Apple releases iOS 4.3.5 for iPhone, iPad, more

Apple on Monday released iOS 4.3.5 for iOS devices to address a security vulnerability. The update comes just 10 days after Apple issued iOS 4.3.4 to address a security hole related to PDF support. The new update was released with the following notes:

iOS 4.3.5 Software Update

Fixes a security vulnerability with certificate validation.

IOS 4.3.5 is available immediately through iTunes for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and the last two iPod touch models. Apple has also released iOS 4.2.10 at the same time for Verizon Wireless’ CDMA iPhone 4.

Thank you :
http://www.bgr.com/2011/07/25/apple-releases-ios-4-3-5-for-iphone-ipad-more/

Facebook’s iPad App Is Hidden Inside Of Their iPhone App

There are things out there all around us that we often miss because we’re just not looking. This is perhaps most true in the tech world, where thousands of secrets are out there in the wild, hidden in code. If you know where to look, or if you can read the code, you can find those secrets. It’s how so many features of iOS get revealed early by sites like 9to5 Mac, who are great at parsing the code (and confirming our non-code-digging scoops). It’s how we knew basically everything about Chrome OS before it actually launched. It’s how we knew Facebook Places was coming before it was announced. And now we’ve just uncovered a new massive find this way.

Hidden in the code of Facebook’s iPhone app is the code for something else. Something everyone has been waiting over a year for. The iPad app.

Yes, it’s real, and it’s spectacular (well, very good, at the very least). And yes, it really is right there within the code. Even better, it’s executable. (Update: a lot of pictures here.)

For the past couple hours, I’ve been using Facebook’s iPad app. Well, I should qualify this. I can’t be sure if this is the version they’ll actually ship, but based on everything I’ve seen, I’m going to assume it’s at least very close to the version they’re going to ship. While much of it is written with HTML5 (as you might expect from Facebook), the native iPad work is very good too.

In particular, the navigation system is great. Unlike the iPhone app — which even its creator is complaining about now as being stale — the Facebook iPad app uses a left-side menu system that can be accessed by the touch of a button or the flick of the iPad screen. The app also makes great use of the pop-overs (overlay menus) found in other iPad apps. When you flip the iPad horizontally, the list of your online friends appears and you can chat with them as you do other things on Facebook. The photo-viewer aspect looks great — similar to the iPad’s own native Photos app. Places exists with a nice big map to show you all your friends around you. Etc.

It’s all good. I’m going to put up a post after this one with a ton of screenshots of the entire app.

All of this is possible apparently thanks to a seemingly tiny update Facebook pushed yesterday to their iPhone app. Version 3.4.4 seemed like a small version that restored the “Send” button for comments and chat among a few other little things. Facebook may have even pushed it out in response to some backlash they had been getting about the app, as Financial Times covered a few days ago. Perhaps it was the rush to fix some of those issues that caused Facebook to push this version — which will clearly eventually be Universal Binary (meaning it will house both the iPhone and iPad versions of the app) — with the iPad elements inside. Whatever the case, the app is carrying a payload of much greater importance than some bug fixes.

So, I’m using it. Can you? Well, yes — if you don’t mind doing some things you’re technically not supposed to do to your iPad. We obviously don’t recommend it, but if you catch my drift, I’m sure you can figure out a way to access Facebook for iPad. Related, it must be noted that a Canadian engineering student, Marvin Bernal, who calls himself an “iOS Enthusiast” actually noticed this Facebook mistake almost immediately and tweeted about it.

So, after over a year of complaints, Facebook now appears to truly be on the verge of releasing the iPad app. It has now been well over a month since the New York Times’ Nick Bilton reported about the app’s existence and said it should launch in the “coming weeks”. At the time, we further verified its existence , but did not hear a timetable for the launch. Once source now says that based on the HTML changes rolling out on an hourly basis, it looks like work is still underway. But much of that work appears to be smaller tweaks at this point. We’re close — just in case the code being attached to the iPhone app didn’t give that away.

During the launch of the Skype video chatting integration a few weeks ago, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that the company was gearing up for a full slate of launches in the coming weeks. The iPad app will be one of them. And based on what I’ve seen tonight, I’d be even less surprised if Project Spartan ties in with it as well eventually. The one thing the iPad app (like all the other Facebook mobile apps) is missing is gaming (and all other third-party apps). Spartan could bring that down the line.

We’ll be doing a post with a ton of images shortly. Below, a quick taste.

Update: And all the images. Enjoy.

Update 2: I’ve confirmed with a source who had previously seen the Facebook iPad app that this is in fact the very app that they were planning to launch with. We’ll see if that timetable gets sped up now.

iPhone 4 Review

http://mobiletechupdatenews.blogspot.com/2011/07/iphone-4-review.html

Apple iPad 2 (16GB, Wi-Fi, black) Review

http://mobiletechupdatenews.blogspot.com/2011/07/apple-ipad-2-16gb-wi-fi-black-review.html

Thank you :
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/25/facebooks-hidden-ipad-app/

Samsung Smartphone Sales May Pass Apple

Samsung Electronics Co., maker of the Galaxy mobile phone, may have surpassed Nokia Oyj and Apple Inc. in smartphone sales for the first time on demand for devices that run on Android software, a research company said.

Samsung is estimated to have sold between 18 million and 21 million smartphones globally in the April-June quarter, compared with 16.7 million for Nokia and 20.3 million iPhones, Neil Mawston, a London-based analyst at Strategy Analytics, a research company based in Boston, said in an e-mailed response to questions on July 22. The data exclude tablet-computer sales.

The estimates show Google Inc.’s Android is gaining ground on Apple in smartphones as Nokia, which is turning to Microsoft Corp. for software support, struggles to keep up with the pace. Samsung, which also produces low-end phones that aren’t capable of downloading applications, has said it aims to more than double sales of high-end devices this year.

“Samsung’s Android portfolio is selling strongly in most regions,” said Mawston. “Samsung stands a reasonable chance of capturing the top spot on a quarterly basis if it can continue expanding its Android portfolio across high-growth markets like China and Brazil. Samsung and Apple will be at similar levels in smartphones by the end of the year.”

Catching Nokia

Including basic phones, Samsung will probably have a 20 percent share this year, compared with Nokia’s 26 percent, closing the gap between the world’s two largest handset makers to the narrowest ever, he said.

Samsung wasn’t immediately able to verify the figures, said Nam Ki Yung, a Seoul-based spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea- based company. Steve Park, a Seoul-based spokesman for Apple, declined to comment.

Cherry Gong, a Nokia spokeswoman in China, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Samsung fell 0.4 percent to 847,000 won at the 3:00 p.m. close in Seoul, while South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index lost 1 percent. The shares have declined 11 percent this year.

Samsung’s global smartphone sales had lagged behind Nokia, Apple and Research in Motion Ltd. in the first quarter, according to researcher International Data Corp.

The South Korean company’s sales are accelerating after it began selling the Galaxy S II, a successor to its best-selling Android device introduced last year to counter Apple.

New Galaxy

Samsung planned to roll out the model in 120 countries through 140 operators from May, the company said in April. The latest Galaxy handset went on sale last week in five cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai, as the company seeks to make a push into the world’s largest market for mobile phones.

The latest 4.27-inch Galaxy phone, unveiled in February, helped Samsung more than double operating profit at its mobile phone business in the second quarter, according to five analysts polled by Bloomberg News.

Apple reported net income that beat estimates on July 19, lifted by record sales of iPhones and iPads. In contrast, Nokia reported its first quarterly loss since 2009 as the Finnish company struggles to sell handsets based on its 10-year-old Symbian software.

Cupertino, California-based Apple plans to introduce a new iPhone in September that boasts a stronger chip for processing data and a more advanced camera, two people familiar with the product said last month.

Lawsuits

Apple sued Samsung in April, claiming the Galaxy products “slavishly” copied technologies and designs used in the iPad and iPhone. The suit against Samsung added to its patent fights with Android-device makers including Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and HTC Corp., with the Google software gaining market share.

Android’s share will rise to 44 percent by 2015 from 39 percent this year, according to a forecast by IDC. Global sales of smartphones will soar 55 percent to 472 million units this year, according to the researcher.

Samsung is also tapping consumers looking for lower-priced models with devices using its own Bada software. It plans to introduce a new model based on the system in the second half, J.K. Shin, head of Samsung’s mobile-phone division, said July 20.

The debut of a new iPhone may slow the momentum for Samsung, Mawston said.

“Samsung will need to work hard to hold off that competitive threat,” he said.

Thank you :
http://thumbsup.in.th/tag/samsung/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-24/samsung-may-have-surpassed-nokia-apple-in-second-quarter-smartphone-sales.html

LG Optimus 3D not getting any Gingerbread love until October

We have some good news and some bad news for the LG Optimus 3D owners out there. The sad bit is that their beloved smartphone won't be getting the Android 2.3 Gingerbread treatment for at least a few more months. On the positive side, the wait might just be worth it as it will improve the 3D capabilities of the device quite significantly.

The Inquirer reports that they managed to get some of the LG tech gurus to talk about the Optimus 3D Android 2.3 update release date and they said it will be coming in October. That might seem like a pretty long wait as by that time 10 months will have passed since the launch of Android Gingerbread, but there will be something to make up for it.

The LG Optimus 3D will be getting the usual bunch of features brought by Android 2.3 Gingerbread plus one key addition - it will be able to convert regular 2D application to 3D as long as the app relies on OpenGL for its graphics. So if you've always dreamt of adding an extra dimension to your favorite games or apps this might be your chance.

Now we are not sure how good the feature will work as converting 2D content to 3D automatically sounds pretty hard, but let's give LG a chance here. We'll see what happens in three months, when the update is actually released.

Thank you :
http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_optimus_3d_not_getting_any_gingerbread_love_until_october-news-2901.php

Nokia to slash all phone prices in September

Nokia plans to slash prices across its entire product line this September in an attempt to bolster sales, according to industry insider Eldar Murtazin, who is known for often accurately reporting inside information pertaining to Nokia and other smartphone vendors. Murtazin posted the following message on his Twitter account: "Nokia are going to cut prices for the whole product line by 10 per cent in September. They struggle for a market share worldwide."

Nokia's share of the global cell phone market has been steadily declining in recent months. The company's solution has been to dump Symbian in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Still, the transition period is going to be a long and hard one, and the company knows it. Apparently Espoo believes the solution is lower prices.

Nokia's first Windows phone, codenamed Sea Ray, looks nearly identical to the recently-announced Meego-based N9 smartphone, but it's running Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Nokia's first Windows Phone 7 handset(s) will be launching in Europe later this year: France, Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands have been confirmed.

Five months ago, Nokia announced that it was choosing Microsoft's Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform. Three months ago, Nokia and Microsoft finally signed a definitive agreement regarding their global mobile ecosystem partnership.

Windows Phone 7.5 (codenamed Mango) is expected to begin rolling out this fall (check out our preview from last month). There is talk that Microsoft is already working on the next Windows Phone updates, codenamed Tango and Apollo. Last year, we heard of that the second major update to Windows Phone will be Apollo, due toward the end of 2012. At some point Microsoft will have to release Windows Phone 8. One of these updates could indeed be Windows Phone 8, or an update to Windows Phone 8.

It's generally accepted that Windows Phone is not selling well. AT&T Mobility CEO believes things will start to pick up with codename Mango and as the Windows Phone Marketplace gains more apps. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop meanwhile argues that Windows Phone scores better than Android and iPhone with consumers, but OEMs are doing their best work for Android. He believes that once Nokia starts doing its best work for Windows Phone, the platform will take off. Microsoft says it dreams of selling 100 million Windows phones per year.

Thank you :
http://www.techspot.com/news/44741-nokia-to-slash-all-phone-prices-in-september.html

Apple's iOS 4.3.4 jailbroken

Apple last week released its latest iOS update to fix a security flaw exploited by a jailbreaking tool, but the new version--4.3.4--has itself already been jailbroken.

Detailed by the folks at Redmond Pie, the custom PwnageTool now lets users jailbreak any iOS device running iOS 4.3.4 with the exception of the iPad 2. The jailbreak was created and launched Friday, not too long after 4.3.4 was released.

Offering a step-by-step guide for those either brave enough or foolhardy enough to jailbreak their device via the PwnageTool, Redmond Pie says it tested the jailbreak to confirm that it works. Like many jailbreaks, this one is tethered, which means that if you restart your device, you'll need to reboot back into the jailbroken state again to reinstall the jailbreak.

Designed for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users, iOS 4.3.4 contains a small security patch designed to fix a hole associated with viewing malicious PDF files. Apple issued the patch as a response to another jailbreaking tool called JailbreakMe, which lets anybody easily jailbreak their iOS device but can be modified to allow those devices to be infected by malicious PDFs.

Thank you :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20080301-37/apples-ios-4.3.4-jailbroken/#ixzz1STVlJKus

Apple to sell contract-free, $350 iPhone, report says

Just when you thought you had enough, another iPhone rumor pops up.

The latest, courtesy of a story from Boy Genius Report today, has Apple selling a contract-free, $350 iPhone 3GS for the prepaid customer segment. The report also said the next iPhone, which may or may not feature a radical design, will be coming out or announced "by the end of summer, late August-ish."

An Apple representative wasn't immediately available to comment on the validity of the report.

Apple has been looking at ways to expand its potential base of customers and cement its leadership role in the smartphone world. The company has already expanded its distribution with the addition of Verizon Wireless as a carrier partner. But Apple wants to go after the burgeoning prepaid market, one of the few areas of customer growth still left in the wireless industry.

The move comes as Google's Android platform steadily overtakes Apple for smartphone supremacy. The free software is already used by a number of handset manufacturers, allowing it to tackle both the low and high ends of the market.

The iPhone has traditionally been considered a high-end or aspirational product. But that changed earlier this year when AT&T began selling the iPhone 3GS for $99 with a two-year contract. A contract-free version of the phone for $350 would appeal to consumers that are increasingly reluctant to commit to pricey and long-term agreements.

In addition to the lower-end iPhone 3GS and the new iPhone, Boy Genius Report said Apple will continue to sell the iPhone 4, allowing it to have a product in each customer segment.

Apple enthusiasts, however, are awaiting the next iPhone, which has seen increasing chatter recently. The latest: a translated report from Sohu.com that claims the iPhone 5 was delayed because of overheating with the A5 processor that powers the device. The International Business Times has a translated story here. The dual-core A5 chip debuted on the iPad 2, but Apple has reportedly been trying to shrink it down to fit into the much smaller iPhone.

Thank you :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20080342-94/apple-to-sell-contract-free-$350-iphone-report-says/#ixzz1STUR1Ewx

HTC Sensation 4G (T-Mobile) Review

The good: The HTC Sensation 4G boasts a sleek, high-quality design with a gorgeous 4.3-inch qHD display. The Android smartphone also features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 8-megapixel camera, and the HTC Sense user interface brings some thoughtful and useful new features.

The bad: The smartphone doesn't offer much internal memory, and the phone's speakers are pretty weak.

The bottom line: Its excellent design and user experience, coupled with its solid performance, make the HTC Sensation 4G one of the best Android phones yet and a top pick for T-Mobile customers.

HTC and T-Mobile first introduced the HTC Sensation 4G back in April, and we were instantly enamored of the Android smartphone. Not only did HTC give the phone a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 4.3-inch qHD display, but it enhanced the user experience by adding some great features to the HTC Sense user interface. We've had to wait two long months since that fateful day in April, but T-Mobile customers will finally get the chance to get their hands on the HTC Sensation 4G starting June 15 for a price of $199.99 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate. Needless to say, we were excited to get our own hands on the Sensation again, and we're happy to say it does not disappoint.

Design
What can we say; it was love at first sight. The HTC Sensation 4G is one of the best-looking and most well-built smartphones we've seen to date, and it's not because of any flashy gimmicks, but simply a solid and sleek design. Like a number of HTC handsets, the Sensation 4G has a unibody aluminum chassis with a streamlined and high-quality construction. What's most notable about the phone, though, is how sleek it is for a 4.3-inch touch-screen device.

Unlike some 4.3-inch-screen smartphones, such as the HTC ThunderBolt and Samsung Droid Charge, the Sensation doesn't feel heavy or bulky. It's similar in size and weight (5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick, and 5.2 ounces) to the T-Mobile G2x and Samsung Galaxy S II, but even so, the Sensation has a more premium feel and its tapered edges make it more comfortable in the hand.

Part of what allows the smartphone to be so slim is the 16:9 qHD (540x960-pixel resolution) Super LCD touch screen. The display features a contour design that gives it a concave shape, making it comfortable when held against the cheek, and also prevents scratches when the phone is placed screen-side down. More importantly, it looks gorgeous. Text and images look sharp with vivid colors, and we were still able to read the screen outdoors. The iPhone's Retina display and Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus touch screen offer finer detail and better color saturation, but the Sensation's display is still no slouch, and we suspect most people will have no objections to it.

The touch screen was responsive, as we were able to easily navigate the menus and launch applications with a single tap. Scrolling through lists and using the pinch-to-zoom feature was also smooth. For text entry, you only get the choice of HTC's supplied virtual keyboards--full QWERTY, phone, or compact--but no standard Android keyboard or Swype. That said, while it's not immediately obvious, the HTC keyboard has a feature called Trace that acts very much like Swype where you can drag your finger from letter to letter. As with Swype, we found Trace to be faster and easier and even more accurate than pecking away at each key.

Below the display, you'll find touch-sensitive buttons for the home, menu, back, and search functions. The left side holds a volume rocker and a Micro-USB port, while the right side is devoid of controls. The top of the device houses a 3.5mm headphone jack and power button, and just below it, on the upper right side of the screen, is the front-facing camera. The 8-megapixel and dual LED flash are located on back.

T-Mobile packages the HTC Sensation 4G with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a preinstalled 8GB microSD card, a wired stereo headset, and reference material.

Software and user interface
The HTC Sensation 4G ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the latest version of HTC Sense. Sense has always been our favorite custom skin for Android, both for its aesthetics and useful functions, and now HTC has made it even better.

A lot of the new features of Sense can be found on the lock screen. Aside from a display of the date, time, and other vital statistics, you now get shortcuts to four of your favorite apps. By default, the shortcuts are set to phone, mail, camera, and messages, but you can change them in the phone's Personalize menu. To open a specific app, you can simply drag the icon to the ring at the bottom of the screen, instead of having to unlock the phone first.

In addition to the shortcuts, HTC also wanted the lock screen to showcase more user content, so now you can personalize the screen with your photo gallery, friend stream, favorite stocks, or weather. The content then floats by or flies by (depending on which option you choose) onscreen.

Once you unlock the phone, you'll find even more enhancements. For example, much like the HTC Flyer, the Sensation features a 3D carousel so you can more quickly flip through the seven home screens, rather than swiping through each panel. (Of course, you can also use the Leap screen function.) The pull-down notification tray has a second tab called Quick Settings where you can manage your wireless connections and access other settings. The mail app and widget now give you a preview of each message, and the photo gallery widget features a flip-board effect.

There's much more to HTC Sense, but for the sake of brevity we won't detail every new feature here. That said, we found the new functionality to be both useful and well integrated into the system, making for a great user experience on the Sensation 4G.

Features
The T-Mobile Sensation 4G offers world roaming capabilities, a speakerphone, conference calling, voice dialing, video calling via Qik, and text and multimedia messaging. Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi are all onboard, and there is support for Wi-Fi calling. T-Mobile doesn't charge extra for this feature, but be aware that the minutes are deducted from your regular voice plan.

Thank you :
http://www.ppcgeeks.com/2011/06/15/t-mobile-htc-sensation-4g-50-off-for-new-customers/
http://trendsupdates.com/t-mobile-bringing-the-stunning-htc-sensation-4g-for-just-200-this-month/
http://socialbarrel.com/t-mobile-sets-contract-less-htc-sensation-4g-price/9017/
http://411droid.com/tmobile-launches-htc-sensation-g-today-now-available-stores-online/
http://www.popherald.com/htc-sensation-4g-t-mobile-usa-release-date/6567
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/htc-sensation-4g-t/4505-6452_7-34640312.html#reviewPage1