• Apple to Unveil iOS 5, New MobileMe at Media Event in Early April

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves, Rumors No Responses

    A new rumor claims Apple will hold its annual iOS roadmap event in early April to show off iOS 5 as expected, but also states the company will also unveil an updated MobileMe service.

    Citing a “confident” source, German site Macerkopf.de reported Tuesday (via Google Translate) that the event will be held in early April at the company’s Cupertino, Calif., campus. The timing would not be a surprise, as last year’s iOS 4 preview event was held in early April.

    But the inclusion of MobileMe in the annual event would be new, and could signal that anticipated changes to the cloud-based service will be heavily integrated into the next major release of Apple’s mobile operating system for the iPhone and iPad.

    In February, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple plans to improve MobileMe by having the service act as a “locker” to hold personal data such as photos, music and videos. It was also said that Apple is considering making the service, which currently costs $99 per year, free.

    Corroborating that information, The New York Times separately reported that Apple plans to roll out an enhanced MobileMe this year. It was said that Apple is working on improved “voice navigation” on the iPhone, allowing users to operate the device through voice commands without the need to rely on a virtual keyboard.

    Further evidence of planned changes to MobileMe came as Apple discontinued the sale of retail boxes for the service last month. It has also been rumored that the new MobileMe will rely on self-storage from a home computer for streaming, rather than remotely saved files hosted by Apple.

    [via appleinsider]

  • ‘Google Instant’ Now Going Live on iOS

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, google, iPhone, News No Responses

    As we showed you back in January, Google Instant is now live for all users on iOS and Android.

    Instant Previews provides a fast and interactive way to evaluate search results. Starting today, Google Instant Previews is available on mobile for Android (2.2+) and iOS (4.0+) devices across 38 languages. Similar to the desktop version of Instant Previews, you can visually compare search results from webpage snapshots, making it easier to choose the right result faster, especially when you have an idea of the content you’d like to see.

  • iPhone 5 to get Metal Back with Antenna Apple Logo?

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves, Rumors, Tech. No Responses

    Apple is reportedly planning to switch from the glass-backed iPhone 4 design to an aluminum chassis for the iPhone 5, in an attempt to bypass issues with cracking and scratching, together with paint finishes. According to Macotakara source, the new metal backplate will have a resin Apple logo integrated with the WiFi, cellular and other antennas, apparently replacing the edge antennas found on the current iPhone 4.

    The glass design of the iPhone 4, the sources suggest, has left Apple frustrated with its durability and weight. Problems, meanwhile, with the antenna design – the so-called antennagate issue – forced Apple to offer free Bumper cases to address reception complaints.

    Finally, the issues surrounding the much-delayed white iPhone 4 have, it’s been suggested, been a result of painting difficulties experienced in the manufacturing process, something a shift away from glass would address. The report also tips the same dual-core Apple A5 processor as found in the iPad 2, and an unveil – as generally expected – in June or July this year.

    Of course, Apple could also be looking beyond aluminum to Liquidmetal, the technology it invested in last year and which is currently only used to make the SIM removal tool. Liquidmetal is billed as scratch, corrosion and grease proof, and as strong as titanium but uses a third of the material.

    [via MacRumors]

  • iPad 2 Speed Test shows it’s 4x Faster than Original iPad

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPad, Rants & Raves, Reviews 3 Responses

    CNET.co.uk did some Javascript benchmarks on the new iPad running iOS 4.3 and compared them with other iOS devices and a few Androids.

    The results are pretty impressive.  Where the iPhone 4 and iPad lagged behind both Android devices using iOS 4.2, popping iOS 4.3 with the new WebKit 2 browser engine in the devices dropped more than half of their rendering time.

    As you can see, the iPad 2, with its more powerful processor, and perhaps helped by some additional RAM, is over 50% faster than the previous iPad.