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 iPhone 6s & 6s Plus are 11% heavier than their predecessors due to the 3D Touch display

9/16/2015

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According to figures revealed in the official environmental documents for the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the new display assembly weighs twice as much as the display assembly used in last year’s iPhone models. In the iPhone 6, the display assembly weighed 12 grams. In the iPhone 6s, the display assembly weighs 29 grams, more than double the weight of last year’s model. When you think about all of the technology that goes into 3D Touch, it makes perfect sense for there to be a considerable weight gain. Apple had to add an entire new layer to the display to measure pressure, as well as a new capacitive pressure sensor to the backlight of the display.

Overall, however, this year’s iPhone 6s and 6s Plus weigh 14 grams and 20 grams more than their predecessors, respectively. The switch to 7000 series alloy aluminum accounts for just 2 grams of the weight increase of the iPhone 6s Plus, while the iPhone 6s’s aluminum actually weighs a gram less.

The weight and thickness increase of the iPhone 6 and especially the iPhone 6s Plus will lend to a more sturdy design and likely cease all the complaints of phones that bent when put under pressure.

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Opinion: What to expect from Apple’s A9 chip

8/14/2015

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Less than a month from now, Apple is expected to officially unveil its new A9 chip. This will be the ninth A-Series processor including the original A4, which powered the first iPad, iPhone 4, fourth-generation iPod touch, and second-generation Apple TV. It’s hard to overstate the importance of the A-series chips to Apple’s devices, as they’ve helped the company to achieve everything from major processing leaps to impressive power efficiency and — often taken for granted — guaranteed UI smoothness for every year’s newly-launched devices.

With the iPhone 6S just around the corner, we’ve started to receive tips purporting to reveal how much better the A9 will perform than the A8 processors found in the latest iPhones, iPad Air 2, and iPod touch. While we wouldn’t characterize the numbers we’ve seen as reliable, they led us to look back at the history of A-series chips, and consider what can reasonably be expected from the A9. Read on for our thoughts…

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How Each Year’s A-Series Chips Have Progressed

Most of the time, Apple introduces two new A-series chips in a year — for instance, the A5 for iPhones and the A5X for iPads, which were followed by the A6 for iPhones and the A6X for iPads. Every year’s chips improve on the prior versions, with slightly different priorities for the iPad and iPhone. The iPhone version is designed to be more energy-efficient and at least a little less powerful, while the iPad version generally runs faster and has more power, offset somewhat by the need to drive a higher-resolution screen.

The A6 offered huge performance jumps over the A5X, and the 64-bit A7 did the same relative to the 32-bit A6X. By contrast, the A8 respectably outperformed the faster iPad version of the A7, though there wasn’t an A7X to compare against.



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Developers hack Apple Watch to run real UIKit-backed native apps

6/15/2015

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Well-known developers Steve Troughton-Smith, Saurik and Adam Bell have managed to hack the Apple Watch on watchOS 2 to run truly native apps on the device. Although Apple is advertising native apps with watchOS 2, it isn’t as ‘native’ as some developers wanted or expected. The logic code now runs on the watch, but raw access to the user interface is still not allowed on watchOS 2.

This means frameworks like UIKit cannot be used to draw truly custom UI. Instead developers must rely on the same techniques employed with current WatchKit apps that revolve around image sequences to create more interesting effects.

In the demo, video embedded below, the team managed to get a fully interactive 3D object running on the Apple Watch powered by Apple’s SceneKit framework.

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Fix  My  Phone  SD  Low  Prices  &  Fast  Repairs

4/20/2015

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 Our experienced technicians will have your device repaired in no time. Come in today and have your phone back in brand new condition the same day! 

iPhone Repair:
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CarPlay support added to Audio Books iPhone app for listening  while on the road

4/1/2015

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 Audio Books is a free iPhone and iPad app from audiobooks.com with a collection of over 60,000 audiobooks including 2500 free titles. New Audio Books users can claim one paid title for free after signing up for an account including the new Becoming Steve Jobs biography.  The  interface for Audio Books presents both saved books in your library as well as featured books from the service. You can also easily navigate through genres of audiobooks and quickly find free titles to listen to on your drive without signing up for an account.  
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  Apple has only a small set of App Store apps to support its CarPlay feature with iPhone Audio Books today joining that list. The latest version of Audio Books adds integration with CarPlay head units for easily finding audiobooks to play through your car stereo on your drive.
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Apple launches in-store Android trade-in to boost iPhone  Sales

3/30/2015

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Apple today launched its first trade-in program for non-iPhones in its Apple Stores. The program allows users of select Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry phones to bring in their devices and receive credit toward the immediate purchase of a new iPhone 5c, iPhone 6, or iPhone 6 Plus but is not available for the Apple Watch.
Apple first launched its standard iPhone Reuse and Recycle trade program, and the company expanded the program to the iPad last year. Apple made today’s announcement on the individual store pages, indicating that the program is so far now available in the U.S., France, UK, Germany, Canada and Italy. Also, multiple retail sources say that the program has gone live today. A version of the iPhone trade-in program that does not support non-iPhone products is launching this week in China.
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Apple  cracks  down  on  antivirus  apps

3/21/2015

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     Apple has finally decided to crack down on antivirus  apps, and removing them from the App Store. Although there has been no official statement from Apple on a policy change, Apple’s loose guidelines allow them to pull pretty much anything at any time, particularly something like antivirus which has questionable utility within the iPad and iPhone's ios system. 
    
    Searching 'Antivirus' still returns many results. However, after being inspected, all of the related apps they checked were not actually anti-virus products. Instead they were either games or apps replicating ‘Find My iPhone’.
     

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Apple Is Considering Making a Pink iPhone 

3/11/2015

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The days of the flagship iPhone only being available in black, silver and gold are long behind us. The next version of Apple’s primary handset could come in pink, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The top-of-the-line iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are currently available in silver, gold and space gray. A bright pink iPhone 6 varient would be a big departure from the relatively muted color schemes that mainline iPhones are known for. However, it would fit the design aesthetic of the iPhone 5c, Apple’s budget phone that comes in colors such as yellow, blue and, yes, pink.

In addition to a pink casing, the Journal reports that Apple plans to incorporate pressure-sensitive screens in the new iPhones that can differentiate a hard tap from a soft one. The new devices will reportedly keep the same dimensions of the iPhone 6 (4.7-inch screen) and 6 Plus (5.5-inch screen).

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Google officially announces Android 5.1 with HD Voice, multi-SIM, and device protection

3/10/2015

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Google has officially announced Android 5.1, about a month after it started shipping Android One phones with it. Better late than never, right?

The release was detailed on the Official Android Blog, and should start rolling out to Nexus devices this week. Don't get too excited; this release is mostly about fixing the plethora of bugs in Android Lollipop. There are four new features worth mentioning, though.

Multi-SIM support: Have a phone with more than one SIM slot? Now you can use them both!

HD Voice: On networks with HD Voice like Verizon and T-Mobile, you can now actually use it on supported devices (such as the Nexus 6).

Device Protection: If your phone is lost or stolen, you'll need to log in with your Google account to unlock it—even if it is factory reset.

Quick settings: Select which Wi-Fi network to join or Bluetooth device to pair with, right from a drop-down list in the quick settings menu.

Most of those features won't be of much use to people who don't use stock Android phones (Nexus, Google Play Edition, or Android One). Most manufacturers enhance Android with their own quick settings menus, support for carrier features like HD Voice, or dual-SIM support. But the new device protection feature should be a welcome deterrent to theft for all phones that ship with Android 5.1.

Perhaps the best to come from its release will be more rapid updates from manufacturers, who have not been as speedy in updating their phones to Android 5.0 as we hoped. This is in part due to all the bugs in the initial release—this major bugfix release might help grease the wheels on Android updates.

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Apple CarPlay coming to over 40 new car models in 2015

3/10/2015

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I've tested one of the first cars to use Apple's CarPlay and Android Auto – briefly – and I'd say smartphone users will think it was worth the wait when cars with the systems hit the road at some point this year.

It's been nearly a year since Hyundai and a handful of other automakers announced deals to use CarPlay, which will more or less mirror your smart phone on a car's touch screen. Work continues to get Apple's system – CarPlay – and the similar Android Auto feature into production.

A lot of that work is being done at Hyundai Kia America Technical Center just outside Ypsilanti, Mich., about 40 miles west of Detroit. The 2015 Hyundai Sonata is on track to be one of the first cars with the systems.

"Launching is a challenge," John Robb, Hyundai senior manager of electronic systems development, said. "This is a very tight coupling between automotive and consumer electronics. We're very concerned with stability, reliability and usability." Translation, Hyundai won't green-light the system until its engineers are convinced it works consistently and does not distract drivers.

Contrary to early reports, the system will work with either an iPhone or Android phone; buyers won't have to commit to one type of phone for as long as they own the car. The system is complementary to Hyundai's Bluetooth system, so you can stream music and use voice recognition with just about any phone.

To have your phone's screen and apps recreated – selectively; no Angry Birds or reading Wikipedia behind the wheel – you must connect the phone to the car's USB port.

From that point, everything will feel very familiar to a smart phone user. Familiar icons for music, phone, navigation, messages and more will appear on the vehicle's touch screen. You can use them by touching the screen or with voice recognition.

A brief trial with iPhone and Android phones during a drive was encouraging. Ask Siri to find museums and the virtual assistant generates a list, from the closest to furthest away. Tap an address on the screen, and Apple maps will plot a course and provide turn-by-turn instructions. Sorry Google map fans; if you're using an iPhone and Siri, it's like your Google Maps app never existed, although Apple Maps can access your previous destinations from it.

My test drive provided a reminder of why I use Google rather than Apple maps on my iPhone 6. The directions were consistently quicker testing with Hyundai's Android phone than an iPhone

CarPlay and Android Auto will also read text messages to you and take dictation for replies. If a text message includes an address, tap on the address and the nav system will plot a route.

You can also ask general questions, like sports scores or weather forecasts. Your car will be able to do anything your phone's virtual assistant can do.

Honda, Jaguar, Mercedes and Volvo have all announced plans to offer CarPlay soon.

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    Nathan Scheuerlein
    Smart Phone Technician

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