| In Depth: iOS 7 release date, news and rumours Apr 3rd 2013, 13:25 
The last major iOS 6 update for Apple's mobile devices, the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, was mostly hit, but there was a big Maps-shaped miss. Lots of people were rightly angry about Apple ditching Google data, but beyond that mis-step there were things to like: a more useful Siri (App launching plus the recognition that a world exists outside of the USA), shared Photo Streams, handy Phone app controls such as 'send to voicemail', and major improvements to Mail, Safari, accessibility and the Camera app. iOS 7 release dateit looks like the new operating system might be running a little behind schedule. John Gruber believes that iOS 7 is "running behind", with engineers being pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it. We're expecting a September or October release date for iOS 7 in line with previous releases. Expect a preview of the new features to come at June's Apple WWDC. iOS 7 designA greater synergy between hardware and software design is something Apple is looking to achieve as it moves towards iOS 7. That's according to the Wall Street Journal in late March 2013, which also suggests that Jonathan Ive is pushing for a starker and simpler design for iOS 7 - that reminds us a little of what Microsoft has done to the desktop in Windows 8. But regardless of what Apple achieves, it's never really enough. As soon as you've sat there playing with the latest iOS, ideas pop into your head regarding what you'd like to see next. However, most changes will be "pretty conservative" according to the paper's sources. The rest of this article explores a dozen of the features we're clamouring to see in iOS 7. (And by 'clamouring', we of course mean 'asking really nicely'. C'mon, Mr Cook - pretty please?) 1. Hide Apple appsPretty much everyone we know with an Apple device has a folder entitled 'Apple'. This isn't filled with must-have apps from the geniuses at Cupertino, but all the junk Apple installs that you can't get rid off. To be fair, what each individual considers junk is different, and these apps—Compass, Stocks, Voice Memos, Passbook, and so on—have their fans; but is it too much to ask for a switch in Settings that will hide those we don't use? 
2. Better app managementChange for change's sake is rarely a good thing. Recognition is key to satisfying experiences with technology. That's why we're not yelling at Apple to change how iOS home screens work. What we would like to see is improvements to app management: more screens; by default saving app data on delete; and an alphabetical list of installed apps, perhaps accessible from Spotlight. 3. Change app defaultsWe're pretty certain this request would be met with wide-eyes from Apple CEO Tim Cook, swiftly followed by a full twenty minutes of belly laughing, but we want the ability to use non-default apps for important things like email and calendaring. Apple's own apps would remain the defaults, but you should also be able to pick your own in Settings. 
4. Provide a guest accountIt's extremely unlikely that Apple's ever going to enable multiple user accounts on iOS devices—they are, after all, designed as extremely personal computers. What is perhaps more realistic is some kind of guest account you could switch to when handing your device over to someone for a short while; something similar already exists on the Mac in OS X. 5. Change Siri's voiceOS X is blessed with dozens of high-quality voices that witter away to you in various dulcet tones. By contrast, Siri is Siri. In the US, you get a slightly robotic woman; in the UK, Siri's that bloke who did The Weakest Link for a decade. It'd be great if you could choose the voice your device uses to speak. (Possible exception: Yoda voice.) 6. Provide App Store demosApps and games might be cheap, but that doesn't figure cheapskates into the equation. Too often, people are unwilling to risk 69p on the latest release, forcing devs into irritating freemium models or making them clutter up the App Store with 'lite' versions of their output. Apple should just allow demos: 24 hours from first launch and then you buy or the app won't run. Boom. 7. Power up 'Do Not Disturb'Fed up of getting woken up in the middle of the night by the marketing efforts of [redacted, but quite possibly a well-known mobile network] or Game Center fanfares? Do Not Disturb is a great feature that enables you to time when your phone will quit bugging you. But you can define only a single schedule, and we want to see alternative options for weekends. 
8. Make locking location-awareLocking is a great thing on iOS devices, making it at least a little harder for some scallywag to get at your data if they pinch your shiny Apple joy. But it could be more intelligent, locking on a location-aware basis, and not when you're, say, happily sitting at home on the sofa. 9. Improve the lock screenThere's something to be said for Apple's minimalism regarding the iOS lock screen, and it's mostly that it's too minimal. We're not sure we want to see Android-style widgets sprayed everywhere, but a little more functionality wouldn't go amiss. For example, artwork from a currently playing song is displayed on the lock screen, but there are no controls for pausing or skipping to the next track, until you double-press Home, which isn't hugely discoverable. And beyond notifications, nothing else shows up there at all. 
10 Cut all iTunes tiesIn recent years, Apple's made great leaps away from iTunes, and you can technically get away with never using the monstrous jukebox. However, there's still no way to easily get your existing music collection nor your photographs on to your device, and there should be. (Alas, with Apple wanting to push iTunes Match and the iTunes Store, there almost certainly never will be for the first of those.) 11. Make more icons dynamicWe're hesitant at arguing Apple's home screen icons should be more like Windows 8 tiles, but there's something to be said for dynamic updates when such things work well. With iOS, you get update badges and a live calendar. It'd be nice at the least if Apple made its own Clock and Weather icons dynamic. 
12. Enable cross-platform installsOn a device, you now often see iOS-style banners on websites that when tapped take you right to the equivalent App Store app. But if you're browsing elsewhere, you have to email yourself a reminder and then install later. How good would it be if you were surfing on your PC, saw a great app and could install it across your devices without going near them, nor even to iTunes?     |  | Gary Marshall: 40 cheers for the mobile phone: from idiot plaything to everyday essential Apr 3rd 2013, 11:00 
I vowed I'd never get one. They, and the people who had them, were horrid: the phones were stupidly large and expensive, the owners stupidly loud and annoying. "Look at me!" the early adopters' body language and deliberately loud voices bellowed. "I am so clever and important that I can't be out of touch for even a second!" Who in their right mind would want a mobile phone? Today, of course, the answer is: everybody. The cellphone is 40. The first mobile phone call was made on 3 April, 1973, by Motorola's Martin Cooper. At the time, mobile phones were expected to be tools for businessmen and women, not the rest of us. It wasn't for another 20-odd years that the mobile began colonising the mainstream, the result of better phones, better networks and new-fangled things such as SMS. Suddenly mobiles weren't just for loudmouths on the train: they were for everyone. And then they got data connections. The wonderful wireless worldIt's no exaggeration to say that the arrival of the data-enabled phone is one of the most important technological changes we've ever seen, even if WAP turned out to be a bit crap. Adding data turned phones into pocket computers, and as WAP was replaced by proper mobile browsing we're all able to access the sum total of human knowledge from pretty much anywhere. That's ruined pub quizzes, of course, but it's transformed lives too. In developing countries, phones are a key part of the banking system, and smartphone weather apps help farmers avoid disaster. Here, phones are slowly but surely replacing everything electrical from cameras to computers - and that's going to keep on happening. We're already at the point where phone tech is rivalling dedicated games consoles, and we're doing more and more of our everyday computing on mobile devices which are to all intents and purposes smartphones. So what's next? Smaller, thinner, bendier all seem like safe bets, and it's not too far-fetched to imagine our phones becoming the centre of our computing universe, the brains of the operation connecting to whatever happens to be around. It's funny to compare today's phones and concept designs with Martin Cooper's DynaTAC. They look completely different, of course - Cooper's phone was the size of a small dog, didn't have a screen and weighed two kilograms - but they do share one crucial detail: the DynaTAC's weak point was its battery, which was only good for 35 minutes. Today's phones may be smaller and smarter, but batteries remain the smartphone's Achilles Heel.     | | iOS 7 behind schedule but will be a 'significant' overhaul Apr 3rd 2013, 10:51 
It's all systems go at Apple HQ right now, with word that the Cupertino is doing everything it can to get the new-look iOS 7 out the door and onto devices. However, it looks like the new operating system might be running a little behind schedule. John Gruber, who blogs over at Daring Fireball, says that iOS 7 is "running behind", with engineers being pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it. The new iOS is the first to be led by Apple's British design chief, Sir Jonathan Ive. Though the UI hasn't actually been confirmed, you can bet your mortgage it's in the works, and will be appearing to fall in line with the release of the iPhone 5S (or is that the iPhone 6?) - and possibly the iPhone Mini - which are expected to land this summer. What's it gonna look like, Jony?Gruber also says that engineers have been out and about testing the new iOS, but with polarizing filters on their iPhones to reduce the chances of Joe Bloggs seeing the new design from across the train. He added that the fresh iOS will be a "rather significant system-wide UI overhaul." But he's not the only one with the inside gossip. Rene Richie, who runs iMore under the MobileNations network, also seems to have some info on what Ive and his team are up to. "Ive's work is apparently making many people really happy, but will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad," he said Hmmm, interesting. Could the new iOS be more of a radical change than we thought?     | | Blip: Android Gingerbread finally begins to die Apr 3rd 2013, 10:45 
It looks like the fragmented Android ecosystem is finally sorting itself out, as Android Jelly Bean found itself on a quarter of all devices in March. The now-ancient Gingerbread (or version 2.3 if you prefer) still appears on the most handsets, accounting for 39.8 per cent of the Android market - but that is down 4.4 per cent on February's stats. Both Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) and Jelly Bean (4.1 & 4.2) are hot on its heels, with the latter witnessing a healthy 8.5 per cent boost month on month. The standings are now; - 2.3 Gingerbread – 39.8%
- 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich – 29.3%
- 4.1 and 4.2 Jelly Bean – 25.0%
Blips are TechRadar's new news nuggets that you'll find percolating through the homepage - or you can see them all by hitting the blip keyword below.     | | Updated: iPhone 6 release date, news and rumours Apr 3rd 2013, 10:25 
When Apple unveiled the iPhone 5, the reaction was a bit muted: where previous phones were massive leaps forward, the iPhone 5 was a bit longer and a lot easier to scratch. So what can we expect from the next iPhone, the iPhone 6 or 5S? Let's see what the crystal balls are saying. One thing is for sure, with the release of such super handsets as the Samsung Galaxy S4, Sony Xperia Z and HTC One, the next iPhone will have to seriously up its game. iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5S are two different phonesThe rumour mill doesn't seem too sure whether the next iPhone is going to be the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6. Given the iPhone's history - from the 3G onwards, there's always been a half-step S model before the next numbered iPhone - we'd bet on an iPhone 5S first and an iPhone 6 a few months later. It's been suggested that there could even be three size variants of the new iPhone - check out these mocked up images by artist Peter Zigich. He calls the handsets iPhone 6 Mini, iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 XL. Could we see both an iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 this year? iPhone 6 release dateSome pundits predict a summer release for the iPhone 6, while Money Morning reckons that the iPhone 5's lack of NFC and Jumbotron display is because Apple's got a proper iPhone ready for a springtime release. It's quite likely that Apple is moving to a two-phones-per-year upgrade cycle, but we'd bet on a springtime 5S model and a bigger, iPhone 6, update in the Autumn, probably September. Even Digitimes reckons a springtime iPhone 6 is unlikely: it's predicting a summertime reveal for Apple's next generation phones, which again fits with a WWDC unveiling. 
iPhone 6 casesMultiple rumours say Apple's working on plastic cases for its next iPhone, mixing plastic and metal in such a way that "the internal metal parts [are] able to be seen from outside through special design." It's unclear whether such cases would be for the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, or if Apple is simply considering making cheaper iPhone 4s to sell when the iPhone 3GS reaches the end of its life. Speaking in March 2013, a KGI analyst said it believed Apple would turn to manufacturer Pegatron to make up to 75 per cent of low cost iPhone products. 
The iPhone 6 will finally do NFCThat's what iDownloadblog reckons, quoting Jefferies analyst Peter Misek: it'll have a better battery too, he says. The iPhone 6 will run iOS 7 and the iPhone 5S probably won'tDevelopers are seeing new iPhone model identifiers in their server logs: the device identifies itself as the iPhone 6,1 (the iPhone 5 is 5,1 or 5,2) running iOS 7, and its IP address is an Apple one. If the two-phones strategy is true, we'd expect Apple to unveil the next major revision of iOS at its WWDC conference in June, with it shipping on the iPhone 6 a few months later. iPhone 6 storageWe've already seen a 128GB iPad, so why not a 128GB iPhone 6? Yes, it'll cost a fortune, but high-spending early adopters love this stuff. iPhone 6 home buttonAccording to Business Insider, of the many iPhone 6 prototypes Apple has made, one has a giant Retina+ IGZO display and a "new form factor with no home button. Gesture control is also possibly included" - more on that shortly. Mind you, it was mooted that Apple would dump the home button in time for iPhone 5, but it never happened. iPhone 6 screenTake this one with a pinch of salt, because China Times isn't always right: it reckons the codename iPhone Math, which may be a mistranslation of iPhone+, will have a 4.8-inch display. The same report suggests that Apple will release multiple handsets throughout the year over and above the iPhone 5S and 6, which seems a bit far-fetched to us. Patents show that Apple has been thinking about magical morphing technology that can hide sensors and even cameras. Will it make it into the iPhone 6? Probably not. Could the touch screen even be transparent? Emirates 24/7 sin't the first source we'd turn to for bone fide rumours about a new smartphone, but it claims that an ultra-sensitive transparent touchscreen will make it into iPhone 6. The site also believes the display will be made by Sharp, which wouldn't be so surprising. 
iPhone 6 processorNot a huge surprise, this one: the current processor is a dual-core A6, and the next one will be a quad-core A7. The big sell here is more power with better efficiency, which should help battery life. Expect to see it in the 2013 iPad first, and expect to see an improved A6 processor, the A6X, in the iPhone 5S. iPhone 6 cameraApple's bought camera sensors from Sony before, and this year we're going to see a new, 13-megapixel sensor that takes up less room without compromising image quality. iPhone 6 eye trackingOne thing seems certain - Apple can't ignore the massive movement towards eye-tracking tech from other vendors, especially Samsung. It seems a shoe-in that Apple will deliver some kind of motion tech within the next iPhone, probably from uMoove. The new iPhone will have better 4G LTEOn its UK launch, just one UK network had 4G LTE: Everything Everywhere, which currently offers 4G on the 1800MHz band. In 2013, all the other big names will be coming on board, offering 4G in other frequency bands. International iPhones already work across different 4G bands to the UK, so you can expect the UK iPhone 6 (and possibly the iPhone 5S) to be more promiscuous than the iPhone 5. iPhone 6 Wi-Fi may be 802.11acApple likes to lead Wi-Fi standards adoption - its Airport really helped make Wi-Fi mainstream - and there's a good chance we'll see ultra-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi in Apple kit this year. It's faster than Lighting, and not very frightening. iPhone 6 wireless chargingWireless charging still isn't mainstream. Could Apple help give it a push? CP Tech reports that Apple has filed a patent for efficient wireless charging, but then again Apple has filed patents for pretty much anything imaginable. The tasty bit of this particular patent is that Apple's tech wouldn't just charge one device, but multiple ones.     | | iPhone 5S production begins this quarter, looks to summer release Apr 3rd 2013, 09:40 
Like clockwork, Apple is rumoured to begin production of the iPhone 5S over the next three months. The Wall Street Journal reports that the next iPhone will look very similar to the iPhone 5, something we're not particularly surprised to hear. The next handset is expected to be unveiled as the 5S, keeping to Apple's usual behaviour of releasing a mid-generation model. Though we don't expect any drastic evolutions from the iPhone 5, we'll likely see a better processor and more powerful camera. The next version of iOS is also expected to appear around mid-year and will be the first overseen by Apple's British designer, Sir Jonathan Ive. With Samsung gearing up for the release of its recently-unveiled Galaxy S4, Apple will no doubt be feeling the pressure to get its next phone out on the market as soon as possible. Interestingly, it's likely that initial designs of the iPhone 5S will have begun under the watchful eye of Steve Jobs. Cheaper model incomingAnother device we're expecting from Apple is its cheaper iPhone - aka the iPhone mini - which is will offer a slightly more stripped-down option to Apple's flagship device. The phone is said to have a 4-inch screen, just like the iPhone 4S, and will reportedly land in a range of fancy new colours, breaking away from Apple's traditional black-and-white approach to design. The WSJ's sources say that the diminutive device will also launch around the middle of this year - but as this is less of a certainty, we'd apply a dash of salt if we were you.     | | Blip: Mobile phone hits 40, buys Corvette, shacks up with younger hotter wife Apr 3rd 2013, 09:23 
We've come a long way, baby. It's 40 years to the day since the first public mobile phone call was made in New York City. A prototype Motorola DynaTAC was groundbreaking tech at the time - a 9-inch brick-like behemoth boasting 30 circuit boards, a 35 minute talk time and took 10 hours to charge. Other notable events from 1973 include the Watergate scandal, the end of the Vietnam war and the birth of everybody's favourite corn-rowed dance-hall-fusion patois-singer Sean Paul. 
Blips are TechRadar's new news nuggets that you'll find percolating through the homepage - or you can see them all by hitting the blip keyword below.     | | Samsung Mega 6.3 to test our love of big screens and resistance to terrible tech naming Apr 3rd 2013, 01:05 
Samsung are rumoured to be working on two new large screened phones that will fall under the new Samsung Mega moniker, with 5.8-inch and 6.3-inch screens. Both of these phones is expected to launch mid-year, according to Samsung fan blog Sammobile. This is several months ahead of the anticipated launch schedule for the also-rumoured Galaxy Note 3. Upon hearing this juicy skerrick of scuttlebutt, the TechRadar team felt it necessary to reach out directly to Samsung with this message. "Samsung, it's not too late to change your mind." Not about large screened phones, of course. These devices are among our favourites in tech right now. We love the Galaxy Note 2 and happily stopped chewing gum to accommodate the enormous handset in our jeans pockets. The very thought of an even bigger Samsung phone makes us weak at the knees. Constructive criticismNo, we're talking about calling a range of phones 'Mega'. Smartphones are a luxury item, and more than that, they are the one piece of technology that we feel intimately connected to. Calling it Mega will only cheapen that relationship for us. Here's why: - Samsung Mega has the wrong mix of vowels and syllables, it doesn't roll off the tongue.
- Nothing called Mega has been cool since Megatron, and he was a bad guy.
Instead, why not try your hand at making up a word? Motorola had the Atrix, Sony has the Xperia. iPhone seems to have worked pretty well for Apple. Or perhaps you could stick the letter 'O' in front of Mega and call it the Samsung Omega. That has a ring to it. Either way, think about your fans before slapping terrible names on your tech. After all, it is us that will be showing off these phones in pubs and cafes, and we want to have a name we can proudly share.     | | Apple call waiting patent could make being on hold less boring Apr 2nd 2013, 22:57 
A new Apple call waiting patent may put an end to having nothing to do when you're put on hold except watch the call minutes tick away on the screen. U.S. Patent No. 8,412,164 suggests that future iPhones and Apple devices could serve up "adaptive information," including important data about the caller. "Adaptive information can be different from traditional static information, which is information that remains fixed or the same," reads the patent first spotted by Apple Insider. Currently, static information during iPhone voice calls consist of the call's length, name of the person on the other end of the connection, and the other user's photo. Call waiting me, maybe?Instead, the contextual call waiting feature could display more personal data like past communications between the two callers or future appointments. "Such adaptive information can include, for example, the name of the person's spouse and children, the date of their birthday or their hobbies," the new Apple patent indicates. "A system can also identify any unsuccessful attempts to communicate (e.g., unanswered calls, voicemails, unread emails) with another person and present a user with adaptive information related to those attempts." The adaptive information of this call waiting patent is meant to prepare a user for the rest of the communication. However, it could also bring up general data to pass the time, including the weather forecast and news headlines through both graphical and audio signals. Thanks for your timeInterestingly, the time of day could affect the contextual call waiting information. "If a user is put on hold early in the morning, the presented information can be a highlight of the events on the user's calendar for that day," the patent suggests. "Moreover, if the user is put on hold late in the evening, the presented information can be a summary of the day's news or a summary of events scheduled for the next day." Of course, while this call waiting feature could find its way to iOS 7 when iPhone 5S or iPhone 6 are announced, Apple could ironically put the idea "on hold" indefinitely like it does with some many other patents.     | | Twitter tip pegs Facebook Home phone as 'HTC First' Apr 2nd 2013, 22:14 
Buffy, Myst, and now First? The supposed Facebook phone by HTC is certainly running through the rumored names. @evleaks, a normally reliable Twitter tipster, today posted an image of a phone with "htc first" emblazoned across the screen. First is styled in Facebook-esque font, while it's written in the social network's signature blue. All that @evleaks has to say about the phone is: "HTC first, 2013." Powers of deductive reasoning seem to suggest that this is a Facebook phone we could see Thursday, though all may not be as it seems. Hold the photoSome analysis conducted by The Verge discovered that the HTC First logo was likely PhotoShopped onto the image (you can also see a faint line bordering the words, as well). 
There's also little in the way of distinctive markings to say whether this is an HTC phone - or device made by any specific manufacturer - or simply a generic rendering. You may remember that before the Galaxy S4 was announced, an image supposedly of the phone popped up online (posted by @evleaks, no less) before it was found that it was merely place holder for the real deal. The same may be true for this pic, though perhaps it does reveal the actual name of the device said to house "Facebook Home." What's more, the First image lines up with descriptions published by 9to5Google; that the phone would resemble a slightly larger iPhone 5 with capacitive buttons along the bottom. Monday, a report indicated the phone, up until now know as the Myst, would own a 4.3-inch screen. We don't know about you, but all the leaks and titular options are making for quite the head-spinner. TechRadar can't wait to get situated in Menlo Park Thursday so we can get to the bottom of all the rumors.     | | T-Mobile update will open up LTE capabilities on unlocked iPhones Apr 2nd 2013, 20:54 
T-Mobile made some big waves in March with the announcement of its new Un-carrier data plans alongside the reveal of the iPhone 5 coming to the service. While the iPhone 5 won't be coming until April 12, there are still plenty iPhone users at T-Mobile eager to take advantage of the LTE network under the new plans. The good new is, anyone already with an unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile's network will soon have the option to partake in LTE speeds thanks to an Apple iOS update. Due to all T-Mobile iOS devices on April 5, the update will allow for official iPhone support on the network for any device with iOS 6.1 or higher, which includes access to the LTE bandwidth. Network optimizationAccording to TmoNews, Apple's update will arrive simultaneously across all of T-Mobile's current iPhones instead of a slow rollout. In addition to the opening of the LTE network, the carrier-specific update will also introduce Visual Voicemail and MMS Settings currently not available to customers. There are also supposedly other network and device optimizations included in this update, but there weren't any specific details available as to what that meant. These features all bode well for T-Mobile, which is attempting to stand out from the crowd with its new philosophy, and could entice more users to not only stay with the carrier, but also to make the jump. Considering T-Mobile's plans are cheaper than AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint virtually across the board, the iPhone support could help the company fight its way out of fourth place sooner rather than later.     | | Dumbly dubbed 'Androidbook' laptop rumored to arrive in 2013 Apr 2nd 2013, 20:18 
A Google Androidbook could mean that the crossover between Android and Chrome OS is coming sooner than anyone had expected, as a rumor today indicates such a laptop is happening this year. Different from Google's Chromebook laptops, these Android-based notebooks would ditch Chrome OS in favor of the company's popular mobile operating system, according to a report from the sometimes-reliable DigiTimes. The first Google Androidbook devices are supposed to show up at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. Whether or not these Android-based laptops would resemble the versatile Asus Transformer Pad Infinity remains anyone's guess. The Taiwanese publication offered little in the way of additional detail or reasoning behind the launch of a Google Androidbook, so take the report with a grain of salt. Chrome, Android teams mergedThe existence of an Androidbook would back up the theory that Google is going to merge its Android mobile operating system and Chrome OS in the future. After all, the Android and Chrome teams have already merged, and the departure of Android founder Andy Rubin and appointment of Chrome expert Sundar Pichai suggests that the products are on the same path. Even with that knowledge, Chrome OS laptops were able to surpass 1 million units sold in 2013, estimated DigiTimes. Whether or not releasing additional hardware with a competing laptop operating system is in Google's best interest remains to be seen. What we can say is that we hope any eventual name is more compelling than "Androidbook."     | | More evidence mounts for releases of cheaper iPhone, iPhone 5S Apr 2nd 2013, 20:08 
Despite Apple's adamant stance that cheaper phones wouldn't be a focus for the Cupertino company, that statement didn't rule out budget-friendlier phones entirely. Reports of a more affordable iPhone have been circulating since the iPad mini launched late last year, though there's been little in the way of actual details about this iPhone mini. While most of the attention has been focused on the iPhone 5S, there's still a strong chance Apple could introduce a cheaper iPhone this year as well. According to a new Wall Street Journal report, that chance is actually more of a reality: Apple is apparently lining up production for the iPhone 5S to begin sometime in the second quarter of 2013 while also looking to launch the iPhone mini during the latter half of the year. Eeny, meeny, mini phoneThe WSJ reported Apple is currently meeting with its partners in Asia to determine the best course of action for a price-balanced iPhone. There still aren't many details about what the iPhone mini will actually be like, but the Journal indicated it would feature a smaller screen. The publication actually refers to it as a "four-inch device," indicating that is the size of the handset, not the screen. Apple is also said to have spent time researching colored shells made of a less expensive material. If this launch plan sounds eerily familiar, that's because reports have also surfaced Samsung is planning to do the same thing with the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 mini. Samsung's domination of the mobile landscape has put a bit of a damper on Apple's marketshare, though Apple isn't faring poorly in the least. That said, releasing both a high-end iPhone and a more wallet-friendly version could help stabilize Apple's grasp on the smartphone arena, and allow the company to potentially carve out a new niche. With the iPhone 5S reportedly on target for a summer release, it's a slightly different approach then what Apple took with the iPad mini and iPad 4 launches, but certainly not out of the realm of possibility given its past behavior. TechRadar asked Apple for comment, though we have a feeling the Cupertino company is going to keep its mouth shut on this one.     | | Blip: Good luck tracking down the free 4G in one of EE's 50 4G black cabs Apr 2nd 2013, 15:40 
EE is offering you free 4G when you shell out for a black cab in London or Birmingham. However, it's only really available in a pretty specific scenario: you'll need a 4G enabled phone. You'll need to flag down one of forty 4G cabs in the capital. And you'll need to do it within three months. If you're in Birmingham, have fun locating one of the 10 4G black cabs available. Anyway, if that sounds like you, fill your boots - all it'll take is a text while you're in the cab. Everyone else: soz.     | | The weirdest, wackiest and most bizarre photo apps for the Note II Apr 2nd 2013, 14:48 
The GALAXY Note II has some formidable photography skills thanks to its eight-megapixel camera - so much so that we recently picked out the ten best photography apps for the Note II. Though if it's quick photo-based fun that you are after, then you don't need to restrict yourself to taking pretentious snaps of your lunch or endless chin-stroking studies of urban graffiti. The Google Play store is full of somewhat weirder apps that can really make the most of your Note II's camera. Here is our pick of the ten best. 
PicSay Pro £2.99 This is a complete photo editor with tools for things like red-eye removal and sharpening images but it also comes with a host of fun effects including Instagram-like filters, distortion effects, the ability to make cutouts of faces and swap them around as well as plenty of options for adding text, captions and even speech bubbles and comic-like 'sound effects'. Coolest of all, this app also supports the GALAXY Note II's S Pen to do pressure-sensitive drawing and this Pro version comes with a whole library of props and other overlays to spice up dull and boring snaps. 
Color Splash FX £1.18 Did you ever wonder how Steven Spielberg did that effect in Schindler's List - the girl in the red coat who stands out among the black and white of the rest of the film? Well, in all honesty he probably didn't do it using a GALAXY Note II! But you can achieve something similar for still photos using Color Splash FX. Just take a picture or select one from the Gallery and the app with turn it into a black and white shot. You can then use your finger or the S Pen to mark the areas you want to pick out in colour and the app will do the rest. Really simple, but you can get some great effects with a little care. 
FACEinHOLE £0.80 All the fun of those seaside photo-boards that place your head in a comical scene. In fact, make that LOADS MORE fun along those lines as you can pick from thousands of scenes with one or more head holes waiting to be filled up with the faces of you and your friends. 
Tiny Planet FX Pro £2.00 Tiny Planet FX Pro will take any photograph and morph it so that the bottom of the pic gets squashed into a 'planet' and the top half gets wrapped around that planet. Its hard to describe but feed it a picture of a field with some trees and people and it is immediately obvious - you get a small green planet with trees and people sticking out of the surface! With some experimentation in picking the right photo and tweaking the slider bars just so you can create some really effective and unusual pictures. 
FuntasticFace Free (with in-app purchases) FuntasticFace gives you a palette of props, hairstyles and other enhancements that you can use enhance your photos. Slap on massive Manga eyes, comedy wigs or pumped up lips to turn drab snaps into something to MMS home about. The app is free but you can buy extra packs of props or clothes, etc. for a small fee via in-app purchase. 
Paper Artist Free (bundled with phone) Photographs are great but what if you could knock up a sketch or painting instead of a holiday snap? You could go all out and use the S Pen to paint a masterpiece with an app like Infinite Paint but if you are maybe not quite up to that then fire up Paper Artist and let it do the work for you. Paper Artist will turn any photo (from the gallery or direct from the camera) into a sketch, etching or painting. It just uses a bit of image processing code but it can look quite effective and - as Paper Artist was designed with the Note II in mind - you can cleverly use the S Pen to draw over the top or 'scrape away' the painting to reveal the real image underneath, which can create some brilliant effects. 
Comic Strip It! Pro 99p With Comic Strip It! you can use your photographs to build multi-panel comic strips or storyboards. You can use images straight from the camera or the gallery and apply various image effects to get the right look for your graphic novel masterpiece. Each panel can be enhanced with titles, captions and speech bubbles as well as sound F/X like POW! KA-BOOM! and THWIP! Once you are done, export the image to your SD card or share it on your social network of choice from within the app. 
WordCam Pro 64p A picture is worth a thousand words, or so they say. WordCam Pro takes this rather more literally than it was intended, but the results can be a lot of fun. Feed the app a picture from the gallery or the camera and then give it a list of words and a selection of fonts. WordCam Pro will then make a new version of the picture using the list of words, repeated in semi-random patterns and a variety of fonts and sizes, while retaining the underlying colours of the image. It can look amazing. 
WarpCam Pro 99p This clever 'live' filter will distort an image even before you press the shutter, enabling you to get precisely the effect you want. Filters include a photo-mosaic, fisheye lens and distorted zoom to create weird, hall-of-mirrors-like effects. You can stack two effects on each other, feeding the results of one into the other to create more varied images. 
Fotodanz Free Cinemagrams are those clever animations that look like still photographs with just one element moving - the candle on a birthday cake, say, or a crowd scene where one person turns their face to look at you. Fotodanz is an app for creating them. Fotodanz works a bit like a long-exposure camera. You just take a 'photo' (actually a short movie) for a couple of seconds and it will then present you with a still image. You can draw on this using a finger or the S Pen to mark the part of the animation that you want to display. Fotodanz will then create an animated GIF file of the still with your selected animated area over the top. Once ready you can share it to Facebook, Twitter, Email, MMS or Google Drive. ---------- Also check out on Your Mobile Life: Working on the go made easy VIDEO: A Beginner's Guide to the Samsung GALAXY Note II Living with the Samsung Galaxy Note II Writers, designers and gamers: how the Note II brings innovation to the smartphone space Streamline your office with S Note and S Planner     | | Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini to land this week? Apr 2nd 2013, 14:18 
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini may leave the realms of phone fiction and become phone fact this week with word being that Samsung is bringing the launch date forward because of the torrent of leaks. That's the word from SamMobile, at least, going against the last word we had which posited that the S4 Mini would land a month after the Galaxy S4 (slated for release on April 26). As we've heard in previous leaks, the handset will be available in solo- and dual-SIM flavours, with the former rocking a quad-core processor and the double SIMmed version offering a dual-core one. Mini-meThe handsets will both come with a 4.3-inch display, 8MP camera, Wi-Fi and AGPS as well as running Android 4.2.2 with Samsung's TouchWiz Nature UX. SamMobile's sources also say that the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini will be available in Black Mist (really, what is a black mist? And why would you want to evoke what sounds like a dangerous, choking haze in the colouring of your phone?) and White Frost (in what way is 'white frost' more descriptive than just white? Unless it means white that you can see a bit of green through it, which we doubt it does because that would look ridiculous). We'll try that again: the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini will also be available in black and white. SamMobile has a fairly good track record on Samsung leaks and we're pretty sure the S4 Mini is locked on for an imminent launch. As for whether it'll be this week or even this month, we're not convinced - why would Samsung cannibalise sales of its flagship S4 by giving people a cheaper option? So while there's a very slim chance this rumour will come to pass, we would strongly advise against putting money on it.     | | Super-fast 4G LTE on the GALAXY Note II explained Apr 2nd 2013, 14:15 
If you've been keeping tabs on the worldwide smartphone market, you'll have probably noticed a pretty glaring omission last year – why wasn't the discerning UK phone buyer offered a super-fast 4G connection when many other countries were loving life with fibre-optic speeds on the go? Thankfully that began to change in September 2012, with EE deploying the fast network throughout the UK – and it was also the first to offer the Samsung GALAXY Note II LTE too, giving this impressive phone another string to an already packed bow. 
1. OK – but what actually is 4G? 4G (also known as Long Term Evolution or LTE) is the next generation of mobile connectivity that can bring theoretical speeds of up to 100Mbps on your GALAXY Note II LTE. While in truth you'll never get that speed on the go (elements like other users and distance from the mobile mast have a huge impact on bitrate) you'll find you're still regularly rocking speeds of around 20Mbps on a mobile phone (and that will get faster in the coming months), which is still hugely impressive. 
2. How does 4G work? There are actually three different 'forms' of 4G on offer, all at different frequencies. 800MHz will allow fewer connections, but has a much greater range, so rural areas can buy a Note II LTE safe in the knowledge they'll be getting the full power of the handset even away from the cities. 1800MHz is the frequency currently used by EE to deploy its super-fast network, and can be used both in cities and further afield, plus also allows access to things like HD voice for ultra-crisp calling. And finally 2.6GHz will be used mostly in built-up areas; unlike 800MHz it's got a shorter range but a much greater capacity, meaning far more users can get super speed from the same mast. And the good news? The Samsung GALAXY Note II LTE supports all these bands, so you won't need to worry about checking compatibility before you buy, making it a much simpler choice in your local phone emporium! 
3. How much better is 4G than 3G? 4G is both a small step and a huge evolution from the 3G speeds you'll be used to. 4G is designed for data, and is a 'flatter' signal – simply put, this means it's more efficient to get info into your GALAXY Note II, which saves on battery life and consumes less data to perform the same functions. 3G isn't too far behind though – if you can't get a full 4G signal, DC-HSPA is the latest technology to come from the engineering bods at the networks and while it is technically 3G in form and range, it's only about half as fast as 4G. So that's nice if you suddenly wander into a 4G dead zone, right? 
4. Good for gamers There are loads of uses for 4G – it's not about doing the same things you've done in the past but faster (although you can do that just fine). The short connection time between your phone and the mobile mast means you've now got access to a whole range of activities, like playing multiplayer games on the go – and combined with the mighty GPU at the heart of the Samsung GALAXY Note II, you've got a real gaming machine that you don't have to keep tethered to the home. So you can all too easily find yourself in a multiplayer frag-fest with titles like Modern Combat 3 or racing to the line with Asphalt 7… all on the bus to work. 
5. Movie marathons from the park One of the biggest changes to the way people use their phone when imbuing it with 4G is video – studies show that the likes of YouTube shoot to the top of the most-visited sites when users get access to 4G.
But it's about so much more than that, and the likes of EE offer you free films to download each week – and despite being in HD, you can suck them down in no time at all to your phone, or start streaming instantly.
Tie-ins with home broadband also mean you can begin watching a title at home on the TV or PC, and continue where you left off with your phone when you leave the house. And with the large and expansive screen offered on the Samsung GALAXY Note II, there's no reason not to enjoy the best the movie world has to offer down the pub, in the countryside or as a passenger on a long car journey; plus it's an even more impressive experience thanks to the HD Super AMOLED screen too. 
6. Is 4G expensive? The notion of 4G in the UK is that's it's an expensive option to have – certainly early tariffs haven't offered a huge amount of data for a higher cost per month to get access to the super speeds on the go. However, the likes of Three have pledged to not increase costs when it deploys 4G later in the year, claiming that no matter if you use its 'Ultrafast' DC-HSPA connection or 4G, you shouldn't pay more for the privilege. O2 and Vodafone are yet to announce their 4G pricing, but it's expected to be largely between Three and EE – the latter bolsters its attractiveness to consumers by offered free cinema tickets and movie downloads, which may be the route others take. 
7. How can I get 4G? Currently, there's only EE offering 4G in the UK, but that's going to change in the next few months, as summer 2013 will be the time when all networks start offering 4G speeds too. Three has confirmed it will be bringing 4G by September, and thanks to not raising prices, is offering phones like the Samsung GALAXY Note II LTE now so users can upgrade to the great handsets and feel content in the knowledge 4G will land straight on their phones later in the year. Vodafone is doing the same thing with the GALAXY Note II LTE, so you can buy this top-end handset now and upgrade your price plan to incorporate 4G speeds on the big red network later in the year. 
8. How much faster are phones going to get? Well, there's no doubt that 4G is going to just get faster and faster as the technology is developed. Compare 3G speeds to when it first deployed at the start of the millennium (up to 2Mbps) to now (up to 40Mbps) and you can see there's a long way to go when it comes to streaming speeds on the move. 5G is a long way off, but in 2020 you could be getting even cheaper (or free) data thanks to low deployment costs for the networks, really low battery drain or simply the ability to connect loads of users together at once from one single station with gigabit connection speeds. But 4G is new enough to get excited about – so if you want a great gaming experience on the go, want to watch movies where you want them or simply browse the internet without speed limitations, the Samsung GALAXY Note II LTE allows you to do all that and more. ---------- Also check out on Your Mobile Life: Working on the go made easy VIDEO: A Beginner's Guide to the Samsung GALAXY Note II Living with the Samsung Galaxy Note II Writers, designers and gamers: how the Note II brings innovation to the smartphone space Streamline your office with S Note and S Planner     | |
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