Smartphone Straight Talk

An interesting scoop over at the New York Times, citing “people close to the company” as saying that Facebook is looking to launch its own smartphone by next year, apparently tapping the collective talent of Apple’s former hardware and software engineers.

The social networking giant has already poached a bunch of engineers who worked on the iPhone and iPad projects. It’s Facebook’s third attempt at making a phone, one that’ll undoubtedly add to bad blood that’s been brewing between Facebook and Apple for quite some time now.

That said, a Facebook phone makes sense to us. The company pretty much sucks in mobile. Up until recently, they’ve been releasing and updating native applications for smartphones at a snail’s pace. If a phone is what they need to gain more credibility in mobile, so be it – though Tim Cook won’t like this.

This not-so-secret plan might also explain why a system-wide Facebook integration was a no-go in iOS 5, though code hooks are still in place. Let’s also not forget that Facebook pulled integration from Apple’s Ping social network for iTunes music.

Yup, looks like Apple can safely put Facebook on its growing list of powerful rivals, right below Google and of course Samsung…(...)
Read the rest of Watch it, Apple: Facebook poaching iPad, iPhone engineers to build own phone

"Watch it, Apple: Facebook poaching iPad, iPhone engineers to build own phone" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

So, the new Siri advertisements starring John Malkovich. At the end of one of the ads, the actor asks Siri to tell a joke. She comes up with a line that’s long in the tooth, giving him the “two iPhones walk into a bar…” routine. What’s that? Not funny, you say? Didn’t crack me up either. There’s a better version…(...)
Read the rest of Here’s Siri telling John Malkovich a really dirty joke

"Here’s Siri telling John Malkovich a really dirty joke" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

According to a new report from online advertising network Chitika, smartphones and tablets now account for 20% of all Web traffic in the U.S. and Canada. Traditional PCs accounted for 80% of Web traffic, with smartphone traffic totaling 14.6% and tablets making up 5.6%, AllThingD reported. Chitika found that a whopping 95% of tablet Web traffic came from a version of Apple’s iPad, mainly the newest iPad, and 72% of smartphone traffic also belongs to Apple, compared to 26% for Android devices. The Cupertino-based company didn’t fare as well on the desktop side, which saw 85% of Web traffic from Windows machines compared to 13% from Macs. The report also noted that Windows Phone now accounts for a third as much traffic as BlackBerry phones, and while Microsoft’s mobile platform owns a smaller share of the market, the handsets’ larger displays may be responsible for the proportionally large share of Web browsing.

Read

The Verge was first out of the gate today with its exhaustive review of Samsung’s Galaxy S III handset. A section of the piece provides an interesting side-by-side comparison of two intelligent personal assistants, Siri on the iPhone 4S and Samsung’s darling dubbed S-Voice.

Both features work as advertised (well, most of the time), amuse with canned responses, delight with factual answers – all the while letting you converse with your handset using natural language rather than remember a bunch of hard-coded commands.

Siri and S-Voice also score similarly in handling common tasks such as pulling local weather, creating appointments and reminders and what not. And of course S-Voice is a blatant rip off of Siri’s user interface. Apple’s digital secretary appears to be snappier at running queries and S-Voice at times has a hard time understanding what you want.

And here’s a nice side-by-side comparison video laying it all out for you…(...)
Read the rest of Apple’s Siri and Samsung’s S-Voice go head to head (video)

"Apple’s Siri and Samsung’s S-Voice go head to head (video)" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Not to be outdone by indie devs’ massive game sale, Apple has launched a pair of prominently advertised promotions on both the App Store and the Mac App Store, in time for your extended Memorial Day weekend. The new Editors’ Choice section offers great apps for both iOS and Mac platforms cherry-picked by Apple’s iTunes team.

Also, Cupertino (finally) pulled an Amazon with the other section, giving away one free app every week, starting today…(...)
Read the rest of App Store launches Free App of the Week and Editors’ Choice promos

"App Store launches Free App of the Week and Editors’ Choice promos" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Piper Jaffray’s resident Apple analyst Gene Munster is certainly the biggest proponent of a full-blown Apple television set and I guess you could say he’s actually started the whole craze in the first place.

It’s been a while since we last heard from him, but now Munster’s back with some updates to both iTV and iPhone 5 memes.

He sees an Apple-branded television debuting in December of this year and hitting store shelves in 2013 (hopefully, it won’t be a “terrible use of retail space”).

As for a sixth-generation iPhone, or the iPhone 5 as the press dubbed it, he agrees on the general consensus of an October timeframe, which also jives well with what iMore recently heard from sources, too…(...)
Read the rest of Munster: Apple television in December, iPhone 5 in October

"Munster: Apple television in December, iPhone 5 in October" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

When you think iPhone and Foxconn, you think Shenzhen, suicide nets and FLA inspections. According to an M.I.C Gadget report, we should forget Shenzhen and think Zhengzhou instead. M.I.C. Gadget says Foxconn has transferred its primary iPhone production line from Shenzen to it’s Zhengzhou plant. Zhengzhou now makes 70 percent of Apple’s iPhone handsets. Located in the inland province of Henan, the Zhengzhou plant is on its way to becoming the largest smartphone manufacturing plant in the world.

The plant has 200,000 workers and intends to push out 400,000 iPhones each day. It’s located in the Henan province which exports 1.24 billion yuan ($195 million USD) in cellphones each year.

[Via M.I.C. Gadget]

One plant in Zhengzhou, China makes 70 percent of Apple’s iPhones originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-05-25T15:47:55Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Usage of Apple’s third-generation iPad in the United States has passed the original iPad model after just over two months of availability. According to a recent report from software analytics firm Localytics, Apple’s latest iPad captured a staggering 14% of the U.S. iPad market in just four days when Apple sold more than 3 million devices during the tablet’s debut. Now, a week and two months after the third iPad launched on March 16th of this year, the new model’s share of U.S. usage topped 20% during the week of May 16th, narrowly surpassing the original model for the first time. Apple’s first iPad tablet launched in the U.S. on April 3rd, 2010 — more than two years ago — and was available for purchase at a discounted price until the third-generation iPad launched in March of this year. According to Localytics, Apple’s iPad 2 currently accounts for 60% of all iPad usage in the U.S.

Read

Seriously, Microsoft has plans to officially sell a whopping 80-inch tablet, their VP has confirmed. This beast of a ‘tablet’ is powered by Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system and is currently hung on the wall in CEO Steve Ballmer’s office.

It’s apparently become Ballmer’s whiteboard, email and phone replacement and the company plans to market it for office use initially. No word on pricing or availability yet.

I’d sure love to have such a Minority Report-style display adorn my office walls. The closes thing to this outrageous display in the Apple world? That non-TV TV from Apple that Forrester dreamed up yesterday…(...)
Read the rest of Microsoft to sell 80-inch Windows 8 ‘tablet’

"Microsoft to sell 80-inch Windows 8 ‘tablet’" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Seriously, Microsoft has plans to officially sell a whopping 80-inch tablet, their VP has confirmed. This beast of a ‘tablet’ is powered by Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system and is currently hung on the wall in CEO Steve Ballmer’s office.

It’s apparently become Ballmer’s whiteboard, email and phone replacement and the company plans to market it for office use initially. No word on pricing or availability yet.

I’d sure love to have such a Minority Report-style display adorn my office walls. The closes thing to this outrageous display in the Apple world? That non-TV TV from Apple that Forrester dreamed up yesterday…(...)
Read the rest of Microsoft to sell 80-inch Windows 8 ‘tablet’

"Microsoft to sell 80-inch Windows 8 ‘tablet’" is an article by iDownloadBlog.com.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.