Nearly One-Third of iPhone Users Still Have 4-Inch Screens
The latest data from Mixpanel shows that approximately 32.22% of active iPhone users still have a 4-inch screen. That is the same screen size as the so-called “iPhone 5se” that Apple is expected to announce at its rumored March 15 event.
Apple has released three iPhone models with 4-inch screens since 2013, including the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 5s, and some customers still feel these smartphones have the best screen size for pocketability and one-handed usage.
Apple’s newest 4-inch smartphone, the iPhone 5s, represented just under 20 percent of current iPhones in use, trailed by the iPhone 5 at 7.53 percent and the plastic-backed iPhone 5c at 5.66 percent. The numbers fluctuate slightly in real time.
In the company’s latest earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that 60 percent of older-generation iPhone users have yet to upgrade to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, or iPhone 6s Plus.
Right now, customers that want a 4-inch iPhone have to settle for the over two-year-old iPhone 5s’s outdated tech specs, and the smartphone also lacks many new features such as Apple Pay, 3D Touch, and Live Photos.
For that reason, the “iPhone 5se” with a rumored 4-inch screen, Apple’s newest A9 chip, Live Photos, and purported price of around $500 may prove to be a more popular option among prospective iPhone buyers.
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Tim Cook Talks iPhone Sales, Apple TV, Campus 2, and More at Employee Town Hall Meeting
Following Apple’s first quarter earnings report, Apple executives hosted a Town Hall meeting with Apple employees to answer questions and to divulge a few details about the company’s future plans. 9to5Mac has shared highlights of what was covered at the event. While much of what was said was reiterating information that was shared during the earnings call, there are a few tidbits worth noting.
When it comes to the iPhone and the rumor that Apple has perhaps reached “peak iPhone,” Cook said the device is the “greatest business of the future” with growth potential in key emerging markets like India and China. He said Apple does not need to launch a less expensive device with pared-down features to entice buyers in these markets, as research suggests people will spend more for a better experience. These comments relate directly to the upcoming “iPhone 5se,” which some rumors have suggested will be positioned as a less powerful, lower-end device, though not a cheap one by general smartphone standards.
On the Apple TV and tvOS, Cook said the two products point towards a “bright” future for Apple, but he didn’t mention how Apple might expand its presence in the living room going forward. tvOS is Apple’s way of giving content providers the tools to offer streaming television solutions to customers after having failed to launch its own streaming service due to difficulties with negotiations. The most recent TV-related rumors suggest Apple is exploring the possibility of original content, following in the footsteps of Netflix and Amazon.
Cook also reportedly expressed excitement over future products coming from the company’s software, services, and hardware divisions. In the next few months, Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 5se, the iPad Air 3, new bands for the Apple Watch, and perhaps new Retina MacBooks and Retina MacBook Pros. Later in the year, Apple is also expected to introduce the highly-anticipated iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
He also teased “far off” hardware products coming beyond 2016, perhaps hinting at the company’s work on the Apple Car or its exploration of virtual and augmented reality. Recent rumors suggest Apple is prototyping virtual reality headsets similar to the Oculus Rift.
The last bit of interesting information was on Apple Campus 2, the company’s second “spaceship” campus that’s under development in Cupertino. Construction appears to be on track to be finished at the end of 2016, as Cook says the first employees will move into the campus by the end of January 2017. He also said the new underground auditorium will allow Apple to hold events on its grounds instead of at venues in San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area.
The meeting also included more mundane information on upcoming time-off benefits for Apple employees, flagging iPad sales, new solutions for retaining employee talent, and Apple’s supply chain, which can be read at 9to5Mac.
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Instagram Testing Multiple Account Support on iOS
Instagram has begun testing multiple account support on iOS, suggesting the feature could be coming to all Instagram iOS users in the near future. Starting today, some Instagram users began noticing an option to log into more than one account in the Instagram app, but multi-account support is limited to a small number of users at this time.
Instagram users who have access to the multiple accounts feature will see the option to add additional accounts in the Settings menu through a new “Add Account” heading. Once a second or third account is added, switching between them can be done with just a couple of taps. With multiple accounts logged in, notifications for Likes and Comments will also have a header to let you know which account is receiving the alert.
Multi-user support has been a highly desired feature on Instagram for several years. The first hint of support came in late 2015, when Instagram began testing the feature on Android. It is not clear when multiple account support will see a wider release for iOS users as Instagram has not yet made an official announcement.
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Twitter Experimenting With Dedicated GIF Button for Mobile Apps
A few Twitter users on the social network’s Android app have begun to notice a dedicated GIF button within the Tweet composition box of the mobile client. Speaking with TechCrunch, Twitter user Phil Pearlman said that the new button lets users browse through current popular GIFs in a trending tab, or select a mood they’re feeling to see resulting GIFs based on that emotion. So far the GIF button appears to only be showing up on Android, but if Twitter is planning a wide rollout, it should presumably come to iOS as well.
If people aren't seeing it yet twttr is testing way cool gif feature. cc @bluechoochoo pic.twitter.com/LuTsVeUiSs
— Phil Pearlman (@ppearlman) February 4, 2016
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Pearlman wasn’t the only Twitter user to see the GIF button appear within the Android app, with quite a few people mentioning it over the past day. It’s also been disappearing for just as many who got to briefly test the feature out, with a couple users — including Pearlman — noticing the button suddenly disappearing from the app.
Besides a playful GIF of its own, Twitter didn’t respond to comment on the possible large-scale rollout of a GIF button feature for the service’s mobile app. Given that many users already go through the laborious process of searching for GIFs online and inserting them into tweets through the Media option, it makes sense for the company to begin streamlining that process.
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App Store and iTunes Experiencing Issues for Many Users Worldwide
Apple has updated its System Status page to reflect that many users may be unable to access, purchase, or update apps on the App Store on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Multiple other iCloud services are or were also experiencing downtime, including the iTunes Store, iBooks Store, iCloud Drive, and iWork for iCloud.
The issues began shortly before 7:00 a.m. Pacific and appear to be widespread, affecting customers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere, according to social media posts. Apple TV services and Apple’s Volume Purchase Program are also affected by the service issues.
This article will be updated as the status of Apple’s services changes.
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Apple Music now lets Android users save music to an SD card
Apple doesn’t often make Android apps, but when it does, it’s either to secure more iPhone users or give people access to Apple Music. Now that the streaming app has eclipsed one million downloads, the company has begun outfitting it with features that are native to Google’s mobile OS. In its most recent update, Apple Music has gained the ability to download tracks to an SD card, allowing users to store more of their chosen beats offline.
It’s a welcome addition for Apple Music users who may own a smartphone or tablet with limited built-in storage, but also those who may own a flagship device and want to travel with up to 128GB of music in their pocket. On top of that, the company now includes a full schedule of Beats 1 shows in the app and lets subscribers browse tracks by composers and compilations, making it easier to find and listen to new music.
Source: Apple Music (Google Play)
Apple Pay Coming Soon to Crate & Barrel, Chick-fil-A and Au Bon Pain
Apple Pay is now available at more than 2 million retail locations, with merchants such as Crate & Barrel, Chick-fil-A and Au Bon Pain set to accept the system in stores imminently, reports The Business Times.
Online clothing retailer Zappos.com also added Apple Pay to its iPhone and iPad apps on Tuesday, following a number of requests from customers to use the feature.
The announcement by Apple comes alongside news that the mobile payment service exceeded the company’s goal to make it available at 1.5 million locations by the end of 2015. In-app purchases using the service also more than doubled in the last six months of 2015 compared with the first half, says the company.
Despite the upbeat announcement, Apple still has work to convince U.S. customers to use Apple Pay at retail stores. According to a survey by consumer researcher Pymnts and InfoScout, 16.6 percent of people who own newer iPhones tried Apple Pay in October, an increase from 9 percent in November 2014.
Apple Pay is set to expand to China early this year, making it the fifth country to adopt the payments service since its U.S. launch in October 2014. The service expanded to the United Kingdom in July 2015, followed by Australia and Canada last November in partnership with American Express. Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain are also expected to gain support later this year.
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Apple Music for Android update adds save to SD card for offline listening
The Apple Music for Android app may still be in beta but it’s getting some nice new features in the latest update. You can now save tracks to an SD card for offline listening, see the full schedule of Beats 1 shows and enjoy better browsing for compilations and composers. Music videos are still listed as “coming soon” though.
If you’ve already got the beta app installed there’s nothing to do as the latest version is already in Google Play. You can manually update it of course, but it will do so of its own accord soon enough. If you don’t already have the app and want to check it out, hit the install button below on your phone to grab it and then sign up for a free three-month trial.
INSTALL APPLE MUSIC FOR ANDROID
Apple Music has over 30 millions songs in its database and all the hand-curated playlists you’d expect from a premium music streaming service. Beats 1 and the multitude of streaming radio stations are two of the biggest draws for Apple Music for Android, but there are plenty of Google Play Music and Spotfiy aficionados that would disagree.
What music streaming service do you use? Have you tried Apple Music for Android?
Tronsmart Titan 10A/90W 5-port USB charger charging station: review
Being a mobile enthusiast is a fun hobby. I find technology vital to staying connected while it helps me be efficient and on task. With that comes the need to charge a wide range of devices. And I can honestly tell you that with different charging specs on tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, speakers and cameras that having the right charger can mean the difference between destroying a battery and staying powered up.
I have been using the Tronsmart Titan 90W Charging Station with five ports to charge up all of my devices lately and I can tell you that I love it. Chargers are more commonplace than any other accessory, but high-quality chargers are a rare breed.
Design
The Tronsmart Titan is a 90W charger with enough power to charge five devices at full speed all of the time. The five port charging station is relatively big for a charger with a decent amount of weight, but really isn’t an issue for me. I don’t like desktop chargers that are so light that they shift around with light movement. It measures 6.25 x 3.25-inches while being about an inch thick and comes in a matte plastic finish with four rubber feet on the bottom.
There are five full USB sized charging ports in the front, with good spacing between them, so you don’t have force fit the five cables right next to each other. The center of each port is colored green which is a thoughtful addition as it makes it easy to see each port against the black plastic.
Each USB port is rated at 18W for a grand total of 90W, and each port comes with smart technology that allows you to charge your latest devices at the fastest speeds, including Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0.
The back of the charger holds the power switch so you can turn the charger on/off and not worry about vampire energy drain which can end up costing you a lot of extra money.
What are Energy Vampires?
Check out this excerpt from energy.gov:
Take, for example, the seemingly innocuous cell phone charger. As cellphones have become a staple of modern life, so have the devices that power them. To ensure that they’re able to be in constant contact, many Americans carry chargers in their bags, have them in their cars and even their office. So it shouldn’t come as much surprise to find that many cell phone users have one or more chargers constantly plugged in at their home. What most people don’t realize is that these chargers are continually drawing power, even when no device is connected to them. In fact, the average charger is consuming .26 watts of energy when not in use, and 2.24 watts even when a fully charged device is connected to it.
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By themselves, those watts won’t cause a huge increase in your energy bill. But if you add other common devices to the equation, you’ll begin to see why energy vampires are often responsible for adding 10 percent or more to your monthly utility bill.
Usage
I normally don’t think twice when it comes to chargers, but with my recent switch to Nexus devices with USB Type-C, and to unlocked smartphones, having the right charger has never been more important to me. The Tronsmart Titan touts VoltIQ technology which is the brains behind controlling the charging speeds depending on needs. Once you plug in your devices, the VoltIQ smart tech automatically identifies the voltage settings and adjusts charging speeds accordingly to make sure your device does not overheat and overcharge.
I really have no complaints when it comes to using the Tronsmart Titan. It charges all of my USB devices at the proper rate, and it is safe for the most sensitive devices like those with USB Type-C. I use it with my Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nuu Z8, Samsung Gear S2, Huawei Watch, LG V10, and NVIDIA Shield. It comes with me on all of my business trips in place of bulky individual chargers, and helps me minimize vampire energy drain with a simple flip of the power switch.
Specifications
Input: 100-240V (Max)
Output: 5V/2A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5A (Max)
Total power:90W
What you will get
1 x Tronsmart UC5F Desktop USB Charger
1 x 5 Foot AC Power Cord
1 x Welcome Guide
Summary
Overall the Tronsmart Titan 90W 5-port USB charger is everything I could want in a desktop charger. It’s smart, safe and charges my devices at the quickest possible speeds. You can find it on sale now at Amazon.com for just $37.99. I highly recommend it.
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Apple ordered to pay $625 million in FaceTime patent lawsuit
VirnetX has been a thorn in Apple’s side (and a good chunk of the tech industry) for the better part of this decade. It first sued Apple in 2010 over the alleged use of virtual private network (VPN) patents in FaceTime video chats, and has been successful enough in court to wring hundreds of millions of dollars out of the folks in Cupertino. And today, it’s striking again: a court has ordered Apple to pay $625 million dollars for purportedly using VirnetX’s security tech in both FaceTime and iMessage. That’s actually more than the $532 million VirnetX had wanted, and a huge windfall for a company that has little business outside of lawsuits (aka a patent troll).
Apple tells Engadget that it’s going to appeal. It’s “surprised and disappointed” by the decision, especially since it notes that the four patents at stake have been declared invalid. It also maintains that it “independently designed the technology over many years.”
Not that the company is going to be sweating bullets if the verdict sticks, mind you. As of the fourth quarter, Apple has a whopping $216 billion in the bank — it could pay VirnetX without so much as sneezing. Instead, it’s more likely interested in both setting things right and discouraging other would-be profiteers that might be tempted to file lawsuits of their own.
Source: Reuters
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