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PCWorld – Sony Brings Streaming Music Service to the IPhone

Sony Brings Streaming Music Service to the IPhone

Sony on Friday released an iPhone app to access its streaming Music Unlimited service, part of its efforts to expand its online platforms to devices from rival manufacturers.

The app allows users to listen to and manage playlists and channels. The service is already available on Android phones and PCs, as well as the company’s tablets, Walkman music players, home stereos and PlayStation game consoles.

The Tokyo-based company is emphasizing its online platforms as part of its turnaround plan, as it is the only major electronics company with its own major music and movie divisions. Music Unlimited is part of the Sony Entertainment Network, the Tokyo-based company’s brand for its online music, movie, gaming and photo-sharing platforms.

Sony has begun to expand support for devices from other makers as part of the new effort. Its PlayStation Suite is a push to put its game platform on Android devices, for example. In other areas, the company still locks users into its ecosystem – the “nasne” digital media hub, to launch in July in Japan, streams to its computers, smartphones and game consoles but has little support for other devices.

Music Unlimited is a paid streaming music service that offers various music channels and the ability to create playlists. Its Android app also allows songs to be saved locally for offline listening.

Music Unlimited is available in 16 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Spain and France. Registered users can access the service from anywhere in the world, unlike online music offerings such as Spotify and Pandora.

In the U.S., the basic plan costs US$3.99 and a premium plan is available for US$9.99. The pricier plan includes items such as easier access to individual songs and exclusive music channels.

VirtualStrategy – MilliTalk 2.5 Releases New Features for iPhones, the iPod Touch and Brings Calling to the iPad

MilliTalk 2.5 Releases New Features for iPhones, the iPod Touch and Brings Calling to the iPad

Millicorp announced the release of MilliTalk 2.5 which is available immediately in the Apple App Store. The release of MilliTalk 2.5 introduces newly enhanced features; including a native interface which was specifically designed for iPad users to offer a superior experience and optimal use of the larger screen area.

MilliTalk has changed the way the world talks and has now changed how the world sees the iPad. One of the sexiest features of 2.5 is the detail built into the design to enhance the use with the iPad bringing about a full rich experience whether the purpose is for business or personal service. For example, the user will immediately notice how MilliTalk was designed with the larger device in mind which naturally supports the full size of the iPad screen rather than apps that were designed for the iPhone.

For the iPad and iPod Touch the most important feature of MilliTalk is the extending the functionality of Apples non phone devices that enables calling by essentially turning them into phones. Regardless if it’s an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, MilliTalk’s calling features enable calling even in the most remote or poor cellular reception areas using Wi-Fi, this supports calling in areas where otherwise there would be no service. The app broadens the ability to talk on any of the Apple devices and works well with Wi-Fi, 3G and LTE networks. These features can benefit anyone from the world traveler and independent business to those who are interested in basic domestic calling.

Professional groups have realized to stay relevant in today’s market a global presence is necessary, but often the cost is overwhelming. MilliTalk has made it possible for companies today to have a global presence by offering a cost effective solution. For instance, the app has allowed businesses the option to create a separate number in a different location whether it’s another city or country thereby increasing worldwide awareness. To extend the professional presence even further many companies are also utilizing the visual voicemail and customized greeting features.

InformationWeek – Apple iOS Still Charming More Developers Than Android

Apple iOS Still Charming More Developers Than Android

Developers and consumers prefer iOS to Android, according to several new reports. Flurry Analytics says that more apps developed during the first quarter of the year were for iOS than Android. At the same time, data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners shows that a huge percentage of new iPhone buyers defected from Android smartphones.

Apple’s WorldWide Developers Conference is mere days away, and Flurry dropped some interesting stats that show developers favor Apple’s iOS platform. According to Flurry’s data, 69% of new applications created in the first three months of 2012 were for iOS and 31% for Android.

PCMAG – T-Mobile Turns on iPhone-Compatible Network at WWDC

T-Mobile Turns on iPhone-Compatible Network at WWDC

T-Mobile may have a million iPhones running on its network, but they’re all crawling along at slow EDGE speeds. That’s going to change over the next several months as the carrier “refarms” 3G spectrum to become more compatible with AT&T-specced phones.

Where better to test that than the iPhone scrum known as the Apple Worldwide Developers’ Conference? T-Mobile confirmed to 9to5Mac yesterday that it’ll turn on 1900Mhz HSPA+ “inside the west side of the Moscone Center” where the event will be held this coming Monday, although the company added that “the time and location of this test is just coincidental.”

Yeah, right.

T-Mobile’s refarming won’t just help iPhone owners. T-Mobile’s 1700Mhz AWS spectrum is supported by fewer devices than the more mainstream 1900Mhz band, so unlocked Android phones that couldn’t hit 3G on T-Mobile before will finally be able to do so.

Few of those phones will be able to achieve T-Mobile’s full “4G” speeds, though, because the phones’ own modems aren’t fast enough. T-Mobile’s network runs at HSPA+ 42, but the iPhone plugs along at a relatively sedate HSPA 14.4. I’d expect 2-4Mbps download speeds on an iPhone, as compared to around 8Mbps on an HSPA+ 42 phone like the HTC One S.

T-Mobile still isn’t selling subsidized iPhones, but the entry of Cricket and Virgin Mobile into the iPhone world may start to convince Americans that it’s worth paying more up front for much lower plan prices.

SlashGear – iPhone App celebrates Goodwood Festival of Speed

iPhone App celebrates Goodwood Festival of Speed

If you are a fan of cars in the UK, you might be familiar with the Goodwood Festival of Speed that is sponsored by Auto Trader. A new app has launched to go along with the Goodwood Festival of Speed and features the festivals iconic Goodwood hill climb and other functionality for visitors to Festival.

StatesManJournal – Galaxy strong contender to iPhone

Galaxy strong contender to iPhone

Until I started watching videos on Samsung’s new Galaxy S III phone, I never thought of the iPhone’s display as small.

The Galaxy’s screen measures 4.8 inches diagonally, compared with 3.5 inches for the iPhone. That translates to a display area that’s nearly twice the size. Yet the Galaxy is thinner and lighter.

Apart from that, the Galaxy shares the iPhone’s curvy and shiny design, along with a center button that wakes up the device from power-saving mode or takes you from whatever you’re doing to a home screen.

Unlike the iPhone, the Galaxy runs on faster 4G cellular networks (AT&T markets its iPhones as 4G, but the network is based on older technology). The Galaxy also comes with a new wireless technology called near-field communications, which can be used to share files and make purchases.

InfoWorld – Beyond iPhone and Android: 5 hot new platforms for developers

Beyond iPhone and Android: 5 hot new platforms for developers

A long time ago in a mind-set far away, I spent a lunch with friends trying to figure out what we’d do if we could reprogram our cellphones. Our ideas were, in retrospect, lame. Maybe we would change the font on the dialer or come up with a screensaver animation. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could get flying toasters running on the screen of our cellphone?

The iPhone was still several years away when we came up with those ideas. The millions of ways people would be reprogramming smartphones just a few short years later was beyond our comprehension. The App Store and the effort of tens of thousands of programmers changed that.

[ Beware the 7 myths of programming, and verse yourself in the 10 hard truths developers must accept. | Test your smarts with our programming IQ tests: Round 1 and round 2 and "Hello, world": Programming languages quiz. | Learn how to work smarter, not harder with InfoWorld's roundup of the tips and trends programmers need to know in the Developers' Survival Guide. | Keep up on key application development insights with the Developer World newsletter. ]

The smartphone has proven that a marketplace for delivering code can appear seemingly out of nowhere, and developers would have another choice for showcasing their wares. It’s not that the App Store was new — you could develop for Nokia, Windows Mobile, and Java phones long before it came along. But Apple eased the process and provided enough features that made it worthwhile for developers to start creating.

So when we say that some day in the possible near future you may be targeting your apps at users’ shirt pockets, not what they put in them, you may think it’s time for the straitjackets. But all it takes is a market. The technology is already there — sort of.

To help you get a jump on these promising platforms, we did a little digging in what might seem to be unlikely places. In many cases, raw APIs are already well-established, ready for apps to exploit them. Scratch the surface, and you’ll get an idea of the potential of porting your wares beyond the smartphone/PC paradigm. You can bet the manufacturers of these products are interested in establishing their own app ecology. And as we’ve seen with both the PC and smartphone, the first to arrive is often the one whose app gets the most sales.

NetWorkWorld – First-day buyer of original 2007 iPhone found love and connectivity

First-day buyer of original 2007 iPhone found love and connectivity

June 29, 2007, the day the original iPhone went on sale, was a big day for Web developer Honey Berk. She got the Apple smartphone and a fiancé.

Today, she still has both, though the latter gets more use than the former. She’s still an iPhone user, with an iPhone 4S, along with a new iPad to replace her original iPad (which she just sold on Craigslist for an astonishing $350). And five years later, the phone has become a constant and indispensable part of her personal life and professional work.

Five years ago, her long-time boyfriend, Roy Harp, set out at 2 a.m. on Thursday June 28 to join the lengthening line outside Apple’s SoHo neighborhood retail store at 103 Prince St. in lower Manhattan. People there and across the U.S. were lining up in hopes of buying the first iPhone, which had been unveiled by Apple CEO Steve Jobs barely six months earlier. He told her he wanted to buy the iPhone as a present for her upcoming birthday in July. She spent a few hours with him in line that night, and rejoined him the next day to enter the store when it opened.

It was a hot day in downtown New York, and the street and store were jammed, and the excitement of enthusiastic tech lovers was infectious, she recalls. Jubilant first buyers danced out waving the boxed iPhone to applause and cheers from those still in line and from Apple employees.

MarketWatch – Kiwibox.com Releases iPhone And iPad Application; KWICK! Ranks Among Top Five German Dating Applications

Kiwibox.com Releases iPhone And iPad Application; KWICK! Ranks Among Top Five German Dating Applications

The Kiwibox network proudly announces the release of its latest iPhone and iPad application, complete with new updates and the integration of target group based advertisements banners within the app. The network is also proud to announce German social network KWICK! has been named one of Germany’s top five mobile dating applications.

Specifically, the latest version of the iPhone and iPad application features support multilingual users (expanding from the current support for both English and German language offered), push notification messaging via the application and ipad support including the new application’s new blog feature. Multilingual support will allow users from across the globe to interact with one another in their language of choice, and when combining this with other new added features to the mobile app, users will be able to continue the fullness of the browser based Kiwibox on their mobile phone.

SMH – Will a new iPhone connector burn the Apple faithful?

Will a new iPhone connector burn the Apple faithful?

Are you ready to throw away your accessories and start again?

Apple rumours are a dime a dozen, but talk of a new connector on the iPhone 5 is getting louder. The current 30-pin connector has remained consistent with every iteration of the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This consistency has certainly worked to Apple’s advantage when it came to building a thriving ecosystem of speaker docks, sound system connectors, car mounts, chargers and other iGadget accessories. I’d say this ecosystem has long been part of the iPhone’s attraction and one of its key strengths over the ever-improving Android.

The consistency of the iGadget connector has also meant that hand-me-down iPhones could remain useful. My old iPhone 3G is now in the hands of my young son (although it’s been locked down to become little more than an iPod). While this might deprive Apple of a sale in the short-term, in the long-term it brings another iGadget user into the fold who will certainly favour Apple when the time comes for him to buy his own gadgets.

Meanwhile my original iPhone 2G, shipped over from the US, lives on an iPod dock in the bathroom. The ability for my family to mix and match our iGadgets between chargers and sound docks is one of the key benefits which has seen me resist the lure of Android and stick with the iPhone. My colleague Charles Wright recently jumped ship to the Samsung Galaxy S III and I agree with much of his reasoning. I’ve also become “disillusioned with Apple”, as Charles puts it. To be honest my home has become a little too iCentric to easily make the shift. But all this could change with the iPhone 5.

Apple iPhone 5: What rumours suggest about the new design & display

Apple has invited reporters to a news conference next week in San Francisco with a message that suggests that it will reveal the iPhone 5, as expected. Email invitations bore the cryptic message, "It's almost here," and a large number "12" casting a shadow that appeared to be the number five, suggesting that the event would spotlight the long-anticipated iPhone 5.

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Here is a look at some rumours about the 'iPhone 5' that are doing rounds in the tech world:

1. Build Quality - Rumours and leaked pictures suggest that Apple is looking at a complete design refresh with the iPhone 5. Instead of having a glass back like the iPhone 4/4S, this time it might have a metal or aluminium back case for added durability. Even the front touchscreen is expected to be sturdier and with better scratch resistance.

2. Larger Display - Perhaps the biggest change since the first iPhone, almost every leaked photo shows that the upcoming iPhone will have a larger screen. 4-inches is the rumored size of the screen and to provide the same Retina display quality as on the iPhone 4/4S, the resolution is likely to be bumped up to 1136 x 640 pixels. The screen will also be longer, with an aspect ratio of 16:9 which is better for videos.

3. New Design - To incorporate the larger display, iPhone 5 is expected to be longer than the 4S - but not wider - so that it still sits easily in the hand. There are also claims that the iPhone 5 will be slimmer and lighter than the iPhone 4S - despite offering better performance and better battery life. The 3.5mm headphone port is shown to be located at the bottom of the phone in the leaked pictures

4. Out goes the 30-pin connector - A big change as seen on leaked images is a new connectivity port on the iPhone 5. The 30-pin connector has been on iPods since launch, so Apple ditching the 30 pin port in favor of a 9 pin port is a really bid deal. Some rumours also claim that the new port will be magnetic like the MagSafe ports on Apple MacBooks. Hopefully, Apple will also sell 9 pin to 30 pin adapters along with the iPhone 5 so that some accessories can be used with the new iPhone as well. One leak also points to evidence that Apple will announce a new iPod lineup along with new iPads - all of which will use the new 9-pin port.

5. Nano SIM card - Apple was the first use a micro-SIM with the iPhone 4 and the industry followed suit. Rumours indicate that with the iPhone 5, Apple will introduce an even smaller nano SIM. Leaked images of US carriers stocking up on nano SIMs have also recently surfaced.

6. New earphones - Apple earphones have always received flak - understandable, since they don't perform very well and have not seen any major change since the first iPhone came out. There are indications that Apple has taken note and that the iPhone 5 will come with better earphones with a vented design that will cut back on echoes in voice calls. Apple has applied for a patent in April 2012 for the redesigned ear buds.

Apple iPhone 4


The iPhone 4 is the thinnest smartphone ever with all-new design, FaceTime video calling, Apple's stunning new Retina display, 5 megapixel camera and HD video recording.

APPLE IPHONE 4 SPECIFICATIONS

DISPLAY

  • Screen size: 3.5 inch (101.60 mm)
  • Resolution: Other
  • Type: LCD
  • Touch screen: Multi-touch (Capactive), Gesture

SIZE & WEIGHT

  • Height: 115.2 mm (4.84 inch)
  • Width: 58.6 mm (2.68 inch)
  • Depth: 9.3 mm (0.47 inch)
  • Weight: 137.0 g

CONNECTIVITY & WIRELESS

  • Wi-Fi: Yes (802.11b/g/n)
  • Wi-Fi Encryption: WEP, WPA, WPA2
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
  • Computer Sync supported: Yes

CAMERA

  • Resolution: 5.0 megapixels
  • Camera Features:
    • Records video
    • Auto focus
    • Digital zoom
    • Flash
    • Contact pictures
    • Geo-tagging (location)
  • Secondary Camera: Yes

OTHER FEATURES

  • Flight Mode: Yes

HARDWARE

  • CPU: 1000 MHz
  • USB: 2.0 [Charging]
  • Other

BATTERY & POWER

  • Talk time: 7 hours
  • Stand by time: 300 hours
  • AC adapter: Yes

CELLULAR NETWORK

  • Network Technology: GSM
  • CDMA Bands: 800, 1900
  • Data tethering: Yes

LOCATION SUPPORT

  • GPS (AGPS)
  • Cellular location
  • Wifi location
  • Compass

MESSAGING

  • SMS: Yes
  • MMS: Yes

INPUT

  • Type: Touchscreen
  • Predictive Text: Yes

MEDIA

  • Media Playback: Yes
  • Support Audio: AAC, AAC+, MP3, WAV
  • OTA (Streaming) Video: Streaming / internet
  • Support Video: h.264 / AVC, MPEG-4 (MP4), M4V

AUDIO AND VOICE

  • Audio / Headset Jack: Yes
  • Speaker phone: Yes
  • Voice dial: Yes

PERSONALIZATION

  • Custom Ringtones: Yes
  • Sound profiles: Yes
  • Vibrate mode: Yes
  • Multiple numbers per contact: Yes
  • Multiple languages: Yes (English, French, German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Thai, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Indonesian, Malay, Romanian, Slovak, Croatian)

SENSORS

  • Accelerometer (motion)
  • Amient light
  • Gyroscope
  • Proximity

MEMORY

  • 16 GB built-in memory

ADDITIONAL INFO

Enterprise Mobility: Buy iPhone 4 Instead of iPhone 4S: 10 Reasons Why

After the Oct. 4 introduction of the iPhone 4S, Apple has been focusing much of its efforts on getting consumers to buy its latest handset. To make that sales pitch, Apple is focusing heavily on the device’s new dual-core processor and improved camera. Apple has also highlighted its new “wireless system” that should provide users with downlink speeds of 14.4M bps. Apple is hoping that the iPhone 4 will rapidly fade from buyers’ memories. The iPhone 4 smartphone that was once all the talk at Apple headquarters has now been relegated to the “obsolete” category because of the iPhone 4S. As one might expect, Apple is hoping most folks opt for its latest model, rather than the previous version of the device. But should they? Apple’s iPhone 4S certainly has a lot of attractive features. But the iPhone 4 remains a viable option for many customers. In some ways the iPhone 4 might even be a better bet for the average customer. This eWEEK slide show examines why many consumers might want to buy the iPhone 4 instead of the iPhone 4S.


There Is No Design Advantage

When one compares the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S, they’ll quickly find that the smartphones have the same, basic designs. They feature glass backs, a 3.5-inch Retina Display, and both rear- and front-facing cameras. The iPhone 4S’ sales pitch would be stronger if it had significantly updated design. But it doesn’t. That could be enough for some folks to opt for the iPhone 4 instead.
  • More slideshows

Apple iPhone 4: Full review


In the three years since the first iPhone went on sale, the mobile landscape has changed irrevocably. Most phones now offer apps, internet browsing, social-networking widgets and email, while the higher-end smart phones continue to innovate around speed, features and build quality. That means Apple has an increasingly difficult job on its hands; responding to the innovations of the chasing pack while turning out a new handset every year.
The iPhone 4 is this year’s effort, and overall, it’s a corker. Not everyone will be a fan of the iPhone’s new industrial look and feel, which has done away with the shapely, curved edges of the iPhone 3G and 3GS in favour of a more functional, practical design. But I think iPhone 4 feels like a truly premium product, on a par with expensive designer handsets such as those made by Vertu.
It’s slimmer than its predecessors, and now features a glass shell made from the same super-strong aluminosilicate material used for helicopter windscreens, which makes it tough and scratch-resistant. The stainless steel band that runs around the middle of the iPhone, like the buttercream filling in a particularly delicious Victoria sponge, not only helps strengthen the overall construction, but is also part of the iPhone’s cellular and Wi-Fi antennas.
The difference in screen quality between iPhone 4 and previous models is acute. The new iPhone’s special “retina display” has four times the resolution of the iPhone 3GS, and Apple claims the pixels are so small that they can’t be detected by the human eye. That means that icons, text and pictures are pin-sharp on iPhone 4, with crisp, defined edges. Colours are luscious and seem to pop out of the screen, while whites appear brighter, and blacks take on a deep, inky hue. In short, it’s the kind of screen performance you’d expect from an AMOLED display, but Apple has somehow managed it with a simple backlit LCD screen. Where this display really comes in to its own – more than with photos, more than with movies, more, even than with web pages – is with ebooks. The iPhone 4 supports iBooks, Apple’s own ebook reader software, and the pages of Winnie the Pooh are rendered with a clarity and precision you simply do not find on any other device, not even an iPad.
There are plenty of other hardware improvements, too, including a five-megapixel camera with LED flash that’s capable of taking some great shots in lowlight conditions. And the iPhone 4 can also capture high-definition 720p video at 30 frames per second. The makers of the Flip range of camcorders should be very worried indeed; videos shot on the iPhone 4 look fantastic, with good colour balance, while a version of iMovie for the iPhone makes it incredibly easy to edit clips using the iPhone and create a pleasing, professional video ready for sharing. The new A4 processor ensures everything zips along, and the bigger battery makes a world of difference – not once, in the time that I have been testing the iPhone 4, have I had to give it a lunchtime boost.
The improved battery life and nippier performance prove crucial for one of iPhone 4’s most hotly-anticipated features – multitasking. It’s worth noting that it’s not really multitasking in the strictest sense, because not every app will be able to work fully in the background; Apple is allowing some apps, such as music-streaming services, to continue playing while users open other applications, but true multitasking is restricted because of the potentially catastrophic impact on battery life. So that means that Twitter and Facebook, for instance, do not continue pulling down real-time updates even as you work on an email or browse a web page. Instead, they are “paused” when you switch between apps; if you return to an app, you can pick up exactly where you left off.
Multitasking is not just restricted to iPhone 4 – it’s part of the iOS4 software update available to existing iPhone 3GS users. The new operating system brings some welcome new features to the iPhone range, including the ability to organise apps in to “folders”. You can have a maximum of 12 apps in a single folder, which means some apps, such as games, may have to be subdivided by genre (puzzle, shooter etc). Annoyingly, all of the folders look the same on the iPhone’s Home screen – you can’t choose an app logo to represent the whole folder, so there’s a lot of squinting at the screen while you try to see which folder is which.
One feature of iPhone 4 that Apple has been pushing hard is FaceTime, its video-calling app. The iPhone 4 has a front-facing VGA camera, which can be used to make video calls to other iPhone 4 users over a Wi-Fi network. Video calling has never really taken off in Europe, mainly because it offered such an awful user experience, but FaceTime really is dramatically different. It’s easy to use, for starters – you can start with a FaceTime call, or switch to FaceTime midway through a conversation, at the touch of a button. The iPhone 4’s top-notch screen provides a really clear picture, while its dual microphones and noise-cancelling capabilities ensure good audio that remains in sync with the video. It’s a shame the service is restricted to iPhone 4 users and that it works only on Wi-Fi, though Apple hopes that will change in time. It’s also giving away its FaceTime technology to other mobile phone makers, which could really help to increase uptake of this solid video-calling app.
The iPhone 4 has its flaws. I wish the Home screen had a different look and feel that tied in with the device’s new industrial design; perhaps something more akin to the user interface on Microsoft’s forthcoming range of Windows Phone 7 handsets. And it would also be great if it supported “widgets”, so that I could see, at a glance, what my most recent email or text message is, a real-time weather forecast for my locale, or even the latest stock prices.
But overall, the iPhone 4 is an excellent, beautifully built device that cements Apple’s position as the leading smartphone maker. Upgrading to iPhone 4 won’t come cheap, though – buying the handset SIM-free from Apple will cost at least £499, and you’re still looking at a substantial outlay on the handset if you buy it on contract from a network operator. If you own an iPhone 3G, or are simply in the market for a new phone, then upgrading to iPhone 4 is a no-brainer. But if you’ve got an iPhone 3GS and are still in contract, don’t rush to upgrade; instead, install the new iOS4 update on your handset and put the new software through its paces.
After all, this time next year, Apple will have a new handset for us to drool over.
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