Apple That

Despite the fact that the Samsung Galaxy is the world’s best selling smartphone, demand for the iPhone 4SXL, I mean iPhone 5, is still through the roof. Demand was so high, as a matter of fact, that Apple’s production plants, specifically Foxconn, were unable to keep up with the demand, severely angering Apple. Thankfully (for Foxconn employees at least) it only took about two months for Apple to almost catch up with iPhone 5 demand.

One of the top Apple analysts for Piper Jaffray, Gene Munster, has been tracking iPhone 5 availability at 100 Apple Stores around the United States for the past month. In that time, Munster has reported that there have been significant improvements in the past 10 days.

As of Tuesday, iPhone 5 smartphones running on AT&T were in stock at 82% of Apple stores with 72% of Verizon stores having the device in stock and 92% of Sprint stores having the newest Apple handset. In addition to that, shipping times for customers ordering online have decreased to about two weeks after having been stuck at three to four weeks since the phone launched on September 21.

According to Munster, Apple is “nearing full availability” for the iPhone 5 just in time for the holidays. The iPhone 5 debuted exactly two months ago to much fanfare, despite it essentially being the iPhone 4S with a larger screen and 4G LTE connectivity.

However, opening weekend sales were lower than expected due to supply constraints. Since then, Apple’s stock of the phone has been hit by concerns that the company’s manufacturing partners are unable to produce the latest iPhone fast enough to keep up with consumer demand.

The biggest question that Apple is facing now is whether or not the increased availability of the iPhone is due to an increased productivity from Apple’s manufacturing plants or a decreased demand for the phone which, to be honest, wasn’t as revolutionary as people expected it to be.

Source: Mashable – Apple is Finally Catching Up to iPhone 5 Demand

Of all iPhone 5’s shortcomings, one of them may actually be a benefit to another company. This shortcoming comes by way of the iPhone 5’s camera with its purple lens flare problem. Fotodiox, based in Illinois, has just developed a new iPhone 5 case that promises to “greatly reduce purple lens flare”.

There isn’t anything really revolutionary or mind blowing about the case that allows it to accomplish this feat. The case simply has a piece of rubber that acts as a lens hood to keep stray light from coming in. The rubber piece is held in place by the actual case, which is designed to keep the back and sides of your phone from incurring damage.

If you are unfamiliar with the purple lens flare then count yourself lucky. The problem is that a purple color usually shows up on the edges of photos when a light source is immediately nearby. Unfortunately, the problem can also occur even when the lights are off frame. In addition to that, it can affect both pictures and videos.

Many Apple customers have been complaining about the issue ever since the phone launched last month. A support document that went up on Apple’s website noted that “most small cameras” exhibit this effect when there’s a nearby light source that is out of the frame of view.  Apple also stated that you would need to readjust your camera or block off any light using your hand to get rid of the problem completely.

If you are suffering from purple lens flare on your iPhone 5 and you want a semi-cheap alternative that also protects your phone, then you should look into Fotodiox’s camHoodie case. The case is available now from Fotodiox for only $24.95.

Source: CNET – New iPhone 5 case offers to fix purple flares

Apple has officially announced the iPhone 5, an announcement that has been long anticipated and much hyped, but is the new phone worth the wait? Initial inclinations point to no. While the iPhone is lighter, thinner and faster than the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, it doesn’t bring anything new or groundbreaking to the table that hasn’t already been done by Android or other smartphone developers.

If you come down off your excitement high for a moment and really look at the new iPhone, has Apple really added a single, legitimately new feature? The answer is no. There is nothing groundbreaking here, nothing that will make people look at the iPhone 5 and honestly go “wow”. I mean, the biggest thing Tim Cook and company stressed during the announcement was all the work that went into the new, larger screen, which is still smaller than other devices, like the Galaxy S III from Samsung.

The lack of any real new feature won’t mean much to the average Joe consumer. Most of these people can’t see past the words “Apple iPhone” anyway, so you could essentially hand them a brick that says Apple iPhone on it and they would think it was the best thing on the market. But for anybody with half a brain that does their research, they will see that the iPhone 5 isn’t the market buster that it was poised to be and is, in fact, just another smartphone for sale.

When you break it down, what exactly did Apple talk about during the press conference? There was a lot of talk about the addition of 4G LTE, something that has actually been on a lot of smartphones for over a year now. There was talk about the ability to take a photo directly from a video, which is cool until you realize that the Galaxy S III and One X can do the same. Putting together a group of photos in Panorama mode was also mentioned, though is also available on the new Droid Razr phones.

If you haven’t been paying attention, there is nothing here that sets a new bar for the industry, at least not in the way the original iPhone or iPhone 3G did. Everything that the new iPhone 5 has to offer has already been done before by other developers, leaving Apple, for one of the first times ever, behind the curve.

Yahoo! has actually made a nice comparison chart pitting the new iPhone 5 against some of the other popular smartphones on the market, including the phone I recently purchased, the Galaxy S III from Samsung. The list, which can be found below, compares the iPhone 5’s screen size, operating system, cameras, battery and size, offering some pretty interesting statistics if you ask me.

Screen Size

• Galaxy Note II – 5.5 inches, 1280 x 720, 267ppi
• Galaxy S III – 4.8 inches, 1280 x 720, 306 ppi
• Motorola RAZR HD – 4.7 inches, 1280 x 720, 312ppi
• Lumia 920 – 4.5 inches, 1280 x 728, 332 ppi
• iPhone 5 – 4 inches, 1136 x 640, 326ppi

Operating system

• Galaxy Note II – Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Motorola RAZR HD – Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Galaxy S III – Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Lumia 920 – Windows Phone 8
• iPhone 5 – iOS 6

Cameras

• Lumia 920 – 8.7 megapixels (rear), 1.3 megapixels (front)
• Galaxy Note II – 8.0 megapixels (rear), 1.9 megapixels (front)
• Galaxy S III – 8.0 megapixels (rear), 1.9 megapixels (front)
• Motorola RAZR HD – 8.0 megapixels (rear), 1.3 megapixels (front)
• iPhone 5 – 8.0 megapixels (rear), 1.2 megapixels (front)

Battery

• Galaxy Note II – 3,100mAh (No official stats given)
• Motorola Razr HD – 2,530 mAh (10 hr video playback, 6hr web browsing, 6hr GPS usage)
• Galaxy S III – 2,100 mAh (No official stats given)
• Lumia 920 – 2,000 mAh (10hr 3G talk time, 67hr music playback, 6hr video playback)
• iPhone 5 – (8hr 3G/LTE talk time, 10hr web browsing via wifi)

Size

• Galaxy S III – 70.6 x 136.6 x 8.6 mm, 133g
• Motorola RAZR HD – 67.9 x 131.9 x 8.4 mm, 146g
• Galaxy Note II – 80.5 x 151.1 x 9.4 mm, 180g
• Lumia 920 – 70.8 x 130.3 x 10.7 mm, 185g
• iPhone 5 – 58.6 x 123.8 x 7.6 mm, 112g

The stats speak for themselves. In comparison to the Samsung Galaxy S III, which is the most popular 4G LTE smartphone on the market right now, the iPhone 5 has a smaller screen, a lower-resolution front-facing camera, a weaker battery, and is generally smaller all around. In fact, the iPhone 5 ranks last in every single category out of all the phones listed (Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III, Razr HD, Lumia 900, iPhone 5).

Overall, the hype surrounding the iPhone 5 was more than what Apple delivered. What we have here is a somewhat generic 4G LTE smartphone that is outmatched by at least four other phones, not to mention the fact that it brings absolutely nothing new to the table. Add that to the fact that Apple could be sued by HTC and Samsung for (ironically) patent infringement over 4G LTE technology and you have one big dropped ball from Apple.

If you still think the iPhone 5 is the greatest thing since sliced bread then by all means, throw your money at Apple once again. Pre-orders for the device will become available on Friday, September 14th with actual shipments of the phone going out on September 21st. Pricing is the same as the launch of the iPhone 4S with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions available for $199, $299 and $399, respectively.

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On October 4, 2011 Apple fans from around the world will cry out in triumph and amazement as that is the day of the next big media event from Apple. It is also the day that the company, known for its popular iPad and Mac computers, will unveil the next installment in its other popular franchise, the iPhone 5.

There have been a lot of differing opinions about the exact timing of the event, some of which even suggested that it would take place this month. However, it has generally been assumed that the event, as well as the unveiling of the iPhone 5, would take place in October.

And while it is true that Apple could change its plans whenever it feels like it, multiple sources have said that October 4 has definitely been selected by the company as the unveiling date of the iPhone 5. In addition to that, sources added that the plan, as it stands right now, is to make the device available for purchase within a few weeks after the announcement.

While the unveiling of the iPhone 5 is definitely the highlight for fans and consumers, the event itself holds more importance for the company. This event will mark the first big event for new Apple CEO Tim Cook, who took over for Jobs when he resigned last month for personal reasons.

It is this fact that also alludes to the fact that Cook himself will preside over the unveiling, much like Jobs did when he was in charge. If Cook were to pass the event off to another Apple employee, even one as trusted as key executive Phil Schiller, it would undermine his entire position and present an image to the Apple public that the job may be too much to handle.

I can find no better event to mark the first for Cook than the unveiling of Apple’s most anticipated product in the iPhone 5. So stay tuned for all the information and details that are sure to arise from the event on October 4, it should be one to remember.

Source: All Things D – Apple’s Next Event to Be Held on October 4, Starring Its New CEO

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If you recently bought tickets to the upcoming Apple 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference in hopes of seeing some exciting new hardware, then you may want to look into getting a refund. Apple recently released the dates for the event which is scheduled for Monday, June 6 through Friday, June 10, 2011. To add to that, the wording of the announcement all suggests that this year’s WWCD will be largely based around Apple software not Apple hardware.

Don’t believe me? Well then take a look at a quote from the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing at Apple Phil Schiller. “At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS. If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.” Sounds pretty clear cut if you ask me.

If you are not the aforementioned type of person and are hoping to catch a glimpse of the upcoming iPhone 5, you may not want to get your hopes up just yet either, even if Apple has used WWDC to unveil the next generation of iPhone in the past. Explicit reports are coming in from all over that this year’s event is a software event. One source even said, “If you go looking for an iPhone 5, you’re probably going to be disappointed.”

All this does, however, kind of make you wonder just what exactly Apple has in store for the iPhone 5. Some speculation concerning the iPhone 5 is that the reason for the postponement of the unveiling and release date could be because the iPhone 5 will be running on 4G LTE networks. AT&T is expected to launch their LTE networks by the middle of the year and Verizon already has their LTE networks up and running. Not to mention the fact that Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile, said this earlier in the month, “Steve Jobs has expressed his interest in an LTE iPhone and is willing to start the development at an early date.”

Some interesting information is floating around out there but we won’t know more until Jobs and Apple release something official. All we have now is speculation and rumor.

Source: All Things Digital – No iPhone at WWDC 2011

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