Can you remember a time when you couldn’t whip out your phone during an argument over who played that one guy in that one movie, or find out how many miles it was between you and a cheese store? Seems like the Dark Ages now, but for those who thrive on nostalgia and have deep pockets, you just missed out on spending a boatload of cash on a blast from the past — a pair of original, first generation iPhones that recently went for more than $25,000 on eBay. [More]
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Apple Patents System To Prevent Dropped iPhones From Landing Face-Down
By 12.2.14
Most of us have been there, watching in horror as a pricey smartphone falls toward the ground, doomed to be dented, cracked and damaged by the force of impact. A newly awarded Apple patent details how a small vibrating motor could possibly be used to minimize the damage when that device goes into freefall. [More]
AT&T Quietly Offering Customers $50 To Upgrade At Apple Stores
By 11.13.14
If you’ve decided that it’s time to upgrade your mobile device, and you’re an AT&T customer, AT&T really, really wants you to consider using their installment plan. Not only is there no upgrade fee for current customers who use the company’s Next installment plans, but AT&T is offering customers an extra fifty bucks if they finance a new iPhone, but don’t order it through AT&T. [More]
Apple Will Go To Court After Judge Gives Disappearing iMessage Lawsuit The Green Light
By 11.12.14
The first of two lawsuits aimed at Apple over the issue of disappearing iMessages that don’t make it to the Android phones of former iPhone users has been given the go-ahead by a judge, which means Apple will have to respond to the allegations in court. [More]
Guy Ends Up With 99 iPhones Worth Of Rejection After Girlfriend Turns Down Elaborate Marriage Proposal
By 11.11.14
At this point, we must acknowledge that everyone would like to allude to Jay Z’s song about having 99 problems but a difficult, cranky woman isn’t one of them. That’s because some guy in China bought not one iPhone 6, not two, but exactly 99 iPhones as part of an elaborate, public proposal of marriage. Spoiler alert: He’ll only have those phones to curl up with at night from now on. [More]
Researchers: iOS Bug Allows Malware To Replace Your Phone’s Real Apps
By 11.10.14
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again — don’t download apps from third-party sites, or do so at your phone’s peril. Security researchers say they’ve found a particularly sneaky bug in Apple’s iOS that allows hackers to replace real apps with fakes, that can then steal log-in credentials and gain access to a treasure trove of your information. [More]
Apple Introduces Tool To Help Ex-iPhone Owners Get Missing Texts
By 11.10.14
Where did all of the missing texts go? Apple insisted back in May that they solved the problem of text messages that go missing after users switch to phones using other operating systems, but users claim that messages from iPhone-using friends still went missing. Some even filed a lawsuit claiming that Apple’s iMessage servers still “intercept” their messages. Now Apple has introduced a Web app for that. [More]
Microsoft Decides To Stop Charging For Mobile Office Apps
By 11.6.14
Realizing that it can’t make money if no one uses its products anymore, Microsoft has decided to allow iOS and Android users to access most of the functions in its mobile Office suite of apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint — without having to pay a hefty annual subscription fee. [More]
Can Police Force You To Unlock Your Phone With Fingerprint?
By 11.5.14
While the Supreme Court recently made it very clear that police can’t look at the contents of a suspect’s phone without a warrant, what remains unresolved is whether or not authorities with a warrant can then compel a suspect to unlock his/her phone. And does it make a difference if that unlocking involves a fingerprint instead of a passcode? [More]
More Former iPhone Users Suing Apple, Claiming iMessage “Intercepts” Texts Meant For Android Phones
By 11.3.14
Although Apple has since claimed to have fixed an issue afflicting many former iPhone users, who claimed they failed to receive messages meant for them from friends once they switched to Android phones, yet another group of customers are suing the company, claiming iMessage intercepted their messages. [More]
Cop Guesses Woman’s iPad Password, Uses Find My iPhone App To Locate Woman Missing After Car Crash
By 10.16.14
In possibly one of the only instances where you might be lucky to have chosen an easily guessed password, a woman stuck for 13 hours after her car flipped over was finally located after a police officer was able to get into her iPad and activate the woman’s Find My iPhone app. [More]
iPhone 6 Demand Delaying Production On New iPads
By 10.9.14
The good news for Apple is that the success of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is restoring some of the luster to the brand that had faded following the candy-colored disappointment that was the iPhone 5C. The bad news is that keeping up with demand for the new devices is delaying production on new iPads. [More]
iFixit Declares iPhone 6 Most Repairable iPhone Ever, Which Isn’t Saying Much
By 10.1.14
You can save money and extend the useful life of your out-of-warranty gadgets by repairing them yourself, but should you? iFixit, provider of free repair guides and seller of parts and tools, buys the latest devices and tears them apart, assigning them a “repairability score.” They report that some design changes make the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus the most repairable iPhones ever. [More]
UPS Says My New iPhone Is Almost Here — Oh Wait, They Left It Back In Korea
By 10.1.14
Like lots of people who ordered their new iPhone from the Apple store, Consumerist reader Clint has been tracking the impending delivery of his new device. Over the course of the last week, it’s gone from China to South Korea to Alaska to Kentucky and was set to be delivered to Clint in Seattle today. Except UPS has bad news. The tracking info was slightly off. [More]
Ignore The TV Commercials: Don’t Sell Your Old Phone On eBay
By 9.29.14
eBay is currently engaging in an ad campaign, timed to coincide with the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 plus, meant to coax people who don’t currently use eBay to use the service to find new homes for their phones. Yet people who are frequent eBay users think that this is a terrible idea, and not just because they’re sellers who fear the competition. [More]
Consumer Reports Test Shows It Takes A Lot To Bend New iPhones
By 9.26.14
While there have been anecdotal claims of the new iPhone 6 Plus bending just from spending too much time in a user’s pocket and multiple videos of people showing that you can bend one of these phones with your bare hands, there hasn’t been much science done to determine exactly how much force is needed to get that undesired curve in your oversized phone (or is it an undersized tablet?). Thankfully, our colleagues at Consumer Reports have cool machines to figure this kind of thing out. [More]
FBI Director Concerned About Smartphones The Police Can’t Search
By 9.26.14
In recent weeks, both Apple and Google have announced improved privacy measures that make it more difficult for police to search suspects’ smartphones, even with a warrant. This isn’t sitting well with FBI Director James Comey. [More]
Apple’s Visual Inspection Guide Says Bent iPhone 6 Not Covered By Warranty
By 9.25.14
Though some are claiming that Apple may do warranty repairs on the new iPhones and their apparently bendable bodies, it looks like the actual manual that Apple provides to authorized repair centers indicates that a bent device is not covered. [More]
