Apple’s iCloud may struggle after dropping free storage by 75 percent

Apple recently announced it would be dropping the free storage offered through iCloud from 5GB to 20GB. How does it compare to the rest?

Apple hasn’t exactly been the media’s darling in the weeks following the release of the iPhone 5 and iOS 6. As you may have heard, it has been embarrassing itself with the half-baked maps it decided to lump into iOS 6.

Now Apple has sent out emails to users of its iCloud service informing them the 20GB of storage they’re used to having will be dropping down to a paltry 5GB. New users will also be offered 5GB. This drop was originally scheduled for June 30, but Apple chose to postpone it for a later date; perhaps to soften the final blow. As for the reasoning behind the change, Apple says most users aren’t using the full 20GB of space anyway. But if most people aren’t saving 20GB of files then why take it all away?

It seems like a strange move considering Apple is taking storage away from loyal supporters of the company and its cloud service. After all, Microsoft awarded loyal Hotmail and Live accounts with 25GB of storage in SkyDrive — an offer I am still enjoying.

The email states that users with more than 5GB uploaded to iCloud will be able to keep their files but no longer upload new ones. Backups also stop and won’t continue until additional space is purchased for a yearly fee or files are removed to bring down the total to 5GB or less.

If you’re interested in dropping some cash each year, you’ll get 10GB for $20, 20GB for $40, and 50GB for $100. These offerings aren’t straightforward, however, and there are a few additional details around the service. The extra storage doesn’t include the free 5GB in the total so you’d actually be getting 15GB, 25GB, and 55GB. The yearly fee also has free, unlimited backups for apps, books, purchased music (not available in all countries), TV shows (US-only), and movies. Actual storage space is used for photos, videos, settings (wallpaper, mail, contacts, etc), app data and organization, messages, and ringtones. But is this drop in storage understandable or is Apple pulling a fast one on its customers?

What’s the competition offering?

When you look at Microsoft, Apple’s biggest competitor in terms of product ecosystem, the two cloud storage services offered by each company are definitely not equal, especially concerning price. For starters, SkyDrive gives users 7GB of storage for documents, photos, videos, and whatever else. SkyDrive also offers much better prices per year for additional space: 20GB for $10, 50GB for $25, and 100GB for $50. Compare that to $100 for Apple’s 50GB of storage, SkyDrive’s online backups, and its compatibility with iPad, iPhone, and Macs, suddenly it’s not much of a conversation. Of course, if you’re Apple all the way then iCloud may win on convenience alone. But if you have some Windows or Android products in your collection, SkyDrive’s flexibility is a definite asset as iCloud is only compatible with Apple devices.

But SkyDrive and iCloud aren’t the only players in this game. Google Drive is another popular cloud storage option and users of the free service are treated to 5GB as the standard. If that’s not enough you can sign up for 25GB for $2.49 per month (approx. $30 yearly) or 100GB for $4.99 (approx. $60 yearly). Google Drive may not be more affordable than SkyDrive or as good at back ups as iCloud, but it does have the advantage of supporting up to 16 terabytes of storage for users who need unwieldly amounts of data. 

Another strong contender is Dropbox. The platform agnostic service offers 2GB of free space, assuming you don’t earn more space through referrals, the platform offers a “Pro” option. Users can obtain 100GB for $100 per year ($10 monthly), 200GB for $200 ($20 monthly), and 500GB for $500 ($50 monthly). The advantage with Dropbox is you can access a lot more space, but if you’re only after 100GB, then SkyDrive is still your best option.

Of course, we can’t be the only ones with opinions on iCloud and its competition. What do you think of Apple’s drop in default storage space? Will it affect your use of iDevices? And if you don’t use iCloud, which online storage option do you use? Do you pay for extra space? We’re really curious.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/can-apples-icloud-compete-after-dropping-free-storage-limit/

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Sony Xperia V goes to Japan as Xperia AX

The Sony Xperia GX, Japan's version of the Xperia TX, hit the shelves before the world-wide version of the phone was even official. Now, the positions are somewhat reversed - Sony just announced the Xperia AX, the Japanese version of the Xperia V (which isn't on sale yet, so it's not quite the same).

Anyway, Sony Xperia AX is pretty much an exact replica of the V - IP57 certification, 4.3" HD Reality display, 13MP camera, LTE connectivity and dual-core Krait processor. It will come with Sony' Walkman app, ClearAudio+ and media apps.

The rest is the same - really, Sony's blog even used a picture of the Xperia V (including the note below it), instead of an actual Xperia AX image.

The phone will launch running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich by the end of the year (so it will probably launch around the same time as the Xperia V does).

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_v_goes_to_japan_as_xperia_ax-news-4881.php

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Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie: 10 things we want to see

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie has started baking

Google's showing no signs of slowing its pace of Android development, with Android 4.0 appearing on the Galaxy Nexus late in 2011, followed in July of 2012 by the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release that arrived powering the super Nexus 7.

But, forward-looking, update-obsessed people that we are, we can't help but imagine how Google's going to maintain the pace of innovation in its next version of its mobile OS, which, if it follows the patterns of previous years, ought to arrive on a new Nexus-brand mobile at the end of 2012.

All we know thus far is that Google's working away on the K release of Android, which it's developing under the dessert-related codename of Key Lime Pie.

UPDATE: Rumours of a new Nexus handset are tricking in now, as we reported on 1 October 2012. There's been speculation that this phone will be sporting Key Lime Pie, but sources who spoke to Talk Android claim it'll be running Android Jelly Bean.

So what should those Google engineers be putting into Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie? Hopefully some of these things.

1. Performance Profiles

It's bit of a fuss managing your mobile before bed time. Switching off the sound, turning off data, activating airplane mode and so on, so what Android 5.0 really needs is a simple way of managing performance, and therefore power use, automatically.

Something like a Gaming mode for max power delivery, an Overnight low-power state for slumbering on minimal power and maybe a Reading mode for no bothersome data connections and a super-low backlight.

Some hardware makers put their own little automated tools in, such as the excellent Smart Actions found within Motorola's RAZR interface, but it'd be great to see Google give us a simple way to manage states.

Another little power strip style widget for phone performance profiles would be an easy way to do it.

Set telephone to BEDTIME SLEEPY MODE

2. Better multiple device support

Google already does quite a good job of supporting serious Android nerds who own several phones and tablets, but there are some holes in its coverage that are rather frustrating.

Take the Videos app which manages your film downloads through the Play Store. Start watching a film on one Android device and you're limited to resuming your film session on that same unit, making it impossible to switch from phone to tablet mid-film.

You can switch between phone and web site players to resume watching, but surely Google ought to understand its fans often have a couple of phones and tabs on the go and fix this for Android Key Lime Pie?

3. Enhanced social network support

Android doesn't really do much for social network users out of the box, with most of the fancy social widgets and features coming from the hardware makers through their own custom skins.

Sony integrates Facebook brilliantly in its phones, and even LG makes a great social network aggregator widget that incorporates Facebook and Twitter - so why are there no cool aggregator apps as part of the standard Android setup?

Yes, Google does a great job of pushing Google+, but, no offence, there are many other more widely used networks that ought to be a little better "baked in" to Android.

4. Line-drawing keyboard options

Another area where the manufacturers have taken a big leap ahead of Google is in integrating clever alternate text entry options in their keyboards. HTC and Sony both offer their own takes on the Swype style of line-drawing text input, which is a nice option to have for getting your words onto a telephone. Get it into Android 5.0 and give us the choice.

P-U-T T-H-I-S I-N A-N-D-R-O-I-D 5-.-0

5. A video chat app

How odd is it that Google's put a front-facing camera on the Nexus 7 and most hardware manufacturers do the same on their phones and tablets, yet most ship without any form of common video chat app?

You have to download Skype and hope it works, or find some other downloadable app solution. Why isn't there a Google Live See My Face Chat app of some sort as part of Android? Is it because we're too ugly? Is that what you're saying, Google?

6. Multi-select in the contacts

The Android contacts section is pretty useful, but it could be managed a little better. What if you have the idea of emailing or texting a handful of your friends? The way that's currently done is by emailing one, then adding the rest individually. Some sort of checkbox system that let users scroll through names and create a mailing list on the fly through the contacts listing in Android Key Lime Pie would make this much easier.

Make this a destination, rather than a never-used list

7. Cross-device SMS sync

If you're a constant SIM swapper with more than one phone on the go, chances are you've lost track of your text messages at some point. Google stores these on the phone rather than the SIM card, so it'd be nice if our texts could be either backed up to the SIM, the SD card, or beamed up to the magical invisible cloud of data, for easy and consistent access across multiple devices.

8. A "Never Update" option

This would annoy developers so is unlikely to happen, but it'd be nice if we could refuse app updates permanently in Android 5.0, just in case we'd rather stick with a current version of a tool than be forced to upgrade.

Sure, you can set apps to manual update and then just ignore the update prompt forever, but it'd be nice to know we can keep a favoured version of an app without accidentally updating it. Some of us are still using the beta Times app, for example, which has given free access for a year.

Let us keep older versions. Many people fear change

9. App preview/freebie codes

Something Apple's been doing for ages and ages is using a promo code system to distribute free or review versions of apps. It even makes doing little competitions to drum up publicity for apps much easier, so why's there no similar scheme for Android?

It might encourage developers to stop going down the ad-covered/freemium route if they could charge for an app but still give it away to friends and fans through a promo code system.

10. Final whinges and requests...

It's be nice to be able to sort the Settings screen by alphabetical order, too, or by most commonly used or personal preference, as Android's so packed with a huge list of options these days it's a big old list to scroll through and pick out what you need.

Plus could we have a percentage count for the battery in the Notifications bar for Android 5.0? Just so we know a bit more info than the vague emptying battery icon.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/android-5-0-key-lime-pie-10-things-we-want-to-see-1091500

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Google releasing new Nexus device this month?

The countdown starts here

Rumour has it that Google will release a new flagship Nexus phone at some point in October.

We've been hearing inklings of our own, bolstered by AndroidAndMe's "three different industry sources" who say that the new device has "already leaked" online.

Before you get too excited assuming that a new flagship Nexus means we're in for a slice of Key Lime Pie, the same sources say that the device will launch with a new version of Jelly Bean rather than a major software upgrade.

Speculate

But the hardware might just be exciting enough to keep us going into the new year; given that it may have already leaked, we're looking at a Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus 2, a cheapo Nexus 7 or perhaps a larger HTC Nexus 5.

Given that Asus has poo-pooed the idea of a bargain-basement Nexus tablet and that we're expecting a flagship smartphone rather than another slate, we'd rule that one out of the running.

So will it be Samsung or LG that's next to step up to the Nexus plate? Or even that leftfield HTC contender? We should know by the end of the month.

Another potential smartphone to add to the Christmas wishlist – we must have been really really good this year.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/google-releasing-new-nexus-device-this-month-1100961

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iPad 4: the clues from the iPhone 5

Can the iPhone 5 give us clues about the new iPad?

Apple's new iPhone 5 isn't just a smartphone: it offers spooky glimpses into the future of the iPad from beneath an unconvincing wig.

Okay, not really, but given the very close relationship between iPhone and iPad, we can use Apple's latest invention to predict some of the key features of the iPad 4. What does the iPhone 5 reveal about the next version of the iconic iPad?

You're going to need a different dock

The iPhone 5 said goodbye to the dock connector in favour of the smaller, double-sided, expensive-cable Lightning connector, and while that means easier connections and more internal room for components it also means that existing Dock-connecting accessories will need pricey Lightning-to-Dock adaptors, pricey Lightning-to-USB cables or pricey replacements. If you're buying accessories that you intend to use with future iPads, iPhones or iPod touches, think wireless and buy accordingly.

Coming to an iPad near you: the new, thinner, pricey-adapter Lightning connector

The iPad 4 will have a better battery

The iPhone 5's battery runs at a slightly higher voltage than the iPhone 4S's: it's a 1,440mAh, 3.8-volt battery compared to the 1,432mAh, 3.7-volt battery in the 4S, delivering 5.5 watts per hour compared to the 5.25 watts per hour of its predecessor. That doesn't sound particularly interesting, but it does mean that in conjunction with improved power management, the battery delivers more power without sacrificing battery life or taking up significantly more room. For the iPad, Apple may decide that thin is very much in.

The iPad 4 will have a better, thinner screen, but probably not a bigger one

The new iPad's screen is a great thing, but the iPhone 5's is better: over at Anandtech, Chris Heinonen explains what he describes as a "quantum leap" over the iPhone 4 display. It's not the number of pixels that matters, but the contrast, light output and "astonishing" colour performance, and while the gap between iPhone 5 and new iPad isn't as big as the one between iPhones 5 and 4, the phone's display is still marginally better.

Such a display wouldn't just make the iPad 4 even nicer to look at. It would help reduce thickness and weight too, because the iPhone 5's display uses in-cell touch technology that uses embedded touch sensors rather than a separate digitiser. That means thinner displays, but it also means a headache for manufacturers: reports indicate that they're currently having problems making four-inch ones, let alone 9.7-inch ones. Adding such panels to the iPad 4, then, could be a big challenge - and by big challenge we mean enormous pain in the arse.

Could a longer iPad be in the works? Despite the rumours, we're not convinced: the current iPad and rumoured iPad mini are 4:3 devices, an aspect ratio that works really well for all kinds of content from ebooks to apps. Apple might change it, but other than watching movies - something Apple would like you to do on an Apple TV - we're struggling to think of any good reasons why they should.

The iPhone 5 screen is a

The iPad 4 will have 4G. Proper 4G, not you-can't-get-it 4G

The new iPad also offered a WiFi + 4G version, but Apple was forced to change that to "WiFi + cellular" on the grounds that (a) the UK doesn't have 4G and (b) the frequencies the new iPad expects aren't the ones the UK will end up using. The iPhone 5, however, supports the same 4G LTE that Everything Everywhere is starting to roll out, and we'd expect future models to support the UK's other LTE bands when services launch next year. A UK iPad that's 4G-friendly is inevitable.

The iPad 4 will have a different form factor

Getting shot of the Dock enabled Apple to make a much thinner iPhone, and while we don't expect the iPad mini or imminent Tweaked New iPad to change the form factor when they swap Dock for Lightning, the iPad 4 could bring in a redesign: the current one is rather reminiscent of the iPhone 3GS, and its big-bevelled back is partly to disguise its size. A thinner display, thinner Dock replacement and thinner battery could mean - you've guessed it - a thinner iPad.

It's nice, but it's more iPhone 3GS than iPhone 5. Could a new form factor be in the works?

The iPad 4's processor will be an A6, ish

The iPhone 5 comes with Apple's own A6 processor, and analysts predict a new one every two years - but the iPad's on a yearly update cycle, so it's not going to be rocking an A7. History's likely to repeat here: where the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 got an A5 processor, the new iPad got the A5X, a faster iteration of the A5 with a quad-core GPU; if an A7 isn't doable in time, expect Apple to beef up the A6's graphics performance and stick an X on the end.

The iPad 4 will be a disaster and Apple is doomed

Cocking up Maps hasn't helped, of course, but with the iPhone 5 Apple's experienced a blizzard of bad publicity: in some cases you'd think Apple had released a phone that was just a piece of cardboard with a screen drawn on it in biro. Apple has gone from underdog to top dog, and that means a lot of people are waiting for it to fail. The original iPad created a whole new market; if the iPad 4 merely turns out to be a better version of what we've already got, expect a chorus of disappointment and disapproval.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/ipad-4-the-clues-from-the-iphone-5-1100854

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Sony Xperia T European march continues, hits US shores too

The Sony Xperia T is continuing its roll-out to retailers across rest of Europe and the U.S., after becoming available in the UK a few days ago. Reports are coming in of the device being available in Slovenia, where it's offered by carrier Telekomu on a contract with prices starting from €229.

Germany also got access to the Sony latest flagship. The local branch of Amazon is offering the smartphone for €500, with an estimated delivery time of 3-4 days. Some other German online retailers already have the device in stock and are willing to send one your way for €499.90.

In the United States, the Sony Xperia T is currently retailing for $599.99 SIM-free. Moreover, it's only a matter of time until major US carriers pick it up and start offering it subsidized.

The Sony Xperia T packs a 4.6" screen of 720p resolution and shatter-proof, scratch-resistant glass. The chipset is a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 with a dual-core Krait CPU at 1.5GHz, 1GB of RAM and Adreno 225 GPU.

Make sure to check out our extensive review of the Xperia T before heading to a smartphone store near you.

Thanks, František Bálint, for the tip!

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_t_becomes_available_in_slovenia_hits_us_shores_too-news-4880.php

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Sharp begins producing 5-inch, 1080p displays, as full-HD mobile devices take another step towards reality

Sharp has announced it has started production of a 5-inch, 1080p display, which will be coming to a mobile device near you soon.

Many of the current top-of-the-range smartphones — iPhone 5 apart — have screens with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution or similar, which is good enough to be labelled as HD. However, just as it did with flat screen TVs, 720p is about to be replaced by 1080p — as Sharp has announced that it has started production of its own 5-inch, full-HD smartphone displays.

The new panel boasts a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a pixel density of 443ppi. As a comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S3’s 4.8-inch display has a resolution of 1280 x 720 and a pixel density of 306ppi, while the 4-inch iPhone 5 has 1136 x 640 pixels and 326ppi.

Sharp may say its 5-inch screen is headed for smartphones, but any device with a display that large usually gets put in the smartphone/tablet hybrid category, joining the likes of the Galaxy Note, Note 2 and the LG Optimus Vu.

The benefits of such a high resolution screen almost go without saying, but Sharp states that it’ll bring “crisp text, super clear maps and amazingly real HD images.” Sharp doesn’t mention on which devices its new super-screen will appear, but along with making its own smartphones, Sharp also supplies screens to other manufacturers too.

It’s also not the only one to have announced plans for a 1080p mobile screen, as LG is also busy with its own full-HD panel, and Oppo has teased us with the Find 5, a 5-inch device with a 1080p display. HTC is also rumored to be preparing the One X5, a tablet/smartphone hybrid with a 5-inch, 1080p screen too.

The mobile industry loves big numbers, as they help convince prospective buyers that one device is “better” than another, and a 1080p screen with 443ppi is about as impressive as screens can get. Questions will no doubt be raised concerning just how much difference a 1080p resolution and a 443ppi density will make on a screen this small, but answers will have to wait until the first device with such a screen goes on sale — and judging by the increase in activity from these companies, we shouldn’t have that long to wait.

Sharp’s press release notes that the screen will be displayed at the CEATEC show — a CES-style technology exhibition — in Japan, which starts on October 2 and will run to October 6.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/sharp-starts-production-of-1080p-5inch-screen/

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