Hasta La Gadget!

Today it’s come to our attention that a collection of iPhone users out there believe that Apple might, in their next iteration of iOS, decide to give the average smartphone user Android-level customization options. I couldn’t disagree more. Though it’s clear that Apple should – in an early adopter’s dream universe – need by now to bring some major changes to their mobile operating system iOS, it’s just not going to happen. With Apple, change comes only when change is needed, and if you’ve seen the cash this company makes with each new iteration of its iPhone line and think they’re in dire need of any sort of radical change, you’re out of your mind.

What Apple should do, on the other hand, is tap two markets that it’s been avoiding since the dawn of the iPhone. The first of these is the customizing developer/hacker community that so ravenously devours each new Android phone. The second is the vast group of people rather rapidly accepting the ultra-large (but not quite tablet-sized) smartphone screen.

With the amount of attention each post about Jailbreaking gets here on SlashGear compared to the chatter that comes up each time iOS is updated, an instant conclusion can be drawn: it’s much more interesting (to those that reach tech blogs) to see the iPhone broken into than it is to see Apple bring on updates and upgrades. Where it gets really interesting is when Apple’s updates appear to be the direct result of Jailbreaking – hacks take a turn, Apple takes a turn, and so on and so forth.

So what if Apple created a Developer Edition iPhone?

Would it be so very anti-Apple to release a device that they encouraged the very real – and rather giant – developer community to customize?

Or would it be releasing their hardware to those that would change the software as they saw fit that made the iPhone into a device that’s not all that different from phones made by the Android-toting competition?

Then there’s the more obvious next step for the iPhone – a larger display size. Now that Apple has cracked the illusion that the iPhone 4′s screen size was the only one that – because of the massive amount of time that went into perfecting it – was ever going to be perfect, they can move on. Apple should and will create an iPhone that’s larger that the iPhone 5′s 4-inch display size limit.

But before they do that, they’ll have the ability to make this handheld machine bring on innovations we’ve not yet seen implemented on smartphones. If the rest of the smartphone universe is the Borg, they’ve already assimilated vast amounts of the “cool” that has pushed the iPhone to the top spot and kept it there for so many years. “The iPhone and Apple do not need help surviving”

The iPhone and Apple do not need help surviving – this is no call to action for Apple – they’ve still got one massively successul smartphone line on their hands. Instead consider this a call-to-action on the part of you lovers of game-changing innovation: Apple creates products people love. If everyone on the planet made it clear to Apple that they loved iOS better on the iPad mini than they do on the iPhone 5, you’d see a smartphone right between the two rather quick.

The same goes for you Jailbreaking-loving developers out there – continue to spread the love that is community evolution in software and you might – not any time soon – see an iPhone Developer Edition in your holiday stocking. Some day!

Dear Apple: Android-loving hacking developer hordes await you is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Android users can now, finally, get Up. A new app makes the health tracker work with phones running Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean.

Apple officially released iOS 6.1.3 unto the public today, and we knew it would patch up the infamous Evasi0n jailbreak, meaning that if you update your iPhone 5 or other newer iOS device to iOS 6.1.3, you’ll lose your jailbreak and won’t be able to go back. However, another jailbreak method has been released, and it works on iOS 6.1.3 on older iOS devices.

The jailbreak comes to us from Redsn0w, and it only applies to iOS devices running an A4 processor. It’s also a tethered-only jailbreak, meaning that you’ll have connect your iOS device to your computer each time you want to boot up your device, which can be a pain sometimes. The jailbreak isn’t compatible with any iPad, including the first-generation iPad (although iOS 6 isn’t even available for this iPad anyway).

Of course, it’s still best to remain on iOS 6.1.2 that way you don’t lose your untethered jailbreak. Plus, there could be a few jailbreak tweaks that you use that may not be compatible with iOS 6.1.3, so it’s always best to wait in that case as well. However, if you accidentally updated to the latest version that rolled out today, there’s still hope with this Redsn0w jailbreak.

This specific jailbreak tweak only works on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and the fourth-generation iPod Touch. You’ll need the Redsn0w software and the iOS 6.0 IPSW file for the jailbreak. From there, it’s just a matter of opening up Redsn0w and installing the various files necessary for the jailbreak. Again, this is a tethered jailbreak, so if you need to reboot, you’ll have to plug in your device to your computer and fire up Redsn0w to get it past the Apple boot-up logo.

[via Redmond Pie]

iOS 6.1.3 tethered jailbreak hits for older iOS devices is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

An exploit allowing anyone to easily bypass the passcode lock on an iOS device running iOS 6.1 was discovered last month, with Apple promising to fix it in an upcoming iOS release.  The iOS 6.1.3 beta introduced a fix for the passcode security exploit, and today, iOS 6.1.3 is out of beta and is now available for you passcode lock-using iOS owners who would rather not allow anyone access to your device.

iOS 6.1.3 only weighs in at 18.2MB, meaning you could get away with downloading it without needing a Wi-Fi network, although if you’re one of the over 14 million iOS users who have jailbroken their their device with evasi0n, you might want to rethink about updating to iOS 6.1.3 as a member of Evad3rs has said the update might break the jailbreak. We don’t know about you, but we would much rather keep our iOS devices jailbroken than running to an update that fixes a rather small security hole. We would rather get the all-clear sign from Evad3rs.

The iOS 6.1.3 update should now be available to all iOS devices. So if you don’t jailbreak your iOS device, then get cracking and start feeling more secure immediately!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Pearltrees Launches its Boticelli Version with Visual Enhancements, The ampjacket Amplifies Your iPhone, iPad Mini And iPod Touch’s Sound Naturally,

If there is one complaint we hear from Android users more than any other, it’s the speed at which software updates arrive. Or don’t arrive. It’s especially tough on tech enthusiasts who read about all the advantages of the new update, but can’t get it on their own devices for six months, if at all. Even brand new devices typically fail to launch with the latest version of Android. The Verizon Galaxy Nexus—a marquee Android flagship if there ever was one—only got its new Jelly Bean (Android 4.2) update today. More »