Siri ported to iPad, still getting silent treatment from Apple servers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whoa, stop the presses — we’re not sure if this is officially in the pipeline or if it’s just a matter of wishful thinking, but Sprint may not be the smallest carrier in the US to offer an iPhone 4S for much longer. That’s right: regional carrier C-Spire (formerly known as Cellular South) has the iconic device splattered front and center on its home page, stating that it’s coming soon. We’re not certain if the iPhone 4 will be offered as well, and no specific availability or pricing is given yet, but you can sign up to be notified as soon as more 411 is ready. The possibility of one of the little guys getting the iPhone is an exciting prospect, since it may lead the charge for more regional service providers to get Apple’d up. We love rooting for the underdog, after all.

Update: And just like that, it’s official, folks! C-Spire just reached out to us to confirm that iPhone pre-registration begins today, with the device launch in “the coming weeks.” Needless to say, if you’re a C-Spire customer, your holiday wish list may have just grown.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Is C-Spire getting the iPhone 4S? Its website says so (Update: confirmed) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Siri’s sweet and all, but for many of us that new eight megapixel sensor and f/2.4 aperture lens are what really makes Apple’s iPhone 4S an appealing upgrade. We spent the weekend shooting around New York City with the iPhone 4S, along with some other top smartphones — the iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S II, Nokia N8 and HTC’s Amaze 4G — in order to determine just which phone’s camera reigns supreme. And in order to capture video and stills with consistent framing among all five devices, we secured each smartphone to that homemade quintuple cameraphone mount that you see above — it may be an early prototype, but it got the job done. Jump past the break to see the results, and check out our comprehensive iPhone 4S sample gallery below.

Continue reading Camera showdown: iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4, Galaxy S II, Nokia N8 and Amaze 4G (video)

Camera showdown: iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4, Galaxy S II, Nokia N8 and Amaze 4G (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Nearly 25 years passed between Apple’s first foray into handheld electronics — the Newton MessagePad — and the far more successful iPhone. But while phones have replaced PDAs for all intents and purposes, few if any have tried to be what Newton really aspired to — an intelligent assistant that would seamlessly blend into your life. That has changed with Siri, the standout feature of iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S, which could aptly be described as a “personal digital assistant” if there weren’t so much baggage tied to that term.

Siri is far more than parlor entertainment or a simple leapfrogging the voice control support in Android and Windows Phone. At the other end of the potential spectrum, Siri may not be a new platform in itself (although at this point Apple has somewhat sandboxed the experience). In any case, though, Siri certainly paves the way for voice as an important component for a rich multi-input digital experience. It steps toward the life-management set of functionality that the bow-tied agent immortalized in Apple’s 1987 Knowledge Navigator video could achieve.

Continue reading Switched On: As Siri gets serious

Switched On: As Siri gets serious originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Nearly 25 years passed between Apple’s first foray into handheld electronics — the Newton MessagePad — and the far more successful iPhone. But while phones have replaced PDAs for all intents and purposes, few if any have tried to be what Newton really aspired to — an intelligent assistant that would seamlessly blend into your life. That has changed with Siri, the standout feature of iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S, which could aptly be described as a “personal digital assistant” if there weren’t so much baggage tied to that term.

Siri is far more than parlor entertainment or a simple leapfrogging the voice control support in Android and Windows Phone. At the other end of the potential spectrum, Siri may not be a new platform in itself (although at this point Apple has somewhat sandboxed the experience). In any case, though, Siri certainly paves the way for voice as an important component for a rich multi-input digital experience. It steps toward the life-management set of functionality that the bow-tied agent immortalized in Apple’s 1987 Knowledge Navigator video could achieve.

Continue reading Switched On: As Siri gets serious

Switched On: As Siri gets serious originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready to trade in that phone you just got? Sprint thinks you are, teasing you from its iPhone landing page to “go green and get green” by recycling your probably still in-contract HTC Arrive. Sure, its $73 buyback kickback might help you subsidize something fresher, but you aren’t tired of Metro already, are you?

Sprint buyback ad deems HTC Arrive too old, iPhone page lightly suggests you chuck it originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What once was there now is gone. Earlier today, Google Voice was just two clicks away in the iOS App Store. Now, all that remains is a page cache (at the source link below) and versions of the app that were already installed on iPhones and iPod touches. Vincent Paquet, Senior Product Manager for Google Voice confirmed that the app had been pulled, explaining “our last update of this week had a bug that caused the app to crash at sign in. We removed it so it did not affect additional users until the fix gets published.” We’ve been using the most recent version — 1.3.0.1771 — on an iPhone 4 running iOS 5 without issue, but recent reviews cite the reported crashing, so it’s definitely affecting at least some users. We don’t have an ETA for when you can expect the app to return, so if you don’t already have it installed, you’ll need to hang tight for the time being. The service should function normally otherwise, assuming your phone number has already been registered, though you won’t be able to begin new text threads or make outgoing calls using your Google Voice number.

Google Voice pulled from App Store following iOS 5 crash originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s iPhone 4 may not have the fancy dual core CPU of its successor, but thanks to the efforts of developer Steven Troughton-Smith and the folks at 9to5 Mac, it may soon have Siri. The port of the sultry voice assistant was accomplished by using the 4S Siri and Springboard files, and some serious elbow grease, no doubt. As you can see in the video below, it’s far from perfect, but it can recognize spoken commands without issue. Currently, the hack is missing an iPhone 4 GPU driver that keeps things running buttery smooth on the elder phone, and Cupertino won’t authenticate Siri’s commands coming from it either. So, it isn’t quite ready for primetime, but it should only be a matter of time before all you iPhone 4 owners can tell Siri what to do, too.

Continue reading Siri ported to an iPhone 4, old phone learns a new trick

Siri ported to an iPhone 4, old phone learns a new trick originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve unboxed a shiny new iPhone 4S from AT&T today, you’ve most likely had an experience similar to many others who made the same purchase: frustration. It seems that the surge in activity from the release of Apple’s new handset has reduced activation traffic on Ma Bell’s network to a crawl. This isn’t the first time the carrier has had issues on launch day — but back then, it didn’t have any competition. Now that Verizon and Sprint have joined the iPhone party, the pressure’s on and AT&T’s not looking good compared to the other carriers who don’t appear to be having issues. As if that weren’t enough for the folks in Cupertino, iCloud had a rocky debut this week as well — from absent verification emails to an inability to backup data. Apple has documented all five of the new service’s foibles via the coverage link below, but it appears everything’s been peachy since early this morning. So, have you been waiting for your new iPhone to be more than a shiny new paperweight? Leave a comment, and let us know.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iPhone 4S welcomed by AT&T activation delays, iCloud stumbles out of the gate originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Box rides on iCloud’s coattails, offers 50GB of free cloud storage to iOS users originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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