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| iPhone 5C running iOS 7 |
The Evasi0n team announced Sunday morning it had released an untethered jailbreak for devices running iOS 7.0 through 7.0.4. The security bypass gives iPhone, iPod, and iPad owners deeper access to the software on their devices than Apple allows.
The jailbreak takes 5 minutes to install and works on both OS X and Windows-based machines, according to Evasi0n, which included step-by-step installation instructions. The bypass allows devices to be rebooted without connection to an external device.
Apple is, of course, expected to eventually fix the exploits Evasi0n is using to jailbreak the company's devices. The company has long recommended that users not jailbreak their device at the risk of security vulnerabilities, shortened battery life, unreliable voice and data, disruption of services, and the inability to apply future software updates.
Via : CNET
Apple is now selling an unlocked, SIM-free version of the iPhone 5s on its retail website.
Ditch the usual two-year contract and place your order now for the carrier-free iPhone 5s, which will set you back at least $649.
Two versions of the unlocked flagship smartphone are available: a SIM-less model — expected to ship within one to two weeks — and an unlocked T-Mobile variant, which comes with a nano-SIM inside and should leave the factory in three to five business days. T-Mobile this year ditched contracts and embraced the "un-carrier" approach.
Without a carrier subsidy, the device sells at full retail price: $649 for 16GB, $749 for 32GB, and $849 for 64GB. For everyone else, the handset will run you $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB with a two-year contract.
An unlocked phone breaks the ties between customer and carrier. But the newest unlocked iPhone 5s requires a GSM-compatible SIM, meaning it will work on T-Mobile or AT&T in the U.S., but not Verizon or Sprint.
All three color options — space gray, gold, and silver — are available now. Simply visit the Apple Store website, then choose to get the iPhone "unlocked and contract-free."
Source : PCMag
The new iPhones have apparently convinced only a small percentage of iPhone 5 owners to upgrade.
Polling 400 US phone customers that activated an iPhone between September 20 and October 20, research firm CIRP found that only 6 percent of iPhone 5 owners jumped to an 5S or 5C. In contrast, 12 percent of iPhone 4S owners had upgraded to the iPhone 5 over the same period last year.
Further, among the two-thirds of those polled who upgraded from any iPhone to the 5S or 5C in September and October, fewer jumped ship from the iPhone 5 relative to the number of all iPhone owners who moved from the 4S to the 5 last year.
"Ideally, Apple attracts a significant percent of its customers from Android and other systems," CIRP partner and co-founder Mike Levin said in a statement. "At the most recent launch, though, Apple saw an increase in the share of customers that already had an iPhone. Perhaps because of the declining base of non-smartphone owners, a smaller percentage of iPhone buyers upgraded from a basic or flip phone, compared to the year-ago launch."
Do the results signal a spiraling interest in the iPhone? Or do they mean that a fair number of people have passed on the 5S or 5C in anticipation of the iPhone 6?
Apple releases a major new iPhone once every two years, with a minor S upgrade in between. It seems reasonable to assume that the minor upgrades attract fewer people than do the major ones. A certain number of iPhone 5 and Android owners could simply be holding out for the next-generation iPhone.
Source : CNET News
Despite the low volume, T-Mobile deemed the launch of Apple's new flagship iPhone 5s and mid-range iPhone 5c "successful" and cited the launch, together with sales of the iPhone 5 prior to the new models' introduction, as key drivers of the carrier's nearly $1 billion year-over-year jump in handset revenues. Overall smartphone shipments made a similar leap, from 2.3 million one year ago to 5.6 million in the third quarter.
Deutsche Telekom-backed T-Mobile has made Apple devices a focal point of its turnaround strategy in recent months. The carrier began selling the iPhone 5 in June and was a launch partner for the iPad Air earlier this month, offering 200 megabytes of mobile data per month to all owners of Apple's tablets.
After languishing in fourth place for years and in the aftermath of a failed acquisition by AT&T, T-Mobile has been making strides against its larger rivals. The third quarter brought 1 million net new customers on a 6 percent jump in earnings to $1.3 billion.
Source : Appleinsider
The new iPhones vaulted Apple back atop the leader board as the top-selling smartphone vendor in the United States in September, a position held by Samsung for the preceding three months. Helping the company along were reportedly healthy sales of the three-year-old iPhone 4S, which customers can get for free on a two-year contract.
Canaccord notes that their research showed "very strong initial sales and back orders for the iPhone 5s and strong iPhone 5c sales" in both the U.S. and international markets. The devices launched to record-breaking sales numbers in their late September opening weekend and demand still far outstrips supply for the iPhone 5s.
The bank believes that Samsung's upcoming Note 3, which has polarized technology journalists and consumers alike with reports of benchmark cheating and region locking, "should compete very well" against Apple's handsets. The future looks much more bleak for smaller competitors like HTC, BlackBerry, and Motorola, all three of whom Canaccord believes gave up share in the "high-tier smartphone market" to Apple.
According to the report, September brought "very weak" demand for HTC's flagship HTC One, while the Taiwanese company posted the first quarterly loss in its history earlier Friday. The story was similar for BlackBerry, which saw "very soft" sales of its new Z10 and Q10, and Motorola, where sales for its refreshed Droid lineup declined after Apple's new iPhones became available.
Source : Appleinsider
OtterBox is offering a 25% on any iPhone 5 Defender case when you enter coupon code LOVE25 at checkout. Most notably, this discount includes Build Your Own customizable color combinations and other graphic designs. If you are looking for a basic color you may be better off checking out other retailers like Amazon. The Defender Series case features multilayered drop protection, a built-in screen protector, and silicone port covers to keep out dirt/debris.
Please note the iPhone 5 Defender is not compatible with the iPhone 5s. Check out the iPhone 5s/5c cases here and save up to 15% when you enter coupon code AM2012 at checkout.
Source : 9to5toys
Entering this section of the Settings app requires users to enter their passcode for security purposes. From there, the passcode can be turned off or changed.
By default, iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s prompt users to enter a simple four-digit passcode. But a more complex passcode can be enabled in Settings, allowing users to utilize upper- and lowercase letters and symbols, as well as numbers.
For security-conscious users, a complex passcode is advisable, as a proper password can be much more difficult to guess or see over someone's shoulder than a four-digit number. The convenience and responsiveness of the Touch ID sensor also means this more complex password will only need to be entered on rare occasions, such as when the phone has been restarted.
Next in the menu is the new Fingerprints option, which is exclusive to the iPhone 5s. In this menu, users can choose to enable or disable Touch ID capabilities with passcode unlocking the device, and for iTunes and App Store purchases.
Here is also where users can add up to five total fingerprints that will be securely saved in the handset's A7 chip. By supporting multiple fingerprints, Apple's system allows users to more conveniently unlock their device from either hand, or potentially grant access to the iPhone 5s to multiple users.
As with adding a fingerprint during the initial setup, users simply place their finger against the iPhone 5s home button repeatedly, from a variety of angles. Once the system feels it has an accurate, detailed representation of the user's finger, it stores it as one of the five embedded identifiers.
Some particularly curious users have found success in scanning various other parts of their body with Touch ID that are far less convenient than using one's fingertips. However such efforts have been met with much less consistency than fingerprint identification.
Individual fingerprints (or other scans) can be deleted by tapping the Edit button in the top right. There is no way to label or identify any of the saved fingerprints, and they are simply and automatically labeled "Finger 1" through "Finger 5."
The Passcode & Fingerprint section of Settings also allows users to disable features such as Voice Dial, Siri, Passbook, and Reply With Message from the lock screen. An "Erase Data" function is also available, which will erase all data from an iPhone after 10 failed passcode attempts.
Users interested in keeping their iPhone as secure as possible should also consider changing the settings for Notification Center and Control Center. Both of these sections of the Settings application include "Access on Lock Screen" options that limit what can be seen and controlled without unlocking the iPhone.
Source : Apple Insider
While much of the recent discussion about the new iPhone 5s and 5c has been about colors and availability, the Macworld Lab has been busy thinking about the new iPhones’ performance. We put our new iPhone 5s and 5c models to the test and found that the devices to live up to—and in some cases surpass—Apple’s marketing claims.
While many things about the new iPhones are similar to last year’s iPhone 5 (including the same 4-inch screen, 1136-by-640-pixel resolution, and storage capacity), a number of under-the-hood changes range from subtle to startling.
The iPhone 5s features a brand-new 64-bit A7 processor running at 1.3GHz. The iPhone 5c is powered by the A6 processor Apple introduced in last year’s iPhone 5. Apple says the new A7 chip is up to twice as fast as the A6 in both processing and graphics. Interestingly, most of tests we ran show the iPhone 5s to be twice as fast as the iPhone 5c, but the 5c proved to be a bit slower than last year’s iPhone 5 with the same 1.3GHz A6 processor.
Geekbench 3 (Single-Core Score)
Higher scores/longer bars are better.
Geekbench 3 (Multi-Core Score)
Higher scores/longer bars are better.
The iPhone 5s’s Geekbench score was more than twice that of the iPhone 5c. Last year’s iPhone 5, however, was about 10 percent faster than the new 5c in this test. The iPhone 5s score was six times that of the score of the iPhone 4S.
I thought it might be interesting to see how the new iPhones stood up against a couple of popular Android phones, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One. Even though those Android phones use quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, the A7-powered iPhone 5s earned a Geekbench 3 Multi-Core score that was 33 percent higher than the Galaxy S4 and 65 percent higher than the HTC One. The iPhone 5s score was more than twice that of the Android phones in the Geekbench single-core tests. The Galaxy S4’s single-core score was almost identical to that of the iPhone 5c, but the S4 was 58 percent faster in the multi-core tests than the A6-powered 5c.
Sunspider 1.0.1
Lower scores/shorter bars are better.
The Sunspider JavaScript tests showed the 5s finishing the test in 454 milliseconds versus the 708 milliseconds of the iPhone 5, which was just 1 percent faster than the iPhone 5c. The iPhone 5s was 3.5 times as fast as the iPhone 4S in the Sunspider test. Both of the new iPhones were faster than the Androids in the Sunspider JavaScript tests.
GFXBench 2.7 (T-Rex C24Z16 offscreen)
Results are in frames per second. Higher scores/longer bars are better.
GFXBench 2.5 (Egypt C24Z16 offscreen)
Results are in frames per second. Higher scores/longer bars are better.
GFXBench 2.7 (T-Rex C24Z16 onscreen)
Results are in frames per second. Higher scores/longer bars are better.
GFXBench 2.5 (Egypt C24Z16 onscreen)
Results are in frames per second. Higher scores/longer bars are better.
We saw some big differences using GFXBench 2.7’s T-Tex C24Z16 1080p off-screen test. The iPhone 5s was able to push 25 frames per second (fps), more than 3.5 times the number of frames as the iPhone 5c. In this test, the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 scores were identical. The iPhone 4S couldn’t even manage 3 fps. The T-Rex on-screen test, which runs at the native resolution of the device, had all of the iPhones displaying higher frame rates. The iPhone 5s, which scored 37 fps, was just shy of the three times as fast as the 5c’s 13 fps. The iPhone 5 was one frame per second faster than the iPhone 5c.
The Android phones scored around 15 fps in both sets of the T-Rex tests. The T-Rex on-screen results were very similar to the iPhone 5 and 5c results, but not close to the 37 fps the iPhone 5s posted. The off-screen T-Rex results found the Androids pushing more than twice as many frames as the iPhone 5 and 5c, but 10 fps less than the iPhone 5s.
In the less-taxing Eqypt test from GFXBench 2.5, the iPhone 5s was still significantly faster than the 5c and iPhone 5, but it didn’t quite break through the 2X barrier. Again, the Android phones scored similarly to the iPhone 5 and 5c in the on-screen Egypt tests. Off-screen, the HTC One and the Samsung S4 were 10 fps faster than the 5 and 5c, but around 15 fps slower than the iPhone 5s.
Battery life
The iPhone 5s was surprisingly long-lived. Clocking in at over 11 hours in our looping-video test, the 5s lasted nearly 90 minutes longer than the iPhone 5 running iOS 7. The iPhone 5c lasted an impressive 10 hours, 19 minutes. Comparing these results to those of some of the Android competition, the Samsung Galaxy S4 made it to 7 hours in the same tests, while the HTC One lasted just 6 hours, 44 minutes. The iPhone 5s was not able to unseat our top battery performer, the Droid Razr Maxx, which recently lasted 13 hours, 28 minutes in our video-looping battery test.
Battery Life Looping Video
Higher times/longer bars are better.
Check back soon for Macworld’s complete review of the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.
Source : Macworld
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