Hasta La Gadget!

The iPhone 5. It is taller, and has incremental improvements under the hood, and is shiny. (I’m staying away. Typing on glass is wrong.)

Of more import, the smartphone you carry is more than a communication device; it is potentially a government surveillance enabler. To whatever extent that is the case (depending on whose public pronouncements you believe), latent digital snooping was reinforced on the same day as the iPhone event. Two days after that, Google announced its intention to build a “Do Not Track” option into the Chrome browser, giving users some shielding from a different type of rampant surveillance — the type that creepily delivers knowingly targeted ads. The two issues differ in seriousness, but are related as privacy concerns. As our mobile and desktop devices get sexier, we become increasingly naked.

Continue reading Editorial: We, the digitally naked

Editorial: We, the digitally naked originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may be waiting on review time to figure out whether the iPhone 5 really is all that, but AT&T has already been swayed. It claims that preorders over the past few days have outpaced all previous models, making this the “fastest-selling iPhone the company has ever offered.” What the short announcement below doesn’t reveal, however, is absolute sales numbers — but those should start to come around soon enough.

Update: Soon was right.

Continue reading AT&T says iPhone 5 is ‘fastest selling’ model ever, neglects to mention actual numbers (update)

AT&T says iPhone 5 is ‘fastest selling’ model ever, neglects to mention actual numbers (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 05:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unsurprisingly, Apple left us in the dark regarding some specifics of the iPhone 5 upon its release. Thankfully, the good folks over at Anandtech have done a bit of digging into those numbers you see bordering Apple’s Apple A6 SoC, definitively figuring out that Cupertino’s latest phone packs in a total 1GB of Samsung-sourced memory. The site clocks the DRAM inside at 1,066Mhz, noting that it’s comprised of “two 512MB dies in a dual-channel LPDDR2 package with 32 bits per channel.” Further, Anandtech lists the the speed of the iPhone 5’s memory at 8,528MB/sec — an ample 33 percent boost over the 6,400MB/sec rating for the RAM in the iPhone 4S, but well below the 12,800 MB/sec needed to drive the new iPad’s bandwidth-hungry screen resolution.

Beyond that, the site believes that the A6 is Apple’s first truly in-house creation, as it’s using math units too new to be found in a ARM Cortex-A9 architecture (like the A5 or A5X) but reportedly isn’t a match for the soon-to-be-released Cortex-A15. If true, the implication is significant — it suggests Apple is taking the more aggressive path of a chip designer like Qualcomm and custom-tailoring large parts of its processor designs to get the speed it wants on a more exacting schedule. That’s a quick summation of the details; hit up the source links below if you want the explanation in full geek speak.

Jon Fingas contributed to this post.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Anandtech: Apple iPhone 5 features 1GB of RAM, A6 is a custom SoC originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you were miffed at having to pay $29 to adapt your existing iPhone accessories to the iPhone 5‘s newfangled Lightning connector, fear not: Apple will throw in the first adapter, gratis. Extras will still run the aforementioned sum, which Cupertino has justified by saying the units will include chips to enable features like analog and USB audio along with syncing and charging. There’s also a $39 cable version available, but neither format will let you output HDMI or VGA video — there’s more (as yet unpriced) adapters coming for that.

Update: Well, the plot thickens. We’re now hearing reports that the above wording is a mistake, and that the adapter isn’t included after all. The information comes via a reader of The Next Web, who advises Apple sales support informed them it was an error. Of course, we’re reaching out to get the final word on the matter. However, that won’t be much consolation to those who made a purchase based on incorrect info.

Update 2: The above wording is now nowhere to be found on Apple’s site, suggesting that it was indeed an error. We’ll keep you posted if we hear anything more.

Update 3: Well, we’ve just received word from Apple confirming that the iPhone 5 will not ship with a 30-pin to Lightning adapter, which is a bit of a bummer. But, it does come with a Lightning to USB adapter, so if your current accessories have a USB port, all hope is not lost. Sadly, the specific iPod out functionality found in BMWs and Minis is not supported. The full comment is below.

The Lightning to 30-pin adapter does not come in the box with iPhone 5. It is sold separately. However, the Lightning to USB cable does come with iPhone 5 for connection to AC chargers and other devices… The Lightning to 30 Pin adapter supports analog audio output, USB audio, as well as syncing and charging. Lightning to VGA and Lightning to HDMI cables will be available in the coming months.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Apple’s iPhone 5 will arrive with a free Lightning to 30-pin adapter (update: Apple officially says no it won’t) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile’s American branch would really like to scoop up a few iPhone owners, and we’re getting a better sense of just how far it’s willing to go to lure refuseniks who’d otherwise go to AT&T. A product matrix leaked to TmoNews both shows the US carrier’s specially branded nano-SIM cards and suggests they’ll be available in October. And while there wasn’t really any doubt, the cards should be in stores just for unlocked iPhone 5 models — “no T-Mobile devices require this SIM card,” the company tells its staff. The wait could be a pain, but the sighting at least provides some comfort to those who would only let their iPhone 5 run on Magenta’s network.

Update: Talk about under-the-radar confirmation: T-Mobile has mentioned in conversation that it hopes to carry nano-SIMs in mid-October.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

T-Mobile USA nano-SIM poses for the camera, may arrive in October (update: official) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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