Almost all freemium iPhone games have some type of in-game currency, and to obtain it, players either have to pony up real money or earn it at an excruciatingly slow pace in the game. And sometimes there’s another option where the game asks you to download an app, open it up, and when you come back, it’ll give you some in-game currency. Here’s a simple way to exploit that option for some quick and easy game cash.
1. Scan the list of apps for any you already have on your iPhone.
2. Tap the link to the app.
3. After it opens up in the iPhone’s App Store, do not download it. Close the App Store.
4. Open the requested app.
5. Go back to the game.
There you go, quick and easy cash. Rinse and repeat. It works best for people with large collections of apps on their iPhone. Sometimes freemium games give extra large rewards for paid apps, so be on the lookout for any paid apps you already own.
An alleged photo of an iPhone 5 production line from China appears to confirm, among other things, that the iPhone’s home button will indeed undergo a major change when the iPhone 5 is released this fall. The leaked photo, which came to us from a user on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, seems to show a row of iPhone screens going through quality testing and assembly in a manufacturing plant in Taiwan. At the bottom of each iPhone screen is a large rectangular cutout for the iPhone’s home button—a major departure from the iPhone 4’s round home button.
Rumors of a change to the iPhone 5’s home button first cropped up in a report by This Is My Next, who claimed the home button area would be “enlarged, but not scrapped altogether.” The mock-up of their iPhone 5 home button can be seen below.
Recent leaked iPhone 5 case diagrams also hinted at a new button:
The idea of the home button becoming a touch-sensitive strip, or in our opinion, gaining touch capabilities in addition to continuing to function as a tactile button, was later added via speculation by rumor sites.
The production-line photo also appears to show that the iPhone’s screen size will remain at 3.7 inches, although it’s difficult to 100% confirm that from the photo. The size of the screen’s bezel appears to be about the same as the iPhone 4’s, indicating the size will remain the same.
This Is My Next’s report from April also had this interesting tidbit:
Our source says the company is doing very “interesting things” with bonded glass technology, and has been exploring designs where the earpiece and sensors are somehow behind the screen itself.
Judging from the production-line photo, cutouts for the earpiece and sensors do appear to be missing, although, again, it’s difficult to confirm this from the photos.
Starbucks is extending their free “Pick of the Week” iTunes music program to iPhone apps. This week, they are giving away Shazam Encore ($5.99), a neat little app that identifies any song playing in the environment around you. To get the free Pick of the Week app, you’ll need to visit a Starbucks store and log-on to their Wi-Fi (see full instructions below).
Previously, Starbucks had been giving away a free iTunes music track a week, but the company has now expanded to iPhone apps.
To get the free apps, you’ll need to head to your local Starbucks, connect to their Wi-Fi network, and click into the Starbucks Digital Network. A shortcut for iPhone owners is to use the official Starbucks app (free), which has a direct link into the Starbucks Digital Network.
A report today from Digitimes claims Apple has canceled its supply schedule for the manufacturing of the iPad 3 for late 2011. Sources speaking to the website claim poor manufacturing yield rates for the iPad 3’s 9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 high-res screen are the major reason for the delay.
The report notes that high-res QXGA screens like the one destined for the iPad 3 have been, in the past, mainly supplied by Japan’s Sharp Electronics, whose manufacturing costs are much higher than what China’s Samsung and LG Display typically charge Apple. In addition, because a high enough level of supply of the screens can’t be maintained, Apple is canceling the near-term plans for mass production of the iPad 3, claims Digitimes.
Sources also told that site that the high-res screens are creating technological complications that could further delay a launch. The source claims that because the resolution of the 9.7-inch LCD panel requires a more powerful backlight source than what a single-edge light bar can supply, and because Apple insists on a thin design and exceptional requirements for the iPad screen’s color quality and durability, the complications could further add to a delay as the companies search for solutions.
A report from BGR today claims that Apple is testing LTE-compatible iPhones on at least one of its mobile carrier partner’s networks. BGR’s evidence comes in the form of a reference to LTE usage buried inside a property list file (.plist) from an internal iOS firmware build used by one of Apple’s carrier partners. The reference can be seen below.
Does this mean that an LTE-compatible iPhone 5 is coming soon? Unlikely, as Apple is probably just testing LTE technology to keep abreast of its performance with current (or next-gen) iPhone hardware. But Apple is unlikely to include 4G LTE connectivity in the iPhone 5 or anytime soon mainly due to the fact that LTE is a battery hog. In April 2011, Apple exec Tim Cook had this to say about LTE technology:
….I think you can see this in the [LTE phones] that have been shipped, is that the first generation of LTE chipsets force a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those, we are just not willing to make.
The design compromises are likely the larger size of LTE chipsets, which require two antennas to function, and LTE’s capacity to consume more power. For example, SlashGear recently reviewed the LTE-compatible HTC Thunderbolt phone and found that, when connected to an LTE network, the phone’s battery lasted just 3 hours.
Want an iPhone 5 right now? Head to a phone shop in China, because someone there will sell you one. The device may even look how the rumored next-gen phone is supposed to look, but just don’t expect it to work like one.
Chinese news site Hexun recently did some undercover work at a local phone shop in China to expose the new “fake iPhone 5” black market. Posing as a customer, their reporter asked whether the store had received the latest model of the iPhone, you know, the one that was supposed to be “cheaper.” Taking the hint, the store’s sales clerk reached underneath the counter to present not one but two iPhone 5s, complete with Apple logos on their backs but labeled on the front as the Q5 and the i5. The sales clerk quickly admitted that the phones were merely “high imitations” of the iPhone 5 and not the real deal.
Commenting on the quality of the fakes, the reporter noted that many of the superficial design elements were spot on, like perfect imitations of the iPhone’s buttons, ports, and frame. But the knockoffs also get many of the important details wrong. For example, the Q5 phone runs an unfamiliar JAVA-based OS, has only 8 GB of memory despite advertising itself as having 32 GB, and generally has a sluggish response to finger input.
The fakes also use a resistive touchscreen—official iPhones use capacitive touchscreens—the difference being that resistive screens are cheaper to manufacture but don’t support multitouch.
iPhone 5 Chinese knockoff, rotated to show the phone right-side up.
The cost of these fake iPhone 5s? A mere 450 yuan, or $70 in US dollars. The sales clerk noted that the cost of these types of phones were mostly determined by the type of touchscreen, with the more-expensive-to-manufacture capacitive screen usually adding around $20 to the price.
Sales of the knockoffs are slow, the clerk admits, with the shop only selling one or two a day. The reason being, the clerk claims, is because the phones just came out in August and customers do not know about them yet.
*Update* Added a video showing off one of the supposed Chinese iPhone 5 knockoffs.
Taiwan Economic News is reporting today that Apple and Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC have begun a trial production run of Apple’s next-gen A6 processor. The new processor is scheduled for testing during the first quarter of 2012 and could be unveiled as early as the second quarter of 2012 for use in future Apple devices like the iPhone 6.
According to the report, Apple’s A6 new processor will use several cutting-edge manufacturing technologies, including TSMC’s new 28-nanometer process (Apple’s current-gen A5 chip is built using a 45 nm process). The manufacturing of the A6 will also utilize a new methodology known as silicon interposer, which removes the need for active transistors, allowing the A6 to use less power and produce less heat. The new chip will also be much cheaper to produce thanks to a CuBOL (bump on trace) production technology that requires the use of less substrate material for each chip, lowering costs.
With the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 rumored to be released sometime this fall, it’s likely the A6 chip will not see action in the real world until the release of the following generation of those devices.
Apple’s current A5 chip powers the iPad 2, but rumors of overheating problems for the chip inside Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 could mean the A5 will be shelved in favor of a dual-core version of Apple’s A4 chip. A single-core version of the A4 powers the current iPhone 4.
Taiwan Economic News notes that Apple’s A6 chip will bring much-needed new business to TSMC, who failed to win business from the iPhone maker in the past due to full bookings of its production lines by companies like NVIDIA and Qualcomm. But the recent economic downturn has left the company scrambling for business.
These images of iPhone 5 “spyshots” come from website iPhone Release, who has not been a reliable source for anything in the past. While these images are likely fake, there are a few interesting details to take note of.
First, the missing moved mute switch (see photo below) seems to match the leaked iPhone 5 case diagrams from a few weeks ago. Second, the screen goes edge-to-edge and appears to match the rumored 4-inch size for the iPhone 5. Third, the entire frame of the phone seems to be made out of raw aluminum, again matching some previous rumors.
Would Apple release an iPhone framed by ugly unpolished aluminum? Not likely. The metal looks something you’d build cheap camping equipment out of.
This is likely not the iPhone 5, but could it be the cheaper prepaid iPhone, ie, the iPhone 4S? It looks rugged enough to be marketed to third-world markets. Is this the iPhone that’s going to be sold in tiny Somalian phone shops, filled with $10 in voice credits, and passed around by villagers for a quick game of Infinity Blade? Probably not.
If those old paper IKEA catalogs are starting to pile up, you might want to give the IKEA Catalog for iPad app (free) a try. This app is not to be confused with the previous IKEA app that worked on both the iPhone and iPad—this one is designed specifically for the iPad.
The app has some cool features like being able to swipe down on those infamous IKEA interior-decoration photos to view individual items listed one-by-one along with their prices.
But there are some negatives too. Like most iPad magazines, the file size for each catalog is huge. The recent 2011 catalog is 480 MB in size. Expect to wait a while to download the catalog. Another problem is that the images sometimes take a few seconds to render, so you can’t quickly flip through the catalog at lightning speed. This problem is somewhat alleviated by the fact you can bring up a thumbnail gallery at the bottom of the app to scan through the catalog pages.
The IKEA Catalog for iPad is a free download from the iTunes App Store.
Rumors of an inexpensive version of the iPhone destined for prepaid markets have been floating around since February. Even Apple exec Tim Cook hinted at so much several times this year. Now come these dubious images from Chinese website iPhoneRelease.com that purport to show “iPhone Nano” prototypes.
According to the site, these iPhone Nanos will be as cheap as $200 without contract and have the following hardware:
A smaller 3.2-inch
VGA-resolution touch-screen (640 x 480)
5-megapixel rear camera
LED flash
Front-facing camera
Support for EDGE
Let us be clear, we don’t think this is the iPhone Nano, but the shape of these knockoff phones is interesting in that it’s similar to what has been floating around for the iPhone 5.
Other reasons why these aren’t real iPhone “Nanos”? Apple will not go smaller than 3.7-inches for an iPhone screen. EDGE-network support? Come on. And the red iPhone looks like crap from the front. No way Steve Jobs would approve something that looks like that.
What do you think, would you buy a $200 unlocked iPhone like this with a 3.2-inch screen for use on a prepaid network like Cricket?
