Samsung have announced the much rumoured Galaxy S3 Mini. With a smaller 4 inch screen and smaller dual core processor it is expected the device will appeal to the less tech savvy and those who hate the massive screen on the regular S3.
BBC Launches iPlayer for Radio
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) have today launched a separate iPlayer App just for radio. The BBC iPlayer is an extremely successful service that allows users to watch content any time from the last 7 days. It is hoped the new radio app will "develop radio stations as fully multimedia brands so that as well as listen, audiences will be able to watch, share and engage with BBC radio".
The iPhone 5's Top 5 Features
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last week you'll know that Apple have announced their next iPhone - the iPhone 5. Some have been disappointed (including Apple fans) but everyone still wants one. Why? Well here's the phone's top 5 features.
1. Great design
The 4S was Apple's best selling iPhone and the fastest selling of all time, the 4 wasn't bad either. This was the first real change in design since the first iPhone in 2007, and it obviously worked. So why change it? Well they haven't really.
The great thing about the design is that they've managed to make it 18% thinner bringing it in at just 7.6mm thick. They've also made it lighter, 20% lighter.
The new two tone back also looks great, especially in black.
2. iOS 6
Although not exclusive to the iPhone 5 the new operating system is easily one of the best new features. This isn't just a small update, it's a major new OS with a huge and brilliant new range of features.
Within the new features is the brand new and brilliant maps with 'fly-over' and turn-by-turn directions - a GPS navigation system built straight in to the phone. Siri also gets a major update and let's be honest it wasn't much use before but now it can open apps, send tweets, update Facebook, and a whole bunch of other things. This will make actually make Siri quite useful.
Another new feature is Passbook. This will store your digital loyalty cards, boarding passes and other items so that they're ready to use when needed. Using the GPS on the iPhone your boarding pass will show up on your screen when at the airport or your loyalty card when in the store. So long as companies continue to create digital versions of their cards this will be a useful feature. It would be even more useful if Apple had included NFC technology in the new phone ... but they didn't.
3. 4G LTE
4G certainly is brand new technology on mobile phones but it's still only available on a few devices. This makes it a great new feature on the iPhone 5. With download speeds up to 100Mb/s it's perfect for downloading music and videos although it'll now be far too easy to go over your data allowance.
There is still a problem with 4G and that's that it's not widely available in a huge number of countries. Here in the UK there'll only be one company with 4G this year - the newly branded Everything Everywhere (EE). They're still testing their 4G network and haven't announced any contract prices yet, they've only announced that 4G will available 'in the coming weeks'.
If you're lucky enough the get 4G where you live or work then this will be a great feature.
4. 4" Retina Display
This is one of the biggest new features of the phone, although probably not the most exciting. Apple are little behind with screen sizes compared to the competition. Samsung's 4.8" Galaxy SIII has been a sales winner. The larger 4" screen is no wider than it's predecessor but is about a centimetre taller meaning it will still fit in your hand with ease - something the competition doesn't do well.
This taller screen allows almost perfect 16:9 widescreen and gives another row of apps on the home screen which will no doubt be useful. Once app developers get around to resizing their apps (which should be quite easy) the increased size will be quite noticeable.
5. A6 Chip.
One of the problems I've found with the current iPhone is that it's taking longer and longer for apps to open, web pages to load, and to switch between tasks. As apps and websites become more complex and processor intensive the current chip can't cope so well.
The new A6 chip in the iPhone 5 will make all of these tasks much faster, in some cases twice as fast. This is a feature that will be very noticeable in day-to-day use of the new phone with graphics performance also being enhanced.
So these are the top 5 features according to me. What are your top features? Will you be purchasing the iPhone 5?
2 million iPhones in 24 hours
2 million iPhone 5's have been pre-ordered on the Apple Store in just 24 hours. This blows the previous record which was for the iPhone 4s, this selling around 1 million in 24 hours. Mobile networks have also recorded record pre-orders with AT&T in the US announcing this is the most popular phone yet.
iPhone 5 pre-orders begin
Earlier this week Apple announced the iPhone 5 at it's special event in San Francisco. With a new design including a larger 4" screen, a thinner and lighter body plus a whole load of new software features this is no doubt going to be the most popular iPhone yet. This is also going to be the fastest roll out of all time with pre-orders beginning today, that's just 2 days after the announcement. The phone will go on sale at the end of next week - Friday 21st September - in a number of countries with over 100 countries by the end of the year.
A full run through of the iPhone 5's features will be coming shortly.
