At the eagerly awaited iPhone launch event Apple has confirmed the recently unveiled iOS 5 mobile operating system will be rolled out to iPhone users next week kicking off on October 12thApple has put an end to continued speculation confirming that the recently unveiled iOS 5 mobile operating system will be rolled out to iPhone users from October 12th.

Hitting iPhone handsets, iPad tablets and the more recent iPod Touch devices next week iOS 5 will land ahead of the company’s next-generation smartphone.

iOS 5 Features

A dramatic overhaul of the iOS system iOS 5 will bring a number of key features to Apple’s mobile device users with twitter integration to land alongside improvements the service’s mail functionality and bringing new tools, such as rule of third grid lines, to devices’ cameras.

A selection of iOS 5 features include:

iMessage:
A new messaging service that lets you easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS devices. Built right into the Messages app, iMessage allows you to send text messages, photos, videos or contact information to a person or a group on other iOS 5 devices over Wi-Fi or 3G. iMessage also features delivery and read receipts, typing indication and secure end-to-end encryption.
MORE Apple iMessage versus BlackBerry Messenger

Notification Centre:
A way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption. Notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen without interrupting what you’re doing. With one swipe you can see all your notifications, and a simple tap will take you right to its app for more detail. Notifications also appear on the lock screen, with the ability to be taken to the notifying app with just one swipe.

Camera
Improving things on the snapping front, iOS 5 notably adds the ability to use grid lines for rule of thirds composition,  use a two-finger pinch gesture to zoom in and out,  single-tap focus. Users will also be able to download photos to other iOS devices using Photo Stream via iCloud. Crucially you’ll also be able to get to the camera from the lock screen.

Reminders
The to-do list feature with support for Outlook and iCloud, iOS 5 will now help to organize your life making sure you are fully stocked up in the freezer with location based integration letting you know about your shopping list when you pull into the supermarket. When you make a change to your to-do list your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone will be updated automatically.

Mail
A whole host of features will improve dealing with your email correspondence which include dragging email addresses between fields, flagging important messages, notifications when you’ve forgotten to add a subject line in an email, Hotmail integration and rich text editing support.

[Source : T3]

We’re sorry, but the Palm Pixi’s rendition of Need for Speed no longer impresses us — we’ve just seen John Carmack show off Rage for iPhone. While of course it looks nothing like the PC graphical monstrosity that swept the E3 Games Critics Awards, it’s safe to say the 60 frame-per-second tech demo at QuakeCon 2010 shoves the cell phone gaming envelope through a Juggernaut-class brick wall. Where Carmack originally called the iPhone “more powerful than a Nintendo DS and PSP combined,” the id Software co-founder is now aiming squarely at the likes of PS2 and Xbox with iPhone 4 hardware. Not impressive enough? He says it still “runs great on an original 2G iPhone” as well. VG247, who liveblogged the event, reports the title will be available in the App Store later this year for a relatively inexpensive price, with a second game available in time for the PC game’s 2011 launch. Sadly, there’s as of yet no plans for Android owners to get the same megatexturing goodness. Don’t miss the video after the break, because this screenshot doesn’t do it justice.

[via engadget]

Bad news, jailbreakers: as promised, Apple’s just released iOS 4.0.2 for the iPhone and 3.2.2 for the iPad, both of which close the PDF exploit used by JailbreakMe. That appears to be the only change — it’s definitely good news for anyone concerned about iOS security, although we’re guessing the Dev Team is hard at work finding a new way to crack iOS open once again. We’ll let you know if we find anything else — won’t you do the same?

[via engadget]

Up until now, a shroud of mystery has surrounded Apple’s custom engineered A4 system-on-chip; we know it’s clocked at 1GHz, likely tied to Apple’s prior acquisition of P.A. Semi and manufactured by Samsung. Outside of that, the only other knowledge we’ve gained has come not from the mouth of Cupertino, but from the extracting wizards over at iFixit. The A4 contains at least three layers of circuitry layered on top of each other, though it’s packaged just like the iPhone processor: microprocessor in one package and two memory modules in the other package. We also learned that the iPad RAM is actuallyinside of the A4 processor package, and we’re expecting to learn even more from those folks in the coming days. All that said, there’s still much debate on whether Apple’s own silicon can stand up to Qualcomm’s heralded 1GHz Snapdragon, the chip powering Google’s Nexus One among other things. AnandTechpitted their iPad against the iPhone 3GS (600MHz ARM Cortex A8) and the aforesaid Nexus One (1GHz Snapdragon QSD8250), using a number of website loads as the primary benchmark. Overall, the A4 proved to be around 10 to 30 percent faster, though it’s impossible to say what effect the operating system has on things. Have a gander at that source link for more — we get the feeling the competitions have just begun.

[via Anandtech]

Obviously updates are coming, software clues or not.  Maybe iPhone 3,2 = AT&T and iPhone 3,3=Verizon?

Also, why is there still an iProd when it was later discovered that the iProd was the iPad?

[via BoyGeniusRepor]

You heard right, folks — according to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is currently “developing a new iPhone to debut this summer,” and as if that weren’t enough, it’s also “working on another model for US mobile phone operator Verizon Wireless.” As of this moment, details about the break are nowhere to be found, but it’s not like either tidbit is shocking.

This summer will mark the one-year anniversary of the iPhone 3GS, and if the Cupertino-based company keeps with its historical refresh pattern, we’re just a few months out from seeing the latest and greatest iPhone. There’s also been no shortage of iPhone-to-Verizon rumors over the years, with the latest of ‘em happening during the run-up to the iPad’s launch.

Update: We’re now learning that the “next iPhone is being manufactured by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry,” which just so happens to be the same outfit responsible for crafting all prior iPhones. That’s according to “people briefed on the matter” and sourced by the WSJ. It’s also stated that the world’s first CDMA iPhone will be manufactured by Pegatron Technology, which we caught just last week dabbling in some of NVIDIA’s Tegra 2-based wares. If all goes well, Pegatron could begin mass production of the CDMA iPhone (exact model not disclosed) this September, so it’s hard to say if Sprint or Verizon would have access before the all-too-lucrative holiday season. As for quotes on the matter? Most everyone involved wouldn’t say a word, but an AT&T spokesman did utter the following: “There has been lots of incorrect speculation on CDMA iPhones for a long time. We haven’t seen one yet and only Apple knows when that might occur.”

On a week that couldn’t possibly get any bigger for Apple, that’s exactly what just happened. Everyone suspected that a fourth-generation iPhone was in the works, but having an outlet like the WSJ confirm it just makes the summer that much harder to wait for. There’s also the possibility that 2010 will be the final year that AT&T retains its death-grip on the iPhone, but by the sound of this report, it still seems as if the nation’s largest GSM carrier may nab exclusive rights on the latest iPhone. We also can’t help but wonder about the future of a true 4G iPhone — will Sprint manage to grab a WiMAX-enabled version? Will Verizon get its grubby paws on an LTE model? We figured only Jobs would know, but now… there might just be someone else out there willing to spill the beans.

Update 2: Soon after the news broke, we were informed that the next-generation iPhone would be announced on June 22nd (a Tuesday, naturally) and would be dubbed the iPhone HD (a name that has been tossed around before). That certainly makes sense given that Apple almost certainly has to up the pixel count in order to rival the EVO 4G, HD2 and all of those other high-res handsets, but we’re still reserving judgment until we see that fateful media invite hit our inbox.

Update 3: John Gruber’s just weighed in with some more tidbits, in his characteristically polite way. Gruber says the next model will have an A4-class SoC, a 960 x 640 display, a front-facing camera, and that iPhone OS 4.0 will enable third-party multitasking. A pretty safe set of predictions, in all, but Gruber’s done pretty well in the past, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

[via engadget]

According to mobile analytics firm Flurry, iPhone OS devices have rapidly risen to prominence as a gaming platform, acquiring significant market share at the expense of the industry’s existing firms.

Flurry published a research study on its blog which says that mobile gaming has grown from 20 percent of the overall U.S. gaming market to 24 percent in the last year. More importantly, the growth has apparently been fueled entirely by the iPod touch and iPhone, which have also stolen share that previously belonged to their rivals.

If the field is narrowed to portable gaming platforms only, Apple’s mobile devices commanded a respectable 19 percent of the market in 2009, up from the 5 percent it had secured in 2008. This means that almost one dollar of every five in mobile games was spent on iPhones and iPod touches rather than on, say, Sony’s PlayStation Portable, whose market share dropped from 20 percent to 11 percent over the same period. That’s still a far cry from the market leader, however: the Nintendo DS commanded an impressive 70 percent of the mobile market, although its share did from the 75 percent it held in 2008.

If the figures collected by Flurry are correct and the overall mobile gaming market is worth $2.55 billion, Apple’s share is worth a little over $600 million. This makes iPhone OS a highly disruptive platform in the gaming industry because of its high accessibility to developers of all size and financial means: platforms like the DS and PSP often require a significant initial investment in expensive development kits. Not to mention the fact that games designed to run on them are only distributed on physical media through traditional channels, where they fight for shelf space alongside titles with significantly higher marketing budgets. By contrast, participation Apple’s $99 iPhone OS developer program is all that’s required to publish and distribute a game through the App Store. Plus, shelf space is unlimited and large developers have few opportunities to buy their way to better positioning.

While Flurry’s numbers are impressive, they were compiled using sets of publicly available but unrelated data and should, therefore, be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. Nonetheless, it’s clear that Apple is making a big dent in the gaming market, and hopefully lowering the barrier of entry will allow game developers to invest more of their money in creating ever more appealing products.

[via macworld]

Looking to get an iPhone without the pesky two-year AT&T contract? You’re in luck: Apple Stores are now selling the handset with no commitment upfront.

The privilege of escaping a two-year subscription comes at a price premium, though. The 8GB iPhone 3G will go for $499, the 16GB iPhone 3GS for $599, and the 32GB iPhone 3GS for $699. You’ll also be able to buy just one phone per day, so if you’re considering a lucrative career in phone re-selling, think again. As of this writing, Apple had not yet updated the Frequently Asked Questions on its online Apple Store to reflect the change, but Macworld has confirmed with brick-and-mortar store employees that the no-contract option is now available.

It’s also worth noting that this the no-contract option does not mean that the iPhone is unlocked for use on any carrier. You’ll still have to sign up with AT&T if you want 3G service. Otherwise, you’ll have to jailbreak and unlock the handset at your own risk.

This isn’t the first time that the no-contract iPhone model has surfaced; AT&T started selling a no-contract iPhone 3G model around the same time last year. Some have speculated that the goal of the move could be to help clear inventory in anticipation of a new model iPhone, though one is not likely to arrive until this summer.

[via macworld]

Another evidence that the new version of iPhone OS it’s on the way! A few days ago we found one user having iPhone OS 4!

Screenshot after the break….

The 3.1.3 firmware update for the iPhone is out now, available through an iTunes update. It’s no revelation, fixing only the accuracy of the 3GS battery meter and the stability of some third-party app launches.

[via gizmodo]