This Crazy iPhone 7 Concept Features Built-In Drop Protection [Video]

We’re already starting to see reports filter through pertaining to the possible visuals and internal specifications of Apple’s next-generation iPhone, or iPhone 7 as it’s being referred to. So it’s only right and proper that alongside those reports we should also take notice of the designer-led visual concepts of what Apple could produce with its next iPhone model. Even if they do include insane features. And they don’t really come anymore insane than this iPhone 7 concept which comes with an integrated parachute system of all things.

First and foremost, the “iPhone 7″ shown in the video immediately makes it clear that absolutely no attention has been paid whatsoever to redesigning the aesthetics of the device. This particular concept is all about the creation and potential integration of one particular feature rather than the full overhaul of a device that is due and external and internal rebrand in 2016. The shape and size of the device remains the same. The iconic Home button with Touch ID sensor is still there, and even the speaker grille, rear camera module and hardware-based volume buttons are still in their exact same locations.

What has changed is all under the hood, with the changes primarily meant to integrate the innovative, but entirely unfeasible ‘Parachute System’ that appears to be designed to protect the device from damage when dropped. The designer is proposing that the iPhone 7’s built-in orientation, speed, & proximity sensor should work in tandem to detect when the device is free falling by monitoring its speed and distance from an object. When the speed increases, and the distance from an object decreases, an internal alarm would be triggered that then invokes the built-in CO2 tank to kick into action.

The internal CO2 chamber then vents its gas to a chain of nozzles located on the device that reduce the speed at which it is falling with the intention of bringing the phone to a controlled and gentle stop rather than crashing into the concrete. The CO2 chamber, once depleted, can then be filled up via a slot at the bottom of the device. There’s no denying that we’d love to actually test out a system of this nature and see if it actually works, but there’s very little chance of this ever seeing the light of day in a production device. Still, check out the video for yourself and see what you think.

(Source: ConceptsiPhone [YouTube])

5 Smartphones To Look Out For In The First Half Of 2016

As 2015 comes to an end, attention is inevitably turning to 2016 and what it will bring to the world of technology. One of the pieces of technology almost all of us carry, the smartphone, is a market that never stands still for longer than a few months at a time and as a result, there will be plenty of new devices for us to get excited about.

Here, we’re going to tell you which five new smartphones of 2016 you may want to keep an eye out for in the first half of the year. There will be countless more released, of that there is no doubt, but these are the ones that have our attention right now.

Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung’s newest flagship will have quite a battle on its hands, with the once hugely popular brand now finding itself under a little pressure not just from Apple, but cheaper and lesser-named manufacturers that are stepping up to the plate with some exceptional devices. Samsung will need to bring something new to the table, but instead appears to be about to take a leaf out of Apple’s book by bringing its own pressure sensitive technology like 3D Touch to the next Galaxy S handset. Anything the iPhone 6s can do, next year’s Galaxy S7 will do, too, plus a microSD card slot, it seems, with almost same design as Galaxy S6.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Samsung’s ability to offer essentially the same handset as the Galaxy S7 but with its now-familiar Edge design – curved edges to the screen on which to show additional information – will allow those who like curved screens to jump onto Samsung’s latest flagship device. Faster innards than this year’s model will see the Edge as popular as ever, at least amongst those that are willing to pay the premium for that screen.

Both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge will likely be announced at or around MWC 2016.

Apple iPhone 6c

If rumors are accurate, then Apple will announce a new 4-inch device early next year, with the smaller iPhone using a mix of iPhone 6 and 6s innards, complete with A9 chip, NFC with Apple Pay support. That ‘c’ stands for color, so expect to see multiple colors on offer, but wrapped in a metal body instead of plastic.

HTC One M10

HTC’s life is a bit of a nightmare at the moment, with the company struggling to stay in a competition that has Samsung and Apple at the top but with more than a few smaller fish swimming around beneath. HTC’s One M9 was popular amongst those that bought one, but the One M10 will need to find broader appeal next year. A design that’s similar to the A9 is a possibility, meaning we can expect people to complain about the HTC One M10 looking too much like an iPhone 6 next year. Oh, good.

LG G5

Rumored to feature an all-metal chassis as well as an iris scanner and an Apple Pay-like feature called LG “G Pay” that would allow users of the phone to buy things in shops that support it, the LG G5 could be a big player in 2016. Expect to see the LG G5 announced at Mobile World Congress 2016, with more details obviously available closer to that time.

You Can Download Afterlight iOS Photo Editing App For Free, Here’s How

Afterlight for iOS has long been a favorite of casual photographers across the world who are looking to turn their perfect shots into works of art. This image editing tool has been around on the iOS App Store for over 3 years now, and currently costs a mere $0.99 for the iPhone and iPad. Today, for a limited period, Apple is giving you the opportunity to grab the title absolutely free of cost. However, you can’t grab it for free directly from the iOS App Store where it still carries its usual price tag. In this post we show you how you can go around that and download it for free on your iOS device.

Seasoned iOS users must be familiar with the Apple Store app and the occasional apps it offers for free from time to time. Afterlight photo app is part of that generosity.

Step 1: Download the official Apple Store app for iOS if you haven’t already and launch it.

Step 2: Tap the Featured tab found at the bottom. Scroll down till you see the offer, and then tap “Download Afterlight free*”.

Step 3: Moving to the next screen, simply tap the “Download now for free” banner in green at the bottom.

Step 4: Once you see the prompt as shown in the screenshot below, tap Continue after which you will be taken to the App Store.

Step 5: When you are at the App Store’s redeem page, tap the Redeem button at the top-right corner and enter your Apple ID and password when prompted.

Step 6: That’s it, your download should now begin. Simply hit the Done button and wait for the download to complete before firing up Afterlight on your iPhone or iPad.

While Afterlight’s set of features needs no introduction of any sort, it is imperative to mention that the app has been updated and optimized for supporting 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, complete with Peek and Pop support for previewing images and photos while making your selection. These features should make this a must-have offer for anyone using Apple’s flagship phone.

Rumor: Apple TV 5 Production To Begin In Early 2016

The fourth-generation Apple TV may have proven to have lit a spark within the set-top streaming box market, but it could soon be considered old news before it has even had a chance to settle in. A newly surfaced report is suggesting that Apple has internal plans to put the successor to the current Apple TV into trial production at some point during the current calendar month. If all goes well, the same report suggests that Apple could work closely with its manufacturing partner to ramp up production of the fifth-generation Apple TV in the first quarter of 2016.

The first thing to note here is that the report is going down the familiar route of citing unnamed sources from within Apple’s complex supply chain. In this particular instance, it cites “sources from Taiwan-based supply chain makers”. If those sources are legitimate, then there’s really no better place to get information from, unless it comes directly from an official representative of Apple, which it never does. In addition to speculating that the device could go into trial production this month, the article also elaborates on potential internal hardware changes that could make the ATV 5 a vastly superior offering.

Apparently Apple is planning to move away from the current 64-bit A8 chipset that powers the Apple TV 4 in favor of an improved processor for offering “dramatically” improved performance to the end-user. That’s really a no brainer to be honest considering that we rarely get an improved piece of Apple hardware that doesn’t come with a processor upgrade. The supply chain sources are also suggesting that an internal change will see Apple ditching the currently used large heat-sink setup, in favor of a more advanced solution designed to dissipate the heat that the new processor would produce.

If those two little nuggets of information are enough to whet your appetite for what’s to come, but aren’t enough to appease your desire for information about the future of the Apple TV, then you’ll have to wait for more information to develop on this one. The article does elaborate a little further to suggest that the new fifth-generation Apple TV will come with a set of new but “unspecified features”, which once again is a unsurprising as Apple has continually looked to improve on the existing experience that it offers.

Apple is apparently trusting Quanta this time around for the production of the Apple TV 5, instead of Foxconn Electronics as it gears up for mass production in early 2016. However, Quanta has apparently declined to comment on any orders or current clientele.

(Source: DigiTimes)

Samsung Announces It Will Pay Apple $548 Million, Reserves Right to Obtain Reimbursement

Samsung has announced that it will pay Apple $548 million in damages for patent infringement but the company is reserving the right to obtain reimbursement if any judgements are reversed.

FOSS Patents notes that last month it was looking like Samsung would appeal to the Supreme Court. However, on Thursday afternoon, both companies filed a joint case management statement with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California which reveals that Samsung "has made arrangements to complete payment to Apple." If the company receives an original invoice from Apple before the weekend Korean time, it will send $548 million to Apple by December 14th.

Despite the transfer of funds to Apple, Samsung is reserving the right to obtain reimbursement based on future judgements.

"Samsung continues to reserve all rights to obtain reimbursement from Apple and/or payment by Apple of all amounts required to be paid as taxes. [...] Samsung further reserves all rights to reclaim or obtain reimbursement of any judgment amounts paid by Samsung to any entity in the event the partial judgment is reversed, modified, vacated or set aside on appeal or otherwise, including as a result of any proceedings before the USPTO addressing the patents at issue or as a result of any petition for writ of certiorari filed with the Supreme Court. Samsung notes that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has issued a final decision of invalidity on the '915 Patent, and Apple filed a notice of appeal to the Federal Circuit in the USPTO last week."

Notably, Apple says it "disputes Samsung's asserted rights to reimbursement."

FOSS Patents notes that this case will continue for quite some time as there are multiple patents held by Apple which USPTO is reevaluating.


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T-Mobile Offers 128GB iPhone 6s For 16GB Model’s Price, Here Are The Details

It’s 2015 and well, Apple is still pushing out the 16GB iPhone as an entry-level model. By now one would think that the Cupertino-based company would simply drop that entry-level storage size and introduce the 32GB model as the baseline for not just the iPhone, but the iPad as well, keeping the same price as 16GB model. While that still remains a dream, T-Mobile isn’t waiting for Apple to have a change of heart, and in a bold move as part of it’s Un-carrier Unwrapped initiative has decided to target AT&T and some other network provider’s users by offering those subscribers a whopping 128GB iPhone 6s for the price of the 16GB model. This T-Mobile offer is kind of similar to their offer from last year where they offered 64GB iPhone 6 for the price of 16GB iPhone 6.

T-Mobile seems to have based their move on the notion that no one can be happy with their 16GB iPhone 6s, given the needs of today’s content and media. And rightly so.

The announcement of this extremely tempting offer has been made just in time for the holidays when shoppers are looking for their most beloved gadget and for any Apple fan or anyone for that matter looking for a new flagship smartphone, a brand new 128GB iPhone 6s for the price of a 16GB iPhone 6s is definitely something that can’t be overlooked.

The offer will go live starting December 4, which will see T-Mobile essentially reducing the price of the 128GB iPhone 6s model by a whopping $200. That said, there is a catch to this whole discount; no don’t worry you will get your discount, just not instantly. Those opting to grab this deal will receive a $200 bill credit which will be paid during the first 90 days of you joining the T-Mobile bandwagon. The offer will apply to anyone who switched from AT&T, GoPhone, or Cricket Wireless to a T-Mobile Simple Choice postpaid plan.

The offer will last till December 13th or till supply’s last.

How To Stream And Play PC Games On iPhone Or iPad

Gaming on iOS is pretty well catered for by the myriad of titles on the App Store, but some games just don’t tend to arrive on mobile devices, and if you’re a sucker for a first-party title that will never see the light of day on an iPhone or iPad, then you’re generally out of luck. That’s not strictly true all of the time, though, because if you have a PC with one of a handful of NVIDIA graphics cards inside it, you might be in luck.

A new app available on the App Store called Moonlight Game Streaming takes advantage of NVIDIA’s GameStream technology, which allows PC games to be streamed to another device using WiFi or the internet. The device essentially becomes a screen and controls while the heavy lifting is carried out by the PC carrying the NVIDIA card.

It’s similar to the PS4 and Vita’s Remote Play, or Xbox One to Windows 10 game streaming, and it apparently works well. Now there’s an unaffiliated iOS app, which should mean PC games are playable on an iPhone or iPad, assuming the game supports GameStream, of course.

Gamers can download the Moonlight Game Streaming app for free from the App Store, and it’s open source too, which should make some people feel all warm and fuzzy. So long as you have a beefy network connection, you should be good to go. The list of supported NVIDIA graphics cards reads:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 600/700/800/900 series desktop or mobile GPU (GT-series not supported)

NVIDIA GeForce Experience (GFE) 2.2.2 or higher

Obviously, the elephant in the room here is the iPhone and iPad’s lack of buttons, but if you really do need to play your PC games on an iOS device and have the required kit (like one of those MFi certified controllers, or any bluetooth controller with Controllers for All tweak) to make this particular brand of magic happen, then Moonlight Game Streaming could be what you need. It’s worth a try, at least – it’s free, after all!

(Download: Moonlight Game Streaming for iOS on the App Store)