Best iPhone apps for traveling in Asia

LIKE grains of sand on the seashore there are now so many iPhone Apps to help you with your travels, it gets a bit hard to know where to start looking.

However with that idea in mind – giving you a head start – here are some apps to consider for your next sojourn.

iTranslate
With the myriad of languages throughout Asia having an app to translate phrases is an absolute must. The iTranslate works with 42 languages and while it won’t replace an actual dictionary or phrasebook it might get you out of a few tricky situations – if you can work out how to pronounce the words correctly!FREE

Metro Asia
Take the ease out of metro/subway travel in Asia with all the maps and info on places like Beijing, Hong Kong, Tehran and Seoul on the Metro Asia app.US$2.99.

Wi-Fi Finder
This handy little app will help you find up to 500,000 free and paid Wi-Fi spots in over 144 countries. This is particularly handy if your hotel doesn’t offer some service or you forgot to made a note of other options. In this case the app lets your fingers do the walking first. FREE

XE Currency
Monitor up to 10 currencies at a time on this handy little app. The rates are up to the minute so you can check out the exchanges listed by airports, banks and other desks as you walk past them. Pretty handy. FREE

UNESCO World Heritage

If you have a thing for all things world heritage then this offer by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd is just the thing for you. All world heritage sites from 1978 to 2010 are covered with photographs and information on all of them. Thanks to the number of heritage sites in Asia you’ll be kept busy with this app. US$5.49.

FlightTrack

This app is the perfect accompaniment for those that wish to check out all aspects of domestic and international flights. This means gates, delays, cancellations and maps from 5,000 airports and 14,00 airlines. US$4.99.

Taxi Guide
HoodHot, Inc has designed this app to take the stress out of taxi travel. You simply show the driver the addresses in big, bold text so they know where to go. The apps work in specific cities in China but also Buenos Aires, Seoul, Cairo and Hong Kong. US$4.99-9.99.

International Calling Cards
You’ll never get your phone calls wrong again with the codes provided on this app. Type in the country name and select it from the list for all the information you need to make your call. FREE.

buUuk Restaurant and Bar Guide
This is an app that comes recommended by many for restaurants and bars around Asia, Australia, New Zealand and even the Middle East and South Africa. Need a sandwhich or a good coffee in Singapore or Seoul? Use this app and find out where to go. FREE.

AccuWeather for iPhone
Many people were probably used their website before this app came along and for good reason. Weather geeks will love it. There are storm alerts, multi day forecasts, radars, videos and satellite imaging.  FREE.

TC Gadgets Weekend Giveaway: An iPhone 4S

I gave my love a red, red rose but she actually wanted an iPhone 4S and now you, too, can hand over one of these exciting products to your loved one thanks to Rebtel. This weekend’s TC Gadgets giveaway is a fresh-in-box iPhone 4S (your carrier choice) and $100 worth of calling through Rebtel’s VOIP solution. Got your attention? Good.

The contest will run until noon Eastern on Monday, November 14. I will contact the winner then and update the post next week. To enter, comment below describing, in poem form, why you deserve an iPhone 4S. Limericks will be accepted but they must involve the man from Nantucket. Free or concrete verse is encouraged.

Enter only once. I’ll pick one winner at random and laugh at your entries on my own time. I reserve the right to sell your poems in a chapbook on the subway, calling them my collection of “urban folk poetry” and “prayers to the muse of poesy.”

Apple amends iPhone 4S battery issues with iOS 5 update

Apple has announced an iOS 5 update to amend the iPhone 4S battery drain issues.

Some users reported that their handsets suffered a dramatic drop in battery life, a problem which the platformer holder has attributed to software bugs.

Apple claims that the issue has affected "a small amount of customers" and promised to rectify the matter with a patch due in the coming weeks.

"A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," the firm said in a statement issued to AllThingsDigital. "We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."

iOS 5.0.1 Beta is already doing the rounds in the development community, according to AppleInsider. The update allegedly includes a host of new features in addition to the bug fixes.

The download reportedly "fixes bugs affecting battery life, adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad, resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud, improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation, contains security improvements... iOS 5.0.1 beta introduces a new way for developers to specify files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations."

iOS 5.0.1 will be available to download in the coming weeks.

Apple underwhelm with IOS 5

Apple IOS5 underwhelm

Apple released the newest update to their mobile Operating System -IOS 5 yesterday.
Funny, I remember being a lot more excited about it when Steve Jobs talked about it a few months ago.
I upgraded my Iphone and Ipad 2 yesterday and it promptly blew awaya all my apps and data on both devices.
Nice.
Apart from that Major minor annoyance, I havent really noticed much utility from the upgrades (granted that it has only been a day).
Here are some of the new features.

 

apple icloud

True wireless updates – no longer do Apple fans have to plug in to Itunes. The updates are truly cloud pulls now. Your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad can now receive updates from Wi-Fi syncing or through the iCloud. You can back up your data on the iCloud, create playlists or photo albums.
iMessage. Much like the Blackberry messenger, the iMessage lets users share encrypted text, photos or videos between their iPad, iPhone and the iPod Touch. The messaging is free over Wi-Fi but carriers can charge if the app is used over 3G.
Notification Center. IOS 5 has a new notification bar that collects notices like missed calls, texts or voicemails in a discreet banner at the top of the screen. The user can access this Notification Center by swiping down from the top of the screen to show the notices the user didn’t access.
Newsstand. Newsstand is a virtual bookshelf that has all the user’s magazine or newspaper subscriptions. It’s basically a way to compile all the user’s digital magazine apps in one app. The app can download new issues automatically to be ready for the user’s perusal in the morning.
Twitter Integration. Twittheads with Apple devices will now be able to enjoy a better integration with their favorite social-network with iOS 5. Apple’s even made it easier by having the iOS5 keyboard easy access to commonly used Twitter symbols @ and #.
Upgraded Safari Browser.  The upgraded Safari browser app now has tabbed browsing and a smoother transition between windows. Two new features include the Safari Reader which allows the browser to show just the text and the Safari Reading List which lets users synch content among other devices.
Camera Shortcuts. Users can now take pictures without unlocking the screen and accessing the camera app. The camera can now be accessed with a simple click on the Volume Up button. Editing the photo will still have to be done via the Camera app including crop, rotate and reduce red-eye functions.
Better Game Center. There will be more social games available on the iOS 5. The Game Center app will allow gamers to share their game stats with their friends or recommend their favorite games to other friends.
Find My Friends. If you want to know where your friends are, then this new social app will make it even easier to track down friends in real-time. Any iOS device can now ask their friends their location on a map.
Updated Mail. The Mail in iOS 5 will have rich-text formatting like bold, italics and underline. Other features will include draggable addresses, message flagging and better security.
Basically, Icloud is the new center of the universe.
We’ll have to see how everything holds up now that Steve is gone. The truth is, things seemed to be better because he explained that they were.
Not proud of that statement but in light of his passing, seems all too true…Does this help or do you have a problem with this?

Windows Phone 8 has a new nemesis – Apple’s Siri

So Steve Jobs is gone and Microsoft (should) have an opportunity to get in there and out-innovate Apple right?
Well, not so fast.
Apple have introduced a very interesting new voice controlled AI feature called “Siri”.
Siri, (which is the name of the app Apple bought for a rumored $200 million last year) makes sense of what you’re asking (when you ask it a question) and presents you with results and actions.
In response to a standard question like “Do I have a meeting Friday at noon?” Siri checks the calendar and responds out loud.
“What time is it in Paris?” Siri shows you a world clock.
Siri is pretty sophisticated stuff and in my opinion, is yet  another obstacle to Microsoft dominating the phone market.
I swear, every time Microsoft start to come close, Apple do some crazy stuff and just pull away again.
So Microsoft Windows Phone 8 dev team, it’s back to the drawing board to counter this stuff. This is potentially a problem for both Microsoft and Android especially if the AI is as good as Apple claim it is.
If Apple perfect a voice recognizing personal assistant and have the patent for it, it’ll take a lot more than metro tiles to get anyone to buy a Windows Phone.

Branded iPhone 5 Release extended due to LTE, expected in 2012

Yes, you'll have to wait for the iPhone 5 for high-speed LTE, aka 4G.

(Credit: Apple)

An Apple phone branded as the iPhone 5 won't arrive until "4G" LTE technology is ready for compact smartphones, according to analysts.
Needless to say, the iPhone 5 did not make an appearance this year. Will Strauss, president of wireless chip market research firm Forward Concepts, says there is a very good reason that it was the 4S that showed up in September, 2011 and not the 5.
"They're saving iPhone 5 for the LTE version and that won't be out until next spring," said Strauss, who tracks companies like Qualcomm that supply the chips that power the 3G and 4G technology inside of phones. LTE offers, among other things, higher download and upload speeds compared to current 3G technologies.
Moreover, CEO Tim Cook has said in at least two earnings conference calls (when he was chief operating officer) that the "first generation of LTE chipsets force a lot of design compromises." He said that back in April.
And it's not necessarily Apple's fault, says Strauss, who says the current implementations of LTE in phones like the HTC Thunderbolt are too kludgy for Apple's tastes. "There's no way they could come out with LTE now," Strauss said. The Thunderbolt, for example, has an LTE baseband (modem) chip and a second 3G chip from Qualcomm for the voice functions.
That simply takes up too much room inside a relatively compact smartphone like the iPhone. Other experts agree. "The iPhone 4 PCB [printed circuit board] is already incredibly small, not leaving any room for an extra chip to enable LTE without shrinking the size of the battery (or increasing the thickness of the phone to accommodate both a larger PCB and a big battery)," wrote Anand Shimpi, a chip expert and CEO of Anandtech. His comments were posted in September 2011.
A Qualcomm chip--the MDM9615--will likely appear in the second quarter of next year built on a more advanced chip manufacturing process. The MDM9615 comes in a smaller chip package and is voice enabled, according to Anand.
"Apple (and all other smartphone makers) could [use]...the MDM9615 and have a 'single chip' LTE solution for smartphones...Next year (Q2 to be exact) should be when we can finally get LTE into something iPhone-sized," Anand wrote.
And the move to a more advanced chip manufacturing process will also reduce the power draw for these chips that are notorious battery-life killers. "Phones based on the MDM9615 will likely increase LTE battery life to reasonable levels rather than what we've seen from the first generation of devices," he wrote.
Another big reason to wait for LTE is coverage. There were lot of places in 2011 that LTE didn't reached, according to Strauss. See Verizon's "Check for 4G LTE coverage in my area" page.

Video: iPhone 5 - what you need to know

Our video guide to Apple's next phone

Every year the world goes crazy over the thought of a new mobile from Apple, and the iPhone 5 is no exception.
So to help you out, we've waded through the literally hundreds of published 'facts' about the iPhone 5, and picked out the specs, dates and features we think are most likely to appear on the new handset in our iPhone 5: what you need to know.
But if you're in a hurry and the idea of waiting a month to see the new phone brings you out in a cold sweat, then check out our video - all you need to know about the forthcoming iPhone 5 in 130 seconds.

 

iPhone 5 design makes iPhone 4 accessories useless

A bad news for iphone4 users: Major iphone 4 accessories will not work with iphone 5

Rumours are circling that Apple’s newest creation will descend from the heavens on 26th September, along with an interesting tidbit about a redesign which turns iPhone 4 accessories useless.

It has been rumoured that a September release was imminent, but it seems that fanboys hoping for an earlier release will have to put their sleeping bag back in the cupboard and plan their overnight stakeout for a little later.

According to our whispering sources the iPhone 5 will be released to Apple’s cult of followers closer to the end of the month.

This specific date also ties in with the first official day of what the yanks call ‘Fall’, also the expected timeframe for the release of the iOS 5.

The date is also highlighted by KitGuru which points out that Apple’s iPhone 4 will be left in the dark, which we're sure will please anyone who picks one up this month.

We have heard the new device will mean that all existing screen protectors will be made redundant. It's because of a re-design which means iPhone 4 covers will obstruct a new wireless feature. All of the current screen protectors cover the area which will stop it from working.

NFC? We dunno.

If true, in just under two months the world is going to find itself flooded with near-useless accessories. There are plenty of accessories manufacturers still churning out iPhone 4 covers.

It's worth considering the millions upon millions of iPhone accessories that are available right now -all rendered obsolete with a stroke of Apple’s magic wand.

iPhone 5 Design Leaked before Launch Date

 

Leaked Design of iPhone 5 Causes Pretty Similar Mock-Ups

Apple has not launched the next generation of iPhone, but iPhone 5 design leaked on the internet. Future buyers can see the spoiler of iPhone 5 design before the launch date. It has been predicted that the design will not be much different from the previous iPhones but knowing that the design has been leaked might cause disadvantages for Apple. Apple matter-of-factly has prepared for this leak issue by providing many alternative designs for iPhone 5. Unfortunately, there might be some poorly-paid workers who trade the secret with a bunch of money.
Based on the iPhone 5 design leaked prediction, iPhone 5 is designed thinner. Thin design may always the signature design of iconic Apple device, iPhone(s). The design will not be much different from iPhone 4, but it will be a little bit thinner than that with upgraded features. Due to iPhone 5 design leaked, there is an Italian designer named Ciccarese who made a replicate of iPhone 5 called CG. Ciccarese’s design is the mixture between iPod touch and iPad designs. As predicted before, the design is extremely thin with a huge screen extended all over its body. The home button is shaped like a wide-tablet.

Speculations after iPhone 5 Design Leaked

Owing to the iPhone 5 design leaked issue, there might be many mock-ups of iPhone 5. According to the teaser available on the internet, iPhone 5 is predicted to be thinner, have an extra half-inch which is wider than iPhone 4, a wide-tablet-shaped home button, and look like iPod style body. Regardless of these spoilers, buyers can only wait for the original iPhone 5 design will be. Buyers are certainly expecting a really good design and highly upgraded features of iPhone 5. The presence of these spoilers somehow makes the buyers to be glad because there were rumors that iPhone 5 will be exactly like iPhone 4 with upgraded and renewed features. In contrast, iPhone 5 design leaked issue shows that there will be a number of changes that will shock the buyers.

iPhone 5 to release on October 4

The iPhone 4 has done well, but its replacement looks imminent.

Apple will debut its iPhone 5 on October 4, with new Chief Executive Tim Cook leading the show, All Things Digital reported today.
The report, citing unnamed sources close to the situation, said the new iPhone itself would go on sale "within a few weeks" of the announcement.
Rumors have swirled for months about when exactly the new iPhone would arrive, with October looking increasingly likely.
The iPhone 5 carries tremendous significance for Apple. The company faces mounting pressure from the Android realm, with a confusing array of budget-minded and high-end models, but Apple chooses to put many its eggs in many fewer baskets. That's worked out well for the iPhone 4, though, which has attained mainstream success.
The iPhone 4 has held up well under the competitive pressure. But with the breakneck pace of the smartphone market bringing higher-speed LTE networks, larger displays, NFC payments, and other features, Apple's flagship phone is starting to look a bit long in the tooth.

Apple CEO Tim Cook to unveil iPhone 5 at October 4 media event

Apple CEO Tim Cook at the January 11 Verizon iPhone presser

Apple CEO Tim Cook will unveil a fifth-generation iPhone at a media event scheduled for Tuesday, October 4:

Tuesday, October 4. That’s the day Apple is currently expected to hold its next big media event, according to sources close to the situation, where the tech giant will unveil the next iteration of its popular iPhone.

Author John Paczkowski mentions Apple could change plans at any time. The time frame jibes with the publication’s previous report calling for a mid-October launch of the next iPhone. A senior media reporter wrote on Twitter last month that there will be no iPhone event “until Oc … to … ber”. 9to5Mac also  learned mid-August that Apple’s original plan included a September presser, to be followed by the September 30 pre-orders in the run-up to the iPhone 5′s arrival onto store shelves in early October. Boy Genius Report has incorrectly pegged the release of the eighth and final beta of iOS 5 at this past Friday, which never came to be. The site predicted iOS 5 Gold Master for this coming Friday.

iPhone 5 Announcement on October 4th at Apple Media Event

A latest media report claims that reliable sources have clued them in to the announcement of Apple’s new iPhone 5.  In a media event schedule for October 4th, new Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to make the announcement.  This will be the first major product launch for Apple without Steve Jobs, who stepped down as CEO a few weeks ago.
There’s been no end to rumor about the iPhone 5, which is expected to debut in the middle of October.  Apple could, of course, change those plans at any time.  The new version of iOS is expected to reach a final release a few days after this event.  The new iPhone will have this updated OS onboard, as well as Apple’s new cloud service, iCloud, and iTunes Match.
It remains to be seen if Tim Cook can manage the same energy and excitement that Jobs did at product launches, but he’ll certainly have a lot of help from Apple’s marketing team.  We’re all waiting to see just what Apple has for us this year.

iPhone 5 will be introduced on October 4

New Apple CEO Tim Cook Will Introduce The iPhone 5 On October 4 

 Apple is going to have one of its big product events to introduce the iPhone 5 on October 4, 

New CEO Tim Cook will be in charge of the event, just like former CEO Steve Jobs used to run events. This will be an interesting test for Cook since he's never done the big product roll out before. Paczkowski says he will be aided by other Apple executives who will also make presentations on stage.

The phone is expected to go on sale weeks after Cook's presentation.

IPhone 5 is the latest version of the Apple's iPhone. Previously It was planned to be released in the summer or fall of 2011.
The iPhone 5 was to be unveiled in the last week of June at a special event that was rumored to cover only new software, according to reports in early April 2011. Other rumors peg the release date of the updated smartphone were in September 2011.

Apple might be giving up on the glass backing and the exterior antenna in favor of an aluminum backing for the upcoming iPhone 5.