I’m about due for an upgrade to my first generation iPhone, and a sweet camera would help seal the deal. That’s the rumor going around (more or less unrelated to the other set of rumors we heard today, though I probably wouldn’t turn down a higher-resolution iPhone with better camera included) according to a few places, which seem to stem from a company named Omnivision Technologies. They’re expecting to not only see an increase in production of iPhone CMOS image sensor parts from 20 million to over 40 million in 2010, but they also say they’ve landed a deal to put together 5-megapixel CIS pieces for a new version of the iPhone.
Take this with the requisite grain of salt, of course — we’ve expected cameras in some of Apple’s devices before, and a few of us were disappointed. But it’s not a big stretch to think that if Apple does release a new version of the iPhone as expected this year (be it a normal handheld or a larger tablet product), the camera in there will be able to take nicer video and better pictures than before.
There’s a flurry of rumors this morning that Apple is planning an event as soon as this January, though exactly what they’ll be showing us is still in question. Most of the buzz (along with our buddy Gene Munster) says we will finally see the long-awaited tablet, and that after a January showing, it might actually be released as soon as March. Which means, of course, that by August, it’ll completely revolutionize whatever industry it happens to fall into. That’s usually how these things work.
But while a tablet is still only being bounced around, we’ve at least heard that a bigger screen is involved in some way, whether that be in a netbook style computer or something else. A few developers have reportedly been asked to ready their apps for a “full screen” resolution, which would seem to suggest that even if the new device is larger than an iPhone, it’ll still run apps off the App Store.
Breaking news, everybody: Apple’s working on some stuff. The rumors are flying in all directions today, starting out fairly innocently with word from the oft-innacurate DigiTimes of an iPhone-destined 5 megapixel camera sensor. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster piled on with an investor note saying they’re giving an Apple January event a 75% chance of happening, and the tablet is squarely at 50 / 50. The most interesting word, however, comes out of the Silicon Alley Insider, who is quoting a “plugged-in source in the mobile industry” who says that Apple is working with some select app makers on prepping high-res apps to demo on a “new, larger mobile device.” The device would be shown in January but not available at that time — presumably in wait for these redesigned apps to mature (at WWDC, perhaps?). While that rumor is being piled in with the ever-present tablet hubbub, if we were to read between the lines we’d say it sounds more like a higher-resolution iPhone in the style of Google’s Nexus one or Motorola’s Droid — both of which are making the iPhone’s 320 x 480 screen look a tad archaic. Certainly more likely than Apple releasing “several tablets” to match up with all the disparate rumors we’ve seen of the 7-inch / 9-inch / 10-inch unicorn device.
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today’s bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the holiday season.
That whole gift giving time is very nearly upon us, and if you don’t know what to get your closest and dearest by now, you may well be beyond salvation. To honor those lost souls, and to appease the anti-consumerists out there who think there’s more junk in stores than there is sand in Dubai, we present the dark side of the Engadget HGG. Here, nestled in the same familiar price categories, we pick out the best of the worst gadgets to see the light of day in 2009. So join us after the break, and should you find yourself unwrapping one of these in a couple of days… you have our condolences.
Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) is buying up VOIP provider Jajah for $206 million in cash. The company—which had raised $35 million in venture capital funding—had been up for sale for more than a month now and several companies, including Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO) had also been said to be interested. In recent days, however, there were reports that Telefonica had beat out those two companies in the bidding.
In a release, Telefonica says that it will offer Jajah’s services to “customers wishing to extend their communication experience”—beginning in Europe, where it operates under the name O2. It will retain the Jajah brand.
It’s a problem worthy of an episode of Intervention. Yes, I’m ashamed to admit that my wife is addicted to the Live Cams app on her iPhone.
It all started when she was searching for new apps in the App Store, and she noticed a little app called Live Cams [US$0.99, iTunes Link]. It sounded innocuous enough — the app provides a way to search, browse, view, and in some cases, control live web cams all over the planet. At a price of less than a buck, Live Cams couldn’t harm anything or anybody, could it? We were both sure that the developer, Barry Egerter, couldn’t have any evil intentions, so she bought Live Cams and installed it on her iPhone.
Aol is telling a good story, but Citi analyst Mark Mahaney isn’t buying it. AOL is probably the toughest Internet turnaround story, he says in a report today, citing “28% Y/Y decline in its Subscriber base and 38% Y/Y decline in its EBITDA.” He recommends people buy Yahoo, which “will almost surely revert to growth before AOL.”
Mahaney also notes that Aol was the only top 5 web property in the U.S. to have year over year declines in visitors.
As we reported last week, Apple is again rolling out their ‘12 Days of Christmas’ promo for almost all of Europe. From December 26 to January 6 anyone with a iTunes account in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ireland can download a free song, music video, app, television show, or film from ’some of the biggest star performers’ on iTunes.
To help you remember to download the daily giveaway, Apple has created a ‘12 Days of Christmas’ iPhone app [UK iTunes link]. It uses push notifications to alert you when the new download is available and also allows you to connect to Facebook and recommend the download to your friends. So if you live in Europe, get downloading! The promo starts December 26th, but the app is available now!
Here’s the thing. Merely dipping something in 22 carat gold does not necessarily mean we’ll like it better… but it’s a semi-decent start. Now, we know a PS3 literally covered in gold and diamonds isn’t exactly “news,” nor is it anything we haven’t seen before with other consoles. It is, however, a stark reminder that being super rich often leads to gaudy, tasteless, nearly criminal displays of ridiculousness. Hit the source link if you want to order one from purveyor Stuart Hughes for a mere £199,995 (that’s about $320,000).
The live video streaming application Qik has just been approved in the App Store and should be available shortly, we’ve learned. The company submitted the app a couple weeks ago following the approval of UStream’s live streaming application, and as expected, Apple also had no problem with it now. This marks a change from Apple, which previously was blocking all apps that did live video (recording) streaming.
Apparently, the way these streaming apps work is using a restricted API (a screen capture API) to get around the fact that Apple doesn’t grant them access to the video APIs for live capture and streaming. But Apple has suggested that it will no longer enforce protecting this API and in the future should open more that allow for live video streaming.