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Apple appears to have done it again with the debut of the iPhones 6 and 6 Plus. With much fanfare Apple kept the "wow factor" going with the seventh generation of the iPhones that will be available with a 4.7-inch display for the iPhone 6 and 5.5 inches for the Plus model. Apple is calling the new iPhones the "biggest advance in the iPhone design since the original iPhone," which was introduced in in 2007. The specifications for the iPhone 6 has been leaked to the hilt over the past several months and there wasn't much left for Apple to announce. But it's just good to get a look at the new, larger iPhone with rounded corners and many new features like an A8 processor with 64-bit architecture, M8 Motion Processor and a new health app. The A8 chip is smaller then previous processors, but also faster with better graphics. The camera for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is now 8MB and seems to protrude a little from the backside. It also has Autofocus with Focus Pixels...

If you're like me and have been having problems making it through a full day without having to recharge your iPhone battery, then I have the solution for charging on the go. I've been testing the Jackery Leaf for the past few weeks and I no longer dread the mid-afternoon battery run-down saga, which was just like clockwork every day. Now I'm able to use my iPhone until bedtime with no worries about a weak battery. The Jackery Leaf is an integrated rechargeable battery and spiffy case that provides plenty of extra juice for iPhone 5 and 5S devices. According to the Santa Clara, California-based technology company, a maker of portable batteries for smartphones and tablets, the Leaf gives users up to 50 extra hours of operational time, depending on the types of applications and tasks that are running. The Leaf accomplishes this feat with an Apple certified micro-USB Lightning connector converter built into a rechargeable 2400 mAh Li-ion battery, which also slips into a stylis...

When the Ellipsis 7 tablet from Verizon Wireless arrived in my hands, I had a feeling that it could be a keeper. This is Verizon’s home-bred, in-house, call-it-their-own device and I could hardly wait to take it for a spin. The first thing I did was to see if it would fit the inside pocket of my business jacket. Bingo, it did. So finally I had found a tablet that I could carry around without having to hold it my hands or place in a brief case. Just tuck it in my inside coat pocket and go. The Ellipsis 7 is a 4G Android device running the 4.2.2 operating system, also known as Jelly Bean. It has a seven-inch display and front-facing speakers along the bottom that sound really good. Along the top of the device you'll find the headset port, which is where I think all headset ports should be located – hint, hint to the iPhone 5 designers. Along the bottom is the USB mini port for charging, while the right side holds a MicroSD card slot, microphone, power and volume keys, along with the...

Now that iOS 7 is available, lots of iPhone users are anxious to get Apple Inc.'s latest operating system on their older devices, such as the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and iPhone 4. While some are having good luck with the iOS 7 download and install process, the Apple discussion forums are filled with users have problems with the install or the behavior of their iPhone after the update. To ensure a problem-free update,there are some actions to be aware of that might make the process a little smoother. The No. 1 thing you need to do before attempting to install iOS 7 is to backup your iPhone through iTunes. This will ensure that you don't lose your valuable contacts, photos and other things of importance on your iPhone. Some users are getting a "restore to factory defaults" message during the download process for iOS 7. If you haven't backed up beforehand, that's not a good feeling. Then you're going to need at least 3.1 gigabytes of free space o...

As expected, the 5S and the 5C iPhones were unveiled on Tuesday, Sept. 10 with a splash of colors. In the past, a new iPhone announcement was always a magical moment, thanks to all the hype created Apple Inc., the media and Apple fans all around the world. The magic continues with these two devices. The initial excitement surrounding iPhone announcements started on Jan. 9, 2007, at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, when the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs pulled an iPhone 2G out his pocket. The hoopla surrounding Apple smartphones announcement has been gaining traction every since and there seems to be no end in sight. The true Apple fans can probably name them all, starting with the 2G in 2007, the 3G in 2008, followed by the 3GS in 2009 and the 4G in 2010. We're not done. Then we had the 4S in 2011 and the evolutionary, if not revolutionary, iPhone 5 just a year ago. Now we have the iPhone 5S, a souped-up doozy of a device with fingerprint reader techno...

I have been enjoying the company of the BlackBerry Q10 for the past couple of weeks. Some might think this smartphone is too little and too late. I think it's a lot of innovation and I hope it's not too late. My soft spot for the BlackBerry platform goes all the way back to the trackball or roller ball, and the scroll-wheel days. These devices set the standards for security and email management and were considered the "must have" mobile phone during its heyday, especially for enterprise customers. Now fast forward a decade and the BlackBerry is fighting for survival among the iPhones, Samsung Galaxies, Motorola Droids and a host of other newcomers. But the latest BlackBerry, the Q10, with the QWERTY physical keyboard for us that remember the good old days, is quite a smartphone and I wouldn't count BlackBerry out just yet. The Q10 is running the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, which is supposed to propel the BlackBerry devices into the future of smartphon...

Well now, just when it seemed that Apple's innovation has slowed down, as the Android camp was full-steam ahead, the guys from Cupertino dealt what could be a winning hand at the start of the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Apple unveiled the mysterious and tightly-held-to-their-chest iOS 7 software update, stamped with the work of the possibly soon-to-be-famous Jony Ive, Apple's senior vice president of design. Already, it is being called "the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone that took the stage in 2007. After watching the video, I believe them, or they did a good job of snookering me and probably a lot of other Apple fans. I can't keep this to myself any longer; this update that is due this fall is going to be one fine upgrade, as every nook and cranny of the current iPhone software has been redesigned. The appearance is clean, minimalist, simplistic and very appealing. The icons for apps look fresh and not overdone, with cr...

I've never been as excited about a FedEx delivery as I was for the package with the BlackBerry Z10. It arrived from Verizon Wireless in an understated velvet-black box. Now it's showtime. All the hype about the new BlackBerry was running through my mind — the delays and months of waiting while other smartphones made their debut. The promise of a new operating system based on QNX technology that is also known very well in the automobile technology circles and the nuclear reactors industry. So I'm thinking this device had better be special and worth the wait. At the first glance, I noticed that the Z10, clad in solid back with a grippy, textured back that almost sticks to your hand, has grown in size to a respectable 4.2-inch display, which makes my iPhone 5 seem small. BlackBerry needed this size increase, as the older models seemed to stuck in the past, much like the earlier iPhone devices were for several years, while the competitors rocketed past them in width and hei...

Update: The Samsung Galaxy S IV is coming to AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and possibly Verizon Wireless soon. T-Mobile is offering an early-bird "sign up now" option to be notified for updates about the Galaxy S IV. The long-awaited Samsung Galaxy S IV finally took the stage tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. While the BlackBerry 10 platform had the spotlight for a while, The S IV will now bask in the limelight with a long list of innovative features. It did not disappoint us. Right off the bat at the Radio City Music Hall event, Samsung President of Mobile Communications J.K. Shin took the stage and pitched the innovative feature of automatic scrolling and Smart Scroll/Pause using eye tracking, a unique feature among smartphones currently on the market. For example, a video you're watching will pause when you look away. According to Shin, the Galaxy S IV is slim at 0.31 inches, or 7.9mm, and he refers to it as a "life compan...

I've had another experience where a particular smartphone was just a joy to carry around. This time, it was the Nokia Lumia 822 from Verizon Wireless. Maybe it was the live tiles of Windows Phone 8 or the seamless integration with everything Microsoft, such as Windows Live and all the features surrounding it. Whatever it was, I took a likening to the Lumia 822 and now I must say "well done" to Nokia and Microsoft. Nokia has been around for the long term and most of us remember them as always having quality hardware. Although the Finnish crew have been making mobile phones since the early 1990s and used to be the King of cell phones, the smartphone craze from Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platform caused Nokia to fall by the wayside. Microsoft has been around since 1975 and needed something significant and exciting in the mobile communications arena. So these two giants teamed up in 2011 to create market-leading mobile products. Before the year was out, ...

Update: Apple Inc. is releasing guidelines to developers for an "Add to Passbook" badge that can be incorporated into their apps and websites for devices running iOS 6. After a few days with the iPhone 5, I figured it was time to go shopping with the Passbook app as my guide. This mysterious app included with iOS 6 will organize gift cards, coupons, passes, tickets and more, with the idea of making your wallet a lot thinner and lighter. But it requires a few advance maneuvers before you head out to the store or look for your boarding passes. It's not as automatic as you would think. The first thing the Passbook app will want to do is connect to the App Store through iTunes and this where things can come to a standstill a hurry, as there are numerous reports from iPhone 5 users about connection difficulties. You might see the dreaded "can't connect to iTunes" message. I experienced the same problem with the Passbook app and iTunes, until ...

I joined the five million or more customers buying the iPhone 5 over the weekend. My longtime buddy since 2008, the iPhone 3G, has found a nice spot on the shelf. May it rest in peace as it gathers dust. My 3G would no longer power off and I couldn't do a reset. The battery was about shot and the back panel was cracked. It would mysteriously make phone calls on its own accord to the person you last had a conversation with. The list of odd behavior goes on and on. It was time for an upgrade a few years ago, but I was determined to hold out as each new iPhone model was unveiled. I skipped the iPhone 3GS because it looked just like my 3G. I skipped the iPhone 4 because of the antenna flap. Then I skipped the 4S because it looked just the 4. So the iPhone 5 , although it's similar in design to the 4S, got my nod for having a larger 4-inch display, being thinner and lighter, while also being a lot faster with the A6 processor, compared with the 412mHz processor in my 3G. Thro...

Friday was the big day for the iPhone 5 to go on sale in retail stores. Having two million devices in pre-orders was a good start and I imagine it'll rocket on past three to four million or maybe even five million in sales this weekend. I was at one of the AT&T retail stores bright and early Friday morning, where the lines were modest and pleasant. I didn't notice any dancing, but wouldn't have been surprised if some of the fans cut a few steps. The iPhone debuts have been drawing crowds since day one, or on Friday, June 29, 2007, at 6 p.m., when the original iPhone was available for purchase. The headline on the website of my newspaper simply said "Come and get it" at the magic hour. It was called a revolutionary device at the time, and according to Apple Inc., was one of the reasons Apple retail stores were created so that customers could touch and experience a ... new product and get the most from their new iPhone with Genius Bar support. Now here ...

The iPhone 5 has started out with a bang, as pre-orders were sold out in around 60 minutes on Friday. So now, we can probably expect lines of fans when the retails stores open their doors on Sept. 21. AT&T announced a sales record for the iPhone 5 over the first weekend of pre-orders, making it their fastest-selling iPhone ever. Some of the hype so far has been all about the revolutionary - for Apple at least - 4-inch display. I say for Apple only, because the iPhone 5 joins several other smartphones with 4-inch displays that have been on the shelves for a while. These include the Samsung Galaxy S, which arrived in mid 2010 and the Motorola Atrix, which made its debut in January 2011. And let's not forget the Google Nexus S 4G1 that came along in April 2011, or the Nokia 808 PureView in February. But perhaps the biggest area of discussion about the iPhone 5 has centered around the redesigned dock connector. The 30-pin connector is history, replaced by a smaller Lightning...

It's here. The iPhone 5 has been introduced. It was called "an absolute jewel" by a top Apple guy. Apple Inc.'s sixth generation iPhone, made entirely out of glass and aluminum, is sporting lots new features that includes a larger 4-inch display, a new 8 megapixel camera, and the capability to add a 5th row of icons to the home screen. A new A6 chip, which Apple says is two times faster than the A5 chip, will provide processing power. The battery life is rated at 8 hours of 3G talktime, 3G browsing and 8 hours LTE browsing. Apple is calling it the world's thinnest phone at 0.30 inches in depth and around four ounces in weight. By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S III is rated at 0.34 inches in depth and 4.5 ounces in weight. As expected, the iPhone 5 will run on 4G LTE networks, such as AT&T, C Spire Wireless, Sprint and Verizon. T-Mobile customers will have to wait awhile longer for network upgrades. The pre-launch rumors of a redesigned dock connecto...