Category: iPhone

Unlocked iPhone 5 Pricing: $649, $749, $849, Will Be Available “Sometime Over the Next Several Weeks”

An unlocked iPhone 5 will eventually be available for purchase, just not right away. The unlocked version briefly made an appearance on Apple’s online store, revealing pricing details, but was quickly removed, according to TechCrunch, who managed a screenshot (seen at bottom of this post). The prices will be as follows:

  • $649 for 16 GB
  • $749 for 32 GB
  • $849 for 32 GB

The unlocked iPhone 5 will not, however, be available for purchase on launch day. Apple says they will be available in the “next several weeks,” according to The Verge. Unlocked iPhones are typically used on services like T-Mobile and Walmart’s Straight Talk in the US.

Unlocked iPhone 5 prices

Apple.com iPhone 5 Preorder Ship Dates Slip to 2 Weeks. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint Preorder Deliveries Still Say Sept. 21

iPhone 5 Shipping Date Slips

It took all of one hour for Apple.com’s iPhone 5 launch-day delivery inventory to sell out. Shipping dates for Apple’s online store have now slipped to a delay of two weeks. If you still want to get an iPhone 5 delivered on launch day, the websites of AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are still showing ship dates for September 21 (*Update: The carriers ship dates have also slipped, too).

Customers can also line up outside of an Apple Store or the stores of one of the 3 big carriers next Friday to attempt to get their hands on an iPhone 5, but by initial reports, at least, it appears the demand for the iPhone 5 is at never-seen-before levels, so expect unprecedentedly long lines.

Tip: Check Your iPhone 5 Verizon, AT&T, & Sprint Subsidized-Pricing Upgrade Eligibility, All In One Place

Apple Store Wireless Carrier Upgrade Eligibility Tool

Apple’s iPhone Eligibility Tool is a handy all-in-one place to check if you’re eligible for subsidized “upgrade” pricing for the iPhone 5 from all of the big 3 carriers: Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. It’s fast and easy.

Just select your current carrier, then enter your number, zip code, last 4 digits of your social security number, and billing password (if you have one). It will show what the price of each iPhone iPhone 5.

ATT Upgrade Fields at Apple

iPhone 5 pricing for me

My last iPhone was the iPhone 4, bought at launch, so I’m good to go. $399 64GB Black AT&T iPhone 5, here I come. Wahhh!

Apple’s New EarPods Set to Upend Premium Earphone Market

Eclipsed by the iPhone 5 intro yesterday was another huge announcement, Apple’s new, radically shaped Earpods ($29). Apple says the new design of the EarPods is “engineered to minimize sound loss and maximize sound output.” Not only will they sound better, the new shape of the earphones will also fit more people comfortably.

These new EarPods will be Apple’s default earphones moving forward, and because they ship with all its mobile products, they will be the most-used earphones on the planet. It will have a huge impact on the industry.

This, of course, should make premium-earphone manufacturers sweat. These companies use Apple’s default earphones as a baseline to design and sell their products around. As long as your earphones sound and/or fit better than Apple’s cheapos, you can make money.

Apple EarPods

Initial anecdotal evidence suggests that Apple has indeed raised the bar. Some members of the media got their hands on EarPods a little early, and their initial reports so far are positive. The Chicago Sun Times’ Andy Ihnatko on Twitter yesterday had this to say about the new EarPods:

David Pogue, from the New York Times, who finds it difficult to find a good-fitting pair of earphones, had this to say on Twitter:

And Jason Snell from Macworld got to listen to the earphones as well:

Apple’s own official description says the EarPods’ “audio quality is so superior, they rival high-end headphones that cost hundreds of dollars more.” If true, we could see Apple lay waste to another industry, one long ripe for the plucking. Apple even says the EarPods offer “greater protection from sweat and water,” which means, combined with their improved fit, they chould even challenge companies who make athlethic sweat-resistant earphones.

If you were looking for a disruptive revolutionary product yesterday, it may have slipped beneath your notice. It’s the EarPods.

You can watch Apple’s Jony Ives describe the new EarPods in the video below.

Watch Apple’s Official iPhone 5 Promo Video

The above video is available at Apple’s website, but enterprising souls have converted it to YouTube for all to enjoy. Watch as the charismatic Jony Ive and cherubic Bob Mansfield walk you through the iPhone 5’s new features and design process. Sapphire camera glass? Diamond polished metal? Measurement variances down to microns? Yep.

Apple Announces iPhone 5, Preorders Start Sept 14, Shipping Sept 21

iPhone 5 in black

Apple today announced the iPhone 5 with a larger 4-inch screen, support for 4G LTE, a faster A6 chip, an 18% thinner body, and 20% less weight. Preorders will start in two days on Friday, September 14, with customers being able to get their hands on the device a week later on September 21.

Pricing will remain the same with 2-year contract: $199 for 16GB, $299 32GB, $399 64GB.

Also introduced is a new smaller cord for syncing and charging—Apple is calling the cord Lightning—and newly designed earphones called Earpods ($29).

Thanks to previous rumors and leaks, there were few surprises with the announcement today other than perhaps its finalized look. In the black version, almost all silver chrome has been removed and replaced with black painted sides. The white version maintains some silver, but its appears painted on and not shiny metallic chrome like the sides on the iPhone 4S.

Apple has posted more info on their official iPhone 5 website.

iPhone 5 With Lightning Cord

iPhone 5 Black back and side

Earpods

iPhone 5 White Camera Closeup

Google’s YouTube iPhone App Now Available, And It’s a Little Better Than Apple’s Version (Quick Review)

Official YouTube iPhone App's Icon

Google’s own official YouTube iPhone app (free) is now available in the App Store (no iPad version as of yet). Apple is removing their own default YouTube app in the upcoming iOS 6 update, so Google has released their own app to preempt its disappearance.

YouTube iPhone App Playing in Landscape

Google’s YouTube app mostly improves on Apple’s version, which I’ll get to in a second. The downside of the new app is advertisements. However, the good news is that the ads aren’t as intrusive as on the official YouTube website—there are no video overlays or pre-roll ads, at least yet, anyway. The ads are classic banner ads that appear below the videos when the videos aren’t playing in full screen. The ads disappear when in full-screen mode.

YouTube App with voice search button

Improvements over Apple’s version:

  • More videos available thanks to the new ads. For example, you can now watch VEVO music videos, which you couldn’t do on Apple’s version.
  • You can now read comments as you watch videos. ( Videos don’t automatically play full screen as they did in Apple’s version. You can also browse related videos as you watch)
  • Voice search using Google’s voice search, which means older iPhones without Siri can use voice dictation. (Slap in the face, Apple)
  • Easier to rate videos, as you don’t have to go through several menus like in Apple’s version
  • Search as you type (drop-down search results)

One of my biggest disappointments with Google’s version is that you can’t change the video quality as you can on the website. This is extremely annoying when you have a slow WiFi connection. But then again, you couldn’t do that with Apple’s version either.

Overall, I like Google’s YouTube app over Apple’s. Google should have some motivation to keep it updated—Apple’s version basically just sat unchanged for the past 5 years. The app has Google’s design aesthetic, so it feels a bit like running an Android app in iOS. It also utilizes YouTube’s new focus on channels, topics, and recommending videos instead of offering up the most-popular videos. The interface is smooth with nice transitions when moving between menus. Google has some talented iOS developers working for them.

iPhone 5: Check out the 4G LTE Maps for Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint Before Making a Buying Decision

If you’re planning on buying an iPhone 5 for its expected superfast 4G LTE compatibility, your choice of carrier will be important for taking advantage of those 4G speeds. Below are the 4G LTE maps for Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, pulled from the carrier’s official websites at the time of this writing (September 10, 2012). Of course, the process of choosing a carrier should include weighing other factors, but if you’re hardcore into 4G LTE and speed, speed, speed, the maps below should help.

Verizon LTE Map

Verizon LTE 4G Map

Green dots = 4G LTE.

Verizon: Verizon has the biggest LTE footprint by far of the big 3 carriers. It is available in 371 cities across the US with around 30 more coming by the end of 2012. Click here for Verizon’s official page for its LTE map. On Verizon’s LTE map page, you can enter in specific addresses or zip codes to find if you’re covered by LTE.

AT&T LTE Map

Orange dots = 4G LTE. Yellow = coming soon.

AT&T Wireless: AT&T comes in a distant second with only 53 markets with LTE coverage. It plans to to add on 40 more markets by the end of 2012, bringing the total to around 90. Compare this to Verizon’s 400 total planned markets by the same time, and it’s not very impressive, but keep in mind AT&T does have that HSPA+ 3G network, which is faster than Verizon’s 3G. AT&T’s official LTE map is a bit harder to find. You’ll need to go to their Network page and click on the Coverage tab toward the bottom. A list of cities can be found here.

Sprint LTE Map

Orange dots = 4G LTE.

Sprint: Sprint has a mere 19 markets that offer 4G LTE. Sprint bet on another 4G technology called WiMAX, which is available in around 70 markets but will not be compatible with the iPhone 5. Sprint’s network map can be found here, just make sure to select 4G LTE and not 4G WiMAX. Sprint just announced that they plan on adding 100 more markets by the end of 2013.

Review: ITA OnTheFly iPhone App Is a Hidden Gem for Finding Cheap Plane Tickets

ITA OnTheFly iPhone App icon

It’s not as slick as apps like Kayak or Hipmunk, but for my money, ITA OnTheFly (free) is probably the best flight search engine app for the iPhone out there. Not only does it cover the basics for pricing out flights, it is also a killer app for finding the cheapest tickets in a flexible range of dates. The interface is simple and easy to use, and search results appear quickly.

The Killer Feature. Let’s say I wanted to go to Honolulu for 5 days sometime in January or February, but I didn’t have an exact date in mind. ITA’s Calendar-search interface lets me drag around that range of 5 days on a calendar and it will show me the cheapest departure/return prices for the 5-day span. I can, of course, change that range to 4 days, 2 days, etc. A line chart at the bottom makes it easy to view the fluctuating prices for a 30-day period—this is a really sweet timesaver.

Basically, OnTheFly’s Calendar search is an efficient way at pricing out plane tickets, especially if you’re on a tight budget, have flexible vacation dates, and are looking for the cheapest dates to fly. And the feature is not offered by the Kayak and Hipmunk apps.

OK, Maybe Not Really a “Hidden” Gem. ITA has actually been around for a while. Professional travel agents still use its QPX software. The company was purchased by Google in 2010 to power its own flight search tools. ITA’s software currently powers sites like Orbitz, Kayak, United Airlines, American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, etc. Hardcore flyers uses its website along with fancy search codes to suss out “hidden” cheap flights. There’s a whole culture around this stuff. But the app is indeed a hidden gem in the sense it doesn’t get as much press as the Kayak or Hipmunk apps.

Covering the Basics. OnTheFly can be used for the more traditional search of entering specific dates as well. And it has all the filtering tools for what you’d want for that, including filtering by number of stops, cabin class (economy, business, first class), and departing/arriving time of day, etc.

ITA OnTheFly Basic Search Screen

Other Features. A map view traces out all the flights from a search, including flights with multiple stops. This can come in handy if you want to build in a stopover to your vacation, or just want to see what other airports have flights to your destination. The History tab makes it easy redo past searches, and the Itineraries tab is where you can save specific flights.

ITA OnTheFly App screen 3

ITA OnTheFly app screenshot 4

Negatives. OnTheFly is far from a perfect app. It’s definitely not as pretty as Kayak or Hipmunk. As of this writing, the app hasn’t been updated in about a year. And, you can’t book tickets through the app, so you’ll have to call or go to the airlines websites for purchases.

Conclusion

When it comes to finding the cheapest airline tickets over a flexible range of dates, ITA On the Fly is the best iPhone app I’ve seen. And while its far from being the prettiest or slickest airline-ticket search app, it’s nevertheless fast and efficient and covers all the basics in addition to the killer “Calendar search” feature. Because the app is owned by Google and used for its own flight search tools, the service has considerable computational backbone to keep things speedy.

Tip: Use a Silent Ringtone to Silence Annoying Repeat Callers

iPhone Ringer Silenced Icon

Do you want to ignore someone who is repeatedly calling you but don’t want to silence your entire iPhone for other potentially important calls? There’s a simple solution: assign a silent ringtone to the annoying caller. When that person calls, the silent ringtone will play, meaning you won’t hear anything. You can download a silent ringtone by right-clicking on the link below.

Right-Click to Save Silent Ringtone for iPhone

Next, you need to add it to iTunes and sync it over to your iPhone. Then, assign the ringtone to the contact (instructions here). You may have to first create a contact with the person’s phone number.

Also make sure to turn off vibrate for calls in the iPhone’s Settings.