Surely you have heard about Siri by now, right? Apple’s voice recognition/A.I. service launched exclusively on the iPhone 4S last week, to much fanfare. Many have hailed it as a revolutionary breakthrough in human-device interaction. Others, however, have dismissed it as a novelty, a gimmick, and a supreme time waster. I would never try to […]
After all of those months of hearing about “iPhone 5″ and “Nexus Prime” rumors, the actual devices have finally shown their faces to the public. Of course, the phones that we got are called the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus. Both are showcase devices for the latest versions of their respective platforms’ firmware. If […]
The iPhone 4S adds support for GLONASS, the Russian version of GPS
Apple isn’t a company that adds features which aren’t universally supported. Thus the original iPhone lacked 3G back before 3G was widely deployed, and the iPhone 4S still lacks a 4G radio for the same reasons.
But one surprise feature, noticed by Russian bloggers, is support for GLONASS in the iPhone 4GS. What’s that, you ask? GLONASS is Russia’s answer to GPS which, according to the Wikipedia, consists of 24 satellites. The full constellation has only recently been restored since it fell into disrepair in the 1990s, and will soon be armed and fully operational.
What does this mean? In practical terms, you will get to use either GPS or GLONASS, which offers some level of redundancy. Why has Apple added this now? Is it part of some plot to rule the world? No. It’s just that the latest generation of GPS chips from the likes of Qualcomm and Broadcom have added GLONASS support. This means it will likely be coming to pretty much every GPS device in the future.
Now, if only the Europeans could finish their ridiculously overdue Galileo system. I hear some Android phones already support it (rimshot).
iPhone 4S поддерживает ГЛОНАСС [iPhones.ru via Engadget]
See Also:
What does a Russian satellite system have to do with the iPhone 4S’ GPS capabilities? Allow us to explain. Russian site iPhones.ru recently noticed that the 4S’ spec page lists support for both assisted GPS and GLONASS — the Kremlin’s global navigation satellite system and acronym for GLObalnaya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema. The country launched GLONASS 35 years ago in the hopes that it would eventually provide an alternative to GPS and the EU’s forthcoming Galileo, thereby reducing Russia’s dependence upon US- or Europe-operated systems. The global system has since been beset by delays and budgetary setbacks, but last week, a Russian rocket successfully launched the 24th and final GLONASS satellite, completing the constellation and inching the infrastructure closer to full activation.
News of the iPhone 4S’ support has already elicited a delightfully surprised response from the Russian media, with daily Vedomosti writing: “If the iPhone 4S really does have Glonass navigation, this would be the first time the Russian system reached the world market.” (Nokia, it’s worth noting, announced in August that it would manufacture GLONASS-compliant handsets, while Samsung’s High Fidelity Position app offers similar compatibility.) In light of Russia’s economic and regulatory climate, however, the move may not seem so shocking. The Kremlin already imposes import taxes on handsets that don’t support GLONASS and, as Russia’s iGuides.ru points out, has even threatened non-compliant devices with an outright ban. Apple, meanwhile, has made no secret of its interest in expanding its influence within the country, with CEO Tim Cook recently referring to the Russian market as “more promising.” It remains to be seen whether this added support results in sharper navigation capabilities, or if it enhances Apple’s presence within Russia, but it’s certainly a compelling development, nonetheless.
[Thanks, AXR]
iPhone 4S supports GLONASS satellite system, much to the delight of Russia originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
9to5Mac | 
iPhones.ru (Russian), iGuides.ru | Email this | Comments
Apple will be expanding its iPhone 4S availability to another U.S. carrier in the next few weeks. No, it’s not T-Mobile, but rather C Spire Wireless, a small, regional carrier that’s popular in Mississippi and pockets of the Southeast. It’s hard to resist that Southern charm.
C Spire, which runs a CDMA-based network like Verizon and Sprint, will begin selling the iPhone 4S “in the coming weeks.” C Spire hasn’t released many details about the announcement, but Jim Richmond, director of corporate communications, said that interested consumers can sign up on the C Spire website to find out more information as it becomes available.
The C Spire announcement comes as a surprise to most Apple enthusiasts, as C Spire isn’t as well known as other national carriers, such as T-Mobile, or even Cricket Wireless. But maybe all the surprise stems from a likelihood that most Apple watchers are concentrated in large, metropolitan markets.
“C Spire offers Apple access to a region typically neglected by the larger carriers and provides the potential for additional growth away from the urban centers Apple already dominates,” John Feland, CEO of analytics firm Argus Insights, says.
Another reason so few people have heard of C Spire Wireless: The company used to be known as Cellular South. The privately held regional carrier primarily has store locations in Mississippi, along with a few locations in neighboring regions of Alabama, Tennessee and Florida.
The iPhone 4S originally launched on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint on Friday, Oct. 14. The handset promises to be a big money maker for carrier partners, and has already sold more than 4 million units in its first weekend alone. In the past, the iPhone was exclusive to AT&T, and then Verizon began supporting the iPhone 4 in January of this year.
Given lowered price points for the iPhone 3GS and 4, it’s clear that Apple is trying to branch out and make its smartphone accessible to more customers. The majority of cellphone owners aren’t yet smartphone owners, whether due to tight personal budgets, network coverage issues, or because they feel they don’t need smartphone features. But partnering with a carrier in an under-served area where smartphones don’t yet rule the roost could provide Apple with a large number of potential new adopters.
Indeed, the location of C Spire’s customer base offers a number of benefits for Apple that may not be immediately obvious. First, Southerners are typically regarded late technology adopters, says Feland (and as a Texas native who spent several years in Tennessee and Mississippi, I can attest to this as well). This means C Spire has strong potential in converting “feature phone” users to iPhone users. What’s more, thanks to an improved broadband infrastructure and the exploding popularity of social media platforms like Facebook, technology-averse Southern customers might now be more easily swayed to purchase an iPhone, confident that (a) they’ll actually have reliable network service, and (b) they’ll have something really fun to do with their new devices.
But what of T-Mobile? Well, it’s a large national carrier, but already has a presence in the same places as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. Because of this, “there are marginal additional unit sales available” for Apple to leverage, says Feland. And, of course, adding a heavyweight like T-Mobile to the mix could anger Apple’s existing iPhone partners. Working with C Spire, the nation’s 8th largest carrier, meanwhile, shouldn’t give anyone much of a scare.
“C Spire’s strong regional presence offers Apple more bang for their buck as they continue to push off an iPhone in every hand and an iPad in every home,” says Feland. “The Southern market is ripe for Apple’s picking.”
Whether C Spire will sell the iPhone 3GS or 4 isn’t yet known. Nor are the carrier’s pricing plans. However, C Spire could potentially offer unlimited data, as the company has an “80/40 plan” that offers unlimited minutes, data and messaging for $80 per month for the first line on a plan, and a mere $40 for additional lines. Currently, Sprint is the only carrier that offers an unlimited data plan for iPhone 4S owners.
Updated 3:38 P.M. with information from C Spire.
The iPhone 4S’s Siri is sassy and she’s everybody’s new favorite toy, but it turns out she’s leaving the door open for strangers to access information on your phone even when it’s passcode locked. Siri! How could you? More »
We promised you some unexpected surprises, and it’s time that we delivered. Distro’s very first special edition is ready for download (and yes, it’s available on PDF too). This one’s all about a device that’s never failed to get folks talking. Yup! It’s the iPhone special issue. Love it or hate it, Apple’s flagship phone has had an undeniable impact on the mobile space. In this issue, we’ll dive deep into Cupertino’s latest with our iPhone 4S review and shed some light on the phones that came before with The Evolution of the iPhone. So hop on that iPad, or hit the link below, and download Distro’s very special new issue.
Distro Special Edition PDF
Distro on the iTunes App Store
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter
Engadget Distro’s first special edition traces the origins of the iPhone 4S originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | iTunes | Email this | Comments
Whoa, stop the presses — we’re not sure if this is officially in the pipeline or if it’s just a matter of wishful thinking, but Sprint may not be the smallest carrier in the US to offer an iPhone 4S for much longer. That’s right: regional carrier C-Spire (formerly known as Cellular South) has the iconic device splattered front and center on its home page, stating that it’s coming soon. We’re not certain if the iPhone 4 will be offered as well, and no specific availability or pricing is given yet, but you can sign up to be notified as soon as more 411 is ready. The possibility of one of the little guys getting the iPhone is an exciting prospect, since it may lead the charge for more regional service providers to get Apple’d up. We love rooting for the underdog, after all.
Update: And just like that, it’s official, folks! C-Spire just reached out to us to confirm that iPhone pre-registration begins today, with the device launch in “the coming weeks.” Needless to say, if you’re a C-Spire customer, your holiday wish list may have just grown.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Is C-Spire getting the iPhone 4S? Its website says so (Update: confirmed) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | C-Spire | Email this | Comments
Continue reading Audyssey’s Lower East Side Audio Dock Air: square to be cool
Audyssey’s Lower East Side Audio Dock Air: square to be cool originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Audyssey | Email this | Comments
Behold: Razr redux.
Tuesday morning, Motorola announced its new flagship Android smartphone, the Droid Razr. Now, after spending some quality hands-on time with the phone, I can say it’s poised to become a formidable competitor in the Android space — if not also a challenge to Apple’s much-lauded iPhone 4S.
Motorola is celebrating the new Razr as the world’s thinnest smartphone, and its slim packaging is the first thing I noticed as soon as I picked it up. At 7.1 mm, the Razr dethrones the previous “thinnest device” title holder — Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc — by a full 1.6 mm. It’s difficult to tell just how thin the Razr is from promotional press shots, but considering the amount of high-end hardware packed inside — a 1.2GHz dual-core TI processor, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (16GB care of a microSD card) — the phone’s svelte shape is impressive.
In order to slim down the phone’s profile, Motorola used threaded Kevlar fiber on the Razr’s back casing. This material, most famously used in bullet-proof vests, helps maintain structural integrity while keeping the phone’s figure trim.
With Kevlar on one side and a sculpted Gorilla Glass display on the other, the Razr is built for durability, yes. The phone’s innards, however, are also sealed inside a stainless steel interior chassis for extra shock absorbancy and all-around toughness. The phone is named after one of the most successful gadgets in Motorola history – a product famous for its iconic design — and it’s clear that Moto paid attention to all design features in order to elevate the Razr to a marquee-level status worthy of its namesake.
Here you can see the Razr's Kevlar surfacing — as well as the top portion of the phone, which exceeds Motorola's category-besting 7.1mm thickness.
But how does this curious object feel? Well, however attractive its hard edges and boxy aesthetic may be, the squared-off chassis did feel a bit awkward in my hands. The display measures in at 4.3 inches. It’s by no means the largest screen on the market, but the phone itself feels considerably larger than what a 4.3-inch display should suggest. But I did enjoy the Razr’s Kevlar backing. The woven material is soft to the touch, with a pleasingly grippy surface quality.
I loved the image quality of the screen. Photos render in crisp detail, with bright, brilliant colors. Shah said in order to save on battery life, the design team went with Samsung’s Super AMOLED display, which is famous for its modest power requirements. Considering that the phone comes with a battery-sucking 4G LTE radio, you’ll want every bit of power conservation that Moto’s engineers can muster.
One of my favorite Razr features is Motorola’s Smart Actions app. In essence, it’s a user-friendly scripting tool that helps control all the phone features that suck down battery life. Using Smart Actions, you can set up automatic tripwires that will adjust screen brightness, Wi-Fi, 4G and GPS settings when power conservation becomes critical. For example, you can set the Razr to automatically lower its display brightness as soon as battery life drops below 30 percent.
Smart Actions also contains settings that have nothing to do with battery conservation — for example, automatically switching your phone from vibrate to ringing mode when GPS detects that you’ve arrived at home. How ’bout them apples, Siri?
This full-frontal shot shows how the Razr compares to an iPhone 4/4S. You get a much bigger screen, and the Razr even weighs 13 grams less.
As with most of Motorola’s high-end devices since the debut of the Atrix in January, the Razr will launch with a slew of peripheral options. Back again are the webtop and lapdock stations. Like those that work with the Atrix, Photon and Bionic handsets, the webtop dock allows you to plug the Razr into an HD charging station and connect to an external HD monitor. As such, you’re able to use the phone as makeshift computer. Moto’s patented webtop environment is a nifty desktop-style UI, complete with the ability to surf the web using Mozilla’s Firefox Browser.
The new dock comes correct with Ethernet and USB support among other business travel-friendly goodies.
Shah said Motorola learned from user experience studies of previous lapdock-capable phones, and, as a result, its two new docks include extra ports and connectivity option. Specifically, the Razr-compatible Lapdock 500 Pro now features an Ethernet port and multiple USB ports. In essence, it has most of the I/O attributes of an actual laptop.
The company has bet big on connectivity and peripheral hardware options before, and failed miserably in execution (see Atrix, Xoom, et al.). But after these first impressions, it seems Motorola’s Razr redux may have gotten peripherals right.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
