Tuesday 29 September 2015

Camera Comparison: iPhone 6s Vs Every Previous Generation iPhone

A new iphone model release is always a big thing and we always look forward to seeing the improvements that have been made. Now that the iPhone 6s is finally here, we thought we would look at the camera and do a comparison between the iPhone 6s and all previous iPhone models.

Let’s face it, the camera is a big thing on your iPhone and over the years there have been some massive improvements. Initial test have shown that the new 12-megapixel camera that you get in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus is really quite good when it comes to capturing whatever you are pointing it at. Initial tests are really good, but sometimes you really just need to spend time using it to see exactly what it can do. This is where the annual iPhone camera comparison comes into play.

Lisa Bettany is the co-founder of the company behind Camera+ and MagiCam and she has just carried out her annual camera comparison of the iPhone 6s and all previous iPhone models. The results are really quite remarkable and by taking one of each iPhone ever released she has creating some stunning comparison photos. Lisa has in fact put together a blog post showing just what each iPhone camera is capable of and has then compared them with each other. The result is that the new iPhones are the best yet when it comes to taking photos. You can view the images Lisa took by visiting iPhone 6s camera comparison.

The improved sensor, software updates, and the new A9 processor that is available with the iPhone 6s has made this the best camera yet. There is an apparent increase in the speed of the auto focus and improvements to color accuracy, details and sharpness and in low light too.

Apple iPhones have always been some of the best smartphones around especially when it comes to taking photos, replacing point-and-shoots for many and even DSLRs for some. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus is capable of holding its own and does take some amazing shots which you will see over on Lisa’s blog post. If taking pictures is something that is important to you be sure to take a look at the photos before deciding whether or not the iPhone 6s is for you.

Thursday 24 September 2015

Pixelmator for iOS 9 Adds iPad Split-Screen Multitasking And More

Pixelmator’s latest version was released today. This is a fantastic photo editor for your iPhone or iPad and we the latest version is Pixelmator 2.1. The new update brings with it full support for iPad iOS 9 multitasking, the ability to import and edit 8K resolutions images, Open-In-Place document management across iOS and lot more.

Apple changed a number of things with iOS 9 including the new system font, San Francisco, and the latest version of Pixelmator supports this. The main change with Pixelmator though is the addition of iPad multitasking support. This means that users can now dock Pixelmator to the side of the screen using Slide Over. On recent iPad you can also pop Pixelmator into Split View for a true 2-app side by side multitasking experience.

For iOS users this means that some typical desktop workflow are now possible. You can now edit images with Pixelmator and browse the internet for inspiration and ideas at the same time. If you are doing something a little more casual, you can choose to have your social media apps open at the same time. If this is something that you want to do you might have to purchase a newer model iPad. To use Split View you have to have iOS 9 and an iPad mini 4, iPad Pro, or an iPad Air 2.

Pixelmator 2.1 also adds support for iOS 9’s new Open In Place document feature. This fixes a problem that a lot of people have with iOS file management. Normally when you edit a document the app would have to save another duplicate copy of the document. Now with Open In Place, it works like your regular desktop where you can open a Pixelmator document from anywhere, make your changes and then save it back to the same place. This is so much better and it eliminates the need for duplicate copies not to mention saving on your storage. The update also indexes your Pixelmator projects in Spotlight so you can find them using the universal search from your home screen.

If that’s not enough, Pixelmator can now also import and edit 8K resolution images. This means you can now crop and adjust photos up to 64 megapixels in size on both the iPhone and iPad. Version 2.1 of this app also includes a convenient workflow for handling images in your Photos library. You can open an image from Photos and save your changes without creating a copy. You can also copy your current canvas to the clipboard at any time to quickly paste it into other apps.

Pixelmator is available on the iOS App Store for just $4,99 and the companion app for your Mac is available on the Mac App Store for just $29.99. The creators of this app have also promised to add stylus support for the Apple Pencil with iPad Pro so be sure to keep an eye out for future updates.

Tuesday 22 September 2015

ZERODIUM Announces $1 Million Dollars For Anyone Who Can Jailbreak iOS 9

There is so much excitement around the internet today as ZERODIUM, a premium zero-day acquisition platform, have announced the biggest zero-day bug bounty program. Dubbed the Million Dollar iOS 9 Bug Bounty, they are going to pay out millions to anyone who can jailbreak the “world’s most secure mobile operating system”. ZERODIUM announced that they will pay $1 million US dollars for an exclusive browser-based untethered jailbreak of iOS 9 and we have all the details below.

As the name suggest, this bounty program is targeted towards iOS 9, which is considered to be the most secure mobile platform out there. ZERODIUM says they it will pay out 1 million US dollars to each individual or team that creates or submits an “exclusive browser-based, and untethered jailbreak for iOS 9. The jailbreak must work on all iOS devices, including the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPad Air 2, and more. The last browser-based jailbreak for iOS was Jailbreak.me which was released in 2011 by Comex.

Finding exploits or bugs that will allow developers and researchers to successfully jailbreak iOS 9 might be possible but finding a browser-based exploit is unlikely and not something that is going to be easy.

According to the ZERODIUM website: “Apple iOS, like all operating systems, is often affected by critical security vulnerabilities, however due to the increasing number of security improvements and the effectiveness of exploit mitigation in place, Apple’s iOS is currently the most secure mobile OS. This however doesn’t mean that it is unbreakable, it just means that iOS has currently the highest cost and complexity of vulnerability exploitation and here’s where the Million Dollar iOS 9 Bug Bounty comes into play.”

In total, ZERODIUM will be paying out $3 million US dollars for all iOS related exploits and jailbreaks found by developers and researchers. The zero-day bounty program is open until 6pm EDT on October 31 or until ZERODIUM ends up paying the total promised prize fund to developers and researchers. You can find out more about this on the ZERODIUM website.

One last thing, ZERODIUM won’t be making the exploit public so don’t expect a release of an iOS 9 jailbreak tool for iOS devices.

Thursday 17 September 2015

Jailbreak iOS 9 – Status Update for iPhone and iPad

Apple has released iOS 9 and with it comes the barrage of queries on how to jailbreak this new firmware. In this post we are going to look at the status of a potential iOS 9 jailbreak. With the release of iOS 9 we have been told that this is the greatest version of the iOS to date and it brings with it some great new features and improvements. We have included a video at the end of the post that will walk you through the new iOS 9 firmware.

Apple have dedicated a lot of time and resources when it comes to improving their mobile operating system, but there is still, and probably always will be, a strong contingency of users who can’t wait to jailbreak their devices.

At the moment, the last publicly available jailbreak was for iOS 8.4. This was provided by the TaiG team. Pangu team has also managed to successfully jailbreak iOS 8.4.1, but they claim that a number of the vulnerabilities used in that process have been patched with the release of the Golden Master build of iOS 9. There is no real confirmation on whether or not the Pangu team will package together their iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak and release it to the public.

Now that iOS 9 is officially here we are all waiting with baited breath. Prominent developer iH8Sn0w recently uploaded a video to YouTube demonstrating his successful attempt at jailbreaking Apple’s iOS 9. This video not only showed a jailbroken iOS 9 device, but outlines very specific things such as verbose boot, custom boot logos running, and demonstrated code injection. We don’t know if he will make this jailbreak available to the public or not though, so once again we are left hanging. We know it can be done but we don’t know if we will be able to get our hands on it or not.

What this essentially means is that once again we all have to wait to see if the TaiG or Pangu teams will come up with something. While we wait for them to delve deep into iOS 9 and discover the vulnerabilities that are needed for a jailbreak, we are advised not to update our firmware. The fact that iH8Sn0w has demonstrated a working jailbreak for iOS 9 is positive and it gives us hope that a public jailbreak could in fact be in the works. With that being said, with iOS 9.1 already available to testers, the likelihood of TaiG or Pangu working on a jailbreak for iOS 9 is quite doubtful and we could see them giving all their attention to a jailbreak for iOS 9.1.

While we wait for more information why not take a look at the video below that showcases all the feature the new iOS 9 firmware brings.

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Where To Download iPhone Firmware Files From


Below you can find the direct links to the iPhone Firmware Files for every released firmware version. Please note that if you use Safari you must disable the auto unzip feature. It may be easier to just use Firefox!

Latest:

Full List:
5.1.1 (4 GSM Build 9B208): iPhone3,1_5.1.1_9B208_Restore.ipsw
7.1.0 (5c GSM+CDMA): iPhone5,4_7.1_11D167_Restore.ipsw
7.1.0 (5s GSM+CDMA): iPhone6,2_7.1_11D167_Restore.ipsw
8.0.0 (5c GSM+CDMA): iPhone5,4_8.0_12A365_Restore.ipsw
8.0.0 (5s GSM+CDMA): iPhone6,2_8.0_12A365_Restore.ipsw
8.1.0 (5c GSM+CDMA): iPhone5,4_8.1_12B411_Restore.ipsw
8.1.0 (5s GSM+CDMA): iPhone6,2_8.1_12B411_Restore.ipsw
8.2.0 (5c GSM+CDMA): iPhone5,4_8.2_12D508_Restore.ipsw
8.2.0 (5s GSM+CDMA): iPhone6,2_8.2_12D508_Restore.ipsw
8.3.0 (5c GSM+CDMA): iPhone5,4_8.3_12F70_Restore.ipsw
8.3.0 (5s GSM+CDMA): iPhone6,2_8.3_12F70_Restore.ipsw
8.4.0 (5c GSM+CDMA): iPhone5,4_8.4_12H143_Restore.ipsw
8.4.0 (5s GSM+CDMA): iPhone6,2_8.4_12H143_Restore.ipsw

NOTE*: I will update this as new firmware versions come out of course :)