Samsung is right now leading the smartphone race, so something big certainly should come from Apple if they have plans to reach the top again. Apple is expected to bring out their next iPhone at their worldwide developer conference in June. Further evidence that this is happening comes from reports claiming that suppliers are already making the display for the so-called iPhone 5S.

While other companies have already started the manufacturing, the next gen iPhone’s LCD displays from Sharp will enter production in June. All these developments are pointing to a possible launch sometime in June or July.

The iPhone 5S is expected to run iOS 7 and come with an updated processor, a fingerprint sensor, improved cam, and more RAM, among other additions. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has earlier said that the device will take time to arrive due to delays in development of the fingerprint sensor and their next OS.

Meanwhile, the rumored low cost iPhone, which is expected to be unveiled beside the iPhone 5S, could enter mass production sometime in the near future. This has been suggested by a new rumor about Apple supplier Pegatron’s plans to increase its workforce in China by 40 percent in the second half of 2013.

As for their upcoming iPad Mini 2, it is expected to arrive with a high resolution Retina Display, which could delay the manufacturing of the device.

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Announced at last year’s Google I/O conference, Google Now is now bringing the personal assistant service and predictive search to iOS users. It has arrived as an update to the Google Search app for iOS and is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Google Now’s response via voice recognition is much quicker, compared to Siri. And iOS users will get predictive “cards”, whether you asked for it or not, for stuff such as weather, traffic, navigation and sports scores (you can choose what comes on), and this service depends on the way you use Google services. So it’s like getting an answer before you know you want one.

Unlike the Google Now on Android (4.1 and later), the iOS version requires you to log into your Google account for using Now. It also won’t run in the background, and there will be no notifications. This might not be a perfect version, but it certainly gives iDevice owners a taste of what Google Now has to offer.

To get your hands on Google Now for iOS, head over to the App Store.

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In the past, police officers in San Francisco have primarily targeted the sellers of stolen iPhones, now they are changing things up a bit. Now officers are going after just the buyers in order to discourage people from buying the devices.

Of course this tactic is much easier than going after experienced crooks. Undercover cops are going around selling iPhones, which are presented as stolen, in areas (such as the corner of 7th and Market Streets) they know are famous for selling of stolen stuff.

But according to the law, the arrest can only be made if the would-be customer names a price rather than the police officer naming one. Huffington Post says that buyers are suggesting prices ranging from $25 to $200.

Their plan is to reduce the market for stolen iPhones by scaring buyers away, in turn reducing iPhone theft. According to the police, fifty percent of all thefts in San Francisco are that of smartphones, and women are targeted most of the time. It’s uncertain whether their new iDea will work, as the bad guys will still be around finding new places and ways to sell their goods.

What do you think of the plan, should the police target the sellers or the buyers if they wish to stop the spread of stolen smartphone sells?

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Twitter released their new music discovery app, Twitter #music today, currently only for iDevices. In a world crowded with all kinds of music services how does this new one from Twitter stand out? Well, let’s take a look.

As you already know, there are many other services out there such as Pandora (great for instant playlists and background music), Spotify (to hear something specific), and iTunes and Rdio and Xbox Music and many more. The new Twitter #music puts more fun into music discovery and offers a good looking user interface.

Launch the app and log in with your Twitter account, you can check out accounts of artists you follow. The app presents four categories: Popular for the most viewed songs, Emerging for not so popular artists, Suggested showing musicians recommended specifically for you by Twitter, and there’s also #NowPlaying for checking out songs shared by the people you follow.

The songs are arranged in a grid showing album covers and just tap on an artist to listen to a sample of their music via iTunes. You will need to connect with Spotify or Rdio if you want to listen to the full song. If you want to purchase the song all you have to do is tap the iTunes button. As you will see in the video below, the whole experience is pretty smooth.

The app is certainly very easy to use and it doesn’t overwhelm you with stuff. It just brings to you tracks the people being followed by you have tweeted, and just one song per artist.

Is it perfect? Not exactly, though it is a solid first effort. They can surely improve some things on the new app such as the search function which won’t allow you to search for songs. It’s just for artist profiles.

Check out the video below and Twitter #music is available here on the App Store. An Android version is expected to be available sometime in the not-too-distant future as well.

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It seems that rumors of a cheap, plastic iPhone refuse to die, but are they really based on reality? If this latest ‘leak’ is to be believed, the so-called budget iPhone might indeed be coming.

A new photo has hit the net claiming to be a rear casing for Apple’s budget iPhone. The leak comes from mobile case maker Tactus. Of course that right there puts up a few red flags. How did a mobile case maker get an actual casing for the plastic iPhone? Is this simply a way to get a some cheap publicity thrown their way?

The idea of a cheap iPhone is one that critics meet with mixed reception. Some say that it would be a great way to reach out to emerging markets. Others say that it could weaken the iPhone’s image and could end up hurting more than helping.

What do you think, is breaking into the emerging or budget market important enough to Apple that they would risk their reputation of only catering to the premium market? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Tumblr is gaining popularity faster than ever before and it’s certainly a good idea to make things easier for its users. Aiming to make the Tumblr Android app clean and easy to use, they have released an update for it which comes with a redesigned interface and a “post anything” screen.

The new “post anything” screen allows you to share videos, chats, links, quotes, photos and text with just a single tap. The new version also allows you access to advanced controls such as saving drafts, queuing posts, and customizing tweets. And the entire look follows Google’s Holo design rules.

So far users seem to be satisfied with the arrival of the update, although there are a few complaints about refresh happening every few seconds automatically and problems getting gifs to load.

No word on an update for their iPhone and iPad apps. But it was about a year ago that they released a major update for its Android app and a month later they launched an iOS refresh. So, an iOS update might arrive sometime in the coming months.

What do you think about the new look? Are you having any problems?

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iOS 6 has been on Apple iPad and iPhone devices for a good while, and fans of Apple’s mobile products are looking forward to seeing what new features iOS 7 will bring to the table.

However, it’s not going to be just new features that iOS 7 promises, but the possibility of a much overdue makeover. From the original iPhone back in 2007 to the latest iPhone 5, there haven’t been any real significant changes to the OS. In comparison Android, and even Windows Phone, barely look anything like their originals.

Ever since Jonathan Ive took over the roll of human interface development, he has promised to bring a more modern look to iOS, one which could see the faux post-it look of notes disappear. In fact each of iOS’s apps could see a more simple redesign, which may not necessarily reflect their real world counterparts.

As you would imagine, with such a big change for iOS, Apple is rumoured to be working overtime on iOS 7 and might actually be behind schedule.  No firm release dates or details of the new version of iOS have been announced but we can expect to get a first official glimpse at it during this years Worldwide Developer Conference.

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Have you imagined how an iPhone of the future would look like? What you see above is from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and that might be how Apple’s handset might look like sometime in the coming years.

According to the details available, it’s an “electronic device with wrap around display”. The device has a flexible AMOLED screen “rolled up” and placed inside a conical transparent enclosure. The screen real estate available will be way more than what is available with current smartphones and tablets as the device’s display wraps around it. Facial recognition tech will be used to make sure that content is displayed in the user’s field of vision.

Among other features, there will be no physical buttons and gestures will be used to perform actions such as unlocking the handset. Although they are talking about a transparent housing, it is very unlikely that the processor and parts will be visible to a user. And as you can see above, the folks over at Apple have several versions of the design in mind.

It’s a very innovative and cool design, but certainly don’t expect to see something like this anytime soon. There is also always the chance that others will beat Apple to it.

What are your thoughts on Apple’s new design idea, like it or not?

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Back in last December, Google Apps business subscribers got to play with Quickoffice for iPad for free. Now Google Apps users can use the Quickoffice app for editing Microsoft Office documents on iPhone and Android as well, and yes it’s available for free.

With the app you will be able to edit, create and view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and then save or share documents through your Google Drive account. Google Drive might become capable of natively opening those types of files and editing them in the future, but until then Quickoffice is what you will need.

If interested, Android users can download from here and the iOS version is available here. As for those of you who don’t have a Google Apps for Business account, you can check out Quickoffice Pro which is available as a paid app priced between $15 to $20. So, are you downloading it already?

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Even though the iPhone continues to be the talk of the town, iOS actually lost 3.5% market share in the United States compared to the same period last year. By contrast, Android gained nearly 6% market share compared to last year. A big part of this growth can be attributed to Samsung, surely, but companies like Huawei are making a lot of headway too.

But what if we go beyond the two biggest elephants in the room to look at the other operating systems? It looks like the partnership with Nokia is working, because Windows Phone went from 2.7% to 4.1% market share. Considering that no other platform was able to break the 1.0% mark for the 3 month period ending February 2013, that’s quite the accomplishment. If Kantar’s information is correct, Windows Phone is the clear number three in the smartphone race right now. Blackberry OS suffered a heavy blow, as expected, dropping from 3.6% to just 0.7%, despite the push they had with BB10 and the BlackBerry Z10.

Globally, iOS is more or less holding steady with some small gains and losses, but Android has a definite upward trend. This can largely be attributed to people who are leaving legacy platforms — like Symbian — behind. Several former BlackBerry users are jumping to Android, too. Perhaps the biggest hit for BlackBerry is in Great Britain where its market share fell from 16.8% in 2012 to just 5.1% in 2013. Ouch.

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