iphone

What a smartphone will look like in 5 years

Remember that wild and woolly time before iPhones? I do. In early 2007, I used to keep a Thomas Guide in my car. I think it was also the last time I played Scrabble by picking actual tiles from a bag. As the Apple faithful contemplate the better life that awaits with a 4-inch screen and 4G LTE, it got us thinking -- not about the changes in the past 5 years but about how we'll use smartphones in another 5.

We enlisted the help of Mike Liebhold, senior researcher at the Institute for the Future, to help paint … Read more

iPhone 3GS fades into the sunset

One more loose end to clean up after Wednesday's iPhone 5-fest. Apple has now reportedly confirmed the discontinuation of the venerable iPhone 3GS, a product that entered the market in June 2009. Not a huge surprise given that Apple usually carries three generations of the iPhone at a time, with the earliest model usually going for free.

So in this case, the iPhone 4S, bumped aside by the iPhone 5, now sells for $99, while the older iPhone 4 is the new free phone with a two-year contract.

See CNET's full coverage of Apple's iPhone 5 event

iPhone 5 preorders start September 14 at 12:01 a.m. PT

If you're a night owl -- or a very, very early riser -- and don't want to wait on line, you can go online at 12:01 a.m. PT on September 14 to place a preorder with Apple for the iPhone 5.

Otherwise, you can do it the old-fashioned way and wait for the doors on Apple's retail stores to swing open at 8 a.m. local time on September 21.

Apple is hoping that history does not repeat itself, after the company ran into preorder problems with the iPhone 4 and 4S. Both Apple and … Read more

iPhone 5 shares its thoughts about its September 12 debut

After its greatly anticipated unveiling, and the endless tapping, stroking, pinching and praising at the event, the iPhone 5 retired for the night to its private suite.

Jony Ive stopped by to say he was very pleased with its performance on stage, and ordered iPhone 5 to get some sleep. Tim Cook plugged iPhone 5 in for a power refresh with its new Lightning connector and fondly wiped its screen of the smudges from too much handling during the auspicious event.

As the room gradually emptied, iPhone 5 thought about Steve Jobs, and how he was missed. The unveiling … Read more

Developers scramble to ready apps for iPhone 5

As rumors of a big-screen iPhone 5 intensified late last month, engineers at the read-it-later app Pocket went into hacking mode, scouring the Internet for ways to tweak the iPhone's official software development kit so they could redesign their app for a bigger screen.

Ever since Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, widespread speculation has held that the next iPhone would boast a 4-inch screen. For hundreds of thousands of developers, that posed a potential problem: Would their apps look strange on a bigger screen? And how would they build mock-ups when the official iOS simulator showed the … Read more

Apple posts video of iPhone 5 introduction

You've read the reports with rapt attention and scrolled through the images -- now you have a chance to see the debut of the iPhone 5 as the audience saw it this morning.

Apple has posted the video of the unveiling of its much-anticipated next-generation smartphone to its Web site. The video shows Apple CEO Tim Cook taking the wraps off the new iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, and ear buds as well as detailing the iTunes revamp.

If you are more of a Foo Fighters fan than Apple fanboy, fast forward to 1 hour 42 minutes into the … Read more

iPhone 5 opens the door for Nokia, Samsung

News flash: The iPhone 5 is not the end-all and be-all of the smartphone universe, a fact that should thrill Nokia and Samsung alike.

Here's what it is: a strong improvement to the iPhone 4S that offers up a larger screen, 4G LTE speeds, and a terrific camera. The iPhone 5 carries on the goodness that Apple excels at, like iTunes entertainment and cloud storage.

But however good the iPhone 5 is, it lacks the knockout, gasp-inducing feature that Apple followers have come to expect: perhaps double the battery life of any other phone on the market, or an … Read more

iPhone 5: What we didn't get

At long last, the iPhone 5 is here, and now the dissection begins.

Of course, whether it truly lives up to expectations won't matter to millions of people with older iPhones (and other smartphones) who've been waiting to upgrade to the next iPhone no matter what. But for those who have an iPhone 4 or 4S and are on the fence about upgrading, here's a look at some key features Apple left out of this model that may find their way into the next iPhone (let's call it the iPhone 5S for now).

No radical new … Read more

Apple prices the iPhone 5 same as 4S: $199 for 16GB

Apple's iPhone 5 will cost the same as the iPhone4S: $199 for a 16-gigabyte version.

Earlier today, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5. The highly anticipated addition to its smartphone line delivers much of what industry observers had expected. You can find full details of speeds and feeds for the iPhone 5 here.

The smartphone will cost $299 for a 32GB version and $399 for a 64GB version, all with a two-year contract.

The products will become available for purchase on September 21 in the U.S., and by the end of the year they'll go on sale in … Read more

First iPhone 5 case arrives (hands-on)

If the iPhone case fits, acquit.

Last year, Hard Candy Cases released an iPhone 5 case before the iPhone 5 actually was announced and got a little mud on its face when it didn't fit the iPhone 4S. It wasn't even close. (Hard Candy chalks it up to faulty intelligence and perhaps even some diversionary tactics by Apple).

Well, after last year's small embarrassment, Hard Candy is at it again, announcing the ShockDrop case for iPhone 5. And I just got received the new Gumdrop Drop Tech Series iPhone 5 case ($44.95) in the mail about … Read more