iPhone 5S part leak hints at fingerprint sensor built into home button Posted by Jason on Aug 15, 2013 | 0 Comments

Till now we’ve seen several indications of a fingerprint sensor being built into the iPhone 5S, right from Apple acquiring Authentec to hidden code references in an iOS 7 beta release. Today, a new component leak further corroborates rumors of a fingerprint sensor being a part of the next iPhone.

iMore obtained images of what appears to be an iPhone 5S home button cable, which is quite different from the one found in the current iPhone. From iMore:

The interesting part is the amount of pins on the connector for the Home button assembly. There seem to be ten pins total shown in the photo and from what we know about past models, there’s no need for an iPhone Home button to have that many pins unless it’s performing some other type of function current iterations aren’t capable of.

A report from earlier this week suggests that the fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5S would be placed under a convex sapphire home button, which of course explains the additional pins in the leaked cable and is consistent with the code references found in iOS 7 beta.

As we approach closer to September 10th, it seems clear that the fingerprint sensor and the improved camera would be the key differentiators from the iPhone 5, just like Siri was on the iPhone 4S.

Do you think these two features, along with an A7 chip, would be convincing enough for potential smartphone buyers to choose the iPhone 5S rather than the iPhone 5, the iPhone 5C or an Android phone?

WinterBoard Themes Bring iOS 7-style Dynamic Wallpapers with Parallax effect to iPhone Lock screen

One of the cool things about iOS 7 is the dynamic wallpapers with the parallax effect on the Home and Lock screen.  Well, if you’re jailbroken you don’t have to wait any longer.

2 themes have just been released on Cydia that allow you to do just that (at least on the Lock screen).




The two themes that I’ll be covering are iOS7 Accelerometer Slideshow Lockscreens and iOS7 Bubble Weather Ani Lockscreen Pack (names are quite a mouthful), both of which are developed by Simon.

First, let’s talk about iOS7 Accelerometer Slideshow Lockscreens.  This theme brings you 5 different packs of 20 different wallpapers, so if you do the math, it has 100 wallpapers included.  Each pack of 20 wallpapers have a specific theme which are Cityscapes, Close up, Nature, Night Sky, and 3D Abstract. All 5 packs bring you great looking wallpapers that have that parallax effect like in iOS 7.  The theme will automatically rotate through the 20 Wallpapers in each pack like a slideshow, which is quite a neat feature. Before you choose a theme in WinterBoard (WinterBoard -> Select Themes) and respring your device, you may want to download a tweak that will hide your native Lock screen clock because this theme includes an iOS 7 style clock as well.  You can hide your clock with Lock screen Clock Hide (free) or with Springtomize ($2.99).  Once the clock is hidden you can enjoy the theme to it’s full potential.  If you tap on the Lock screen it also displays weather information.  Your local weather can be changed by inputting your weather code using iFi

                                              Check out the video walkthrough below:

Next up is iOS7 Bubble Ani Lockscreen Pack.  This theme allows you to set iOS 7-style dynamic bubble wallpaper with parallax in 14 different colors. It also has the themed clock so you will need to use either Springtomize or Lock screen Clock Hide to hide the native clock.  When using this theme you’ll notice that even if your device isn’t moving, the bubbles in the background continue to move, which makes it look really nice.  With the various different colors to choose from, you’re sure to find something that you like and to match your theme of your device.  Again, this tweak has the weather widget if you tap on the lock screen, which can be customized to your local weather using iFile.

                                             Check out the video walkthrough below:

You can download both of these tweaks from the modmyi repo for $1.29 each.

Let us know how it goes in the comments below!

Plants vs. Zombies 2 now available for free in the App Store

As expected, Plants vs Zombies 2, PopCap’s sequel to the wildly popular iOS gaming title, is finally available in the U.S. App Store for free.

As we’ve mentioned earlier, the game is free-to-play with in-app purchases. It was originally supposed to be released in July, but was delayed to extensively test the backend that’ll power multi-device progress syncing and to tweak the game’s monetization model. As a part of this testing phase, PopCap had soft launched PvZ 2 in New Zealand and Australian App Stores.

But the wait is finally over, and you can now download it from the U.S. App Store, and should be available in the App Store in other countries as well (let us know if it is not yet available in your country).

Here are some of the game features:

NEW PLANTS! NEW ZOMBIES!

Meet Bonk Choy, Bloomerang and Lighting Reed: Just a few of the powerful new plants that will defend your lawn through time. Go toe-to-missing-toe with dozens of new zombies including Ra Zombie in Ancient Egypt, Swashbuckler Zombie on the Pirate Seas, or Chicken Wrangler Zombie in the Wild West. In every new world, clever new zombies and brain-teasing challenges will test your zombie-zapping skills.

AMAZING NEW WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR BRAIN

New Plant Food and power-ups will take your game to new dimensions. Plant Food will supercharge your plants when you need it most. Use your fingers to pinch, flick and zap zombies off your lawn.

LOOK OUT! ZOMBIE CHICKENS!

Seriously.

NEW LEVELS OF EXCITEMENT

Battle the fun-dead on land, on sea and… on the rails? Unlock ultra-challenging (and ultra-fun) endless levels — Pyramid of Doom, Pirate’s Booty and the Big Bad Butte.

THE FUN NEVER DIES

Gather keys to unlock brain teasers and new plants. Collect coins to purchase potent power-ups. Earn stars to take you to new worlds. Survive long enough and you’ll be rewarded with piles of prizes and achievements. And that’s just the beginning! The future holds many mysteries. Also, zombies. Lots and lots of zombies.

The reviews for the game have been positive so far, so download the game for free using this itunes link and let us know what you think in the comments below. It may not show up in the search results, so click on the dowload link to get it.

Apple takes a dig at Android with new iOS fragmentation chart

Apple has recently added a chart on its developer website, which is in the same pie chart format used by Google to report Android users in Google Play.


As you can see in the pie chart below, 93% of its users are using iOS 6, which is the latest version, 6% are on iOS 5, which was released in 2011 and just 1% are still on earlier iOS, which was released in 2010. This was based on data collected during a 14-day period ending on June 3, 2013, just the way Google measures the data on the Android platform.

Here’s the fragmentation chart of the Android platform. As you can see, 36.4% of the users are still on Gingerbread (Android 2.3 – 2.3.2), which was released in 2010, 33% of the users are on Jelly Bean (Android 4.x.x), which is the latest version and 25.6% of the users are still on Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3 – 4.0.4), which was released in 2011. So a majority of Android users are still on older version of the software.

This does not include devices like the Kindle Fire and millions of devices in China than run on Android but do not use Google’s services.

By publishing data in the same format, Apple wants to highlight one of the competitive advantages of developing for the iOS platform. Fragmentation can be become a major issue for a developer who wants to use features from the latest version of the operation system.

As AppleInsider points out, the irony of the situation is that, 67% of the Android users cannot use Google’s own services like Google Now as it needs Android 4.1 or later, where as it is available to 99% of iOS users as it needs iOS 5 or later.

iOS 7 is the make it or break it moment for Apple

My first “smartphone” was a Blackberry that allowed me to tether my laptop to it for Internet access. That Blackberry was replaced by a Curve, which while I loved for sending emails, sucked for pretty much anything else. I didn’t get an iPhone until the iPhone 4 a few years ago and I do love my iOS. I’m not stupid though. I’ve made the jump from Mac to Windows to Mac as necessity deemed right. I’ve played with lots of other OSes, admittedly I haven’t used a newer Android device, and I like to give credit where credit is due. Which is why I have to say: Apple needs to knock iOS 7 out of the park.


Three articles I read recently really sparked this, although we’ve all been thinking the same thing lately, Dan Lyons over at RWW on Jellybean, a guest column by Ralf Rottmann on Gizmodo about switching to a Nexus 4, and a post by Liz Gannes at AllThingsD on how she doesn’t use core Apple apps any more. All of these drive home the core point—Apple lost its edge with iOS 6 and it needs to step up its game with iOS 7 or start to become, well, Microsoft.

Microsoft was so successful for so long because they became entrenched in businesses. People couldn’t imagine a world where starting a task didn’t start with the Start menu. Slowly but surely, Apple snuck in and, according to Forrester, will sell $39 billion in Macs and iDevices to businesses in the next two years. That’s taking over the industry, and while Windows still (sadly) dominates the corporate workplace, Apple is getting their foot in the door.

Apple is in a similar position as Microsoft, as far as iOS goes. For years iOS has set the bar for a great mobile OS and app ecosystem, but it has backslid of late. There was nothing revolutionary or even evolutionary about iOS 6, it was purely solidifying what came before. I’m sure Apple knows this. Maybe it’s like Snow Leopard and Lion, versions of the OS needed as transition points to something bigger and better.

Maybe.

Apple needs to look at how people want to use their devices (as the Gizmodo article points out) and help people do it. I don’t think that full-scale customization is the way to go, but as pod2g suggests a system of “approved tweaks” could work well. Even letting people pick the default apps (which I do think has been a plan all along, just as soon as Google had solid apps to offer) would go a long way to putting the lustre back on iOS.

If Apple misses this opportunity, well…we can start thinking about how to transition to Android I guess.

Apple Continues To Grab Smartphone Market Share In U.S.

comScore’s latest numbers for the three month period ending February 2013 show strong growth for Apple in the U.S. smartphone market, as it continues its lead as the top OEM in the region with 38.9 percent market share, up from 35 percent in November.


Samsung follows Apple in the second spot with its marketshare of 21.3 percent in the U.S., followed by HTC, Motorola and then LG, all with single digit figures. Apart from Samsung and Apple, all OEMs lost market share, indicative of who’s making all the money in this space.

On the OS front, Android continues to lead by a wide margin at 51.7 percent, followed by iOS at 38.9 percent. Notably, Android lost a significant 2 percent market share from November 2012, while iOS grew 4 percent. That’s not to say Android lost users, just that it’s growth in terms of absolute users wasn’t as high as iOS.

comScore’s data is based on the primary device used by its surveyors, which is a more accurate indication of actual marketshare than sales data.

Android is not better than iOS, it’s just different

Paul Stamatiou has penned an essay titled “Android is better” that’s now widely being circulated across the internets. Who is Paul? According to his bio, he created three start-ups before finally becoming an “Experience Designer” for Twitter. I have zero doubt in my mind that this guy is extremely intelligent based on his prose, but I fundamentally think his statement is wrong.


First, why does Paul think Android is better? He lists the reasons that many people new to the platform bring up: Tight integration with Google services. He’s also a huge fan of “intents”, otherwise known as the way Android will let an application call upon functionality in another application to get something done.

All of that is well and good, but guess which devices Paul used to come to his conclusion? The Nexus 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition. Two phones that ship with stock Android. Two Android phones that have sold in such limited volumes that they barely even exist in the grand scheme of Android.

Most people who use Android use Samsung’s flavor of Android, or HTC’s flavor, or even worse, they buy a device that doesn’t cost $650. Again, Paul is a bright guy, and he lives in California, so of course he can afford the Google Play Edition GS4, but most Android users are using devices that cost a third of that price.

So is iOS better? Not really, it’s just different, and I’m basing this on my 28 months (September 2010 to January 2013) of owning an iPhone 4. My girlfriend owns an iPhone 5 and an iPad mini, and she lets me use them from time to time. Google’s services work just as well on iOS as they do on Android, and in most cases the iOS versions of Google’s apps often look better than their Android equivalents.

Why do some people use Android while others use iOS? For superficial reasons or reasons that most of us heavily embedded in the tech press tend to ignore. There’s the “fashion” angle. Everyone owns an iPhone, so I want to be different! There’s the size angle. I love watching videos, and the iPhone is too small! The most obvious reason is cost. The iPhone is $699, but the Galaxy Ace can do 90% of what the iPhone does for $200!

Will I ever switch back to iOS? You bet your ass. Back when I used to own an iPhone, I had pages and pages of folders filled with games and applications that I simply don’t have on Android. There are equivalents, sure, but you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone out there who doesn’t think iOS applications are more polished.

What will get me to switch back? It’s simple, really. All I want is a bigger iPhone. The Reuters rumor about Apple testing a 4.7 inch and 5.7 inch iPhone have me super excited for 2014. The phone I carry now has a 6.3 inch screen, and you might think that’s ridiculous, but that’s just one of the things Android allows because it’s different than iOS.

Not better.

PS: If you’re one of those “Just flash a custom ROM, bro!” people, please wake up and smell the coffee. You are the one tenth of the one percent. Most people, myself included, will never get into Android hacking.