Apple today has started offering the unlocked iPhone 4S, with prices starting at $649 for the 16GB model, $749 for 32GB and $849 for 64GB version. These are contract-free and allow customers to use any GSM carrier provided they have a compatible microSIM card.
You can purchase these starting today at either the
Apple’s iPhone 4S is now available factory unlocked in the U.S. from Apple.com. Why it took until November when countries like Canada and the UK got unlocked models at launch, who knows? But if you’ve been waiting to go contract and SIM-lock free, now’s your chance! (Reminder: Only the GSM/AT&T version is available unlocked, not the CDMA/Verizon/Sprint version).
Apple has also launched the iPhone 4S in 13 more countries, namely Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea.
If you grabbed a new iPhone 4S today, let us know where and which model you got! And if you need more information to help you decide and get up to speed, check out:
If you’ve recently picked up a new iPhone 4S and haven’t start playing with Siri, there’s no time like the present to start. Though both novel and powerful, Siri isn’t always quite as good as you might expect if you’ve seen Apple’s ads. But with a little tender loving care, you can get Siri working for you more efficiently.
Correct Siri’s Mistakes
Every now and then, Siri will make a mistake. Depending on your accent or clarity of speech, this might be more often than you’d like. Thankfully there are two ways to keep Siri working with the right information.
The first is a hands-on approach. If Siri makes a mistake, take a look at your device. Scroll to the top of the screen and you should see your query transcribed, and any sections Siri doesn’t understand will be underlined in blue. Tap on your query to edit it.
But if you’re using voice commands already, you probably don’t want to switch to typing. Correcting Siri verbally might be a challenge if the software doesn’t understand your accent, but if you’ve just found yourself mumbling, speak clearly and repeat yourself. Or, if you’re trying to dictate a message or email, try using the following commands:
You can also correct message recipients on the fly, by saying “No, send it to (name) instead.”
Get Around Location Restrictions
With Siri still in beta, the software in available in many areas that aren’t quite ready for it. Unfortunately, that means all the location-based features are missing in those places. Rather than try to answer questions like “Where is the nearest Starbucks?” or “Is it raining?” with possibly incorrect information, the information is completely unavailable.
While you wait for Siri’s location services to be enabled in your area, you can get around some of these limitations. To get Siri to tell you the weather in your area, include your location in the query. “What is the weather in Vancouver, Canada?” will get you an answer even while asking Siri what the weather is while in Vancouver won’t. Use the nearest major city when you ask — smaller towns aren’t often recognized.
If you want Siri to find you directions home, you’re going to have to be able to look at your phone. Instead of asking Siri to find you the route home, ask Siri to search Google for your address, then click the Places tab in the results. This should show you the location you’re looking for, with a button for getting directions through Google Maps. You can do the same by searching for a business name or type.
Use Different Search Engines
If Google isn’t working out for you, you can make Siri search Yahoo! or Bing instead. Saying “Search Bing for X” or “Search Yahoo! for Y” works, or you can change your default search engine in Settings > Safari > Search Engine.
Find the Best Queries
Siri can understand a huge selection of queries, and seems to be learning more each day. Sometimes, though, the software gets hung up on a particular way of wording things and there’s nothing you can do but use the correct one.
Of course, those are just a few examples of some of the most important tasks Siri can handle for you. Experiment — not only are there lots of useful functions to be found, but Siri can roll with the punches for a surprising variety of joke requests.
Correct Names and Relationships
Siri can be awful at pronouncing some names, and her ability to understand relationships depends on whether you’re syncing your contacts through iCloud or Google. Learn more in
Learn More
If you’re on the go and you’re trying to remember what Siri can do, just bring the Siri prompt up by holding your home button and tap the “i” icon beside “What can I help you with.” This will bring up a list of suggestions. If all else fails, though, just ask. If Siri doesn’t understand, you’ll know, and you can always say “Cancel.”
According to a leaked internal Sprint memo, all Sprint iPhone 4S handsets sold starting today will have their SIM card slots locked to Sprint. It has never been fully clear how Sprint was shipping its iPhone 4S models but it now looks like they were originally shipping them with unlocked SIMS.
According to the memo, the SIM locking will be done during the iPhone’s activation process and it will be done invisibly. The customer will not see any notification of it happening.
What does this mean for any new Sprint iPhone 4S users? Well you will lose the ability to use a local SIM card if you travel out of the U.S. You will now have to have a roaming agreement in place with Sprint and pay the much higher call and data charges. One bit of good news, today’s decision does not impact current iPhone 4S Sprint users; we assume that this means their SIM card slots remain unlocked.
Source: SprintFeed
The new photo editing app, Photogene² for iPhone, is now available. The original Photogene was a major hit, and Omer Shoor now brings a completely redone interface and new features.
Photogene was always one of my favorite photo editing apps, so I downloaded Photogene² without giving it a second thought. I was pleasantly surprised to be immediately offered, as a value customer of Photogene, an in-app purchase for free! The choices were Go Pro ($6), Collage Templates ($2), or More Frames ($1). I promptly selected Go Pro!
Check out the video below to see Photogene² in action!
Photogene is back with a brand new version! Loads of new features and a completely overhauled user interface.
Photogene² for iPhone is on sale for $0.99 until November 17.
Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer — like most of the rest of the world — thinks Apple is working on a television set.
Stringer declined to provide details about what Sony is developing but said “there’s a tremendous amount of R&D going into a different kind of TV set.” He added that he has “no doubt” Apple’s Steve Jobs also was working on changing the traditional TV set.
No surprise there, since Jobs said as much, and Stringer provides nothing in the way of “they’re sourcing components from Sony” to jazz up the story as he’s done previously for things like higher megapixel iPhone cameras.
Speaking of iPhone, some 5 years later, Stringer claims Sony is working hard to make up ground there as well.
Meanwhile, Stringer said other phone makers will catch up to the iPhone, but their devices need to become “seamless.” “The beauty of the iPhone is it’s really well organized,” he said.
And just FYI, Stringer says he’s also not leaving Sony, despite their lackluster performance under his tenure.
Source: Wall Street Journal (Paywall)
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook might just be close to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that would fundamentally change the way they treat their users, and their users’ personal information.
According to people familiar with the talks, the settlement would require Facebook to obtain users’ consent before making “material retroactive changes” to its privacy policies. That means that Facebook must get consent to share data in a way that is different from how the user originally agreed the data could be used.
Facebook, which makes one of the most popular apps for iPhone and iPad, has been charged with misleading users about how private information was being handled — making it public by default. Under this settlement, Facebook would switch from opt-out to opt-in, letting users decide what they want to share before sharing it, and be subject to audits for 20 years to ensure compliance (much as Google has recently agreed to, and Twitter to a lesser period).
Source: Wall Street Journal
