Showing posts with label iOS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iOS. Show all posts

How to Install Android on an iPhone in Six Easy Steps

Thursday, April 7, 2016
If you've got an iPhone, are a little bored with iOS, and you're interested in moonlighting with Google's Android operating system, you can dual boot Android and iOS side-by-side on your iPhone in a few relatively simple steps.

What You'll Need:

All you'll need to get started is an iOS device; Right now, the iPhone 3G has the best support, and that's what we're using in this guide.

Step One: Jailbreak Your iPhone

How to Install Android on an iPhone in Six Easy Steps

You've got a number of jailbreaking options, including PwnageTool, Redsn0w, and Blackra1n. Pick one that works on your platform, download it, and walk through the jailbreak process. (I'm not going to detail the jailbreak here since the latest jailbreaking methods often change a little, but at this point, jailbreaking an iPhone is a relatively simple process.)

Step Two: Install Bootlace in Cydia

How to Install Android on an iPhone in Six Easy Steps

In order to do this, you'll need to launch Cydia from the homescreen, tap on the Manage button, select Sources, then tap Edit, then Add. The repository you'll need to add is repo.neonkoala.co.uk. Tap Add Source, let Cydia work its magic, and then tap on your newly added repository and install Bootlace.

Step Three: Run Bootlace and Patch the Kernel

How to Install Android on an iPhone in Six Easy Steps

Leave Cydia, and launch Bootlace. If Bootlace isn't on your homescreen after you leave Cydia, restart your iPhone and it should be there. Then just launch Bootlace, and let it download and patch the kernel. When it's done, tap on Reboot and wait for your phone to reboot.

Step Four: Install OpeniBoot

How to Install Android on an iPhone in Six Easy Steps

Now launch Bootlace again, tap the OpeniBoot button, and tap Install, then Continue. OpeniBoot will download and install.

Step Five: Install iDroid


How to Install Android on an iPhone in Six Easy Steps

Once OpeniBoot is installed, tap the iDroid button, tap Install, OK, and then wait. iDroid—which is essentially the Android OS customized for your iPhone—will download and install. This will take a while, so be patient, and if your battery is low, you may want to plug in your phone before you start.

Step Six: Reboot and Play Around with Android


How to Install Android on an iPhone in Six Easy Steps

Now you've installed Android on your iPhone. Time to play around with it. Just tap on the QuickBoot button from inside Bootlace, tap the Android icon (the one of the little Android proudly holding an Apple), and confirm that you want to reboot into Android.


The first thing worth mentioning is that Android on iPhone isn't close to ready to use as your full-time mobile operating system. That doesn't mean it never will be, but at the moment, this is more something you'd want to do to fulfill your curiosity, wear as a geek badge, or just have a little fun and (maybe) support a really great project.
You can see how far they've come along with each phone on the iDroid status wiki. As I mentioned above, the iPhone 3G is the best supported iOS device (and currently only it and the 2G work with the method above, I believe). The biggest issue right now with the 3G is power management (PMU on the wiki), which isn't fully functional. Most importantly, suspend isn't yet working, so your battery won't likely last long. It's still come a long way from where it's been in the past, though, and having followed this project excitedly for a while, the progress they've made in recent weeks has been really impressive.
Regarding a few nuts and bolts: Your iPhone's lock button acts as the Android back button; the iPhone home button acts as the Android menu button; the iPhone's volume down button acts as the Android home button; and the iPhone's volume up button acts as... I'm not really sure what. To lock the screen, press the iPhone's home and lock buttons at the same time. To power off, hold the lock and home buttons for a couple of seconds until the Power Off prompt appears. You can see a few other operating quirks by watching the video above.
As you can see in the video, performance isn't perfect (it's occasionally a little laggy), but again, with time, that could change significantly. Either way, the iDroid project—along with OpeniBoot and Bootlace—is something I remain extremely excited about. As a long-time iPhone user and recent Android switcher, the main thing that sets the two apart for me is the iPhone hardware, which always feels head and shoulders above whatever Android device I put my hands on. I know a lot of people (including myself) who'd kill to dual boot an iPhone 4 with iOS and Android. (In fact, if you really want to help out, you can donate to the iDroid Project by clicking the Donate button on the top right of the iDroid Project's main page and maybe speed things along.)


Source :- lifehacker
Read more ...

Apple iPhone 6 vs Samsung Galaxy Alpha: 2014's Biggest Smartphone Fight

Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Welcome to the biggest smartphone battle of 2014. In the blue corner the Apple iPhone 6 and in the red corner the Samsung Galaxy Alpha.
This isn’t the head-to-head many were anticipating. The four month old Galaxy S5 was expected to be the natural challenger, but following disappointing sales Samsung has had a rethink and the newly announced Alpha is a like-for-like metal handset which throws down the gauntlet to the heavily leaked iPhone 6 in every area.
So let’s break down these rivals ahead of what promises to be two of the biggest advertising campaigns in smartphone history.
Display: iPhone 6 4.7-inches – Galaxy Alpha 4.7-inches
For Apple the new iPhone represents a big step up in screen size from the 4-inch display seen since the iPhone 5 and an even bigger 5.5-inch model is expected to launch soon after. For Samsung the Alpha actually represents a step down from the 5.2-inch display on the Galaxy S5 and demonstrates how determined it is to make a phone which directly trades blows with the new iPhone.

iphone-6-edited1
iPhone 6 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch dummy models
But the first blows here will go to Apple. It’s widely reported 1704 x 960 pixel display creates a pixel density of 416ppi (pixels per inch) compared to the Alpha whose screen surprisingly is just 1280 x 720 pixels for a 320ppi.
Given how close both pixel densities are to Apple’s claim that a ‘Retina Display’ (the point where your eyes cannot distinguish individual pixels) starts at 326ppi it remains to be seen how much difference there will be in reality, but it is odd that Samsung has stepped down from the Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixel displays it has used in flagship phones for the last few years.
In turn Samsung will be hoping the head turning (though arguably garish) AMOLED technology it uses in the Alpha and S5 will be enough to catch the eye compared to Apple’s more subtle IPS screens.
samsung_galaxy_alpha_multiple
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
Materials: iPhone 6 Metal and Sapphire – Galaxy Alpha Metal, Plastic And Gorilla Glass
The second blow Apple lands will be the materials of the iPhone 6. Samsung has taken direct cues from the HTC One M8 and the iPhone 6 in finally producing a phone which uses metal in its chassis, but this only extends to the edges while rear remains plastic and the screen is the familiar Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

By contrast the iPhone 6 will ditch its glass back in favour of an all metal chassis and the screen is heavily tipped to be sapphire-based. Doubts still remain after the ‘proof’ offered by several leaks was undermined, but if Apple does go with sapphire it is expected to be layered with glass. As such the durability may not be as indestructible as many hope but it should still represent a step up from Gorilla Glass 3.

Alleged iPhone 6 fascia with sapphire display
Alleged iPhone 6 fascia with sapphire display

Size and Weight
Despite this being one of the few aspects of the iPhone 6 not to leak, here Samsung appears to hold all the aces. At 0.26-inchs (6.7mm) thick the Galaxy Alpha is the slimmest mass market smartphone ever made and with a footprint of 5.21 x 2.58 inches (132.4 x 65.5mm) and weight of just 4.06 oz (115g) it should remain usable with one hand.

By contrast dummy units of the iPhone 6 have shown it to be almost the same footprint as the Samsung Galaxy S5 – 5.59 x 2.85 inches (142 x 72.5 mm) – despite the S5 packing a 5.2 inch display. This is due to Apple retaining thicker top and bottom bezels which add to the height. Meanwhile the only other all metal 4.7 inch handset is the HTC One M7 which tips the scales at 5.04 oz (143g). Apple should beat that as the iPhone 6 is also expected to be very thin, but it does look like one handed use will be tough for most.
Samsung-Galaxy-Alpha-3Power: iPhone 6 Apple A8 Chipset – Galaxy Alpha Exynos 5 Octa 5430
Here both handsets should be a real treat. The power of the A8 remains unknown, but Apple has doubled the power of its A series of ARM-based chips with each generation so the dual-core 1.3GHz CPU and quad-core GPU in the already fast iPhone 5S A7 chipset should see major gains and there is also talk of a step up to 2GB of RAM.

But the Galaxy Alpha should be able to match anything the iPhone 6 throws at it. The Alpha will come with 2GB of RAM and Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa 5430 chipset which the company claims will outpace the Snapdragon 805, ARM’s latest and greatest chip which is expected to appear in the Galaxy Note 4 and Nexus 6.
For reference the Snapdragon 800 chipset was seen to be largely on a par with Apple’s A7 and since then the 801 has added more power and battery optimisation while the 805 is a major leap forward in both.

sonyexmor_imx220s
Sony Exmor IMX220 sensor
Camera: iPhone 6 13 Megapixels – Galaxy Alpha 12 Megapixels
Megapixels a poor guide to camera quality, but it is noticeable that Apple is set to step up from the 8 megapixel lens in the last three iPhones reportedly toSony ’s 13 megapixel Exmor IMX220 camera sensor. This makes sense given previous iPhones have all used previous generations of this Sony line and it brings a 1/2.3′ sensor which would be a notable jump from the 1/3.2” sensor in the iPhone 5S. Video recording will remain at 1080p while optical image stabilisation (OIS) is expected to be exclusive to the monstrous 5.5-inch iPhone 6 variant.

As for the Galaxy Alpha, Samsung has curiously taken a step down to 12 megapixels from the 16 megapixel sensor in the Galaxy S5. The sensor has yet to be revealed and while it also lacks OIS it offers real-time HDR (High Dynamic Range) so you can see the light balancing on the screen before taking a photo. Samsung has also fitted the Alpha with a selfie-friendly 2.1 megapixel front facing camera, something Apple should match.
ios-7-charging-featuredMemory: iPhone 6 Up to 64GB – Galaxy Alpha 32GB
Rumours once suggested the iPhone 6 would be the first 128GB smartphone, but having seen those dry up I will stick to what we know: up to 64GB of non-expandable storage is guaranteed. Consequently the Galaxy Alpha has two surprises in stock: neither of them good.

The first is that the handset does not have a 64GB version (at least not yet) and second is Samsung has ditched the microSD expansion slot that almost every Galaxy smartphone (and certainly every high end Galaxy smartphone) ships with. The logic may be to mimic Apple and keep storage options simple, but it could be a potential deal breaker for some.

Battery Life: iPhone 6 1800mAh – Galaxy Alpha 1860mAh
Like megapixels, battery capacities don’t tell the whole story but here the handsets appear to be very well matched. It has been suggested the iPhone 6 may see a last minute bump to a 2100mAh battery, but regardless Apple will be leaning heavily on the efficiency of the A8 chip and iOS 8 to compensate for the larger screen and its higher resolution. Apple will need to produce some magic here as the iPhone 5S has mediocre battery life at best and that sported a 1560mAh battery.

It is a similar story for Samsung. The 1860mAh battery in the Alpha is a big drop from the 2800mAh battery in the S5, but Samsung will also hope the greater efficiencies in its Exynos 5 Octa 5430 chip make a difference. Where it may hold an advantage, however, is the 720p screen as driving less pixels greatly lessens the workload and may explain Samsung’s decision to shy away from 1080p. If Samsung can significantly top the iPhone 6’s battery life few may care about the lost pixels.

Miscellaneous: Sensor overload
Both handsets will pack fingerprint sensors (though the iPhone 5S has shown slicker integration compared to the S5) while the Galaxy Alpha will carry over the heart rate sensor seen in the Galaxy S5. With fitness having played a major part in Samsung’s Galaxy S5 software, the same will again happen here and with Apple HealthKit formally launching with the iPhone 6 and iOS 8 this will be a major battle ground for these handsets.

That said the Galaxy Alpha loses the S5’s water resistant coating and no leaks have indicated the iPhone 6 will have it either so while both handsets have tough exteriors they won’t be happy being used in the rain.
iPhone 5S current pricing
iPhone 5S current pricing
Release Date And Price
Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 6 on September 9th while Samsung has signalled its deliberate clash by confirming the Galaxy Alpha will go on sale in ‘early September’. Given the potential for a small gap between announcement and release this may give the Alpha a slight head start.

While the cost for the iPhone 6 remains unknown, Apple is famed for releasing each new iPhone at roughly the same price point as the last. That should mean from $199 on contract and $649 contract-free. Samsung has yet to reveal the cost of the Alpha, but it would be surprising if the company doesn’t try to marginally undercut this.
Sales projection
It is widely reported that the iPhone 6 launch will be the largest in Apple history with 50-60 million units expected to be sold before the end of the year. As such I’d expect the iPhone 6 to easily outsell the Galaxy Alpha, even though these figures will include the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6.

Then again that isn’t really the point. The point is for years now Apple rivals have been wasting their opportunity to meet the iPhone 6 head-on. So called ‘mini’ handsets have been of a similar size to the iPhone 6, but come in at midrange prices often with lower midrange components. A trend only bucked by Sony and its relatively unknown Xperia Compact series.
With Samsung finally stepping up to the plate, however, this depressing trend looks to be coming to an end. Apple knows the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 will already face a tough fight and now it can expect one in the 4.7-inch bracket as well.
The smartphone war just got even tougher and that’s good news for all of us.
Also See :- Samsung GALAXY Tab S
Read more ...

5 steps to protect your smart phone from theft or loss

Friday, August 1, 2014

Also learn what to do when your phone goes missing and when you get it back

One day, someone you don't know may end up holding your phone. Maybe you'll forget it in a taxi, or it will be snatched out of your hand—smart phone thefts are on the rise. And you're going to be concerned because that phone holds a pocket-sized summary of your digital life. It has photos of the places you've been and people in your life. It also has a record of what you posted on Facebook or bought from Amazon, where you bank, and which restaurants you like.
Here's how you can keep strangers from accessing your personal information, safely back up and retrieve the photos and videos you've stored in the device, and, with a little luck, increase your chances of recovering your phone.  

Before your smart phone is gone

Step 1: Use a strong screen lock

This is your first and strongest line of defense. Skip the easy 4-digit PIN and instead create a strong password that contains a string of at least 8 characters that include some combination of letters, numbers, and special characters that don't form recognizable words or phrases—especially those that could be associated with you. For instance, Fred1969 is a weak password, but F!ed9691 could be much harder to crack. While typing a nontrivial password may feel cumbersome at first, it should get much easier with practice.
The iPhone 5S's Touch ID fingerprint reader, built into its Home button, is designed to do away with this drudgery. We found it faster than typing a PIN. (Even with Touch ID enabled, you should still use a strong passcode.) We were able to go from a sleeping screen to the desktop in about a second. Password protection comes with another safeguard: After several unsuccessful tries to enter a passcode, typically 10, some phones will automatically erase all of your personal data. If your phone provides this option, activate it.

Step 2: Use a 'find my phone' app

The same GPS and network connections that help your phone find the best nearby restaurants and the fastest way home can help you find and protect that phone should it go missing. To take advantage of this, you need to install a special free app that we’ll describe below, which works together with a free service that you can use to locate or erase the phone once it’s gone.
For the app to be useful, the phone must be turned on and have a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. Location tracking (GPS) also must be enabled in order to find the phone on a map, but probably isn’t required to erase the phone’s contents. Since thieves will probably turn off the phone fairly quickly, yank out its SIM card, or put it in a room or box shielded from wireless connections, it’s imperative that as soon you learn that your phone is missing, you send it any commands you think appropriate.
  • On an Android phone. To set up this app on a phone running Android 2.2 or later, find the Android Device Manager in Google Settings, which is typically an icon on your desktop with the letter "g" and a gear-like symbol next to it. If necessary, use the phone's search function to search for "Google Settings." To track down a missing phone, use a computer to access Android Device Manager in the browser's address bar.
  • On an iPhone. Download and install Find My iPhone from the iTunes App Store, then sign in with your iTunes account. To track down a missing phone, use a computer to access Find My iPhone.
  • On a Windows phone. Find the Find My Phone app in the main settings menu. To track down a missing phone, use a computer to go to Microsoft's account sign-in screen.
Apple took smart phone protection a step further on its iPhone models that run iOS 7, with a powerful feature that prevents anyone from using the phone—even after it's wiped clean—unless they type in your iTunes ID and Password. The feature, called Activation Lock, is built into iOS 7 and automatically enabled when you set up the Find My iPhone feature. Activation Lock has been available for only a few months, so it’s too soon to tell if it has had a noticeable impact on iPhone thefts.
As powerful as Activation Lock is, there’s evidence that it may be less than perfect. A security firm, SRLabs, recently demonstrated how a determined thief with the proper equipment can defeat Activation Lock in some cases.

Step 3: Attach a note

You may not love the idea of marring your phone’s great looks, but doing so may increase your chances of getting it back if it's found by an honest person. Tape a tiny note on the back of your phone with your e-mail address or a work number (You don't want to give a potential burglar your home number). In my informal tests, printing my e-mail address in a small font and taping it on with a small strip of shipping tape worked well on phones with smooth metal or plastic surfaces. On phones with rubbery or rough surfaces, neatly write that info, using a fine-point permanent marker, on a small strip of duct or electrical tape, which cling better to such surfaces. Choose a spot on the phone that's least likely to receive constant rubbing from your palm or fingers.
On Android phones, you can also type such a message in the Owner Info section of the Security submenu in Settings. But if you erase the contents of your phone, that message will disappear.

Step 4: Back up your photos and videos

Phone carriers, phone makers, and operating systems typically offer free over-the-air backup for phone camera content, settings, and more. These options often appear when you set up the phone for the first time, though you can always activate them later. Selecting a carrier-neutral source, such as Apple's iCloud, Android's Google +, or Microsoft's OneDrive will make it easier to retrieve your precious memories should your next phone be from a different carrier.
Check this detailed price and feature information about each of these services and some competing cloud services.

Step 5: Record your phone's unique ID number

Smart phones have a unique serial number known as an IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) or MEID (Mobile Equipment Identifier). Unlike other identifying information stored on the phone’s removable SIM card, these numbers are etched into its circuits and difficult to alter. Your cell carrier already has this 15-digit number on file, and may be able to use it to put the phone on a missing phone list. Some police departments ask for either of these numbers when you report a stolen phone, so that they'll be able to return it to you if it's recovered. You can typically find either number on the phone box or in your phone's settings menu. It is also often found printed on or under the phone’s battery.You can find your phone's IMEI by dialing *#06#. The number should pop up on your screen.
You'll find an IMEI number on all phones from GSM carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile, and so-called world phones from CDMA carriers such as Verizon and Sprint. Less-common nonworld phones from Verizon and Sprint have a different ID number called a mobile equipment identifier, or MEID. The MEID is comparable; you can find it the same way you find an IMEI.

After the phone is gone

Whatever your goal, the sooner you act, the better your chances of achieving it. Here are key actions to take.

Step 1: Seek and destroy

As soon as possible, log on to your "find my phone" service from a secure device. Try to locate the phone on a map. If it's nearby, have the phone ring. If it's not close enough for you to reach within the next few minutes, push the erase button. Hopefully an honest person will come across your device and notify you via the contact info you taped to your phone.

Step 2: Change your important passwords

As soon as you realize your phone is no longer in your possession and not quickly recoverable, go to the nearest secure computer, log into every account you had on your phone (banking, shopping, e-mail, etc.) and change your passwords. Start with the financial and shopping accounts that have your credit card on file, such as Amazon.com or your bank, and quickly move on to e-mail and social networks.

Step 3: Call your institutions

Inform your bank and credit card companies that you've lost your phone to alert them to possible fraudulent charges. The sooner they know, the easier it will be to dispute unauthorized account activities.

Step 4: Report the loss to the police

Notifying the police not only launches an official recovery attempt, but is also required for a credit freeze. The three major reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—require a copy of the police report before they'll freeze it. You may also need the police report to dispute fraudulent charges made on your credit cards.

If you recover your phone

Wipe it anyway. You never know what malicious app or spyware someone may have installed while the phone was out of your hands. To be on the safe side, reset the phone to factory settings. If you see an option to "erase everthing," make sure you select it. (Before doing that, though, check the backups on your computer or cloud service to make sure that you have copies of all the irreplaceable photos and videos on your phone.) Some phones give you the option of resetting their settings without erasing everything. Make sure you check the Reset Everything option.
To reset an iPhone, go to Settings, then General, then Reset. You’ll see a warning that the next step will erase all your media and data, followed by a red Erase button. Hit this and after a few minutes, your iPhone is ready to restore. Finding Factory Reset on Android phones is trickier because device makers tweak Android to their own liking. In Settings, look for a submenu named Backup Options, Privacy, Accounts, or something similar. On Windows phones, the factory reset option is in Settings under About Windows Phone.

Using cloud services to back up your smart phone

For iPhones. These offer two pre-installed photo or video backup options: My Photo Stream and iCloud Backup, both of which are part of the iCloud constellation of services. My Photo Stream, a free service designed for sharing photos with other Apple device owners, stores up to 1,000 photos (not videos). But after 30 days, Apple deletes them. iCloud Backup has no expiration date and also automatically backs up your videos. The first 5 gigabytes are free, but you can buy more for an annual fee: 15GB for $20; 25GB for $40; and 50GB for 100.


For iPhones, Android, or Windows phones. For Android phones (and iPhones if you download the Google+ app, or Windows phones if you get the Google Station app), Google Drive gives you 15GB of free storage for photos and videos (full size photos can be no larger than 100 MB and videos no longer than 15 minutes or saved at a resolution higher than 1080p). Upping storage to 100GB will cost you $2 a month, and data hogs can up storage to a terabyte for $10 a month. On Android phones, you'll find the Auto Backup option in Google+ settings, after tapping the Google icon under Accounts in the phone's Settings menu. On iPhones and Windows phones, you can access settings after launching the Google+ app.


Microsoft OneDrive (formerly Sky Drive) provides 7GB of free storage for photos, videos and more. Upping storage to 50GB costs $50 a year. But each file can't be larger than 2GB. Pre-installed on Windows phones, the app is a free download from Google Play on Android phones or the App Store on iPhones. On Androids and iPhones, you may have to fiddle with additional phone settings to make the backups automatic.




Source :- consumerreports
Read more ...

iOS 8 - Everything you need to know!

Saturday, July 26, 2014

iOS 8 — Everything you need to know!

iOS 8 for iPhone and iPad

iOS 8, codenamed Okemo, was announced by Apple at WWDC 2014 on June 2, with the first developer beta seeded the same day. The current beta, beta 2, was seeded on June 17, and it's expected to become publicly available this fall. If Apple sticks to the pattern established over the course of the last two years, that would peg the iOS 8 release date as on or around September 17, 2014. (Apple, of course, doesn't always stick to patterns.) Major new features include Continuity, Extensibility, QuickType, Health, iCloud Drive, and Family Sharing, as well as major improvements for Photos, Messages, Spotlight, and more. There will likely also be more, hardware-dependant features announced alongside the iPhone 6 this fall.

Continuity: Handoff, AirDrop, Instant Hotspot, calling and SMS/MMS

Continuity is all about providing a seamless, secure experience between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. As long as you're logged in under the same Apple ID, and your devices are in proximity, you can Handoff activity in an app on iOS to continue it right where you left off on OS X, or vice-versa. There's also a new, cross-compatible version of AirDrop so you can push data between all your devices, and Instant Hotspot, so your Mac or iPad Wi-Fi can use your iPhone or iPad cellular connection to get online automagically. Continuity also lets you make or take phone calls and SMS and MMS messages from your iPhone on your iPad or Mac.

Extensibility: Interactive notifications, inter-app communications, widgets, DocumentPicker, third-party keyboards

Extensibility fundamentally changes the way iOS works. While maintaining privacy and security, Extensibility adds a wide range of new features to iPhone and iPad. These include interactive notifications, opening up sharing and actions to third party apps (the options available on Share Sheets), enabling photo filters and editing tools to present themselves in other apps, access to the Today view in Notification Center for third party widgets, iCloud Drive and DocumentPicker so your files can be opened in any app that supports them, as well as the ability to specify an alternate storage provider, if you so wish, and support for third-party custom keyboards, system-wide.

Messages

In addition to the Continuity SMS/MMS sending and receiving, and interactive notifications, Messages has gained several other new features. Thanks to new touch-and-hold radial controls, you can quickly create and send video and audio messages. You can also lift to your ear to listen. For existing photos and videos, you now get large thumbnails making them easy to add, even in volume.
There's a new Details section that lets you see and share location as well as all photos and videos that are part of the conversation. In addition, for group messages, you can now easily invoke do-not-disturb on specific conversations, and even drop out entirely with just a couple of taps.

Apple releases iOS 8 beta 4, developers grab it now!

Family Sharing

With Family Sharing, up to 6 people can co-mingle their iTunes music, movies, TV shows, books, apps, and games, all together, all at the same time. It doesn't matter if you have different Apple IDs and passwords, all that matters is that you have the same credit card on all the shared accounts.
If you have children, you can also approve every in-app purchase they make — a notification appears on your iOS devices telling you a child wants to make an in-app purchase on one of their iOS devices.
What's more, Family Sharing automagically sets up a shared Photo Stream, shared Calendar, and allows shared location and shared Find my iPhone/iPad when and if you choose to enable it.

Photos

iCloud Photo Library is the big new feature in Photos. In theory, every photo and video you take with your iPhone or iPad gets store in iCloud so you can access it from any iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Windows PC, anywhere and any time you want. Apple even promises RAW files will be stored, if that's the original format. In practice, however, the amount stored will depend on how much space you have in your iCloud account, which still starts at a paltry 5GB.
What's more, iCloud Photo Library also stores non-destructive edits, so if you make a change to a photo or video on one device, those changes are synced to any and all other devices logged into the same Apple ID.
Smart search and smart suggestion tries to make it easier for you to find your photos later, with time, location, and album sorting.
There's a new time-lapse mode for the Camera app, and smart composition tools so you can quickly crop and straighten photos. There are also smart adjustments so you can either automagically fix a photo, or manually tweak brightness, contrast, exposure, highlights, shadows, and colors.
Thanks to Extensibility, you can now access third-part filters as well. Thanks to manual camera controls for third-party apps, you will also be able to set everything just the way you like it as well.

iCloud Drive

iOS doesn't expose, and doesn't need to expose a file system. They're horrible relics of inhuman computing days past. However, iOS has always needed a file repository so that documents weren't jailed inside apps. iCloud Drive provides just that. Create a document in any app, on any Apple device, and access it from any compatible app on any other Apple device.
It works for text files. It works of iWork documents. It just works.

Health

Much like Passbook collects all your passes, cards, tickets, etc. all in one place, Health promises to collect all your health and fitness information in one app. In addition to sections of fitness, nutrition, sleep, medication, and more, you can also create an emergency card for first responders so any critical information about you is readily available when you need it most.
HealthKit, the developer side of Health, will make it easy for App Store apps and accessories to share their information, and for you to share it with medical professionals if and when you so choose.

Spotlight

Spotlight has gotten much smarter, and much more able, in iOS 8. In addition to the classic on-device results we've all come to know and expect, Spotlight now provides Wikipedia results inline. So too news and even Maps data like landmarks, restaurants, and movies. iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store results are provided for both stuff you've already downloaded and stuff you haven't, in case you want to buy or download it immediately.
It's not quite Siri's sequential inference engine, at least not yet. But it's getting there.

Multitasking

Where previously you could double-click the Home button to get the card-view interface for recently used apps, now you can do the same to get a horizontal list view of favorite and recent contacts as well

Mail

Mail gets new, more powerful gestures so you can mark as read, flag, or trash. Data detectors get highlighted right at the top of an email so you can more quickly and easily add contacts, calendar events, and more. There's also a new, special multitasking mode for mail so you can keep multiple drafts open at the same time in a new, tabbed interface.

Safari

Safari on the iPad gets the same visual tab feature that the iPhone version got in iOS 7, and the same new transparent sidebar OS X Yosemite enjoys, better organizing bookmarks, reading list, and shared links.

Enterprise

S/MIME has now been enabled on a per-message basis, and Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, Notes, and Messages apps, as well as account credential are now, like Mail and App Store apps, encrypted following a reboot unless and until a passcode is entered.
Meeting availability is now shown in Calendar and there are now new tools available to manage PDFs and books. IT can manage which apps can open enterprise documents, MDM in general has been made better and more granular.
You can even AirPlay directly, without having to get on the business network first.

Developers

In addition to everything mentioned above, developers also get HomeKit to better integrate with home automation and connected devices, and CloudKit to store key values and blobs on Apple's servers. SceneKit, for easier 3D game creation, has now been ported from OS X to iOS, and Metal, for writing more directly to the GPU, promises Apple A7 — and future A-series processor — performance never before possible.
There's also Swift, a brand new programming language that promises to take the C out of Objective-C, and provide REPL and Playground features to make programming more accessible to everyone.
Source :- imore

Read more ...

How to Type Faster on iPhone with Text Expansion

Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Typing on that small keyboard on your iPhone isn’t ideal sometimes, but you can save time and type faster by taking advantage of text expansion.
Text expansion involves typing in a short keyword that you specify and having it automatically type out a long piece of information that corresponds to that keyword. It’s a lot like a Harry Potter spell, where you say some magical words and then, poof, something magical happens. Except with text expansion, it’s less magical and more practical.
For example, I could make it so that whenever I type in “eml” on my iPhone keyboard, it’ll automatically spit out my email address in the text box, that way I don’t have to type it out manually. This saves a ton of time overall, and it’s way more convenient than having to type everything out by hand every time, especially if there’s something that you type out every day, like canned responses to emails.
There a are few methods that allow you to take advantage of text expansion on your iPhone. Here are a couple options that you can try out, as well as a few examples to get your started.
text-expansion-iphone

Text Expansion Apps

If you didn’t already know, iOS already has a built-in feature for text expansion. It’s rather limited compared to dedicated apps that you can download and install, but it’s a great place to start in order to get a feel for text expansion.
We already have a guide on how to set up iOS’s built-in text expansion feature, but we’ll put them here again to cover our bases.
Simply open up the Settings app and navigate to General > Keyboard and scroll down to the Shortcuts section. This is where you’ll set up text expansion phrases. You can see from the photo below that I already have a few phrases set up for things that I type in most often, including my email address, for which I use eml as the keyword.
text-expansion
Tap on Add New Shortcut… to start setting up phrases of your own. In the Phrase text box, type in the word or phrase that you want to pop up when you type in a short keyword or abbreviation. Then, type in that keyword or abbreviation in the Shortcut text box. Once that’s done, tap on Save in the upper-right corner and you’re done.
To add another phrase, just repeat the above process until you have all of the words and phrases you want set up. Once you have more than few phrases set up, iOS will put all of them in an alphabetical list (similar to your Contacts list), where you’ll be able to scroll through them and find specific ones easily. They’ll even sync to iCloud so that you can use them on your iPad and Mac.
Other than iOS’s built-in option, there are a few apps in the iTunes App Store that focus on text expansion.Text Expander is probably the most popular option. It allows users to set up snippets and even format the text with a certain font, color and size. It’s a bit expensive at $4.99, but it’s an indispensable tool if you use text expansion a lot.
Screen Shot 2014-07-09 at 3.04.07 PM

Text Expansion Examples

Now that you know what text expansion is and how to set it up, here are some examples that you can try out in order to get started. The great thing about text expansion is that you can get as basic or as complex as you want with your snippets and shortcuts.
  • eml: Your email address
  • phn: Your phone number
  • add: Your address (although we’d recommend putting a comma before “add” since it’s an actual word you type anyway).
  • omw: On my way
  • sg: Sounds good (I say this a lot, so it just made sense to make it a shortcut)
  • brb, thx, omg, fml, etc.: Common abbreviations that can automatically expand to the actual phrases, if you’d like.
  • fbb: I play fantasy baseball, so I have this shortcut that expands out with my league settings so that I don’t have to type them out all the time. This is a personal example, obviously, but it shows how you can use text expansion for just about anything.
The possibilities are endless with text expansion. Feel free to experiment with different shortcuts and snippets. Furthermore, you can download text expansion apps for Windows and OS X as well, with Text Expander and aText being some of the best options out there, while PhraseExpress is the popular choice for Windows.
Source :- gottabemobile
Read more ...