Posts Tagged ‘iOS’

iOS 6.1.2 Release Fixes Battery-draining Bug

Apple Inc has released iOS 6.1.2. The mobile device technology company said that the new iOS version has the fix for a bug in Exchange calendar that causes the battery to be drained easily. And although Apple didn’t publicize it, recent tests show that they already also fixed the bug that can bypass the Passcodes in iPhones.

iPhones should be upgraded to iOS 6.1.2 to solve passcode bypass bug

Updating to iOS 6.1.2

To update your device to iOS 6.1.2 , go to the Settings App, General, Software Update. Make sure that you have enough free space for the installation files and at more than 50% battery if the device is not connected to a power supply. The update will take about 10 minutes depending on internet connection speed.

To update device to iOS 6.1.2, go to Settings App>Genera>Software Update

About iOS

iOS is the operating system running Apple mobile devices namely, the iPhone, iPad,  iPod Touch, and Apple TV. The first version was released in 2007 along with the first iPhone. Since then, it expanded its support that included new Apple devices. Apps that works with iOS can only be downloaded in the App Store (except for jailbroken  devices).

 About Apple

Apple Inc is a leading manufacturer of consumer electronic devices. They manufacture Macs, iPhones, iPads, iPods and Apple TV.  It is also the biggest online seller of digital music via their iTunes Store. Apple was founded in 1976 by computer enthusiasts Ronald Wayne Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs

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Google Maps for iOS Now Ready for Download in the App Store

Finally, the much awaited Google Maps for iOS app is now ready for download in the App Store.  The App features voice navigation, local search, Street View, transit & more features waiting for you to discover and use. You can now ditch you Google Maps for iOS shortcut icon that you created before.

Google Maps for iOS

Screenshot of Google Maps for iOS

Google Maps for iOS versus Apple Maps

Apple ditched out Google’s mapping service in the release of iOS 6, the latest version of their mobile operating service. It was replaced by Apple Maps, an internally developed mapping service that features, turn by turn navigation, and flyover data. But just a few days after its release, Apple received plenty of complaints. Most customers complained about the comparatively smaller data in Apple Maps as compared the massive data in Google Maps. Also there are complains about inaccuracy of locations and landmarks.

The issue with Apple Maps has come to a point where Apple has to issue a public apology. It was also rumored that the removal/resignation of several top Apple executives was because of Apple maps fiasco. A recent report also relates how important accuracy is for Apple Maps. In Australia, the inaccurate map data leads the police in the wrong direction.

With this release of Google Maps for iOS, it is expected that many customers will be delighted. Google Maps for iOS is expected to deliver just what Apple customer needs and has been accustomed to. In earlier versions of iOS, Google Maps satisfied them with quantity and quality of map data.

Note: Google Maps for iOS 6 is not yet available in the  Philippines

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Smart Office 2 – Free Office App for iPad and iPhone

Looking for a free office app for your iOS device? You can always find one in the Apps Store. Some examples include Documents and Documents 2 apps. But the common problem among the free versions is the limited capabilities. For example, Documents app has the basic capabilities  like creating and editing text and excel files. But recent updates on the app does nothing good but pull back some of the capabilities in the free version which appears to be a push for current users to upgrade to a paid version.

Smart Office 2 – Complete and Free Office App

As I explore the app store last week, I noticed that one of the top application in the chart was Smart Office. It was free and offers almost all the needed capabilities of an office app. It can view, create and edit Microsoft Office documents such as Word 2003, Word 2007, Excel 2003, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2003, and PowerPoint 2007 files. You can even store them in your Google Drive or Drop Box accounts. Yes, all of those capabilities are for Free.

Free office app Smart Office 2 for iOS is free to download in the App Store

Smart Office 2, a free office app for iOS supports Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 files.

One of the few things though I don’t like about the App is its navigation. It doesn’t match the iOS conventional navigation and it can be really confusing to first time users.  Also, it will take some time for an average users to learn to create the presentations and excel files.  But I guess the latter was primarily die to the touch environment, not about the app itself. But again, the fact that it is powerful yet it was offered for free readily overshadows the flaws I just mentioned.

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Apple Maps Woes Prompts Tim Cook to Apologize to the Public

Releasing Apple Maps in iOS 6 is one of the few bad moves Apple has done in its history. Unlike Google whose mapping service was honed for years by beta testings and user interaction, Apple Maps is just too young to deserve a place in the default apps on iOS devices. Well, I don’t know why did it happened and who decided to launch it. But it’s a sorry mistake.

Apple Maps is flawed with missing or misplaced landmarks. In this image, however, the entire island of Leyte is missing.

Well, Apple has released a public apology over the incident and at the same time promises to work hard for a fix. But I guess, there are two big the reasons why there’s such a huge customer backlash on Apple Maps.

(1) Apple is EXPECTED to deliver the BEST
Well, it’s not easy to build a company with such reputation as Apple. The company is known for smart, user-friendly and amazing consumer products. Apple’s history is a complete testimony of that. So when the company updates a product that many of its customers has already been using, they would expect it to be better. But in the case of an app, well, I guess the minimum requirement is that it should do at par with the earlier version. In the case of Apple Maps however, it is far from being at par with Google Maps, the engine running behind the earlier iOS mapping app.

(2) Google Maps is Great
Well, I guess if consumers has tremendous concerns with the earlier version, they wouldn’t mind if another poor version come out after the update. In my opinion though, when it comes mapping service, Google Maps it is actually one of the best, if not the best period. Well, Mapping service is obviously very important for Google which invested a lot of money to make it better with Street Views, Live Traffic, Bus schedule, and other features.

Cook Says Sorry over Apple Maps

I think Apple is well aware of the trouble they are into. In response to the flood of customer complaints, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook issued a letter of apology. Here’s the copy:

To our customers,

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.

While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO

It’s been two weeks since the above apology was released and still we haven’t heard anything about an update on Apple Maps. In the meantime, as suggested by Apple itself, you can create a shortcut icon of a web-based mapping service in the home screen of your iOS device. Here’s the step-by-step instruction.

Step-by-step procedure to install map icon in the home screen of iOS device.

Here’s the specific procedure for Google Maps.

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Apple iPhone 5 – Specs, Features, Price and Availability in the Philippines

Apple Inc unveiled today the biggest and probably the best update to the iPhone since its release in 2007: the iPhone 5. Sporting a bigger 4-inch retina display, LTE support, iOS 6 and a new industrial design, this is indeed the biggest iPhone ever!

Here’s a rundown of the iPhone 5 features and technical specs.

Appled unveiled today the iPhone 5 – the biggest and the best iPhone to date.

Bigger Screen. iPhone 5 doesn’t become wider compared to iPhone 4S, it just get taller. The reason is that Apple wants to maintain users comfort when using the phone by one hand. The new iPhone 5 has a screen of 4inches diagonally.

New Design. Thinner and Lighter. iPhone 5 is the thinnest and the lightest iPhone ever with 7.6 mm (iPhone 4S is 9.3 mm) in thickness and 112 grams in weight (20% lighter than iPhone 4S). The new design also sports a dual shade color anodized aluminum uni-body available in black and white models.

A6 Chip. The new A6 chip will deliver the fastest performance  while maintaining the same battery capacity as that of the iPhone 4s – up to 10 hours of video playback.

LTE Support and Nano SIM. iPhone 5 supports both LTE and CDMA technologies. With this, the iPhone 5 is ready to support the blazing speed offered by LTE networks. Here in the Philippines, both Globe and SMART have launched their own LTE offerings. The iPhone 5 supports the smaller, nano SIM cards.

Earpods and New Connector. Apple also introduced a new design of earphones and called them EarPods which promises to deliver excellent audio performance that first most ears. The new Lightning connector, a smaller digital connector poised to replace Apple’s 30-pin connectors.

iOS 6. The latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, the iOS 6 is poised to deliver excellent mobile experience by revamping its default apps and the integration of Facebook to its system. As it has been revealed earlier, Apple revamped its mapping system ditching out Google as the data provider. With iOS 6, the iSight camera can now be used to take panoramic shots, a feature that was already offered by Samsung Galaxy lineup. Siri, our beloved assistant is now wiser and more capable than ever.

iPhone 5 Price and Availability in the Philippines

The iPhone 5 will be available in US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on Friday, September 21, and customers can pre-order their iPhone 5 beginning Friday, September 14.  By September 28, the iPhone 5 will be available in 22 additional countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

For the Philippines, I think it would be before the end of this year just like what happened with iPhone 4S. The pricing would be the same as the iPhone 4S. Both Globe and SMART have already hinted that they will be offering the device to the Philippine market.

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Google Relases It’s Own YouTube App for iPhone Two days Ahead of Apple Event

Most of us already expected this and finally, it happened: Google released their home-grown YouTube App for iPhone. The app was made available for download at the App Store yesterday, September 10 (US), two days ahead of the Apple event which many expect Apple to release the much awaited next-gen iPhone commonly dubbed as the iPhone 5. And along with the iPhone 5, Apple is also expected to release iOS 6, the upcoming version of their mobile operating system. And as you may have already heard, iOS 6 doesn’t come with default YouTube App. Also, their mapping service will not anymore rely on Google Maps data.

Apple Severing Ties with Google

Image via CrunchBase

As the competition in the mobile arena heats up, the collision of the two giant players in this area – Google and Apple – is inevitable. Google released the Android mobile OS which proved to be a great tool used by its hardware partners to combat the lead of Apple in the smartphone market. This has lead to legal suits both inside and outside the United States. Just last month, Apple scored a victory against Samsung, one of Google’s biggest partners, in a well covered trial in the United States. Samsung has to pay over 1 Billion US Dollars for the infringement of Apple designs.

You may think that YouTube’s removal from iOS 6 default apps is a big hit on Google. Well, not so, considering the fact that Google can now monetize YouTube contents with their adsense technology, a thing that Google doesn’t to do in the current iOS default YouTube app.

YouTube is the largest and most visited video-sharing website to date. It likely that a YouTube iPad app will soon be released to fit the larger screen of a tablet device.

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Handwrite: The New Way to Search Google on Smartphones and Tablets

Image via CrunchBase

Free Amazing Alex Download for Android but not for iPhone (iOS)

Today, the maker behind the extremely popular mobile/web/desktop game Angry Birds, Rovio released Amazing Alex, their newest game offering. Amazing Alex, just like Angry Birds, is a puzzle game and it would be physics-based using real objects we see in our daily activities.

Amazing Alex has 100 levels and on each problem, you can have your own solution. One feature though that can revolutionize puzzle games is the ability to create your own custom game level and share it. With that, even after you finished completing the 100 levels, you still have more levels to play.

Here’s the teaser video of the Amazing Alex game.

Free version Available for Android not for iOS (iPhone, iTouch, and iPad)

Well, I think many will become a little bit disappointed because Amazing Alex game has no free (or ad supported) version in the Apple App Store. You have to buy it for 0.99 USD. Meanwhile, Google Play offers both free and paid versions of the game. For free version though, expect that you won’t get all the levels and see ads being posted during the game.

Amazing Alex in Google Play Store

Will You Buy Music via iTunes Store Philippines?

ITunes Store (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Or probably, a better question would be: Would you buy music, now that iTunes Store is already available in the Philippines? Well, we cannot deny the fact that music and movie piracy are rampant in the country. Just go to the nearest market and you will see at least one store selling pirated music CDs and movie DVDs.

Even in some malls, piracy sometimes slips the watch of the mall administrators. There are several instances where malls were raided by the police as directed by the Optical Media Board, the regulators responsible for fighting the rampant piracy in the country.

Will iTunes Store Alleviate Piracy?

I think iTunes will help reduce piracy. The convenience of buying music via iTunes can encourage some who are willing to spend a dollar or less. The convenience lies on the fact that you can actually buy from the device itself. iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad owners are usually those in the middle to upper class where their financials can afford them to buy music from legal sources.

The problem before iTunes Store came into the country is that there are just few legal sources of music. And usually, the choices are limited. The nearest music store offers albums in discs, not individual music. If you want one of the songs of a particular artist, then, you have no choice but to buy the entire album which includes songs you don’t like or even hate. And how much is the album? 200 to 500 pesos? Few people enjoys that way of getting music. Because of those reasons, some resorts to downloading it from file sharing sites and torrent clients.

iTunes Match Will Make Money From Piracy

Apple introduced iTunes Match at the same time they introduced the iCloud one year ago. The service allows the user to download from iTunes Store up to 25, 000 tracks in high quality(256Kbit/s) AAC file (DRM free) format that matches those songs that are present in users iTunes Library whether those songs are copied from CDs, downloaded from file sharing sites, or copied from other computers. iTunes Match comes as an annual subscription. The price is 24.99 USD, so it is around 1100 Pesos.

With that, Apple can actually make money from the pirated songs that the user might have. And I think, this feature of the iTunes Store Philippines will click among the Philippine users. I guess many, if not most of us wants original music and getting up 25000 original songs for a year;y payment of 1100 pesos is more than a fair deal.

Will You Buy From iTunes Store? Please do

One of the key ingredients of successful economies is respect for intellectual property. The music and movie industry in the country is not growing, if not shrinking. The rampant piracy in the country is one of the major roadblocks for it to grow and reach its full potential. Would you not be proud if someday, you hear a song or watch a movie that is made by Filipinos and are internationally recognized? Well, that is happening now but rarely.

When we buy original songs and movies, we contribute to up-building the quality of life in our country- whether it be from iTunes Store or from any other legal source.

Related articles

• iTunes Store Opens in the Philippines and Other Asian Countries

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Google Chrome and Drive Now Available for iPhone and iPad

At the second day of their developer conference, Google announces that two of their products will be made available for iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) – Google Chrome and Drive. Google Chrome is posed to bring the fast and intuitive tabbed browsing experience in Apple devices while Google Drive allows you to store, access and edit your files in the cloud.

Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad

Google Drive for iPhone and iPad

Download them at the App Store now!