iPhone 5 approach leads to offloading & prices

The Apple iPhone 5 is keenly anticipated as is every new iPhone and the closer we get to a release the more the hype builds up. If you’re planning to purchase the new iPhone though, rather than just concentrate on what the next iPhone will bring it might be time to focus instead on offloading your current iPhone 4S while you can still get some decent money for it. The longer you wait and the closer we get to an iPhone 5 launch, the less money you are likely to make.

Among our many iPhone 5 posts we’ve recently told how it is billed to be the biggest electronics product upgrade in history as far as one expert is concerned. As well as this we’ve recently given news about possible hologram technology being used as well as a look at some of the concept designs that pop up. However, it’s easy to spend so much time sifting through the developments and speculation about the next iPhone that you may leave it too late to get the best price for your current version.

Recently we told how some retailers and carriers were already cutting the prices of the iPhone 4 and 4S to get rid of as much stock as possible before the iPhone 5 arrives and if you want to get rid of your current iPhone then you should already be thinking of selling it soon. A September 12th event is expected to be when we shall see the iPhone 5 unveiled and a release date of September 21st has been widely rumored. As with any major Apple product launch though none of this is yet confirmed and we cannot be sure of an actual release date.

A useful article on Gizmodo has come up with some of the places you’ll get the best money for your iPhone 4S. For example on eBay you could get between $350 and $400. An instant sale will make you around $330 but if you want to let it go to bidding, for some of those sales the price reaches around $400. Deciding which option to choose may depend on the condition of your phone as people are more likely to bid on a phone in good condition.

Moving on to Amazon shows the giant company is offering gift certificates for the iPhone 4S with a top price of around $415 and lowest at around $120. Only a top-notch iPhone 4S with charger will get you that $415 though and most in a good state will get you a gift certificate to the value of around $350. Another alternative is RadioShack with current iPhone 4S prices given of between $73 and $250. Once again that top price will only be given for a mint condition 4S but $73 isn’t bad for one that’s really taken some battering. Sell your iPhone 4S to RadioShack by either visiting in-store or by mailing off.

Craigslist is another possibility and currently $200 or more is the going rate for an iPhone 4S here. It’s not the easiest place to sell your items because of having to sift through the spammers etc. but you’re likely to find someone who wants your iPhone 4S whatever condition it may be in. However Gizmodo does make the good point that you should preferably meet with the purchaser in a public place, which sounds wise to us.

Apart from these alternatives there are also buying sites such as Gazelle, InstantSale, Buy My Tronics and NextWorth where you simply enter your phone details and condition for an estimate and then mail it to them. Offers vary considerably but Gizmodo gives a guideline of between $90 and $365.

Ultimately the thing you need to consider most if you want to offload your iPhone 4S is to sell it as soon as possible. The later you leave it the less you’ll be offered and very soon there will be a glut of iPhone 4S’s available and the prices will dip much lower. We’d like to know if you’ve considered selling your iPhone 4S before the release of the iPhone 5.

Source: phonesreview.co.uk

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Top Features of iPhone 5 to Scare the Samsung Phone

Move over Samsung Galaxy S3, the rumored iPhone 5 may not have arrived on the shelves yet, but its presence is undeniable. "The biggest product launch in consumer electronics history" is gearing up to wrest the numero uno mantle away from the Samsung challenger. With a slew of features that are guaranteed to pack a punch, the iPhone 5 is getting ready to give the Samsung phone recurring nightmares.

Samsung should pull up its socks and brace itself for some sleepless nights as its smartphone dominance is quickly looking to fade away. Here's why the iPhone 5 is the smartphone goliath-in-waiting and will undoubtedly be the Galaxy S3's nemesis.

Futuristic Features of the iPhone 5

The massive 4.8-inch Galaxy S3 at 133gms and 8.6mm manages to stay feather light for a phone its size. The current 3.5-inch iPhone 4S, weighing 140gms and 9.3mm thick, cut a sorry figure in front of the Galaxy S3, but all that is about to change with the arrival of the iPhone 5. The nifty iPhone 5 is touted to be slimmer, sleeker, and will have consumers salivating at first glimpse. The 4-inch phone will not only sport a bigger screen than its predecessors, it will also be slimmer thanks to the in-cell display and liquidmetal alloy body.

The iPhone 5 will ditch the glass-back for a metal back face, shaving off a good 1mm. KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi-Kuo suggested in an April note that by switching back to a metal back face from the current glass one, Apple's next iPhone could be well under 8mm. Since all things small are the order of the day for the smartphone biz, the change would put the iPhone in a better position than the 8.6mm Galaxy S3. The 4-inch screen puts the iPhone 5 at par with Android devices in the market.

Bumping up the screen size would make for happy consumers who would be able to get access to a larger keyboard and more information on the screen. Also, the larger screen size would allow better viewing and gaming experiences. With rumors of iPhone 5 integrating 4G LTE, which would enable ten times faster content streaming than that of 3G, the size would add to the appeal.

The switch to the in-cell technology, from the current on-cell one, ensures a brighter display and is a major improvement vis-a-vis the traditional Super AMOLED and LCD technologies. The feature puts iPhone 5 in the driving seat ahead of rival Samsung. The circulating Apple rumors have indicated that the next-gen iPhone will have the faster quad-core Exynos processor as opposed to the dual-core chip. According to a previous report, Apple is also upgrading the RAM modules and the next-gen iPhone will have 1GB of RAM (double of the current 512MB of RAM for the iPhone 4S) and sport NFC technology.

Whether Apple will ultimately go with an NFC chip is still shrouded in mystery. Debates continue over the pros and cons of the technology and the why and the why nots for Apple. Samsung's Galaxy S3 is NFC-enabled.

The current Apple camera is the best in the business but the front-facing camera may still see minor improvements to aid FaceTime. The grapevine is abuzz with talks of a 3D camera. Rumors of 3D Photography being incorporated in the iPhone 5 have been doing the rounds and patents published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office carried a list of Apple patents relating to 3D face and object recognition technology. The current crop of 3D camera phones are limited in number and their pictures leave a lot to be desired, throwing open the field for an Apple onslaught.

Apple has been known for its amazing battery life, whereas the same cannot be said for Samsung. Should Apple decide to go the 4G LTE route, it will need to ensure that battery woes are kept at bay. The Samsung Galaxy S3 runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), which is matched if not bettered by iOS 5 in the iPhone 4S. With the launch of iOS 6 operating system bettering the iOS 5, Apple is going to have yet another feather in its cap and will pip the Galaxy S3 easily.

With a gamut of features in its kitty, its Carpe Diem for Apple's iPhone 5! Come fall, the smartphone goliath is ready to seize the spoils from Samsung's Galaxy S3.

Source: mobilenapps.com

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Ten Exciting Features of iPhone 5 worth waiting for

Although Apple is sure to have an unexpected “one more thing” up Tim Cook’s sleeve for the iPhone 5, what are the things we already know will make the iPhone 5 go bada-bing, bada-“boom!”?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of iPhones, it was no longer the age of Windows Mobile, it was the epoch of iTunes, it was the epoch of increZunity, it was the season of iLife, it was the season of Windows Movie Maker, it was the spring of iOS 6.0, it was the winter of Windows Vista, we had Mac OS X 10.8 before us, we had Windows 8 before us, we were all going direct to the iPhone 5, we were all going direct the to Windows Phone 8 - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of Amazon.com pricing comparison only.

Yes, it’s that time again, the twilight era before a new iPhone arrives, a time when the Samsung Galaxy SIII model reigns supreme while unsure how long before the iPhone 5 replaces it in the Game of Phones…

A time of when Verizon’s Shammo can whammo us with a rendition of a juicy rumours that there may be “a new phone coming out in the fourth quarter”, which could be one reason why “people may be waiting" before leaping in to purchase a new smartphone – at least, from Verizon.

While other sites only seem to be able to come up with only five things to excite you about the iPhone 5, here’s a much beefier ten reasons – unless, of course, you’ve decided to dance along the Fandroid side of the Force.

Indeed, with iPhone 5 rumours seemingly moving faster than a tachyon, this is one ride that sure has been wild, and promises to only get wilder still yet!

So, here we go:

1 – Connectivity. Here, we fully expect to see the long awaited 4G LTE technology make an appearance in the iPhone 5, ready to work on worldwide 4G bands – as well as including the full spread of 3G connectivity from WCDMA to DC-HSDPA+. There’s also the high expectation of a NFC chip to make the iOS 6 and iPhone 5 passbook complete.

2 – Storage. While no-one is expecting Apple to suddenly include a microSD slot, and while Apple finally offered a 64GB version with the iPhone 4S, it may well be time for Apple to up the ante even further by biting the triple digit storage bullet and making a 128GB iPhone 5 available for the first time – although 1GB of RAM is so massively expected that it’s expected to be a given.

3 – Design. From rumours of a 7.99mm thickness to the potential of a liquidmetal or metallic alloy back, with iPhone design is expected to be slimmer and thinner, and while the same width in the palm is expected, the iPhone 5 is supposed to be taller to incorporate that 4-inch screen with 16:9 aspect ratio and Retina class pixel invisibleness.

4 – Display. The display, alluded to above, is said to be the thinnest possible yet, thanks to WSJ’s leaking of “in-cell” technology which eliminates a separate touch layer, thus helping the all-important iPhone display to remain the design feature you look at most.

5 – Camera. A Sony 10 or 12 megapixel multi-lens camera is expected, as is a higher resolution front camera for high definition Facetime calls.

6 – Quad-core processor. While there is talk that Apple will be modifying Samsung’s “Exynos” quad-core processor, Apple holds its own ARM-license and surely does not need Samsung’s help to design and develop its own world-class quad-core A6 chip, along with a multi-core graphics processor to blow every other smartphone out of the water – although we definitely do recommend that you keep your smartphone away from water at all times.

7 – Battery life. Apple famously designs everything about its iDevices, including particular attention to the batteries – and the battery chemistries – that iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches offer. With a bigger screen and beefier processor, Apple is expected to somehow still magically maintain – or even improve – upon the existing battery life that people both wish was longer – and yet take for granted anyway.

8 – Smarter Siri. This one’s coming in iOS 6 for iPhone 4S and the new iPad, and who knows, potentially the next iPod Touch too, but we definitely know its also coming with the iPhone 5 – and will probably have some special iPhone 5-only feature that will make iPhone 4S and new iPad owners Siri-ously jealous.

9 – The fullest Facebook integration ever. Again, this one’s coming in iOS 6, but what special iPhone 5 feature will this integration truly take advantage of? The fastest uploading of photos and videos to Facebook via 4G, or the highest quality photos and videos ever thanks to the iPhone 5’s best ever camera? There’s also Apple’s new maps app in iOS 6, which is obviously coming to the iPhone 5, too.

10 – An early release date? The massively rumoured August 7 launch or simply announcement date is little over two weeks away, but if that day comes and goes with no iAnnouncement in sight the world will wait through the end of August, through to the end of September, and then will get even more agitated as October arrives with no sign of the iPhone 5 being alive. After all - August isn't in the fourth quarter as Verizon's Shammo stated, so...

Whenever the iLaunch occures, hopes are nevertheless high that Apple will iDeliver long before October rolls around, and may well show off new iPod Touch models or even new 13-inch Retina-class MacBook Pro models, too.

That’s it for now, but the iAction continues with next week’s expected introduction of Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which blends more of iOS into Mac OS X than ever before, and while a new OS cannot replace the excitement for a new iPhone, it’ll certainly be a great way to enhance your Mac in preparation for the nearly-here-but-still-not-yet iPhone 5!

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Apple iPhone 5 is available for pre-orders in china gray market

Don't get too excited but it looks like the Apple [AAPL] iPhone 5 (or is it iPhone 7*) release is closing in, as China's thriving gray market importers have begun offering the new phone for pre-release sale as the company prepares for the "biggest consumer electronics launch in history".

Buying on rumor

Logically it might make little sense, but reports this morning claim some Chinese online retailers have already begun offering the unannounced, unconfirmed and unrevealed smartphone for pre-release sale -- and orders are coming in.

Reuters tells us Chinese ecommerce website, Taobao is already hosting listings from jump-the-gun sellers, some of whom are even publishing mock-ups of what the new phone will look like, alongside lists detailing some of the claimed features (biometric recognition systems, anyone?).

Sellers are requesting deposits to secure the first units of the iPhone to be smuggled into the country of up to $1,100. They plan to purchase the device in Hong Kong or the US and then import them into China -- and it seems some people are already stumping up the cash to secure the freshly smuggled devices when the product ships, perhaps as soon as late September.

In a sense this is a fitting tribute to many months of furious iPhone 5 speculation. We've seen mock-ups, claimed images of parts of the device, and, most recently, claimed engineering pre-production mock-ups of the phone.

China is Apple crazy

China's market for iPhone imports is interesting. Partly that's because iPhones are presently manufactured in China; partly because the country is crazy for Apple devices. One Chinese teenager even sold a body part in order to raise the cash to get one. Sweating blood to get what you want is a noble thing, of course, but selling body parts seems a step too far, though it clearly reflects the mood in China where mini riots took place when Apple shut its retail store for iPhone 4S sales.

Demand for smuggled iPhones means the country's biggest carrier, China Mobile, already has over a million of the devices on its network -- even though it doesn't (yet) offer iPhones officially. It is expected to introduce the iPhone 5 later this year, when millions of Chinese nationals will doubtless purchase the officially supported version of the device.

The gray imports market also means Apple stores worldwide often see queues of folk waiting patiently in line when they open in the morning. These customers purchase their allotted maximum number of iPhones and send them back to China for resale in exchange for a fee.

Feature rumor 101

When it comes to the iPhone 5, what are people looking forward too?

• A 4-inch display
• An improved quad-core processor, likely manufactured using 32nm process tech
• Improved graphics and a better camera
• A new Dock connection, likely to be Thunderbolt or mini-USB
• Tougher glass
• A thinner chassis
• International support for those 4G/LTE networks which exist
• Much-improved iCloud integration
• iOS 6: Many improvements in Siri
• iOS 6: Apple Maps
• iOS 6: Passbook, potentially though not necessarily featuring NFC payment support
• iOS 6: Facebook and Twitter integration

Apple is putting a lot of hope into its new device. Not only is the company facing the imminent arrival of Microsoft Windows 8-powered smartphones, but it continues to face stiff competition from Android-powered devices (in particular those from Samsung). RIM, Palm and Nokia now appear to be spent forces in this sector.

The stiff competition is creating a challenging environment for the firm. More than this, economic weakness means many consumers are now opting to delay their iPhone purchases pending arrival of the new model. Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba claims Apple has: “Already started experiencing a slowdown due to the impending iPhone 5 launch.”

The analyst remains optimistic for Apple once the new smartphone ships, as well he might given Foxconn leader Terry Gou's somewhat belligerent statement that the iPhone 5 will "put Samsung's Galaxy III to shame" when it ships. That's fighting talk.

The moral of this tale? If you really want to get hold of an iPhone 5 and don't mind waiting for it to arrive, you can place your orders now if you happen to be in China.

Source: Computerworld.com

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iPhone 5 Still not ready for public

The mobile space is expecting the next iPhone to come out to play sometime later this year, and no doubt when the iPhone 5 does finally show its head in the mobile space, most of the iOS faithful will laud it up as being the best iPhone yet, but will the iPhone 5 be as perfect as one would expect? Probably not.

As with most new devices, the iPhone 5 will no doubt face problems after its release, after all over here in the United Kingdom the iPhone with Siri is still after all this time in beta, so one does have to wonder if Siri will actually be working fully in iOS 6 by the time the iPhone 5 arrives.

Although obviously with the iPhone 5, specifications for the iOS smartphone haven’t been confirmed, but the speculation is the device could possibly come sporting 4G LTE connectivity, and according to the guys over at Gottabemobile, with 4G LTE the iPhone 5 will be able to pull in data speeds that could reach up to ten times faster than your typical 3G.

A 4G LTE enabled iPhone 5 is nice and dandy for US users, however if you are an iPhone fan elsewhere in the world, 4G LTE probably isn’t the top feature for most, as 4G networks are still lacking in lots of countries such as here in the United Kingdom, although we are working on it.

Another rumour is that the iPhone 5 might possibly come with a quad core processor, which would put the iPhone 5 processing power on par with rival smartphone the Samsung Galaxy S3, as according to the guys over at Eweek, Chinese rag DigiTimes has reported that Apple is expected to roll out the iPhone 5 in the 2nd half of the year built on Samsung’s Exynos 4 quad core processor.

Also there has been rumour that Apple has brought forward the launch of the iPhone 5 due to the success of the Galaxy S3, so perhaps the iPhone 5 needs at least to be on par with the Android rival when it comes to processing power.

Whilst another rumour has it that Apple will finally deliver NFC functionality to the iOS platform with the iPhone 5, somewhat late to the game as usual if true, but then again NFC has been around for quite some time, and is still taking a long time to be fully adopted in the mobile space, so perhaps NFC isn’t all that important for some.

As you probably know, Apple has kicked Google Maps out and opted to go with their own maps solution, Apple Maps, again not perfect and still has some way to go before it can be classed as a good rival to Google Maps, but hopefully Apple Maps will be fully functional by the time the iPhone 5 arrives.

Of course the big rumour with the iPhone 5 is that it will have a bigger display, something I believe most of the iOS faithful are hoping for, after all the display size of the iPhone hasn’t changed in a long time, whilst other devices are sporting bigger displays, so perhaps Apple will up the display size with the iPhone 5, although one has to be reminded nothing is certain when it comes to Apple.

The title of this article does seem to be a tad harsh, but with all the uncertainty as to just what the iPhone 5 will actually offer, it does seem warranted that people could worry that the iPhone 5 wont be perfect for public use, especially if the new iPhone doesn’t offer some of the above features.

Having said that, no doubt the iPhone 5 will include specs and features that none of us have heard about yet, and even if the iPhone 5 doesn’t offer that much different to the current iPhone 4S, most of the iOS faithful will still purchase the next iPhone, no matter what.

So we’ll ask this question of our iOS readers out there, if the iPhone 5 doesn’t offer a bigger display, 4G LTE, NFC, fully functional Apple Maps and more, and still looks the same as the iPhone 4S, will you still be in line to pick it up, or will you consider passing the iPhone 5 by?

Source:Phonereviews.com

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Apple is getting ready for a big iPhone 5 push

Apple has "significantly reduced" its iPhone orders to its manufacturers, as it "begins prepping" for iPhone 5. That's how Neil Hughes at AppleInsider sees it, based on an investors note from Sterne Agee stock analyst Shaw Wu. See also iPhone 5 release date, specs and rumour round up.

In the note, Wu told his readers that "he has found in his checks with suppliers that Apple has reduced iPhone orders by between 20 and 25 percent from the 35.1 million units the company shipped in the March quarter," according to Hughes.

Go to iPhone 5 will "launch" in September. If it's ordering fewer phones, it will be shipping fewer phones. "If those numbers hold for the current June quarter, that would result in shipments of between 26 million and 28 million iPhones.

That result would be below Wall Street consensus of between 30 million and 31 million." Visit iPhone 5's iOS 6 firmware to be revealed in June.

But, there are the phones already in the channel inventory. Wu estimates that there 8.6 million iPhones in the channel inventory, with 2.6 million added in the most recent quarter. "That channel inventory allowed the company to reach a supply-demand balance of between 4 and 6 weeks," according to the AppleInsider story.

Based on past history, Apple can expect a slowdown in iPhone sales, the closer we come to the expected announcement of the next iPhone. At the same time, it presumably wants to have enough phones to meet all the demand during the run-up to that announcement, while making sure there's manufacturing capacity to meet expected demand for the Next iPhone.

AppleInsider quotes Wu: "It appears AAPL is opting to be conservative with its suppliers to factor in a potential 2-quarter pause ahead of the refresh and also to manage inventory."

In 2011, as AppleInsider notes, Apple reported record sales of 20.34 million iPhones during the June quarter, and 17.07 million in the September quarter, "as Apple drew down inventories ahead of the iPhone 4S launch." But that seems to assume that Apple, in effect, didn't have enough iPhones to meet demand. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that demand for iPhone 4 fell off, especially in the second half of the September quarter, but not as much as Apple executives had feared.

Wu "believes investor expectations should be drawn in for the June quarter as well as the following September quarter," according to AppleInsider.

Rollup isn't a corporate inventory management specialist, and Apple's Tim Cook definitely is, but low-balling Apple sales for two quarters -- half of the year -- doesn't seem like a great inventory management strategy.

Source: Pcavisor

Tags: Apple, Iphone, IPhone 5, Smartphone

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Next iPhone to have at least a 4 inch screen

The size of the iPhone’s screen has always been in the rumors whenever there is a likelihood of another version of the iPhone coming out. And so, it has happened again. Just like the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, the next generation iPhone is rumored have a bigger screen. This comes from Wall Street Journal, which claims to have gotten this rumor from “people who know about this situation”. Now, how much of this you are going to believe is on you. Since the company has never given this a second thought and since there are possibly no chances of the company giving a bigger screen to the iPhone, I take this rumor with a pinch of salt.

Wall Street Journal says that its sources say that the Cupertino tech giant, Apple, has already ordered Retina displays of size more than 3.5 inches. How much big is the new display? This is not in the rumor. Though, the sources are said to have said that the display is going to be at least 4 inch. This means that the iPhone lovers are going to see their dreams come true.

But as already mentioned, this is still in the rumor stage and nothing can be taken for granted. So do not get too much excited. This dream of yours may break down at any moment. Apple has already been contacted about this and the company has refused to give out any details, no comments. Yes, that is what we always get from the companies on upcoming products and we do not stop asking them for comments.

Still, I do not think that Apple will give the iPhone a bigger screen, nor will the company give the iPad a smaller screen, such as the rumored 7 inch iPad which has been rumored to be coming from a couple of years. What do you think about this?

Source: Thedroidguy

Tags: Apple, Iphone, IPhone 5, Smartphone

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