The iPhone OS has gone through five major revisions – each one comes with more and more features. However, the simplified interface that made the iPhone so successful also means that it’s sometimes hard to get to the more advanced features unless you know what you are looking for. iOS 5 includes some completely hidden features that you may not know about. This will be the first in a series of tips that show off some of the newer or hidden features in iOS 5.
You can now access the camera app quickly from your lock screen. Press the home button twice when your phone is locked, and you will see a “camera” button appear near the lock slider. Pressing this button brings you immediately to the camera app. No need to unlock the phone, find the camera app, and press the button.
Remember, you can now use the “volume up” button on the side of the phone to take a picture.
You may have noticed that the iPod controls also show up when you double-click the home button – allowing you to play/stop/forward/reverse through the current playlist. Great for when you’re on the go.
In my ongoing series about who is providing good exchange rate for Canadians, it’s time to re-recognize Apple. Their pricing have already been recognized earlier, however the newest iPhone is actually cheaper in Canada than in the USA. Given that the Canadian dollar is currently below par, the iPhone prices of $649, $749 and $849 for the 16, 32 and 64GB iPhone 4S are the same as their US Dollar prices.
This contrasts the iPhone 4 Canadian launch prices, which were $659 and $779 for the 16/32GB versions.
With the Canadian dollar back within a hair of par, it’s time to look at what companies are doing a good job at letting Canadians buy with their newfound purchasing power.
One of the best companies in terms of pricing parity is Apple. Their laptops are within a hair of the USA price. Cheaper items like iPads have a 10% premium but still within a reasonable amount. The Apple TV pushes the limit at 20% premium – almost a “bad exchange”.
The collective internet wisdom is so far unimpressed with the iPad. It strikes me as a cool toy but not a very visionary device and nothing that many of Apple’s competitors couldn’t copy and improve on.
Asus, Acer, HP, Dell – All of them had existing tablet plans which they are slow playing while they waited for the iPad announcement. Expect a slew of tablet announcements in the coming weeks. I except these tablets to have many features missing from the iPad: accepting external storage (USB or SD), pen/stylus input, “open” operating systems and lower price points. Expect them to come in many sizes from 5″ to 12″.
Microsoft and Google – The OS divisions of both companies may be able to capitalize on some Apple’s missteps. With Windows 7 capable of running on a Atom processor and Android far more advanced than it’s horrible 1.x versions, they may finally be in a place to come up with an iPad alternative. Microsoft is going to have to rely on Windows 7 not Windows Mobile.
Jailbreakers and Unlockers – As I type this a legion of hackers are working on the iPad SDK looking to be the first to hack it. No wonder geohot is letting others do the PS3 hacking.
According to this article by the Globe and Mail, Bell and Telus may soon announce the availability of the iPhone to their customers. This is a boon for existing customers that have wanted the iPhone but haven’t switched to Rogers yet.
While this is great news for Bell and Telus customers, I think this will play out more of a retention strategy than a new customer acquisition strategy. Many of the pro-iPhone users have already left Bell and Telus for Rogers, by offering the iPhone, they will prevent more from leaving. Likely they will match the Rogers price, rather than beat it, in order to lock all users onto new 3 year contracts, right before Wind Mobile goes live. I bet the top benchmark at all three companies will be percentage of customers on long-term contracts, which will try to prevent people from leaving based on price competition from new entrants.
Google has provided a mechanism for iPhone users to get Push Email functionality. Apple is still dragging it’s feet for allowing the iPhone to support it natively, so Google has enabled mail to be synced via the ActiveSync mechanism that is available on the iPhone.
However, there is one limitation. iPhone users that already have an ActiveSync account enabled (e.g. for work email) will not be able to use this option. This is because Apple only allows a single ActiveSync account on the iPhone. This is an Apple limitation, not Microsoft or Google.
Boy Genius Report posted a great overview of the upcomingBlackberry 9700. This device will come to Rogers and AT&T in October or November so if you can wait, definitely do so. This model gets rid of the failure-prone trackball and replaces it with a touchpad. It’s smaller, lighter and thinner and will be the next “it” device from RIM. Expect the existing Bold device to be lowered in price, and this device to fill it’s pricing void.
Do these laptops look familar? They should, the design is almost entirely stolen from Apple’s Macbook and Macbook pro line. HP has leveraged the “Envy” brand from in-house gaming laptop maker Voodoo to market it’s new, sleek, aluminum/magnesium chassis laptops. Available in both 13″ and 15″ versions, these will probably be very hot sellers. With the slim (just 0.88″) 13″ for the portable market, and a Quad-core Core i7 processor in the 15″ for computing power, these two models will be on the top of everyone’s wishlist this Christmas.
They are not due to be available until October. Priced at $1699 USD for the Envy 13 and $1799 USD for the Envy 15. Canadian pricing is not available.
You can now access the camera app quickly from your lock screen. Press the home button twice when your phone is locked, and you will see a “camera” button appear near the lock slider. Pressing this button brings you immediately to the camera app. No need to unlock the phone, find the camera app, and press the button.
Do these laptops look familar? They should, the design is almost entirely stolen from Apple’s Macbook and Macbook pro line. HP has leveraged the “
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