Hasta La Gadget!

The iPhone 5 is now on sale in most launch markets starting today, and as daylight approaches on the U.S. west coast, the coveted device will be hitting that market as well. According to early reviews, it’s a great device, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right one for everybody. Even if you’re still a potential iPhone buyer, the lineup has never looked so good. The iPhone 4 and the 4S remain on the market, and they both have a lot to offer, too, at a considerable discount.

Here’s a handy guide to what you get with each device, created by TechCrunch. We’ve tried to distill it down to the most important factors, and when you combine this with our chart detailing what each model does and doesn’t get with the iOS 6 update, you should have an easier time deciding which one to pick up.

With most of the software features and a form factor some might actually prefer, the iPhone 4S at $99 is a mighty fine-looking deal. It’ll be interesting to see, once carrier data and Apple’s own quarterly results come in, how popular that remains as a second tent pole in Apple’s overall lineup.

Of course, one other important factor to consider might be availability. The iPhone 5 will likely be scarce today, with lineups around the world sizeable at Apple Stores this morning, if you’ve got your heart set on the iPhone 5 it’s probably worth waiting for.

If you’ve upgraded to iOS 6, you’re probably—quite literally—lost. But the staff at Hackney Wick underground station in London have found a solution: iOS 6 users might be best off reverting to a good ol’ fashioned paper map. [Ben Mathis via Pocket-lint] More »

There are many people who are disappointed with the Maps app after upgrading their iOS version to iOS 6 (all 15% of iPhone users, in fact). Performance of the Maps app is without a doubt behind that of what Google Maps can offer, but to be fair to Apple, this is their first attempt to break away from Google Maps as part of their in-house navigation efforts, so perhaps things might change for the better down the road? We will just have to adopt a wait and see attitude.

Apple did release a statement on where their Maps app in iOS 6 is at the moment, giving us the impression that the Maps app in iOS 6 remains a work in progress, urging folks to continue using it instead of switching to a different app. The statement reads, “We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it. Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better.”

Hopefully Apple will be as good as their word.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple brings iOS 6 3D Maps to new cities, Verizon: too early to discuss FaceTime charges over 3G,

Today, Apple‘s new Maps app in iOS 6 has been the subject of a lot of criticism. Some iOS 6 users aren’t exactly satisfied with Apple’s attempt at entering the navigation space, and Nokia has jumped on the opportunity to talk about its own suite of navigation tools offered to its users. In a post on the Nokia Conversations blog, Nokia’s Pino Bonetti compared the company’s Location Platform to the competition with a series of benchmarks, taking a few shots at Apple in the process.

To be fair, the benchmarks include Google Maps along with Apple’s new Maps app, but this post is clearly capitalizing on the unrest surrounding Apple Maps. “Unlike our competitors, which are financing their location assets with advertising or licensing mapping content from third parties, we completely own, build and distribute mapping content, platform and apps,” Bonetti writes. “In other words, we truly understand that maps and location-based apps must be accurate, provide the best quality and be accessible basically anywhere. That’s been standard practice at Nokia for the past six years, and we also understand that ‘pretty’ isn’t enough. You expect excellence in your smartphone mapping experience.”

That’s some big talk, but Nokia’s benchmarks seem to back it up. In most cases, Nokia’s Maps suite comes out on top when compared to Google Maps and Apple’s new effort. There are a few instances where Google Maps matches Nokia’s Location Platform, but in almost all of the comparisons, Apple comes in last. Click the thumbnail below to see the full results of Nokia’s benchmark tests.

In this case, we have to say that Nokia has a right to brag. Nokia’s Location Platform is loved by users, and it’s easy to tell that a lot of work went into making it a solid set of apps. Google Maps may be the more popular navigation service (and admittedly it’s pretty good to boot), but the big G certainly has a worthy challenger in Nokia. What do you think of Nokia’s Location Platform? Do you prefer it over Google Maps?

Nokia takes a shot at poorly-received Apple Maps app is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Well this is interesting: it seems that a lot of iDevice owners were quick on the uptake with iOS 6 when the new mobile OS launched yesterday. A new report from analytics firm Chitika (as reported by TechCrunch) says that in the first 24 hours since the release of iOS 6, 15% of iOS users have already downloaded it. That’s a significant bump up from the adoption rate of iOS 5, which only managed to arrive on 20% of devices after the first five days.

The Chitika report also compares the adoption rate of iOS 6 to the roll out of Jelly Bean, which currently only resides on 1.5% of Android devices two months out from release. It seems a bit silly to compare the adoption rates of iOS 6 and Jelly Bean though, considering that Android manufacturers push the Jelly Bean updates instead of Google, whereas Apple has direct control over the push to iOS 6. Still, if you’re one of the folks who loves the platform wars, there are your side-by-side stats.

A separate independent report from Chartboost shows the same results that Chitika got, with 15% of Apple devices updating to iOS 6 in the first 24 hours (NOTE: both images in this post are from Chartboost). Chartboost’s report goes a little more in-depth, showing that iPhone users are the quickest to adopt, with 17% of iPhones now running iOS 6. By comparison, 13% of the iPads roaming around out there have updated to iOS 6, while only 9% of iPod Touches have updated. The vast majority of iDevices are still running iOS 5.1.1, but that’s bound to change in the coming days and weeks.

iOS 6 boasts a number of improved features of iOS 5, but one of the new features that is causing some controversy is the new Apple-developed Maps app for iOS 6. We’ve seen many complaints about Maps in iOS 6 today, but aside from that, most people seem to be happy with the update. What do you think of iOS 6 so far? Are you one of the many having issues with iOS 6 Maps?

iOS 6 updates hit 15% of devices in first 24 hours after release is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.