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Nokia HERE now available on iOS App Store

When iOS 6 was announced, the single biggest feature was the new Apple Maps. Apple had successfully ousted Google from their mobile platform to make way for their new mapping service. Things could not have gone more disastrously in the coming months. Choke full of bugs, incorrect point of interests, embarrassingly bad 3D and what not, it was clear that Apple Maps was nothing but an unmitigated disaster. A disaster that will take some time to be fixed.

This gives way to other mapping services to make their mark. We’re already aware that Google is working on their maps app. But today Nokia has unveiled theirs. Conveniently named HERE, this new app brings Nokia’s expertise to iOS. Powered by Navteq, it offers cool new features such as Facebook integration, turn-by-turn directions, the ability to save maps for later, transit directions etc. In addition to this Nokia HERE also offers step-by-step voice-guided walk navigation and public transportation and driving directions. Nokia HERE will also let you download maps for a particular geographical location for offline viewing.

Nokia HERE is available in the iOS App Store for a price of ‘free’. Now the wait continues for Google to brings its prowess back to iOS.

January 31, 2013
Opera Mini Finally Comes To The iPad!

So you have Opera on almost every device on the planet but why was the iPad neglected again? Nobody knows. So the good news is that Opera is gonna show off it’s new version on a few devices atÂ MWC this year, including Android, iPhone, Java, BlackBerry, Symbian, and yes the iPad. Opera hasn’t announced what new features the updated Opera mini will bring but we’re sure that the iPad version will be pretty similar to the Opera for tablets displayed a few weeks ago. We hope the new Opera enables flash likes Skyfire for the iPhone and iPad which converts flash into HTML5 which is playable on the iDevices.

January 31, 2013
AT&T now enabling FaceTime over cellular for unlimited data customers

FaceTime is one of the most popular features in iOS devices. A very convenient way for two people with an iDevice to video chat, without the hassles of signing up or anything like that. When Apple launched Facetime it was only compatible with WiFi networks and not cellular. This was probably because networks at that time were not cut out to handle such a load. But with iOS 6 Apple officially enabled FaceTime over cellular. All network allowed unrestricted access to this feature apart from AT&T.

AT&T kept FaceTime over cellular only for users with a shared data plan. Those with grandfathered unlimited data plans were left out. It was a strange move that brought AT&T even more flack. Now however it seems as if the network has had a change in heart. Users with unlimited and tiered data plans are now reporting that FaceTime over cellular is a go on their iPhones. It’s not available for everyone just yet possibly because AT&T is slowly phasing it in. If it’s not enabled, reboot your phone to try again.

Call it an early Christmas present or anything else, but it looks as if users of America’s biggest cellular network will finally be able to enjoy FaceTime over cellular.

January 31, 2013
Partial iPad Mini jailbreak achieved

iPad mini is a great tablet according to review, and Apple has also sold a sizeable amount of it already. However no matter how great it might be, there are a lot of potential customers who’d rather have it jailbroken before they purchase it. An image posted on Twitter recently by jailbreaking Dream Team, MuscleNerd, the iPad Mini jailbreak has been achieved. However it comes with certain amount of strings attached.

The method to achieve such jailbreak is commonly known as ‘failbreak’. This means in order to jailbreak an iPad Mini you will need a developer account. This makes it kind of useless for the general public. But only for now. This is similar to the jailbreak we saw on the new iPad 4 which too required a similar developer account to work. Unfortunately such is the case with all A5 and A6 powered iDevices. Unless security methods on them are bypassed the iPad Mini jailbreak will be limited to a developer account only.

The fact that a year old A5 chip has yet to be jailbroken isn’t comforting. But all hope is not lost. Even a failbreak is an achievement itself. Let’s hope work developers continue to do the work they’re doing and we get a full untethered iPad Mini jailbreak.

January 28, 2013
iPhone and iPad mini sales stronger than expected

The last few months have been quite busy for Apple. They released the next chapter in the iPhone story, the iPhone 5. And the much awaited iPad Mini was also released a month later. Both these products have gotten great reviews. Although there have been numerous issues with the iPhone 5, like camera and keyboard, the general demand has been great.

According to Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley, iPhone and iPad mini sales are greater than previously expected. A few weeks ago an estimate was put at 46 million units for the number of iPhone 5 and 23 million iPads that will be sold by the end of the year. Katy Huberty believes Apple will surpass this number. She also went ahead and claimed that Apple will also beat March 2013 estimates of 43 million iPhones and 19 million iPads.

It’s going to be an interesting Q4 2012. Initially Apple suffered with supply issues for the iPhone 5 and iPad mini, but now that they have been resolved, they might actually be able to sell close to 50 million iPhone 5 by the end of this year. Suppliers also indicated that the iPhone 5 and iPad mini are expected to sell well in China. The competition however is quite tough this time around.

January 20, 2013
Like the iPhone 5, Nexus 4 also has purple tint issue in its camera

There’s little denying the fact that the iPhone is perhaps the most popular smartphone in the last 5 years. It was after all called the Jesus phone in its first few years. The popularity however has its downfalls. Any issue, big or small, will be highlighted all over the web and scrutinised severely. One such issue was the purple tint issue with the camera on the new iPhone 5. Aiming the camera at a bright source of light caused the images to show a strong purple tint on them. It was so blown out of proportion that Apple issued an explanation regarding the purple tint issue.

Well now it seems as if the latest and greatest Nexus 4 from Google also exhibits the purple tint issue. The image above is taken from the review done by Anandtech. The strong purple tint is very visible.

The second image above also has the same tint. In both these images the result is due to the bright source of light.

So are both Nexus 4 and iPhone 5 with faulty cameras? No. This is a limitation of all cameras, even expensive DSLRs. The purple tint issue doesn’t always rear its head, but it will eventually if you keep on taking pictures near bright sources of light.

January 19, 2013
Jailbreak iOS 6.0 On iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 And iPod Touch Using Sn0wBreeze
Sn0wbreeze fans will be glad to know that their favorite iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch Jailbreaking tool for Windows has been updated to support iOS 6.0. Like the RedSn0w Jailbreak the Sn0wBreeze Jailbreak too is tethered and will go away if you reset your device. iPhone 3GS users who have an older bootrom will luckily be able to get an untethered Jailbreak. The RedSn0w iOS 6 Jailbreak guide can be found here.

Before starting make sure you have the iOS 6 IPSW firmware files for your device, download them from the links below:
- iPhone 3GS (iPhone2,1) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPhone 4 (iPhone3,1) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPod Touch 4G (iPod4,1) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPhone 4 (Verizon) (iPhone3,3) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPad 2 (Wi-Fi) (iPad2,1) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPad 2 (AT&T) (iPad2,2) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPad 2 (Verizon) (iPad2,3) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPhone 4S (iPhone4,1) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPad2,4 (iPad2,4) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPad 3 (Wi-Fi) (iPad3,1) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPad 3 (AT&T) (iPad3,2) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPad 3 (Verizon) (iPad3,3) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPhone 4 (AT&T) (iPhone3,2) version 6.0 (Build 10A403), Download
- iPhone5,1 (iPhone5,1) version 6.0 (Build 10A405), Download
- iPhone5,2 (iPhone5,2) version 6.0 (Build 10A405), Download
- iPod5,1 (iPod5,1) version 6.0 (Build 10A406), Download
The tutorial is below:

Step 1. Download Sn0wbreeze from this link and install it.

Step 2. Open Sn0wbreeze, now click on the Okay button followed by Next. It will also you to located the IPSW file you downloaded below, select it to proceed.

Step 3. Click on Simple Mode followed by Yes.

Step 4. After Sn0wbreeze is done making a custom IPSW file for your device a dialogue box will pop up, select Yes.

Step 5. Continue to put your device into DFU mode.

Step 6. Now put it into PwnedDFU mode using iRed.

Step 7. After its in PwnedDFU mode open iTunes. It will detect your device as if its in Recovery mode.

Step 8. Now click on your iPhone or iPod Touch in iTunes and click on the Restore button which pressing Shift.

Step 9. Select the custom IPSW file.

After the restoration is done, your iPhone or iPod Touch will boot into iOS, but Cydia won’t launch yet as you need to tether boot into your device.

Step 10. Put your device into DFU mode.

Step 11. Run iBooty which can be found in the iBooty folder.

Step 12. Select your device from the drop down menu and click on start.

That’s it! If you have any questions, feel free to ask us in the comments below.
January 18, 2013
Top 3 features in iOS 6

Apple dropped some real bombshells yesterday at WWDC, like that slick new MacBook Pro. One of the announcements was regarding iOS 6. iOS as we all know is Apple’s mobile OS. An OS that Apple calls the ‘most advance OS in the world’. It got a major version bump. There are over 200 new features in iOS 6. Let’s look at the top three.

Facebook Integration

Facebook has long been ignored by Apple. And when I mean ignored, I mean it looked like an intentional omission in iOS 5 since it had Twitter all over it. Whatever beef the two companies had with each other is now settled and iOS 6 will come with Twitter like Facebook integration. You can directly link your Facebook account with iOS like you did with Twitter. Similarly you can now share photos via pictures, update statuses right from the OS, ‘like’ apps from the App Store and share them on Facebook and even sync contacts with Facebook.

Maps

Apple has given the boot to Google Maps. In comes a solution from Apple. Powered by TomTom these new maps finally support turn by turn navigation powered by….you guessed it; Siri. Also included are 3D maps which quite frankly, look stunning. The new maps are vector based which means loading time is a lot faster compared to bitmap maps. However it doesn’t have street view, something exclusive to Google Maps…..for now.

Siri

Siri was a mixed bag in iPhone 4S. It has now been given a dramatic update. Siri can now launch apps, something that was sorely missing. It can also give you sports updates and pretty much any sort of information related to baseball and basketball; and movie schedules. You can also make restaurant reservations using Siri. It also speaks in a lot more languages now. Also, Siri is now available on the new iPad.

January 16, 2013
Apple Australia Black Friday deals are underway

Thanksgiving holds spiritual importance for many. But for us gadget freaks, it’s the day after Thanksgivings that holds even more importance. Yes, it’s the ever important Black Friday. The day made for shopping freaks. The day retailers go crazy with discounts. And if you’re an Apple fanatic then Apple has something in store for you too.

Thanks to regional time differences, the Australia online Apple Store is officially in Black Friday mode. Apple has some decent discounts on some of its most popular products. This includes the new iPad 4, iPad 2, MacBook and all its variants like Air, Pro and Retina versions. Other than accessories like AirPort base station, mice and keyboards too have great discounts.

iPad with Retina display | From A$ 498.00 (Save A$ 41.00)
-iPad 2 | From A$ 398.00 (Save A4 31.00)
-iPod touch | From $A 298.00 (Save A$ 31.00)
-iPod touch 4th generation | From A$ 194.00 (Save A$ 25.00)
-iPod nano | From A$ 158.00 (Save A$ 11.00)

-MacBook Pro with Retina Display | From A$ 1,794.00 (Save A$ 105.00)
-MacBook Pro | From A$ 1,244.00 (Save A$ 105.00)
-MacBook Air | From A$ 994.00 (Save A$ 105.00)

-AirPort Express Base Station | A$ 108.00 (Save A$ 11.00)
-AirPort Extreme Base Station | A$ (Save A$ 21.00)
-Time Capsule | A$ 298.00 (Save A$ 21.00)

-Magic Mouse | A$ 64.00 (Save A$ 11.00)
-Magic Trackpad | A$ 64.00 (Save A$ 11.00)
-Apple Wireless Keyboard | A$ 64.00 (Save A$ 11.00)

-iPad Smart Case A$ 44.00 (Save A$ 15.00)
-iPad Smart Cover– Polyurethane | A$ 34.00 (Save A$ 11.00)
-iPad Smart Cover– Leather | A$ 58.00 (Save A$ 21.00)

-Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic | A$ 88.00 (Save A$ 11.00)
-Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic | A$ 28.00 (Save A$ 7.00)

Deal listing via 9to5Mac

January 16, 2013
Samsung no longer providing batteries for MacBook and iPad

You must be living under one heck of a rock if you’re not aware of the patent infringement case that Apple and Samsung have been involved in for a very long time now. Both have dealt body blows to each other and it’s pretty clear there won’t be an end to this anytime soon. But it’s not the court cases that are interesting, it’s the resulting implications.

Apple has been looking to get rid of Samsung as its parts supplier. Samsung provides major components for many of Apple products. Today reports are coming in from China that Apple has dropped Samsung as the supplier for batteries for the MacBook and iPad. Apple is now replying on Amperex Technology Limited and Tianjin Lishen Battery to power its iPads and MacBooks. Apple products are legendary for their battery performance so let’s hope the quality standards remain same.

Samsung has not given an official response to this yet. While Apple will find no difficulties in finding a new supplier of batteries, they will however have a very tough time finding a replacement for the A6 chip supplier. Samsung recently jacked up the price for these chips by 20% which will negatively effect Apple’s margins for 2013.

January 16, 2013