iphone

Life in the iPhone 5 line: Fashion as a must-have 'feature'

I may write a CNET column called called "Common Sense Tech," but I can't say that I or any of those who were in line with me today for iPhone 5 are showing much common sense. But the iPhone, perhaps more than any other device, illustrates how important a feature that fashion can be, in addition to function, when it comes to tech purchases.

Don't get me wrong. The iPhone 5 is an excellent phone, as our CNET iPhone 5 review covers. As usual, I'm not trying to spark some type … Read more

Restrict iMessage alerts to your contacts only

When I first wrote about iMessage last year with the release of iOS 5, I made a huge mistake. I had gone through and edited all of the screenshots, but forgot to blur out an e-mail address linked to my iMessage account. Readers noticed this, of course, and began sending me iMessages almost immediately.

I heard from a lot of nice readers, and I also had the occasional person who would send me multiple messages at all hours of the night. It took me a few weeks to figure out how these people knew how to contact me, but even … Read more

How to set multiple e-mail signatures on iOS 6

Multiple e-mail signatures, a feature that should have been in iOS from day one, has finally been added to the operating system with the iOS 6 update.

Before iOS 6, users would have to set one generic signature and then add any extra information as they were sending the e-mail. Not anymore.

To set up your e-mail signatures, launch the Settings app and then select Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Scroll down until you find the Signature option and tap on it. You'll be presented with the option to set one e-mail address for all accounts, or to set a signature … Read more

Apple Maps in iOS 6: What you need to know (FAQ)

It's only been a day since iOS 6 went live, but the world has sounded with a Greek chorus of complaints over the new Maps app made by Apple.

In case you don't already know, iOS 6 makes a big change in your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch's mapping features. It removes the Google Maps app that you've long used and replaces it with Apple's home-baked mapping service. At first, you may not notice the change since the app's icon, and much of the interface looks almost the same. Once you try to use … Read more

iPhone 5 begins its world tour in Australia

And they're off.

Throngs of people around the world are piling into Apple stores to claim the iPhone 5, promising to deliver a huge weekend for a device that has already seen record sales.

Apple said 2 million new iPhones were sold the day it became available for pre-order. Within 24 hours, shipping times slipped to two weeks for the device. Currently, the wait for a pre-ordered iPhone sits at 3 to 4 weeks.

Aussie siblings James and Tamsyn Vohradsky were said to be the first people in the world to purchase the new phone at retail.

Customer demand … Read more

Apple's Siri trounces Samsung's S Voice (hands-on)

I've updated this hands-on to reflect Siri's new tricks in iOS6; it originally posted June 21, 2012 comparing S Voice on the Galaxy S3 -- which is still current -- to Siri on iOS 5. If you're wondering, tomorrow I'll be comparing the updated Siri to Google Voice Actions.

Voice assistants like Siri, S Voice, Google Actions, and Microsoft's TellMe aren't new, but they are evolving into more mainstream features that can expedite results. S Voice, which launched this summer on the Samsung Galaxy S3, is Samsung's answer to Siri. That also makes … Read more

Aussie siblings become first to nab iPhone 5

The long-awaited Apple iPhone 5 has been launched in Australia, with a brother and sister duo becoming the first owners of the device in the world.

Because of its time zone, Australia was the first country to make the iPhone 5 available to consumers.

The queue outside the George Street Apple Store in Sydney began on Tuesday, and was mostly populated by those who were either paid to be there, or were advertising their various companies. By the morning of the launch today, the line had snaked its way around the block and then some.

Read more of "Brother and sister duo nabs first iPhone 5 in the world" … Read more

Getting started with Passbook on iOS 6

Passbook is Apple's first foray into something that slightly resembles a mobile payment solution. Passbook is a new app included in iOS 6 that allows merchants to develop Passes to be stored in the user's Passbook.

With the release of iOS 6 only a few hours old, there aren't too many examples of apps that have incorporated Passbook into them, so I used this site to help me make some sample Passes just for this post.

When you launch Passbook for the first time, it will more than likely be empty. There will be a link that … Read more

With iOS 6, you can upload photos in Safari

Until iOS can fully replace your computer, it's going to have to gain a lot in terms of capabilities. Luckily, with each update to the operating system, more and more of those much-needed features are added. One such feature is the ability to upload photos to a Web site through Mobile Safari.

The process and workflow is identical to what you're used to when using a computer, but it's been adapted to iOS.

Using Tumblr as an example, when you want to upload a photo, tap on the Upload button and then select if you want to … Read more