'iPhone 4S' and iPad 3 Coming in Late October?

Macotakara reports that it has received information indicating that Apple will be introducing the iPad 3 and "iPhone 4S" sometime early next month, with availability set for "late October". The source offered no information, however, on plans for the iPhone 5, although rumors have suggested that Apple will introduce both a revamped iPhone 5 and tweaked iPhone 4 next month.


According to sources, iPhone 4S which is based on iPhone 4(CDMA) and new iPad will be started produce since 1st week in September and will be shipped in late October.

The "iPhone 4S" name is an unofficial one that has been used in a variety of reports to refer to a new iPhone based largely on and appearing nearly identical to the current iPhone 4, but offering upgraded internal components. What has come to be known as the iPhone 5 is a more thorough redesign which has surfaced in case designs reportedly based on leaked design specs. 

There had been some confusion about whether Apple would be releasing an "iPhone 4S" or "iPhone 5" this year, with some suggesting that the confusion stemmed from Apple testing iPhone 5 components within iPhone 4 enclosures for secrecy. But others have claimed that Apple will indeed be introducing both the iPhone 5 and a tweaked iPhone 4 as rumors of a low-cost iPhone have continued to swirl.

 Apple has of course traditionally kept its older models around as entry-level options, as evidenced Apple's continued sale of an 8 GB iPhone 3GS model, but the volume of rumors suggest that Apple may be doing a bit more tweaking to its low-end offerings this time around. Such low-cost models are said to be key for penetrating the prepaid markets prevalent in a number of large countries around the world.

Macotakara has offered some accurate information in the past, and notably was the first source to pinpoint some of the features of the iPad 2 as case designs began leaking out. A number of potential dates for a media event introducing the iPhone 5 and perhaps the iPad 3 have been suggested, with early reports of a September timeframe being countered early last week with a report from All Things Digital claiming that the device won't be available until October. The latest rumor has, however, claimed a September 7th media event, although an iPhone 5 introduction at that time to be followed with a launch as far off as late October would be outside Apple's usual gap between introduction and availability.

Explosion of Mobile Gaming

Geekaphone, an online resource for the mobile industry, has revealed stats about mobile gaming industry. They have been researching the mobile gaming industry and revealed figures for 2011.

A few key points that stand out are:

• The mobile gaming industry is predicted to reach $54 Billion by 2015
• 84% of tablet owners play games
• 70 – 80% of all mobile downloads are games
• Android is soon to overtake Apple in number of total available apps
• In-game purchases should overtake pay-per-downloads by 2013
• Angry Birds has been downloaded 140 million times
• Developers made $87 million in ad revenue in 2010 and will grow 10 fold by 2015

via DigitalBuzzBlog

Mastering Voice Recognition On Your iPhone, Android, or Desktop

Nobody talks on the phone anymore, but people are talking at their phones. On any platform, check your settings and helper guides to get an understanding of what your app or phone can actually do, as completely misunderstood responses from a speech app can be pretty infuriating. Android phones with Google's Voice Search installed, for example, can make a phone call, compose email, send a text message, get directions, and pull up musical artists-but can't launch applications from vocal commands. This isn't so much an issue on iPhones, but Androids and other phones can have pinhole-style microphones that can get gummed up or partially covered by awkward cases. Intermediate: Stop Slowing Down, But Think Before Speaking You need not talk like a robot to be understood by one, says Vlad Sejnoha, chief technical officer at Nuance, maker of the Dragon speech-to-text software for Windows, Macs, iPhones and iPads.

Dragon's software learns speech styles and tics over time, and you want to aim for a natural speaking flow. Digging around Android forums and elsewhere, I found a good number of tesimonies from speech-to-text enthusiasts who saw better results from simply speaking at a normal clip. Google representative Nadja Blagojevic offered much the same advice for the search giant's voice product in both Android and its Chrome browser: Speak naturally and clearly, but don't strain to enunciate too much or speak slowly. Advanced Dictation: Punctuation and Personalization Another embarrassing thing you can stop doing is holding your phone or desktop microphone directly in front of your mouth. In your Mac's System Preferences, there's a whole range of Speech options, sure; but check in the Input section of the Sound options, and you'll find a check box to Use ambient noise reduction, which Google's Blagojevic recommends for using the Chrome browser's speech function.

The best noise cancellation tools put in cars and hearing aids use multiple microphones to pinpoint the speaker and amplify their Input, but your phone isn't quite as refined an audio tool. Punctuation is no different than words, as Dragon, Google, and most good voice recognition software will train itself to how you say "period," "comma," or even "smiley." Just be sure to actually go back and fix bad Punctuation, as that's often how the software learns. Finally, if you're using an Android phone, be sure that you've enabled Personalized Voice Recognition. It benefits your speech-to-text on Android, in your browser, and, ultimately, your self-driving car.

Top 5 features that make Android a better choice over iOS 5

The competition between iOS 5 and Android is getting more intensed day by day. With each update and head-to-head comparison between the biggies, striking similarities as well as dissimilarities have forced millions of gadget lovers to think twice over their smartphone of choice.

Check out the top five useful features of Android that will make it a better choice over Apple's latest build of iOS.

Flexible home screen and widgets
The beauty of Android home screen and widgets is that they are flexible and can be customized according to users' needs. You can easily customize your home screen, place widgets anywhere you want, and they will give you updates on features that matter. You can use widgets for weather updates, breaking news, emails, clocks, WiFi or even media playback controls. When it comes to iOS, users can only launch apps and create folders. 

Customizability
You are free to customize almost anything on your Android. You can extend or replace almost every core Android feature by third-party apps. If you want more, the Android source code is there at your service. You can take the code and customize your ROM, by installing CyanogenMod or Gingerbreak. With Android you can change your default browser to Firefox or any other browser. But in case of iOS, Safari is your only option. If you want to customize your iOS, you need to jailbreak your iOS device.

Better voice control functionality
You just speak and Android brings you what you want. Yes, Android carries voice commands. You can easily search and find with voice search through Google. While listening to music, you just have to speak the title or the artist's name and Android lets you enjoy the music. You can also load third-party music apps like Pandora with the "listen to" command. But in iOS, the voice command options are limited. The music-by-voice feature of the iPhone is only linked to the iPod app.


Flash Support
Android can play Flash games and video, and iOS can't (and never will). It supports only HTML5 web apps. With iOS embracing HTML5 web apps, questions are raised on whether Flash offers what the industry really needs. According to numerous reports, most of the performance related issues have been rectified with Flash for Android Honeycomb.

Google Account Integration
iCloud is interesting. But it's just a cloud storage service. It stores your docs, pictures and apps. With Android, you'll have the benefit of Google Account Integration. You can edit your Google Docs no matter which device you are using, it can be your smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop. You can upload music to Google Music, and stream from the cloud to your phone. You even can do a VoIP call via Google voice. But with iOS, you neither get streaming music nor VoIP.

GPS Navigation
Voice-guided GPS is a service which has been there in Android phones as a standard component since October 2009. Although iPhone has some third-party apps that offer turn-by-turn voice guidance, with Android's built-in functionality, you can easily jump in to navigate from other apps. In case of iOS, users have to manually copy and paste the address into the app they want to use.

Google upgrades Android platform

Google has unveiled an incremental release of the Android platform featuring optimizations for a wider range of tablets and a compatibility enhancement for fixed-size applications.

Android 3.2, which starting becoming available on Motorola Xoom devices last week, offers refinements to ensure a greater user experience on more tablets, said Xavier Ducrohet, Android SDK lead. A new compatibility display mode in version 3.2 gives users a way to view fixed-size applications on larger devices. "The mode provides a pixel-scaled alternative to the standard UI stretching, for apps that are not designed to run on larger screen sizes,"

Version 3.2 also offers an extended screen support API. "For developers who want more precise control over their UI across the range of Android-powered devices, the platform's screen support API is extended with new resource qualifiers and manifest attributes, to also allow targeting screens by their dimensions," Ducrohet said.

The New iPad

The iPad 2 is lighter, thinner, but more than that, it feels qualitatively different, from the casing right through to racing around bends in whatever racing game thrills you.

iPad 2: All the Details

The iPad 2 is arriving to stores on March 11. It is a lot faster than the first generation, it has a new design, a lot thinner and lighter and it has two cameras built-in one in the front for video conference and one for high definition video and photos on the back.

The hardware

Contrary to the rumors, the new iPad 2 has been improved a lot internally. Faster processor, faster graphics, HDMI Full HD output, the 720p HD camera on the back, the frontal VGA camera... it's quite a new beast.

The good

• Dual-core 1GHz A5 processor, which is "up to two times faster" than the previous version, Steve says.
• The graphics have been improved too. The GPU goes at nine times the speed as before.
• Same low power consumption as the A4.
• Built-in cameras for photos and video: One for frontal FaceTime videoconferencing and Photobooth (VGA resolution) and one on the back with 720p HD video capability.
• The cameras support the same exposure and focus control as the iPhones: Just tap where you want to focus for video and stills photography.
• It also has a built-in gyroscope, like the iPhone 4.
• They claim that the 25-watt battery's life is 10 hours "on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music". Just like before, but in a much thinner package. They also claim one month stand-by time.

• HDMI mirrored video output at 1080p Full HD (the Apple Digital AV Adapter cable costs $39).

The bad

• The only thing that remains the same is the 9.7-inch 1024 x 768-pixel IPS display. We were all looking to a higher pixel density, but that will have to wait till the next generation.
• For those who were expecting Thunderbolt support, they will have to wait for a future generation (if it ever comes).
• The Wi-Fi model still lacks a GPS, using Wi-Fi location services.

The design

This thing is really pretty. Thinner than the iPhone 4 and 33% thinner than the current iPad. That's going from 13.4mm (more than a centimeter) to 8.8 millimeters (0.34 inches). For reference, the iPhone 4 is 9.3 millimeters. The weight is going down too: From 1.5 pounds to 1.3 pounds. It also comes in two colors, black and white, "shipping from day one".

When and how much?

The new iPad will come on March 11 to the US, and the 3G model will be available on both AT&T and Verizon networks. Internationally, the intro date will be March 25 in 26 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and UK.

The prices will remain the same across the line. The Wi-Fi model will come for $499, $599, and $699 for the 16, 32 and 64GB models. The 3G takes that to $629, $729, and $829.

Source: Gizmodo