iPhone 5 sliding button problem, and a workaround

When you get a new iPhone there are a lot features to turn on and off as you customize the device to your liking, most all of which are controlled using sliding on/off buttons similar to the iPhone's iconic swipe-to-unlock feature. Problem is, the sliders often don't work on the iPhone 5.

We've tested four devices in the office and everyone of them suffered this glitch. When you go into settings, for example, to specify which notifications you want on or off, you get a list of options for everything from messages to reminder, calendar, weather, mail, etc. If you want to have the phone get your attention when something pops in one of these applications, you slide the button from off to on.

That usually seems to work. But if you change your mind and want to turn it off again, good luck. Many times the slider simply refuses to acknowledge your finger swipe. If you do it two, three, four, five times, you might get lucky and get the device's attention.

At first we assumed this was a problem with one phone, so we went hunting through the office for others, and sure enough the next one displayed the same problem. OK, it could still be a fluke, so we looked for more. After reviewing four phones, each of which displayed the same annoying problem, we concluded this endemic.

But we also discovered a workaround. One user said he hadn't happened upon the problem because he doesn't slide the sliders, he taps on the on or off word. Sure enough, that seems to work.

So, until Apple fixes this glitch, tap instead of slide and you can customize that shiny new device in a heartbeat.

Source: networkworld.com

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Consumers dismiss Apple Maps uproar, plan to buy iPhone 5 in record numbers

ChangeWave poll points to continued strong sales, says Maps and Lightning issues barely 'bumps in the road'

The brouhaha over Apple replacing Google Maps in iOS 6 with its own mapping and navigation technology has not changed customers' minds about the iPhone 5, according to a ChangeWave Research survey.

ChangeWave, which polled more than 4,200 consumers in the U.S. and Canada, reported last week that only 10% of those with an iOS 6-powered iPhone said they had experienced a problem with Apple Maps, with the largest chunk of those -- 6% -- acknowledging the issue was "not much of a problem."

Nine out of 10 said they had not experienced any problem.

And while others -- analysts and public relations specialists -- had ranked the Apple Maps issue as a PR mess equal to or even greater than the one in 2010 over "Antennagate," consumers did not.

wo years ago, when ChangeWave polled on Antennagate -- the name Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs gave the uproar when iPhone 4 owners reported that signal strength plummeted and calls were interrupted if they touched the newly-redesigned smartphone in certain ways -- 35% of those surveyed then said the antenna issue was a problem.

In a research note, Paul Carton, director of research at ChangeWave, called the Maps snags "of marginal concern" to iPhone 5 and iOS 6 users.

ChangeWave's data backed that up: When consumers who said they were unlikely to buy an iPhone 5 were asked to provide a reason, none cited the Maps issue.

The other at-launch change that rattled users was Apple's switch to the smaller "Lightning" charging and data port on the iPhone 5, which upset customers who would need to buy adapters to connect their new smartphones to older docking and sound systems.

Many more consumers reported having problems with that move than Apple Maps: Of those who said they were likely to buy an iPhone 5, 68% said the Lightning port was a problem, with a whopping 31% asserting it was "somewhat of a problem," another 31% saying it was "not much of a problem," and 6% calling it a "very big problem."

Only 26% said it was "no problem at all."

Even so, Carton said the two issues "hardly rank as bumps in the road."

Overall, consumers were more likely to purchase the iPhone 5, said Carton, than last year's iPhone 4S at the same time in its release trajectory.

Almost one in five polled -- 19% -- said they were "very likely" to buy an iPhone 5 for themselves or for another person in the next 90 days, while 13% said they were "somewhat likely" to do so, for a combined plan-to-purchase of 32%.

That was significantly higher than the 21.5% who answered the same way in 2011 when asked about the iPhone 4S. The "very likely" difference was even greater: 19% for the iPhone 5 compared to 10% for the iPhone 4S, or nearly double.

The iPhone 5 continues to be in short supply, with shipping delays in the U.S. still at the three-to-four-week range, according to Apple's e-store. That range hasn't budged since shortly after Apple started selling the iPhone 5 on Sept. 21.

While some contend that the problem is greater-than-expected demand and others argue that Apple's production has not kept pace, the iPhone 5's current shipping delay is at least double that of the iPhone 4S at the same point in its timeline.

About three weeks after the iPhone 4S's debut, Apple was telling customers at its online store that orders would ship in one to two weeks.

Survey shows consumers are much less concerned about Apple Maps kerfuffle than 2010's 'Antennagate.' (Image: ChangeWave Research.)

Source: computerworld.com/

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Reports: Foxconn denies workers went on strike

The company said iPhone 5 production wasn't interrupted, according to media reports

Electronics manufacturer Foxconn maintains that workers making iPhones at a Chinese factory did not strike on Friday and that production wasn't affected, according to published reports.

Foxconn's statement contradicts a labor rights group, which said that between 3,000 and 4,000 workers at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory went on strike on Friday afternoon. According to China Labor Watch, based in New York, the workers' actions brought some iPhone production lines to a halt.

However, Foxconn on Saturday said that no such thing happened, and that instead there were two "isolated" disputes between workers and supervisors earlier in the week that didn't affect production, according to reports.

In an update to its Friday statement, China Labor Watch reiterated that the workers in question did go on strike, but that they returned to work on Saturday. The group said that China celebrates a national holiday between October 1 and October 8, and that Foxconn required that workers in the Zhengzhou factory work during this period to meet iPhone 5 production goals, but that workers from the quality control line walked off the job on Friday.

On Friday, China Labor Watch had said that the workers were also angry over stricter quality control requirements for the manufacturing of the iPhone 5.

A plant worker told IDG News Service on Friday that heightened quality controls are resulting in an increased number of intercepted products, leading to missed volume targets and increased workplace tension.

"As a result, there was conflict and they beat our people," said the worker, who declined to give her name but said she works in the "quality department."

She claimed workers at the plant were beaten twice last week for similar reasons. "Our long-suppressed anger erupted and we went on strike," she said, communicating via Tencent Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like service.

Her account is consistent with China Labor Watch's report that a fight broke out between workers and quality-control inspectors on Friday, resulting in some injuries and hospitalizations.

Source: computerworld.com

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iPad Mini's likely launch date means inventory will be everything, say analysts

Latest-ever new product launch could put Apple in a bind during the holidays if the usual shortages occur

Apple's rumored November launch of a smaller, less-expensive iPad will put the company in a tight spot -- tighter than usual -- if it's not able to build up and maintain adequate supplies through the holiday season, analysts said today.

Earlier this week, speculation resurfaced about an "iPad Mini," the tag given to a 7.85-in. tablet, when Fortune cited a source who claimed Apple would invite reporters, bloggers and analysts next week to an upcoming event.

That rumor was bolstered today by the Wall Street Journal today (paid subscription required), which reported that Apple's Asian suppliers had begun production last month.

Based on past practice, Apple would likely unveil an iPad Mini on Oct. 17 and start selling the tablet -- perhaps at prices as low as $250 -- on Nov. 2.

That date, if true, would be Apple's latest-ever in a calendar year for a new product launch. The company typically ends its introductions in October, and even then, has limited them to relatively minor refreshes of existing products.

On both Oct. 20, 2010, and Oct. 20, 2009 -- the current latest-ever record for a product debut -- Apple started selling revamped MacBook Air notebooks and iMac desktops, respectively. On Oct. 14, 2008, Apple revealed significant changes in its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines by introducing the first "unibody" designs for its laptop line. And last year's iPhone 4S started selling Oct. 14.

"The biggest question [for an iPad Mini introduction in November] would be how much out-of-stock problems there will be," said Steven Baker, a retail analyst with the NPD Group. "Assuming there's huge demand, which I think there will be, will they have enough stock to make it through Dec. 25? If they have just four days of inventory at launch, for example, retailers are not going to like that."

The retailers Baker was talking about would presumably include those that now sell the larger iPad, like Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart.

Customers would also be upset if stocks aren't sufficient, and long shipping delays are slapped into place almost immediately. The problem: The short stretch between early November and the heart of holiday sales, which in the U.S. start on Black Friday, Nov. 23, and run through Christmas, Dec. 25.

The iPhone 5, for instance, which launched Sept. 21, was quickly backordered to three to four weeks, where it remains.

Those kinds of delays could spell problems for an iPad Mini launched so late in the year. Customers, hoping to buy one or more for themselves and as gifts, could read the shipping delays -- especially as Christmas draws near -- realize they have little chance of receiving a Mini before the holiday, and switch their purchase to one of the many 7-in. tablet alternatives, which this year includes Google's Nexus 7 and a revamped Kindle Fire from Amazon.

"The problem is adequate inventory, it always is with Apple," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "If they can't meet what will probably be a very large demand, that's an issue. Frankly, they're not the only company with problems like these. Last year the Kindle Fire had the same problem."

Amazon's original Kindle Fire launched last year on Nov. 14, even later in the calendar than the iPad Mini's presumed Nov. 2 date. An estimated 5 million Kindle Fires were sold in the fourth quarter of 2011, but sales dropped off precipitously after the holidays, showing the need to strike when the holiday iron is hot.

"It's always better [to launch] sooner than later, because if there is a delay, you have time to recover," said Baker. "That's really a problem only for high-profile stuff, and more of an issue with people in the stores shelving and merchandising. The second [issue] is advertising. You want to make sure there's time to set that up. The later [a launch is] the less wiggle room there is."

Apple is unlike other computer and device makers, Baker admitted, because it has its own chain of retail stores, several hundred at this point in the U.S., Canada, China, Japan and several European countries.

At its own stores, of course, Apple has complete control of the process, and a late start to an iPad Mini wouldn't pose problems. But it still sells a good amount of tablets through its retail partners, who could be affected by a November launch.

"[Apple] gets a little more flexibility from retailers with iPads and iPhones because they have such a big share of those markets, and they drive traffic," acknowledged Baker, noting that it would be unlikely for a retailer to put up a fuss about an early November timetable.

And Apple's a special case for another reason, Baker argued: It limits the versions, or SKUs (stock-keeping units) to a minimum, unlike other OEMs, such as those expected to debut Windows 8- and Windows RT-powered tablet this year. Collectively, those hardware makers could present retailers scores of tablet SKUs. "Then the retailer has to reset a whole section," said Baker.

Apple has options, of course. It could alleviate potential shortages by limiting the 2012 roll-out to a few markets, say, the U.S. and Canada. However, that would be going against the grain: In the last two major launches -- the new iPad in March and last month's iPhone 5 -- Apple either implemented or plans to implement an accelerated roll-out to more countries, and to them faster.

In the end, there's a lot on the line, analysts say.

"A 'Mini will be pretty big..., huge," said Brian White, a financial analyst with Topeka Capital Markets, in a Monday interview. "Eventually, it will be bigger than the [traditional] iPad market."

Source: computerworld.com/

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Samsung Galaxy S III display outdoes iPhone 5's, teardown reveals

HS iSuppli analyst says differences likely not enough to affect buying decisions.

Samsung Galaxy S III's display is thinner and has a greater range of colors than that of the Apple iPhone 5, an IHS iSuppli teardown analysis revealed Tuesday.

But IHS iSuppli analyst Vinita Jakhanwal noted that the differences between the displys are fairly subtle and likely don't matter to users.

Jakhanwal said Apple chooses features in products like the iPhone 5 that are designed to yield profits and "deliver a superior customer experience, rather than to provide technology for technology's sake."

The iSuppli teardown revealed that the iPhone 5 display has a 1.5 mm thickness, while the Galaxy S III is only 1.1 mm. Also, the iPhone 5 displays 72% of the colors in the NTSC (National Television System Committee) standard, while the Galaxy S III reaches 100% of those colors.

Overall, the iPhone 5 is 1 millimeter thinner than the Galaxy S III, which IHS said was most likely due to a fatter Galaxy S III battery.

Apple used in-cell technology in the iPhone 5 LCD display.

The in-cell technology eliminates the standalone touch panel layers used in the iPhone 4S, making the iPhone 5 18% thinner than its predecessor.

The in-cell technology's elimination of the separate touch overlay layer allows more light to emit from the display without added refraction and glare from added touch layers, IHS said. As a result the iPhone 5's display provides a "more vibrant and crisper image with improved color saturation than the iPhone 4S."

"The lower color gamut measurement (72% of the NTSC standard compared to the Galaxy S III's fully meeting the standard) may not necessarily make the iPhone 5 display look worse than the Galaxy S III," IHS noted.

The iPhone 5 provides more accurate and realistic colors and contrasts as a result of better calibration, higher brightness and superior power efficiency of the display, it said.

Jakhanwal noted that some reviewers of the Galaxy S III have found that its colors look "oversaturated and unrealistic."

IHS said that the Galaxy S III uses an active-matrix organize light emitting diode (AMOLED) display in contrast to the low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) liquid crystal display (LCD) of the iPhone 5.

AMOLEDs don't use a backlight and potentially have better power efficiency than LCDs, IHS said.

Still IHS said a smartphone's battery life is dependent on many factors other than the display's power consumption, and didn't draw any conclusions about power consumption in either of the smartphone displays studied.

Source: computerworld.com

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Update fixes Verizon iPhone 5 data glitch; customers won't be charged for overages

Verizon iPhone 5 customers may have noticed an issue wherein their phones gobbled up extra cellular data when they were theoretically connected to Wi-Fi networks. Those customers now have two bits of good news: There’s a special software update that fixes the problem, and they won’t be responsible for unexpected charges related to unintended network overages related to the issue that spurred the carrier update in the first place.

Apple late Sunday released Carrier Settings Update 13.1, which the company says fixes a problem where the Verizon iPhone 5 could “use Verizon cellular data while the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network.”

To install the update, launch Settings, tap on General, and then choose About. Wait for an alert box like the one pictured at right to appear, and then follow its instructions: First, tap OK; then hold down the Sleep/Wake button and slide to power off when prompted. Finally, after your iPhone turns off completely, power it back up again.

You can verify that you’ve successfully installed the Verizon carrier update by going back into Settings -> General -> About and confirming that the Carrier item lists “Verizon 13.1.”

Torod Neptune, Verizon’s vice president of corporate communications, told Macworldvia email that “Verizon Wireless customers will not be charged for any unwarranted cellular data usage.” It’s unclear whether the original issue for Verizon customers was the fault of Apple or Verizon, but customers needn’t be too concerned either way, given the existence of the update, and the indication that they won’t be financially responsible for any overages.

Source : macworld.com

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iPhone 5 'geometrically more complex' than older Apple smartphones, says expert

Apple kept costs in line with last year's phone, even with LTE and larger screen

The iPhone 5 is "geometrically more complex" than Apple's previous smartphones, a teardown expert said today after taking apart the company's newest device.

"Across the board, this is geometrically more complex, and very, very interesting," said Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at IHS iSuppli, in an interview today.

iSuppli, which regularly disassembles smartphones and tablets to see which component suppliers are on the upswing, which have been dumped by designers and manufacturers, wrapped up its teardown today after getting its hands on some of the first iPhone 5 smartphones.

The research company's experts concluded that the iPhone 5 is the most complicated model yet created by Apple, in large part because of the inclusion of support for mobile carriers' faster LTE data networks.

"This is the most complex radio antenna design that I've seen on any phone I've examined," said Lam, referring to the iPhone 5's two antennas and the switching capabilities between the pair required to handle multiple LTE frequency bands.

Although the iPhone 5 is slightly larger than its four precursors -- it's about 7% taller, for instance -- it's even more jam-packed than older models.

"It's like a 3-D jigsaw puzzle in there," said Lam. "They've rearranged everything, ironed out the thickness of the battery, and gone with the smaller [Lightning] connector. It all goes along with the design tradition of Apple," he said, citing the company's reputation for elegance as well as for ditching older technologies and thus raising compatibility issues. "[Lightning] breaks a lot of compatibility, but it's much more functional," noted Lam.

Not to mention smaller.

Apple reduced the size of some components -- such as the docking connector -- to make room for new parts necessary for LTE, and for an audio amplifier chip three times the size of the one in the iPhone 4S.

But Lam kept returning to the iPhone 5's support for LTE as its most impressive engineering feat.

"There are only two antennas, but there are lots of ways to switch between the two," said Lam. "I was surprised at the level of engineering they had to go to."

To accommodate as many wireless partners as possible, Apple was forced to create two different models of the iPhone, Lam pointed out.

One, dubbed the "A1428," supports LTE bands 4 and 17, and is sold in the U.S. to AT&T subscribers. The other, A1429, handles bands 1, 3 and 5, and is sold to Verizon and Sprint customers in the U.S.

The two-model approach deviates from Apple's preferred strategy, which is to make a single model suitable for everyone, a tactic that, said Lam, "Gives Apple lots of leverage when they source components and drives really good prices for them," because of the volume of Apple's orders to its suppliers.

The move is reminiscent of the introduction of the iPhone on Verizon in February 2011, when, like now, it was forced to field two different hardware platforms.

iSuppli today also stuck to its preliminary estimate of the iPhone 5's "bill of materials," or BOM -- the total cost to Apple of the components used to assemble the smartphone.

The entry-level 16GB iPhone 5, said iSuppli, has a BOM of $199. With an estimated $8 in manufacturing costs, the total came to $207, a figure that doesn't include research and development, software, licensing and royalty fees, or marketing. At $207, the iPhone 5 is 5.6% more expensive to Apple than the iPhone 4S was last year.

The 32GB iPhone 5's total of $217 was 1% greater than the same iPhone 4S model, but the 64GB iPhone 5, at $238, was 6% less than the corresponding iPhone 4S.

Apple was able to keep the BOMs low, even with the debut of new LTE parts and the larger screen, because its memory costs have dropped between 46% and 49%, depending on the storage configuration, since the launch of the iPhone 4S.

"Beyond some of the high-profile changes that bring obvious benefits in performance and features, there are myriad upgrades and enhancements to virtually every component and subsystem in the iPhone 5," said Andrew Rassweiler, iSuppli's senior principal analyst of teardown services, in a statement Tuesday.

Lam again called out LTE as the biggest Apple achievement in the iPhone 5.

Apple's selection of the LTE frequency bands to support makes it a "kingmaker," said Lam. "No one has created a phone that has supported five bands," he added. "Apple is going to drive LTE."

Source : computerworld.com

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Upgrading to the iPhone 5? Eight Simple Steps to Make the Upgrade Easier

A little planning can save time - and voice messages - when you upgrade to the new iPhone 5

I was one of the "lucky" people to score a new iPhone 5 on the first day  but if you weren't, then you might actually be even more lucky - because it took me more than four hours to activate my phone due to the millions of other people trying to do it at the same time. The upgrade process was more or less seamless once I could activate the phone with Apple, but I learned a few lessons that might be helpful to others - especially if you have any old voice mail messages that you want to preserve before you upgrade to your new phone.

The real reason I was lucky was that I happened to be having dinner with a friend on Thursday night and she asked me whether it was possible to preserve voice mail messages before upgrading to a new phone. It didn't occur to me that I might lose my saved voice messages when I activated my new iPhone 5 and her question saved me from losing a wonderful birthday message sent to me by a favorite aunt and uncle who died within two months of sending me this precious greeting. Here are my simple recommended steps for making a happy transition to your new shiny iPhone 5, including an approach for making sure you don't lose any important voice messages.

1. Copy any voice messages that you want to save to your computer. I know for sure that neither Verizon nor AT&T has the capability to transfer the saved messages to your new phone - at least that's what they told me - so if it matters, do it yourself. You can really do this any time - even after you upgrade because the voice messages should still be on your old phone. But, if, like me, these are voices that you won't ever be able to get back, you might not want to take the chance that they might not be there after you upgrade. Transferring the messages is pretty easy with a simple cable that you probably already have and some free software called Audacity. The complete instructions are available in a short video on CNET.
2. Back up your old phone to iTunes. This happens automatically when you sync your phone to your computer. I do this pretty regularly, but my kids don't. You can upgrade without doing this, but if you sync the new phone from a backup (either on your computer or in the cloud), virtually everything about your old phone will be preserved, including your settings, all your apps, and even your camera roll - so it's totally worth it even if you've never done it before.
3. While you are backing up your old phone, gather up all the user IDs and passwords for all the sites you access on your iPhone - Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Groupon, Starbucks, etc. You will need to sign on to all of your apps again once you activate your new phone so you will need to know your user IDs and passwords. I use the CardStar app to store all my loyalty cards. All of the loyalty card information transferred flawlessly so that's one set of information you won't have to worry about.
4. Follow the instructions provided by your carrier to transfer your phone number. My carrier is AT&T. Since the SIM card for the iPhone 5 is much smaller than the SIM card for the iPhone 4, I didn't need to try to transfer the SIM card; I just had to make a phone call to AT&T to activate the phone service on my new iPhone.
5. Once you are active with your carrier, you then have to activate your phone with Apple by following the prompts on the phone. This is where you will get a prompt asking if you want to restore from a backup.
6. When the restore process is completed, you may want to move some apps around to take advantage of the extra row you get on each screen in the new iPhone. I had a few glitches trying to move a few apps around and getting my phone to re-sync because iTunes kept freezing during the sync process. If this happens, the trick is to close all open applications and try again. To do this, double click on the home button until you see the row of open apps displayed. Click and hold on any of the app icons until the red minus sign appears and then close each open app. Once I closed the open apps, the sync process flew by without fail each time. I had been having freezing problems ever since the last iOS update and this trick has now made syncing to my computer a breeze for both my iPad and my iPhone.
7. Most of my apps transferred perfectly. The one exception was Navigon, which gave me an error in the Map Manager section. After trying multiple times to access the Map Manager, I was able to solve the problem by deleting Navigon from my phone and restoring the app from iTunes. Once I did that, I had to re-download all the maps that I had on my old phone, but that didn't take too long.
8. Once you have the phone working and the apps organized, you will need the list of user IDs and passwords that you gathered earlier because you will need to open each of the apps that require authentication and re-enter your user ID and password. This process took me a while so if you use a lot of apps that require a user ID and password, make sure you allocate some time for this task. I was surprised at how many apps have become integrated into my daily life so spending some time re-authenticating was well worth it.

Source : Networkworld.com

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