Apple Planning iPhones With Touchless Gesture Controls and Curved Screens

There have been unconfirmed reports that in an effort to stand out in the smartphone world, Apple is planning to incorporate “touchless gesture control” and curved screens into future iPhone models.

The touchless control feature would apparently let iPhone owners navigate iOS “by moving their finger close to the screen without actually tapping it.” This technology, if the reports are correct, would still be about two years away, unless Apple finds even better tech to come out with instead.

The curved iPhone display feature would curve inward “gradually from top to bottom,” unlike Samsung’s smartphones that curve down and away at the edges of the screen.

Along with these claims comes reports that Apple will expand OLED technology to more devices, releasing a larger model iPhone later this year with a 6.5-inch screen, up from the 5.8-inch size in the current iPhone X.

The company is also apparently working on an update to the iPhone X’s size and a new, lower-cost LCD model.

Looking to upgrade to an iPhone 6S? Read this!

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year! iPhone upgrade time hoorah! In 5 days Apple will be announcing the new models of iPhone, expected to be the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus with a number of software improvements that will no doubt make your life better (Yeah, we’re talking to you, over there, with the sexy hair).

We’re talking significant camera improvements, a new A9 chip to make it faster, more powerful and more fancy, Forcetouch (You may know that from the Apple Watch), improved touch ID and a shiny new rose gold color.

Nice.

So you want one, right? Nay, you deserve one! Look at your stinky old iPhone just sitting there being all not rose gold with no Force Touch and a boring old not as good camera. What a jerk.

It’s ok though, because we can help! Send the stinky old iPhone to us! We’ll make sure that jerk is properly cared for, send him to a nice big ‘ol green farm with lots of other stinky old iPhones to play with! AND we’ll give you cash to help you upgrade to the new shiny iPhone!

Sweet deal, right? All you have to do is enter your details here! We’ll send you a prepaid shipping box, drop that sucker in there and we’ll send you payment by Check, Paypal or Bitcoin! Easy! We’ll also never revalue your iPhone after you’ve sent it in – if it’s an used iPhone 6, we’ll pay you for a used iPhone 6. We’re just cool like that…

If you have any questions about selling your old, cracked, water damaged or broken iPhone, don’t hesitate to contact us  or leave a comment below.

Exciting tool revealed in iOS 8 Beta 5 released today!

This morning, Apple released the Beta 5 update to iOS 8 as well as OS X 10.10 Yosemite Developer preview 5 to developers. Aside from being good news indicating that things appear to be moving along relatively smoothly with the new iOS, there is something we think is particularly exciting being reported about the updates in iOS 8 Beta 5.

What’s so exciting iPhone Antidote? Well, kids, Healthkit now includes the addition of Spirometry.

Uh…. wha?

Spirometry! Apart from being an excellent word to say, (c’mon, say it aloud, you know it’ll make you feel good..) spirometry is the most common of the pulmonary function tests measuring lung function. It’s an important tool used for generating pneumotachographs, which are helpful in assessing conditions such as asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We hate ALL those stupid things, so spirometry is a tool we’re excited to hear will be included in iOS 8.

The Health app was also updated with new icons for Body data, Data Exporting, and a new option for showing Medical ID on Emergency Lock screen. Those things are cool too, we guess.

Image from page 569 of “The science and practice of medicine” (1866) by Internet Book Archive Images is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

ioS 8!

Welcome to the new iOS 8! As well as a bright new user interface update, iOS 8 will bring to our phones a new level of sharing – between family members, between app developers and between iDevices and Macs.

We’re pretty excited about the new software functionality this operating system is promising, and below you will find a comprehensive outline of everything ( that we know of so far) that iOS 8 will bring to your lives with it’s release in the Fall.

New Spotlight

The search function in iOS is called Spotlight, and with iOS 8 it brings a much broader ability to search, both on your iDevice and on the internet. For example -type in a term and you can see a part of a Wikipedia article, including a picture and a short summary. Tap it, and Spotlight takes you to the full article.

Spotlight will also show you search results like trending topics, popular websites, nearby restaurants with phone number and hours of business that can connect you to maps,  search results within the iTunes Store or the App store, and search results for movie times.

It seems like there is a slight crossover with Siri’s functionality in the new Spotlight, but making things easier all round can only be good!

Messaging

Messaging gets a lovely new overhaul with iOS 8!  Starting off impressively is the new ability to add video and audio messages. Simply touch and hold the new microphone button to record your message, and swipe to send. on the other end, to hear a message, you can now hold your iPhone to your ear and listen or just tap the play button next to the message.

All messages, text, video and audio, will now have the option to be deleted automatically, or within a time period ranging from a year to forever.

With iOS 8 you will be able to create larger and better controlled group conversation threads where people can be added and can leave at their leisure. Group conversations can be named for an event or experience, the attachments can be seen all in one place rather than opening them one at a time, and you can put the conversation on ‘Do Not Disturb’ so you can read the thread when you want without being, well, disturbed.

A new option with messaging which I’m sure teenagers are just going to love is the new location services within the messaging app. It is of course just that – an option – to show others that your are messaging where you are ( and if you really are studying in the library with Rachel, why do you have your location option switched off? HUH? uh oh).

Other than that, we can see this addition promising to be very useful. You can show your location with individuals or everyone for an hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely.

Finally, a small but lovely touch is the new ability to send multiple photos and videos at once through messaging. YAY Let’s bombard EVERYONE WITH SO MANY CAT PHOTOS AND PHOTOS OF THOSE SWEET MOUNTAINS WE SAW ON OUR VACATION!

Health

The new Health app gives you an easy-to-read dashboard of all of your health and fitness data (Think heart rate, calories burned, blood sugar, cholesterol etc) . This data can be collected ( if you choose) from 3rd party sources and apps such as Nike, Fitbit, FitnessPal, medical devices etc and shown here consolidated for you and others ( again, if you choose) to access. This can mean that your Doctor or fitness specialist can be notified when something is wrong, or if you’ve hit a certain metric or met a goal.

Apple has been working  with the Mayo Clinic working towards what they say will  ‘bridge the gap between patients, doctors, and health-tracking devices…with ‘the potential to revolutionize how the health industry works.’

With health in iOS 8 you can create an emergency card  with all of your vital medical information ( think blood type, allergies, medications) that’s accessible from your Lock screen.

Despite all of the focus on Apple’s health related initiative before WWDC, the company spent very little time going over the Health app. It is likely we’ll see an additional focus on Health in the coming months as it is likely to also integrate with Apple’s much-rumored wearable device, the iWatch.

SIRI

Siri gets several updates with the ability to be invoked hands-free with the phrase “Hey, Siri” along with Shazam song recognition, 22 new dictation languages, as well as streaming voice recognition to show you guys search results as you speak. In order to preserve battery life, Apple requires that the device be plugged into power for “Hey Siri” to work.

Notification Interaction

When a notification comes up on your phone, from Facebook, Skype, Messages,  Calendar – whatever- you will now be able to respond those notifications without leaving the app you’re already in. Hoo- RAH! Such a small thing, that will make it so incredibly less frustrating than before!

Email 

Now from your inbox, you can swipe to mark an email as read or flag it for follow-up. Jump between a draft email and an email in your inbox super easily, and when you get a reservation, flight confirmation or phone number in an email, a notification appears. Just tap to add an event to your calendar or a phone number to your contacts.

Safari in iPad

Just like above, you can now see all your tabs on your iPad, just like on your iPhone. You can see all your open web pages with tabs from the same site grouped together. There’s also a new Sidebar that slides out to reveal your bookmarks, Reading List, and Shared Links.

Home Button

From any screen, press the Home button twice to see the multitasking interface which now comes complete with a few friendly faces. These are the people you’ve recently talked to and if you swipe to the right — your favorite contacts as well. Just tap one to call, text, or start a FaceTime call.

New keyboards

QuickType is the new predictive text and something we’re sure will change the way we communicate. We can also see it being comedian’s late night fodder for sure, but until then – it’s a clever and useful feature of iOS 8.  As you use the new keyboard over time, it will learn the way you communicate, get to know your favorite phrases, and suggest options for the logical next word that adapts to the current context with the caveat that those words change, depending on who you are talking to. The iOS 8 predictive text engine is optimized for 14 countries.

Apple is also going to allow users to install third-party keyboards for the first time, which means keyboards like Swype can be used natively on the operating system.

Family Sharing

Family sharing is pretty cool. Up to six people in your family can share all kinds of things across their devices. This includes: calendar information and purchases from iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store, (with the ability to pay for family purchases with the same credit card and approve kids’ spending right from a parent’s device.) You will be able to automatically set up a family photo stream where you can share photos, videos, and comments. And everything stays up to date on everyone’s devices.

Family Sharing can automatically share your location with your family members and show you where they are. You can hide your location too… because that’s not suspicious or anything.

iCloud Drive 

You can safely store all your presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs, images, and any other kind of document in iCloud, access them and work on them live from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.

Using iCloud Drive means you’ll always have access to the latest version of all your documents from any device.

What’s really cool is that now your apps will be able to share files, which means you can access and work on the same file across multiple apps. The example Apple gave is this: you can create a drawing in a sketching app, then open it in a paint app to color it in. Or create a chart in one app and place it in a slideshow using a presentation app. No more making copies or importing documents from one app to another. It’s a whole new level of collaboration between apps.

Cross platform interaction

Um, what? You can do what now? Yass. Now you can make and receive phone calls on all of your devices and your Mac as long as your iPhone running iOS 8 is on the same Wi-Fi network. Incoming calls show the caller’s name, number, and profile picture. Just click or swipe the notification to answer, ignore, or respond with a quick message. It all works with your existing iPhone number, so there’s nothing to set up.

AND

PERSONAL HOTSPOT WHAT. If you’re out of Wi-Fi range but your iPhone is close by, your iPad or Mac will now be able to connect to your phone’s new personal hotspot to surf the interwebs and all that cool internet type stuff.

 Swift

This is a new programming language that Apple has introduced, which for developers, is pretty dope. For the general population, it’s also pretty dope, but on a different level. What it comes down to for you guys – apps for iOS 8 will be better. Which we like.

Extras We’ve learnt about since the WWDC keynote !

iPads will gain the ability to take Panoramic photos like the iPhone, while the Camera will gain an instant burst mode, a timer mode, and separate controls for focus and exposure. iBooks will support an auto night mode and the ability to organize books by series, while notifications will include travel time.

A mysterious Tips app, which was first depicted in an early screenshot of iOS 8, is also mentioned, though it is unclear what this app will do. It is possible Tips will provide iOS users with information on lesser known iOS features, serving as a tutorial app for those who want to learn the ins and outs of their devices.

So there you go, guys, iOS 8. Overall we’re really quite impressed, and very much looking forward to it’s release in the Fall. Apple developers have access to iOS 8 and will be working on creating awesome apps for the update so we can use the operating system precisely how Apple planned. It will, of course, be free.

The only downfall of iOS 8 – Those of you who have an iPhone 4, it doesn’t appear as if iOS 8 will be compatible. . Soooo… you guys…. have you heard about the new iPhone 6 that’s coming?

Stay tuned for our comprehensive outline of OS X Yosemite – and let us know if you have any questions about iOS 8 and we’ll try and answer them as best we can!!

Skype group video calling now free! (For some).

The long beloved video calling company Skype has now made itself even more lovable by making it’s group video calling feature FREE for users on Windows desktop, Mac and the Xbox one- with the promise of support for additional devices coming soon.

Straight from the sauce:

“Skype is proud that, since our beginning, we’ve created opportunities for people to communicate freely and easily, no matter where they are; from keeping in touch with remote family members or calling home when traveling to chatting daily with your close circles of friends. While Skype is known for one to one video calling, we know it’s also essential to connect with the groups of people who matter most, whether friends, family or colleagues. For the last few years, we’ve offered group video calling to Premium users on Windows desktop and Mac and more recently Xbox One. Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re making group video calling free – for all users on these platforms. And, in the future, we’ll be enabling group video calling for all our users across more platforms – at no cost.”

How sweet is that!

We love free things! Especially free things that makes it so we can see all of our lovely friends/colleagues in one place even though they may be in, like, 5 places! The world’s a changin!

If you don’t haveSkype yet, all you needs to do is hop on over to their website and download it! It’s free! ( You’ll also need a webcam, a microphone & OS X Snow Leopard or above for Macs. )

Images courtesy of Skype & memegenerator

Apple replacing sleep/wake buttons on some iPhone 5 models!

Has the sleep/wake button on your iPhone 5 stopped working? Thought it was a lost cause? There might be some hope yet!

Apple has released a statement to The Loop regarding a recall of some iPhone 5 models because of broken sleep/wake buttons, which means if you are one of the device owners affected- you could get it replaced for free.

Here’s the lowdown-

You’ll need to enter your iPhone’s serial number here to see if your device is one of those affected by the recall.

If your phone is affected and you want to get it fixed for free ( duh) you can bring it to any Apple Retail Store or Apple Authorized Service provider. Your device will have to be sent away to an Apple repair centre to be fixed, however it is believed that for the interim some Apple stores are lending customers iPhone 5 16Gb models. You can also mail your device directly to the repair centre if you’d like.

According to Apple your device will take 4-6 days from the time it is received until it is returned to you, and all customers should back up all their data and erase all content and setting before sending it in to get fixed. All devices that receive a new sleep/wake button will be updated to iOS 7.

If you’ve got an iPhone 5 that is affected by this recall and you’ve already paid for an out-of-warranty replacement, you should contact an Apple customer service rep to ask for a refund.

This recall and placement program will be effective for 2 years after the initial retail purchase of your device.

According to some reports there are stores that are offering customers affected by the recall  a $350 upgrade credit for a new device, but you must specifically ask for it, your phone must be in perfect condition other than the sleep/wake button, and it’s of course not guaranteed.

By the way, why doesn’t Apple have a cooler name for that button? Writing sleep/wake button over and over has cemented the fact that it’s a pretty stupid name. It should be called, like, the enforcer button or something. Just saying, Apple.

Good luck Guys! Let us know how you go if this recall applies to you!

Image courtesy of Techcrunch

Facetime Facepalm

Since April 16th people who have devices running iOS 6 have been experiencing difficulty using FaceTime. Apple changed their troubleshooting page to advise updating devices to the latest operating system, but it was thought that the issue would be fixed after a short period of time.

Unfortunately kids, it appears we are just not that lucky. Apple today released a new support document advising that the problems people are experiencing with FaceTime are due directly to a bug which has resulted from an expired device certificate.

No good.

If you are on of those people experiencing the problem, then the only way you can use FaceTime is to update your operating system to the latest version that your device is capable of running.

If your device is capable of running iOS 7 it must be upgraded to iOS 7.0.4 or later, however if your device is incapable of running iOS 7 ( like the iPhone 3GS), you must upgrade to iOS 6.1.6.

Here it is direct from the sauce:

“If you started to have issues making or receiving FaceTime calls after April 16, 2014, your device or your friend’s device may have encountered a bug resulting from a device certificate that expired on that date. Updating both devices to the latest software will resolve this issue.

If you’re using iOS 7.0.4 or later or iOS 6.1.6, this issue doesn’t affect you.

If you’re using these versions of OS X or FaceTime for Mac, this issue doesn’t affect you:

– OS X Mavericks v10.9.2 or later
– OS X Mountain Lion v10.8 with the latest security updates
– OS X Lion v10.7 with the latest security updates
– FaceTime for Mac version 1.0.5 or later for Mac OS X v10.6

While FaceTime does work with iOS 6.1.6, that particular update is not available to recent devices that are able to run iOS 7, which means iOS 6 users with newer devices who wish to access FaceTime must upgrade to iOS 7.”

So… Happy upgrading? We guess? For reals though, it actually is a pretty nice iOS, even though the changes might look a bit scary. Check out our iOS 7 article here. You knew you had to do it eventually, right?  Right? … FaceTime Shots Anyone?

iOS 7 is the besterest

iOS 7 is getting kudos and awesomeness from all kinds of places! Heck yes!

The guys over at Pfeiffer Consulting have released the results from their yearly Mobile OS User Experience Benchmarks (which smartphone is the besterest to use).

And guess what? Oh… yeah, it’s in the title.

iOS 7 was found to be the best user experience, scoring a total of just over 73%, with the closest competitor being iOS 6 on 60% and 57.25% for Android.

When conducting the study the company looks at the following:

*Cognitive Load

*Efficiency

*Customization

*User experience Friction

See all the scores below! Also, check out the full report here.

What do you guys think?

For realz, this is gotta make Apple feel like this…

Images courtesy of  9to5mac, cbc.ca & sfgate.com

How to pre-order the new iPhone 5C

Alright you guys, so this blog post is all about how to pre order the iPhone 5C. That’s cool. It’s also weirdly difficult to describe when this can actually happen. We know what’s right, we think, but it sounds wrong. So we’re gonna try it so that there can be no misunderstandings.

You will be able to pre order the iPhone 5C at 12:01, the night time version, on the 13th of September. So, like, when its the 12th of September, wait until it’s 11pm, wait an hour, and then you can go ahead and pre order!  That’s California time, too. Make sense?

Now, we got the time right, but what do you do then? Well, you do a little jig, cos you’re buying an iPhone 5C b*tches!

Then, you do this stuff. (Do most of this stuff before midnight though, cos the amount of iPhones available for pre order will shrink. Real fast.)

You need to decide if you’re buying on or off contract.

For the free spirits out there, you can buy the iPhone 5C off contract with T-Mobile, or SIM free. You can do both through Apple.

If you do this, you’ll be buying the phone outright for $549 for 16Gb, and $649 for 32Gb in both of these options, but you don’t get a SIM with the SIM free option. Duh.

If you choose the SIM free option you WILL need a SIM from somewhere at some stage for the phone to work as a phone. Specifically, you’ll need to get a GSM compatible nano-SIM. Your iPhone will be unlocked, so you can use a SIM from any carrier, domestically or international, as long as it has the right specifications as above.

If you choose to buy the iPhone 5C off-contract with T-Mobile, you will be choosing them as your mobile provider, and will pay them month to month for data, voice, text etc, but you won’t be locked in to a contract and can exit any time. Your phone will arrive with a nano-SIM card already installed that you can activate by visiting an Apple Retail Store or a T-Mobile store or by calling T-Mobile.

If you’re already on contract, but really want the new phone, you have the option to upgrade. You are of course eligible to upgrade once you have ended your current contract, after 2 years.

But, here’s the thing. A lot of people don’t realize that you are more than likely eligible for an upgrade 18 months after your contract started, not two years. It’s definitely worth checking! Go check, dudes.

For Verizon, Sprint and AT&T upgrade eligibility, you’ll most likely need the number for the phone you would like to upgrade, the last four digits of the primary account holder’s Social Security number, and the billing ZIP Code. To see if you’re eligible for an upgrade, or to see the price you qualify for, check out this link.

For Sprint you can also use your phone- dial *2, press send, press 1, enter your phone number and then press 1 to check for eligibility.

AT&T also has the option to check your upgrade eligibility via your phone, just dial *639# and press send and you will receive a text message shortly after letting you know when you’re eligible for an upgrade.

If you’re a little unsure about the whole idea of upgrading, you should talk to your carrier. BUT, you should also read this– If you are eligible for an upgrade, it means that all you have to pay to get the new phone is the price Apple shows next to the phone.

For the 5C, that means that when you upgrade and preorder, you will pay upfront and outright $99 for the 16Gb version and $199 for the 32Gb version. You will be committing to another 2 year contract with the provider.

If you are not eligible for an upgrade, but you reallllly want the new phone, you can, of course, get it. You will pay an extra fee, and how much that fee is depends on the carrier, but i’ll give you an example.

Say you started a new 2 year contract this time last year when you bought the iPhone 5. You’re a year into your contract, so you won’t be eligible for an upgrade, but you’re going to go ahead and get it anyway, because hey, it’s a free country right?

Your carrier will more than likely be absolutely cool with that, because that means they have your business guaranteed for another 2 years, but, they will charge a fee, which will more than likely be about $200. So you’ll be paying $300 upfront for the iPhone 5C 16Gb, and $400 upfront for the iPhone 5C 32Gb.

You also absolutely always get to keep your old phone, so that you can use it as financial leverage! It’s a stinky old iPhone! Sell it for CASHMONEY, YO!

If you’re joining up with a new provider, you’re looking at 2 year contract and paying upfront $99 for the 16Gb or $199 for the 32Gb. When choosing a new provider it’s important to look at their plans, and it’s also important to check out the coverage maps of each of the options. You can do this below by clicking on the blue links.

AT&T Coverage Map

Verizon Coverage Map

Sprint Coverage Map

T-Mobile Coverage map

Ok, so now you know what category you’re in, and you’re prepared for all your choices and options, how much you have to pay, which carrier, upgrade eligibilty, etc.

Now it’s almost midnight.

Dance!

And then, time to move!

You can pre-order on all of the carrier’s websites, as well as Apple’s.

To buy straight from Apple, go to this link.

Choose your color, you sparkle pony you. You have the option of blue, green, yellow , pink and white.

Next, choose the model you want, the smaller 16Gb or the 32Gb. The bigger the GB ( Gigabytes), the more stuff you can have on your phone, basically. Things that take up storage space include photos, videos, lots of songs or apps. 1000 songs is about 7Gb, for example.

Once those decisions are made and entered into the system, you’ll have to fill in some personal details, you will need a credit card, and you will need to press enter at the end. You will need to do a little dance. And send it to us. Yeah, do that.

Remember, if you’re upgrading from an iPhone 4S or older and have accessories that use the old connector port, such as a dock or something, you will also need to purchase a lightening to 30 pin adaptor.

And, guys, last year the iPhone 5 pre order was sold out in about an hour. So be quick. If you miss out, you have to wait until the 20th of September, when they’ll be available in store.

Happy pre-ordering! Remember – 11PM, Californian time, on Thursday the 12th of September. You have one hour after that until you can pre – order.

Image courtesy of The Verge. addictinginfo.com, iphonehacks.com, speres.com & sweetclipart.com

How to Back up your old stinky iPhone and/or transfer data to shiny new iPhone!

If you’re selling or giving away your iPhone, you’ll be wanting to back up all that lovely data you’ve accrued on the device beforehand. It’s a pretty simple procedure, but a very important step.

This is the Apple support page on how to back up your data using iTunes and iCloud. And here is the Apple support page on transferring your data from one device to another, ( i.e, stinky->shiny).

It’s a very comprehensive and easy to follow guide direct from the sauce! But, as with everything technology– there is always the potential for problems, so if you stumble upon something that doesn’t make sense, or your backup JUST ISNT GODDAMN WORKING, let us know! We’d love to try and help!