edge-to-edge design, which is a point I agree with in the rumor mill. This is a great way to significantly reduce the size all around.  Thats right all around!  A small bezel at top and bottom for the receiver and mic is enough. You know what that means?  Bye bye home button.  Not sure how well it will work, but full on gesturing is  ready for primetime. I’d say volume and mute buttons can remain.  Insert proc and RAM upgrades here.

Why do I think this is true?  Because I don’t see Apple supporting a third form factor.  It would further fracture development.  As we’ve seen, increasing resolution on an iPhone doesn’t give you more real estate, but pixel density.  The point to point ratio of the iOS UI on mobile (iPhone & iPod touch) cannot change, unless iOS adapts a webOS-like dynamic scaling.  But there are not hints of that as far as I know. I could be wrong.

As for the “cheap” price, a low storage entry level version of the iPhone 5 sounds good. Perhaps 4 or 8 GB models. Question is does that mean no $99 iPhone 4?  Who knows?  This is my brain thinking in JFK airport.

Mike Giannas
I wrote this on my iPad.

 

Update 2/18/2011

So I guess the NY Times took two days more to figure out what I did from common sense.

Via MacStories

 

Tags: iPhone 5, iPhone nano

iOS UZER #25: Portal to The Daily

On this episode of iOS UZER we chat about the shipping Verizon iPhone, our impressions on the newly launched “The Daily” a daily iPad only magazine. We ruminate over the pros and cons of having iPads in hotel rooms. Will the iPad 2 come out in February? Who knows, but we talk about it anyway. NYC starts allowing you to track buses using GPS so you can know when they will arrive. Mike talk about his experience helping his mom use a dumb-phone from AT&T. All that and more this week on iOS UZER!

App Review of the Week: Portal, an iPad browser.

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Tags: att, iPad, iPad 2, iphone, MTA, NYC MTA, Portal, The Daily, verizon, Verizon iPhone

iOS UZER #24: The Weekly Daily

This week on iOS UZER we discuss some of the following news stories from the iOS world:

-A future app available in Cydia that will enable Voice Control for everything.

-Google Rolls out Instant Previews for websites on iOS search results.

-Apple TV streams more Netflix videos than iPad.

-The Barnes and Noble Nook gets an Android 3.0 port.

-The Daily, an iPad only newspaper will launch in the beginning of February.

-AT&T offers unlimited data to users who used to have it but switched off of it.

-Motorola Atrix has a fingerprint scanner.

Our App Picks of the week include: Wunderlist and Trickle for Twitter.

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Tags: Apple, Apple TV, Atrix, att, Barnes and Noble, Cydia, google, iPad, iphone, iphone 4, Motorola Atrix, netflix, Nook, The Daily