During Apple’s WWDC 2011 keynote event Scott Forstall announced that iOS 5 brings 1500 new APIs for developers and more than 200 new features for users. However, only 10 were highlighted during the keynote presentation. iOS 5 finally brings “notification center” to iOS devices which allows users to manage all notifications by swiping downwards on the status bar.
iMessage, the tenth feature announced during the event turned out to be one of the most exciting features of the iOS. The new messages app supports iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and allows iOS device users to exchange messages using WiFi or 3G connection. iMessage directly competes with BlackBerry’s hugely popular BBM service. Apple’s new messaging app supports text and pictures messages and you can share videos and contacts too.
For iPhone users iMessage cleverly integrates with the existing messages app. When you start typing the recipients name the app contacts Apple’s server to determine if the user has iMessage and if the other device is running iOS 5 then the send button on your device will turn blue which indicates that the message won’t be billed by your carrier. However, if the recipients device does not support iMessage then the send button turns green which indicates that the message will be sent as a normal SMS / MMS and will be billed by the carrier.
iMessage also supports some of the more advanced features like group messages, delivery and read reports and your entire conversation is always in sync across all your iDevices.
If most of your friends or family members use iPhones, iPads or iPod touches then iMessage would certainly become the primary way to text each other. It’s taken Apple five major software releases to finally come up with a universal messaging application for iOS device users. Forstall was confident about the reliability of the company’s new service as it is built on Apple’s existing robust push notification system.
Are you excited about iMessage for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-ios-5-imessage-iphone-ipad-ipod-touch/feed/ 10Pinch is the first iMessenger with leaderboard contests, cool map views of friends, with locations, directions, journeys and miles traveled supported across all major smartphones. Unlike other messenger apps, Pinch lets users communicate with friends in a pretty unique way – by sending rich animations, pictures, emoticons, push notifications, location and all these can be done without any SMS/MMS/roaming charges.
Pinch is gaining significant user confidence with its service level commitments which include:
* 1 year guaranteed unlimited storage of all Pinch text messages
* Monthly New Pinch with free Upgrades and continued enhancements (Pinch@iPad coming soon)
* Cross Platforms Messaging Support: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Blackberry, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Web and Facebook
* Continued real promotions, real contests and special offers on the Leaderboards
* Anti-spam controls like no points for Pinching non friends, no push notifications for any Pinch to non friends etc.
“The users have already been delighted by the live chat support with the Pinch Customer Care which has helped all Pinchers learn more about the new and noteworthy features on Pinch. Affle aims to continue these Pinch support services for users to guide them about new promotions, contests, features as well as gain valuable feedback from users in a live interactive Pinch chat.” said Anuj Khanna, CEO of Affle.
Living up to its commitments, Pinch has released the new version of the app with more features. The latest update includes:
* Support for 4 more languages (Korean, French, German and Chinese)
* Support for international keyboards
* Support for better Profile pages
* Improved multitasking performance on the People and Leaderboard pages
* Auto-correction / Dictionary support
Affle also confirmed that the 25 Winners of the Weekly Leaderboard would be announced on 26th July 2010 and the winner of the iPad to be announced in August.
Supported Platforms:
* iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS, iPhone 4G (iOS4), iPod touch, Android 2.x, Blackberry 4.x, Symbian, Web, PC
Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 3.1 or later (iOS 4.0 Tested)
* 3.6 MB
Pricing and Availability:
As a Special Introductory Offer (75% Discount), Pinch 1.2.15 is only $0.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Social Networking category.
Affle
Pinch 1.2.15
Purchase and Download
Pinch iPad Global Contest
Media Assets
Affle is a leading mobile media company with the R&D headquarter in Singapore and the Marketing headquarter in US. Affle has consistently delivered innovations that enhance the user experience on mobile messaging and make mobile media a reality. Affle currently operates in Singapore, India, China, UK, USA, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand and Malaysia. Affle’s shareholders include Microsoft and Itochu and 50% of Affle’s directors based in the US. Copyright (C) 2010 Affle. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
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9to5Mac are reporting some leaked information about an upcoming feature of iPhone OS 4.0 / iOS 4: Facebook Video Export.
From files gleaned from the latest Developer Release of the iOS 4 SDK they have found configuration files that seem to show that Facebook Video Export will indeed be available alongside the current options to email, MMS, post to MobileMe or send videos to YouTube.
The maximum size of video files that we will be able to send to Facebook, according to this data, seems to be 480 x 480, at a maximum frame rate of 30 Frames Per Second.
Are you excited to be able to post videos to Facebook from your iPhone in future? Or is this a “Meh” feature for you? Let us know in the comments.
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Apple’s WWDC 2010 is scheduled to kick off on June 07 and Steve Jobs is widely rumored to unveil the new iPhone 4G / HD. If you have been following news reports and rumors about the new iPhone 4G then you would probably have a very clear picture of how the next iPhone will look and know the exact hardware specification which will be offered.
The prototype leak and iPhone OS 4 beta code has revealed some interesting information about upcoming features and heres a round up of what we know so far.
iPhone 4G Hints in OS 4
The values for video capture in the third beta hint at a high resolution camera which could record 720p high-definition video.
iPhone OS 4 beta code had various references to error messages which prompted the user about video call being disconnected because the local Wi-Fi connection was lost.
Various news sources have confirmed that the code in iPhone OS 4 had reference to titles like “Flash is disabled” The design of the leaked iPhone 4G prototype also confirmed that next iPhone will support a camera with flash.
iPhone OS 4 Features Round Up
This has been one of the highly anticipated features for iPhone and Apple will finally allow you to customize the home screen of your device with new wallpapers in the background.
The average number of iPhone apps a user installs is increasing as more and more apps are made available. iPhone OS 4 will enable you to manage your apps with ‘Folders’ You will be able to group 9 apps in one folder to save the number of icons appearing on your home screen. This will also enable users to easily access the frequently used apps and games.
iPhone OS 4 will imporve the SMS app and now you’ll be able to Limit character count, Repeat alert, Show preview, Toggle MMS and group messaging and Toggle subject field viewer.
The fourth beta of iPhone OS 4 had an option in the settings menu which suggests that AT&T will finally be offering internet tethering on iPhone.
Apple provides seven multitaking services as APIs to developers which include Background audio, Voice over IP, Background Location, Push Notifications, Local Notifications, Task Completion and Fast app switching. These APIs will allow you to stream internet radio using Pandora in the background while you surf the internet and receive incoming Skype calls even when when the app is not active.
Multitasking is only supported on iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 3rd gen and iPad.
Mail app on iPhone OS 4 will include Unified Inbox, Multiple Exchange Accounts, Fast inbox switching, Threaded messages and the ability to open attachments with apps. This will certainly make emailing on iPhone much more efficient and provide an enhanced user experience. iPhone OS 4 will also add support for Gmail Archive.
If you love reading eBooks on the go then you will finally be able to access the iBooks library on your iPhone running OS 4.
iPhone OS 4 will add software support for orientation lock which will make reading eBooks and performing various actions on your iPhone in the orientation set by you and will not rotate the screen when you change your angle of viewing.
iPhone OS 4 will add new iPad-style spelling correction features to iPhone and iPod touch. If you misspell a word it will be underlined with red color and you will be able to correct it with suggested words which will appear in blue color.
With more than 50,000 games and entertainment titles on iPhone and iPod touch Apple realized the importance of native social gaming network. Game Center will include Matchmaking and leaderboards too.
iPhone OS 4 Rumors
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Vivid Apps is giving away 25 Promo Codes for Lifecards!
You can win this app by Retweeting this Post (use green retweet badge)
Review [Update]
[rating: 5/5]
Lifecards successfully breaks the monotony of regular emails and picture messages to convey that special message!
Features:
– More than 350 templates in 20 categories with more to come.
– Up-to 4 photos per template.
– Control scale, position, and rotating of photos.
– Control alignment, color, size, and font of text.
– Complex visual engine allows free pan and zoom while manipulating card.
– Automatically adapts to landscape and portrait mode.
– Save cards to finish them later
– Automatic save and restore when you exit and reenter the application
– Change templates without changing contents
Lifecards is great way to share what your are thinking, doing or dreaming about. It has a very intuitive interface which makes creating your Lifecard very easy and an enjoyable experience.
Once you select ‘Create new card’ you are presented with various categories (Beach, Filmstrip, Winter and many more) which further have different themes. After you’ve selected your theme, you get various customization options.
Customization options include:
At this stage if you feel you are not happy with the theme you can still change it without losing your text and pictures you just added.
When you feel you’ve got what you wanted tap save (you are presented with a preview) tap save again and there you get two options, either to save for later use (re-edit later) or Export to Photo Album. After you’ve Exported to Photo Album you can exit the app and email the card you created.
The entire interface from creation to completion of the card is very well thought and implemented.
Lifecards will certainly make your friends feel jealous of your iPhone/iPod touch.
[Update] Lifecards has had many updates since we last reviewed it. The app feels very snappy and smooth now. The developer has also added sharing features which allow you to share your beautiful Lifecards via Facebook and Twitter (Touch Reviews suggested twitter) With the latest update now you can also add speech bubbles to create unique Postcards on your iPhone/iPod touch.
Touch Reviews Highly Recommends Lifecards
Price $2.99