Everything Editorial
Now that the iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak is available for the iPhone 4S, new iPad, and older devices, the subject of jailbreak in general is getting a lot of attention again, and with it, the dark side of jailbreaking. It seems whenever someone wants to attack the very concept of jailbreak, one of the first salvos unleashed is app piracy. The sad, ugly truth is that those attacks are made possible because some people who jailbreak do so mainly or entirely to get "free" apps. And the sadder, uglier truth is that there's no such thing as "free". Everything has a cost. Even and especially theft.
A few days ago rumors began to focus on the idea that Apple was moving to a 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5 (or whatever Apple ends up calling iPhone 5,1). I went through the mental exercise of mocking up, and breaking down, the various 4-inch iPhone options to try and figure out how Apple would get there.
Now, however, the rumors are coalesced around one specific option -- one I initially thought had fewer advantages, and was hence less likely -- a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1136 x 640 display.
So what would could Apple, a company that prides itself in saying "no" even more than saying "yes", consider switching their best selling product, the iPhone, to a 16:9 screen?
For a couple of years now, before every major release of iOS, I've begged and pleaded for a native iOS documents repository. Not a file system like OS X, but something that would do for documents what Photos.app and the photo picker do for images.
Right now, even absent a file system and hierarchy, it's still too complex, confusing, and unwieldy for users to remember, find, and attach documents in iOS. iOS 6 is a chance for Apple to change that, and a Files app and documents picker are simple, consistent, convenient ways to do it.
The release date for when the iPhone 5 comes out is the most frequent question we're being asked these days. Apple, of course, hasn't even announced a next generation iPhone yet, much less the release date. If we use past behavior as the best indicator of future behavior, and mix in some of the information we've heard, can we figure out a best guess?
It's a holiday weekend here in Canada. Victoria day if you must know. Except in Quebec where it's Patriot's day. Yeah, I don't care beyond the "holiday" part either. Actually, I don't care about the "holiday" part either -- I've heard of such things but rarely if ever experienced one myself. Still, I have family and friends congregating, and they're pressuring me to "get off that damn machine", so I'll keep this brief. Ish.
Industry research firm Gartner just released its latest data on mobile phone sales for the first quarter of 2012. There are some interesting points to be pulled out of this report that I wanted to address.
If Apple changes to a 4-inch screen in the next iPhone (iPhone 5,1), how could they do it while minimizing impact on users and developers? Assuming everyone wants a bigger screen, how does Apple implement it without breaking existing applications, causing backwards compatibility problems, and otherwise fragmenting the platform and frustrating stakeholders? Let's try to figure that out.
With both Mothers Day and a birthday in the family this weekend, I didn't have time to compile my usual weekly column. But there are a few things I'd like to comment on and draw your attention to. So let's dive right in.
We're just under a month away from Apple's WWDC 2012 and with it, an expected preview of iOS 6. Last year, we had a list of features available through jailbreak that we wanted Apple to make mainstream in iOS 5. Apple listened, and we got everything from Notification Center to Wi-Fi sync. This year is no different -- once again we have wants. Here are my top jailbreak concepts Apple should implement in iOS 6.
A couple of years ago Steve Jobs called a Town Hall meeting at Apple and rallied the troops by saying the next iPhone, which was to be the iPhone 4, would be an A+ update and take it to the turncoat Google and their Android operating system. According to our sources, a similar sentiment is being expressed by Apple in Cupertino again this year, but with a decidedly different twist. Instead of just hitting Google and Android in the market place with better hardware and software, and in the courts with patent litigation, they're going to hit them where it really hurts.
