HTC One S vs Apple iPhone 4S

Here we go, folks, the battle of the “S”-es – the new HTC One S in the blue or black corner, and the iPhone 4S in the black or white corner. This may leave us with two black corners, though, and it's exactly the dark metal ceramic version of the One S we have now, so the fight will be based entirely on merits, rather than color preference.

We kid, since one thing is missing from HTC's phone to go head-to-head with the iPhone 4S in terms of specs, and it is pixel density, while it exceeds in other geeky stuff like processor clock and operating memory. The iPhone's iOS and Android have different resource needs, though, so we'll judge mainly on design, interface performance and camera quality, leaving the application stores aside.

With the new trend of higher-end Android devices coming with sealed batteries and non-expandable memory, just like the iPhone has been from day one, another Android differentiation is lost compared to it, so who will take over the ARM wrestling match? Read on our comparison to find out...


Design:

Apple's iPhone 4S has a unique steel-and-glass casing, which is yet unmatched by other manufacturers, even though this chassis is the same as the previous iPhone edition from 2010. It leaves a very premium feeling in the hand, with the downsides being that it makes the phone comparatively heavy, with sharp edges, and more prone to shatters and scratches than run-of-the-mill materials.

The HTC One S, on the other hand, sports two very distinct chassis materials – a blue-grey version with the more ordinary anodized aluminum, and the black version we have. Blacky is coated in a metal ceramic fusion obtained by zapping the aluminum frame with 10,000 volts, which results in oxidized metal that is three times stronger than stainless steel. This is making the phone very rigid and durable, but have no doubts that if you key it with a vengeance, marks will be left, this is no adamantium.

In terms of comfort, both phones lie well in the hand, with the iPhone leaving a more “edgy” feeling than the rounded corners and tapered back on the One S. HTC's handset is one of the most compact 4.3” phones we've handled, and is thinner than the iPhone 4S, but for smaller palms one-handed operation with the iPhone will come much easier since its screen size is 3.5”, and the whole phone is shorter and a tad narrower than the One S, so your thumb can reach everywhere.

Displays:

The displays on both phones are pretty different in both size and tech. We have the 3.5” Retina Display on the iPhone 4S, with its IPS-LCD technology and 640x960 resolution, meaning 326ppi pixel density, good colors, wide viewing angles, and high brightness.


The 4.3” AMOLED display on the HTC One S sports 540x960 pixels of resolution, which not only results in lower pixel density than the 4S, but since it is done with the PenTile matrix arrangement, the honeycomb structure of the dots makes some elements appear pixelated. Nothing you'd notice unless deliberately looking for it, though.

What they will notice are the oversatured colors on the display, which go way above the standard gamut, and the cold images, making white appear blueish compared to the iPhone 4S. AMOLED has other advantages, like wider viewing angles and deep blacks, hence extremely high contrast ratio. This comes in handy when watching movies, and the AMOLED screens draw much less energy then, compared to displaying white backgrounds during browsing, while for LCD ones this doesn't matter.

Source : phonearena

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An iPhone User Tries Nokia’s Lumia 800 For Two Weeks

There’s a lot of talk right now about Nokia and its Windows Phone 7 handsets. Specifically, it is the newly released and much hyped Lumia 900 which is seeing most of the headlines and clicks right now.

The handset itself is expected, or at least hoped, to signal a return to form for Nokia and to offer Microsoft a way back into the minds of US smartphone buyers who have been happy to lean towards iOS, Android or even BlackBerry over the last few years.

While the Lumia 900 is the subject of many a review right now – not all of them good, just ask The Verge’s Joshua Topolsky about that – that isn’t the model I’m here to tell you about. I’m here to tell you about the handset that brought Windows Phone 7 to the world of Nokia, and is currently the top-of-the-line Lumia that is available outside the United States.

Those paying attention will have realized I am talking about the Lumia 800, Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7 device. Arguably the Lumia 900′s older brother, the handset has one big thing in common with the Lumia 900 – it was seen as nothing short of the second coming of Nokia, and just the same as the 900, it disappointed while still being a very good smartphone.

But let me back up a second before I qualify that statement.

First off, and to put everything into context, there is something you should know about me. If you’ve been reading closely over the last year or so, then you’re probably already aware that I own an iPhone. I’ve had every iPhone bar the 3GS, and I’m very happy with my current 4S. I like iPhones.

I’ve had Android phones in the past, too. The most recent was a Nexus S from Samsung, and it was OK. Not great, just OK.

I’ve even had Windows Phone 7 handsets before, with the HTC HD7 the pick of the bunch. Again, it was OK.

So, I waiting for the Lumia 800 to arrive with great intrigue. The HD7 had whetted my appetite for Windows Phone 7, because in all honesty, I enjoyed the OS. It was a breath of fresh air, especially on the back of my Nexus S experience. The hardware, however, left a lot to be desired.

When the Lumia 800 arrived I decided to go full bore with my little experiment. My SIM card came out of my iPhone and went into the Lumia, with the aim of it not returning to its home for a full two weeks. Off I set on my mini adventure, Nokia wunderphone in hand.

Now this is not going to be a full, 5,000 word review of the Lumia 800 because, frankly, everyone’s read enough of them since the handset’s original release. It got good reviews for good hardware, but the software was lacking. This sounded like the opposite of my HTC HD7 experience, so I was looking forward to spending some time with the Nokia.

The first few days were pretty good. The novelty factor was certainly in full effect, and I can honestly say this is the best Windows Phone 7 handset I have ever used. I would possibly go so far as to say it is better than any Android handset I have ever used, but seeing as I’ve not had my hands on any of the latest Ice Cream Sandwich smartphones yet, then I’m not going to imply that stands for much.

My real problem, and I feared this would happen, is that it’s not my iPhone.

I’ll explain that a little further. Having used iPhones for years, I have built up an almost symbiotic relationship with it. I know all my apps, I know how they work, and they work how I want them to. I have an app that will allow me to do just about anything that I could do with my MacBook, should the need arise, including managing a home server over SSH, FTP or VNC. There may be apps that do such things for Windows Phone 7, but I didn’t find any good ones, if any at all.

That may sound like a very narrow example, but it is an example nonetheless. My main issue, working my way through those two weeks without an iPhone, was that I just didn’t feel as if I was connected to everything. I missed Instagram. The Facebook and Twitter apps felt alien to the point of not wanting to use them. These Live Tiles I hear so much about didn’t do what I had hoped and the Metro interface grew old once the novelty of all those transitions wore off. In short, the whole experience felt gimmicky, but with little substance.

All this is a real shame. Nokia’s hardware is undoubtedly gorgeous, and the Lumia 900 is no different by all accounts. The issue is that despite throwing itself into Windows Phone 7, Nokia is still lacking a real mobile OS that will claw people away from iOS and Android. Apps speak volumes for a platform these days, and Windows Phone 7 just doesn’t have them in large enough quantities and of enough quality to really compete.

The end result was a disappointing one. I didn’t get through my two weeks with the Lumia without having to admit defeat and return to my iPhone. As much as I wanted to love the Lumia 800, I just couldn’t live with it, and that was the end of that.

One thing that is worth nothing though, is that I am what people would call a power user. Most smartphone owners won’t be doing the things I do on a daily basis, and with that in mind I do wonder whether Windows Phone 7 may have a home in the market yet, just not in my home. Less nerdy types may enjoy all those transitions, and Nokia’s own apps add value to be sure, just not for me.

To be clear here, the problem I have with the Nokia Lumia 800 is not so much with the handset itself, but with the software. Windows Phone 7 has improved greatly since the early days, but has it improved enough to really compete? I fear not.

If you are a Windows Phone 7 fan though, the Lumia 800, and I suspect the 900 too, are well worth a look. If you’re an iOS or Android owner though, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.

And that’s the real shame.

Source : redmondpie

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AppMosaic For iPhone Displays The Top 200 Free / Paid Apps In A Beautiful Mosaic Pattern

If you’re a fan of tweaks a little out of the ordinary, then AppMosaic by ctrled may be just the sort of thing you look for. Probably classifiable as an app as opposed to a tweak, it portrays the top 200 apps (free and paid) in one elongated mosaic. It only depicts the icons, but by tapping on them, a box appears at the bottom of the screen denoting the title and its publisher/developer.

Since the App Store app only seems to load 25 entries at a time (the rigmarole of scrolling down and tapping "see more" can get tiresome if you’re interested in the broader scale), AppMosaic is certainly useful because it allows you to view all of the top free and paid apps with very little scrolling.

Having said that, it’s WinterBoard dependent, and I, for one, like to avoid the very outdated, bloated visual modification jailbreak app wherever possible. If you don’t have an issue with WinterBoard, and think the mosaic looks good, or will be helpful in your quest to find new apps – or all of the above – then fire up Cydia and get downloading.

Additionally, it clashes quite heavily with Springtomize 2 (at least, in my experience), and would not install until I completely disabled it, so you may want to take this into consideration before you do download it.

It’s available over at the ModMyi repository – a default entry to your Cydia source list – and is absolutely free of charge. There are no modifiable settings – the icon simply sits on your home screen, so if you no longer wish to use AppMosaic, then simply open Cydia and remove it.

Of course, you will need to jailbreak your device to install this tweak. For jailbreaking the latest iOS 5.1 (tethered), follow the instructions posted here to jailbreak using Redsn0w, or here for Sn0wbreeze. For jailbreaking iPhone 4S and iPad 2, you can simply follow our step by step tutorial posted here to jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 using Absinthe on Windows or Mac. Those of you with an iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 1, and iPod touches can use Redsn0w or Sn0wbreeze to untether jailbreak on iOS 5.0.1.

Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web.

Source : redmondpie

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iPhone 5 to have a Larger 4 inch Screen

If you think, the iPhone 4S is sizzling, iPhone 5 will be much better if rumors are to be believed. The new generation of the iPhone, gadgets yet to be released will have a larger 4-inch screen coming with a brand new and sleeker design.

What is New?
The sleek and new design will be the main attraction of the iPhone 5 and the 4G connectivity support will be an added advantage. Customers are expected to ‘dwarf’ iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S when the new iPhone is launched- that in itself is and achievement in itself considering that present iPhones have been hugely successful. The built-up to the iPhone 5 launch is the same if one looks at what happened before iPhone 4 debuted
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Unlocked Old iPhones
Finally, AT&T allowed unlocking iPhones- and that is terrific news for Apple users since the wireless network has a vast network. T-Mobile has long been an ardent supporter of old iPhone users. The T-Mobile network has about one million unlocked and or jailbroken iPhone gadgets.
T-Mobile, however, has a less attractive connectivity solution compared to other networks like AT&T or Sprint- the 3G network is still not the best, and the 4G HSPA+ network will only be introduced this year.

Source : newgadget

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New iPhone Will Reportedly Have A Unibody Design, Will Launch In October?

It may only be April, but reports of iPhone rumors are already beginning to crop up, and the latest happens to come straight from the horse’s mouth.

Kotaku, translating a report by a Chinese newspaper, is reporting that one Foxconn official has been speaking of Apple’s plans for the new iPhone, and he’s even gone so far as to predict a possible release date.

Foxconn currently produces Apple’s iOS devices, including the iPhone, and the company’s Head of Human Resources has been telling Chinese paper, Maeil Business Newspaper, that Foxconn has received an order from the Cupertino outfit.

"We just got the order," the Foxconn human resources head reportedly told the newspaper. "[The release] will be around October."

Reportedly for a new iPhone, the order has led Foxconn to begin a massive recruitment drive to ensure that enough hands are on deck in order to meet Apple’s release schedule.

That release schedule, at least according to the source, pegs the new iPhone for a release during October of this year. Since Apple launched the iPhone 4S last October, hence our money rests on the fact that Apple will stick with their release cycle and launch the next iPhone this October. Foxconn’s new order simply adds a little meat to the bones of all our assumptions.

Real hard facts about the new iPhone release are hard to come by, but with Foxconn employees seemingly more eager to speak up than usual, we wouldn’t be surprised if that changed over the coming months.

The new iPhone itself is also the subject of rumors surrounding its impending design features. Again, as was the case with the iPhone 4S, rumors are abound that the new handset will feature a new, sleek body. With the iPhone 4S sporting the same shell as the iPhone 4, it is a safe bet to assume that the new handset will see a redesigned body.

Unibody designs are becoming the norm for Android handset makers, with HTC recently producing the impressive One X handset. Apple is expected to offer a similar unibody design, too, and that could prove to be the basis for another Jonny Ive classic, according to reports.

Foxconn has been in the news often, of late. Stories of poor working conditions and low pay have been cropping up for years, but with big media interest lately, Apple CEO Tim Cook took time to check out the situation at Foxconn himself recently. Undoubtedly a PR move, as much as a genuine desire to improve conditions, the visit did draw even more attention to a situation which is notoriously shrouded in secrecy.

Apple will be hoping that people will stop talking about Foxconn and focus on the products, but the story just won’t go away. Even if the products become the subject of all the talk, of late that talk has been about claimed defects and problems.

Testing times for Apple?

All that money will probably take their minds off it.

Source : redmondpie

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AT&T iPhone Owners Can Unlock Their Phones, After That Two-Year Contract Anyway

AT&T said Friday it will begin unlocking iPhones for customers, but only after they are no longer under contract.

Customers also have to be in good financial standing, an AT&T representative told on Friday. Engadget reported AT&T’s policy change earlier in the day.

While the move won’t help many iPhone owners, it could help folks in certain circumstances.
In particular, the move could help boost the resale value for people looking to sell their no-longer-on-contract iPhones. In addition, the move could help longtime iPhone owners traveling overseas, who can get their phone unlocked and buy a local SIM in the country they are visiting.

AT&T, of course, is more than happy to let you call and surf on its network while travelling, but its steep roaming prices add up quickly.

Those looking to travel overseas earlier in their contract could benefit from going with Sprint or Verizon. Verizon’s iPhones, for example, ship with a SIM card locked to Verizon and its international roaming partners, but those who have been customers for 60 days and are in good standing can have their phones unlocked.

Source : allthingsd

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Path iOS app now hashes address book data

Path has released an update to its mobile application for Apple's iOS operating system so it now hashes user contact information. Following the discovery earlier this year that it had been uploading user address book data to its servers as an unencrypted plist file, the company apologised for insecurely handling private user data and published an update, version 2.0.6, that allowed users to opt in or opt out of sharing address book information.
By one-way hashing the string for an email address the Path systems can still compare the values between different users as they attempt to find people who know each other's email addresses; the same string hashed will generate the same hashed value. Because the value is hashed, Path cannot see what the original string was.
In a blog post, the photo sharing and messaging service says that it takes "privacy and security seriously", adding that the change in the new version of Path for iOS, 2.1.1, will anonymise "last names, phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter handles and Facebook IDs". Path collects and uses this data as part of an "Add Friends" feature to find friends and family who also use the service.
In addition to the security changes, Path for iOS 2.1.1 also fixes a number of bugs found in the previous release. Version 2.1.1 of Path is available to download from Apple's iTunes Store.

Source : h-online

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iPhone apps look a lot better on the new iPad

Through some close inspection it’s been observed that the new iPad is able to use Retina display assets when playing an (non-iPad compatible) iPhone app. Sounds confusing? Basically what this means is that the new iPad runs iPhone apps better then the previous two iPads were able to.

The new iPad introduced a fourth resolution to the iOS family. With the introduction of the iPad Retina display there is now: 320×480, 480×960, 768×1024, and 1536×2048. Apple’s plan all along was for these resolutions to play nicely together — the aspect ratio was maintained from one generation to the next and by using pixel doubling an iPhone app worked on the iPad (although it didn’t look great). Where this broke down was when the iPhone 4 came out with its Retina display. These apps couldn’t be doubled to work on the iPad… not that pixel doubling was ever a great solution.

If you look at the pixel count you’ll notice that you don’t need the Retina display to do this: the iPhone 4/4S’ 480×960 will fit perfectly fine into the iPad/iPad 2′s 768×1024. The problem is that Apple didn’t allow it — users had to get a jailbreak only app called Retina Pad to get it to work. That’s right, Apple was still using the 320×480 even if the Retina assets were available. While the new iPad will display the better version, the first two tablets will not. It’s not clear if this was by design or if the new iPad’s GPU is what makes this all work.

With the release of the third generation iPad Apple opened the iPhone Retina-compatible app floodgates. This means that iPhone apps (that is to say, non-universal apps) will look at lot better on the iPad 3 than they do on the iPad 2. Interestingly this makes for a number of different possible quality levels (so long as there are a corresponding number of app versions available). Some of these include iPhone Retina on iPad, a standard iPad app, and then iPad Retina apps.

Unless you are a major app geek you probably won’t stress out about these too much, but it’s worth noting that non-universal iPhone apps just became a much more viable option for iPad 3 owners. They won’t get the full-on visual appeal of an app in 1536×2048, but things will be noticeably better than before.

TouchArcade noted that the quality level of an iPhone Retina app and a native iPad app are close to equal on the new iPad. Once more iPad apps have been updated to Retina display compatibility it will give buyers a reason to pay more for the HD version.

Source : geek

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How to Set Video Ringtones On Your iPhone With VUZIQ For iOS

What could be better than taking your iPhone out of your pocket and seeing that one of your loved ones (or friends) is calling you for a friendly chat? Well, instead of seeing just their name and boring static picture showing up when the call comes through, how about making the whole incoming call process more fun and engaging by adding a song and a music video from your favorite artist or band?

That is exactly what the new VUZIQ app does that has just landed on the Cydia store. When this free of charge package is installed upon a jailbroken iPhone, users can search for and download music videos of their choice and set them to play when an incoming call is received. VUZIQ makes use of both the audio and video of the downloaded and selected file, meaning that the ringtone of the handset is altered to suit the video audio.

UZIQ is extremely simple to use and operates as a fully, self-contained app on the device that requires an initial but seamless registration process. Once registered, the polished user interface offers a main home screen as well as additional video calls, download, contacts and settings views that are all selectable via a dedicated button at the bottom of the app. The setup of the app is pretty self explanatory with users being able to search for a video of their choice, download it to the device and then select it to play for every incoming call or set specific videos on a per contact basis.

The settings option of the app allows users to opt-in to social sharing services like Twitter and Facebook as well as a few configurable settings like setting videos to hook into FaceTime calls as well as making them full-screen. The initial home view offers a display split into two halves with the top section containing a horizontal scrolling bar with the latest news from the music industry and the bottom half showing your downloaded videos.

So there you have it ladies and gentleman. VUZIQ, a Cydia app that actually brings very fun to use and attractive video ringtones to your iPhone. The app itself is very good and is definitely highly recommended considering it is free. I found two issues while using it, firstly, that when answering a call, there was a small but noticeable delay between the accept button being pressed and the actual call coming through over the top of the playing video. Also, if you are using the popular CallBar tweak it renders the VUZIQ video ringtone service useless.

VUZIQ is available as a free of charge download from the BigBoss repository with no specific iOS requirements being mentioned.

Of course, you will need to jailbreak your device to install this tweak. For jailbreaking the latest iOS 5.1 (tethered), follow the instructions posted here to jailbreak using Redsn0w, or here for Sn0wbreeze. For jailbreaking iPhone 4S and iPad 2, you can simply follow our step by step tutorial posted here to jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 using Absinthe on Windows or Mac. Those of you with an iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 1, and iPod touches can use Redsn0w or Sn0wbreeze to untether jailbreak on iOS 5.0.1.

Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web.

Source : redmondpie

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Brightslide For iPhone

iOS is one of the best and most advanced mobile operating systems out there, there can be no denying that. Personal preference about interface layout and design may take some people to alternative options such as Android, but even those can’t question the power of Apple’s iOS. However, no matter how good something is; there is always room for improvement, which is generally where the Cydia store comes in.

Some of the most popular tweaks are those that allow users to quickly get access to a certain area of iOS or system settings, which is why Ron Melkhior’s Brightslide tweak that has just hit Cydia may prove to be quite popular.

Brightslide may sound like a song by a popular American band, but it is in actual fact a small tweak that uses Ryan Petrich’s Activator, allowing jailbreakers to create an activation method that when invoked, produces a slider at the top of the device’s screen.

The slider that appears on the top of the screen will look familiar and is just a newly rendered representation of the native brightness slider that can be found under ‘Settings >> Brightness’. The rest of the brightness functionality in Brightslide doesn’t really require any further explanation as it simply slides back and forth to increase or decrease the screen’s brightness. The right hand side of the overlaid view that appears at the top of the screen contains a small torch symbol which forms a tappable area and acts as a user facing button.

We aren’t offering any prizes for what this button does, but for those who don’t want to put on their common sense caps, tapping the button activates or deactivates the rear LED flash to act as a flashlight. Brightslide doesn’t exactly provide earth-shattering functionality, but what it does bring is a quick and effective method to gain access to very specific settings that users may find useful.

Brightslide is available from the BigBoss repository as a free of charge download with no specific mentions of iOS version requirements.

Of course, you will need to jailbreak your device to install this tweak. For jailbreaking the latest iOS 5.1 (tethered), follow the instructions posted here to jailbreak using Redsn0w, or here for Sn0wbreeze. For jailbreaking iPhone 4S and iPad 2, you can simply follow our step by step tutorial posted here to jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 using Absinthe on Windows or Mac. Those of you with an iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 1, and iPod touches can use Redsn0w or Sn0wbreeze to untether jailbreak on iOS 5.0.1.

Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web.

Source : redmondpie

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