According to a Citi analyst, Apple is prepping a next-generation iPad — likely called an iPad 3 — for a February release.

Such a device would be similar to the iPad 2, but include Apple’s high-resolution retina display technology found on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S by doubling the iPad 3′s screen resolution, said analyst Richard Gardner in a research note first reported on by Business Insider and PCMag.

Gardner reportedly said that “several sources” told him that Apple could launch the iPad 3 as early as February, which would put its debut ahead of the first two generations of Apple’s tablet.

The first iPad hit stores in April 2010 after being unveiled the month before, and the iPad 2 was unveiled and released in March 2011.

The analyst also said that “there do not appear to be any significant technical hurdles remaining” to prevent the launch of a high-resolution iPad, which contradicts previous reports that fitting such a dense screen into an Apple tablet was one of the reasons Apple iPad 2 maintained the 1024 x 768 resolution of the first iPad.

Both the first iPad and iPad 2 displays have a pixel density of 132 pixels per inch (or ppi).

Apple’s iPhone 4 and 4S have what is classified as a retina display, with a resolution of 960 x 640 resolution, and a 326 ppi. Any display with a ppi of 300 or greater is said be so dense that pixels are indistinguishable from each other to the human eye at a distance of about 10 to 12 inches — and thus, those displays can be dubbed retina displays.

Tablets with higher screen resolution have been released by Apple rivals and more are on the way, but nothing close to a retina display tablet has surfaced yet — though Samsung has been working on it for months.

Among the most anticipated iPad competitors coming soon is the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, which features a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.

Gardner also estimated that Apple would sell about 12 million to 13 million iPads in the final three months of this year.

The major sales competitor to Apple’s iPad is widely considered the Amazon Kindle Fire, which boasts much lower specs than iPads and Eee Pads. The research firm IHS iSuppli has estimated that Amazon will ship about 3.9 million Kindle Fire tablets before the end of the year.

In the past, Apple normally released new generations of its products about a year apart, though the iPad 2 did arrive 11 months after the first iPad, and recently the tech giant waited 16 months before releasing the iPhone 4S after the iPhone 4.

Apple is currently the leading tablet seller worldwide, with an estimated 65% share of the market.

Source

Apple just release it’s iOS 5.0.1 to fix the power drain issue. This firmware can be downloaded automatically over WIFI saving you the trouble of updating it through itunes with USB cable.

It is 38.9MB in size and it does the following :

- it fixes bugs affecting battery life
- Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
- Improves voice recognition for Austrailan users using dictation

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s SingTel has developed an application to rival the voice-activated Siri on the iPhone 4S that can understand the republic’s widely spoken Singlish – a localised version of the English language which include words like leh, la, how huh etc.

This is probably a response by Singapore telco Singtel to ensure that customers get the best experience from their brand new iPhone 4S as there are many youtube videos that shows Siri either responding with a completely irrelevant answer or simply saying it does not understand when the phone was first launched in Japan.

Singapore Telecom (SingTel) says its new app, DeF!ND, will help Singaporeans who use “Singlish” to decipher uniquely Singaporean accents, names and locations.

It made its public debut at the stroke of midnight Thursday, when SingTel Singapore chief executive Allen Lew gave it an instruction in a decidedly local accent as he launched the iPhone 4S in the city-state.

“We have a voice application capability in DeF!ND that is unique because it understands the local language… which the voice recognition engine within an international device like Apple doesn’t quite have,” Lew said after the launch.

“When we tried to test different voice recognition systems including… Siri, we found that the Singaporean accent is pretty unique and the common international voice recognition systems don’t quite pick up the nuance of how we speak,” Lew added.

“And of course our street names and our food names are very local so we developed and trained this new system to allow it to recognise it better.”

DeF!ND will be available for free on the Android platform and Apple’s iTunes “soon,” a Singtel spokesman told AFP.

The three Singapore telcos, M1, Starhub and Singtel has already announced their price plans for the new Apple iPhone 4S that goes on sale on 28 OCT 2011.

We have consolidated the various price plans into this chart for your easy reference. So, which telco give you the best deal? Let’s analyse it for you.

If you are on a budget constraint and wants the latest gadget at minimum cost, the M1 plan seems to be the cheapest among the three telcos. At S$36 a month, you get the same amount of local outgoing minutes. Other than the iPhone 4S 16G is $7 more expensive than the two other telcos, the 32GB and 64GB model are relatively cheaper than Singtel and Starhub.

What about the S$56-$59.90 range plans ? For this plan, M1 again is the cheapest in terms of per month subscription.  Data bundle are all 12 GB. SMS doesn’t really matter as you can use Whatsapp or imessaging  on iOS.  Other than it’s pricing of iPhone 4S 32GB which is more expensive than Singtel, both Starhub and Singtel can’t match M1′s pricing.

As for the $98-$99.99 range, M1 again seems to edge out the two competitors. It has unlimited data bundle. So, you can use this plan to replace your broadband if the HSPA speeds are good at your location. With unlimited data, you can make SKYPE calls, download videos without worry. M1 is also generous to provide 700 minutes of outgoing calls. The price for it’s 4S 32GB is also cheapest of all. As for iPhone 4S 64GB, Singtel is $2 cheaper but you pay $2 more monthly for the subscription.

Now, the highest plans. M1 again is cheapest at S$198. Singtel and Starhub both has 2000 minutes and 2000 SMS bundled in. M1 on the other hand gives you unlimited incoming calls. Data is both unlimited on M1 and Starhub but capped at 30GB for Singtel. You don’t have to pay upfront for iPhone 4S 16GB and 32GB models. As for iPhone 4S 64GB model, Singtel is $7 dollars cheaper than M1 at S$115 and Starhub at S$128.

Before you decide on which operator and plan to take. It is important to know some of the perks that are available on the various networks. Among the 3, Singtel and Starhub both has 3G video streaming from their pay tv service. M1 on the other hand lacks out this feature.

Secondly, Singtel so far has the widest coverage and signal shouldn’t be an issue in most parts of the country. The other two operators do have good signals in prominent towns and in city area. 3G signal coverage is not as far reach as Singtel.

Thirdly, you have to consider the network. If you use the data bundle for serving internet, which one gives you a better experience in terms of speed and loading?

Fourthly, if you travel often, you might want to check who are their roaming partners. Certain roaming partners offer better roaming rates if you log into their network when overseas.

So, good luck and enjoy your new iPhone 4S. Any comments, please post them at this link http://forums.ocworkbench.com/showthread.php?p=488156#post488156

Comment at the end of the post.

M1 to launch iPhone 4S on 28 October

SINGAPORE, 22 October 2011 – M1 today announced that it will offer the iPhone 4S in Singapore on 28 October, Friday. iPhone 4S will be available starting at $505 for the 16GB model, $630 for the 32GB model and $770 for the 64GB model. Customers can select from a range of four iPhone tariff plans, with monthly subscriptions starting from as low as $36.

iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics and full 1080p HD resolution video recording. With the launch of iPhone 4S also comes the launch of iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features; and iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.

“We are excited to introduce the amazing new iPhone 4S on M1’s advanced mobile network,” said P. Subramaniam, Chief Marketing Officer, M1 Limited. “Our customers will now enjoy an even better experience with download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps when they subscribe to M1’s unbeatable iPhone tariff plans.”

M1 will celebrate the iPhone 4S launch at midnight on 28 October at its Paragon flagship store. Customers may also obtain iPhone 4S from 7:00am on 28 October at M1 retail shops at Bugis Junction, Change Alley, IMM, Tampines, Plaza Singapura and Westmall, as well as at selected exclusive dealer shops at Ang Mo Kio Hub, Sun Plaza, Jurong Point and Toa Payoh Blk 190. iPhone 4S will also be available online at m1shop.com.sg.

Pricing and tariff plans:

iPhone Value iPhone Lite
iPhone Extreme iPhone Max
Monthly Subscription $36 $56 $98 $198
Free Local Voice/
Video Calls 100mins 300mins 700mins Unlimited
Free Local SMS & MMS 500 500 500 2,000
Free Local Data Bundle (Up to 14.4Mbps) 12GB
12GB
Unlimited
Unlimited

iPhone 4S 16GB $505 $235 $0 $0
iPhone 4S 32GB $630 $370 $70 $0
iPhone 4S 64GB $770 $510 $210 $115

Note: All iPhone plans and prices are inclusive of 7 percent GST.
Maximum excess data usage charges capped at $30 on Value and Lite plans.

Apple 4S has gone on sale in various countries yesterday. Our friends at ePrice in Hong Kong managed to get hold of a set through their own means from Australia. They put the shiny brand new iPhone 4S powered by iOS 5.0 against the older iPhone 4 to a test on web browsing speed, application loading time and lastly the speech recognition assistant SIRI using Hong Kong style English. Check out the videos below :

Round 1 : Web browsing

Round 2 : Game loading speed

If you are a non English native speaker, Apple’s iPhone 4S SIRI engine will probably piss you off. Below is a video of a Japanese man testing out the voice recognition engine. It is a total disaster. Check out the video and comment.

There are reports in forums everywhere that users are unable to activate their iOS 5, noting that Apple’s activation servers are beginning to go down. They are left with error code 3200 and it unable to complete the activation. This means that the phone can’t be used and is stucked.

Some users reinstalled and waited and finally they can get it installed and activated while others are left with ‘bricked’ phones.

While our American counterparts are happily bricking their phones, Asia users still are stucked with iTunes 10.4 and check for updates doesn’t show the existance of iOS 5.0 for download.

For users who are experiencing issues, they can actually download the IPSW file and update it by supplying the filename OPTION KEY + CHECK for UPDATE.

Share your experiences with updating of iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad in the comments section below.

Siri, Apple’s new voice recognition engine comes with the new iPhone 4S. Although this phone is meant for the internetional market, the SIRI engine only recognises American, British english accents. What would happen if you are a non native speaker of English ? Check out this video from razor.tv

Apple to Launch iCloud on 13 October

Breakthrough Set of Free Cloud Services Includes iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream & Documents in the Cloud

SINGAPORE, Singapore―5 October 2011―Apple® today announced that iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services, including iTunes® in the Cloud, Photo Stream and Documents in the Cloud, that work seamlessly with your iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices, will be available on 13 October. iCloud stores your photos, apps, contacts, calendars, documents and more, keeping them up to date across all your devices. When content changes on one device, all your other devices are updated automatically and wirelessly.

“iCloud is the easiest way to manage your content, because iCloud does it all for you and goes far beyond anything available today,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “You don’t have to think about syncing your devices, because it happens automatically, and it is free.”

iTunes in the Cloud lets you automatically download new app purchases to all your devices, so you can buy an app on your iPad and find it waiting for you on your iPhone―no syncing required.

iCloud’s innovative Photo Stream service lets you take a photo on one device and have it automatically appear on your other devices. A photo you take on your iPhone is sent to iCloud and automatically pushed to your iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC. iCloud also automatically pushes a copy of the photos you’ve imported from your digital camera over Wi-Fi or Ethernet, so you can view them on your other devices. iCloud manages your Photo Stream efficiently, showing your last 1000 photos so you don’t run out of storage space.

iCloud’s Documents in the Cloud keeps your documents up to date across all your devices, automatically, so you don’t have to. For example, if you create a document using Pages® on your iPad, that document is automatically sent to iCloud. When you use Pages on another iOS device, you can open the same document with your latest changes and pick up editing or reading right where you left off. Apple’s iWork® apps for iOS, Pages, Numbers® and Keynote® will take advantage of iCloud storage, and Apple is also offering developers the APIs they need to enable their apps to work seamlessly with Documents in the Cloud.

iCloud lets you see your App Store™purchase history and download those apps to any of your devices at any time. Purchased apps can be automatically downloaded to your devices, not just the device they were purchased on. Simply tap the iCloud icon and download your purchased apps to any of your iOS devices at no additional cost.

iCloud Backup automatically and securely backs up your most important information to iCloud daily over Wi-Fi whenever your iOS device is connected to a power source. Once you plug it in, everything is backed up quickly and efficiently. iCloud already stores your purchased apps and Photo Stream; iCloud Backup takes care of everything else, backing up your photos and video in the Camera Roll, device settings, app data, home screen and app organisation, messages and ringtones. iCloud Backup can even help you set up a new iOS device or restore the information on one you already own.**

iCloud works seamlessly with your Contacts, Calendar and Mail, so you can share calendars with friends and family, and your ad-free Mail account is hosted at me.com. Your inboxes and folders are kept up to date across your iOS devices and computers, and with icloud.com you have easy web access to your Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Find My iPhone and iWork documents.

The Find My iPhone app can help you if one of your devices is missing. Just use the free Find My iPhone app on another device, or sign in at icloud.com from a computer to see your missing iPhone, iPad or iPod touch on a map, display a message, and remotely lock or wipe your missing device. Find My iPhone now lets you locate a missing Mac running OS X Lion.

Find My Friends is a new app available as a free download from the App Store that lets you easily share your location with people who are important to you. Friends and family appear on a map so you can quickly see where they are. Find My Friends also lets you temporarily share your location with a group of friends, whether it’s for a couple of hours for a dinner or a couple of days on a camping trip; when the time is up, the sharing ends. With Find My Friends, you get a notification every time you get a new friend request and if you give them permission, they can see your location. With a simple tap you can hide your location. Parental controls help you manage how your child uses Find My Friends.

iCloud will be available concurrently with iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, which includes over 200 new features including Notification Center, an innovative way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption; iMessage™, a new messaging service that lets you easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS 5 users; and Newsstand, a new way to purchase and organise your newspaper and magazine subscriptions.

Pricing & Availability
iCloud will be available on 13 October as a free download to iPhone, iPad or iPod touch users running iOS 5 or a Mac running OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased apps and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. Using iCloud with a PC requires Windows Vista or Windows 7; Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended for accessing contacts and calendars. Additional iCloud storage upgrades are available to purchase starting at SGD$20 inc. Tax a year for 10GB, SGD$40 inc. Tax a year for 20GB and SGD$100 inc. Tax a year for 50GB.

iOS 5 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and iPod touch (third and fourth generation) customers, allowing them to experience the amazing new features.

*iCloud is available worldwide. iTunes in the Cloud varies by country. iTunes in the Cloud may be used on up to 10 devices with the same Apple ID. iTunes Match and TV shows are US-only.

**Backup of purchased music is not available in all countries. Backup of purchased TV shows is US only. A purchased item may be unavailable to be restored if it is no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store or iBookstore.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Apple Brings Great New Features & More Affordable Pricing to iPod touch & iPod nano

SINGAPORE, Singapore―5 October 2011―Apple® today announced great new features and more affordable pricing for both iPod touch® and iPod nano®. iPod touch will be available in new black and white models starting at just suggested retail price SGD$288 inc. Tax, including Apple’s new iOS 5 and iCloud® services. The new iPod nano is available today starting at just SRP SGD$180 inc. Tax and features a redesigned user interface, 16 new digital clock faces and improved built-in fitness features.

“iPod has revolutionised the way we listen to music and with over 320 million sold is the world’s most popular music player,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPod touch, now available in both black and white, is the best selling iPod ever, and with iOS 5 and iCloud it is better than ever.”

The new iPod touch includes iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, which includes over 200 new features including iMessage™, Game Center, Notifications and Wi-Fi Syncing to iTunes®. iMessage brings the functionality of iPhone® messaging to your iPod touch, so you can easily send text messages, photos, videos and contact information to an individual or group on other iOS 5 devices. It also allows you to easily maintain one conversation across all your iOS devices—for free—with notifications, read receipts and typing indication.* Game Center enhancements include the ability to add photos to your profile, purchase new games from within the Game Center app, and even easier ways to find friends and new games.

iPod touch also works with iCloud, Apple’s breakthrough set of free cloud services, including iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream and Documents in the Cloud, that work seamlessly with your iPhone, iPad®, iPod touch, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content and push it to your devices. When content changes on one device, all your other devices are updated automatically and wirelessly.

iPod nano now features larger icons for even easier navigation of its intuitive Multi-Touch™ user interface, and you can choose from 16 new digital clock faces, ranging from classic analog looks to your favourite Disney characters including Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. iPod nano now tracks your runs and walks right out of the box with no accessory required, making it even easier to get your fitness program up and running. iPod nano can track the time, pace and distance of your run, the calories you burn, and the number of steps you walk. iPod nano encourages you with motivational real-time voice feedback during your run, available in seven languages, while listening to your favourite music or FM radio station. You can also easily upload workouts to the Nike+ website to set goals, track your progress and challenge friends. The ultra portable iPod nano is available in six colours including silver, graphite, blue, green, orange and pink.

With the App Store™ on iPod touch, users have access to the world’s largest and best collection of over 500,000 apps, including over 100,000 game and entertainment titles.

iPod is the world’s most popular family of music players. Apple’s holiday lineup includes iPod shuffle® for just SRP SGD$68 inc. Tax; iPod nano with Multi-Touch starting at just SRP SGD$180 inc. Tax; iPod touch available in black or white, including iOS 5 and iCloud, starting at just SRP SGD$288 inc. Tax; and iPod classic® in a 160GB model for SRP SGD$348 inc. Tax.

Pricing & Availability
iPod nano is available today for a suggested retail price of SGD$180 inc. Tax for the 8GB model and SGD$208 inc. Tax for the 16GB model. Both models are available in silver, graphite, blue, green, orange and pink through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com/sg) and Apple Authorised Resellers. iPod nano requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.5.8 or later and iTunes 10 or later; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later and iTunes 10 or later.

iPod touch with iOS 5 and iCloud will be available 13 October in black and white for a suggested retail price of SGD$288 inc. Tax for the 8GB model, SGD$428 inc. Tax for the 32GB model and SGD$588 inc. Tax for the 64GB model through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/sg)and Apple Authorised Resellers. iPod touch requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later and iTunes 10 or later; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later and iTunes 10.5 or later. iOS 5 will also be available as a free software update for iPod touch (third and fourth generations) customers allowing them to experience the amazing new features including iMessage, Game Center, Notifications and Wi-Fi Syncing to iTunes.

Apple Launches iPhone 4S, iOS 5 & iCloud

iPhone 4S Features Dual-Core A5 Chip, All New Camera, Full 1080p HD Video Recording & Introduces Siri

SINGAPORE, Singapore―5 October 2011―Apple® today announced iPhone® 4S, the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri™, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. With the launch of iPhone 4S also comes the launch of iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features; and iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.

“iPhone 4S plus iOS 5 plus iCloud is a breakthrough combination that makes the iPhone 4S the best iPhone ever,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “While our competitors try to imitate iPhone with a checklist of features, only iPhone can deliver these breakthrough innovations that work seamlessly together.”

iPhone 4S comes with iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, which includes over 200 new features including Notification Center, an innovative way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption and iMessage™, a new messaging service that lets you easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS 5 users. iOS 5 will also be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS customers allowing them to experience these amazing new features.*

iPhone 4S also introduces Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. Siri understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, for example, if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Siri is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell Siri “Remind me to call Mum when I get home” it can find “Mum” in your address book, or ask Siri “What’s the traffic like around here?” and it can figure out where “here” is based on your current location. Siri helps you make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more. You can also get answers, find facts and even perform complex calculations just by asking.

iCloud is a breakthrough set of free cloud services, including iTunes® in the Cloud, Photo Stream and Documents in the Cloud, that work seamlessly with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices. When content changes on one device, all your other devices are updated automatically and wirelessly.

iPhone 4S includes an all new camera with the most advanced optics of any phone. The 8 megapixel sensor has 60 percent more pixels so you can take amazing high quality photos with more detail than ever. iPhone 4S includes a new custom lens, a larger f/2.4 aperture and an advanced hybrid IR filter that produce sharper, brighter and more accurate images. The Apple-designed image signal processor in the A5 dual-core chip is built for performance, and coupled with the features built into iOS 5, makes the camera one of the fastest on any phone. With iPhone 4S, the Camera app launches much faster and the shot to shot capability is twice as fast, so you’ll never miss another shot.

New features in the Camera and Photos apps give you instant access to the camera right from the lock screen, and you can also use the volume-up button to quickly snap a photo. Optional grid lines help line up your shot and a simple tap locks focus and exposure on one subject; and the new Photos app lets you crop, rotate, enhance and remove red-eye, and organise your photos into albums right on your device to share them on the go. New iOS 5 features include built-in Twitter integration and iMessage, so you can instantly share your photos via Twitter directly from the Photos app and send photos via iMessage to individuals or groups. And with iCloud’s innovative new Photo Stream service, a photo you take on your iPhone is sent to iCloud and automatically pushed to your iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC.

iPhone 4S can also now record video in full 1080p HD resolution and with the new video image stabilization feature, you can take richer, smoother videos. Other iPhone 4S video camera improvements include increased sensitivity, sharpness and an increased ability to capture video in low light conditions. With the new iMessage service in iOS 5, you can now instantly share videos with family and friends.

iPhone 4S has the same beautifully thin glass and stainless steel design that millions of customers around the world love, while being completely redesigned on the inside. Apple’s dual-core A5 chip delivers up to twice the processing power and up to seven times faster graphics than iPhone 4, all while maintaining incredible battery life—now up to 8 hours of 3G talk time.

Improving on the innovative stainless steel external, dual-antenna design of iPhone 4, iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive. iPhone 4S now supports twice the download speed with HSDPA of up to 14.4 Mbps and iPhone 4S is a world phone, so both CDMA and GSM customers can now roam internationally on GSM networks.**

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 4 will also be available for just SRP SGD$788 inc. Tax and iPhone 3GS will be available for SRP SGD$548 inc. Tax. iPhone 4S will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK on Friday, 14 October, and will roll out worldwide to 22 more countries by the end of October including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. iPhone 4S pricing has not been announced for Singapore.
Siri will be available in beta on iPhone 4S in English (localised for US, UK and Australia), French and German. iOS 5 software will be available on 13 October as a free software update via iTunes 10.5 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch customers.

Apple on Tuesday unveiled the iPhone 4S, a faster version of its best-selling smartphone.

The phone looks identical to a previous model of the phone, but contains an A5 processor with up to 2x faster processing data and up to 7x faster graphics than previous iPhone. It sports a dual core graphics chip.

The phone also has “fantastic battery life,” allowing people to talk for eight hours on the phone before needing to charge it again, said Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice-president for product marketing.

Improved battery life 8 hours of 3G talk time, 14 hours of 2G talk time, 6 hours on 3G browsing. The phone is a world phone, supportnig GSM and CDMA networks. So you can roam in any country in the world with iPhone 4S. For data packets, the downlink data rate is also upgraded 14.4Mbps.

The camera feature is improved too with a 8 mega pixel camera that takes photos of resolution of up to 3264×2448. It can shoot 1080p HD video with image stabilization.

Siri is an application that can voice assist th users. Just speak into it and it will launch the app. Apple says Siri will be initially be “beta” in that it will be adding more languages over time. Siri will be built in to iPhone 4S at launch, with support for English, French and German.

Iphone 4S comes in black and white. The pricing are 16GB for $199, 32Gb for $299 and 64GB for $399 with a 2 yrs contract in the US.

The iPhone 4 will be available at S$99 for 8GB in black and white. iPhone 3GS 8GB is free for 2 yrs contract.

Preorder for iPhone 4S can be made from oct 7 and will be available on Oct 14. It will first be launched in US, canada, Australia, UK, france, germany, Japan.

In US, it is available with AT&T and great new partner Verizon, and also Sprint. In Japan, it is available on SoftBank, also for the first time, KDDI.

22 more countries will be added to the list on Oct 28. 70 country with over 100 carriers will be selling iPhone 4S by end of 2011.

At the launch, Apple also unveil the new white colour iPod touch. The iPod touch was 8GB for $229, but now it’s $199. The other models will be priced at Ipod touch $299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB. The iPod touch will run iOS 5 and other will also run iMessage and other apps.

Apple share price dipped -12.09 (-3.23%) to $362.51 at 2.44pm EST

Check out the ongoing tweets from various sources at http://www.twitter.com/ocworkbench

Apple will launch its next-generation iPhone 5 in five initial markets on October 14th according to a new report from Macotakara. The site, which has a mixed track record, reports that Apple will release the new device in the United States, the U.K., Germany, Japan and France on that date, with launches in additional markets to follow. The date aligns closely with earlier comments from France Telecom CEO Stéphane Richard, who said the iPhone 5 would launch from Orange on October 15th, a Saturday. Apple launched the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS on Fridays, and the iPhone 4 launched on a Thursday last year. Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to unveil at least one new iPhone model next week at a press conference to be held at the company’s Cupertino, California campus.

Source

Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal confirmed reports that Apple will release the next generation iPhone later this fall. According to various sources close to the supply line, the iPhone 5 is expected to be trimmed down in comparison to the already popular iPhone 4 model. While there is no word on whether Apple will name the next generation smartphone the iPhone 5 or the iPhone 4s, the new model will be both lighter and thinner than the current iPhone 4 model.

In addition, the report suggests that the next iPhone model will have a camera upgraded to 8 megapixels, a resolution boost up from the iPhone 4′s 5-megapixel sensor and a confirmation of an earlier rumor that the next generation smartphone will sport the same powerful A5 processor as the iPad This improvement would yield a significant speed boost for the device.

Finally to further help solidify the iPhone 5 rumors, DigiTimes suggested that Pegatron, a Taiwanese component manufacturer, will prepare 15 million of Apple’s iPhone 5 smartphones for a September launch. Apple hopes to sell 25 million units of its new iPhone by the year’s end.

What do you think? Are you excited for the launch of the iPhone 5?

Source

There are several ways to jailbreak iOS devices, but most of them are time-consuming as they require you to connect your device to your computer for the jailbreak to complete. Thankfully, JailbreakMe 3.0, just like previous versions, allows easy jailbreaks by simply visiting the JailbreakMe.com website, thanks to a PDF exploit in Safari.

This method truly is the simplest way to jailbreak your device on iOS 4.3.3, and it’s fully untethered, meaning that you don’t have to plug your device into your computer in order to boot it into a jailbroken state. Adding to JailbeakMe’s advantages is its compatibility, since it works with every device on the face of the earth (running firmware 4.3.3), including the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 (3G, CDMA & WiFi models). Support for iOS 4.3.1, 4.3.2 and 4.2.1 will be added later. iOS 5 betas are not supported.

Launch Safari and point it to http://jailbreakme.com. If everything goes as expected, you should see this on your browser:

Remember to patch it with PDF patcher 2 to plug the security exploilt.

If you were to check out Xbox live Tile on your Windows Phone 7 today, you will be delighted as the long awaiting game “Angry birds” has landed on the Windows Phone 7 platform. Check it and play it today on your WP7.

If you desperately want to get your hands on iOS 5 beta but aren’t willing to pay for an Apple developer account, there’s a way to get around the activation process. Kudos to Mert Erdir, a young Turkish developer, who beat  thousands of developers at figuring out a fix.

If you’re not familiar with iOS 5, Apple has implemented a mandatory activation procedure that must be followed through before the system is usable. Thankfully, there’s a way around it. After installing iOS 5 on your handset:

WARNING: We at Redmond Pie haven’t tested this method, and we wont recommend downloading iOS firmware files from anywhere other than the iOS Dev Center. The following instructions are shared for information and educational purposes only. Apple is likely going to close this workaround in the next beta update. We have also been told that iOS 5 cant be downgraded to 4.3.x once upgraded on iPhone 4, 3GS, and 3G/CDMA iPads, which means that your device will be useless once beta 1 expires until Apple releases the final version of iOS 5. Proceed at your own risk only.

1. Triple-press the home button to activate Voice Over, then do the same thing to display an option to make an emergency call. Tap on that option.

2. Now when its switching for emergency call, swipe down from the top with three fingers. Guess what, the Notifications Center will show up. Now tap on the weather widget, which will start the Weather app, then press the Home button to return back to your springboard. Bam, you should now have access to your phone.

According to the young developer, who was low on resources, this was the only way he could develop apps for iOS 5. That said, Apple probably isn’t a fan of him, or of anyone who attempts this. Downloading iOS 5 without a developer account, which is required in order to follow the steps above, is against Apple’s terms and conditions. Therefore don’t ask for the download links please. We wont share it with anyone, nor do we recommend it. As we went to great lengths to explain yesterday, Apple’s developer center is a fully open program that can be obtained for $99 for a full year, giving access to all sorts of iOS development material, as well as any developer builds of the platform. Mac OS X has a separate program of its on, giving access to Mac OS X Lion builds for $99 a year.

iOS 5 was announced yesterday at WWDC and is the most significant release of iOS in recent memory. It includes major new features, such as a new Notifications Center, similar to MobileNotifier, an improved Safari browser, system-wide Twitter integration and over-the-air updates. In order to run this upgrade, you need iTunes 10.5 Beta, which is available to Apple registered developers.

Earlier today, this beta version of iOS 5 was successfully jailbroken using Geohot’s limera1n exploit.

Also, as a word of caution, keep in mind that iOS is still unfinished and is likely to still have issues. If you have no experience installing and modifying iPhone software, you should wait until the final version of iOS 5 comes out this fall.

(via Gizmodo)

New Version of iOS Includes Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, Twitter Integration Among 200 New Features

Available to iPhone, iPad & iPod touch Users This Fall

SINGAPORE, Singapore—June 7, 2011—Apple® today previewed iOS 5, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, and released a beta version to iOS Developer Program members. The iOS 5 beta release includes over 200 new features that will be available to iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® users this fall. New iOS 5 features include: Notification Center, an innovative way to easily view and manage notifications in one place without interruption; iMessage, a new messaging service that lets you easily send text messages, photos and videos between all iOS devices; and Newsstand, a new way to purchase and organise your newspaper and magazine subscriptions. With the new PC Free feature, iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box and get software updates over the air with no computer required.

“iOS 5 has some great new features, such as Notification Center, iMessage and Newsstand and we can’t wait to see what our developers do with its 1,500 new APIs,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Perhaps iOS 5’s paramount feature is that it’s built to seamlessly work with iCloud in the Post PC revolution that Apple is leading.”

With iOS 5 and iCloud®, you just enter your Apple ID and password and iCloud will seamlessly integrate with your apps to automatically and wirelessly keep all of your mail, contacts, calendars, photos, apps, books, music and more, up-to-date across all your devices without ever having to connect to a computer.

Notification Center provides iOS 5 users with an innovative way to easily access all notifications―text messages, missed calls, calendar alerts, app alerts and more, all in one place, from anywhere in iOS 5. When they arrive, notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen without interrupting what you’re doing. With one swipe you can see all your notifications, and a simple tap will take you right to its app for more detail. Notifications also appear on the lock screen, with the ability to be taken to the notifying app with just one swipe.

Newsstand is a beautiful, easy-to-organise bookshelf displaying the covers of all your newspaper and magazine subscriptions in one place. A new section of the App Store™ features just subscription titles, and allows users to quickly find the most popular newspapers and magazines in the world. If subscribed to, new issues appear in the Newsstand and are updated automatically in the background so you always have the latest issue and the most recent cover art.

Safari is the world’s most popular mobile browser, and with iOS 5 it’s now even better. New features include Safari® Reader, which gets all the clutter out of the way and sets the right font size on a web page, so you can easily scroll and read through a story; Reading List, so you can save articles to read later and they automatically show up on all your iOS devices; and Tabbed Browsing, which makes it easy to flip between multiple web pages on iPad.

iOS 5 includes built-in Twitter integration, so you can sign in once and then tweet directly from all your Twitter-enabled apps, including Photos, Camera, Safari, YouTube and Maps with a single tap. New APIs give third party developers the ability to take advantage of the single sign-on capability for their own iOS 5 apps.

iMessage in iOS 5 brings the functionality of iPhone messaging to all of your iOS devices―iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Built right into the Messages app, iMessage allows you to easily send text messages, photos, videos or contact information to a person or a group on other iOS 5 devices over Wi-Fi or 3G. iMessages are automatically pushed to all your iOS 5 devices, making it easy to maintain one conversation across your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. iMessage also features delivery and read receipts, typing indication and secure end-to-end encryption.

The new Reminders app helps you manage your tasks; create and group related tasks together; and set time or location-based reminder alerts, priorities and due dates, so you can be reminded of a task as its deadline approaches, or when you arrive or depart a given location. Reminders can also be viewed in iCal® and Outlook and are updated automatically.

New features in the Camera and Photos apps give you instant access to the camera right from the lock screen, and you can use the volume-up button to quickly snap a photo. Optional grid lines help line up your shot and a simple tap locks focus and exposure on one subject. The new Photos app lets you crop, rotate, enhance and remove red-eye, and organise your photos into albums right on your device to share them on the go.

With the new PC Free feature, iOS 5 users can activate and set up their iOS device right out of the box with no computer required, and iOS software updates are delivered over the air and installed with just a tap. Wi-Fi Sync in iOS 5 transfers and backs up your content securely over SSL and wirelessly syncs purchased content from your device to your iTunes® library.

Additional new features in iOS 5 include:

• Game Center, now with the ability to add photos to your profile, purchase new games from within the Game Center app and easier ways to find friends and new games;
• Mail enhancements which include the ability to compose messages using draggable addresses, and a new formatting bar with bold, italics, underline and indention controls; and
• a system-wide split keyboard to make it even easier to type on your iPad.

Availability
The iOS 5 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 5 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (fourth generation) and iPod touch (third generation) this fall. Some features may not be available on all products.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.