Category: News

New BookBook iPhone 4 Case Doubles As a Wallet

Book Book iPhone 4 Case

High-end accessory maker TwelveSouth has introduced the BookBook case ($59.99) for the iPhone 4—a leather case that looks like a vintage book on the outside and serves as a wallet and iPhone holder on the inside.

TwelveSouth claims you can easily fold the case’s cover back to talk on the iPhone, although it doesn’t look very comfortable or convenient to us. The company also says that all of the iPhone’s buttons and ports are accessible while in the case, so you can charge, sync, and use the headphone jack with no problems.

The case does have one cool innovative feature we’d like to check out: pull the red tab at the top of the case and your iPhone will slide out a quarter of inch, enough to snap a photo unobstructed. Pretty slick.

The BookBook is available from $59.99 from Amazon.com or TwelveSouth’s website, which puts it in the stratosphere of price points for iPhone 4 cases.

Apple Trying to Keep Price of the iPad 3 Down?

Apple is rewarding contracts to Taiwanese integrated-chip suppliers who are willing to lower costs for the upcoming iPad 3, according to a recent report by DigiTimes. The iPad 3 is expected to be a much more expensive device thanks to the inclusion of a cutting-edge high-def QXGA touchscreen with a 2048 x 1536 resolution, and Apple is likely worried a large pricing gap between successive models could confuse or scare away customers.

A QXGA screen provides the highest resolution of any current mass-manufactured LCD screen available and would double that of the iPad 2.

It’s been rumored that Apple will help justify the iPad 3’s higher price tag by marketing it as a professional device to businesses that require high-res screens like creative professionals and physicians. Earlier this month, This Is My Next published a report that Apple was working on iPad versions of pro image- and video-editing software like Aperture and Final Cut Pro.

It’s also been rumored that Apple will seek to avoid annoying customers who recently purchased an iPad 2 just a few months ago with a name that appears to be a marginal upgrade or a totally different line of iPad. Rumored names are the iPad HD, iPad 2 Pro, or iPad 2+.

Apple Orders 8 Megapixel Camera Parts for iPhone 5 From Taiwanese Suppliers

iPhone 5 camera parts

Taiwan Economic News has a brief report today noting that manufacturers have begun to ship the 8 megapixel camera lens that is expected to appear in the next-generation iPhone 5. The report names Taiwanese companies Largan Precision Co and Genius Electronic Optical Co as the manufacturers who won the orders from Apple.

Global orders for 8 MP mobile-phone cameras are expected to accelerate in the upcoming months. Largan’s CEO Lin En-ping noted that his company had already delivered a large shipment of 8 MP cameras for inclusion in HTC Android phones and expects 8 MP to become the mainstream standard for mobile phones in 2012.

A separate report today from Taiwan Economic News says Apple plans to order 70%-80% of their touchpanels for the iPhone 5 from Taiwan-based TPK Holdings Ltd, the world’s biggest touchpanel maker by output. The report notes the panel maker will also be supplying HTC, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble with touch panels for inclusion in their smartphones and tablet computers in the upcoming quarters.

New iPhone 5 Design Revealed in Case Diagrams?

iPhone 5 Case Design

Website MobileFun has posted a leaked schematic for an iPhone 5 case that hints at a major revamp for Apple’s upcoming device. The image of the case, which came from a Chinese manufacturer, indicates that changes to the next iPhone will include a larger 4-inch screen, a flatter, rounder shape similar in overall structure to the iPad 2, and a radically changed home button.

One of two images posted by MobileFun shows a case with a long band-aid shaped hole for the area around the iPhone’s home button that hints at new functionality. It’s been previously rumored that Apple will include a new capacitive touch strip where the iPhone’s home button now rests, but whether it will replace the home button or just work in tandem with it, as we think, is unknown. The strip could be used to quickly page through screens or perform other selection functions so as to not obscure the iPhone’s screen.

An early iPhone 5 mock-up from website This Is My Next shows what the new home button area might look like:

MobileFun also posted a second image from a separate source showing an actual manufactured iPhone 5 case with the same iPad 2-esque shape shown in the diagrams:

MobileFun claims the images were sent to them by separate Chinese case manufacturers. MobileFun is an online case retailer and has longstanding relationships with Chinese case manufacturers. These same sources previously supplied a leaked image to the site of an iPad 2 case that gave away some of the device’s features before its launch, according to a report by Cult of Mac.

MacRumors followed up MobileFun’s report by pointing to the exact same image posted a few days earlier on the website of a Norweigan accessory maker, Idinz. That image, however, is uncropped and without MobileFun’s watermark:

MacRumor’s report, however, pours cold water on the images, speculating they have a common single source and points to reports by “credible” news outlets like Reuters who say the iPhone 5 will look like the iPhone 4. Other sources counter those rumors with reports that Apple is using the iPhone 4’s design for internal-hardware testing purposes only, and insiders who have seen the testing firsthand have been misled into reporting the design will stay the same.

There is both precedent for Apple sticking with an iPhone design through successive models and also quickly altering the device’s shape. The original iPhone’s design lasted only one year, but the iPhone 3G’s shape remained largely unchanged with the 3GS.

Apple may feel some pressure to change the iPhone 4’s look after the Antennagate debacle could have left some consumers with the impression that the iPhone 4’s antenna design was flawed, although recent iPhone 4 sales figures indicate it’s still selling well.

*Update* More iPhone 5 cases images published here.

AT&T Wireless Prepping Staff for iPhone 5 Launch in September?

BGR is reporting today that AT&T has begun communicating internally to employees its plans for the release of Apple’s iPhone 5 in early September. According to the report, AT&T has asked its managers to promptly finish employee training in the upcoming weeks so that they will be prepared for an “influx of foot traffic expected in September.”

BGR has a proven track record when it comes to inside info from US mobile carriers.

Other recent reports have indicated that Apple is staffing up for an important event in mid August to late September as well. Earlier this month, Apple posted job listings on the UK site Reed looking for iPhone sales specialists. Training for that job is to begin on Aug 9. Website MacRumors recently reported that Apple stores in the US are also staffing up by asking former employees to “return as part time employees for Holidays, new Product Launches and Back to School time.”

AT&T’s own internal plans may have been set in motion after they completed field testing of a pre-production version of the iPhone 5 for use on their own network. Last week, Chip Hazard reported that AT&T’s mobility division had received an early version of the iPhone 5 for network-compatibility testing. Wireless companies typically must test and approve a new handset before it can sold for use on its own network. The Verizon iPhone 4 went through similar testing.

Soccer Superstars 2011 iPhone Game Now Available for Free

Soccer Superstars 2011 iPhone Game

Developer Gamevil has released a free full version of their Soccer Superstars 2011 game into the App Store. It’s an excellent soccer game similar in style to their beloved Baseball Superstars games.

Soccer Superstars 2011 is a full-featured soccer game with 6 modes of play, including Exhibition, My League, Season, Cup, Dramatic, and Match Mode. There is extensive gameplay tweaking, including the ability to create teams and players and upgrade player skills over time. There’s also a fun cartoon element with superplayers and superskills.

Like many app developers these days, Gamevil is introducing the freemium business model to many of their games, as they’ve done here with Soccer Superstars. The company sells “G-Points” via in-app purchases that can help upgrade your teams and players. There are also alternative ways to earn G-points without purchasing them via the App Store. Gamevil has introduced similar models in their free but full versions of Zenonia 3 and Baseball Superstars 2011. Again, you don’t need to buy the points to experience the full game.

Gamevil’s motivation for offering free full versions of their games most likely derives from a recent study that showed freemium iPhone games are making more money than paid games in the App Store.

Despite a few minor bugs in the game’s tutorial, this is a great soccer game, especially for the price of zero.

Put Your Friend’s Head in a Jar With the New Futurama iPhone App

Futurama Head in a Jar Generator

Why suffer the uncertainty of death when you can live forever by preserving your head in a jar? The Futurama Head in a Jar app (free) offers just that: immortality.

The app lets you design heads to resemble yourself or friends by letting you choose various eyes, noses, hair styles, skin color, etc. Then you can place your friend’s name on the jar’s nameplate just in case your message is unclear. Their head, in a jar, forever.

My favorite feature is that you can quickly assign your head-in-a-jar to any iPhone contact using the app. The next time your friend calls, their head-in-a-jar will appear. You can also save them to the iPhone’s Photos library or share on Facebook and Twitter via the app.

And just in case you’re wondering, the preserving liquid inside the jar is drinkable and some even enjoy the taste.

Apple Places Orders for iPhone 5 and iPad 3 Chipsets from Taiwanese Manufacturers

iPhone Internal Chipsets

A report today out of Taiwan claims Apple has finalized the technical specifications and completed the certification process for the various chipsets that will go inside its next generation iPhone 5, iPad 3, and Macbook Air set to debut this fall. According to China Economic News, Apple has placed orders from its various suppliers for the chips to delivered at the end of August.

With Taiwan’s semiconductor industry seeing signs of an overall slowdown, manufacturers are looking to Apple to sustain growth in the industry for the third quarter of this year. Some are feeling more upbeat than others after receiving large orders for chipsets that will go inside Apple’s upcoming devices.

Qualcomm, a major supplier of wireless chipsets for the iPhone, is expected to place orders with its partners TSMC and the Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Group for chip foundry and testing for the next-generation iPhone 5 starting in August, according to the report. TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor company, recently made headlines as the company rumored to be manufacturing Apple’s next-gen A6 chip.

Apple’s chip partners are likewise gearing up for the assembly of the iPad 3. Japan’s Renesas Electronics, who makes the LCD driver for the iPad, has placed orders with Taiwan’s Chipbond Technology for chip package assembly for the upcoming iPad 3. Texas Instruments, who builds the iPad’s power management chipset, has likewise placed an order with Ardentek Corp to package its chipset.

Apple Quality Testing High-Res LCD for iPad 3

iPad 3 mockup

Apple is conducting quality tests for a new high-resolution LCD screen due to appear in its next-gen iPad 3 sometime this fall, according to a report from Korea Times. Apple is close to securing large orders for the new displays from manufacturers LG and Samsung once it’s confirmed the screens meet Apple’s strict standards. The testing is being done at one of Apple’s satellite labs in China and is expect to be completed by the third quarter of this year.

The new LCD screens will be QXGA displays with a 2048 x 1536 resolution, double that of the iPad 2’s 1024 x 768 resolution, and will maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio of previous iPad screens, claims the report.

While LG began as the primary manufacturer of LCD screens for the iPad 2, light leak problems in early models led Apple to add Samsung as a secondary source for the screens.

LG and Samsung both have the ability to manufacturer low-temperature polysilicon screens on a mass scale. Low-temperature polysilicon weighs half that of traditional LCD screens, enhances flexibility for less breakage, and is cheap to manufacturer. The iPhone 4’s Retina Display is a low-temp silicon IPS screen (LTPS-IPS).

When designing its next-gen iPad, Apple provided the companies with requirements for an LCD screen with a pixel density of over 280 pixels-per-inch and strict visual quality standards, claims a source speaking the newspaper.

Other recent reports have indicated the next iPad will be more expensive than its predecessors. It will be labeled as a “pro” version of the device and marketed toward creative professionals, physicians, and other businesses that require high-res screens.

To avoid angering customers who purchased the iPad 2 just a few months ago in March, Apple is rumored to be avoiding the iPad 3 name and instead may call it the iPad HD, iPad 2 HD, or iPad 2+. Last month, website This Is My Next claimed Apple will be launching iPad versions of professional video- and photo-editing software such as Final Cut Pro and Aperture alongside the new pro iPad.

Apple is rumored to be ramping up its suppliers for the release of the iPad 3 as well as the iPhone 5 sometime this fall. DigiTimes reported earlier this month that Taiwanese manufacturers have already gathered to necessary materials for the mass manufacturing of the devices. A supposed image of a dock connector for the iPad 3 was published by website ApplePro earlier this week.

For iPhone Users, Spotify Is Nothing to Get Excited About…Yet

Spotify is a huge hit in Europe and will soon be in the US as well, mainly for one reason: it’s a free music service that lets you plan any song, on-demand, any time you want it. Want to hear the latest Katy Perry hit right this second? Spotify gives it to you, for free. It’s the perfect music service for the entitlement generation, and it’s something no other free music service in the US currently matches. The only problem is, it doesn’t work on the iPhone.

Well, yes, there is that free Spotify iPhone app, and, yes, it does play Spotify music. But you have to fork out $10 a month for a premium account that enables offline play. It doesn’t support the free service, and that’s all that anyone cares about anyway.

So from the perspective of an iPhone user, there’s nothing special about Spotify, as there are already several $10-a-month subscription music services available for the iPhone. Services like Rhapsody and Rdio are arguably better.

It’s a shame too because Spotify’s free service for the desktop is awesome. I was lucky enough to receive an invitation and am impressed with both the software and the music selection. There are millions of songs available for free, on-demand playback, and the sound quality is excellent. The software itself feels like a simplified, uncluttered version of iTunes. Besides browsing and searching for music, Spotify lets you create playlists, star favorite songs for playback later, and share favorites via Facebook and Twitter. All of this for the price of listening to some ads.

Hopefully, Spotify will allow the free service on the iPhone one day, but the company is likely testing just how much revenue the $10 subscription will bring in. I can see the free Spotify service as the gateway drug that gets people to buy the $10 monthly plan. They’ll build playlists, discover great new artists, share with friends on their home computer, then want to take all that on their iPhone. But in my opinion, keep the $10, or join Rdio, or use it to buy the songs outright from iTunes.