On Friday, T-Mobile USA released a carrier update, bringing LTE and visual voicemail to the unlocked iPhone 5. Customers who have an unlocked iPhone 5 will now be able to obtain these feature via the software update. The reason for T-Mobile releasing this update is because the carrier is officially carrying the iPhone 5, which uses the company’s LTE network. T-Mobile has also reportedly updated its support forums with information about T-Mobile users, who will now be able to get all of the new features.

iPhone 5 users with a T-Mobile SIM card will receive visual voicemail, the Commercial Mobile Alert System, as well as LTE on the company’s AWS spectrum. With the company officially set to carry the iPhone and fully support unlocked iPhones, T-Mobile will now be able to compete directly with the nation’s other leading carriers, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.

The carrier update will also add other features such as HD Voice and even improvements in battery life by reworking the network. T-Mobile has over two million unlocked iPhones on its network and is reportedly adding over 100,000 more each month. With the company dedicated to improving its network, and with the large number of users on the network with unlocked devices, T-Mobile is sure ot find success with the iPhone on its network.

{Via AppleInsider — Image Credit: Engadget}

Japanese mobile carrier Softbank is reportedly in talks to buy Sprint Nextel Corp. On Thursday, a report from Bloomberg noted that Softbank was looking to purchase two-thirds of the Sprint Nextel company which would give them control of the company. The transaction will cost Softbank a hefty $19 billion, or 1.5 trillion yen and will allow them to enter the U.S market and pick up more customers.

With Sprint under the wing of Softbank, the Japanese carrier will be able to enter the US as the third major carrier and compete with the other big carriers such as Verizon and AT&T. Both Sprint and Softbank use Ericsson AB equipment from Sweden for their wireless, allowing for easy compatibility for the two companies. Under the new ownership, Sprint will gain some breathing room, after investing nearly $20 billion in iPhones from Apple.

The company also launched the first 4G smartphone but on WiMax technology, as opposed to 4G LTE which is the new standard now. Sprint has since begun to build its 4G LTE network and under Softbank would be able to sucessfully transition and free up some of the pressue of betting on Apple’s iPhone to essentially carry the company. Softbank has yet to comment on when they are planning to take over Sprint and how they will make the transition.

{Via AppleInsider}

iPhone 5 leaks are continuing to appear on the web ahead of the release date event later today. A new report now publishes images of iPhone 5 logic board showing the new A6 chip. The Italian blog Apple.HDblog.it has posted new images which clearly show the details of the logic board of the sixth-gen iPhone.

In addition to A6 chip the iPhone 5 logic board shows Qualcomm MDM9615M LTE modem, which confirms earlier rumors about iPhone 5 supporting faster 4G LTE network. The photos seem to line up with recently leaked search page on Apple.com which lists a placeholder URL for LTE capabilities of the new iPhone.

As reported by MacRumors the logic board also reveals flash memory which is apparently being provided by Hynix and also goes on to show other chips that support features like WiFi, Bluetooth, gyroscope and accelerometer. Speculation suggests that A6 is believed to be a quad-core processor which could significantly enhance the phone’s computational capability and make advance apps like iPhoto to perform functions smoothly.

iPhone 5 media event will go live later today and it will be interesting to see if all the details that were revealed via rumors actually turn out to be true. Are you excited about the new iPhone 5? Based on all that you’ve read about the new iPhone will you be upgrading your phone? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Apple released the iPad 3 only a few days ago and already it has been a big success. The company recently announced that they have already sold 3 million of the new devices under 4 days. The new iPad was considered by some to be only a minor upgrade with the 5 megapixel camera, new Retina Display and 4G LTE.

The Cupertino company called this the “strongest iPad launch yet.” This puts the New iPad as the most successful iPad launch ever. Apple continues to improve upon its products every year and reaches a higher number of sales each quarter.

CUPERTINO, California―March 19, 2012―Apple® today announced it has sold three million of its incredible new iPad®, since its launch on Friday, March 16. The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.**

“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”

With the launch of the iPad 2, Apple did not report the first weekend sales, however, the company sold over 300,000 of the original iPad with the first batch of one million taking 28 days to move and ship. Apple also experienced a massive success with the iPhone 4S, with customers experiencing long  queues.

During today’s iPad 3 live keynote event Apple will finally unveil the third-generation tablet and release date is expected within two weeks from today. iPad 3 is widely expected to feature retina display with a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, faster processor with improved graphics, better cameras and more.

iPad 3 is rumored to use Dual-Core A5X SoC that will not only be faster but also deliver enhanced graphics and include 1GB RAM. The design is not expected to see major changes however, it is believed that the new iPad will be 0.8 mm thicker when compared with the second gen tablet.

Apple could share an update related to iOS 5.1 software update and could announce its immediate availability. While we haven’t heard about any conclusive evidence which points to inclusion of Siri in iPad 3 Apple could be looking at bringing the “personal voice assistant” to the tablet.

What are your expectations from this years event? Let us know in the comments section.

Check back soon for the iPad 3 live coverage.

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Sources: Engadget, Ars Technica, The Verge, gdgt

A forum post on Chinese site WeiPhone revealed an image of what they claim to be the logic board of an iPad 3 sporting an ‘A5X’ system-on-a-chip (SoC). The iPad 3 has been rumored to receive an upgrade in processing power, likely quad core, and is widely expected to be called the A6 chip.

Apple introduced the A4 chip with the iPhone 4, which was also leaked prior to its announcement, followed by the announcement of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S with the dual-core A5 chip. If this photo is to be believed, then rumors of Apple releasing an A6 chip could be considered incorrect and Apple could be releasing an upgrade in processing power for the iPad 3.

The A5X chip is branded with a date code of “1146”, suggesting that it was likely manufactured during the 46th week of 2011, anywhere from November 14-20. Part numbers of the processors also reveal information about its progression, with Apple’s A4 coming in at S5L8930X, the A5 as the S5L8940X and the new iPad processor as S5L8945X, hinting at a minor upgrade from the current A5.

Other details on the leaked logic board suggest that this in fact, may be genuine, including 16 GB flash memory chips from Hynix and a rectangular Apple-branded chip. Apple is expected to announce the iPad 3 release date at a media event on March 7th with a higher resolution screen, possible 4G LTE networking, as well as a more tapered design, and has also been rumored to receive the same 8 megapixel camera as in the iPhone 4S.

{via MacRumors}

When Apple announced iPad 2 they called 2011 the “year of iPad 2″ and now the company is all set to repeat its breakthrough success in the tablet market with the introduction of iPad 3. According to reports published by WSJ and iMore iPad 3 release date is expected to be announced on March 7th.

Various leaks, rumors and analysts reports we’ve covered in the past suggest that Apple’s next gen iPad 3 would feature retina display, upgraded processor and there’s also a possibility of 4G LTE networking.

4G LTE networking has been another mystery surrounding the iPad 3, with a compatible Qualcomm chipset becoming available, but international LTE coverage is still slim, and in some cases a year or more away. It sounds like Apple has 4G LTE lined up for iPhone 5 this October, but we’re still not certain if the iPad 3 will get it earlier.

Jim Dalrymple of LoopInsight also seems to agree with the release date announcement of iPad 3 being March 7th. He is known to have reported or confirmed Apple rumors with a very good track  record. The report published by WSJ also pointed to an early March launch event.

LTE rollout has been very slow and while Apple has been rumored to include faster networking in their future products iPad 3 could possibly be Apple’s first iOS device to support LTE. The Cupertino-based company has been testing LTE in iOS 5 as it was revealed in an “internal iOS test build” of one of Apple’s major mobile partners.

Are you excited about iPad 3 launch event? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Apple’s next gen iPad rumored to be called “iPad 3″ is expected to receive a 2048×1536 Retina display, a quad-core A6 system-on-a-chip, and possibly 4G LTE networking. Apple is consistently changing product cycle for the announcement of their next generation products, which was seen during the release of the iPhone 4S and the iPod refresh in 2011.

There have been many conflicting reports as to whether Apple will be retaining the current Apple A5 SoC, or switching to Quad Core A6 chip, which is almost double the power and would be able to handle a significant amount of usage and provide more RAM for applications.

Another interesting move by Apple could be 4G LTE networking, which is most notably available on Verizon and AT&T’s networks, which would allow the iPad to surf, download and upload at significantly faster than the current 3G speeds. However, many reports also deny that Apple will make the change to 4G LTE, with the high speed network still being in infancy and still being tested. It would be very un-Apple like to move to 4G LTE, which is a very risky move as it hasn’t been available for too long, making it very likely that Apple won’t be moving to LTE networks until the iPhone 5 at least.

As for the iPad 3’s cameras, rumors from iLounge suggest that Apple is looking to include a 5 or 8 megapixel rear camera and a FaceTime HD front camera. While the 5 megapixel camera seems more realistic for the iPad 3, an HD FaceTime camera seems unlikely.

Speculations of hardware additions for the iPad 3 have been circulating over the past few weeks, suggesting that the device is around the corner. Expect more rumors to surface in the coming weeks and around the first week of March.

A report from Nikkei Business in Japan released on Wednesday suggests that Apple is looking to bring an LTE model of its popular iPad to Japan as early as next summer. Currently, all iPads have the ability to operate on a network’s 3G data network, although many carriers have already upgraded their towers with 4G connectivity. The report suggests that carrier NTT DoCoMo has worked out a deal with Apple that would bring the device to the market with LTE connectivity.

If NTT DoCoMo does strike a deal with Apple, this would be the first time that any Apple product saw LTE technology. However, negotiations may still be in the works due to the fact that NTT DoCoMo is hesitant about letting Apple control unit volume and its refusal to allow the carrier to add its own applications to the device.

LTE provides a much better experience with faster data speeds, more efficiency, and faster connectivity. Verizon is currently ahead of the LTE competition, building out its network to support it on multiple phones. AT&T is still developing its LTE networks and Sprint has yet to announce any plans. Apple may likely be working on deals of its own with Qualcomm to purchase LTE chips for the iPad 3 and iPhone 5.

{via MacRumors}

While a number of previous reports have dismissed any speculation that iPhone 5 / 4S will support 4G (or LTE) networks, an Apple partner in the United Arab Emirates believes it will – claiming the company is in talks with Apple over 4G chipsets to support the high-speed wireless network.

According to GulfNews, the head of corporate communication for a wireless operator in Dubai called etisalat, has confirmed that the iPhone 5 / 4S will launch later this year, and that it will support 4G networks:

Yes, we are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year. As the first telecom organisation to roll out the 4G network, LTE, in the Middle East, we have already started talking to them for the handsets and chipsets in them.

Despite claims that his company has been working with Apple directly, we’re skeptical the iPhone will go 4G this year – or with its fifth-generation. It’s highly unlikely Apple would go through all of the work that it will take to implement 4G into the next iPhone, when its two biggest carriers in the U.S. don’t completely support 4G networks.

It’s likely that by the time AT&T and Verizon roll out their LTE networks, we’ll be closer to the launch of the sixth-generation iPhone and the feature would be largely wasted on the fifth.

{via 9to5 Mac}