128GB iPad. BOOM!

Well it appears Rumours are sometimes true. Apple literally just announced a 128GB version of the 4th Generation iPad with Retina Display.

Here's the press release to Apples best friend the Stock Market

Note this isn't a redesign that is already doing the rumours like this. I wouldn't expect to see that until March at earliest, October at latest.

So do you want a 128GB iPad?

iJoe

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iOS 6.1 Released to Public.

Download it now or OTA.

Only details are small bug fixes. No new features.

iJoe.

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iNews - EP. 3

So this week has been a bumper week, with Apple releasing its profits and loads of updates and future products revieled to the world. Plus my iPhone 5 developed its own tasty fault, but more on that later. So here's the news.

SkyGo gets an update
30 best apps of the week
Mailbox gets a full feature review, before it launches this week
51% of the US have an iPhone, yet Apple are still in trouble
Apples porn problem part 1
Apple online through the ages
An App to change the way we listen to our favourite artists
The future? Is Now!
First clip of jOBS is revealed
Another 30 Apps of the week
Developers got their hands on a new version of iOS this week
A fitness app to get you moving, without even knowing it.
Apples porn problem part 2
If you use forums, this review is for you.
The game Hundreds is updated
Letterpress is updated
Rumoured iPhone 5S with 128GB storage could finally kill the iPod classic
Apple rumours
Imagining iOS 7
Tim Cook rallies the troups

And Finally....Two pieces of analysis on Apples fortunes.

Review of numbers
What's Next

iJoe

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Smart Merge - Free

Smart Merge the contact duplication manager that I featured in the Facebook contact article previously is free for a limited time only.

I suggest you download it and regain control over your contacts.

Download Smart Merge For Free

Facebook Article

iJoe

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Apple Profits.

Firstly apologies its late, I wanted to upload this last night but also wanted to see certain people's take on it so had to wait till the morning.

So here's bullet point details from Apples Q1 2013 Earnings Conference call.

Profit - $13.1 Billion - Record vs $13.06 Billion - Q1 2012.
Revenue - $54.5 Billion - Record vs $46.33 Billion - Q1 2012.
iPhone sales - 47.8 Million - Record vs 26.9 Million - Q1 2012.
iPad sales - 22.9 Million - Record vs 15.43 Million - Q1 2012.
iPod sales - 12.7 Million - Down vs 15.4 Million - Q1 2012.
Mac sales - 4.1 Million - Down vs 5.2 Million - Q1 2012.

Apple beat Wall Street Projections on Profit by $.3 Billion and its own projections by $2.1 Billion. They slightly missed Wall Street on Revenue by $.3 Billion and best its own projections by $2.5 Billion.

Now how you can question these results and claim Apple are doomed for failure is ridiculous. No Tech company has ever produced results like this. I don't know enough about stocks and shares to pass enough comments on it, however all I will say is you don't write them off EVER.

Here's the masses of reporting from Tech and mainstream media.

iMore 1
Guardian
iMore 2
The Verge 1
The Verge 2
iMore 3

iJoe

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iSnow

Since the UK is currently experiencing a large amount of wintery weather with Snow blanketing all parts of the UK and temperatures set to drop significantly for the rest of the week I thought I'd put together a small post highlighting some great apps that could help you not only get out of a sticky situation but also help you plan around some.

Obviously there's some basics such as phone app, messaging app along with Facebook - Free, Twitter - Free for you to keep in touch with friends and loved ones and social media is also a strong source of news to see if your local schools are closed.

Today Weather - 69p A great weather app that allows you to see max and minimum temperatures and hour by hour forecasts. A great way to see what's forecast.

Met Office Weather - Free For some the above might be not enough information, with this app you can get maps, radars and official weather warnings.

Light - Free Should you be unfortunate to lose power or get stranded a touch can be essential. This app provides a constant beam, flash/strobe light and also a SOS light. Also it's not a power hungry app so won't drain your battery when you need it most.

RAC Traffic + - 69p This app is useful no matter what the weather, it has a build in route planner to help you get to your destination, also it has live traffic information so you can check if your route is blocked, delayed or clear. If you are broken down you can even use this app to be rescued even if your not a member.

Plane Finder - £2.99 Even if your escaping the UK the weather will still cause issues with cancelations and delays. With this app you can track your flights location, so if your delayed on the roads you know you can still make it.

Flightboard - £2.49 A great way not to even make that car journey. Check Flight boards both arrivals and departures without leaving house. Can save you time and effort.

Nextbuses - 69p Times like these some people need to use public transport, and they don't know what time or bus to catch. With this app it tells you your local stops, and when the buses are due.

Tube Status - Free If your in the capital the snow might not effect much of the tube but it can have knock on effects, with this app you can check all lines for problems without bracing the cold.

Trainline - Free With this you can check your train is running, when its leaving and also book tickets all from the comfort of your home.

AA - Free Has all the same features as the RAC app, it's a little harder to use but still great functions that could rescue you.

Angry Birds - 69p Stuck at home? Need to entertain yourself? Well the App Store is the place to visit. I've recommended Angry Birds because its just been updated with even more levels so if you were a fan a few years ago there's a new challenge for you, if you've never played, where have you been?

Cut the rope - 69p Another addictive game for all ages, it's also just been updated with extra levels.

Wheres my water - 69p Yet another addictive game with lots if levels to pass several hours of boredom.

TuneIn Radio - £2.99 Tune in to your local commercial radio to find out if your local schools are shut, or just entertain yourself with 100's of radio stations.

iPlayer Radio - Free Fed up of adverts on local radio, either tune into your local BBC station or listen back to any radio show from the last 7 days.

Sky News - Free The beacon of information news. Stay on track with what's happening nationally.

Eurosport - Free Going to a sporting event? Make sure it's still on with this app.

Tesco - Free They might be having difficulty putting the right things in their burgers but with this app you can find your local store or even if your not able to get out, order your shopping for delivery. This could be a real live saver.

Chrome The windows might be covered in snow but the window to the world is still open. With this you can find ANYTHING.

There's lots more you can use your iPhones for but I thought I'd cover the essentials. Stay safe.

iJoe

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Like iJoe

If you like what you read here and have a Facebook account you can like the iJoe blog page on there.

iJoe on Facebook.

All links for new posts are posted there and it's a great way to get in touch so I can help with any guidance or tips.

iJoe

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iJoe Re-Recommends EP.1

Ever Since I wrote My iJoe Recommends EP about CarTunes Music Player I've not stopped trying new Music Players.

There's been so many I thought id cover them in an App Showdown, but then 24 Hours ago I found another one that seemed to check every last box so I needed to tell you all about it.

So let's round this up firstly. Here's my first review of Car Tunes Music Player - iJoe Recommends and here's my App Showdown - AppShowdown.

So the conclusions that I came too from those posts were that Car Tunes Music Player was a Solid App that had a minor glitch that was effecting usage and also id fallen out of love with its Black and Purple screens.

Listen had become my default music player because I needed a change. I liked the Now Playing screen but hated the music library screens. It also had a bug, which was fixed in an update on Thursday.

Rondo and iOS music apps were strong and certain advantages but for me Listen was going to be the champion.

Then I discovered SMART PLAYER.

Download - £1.49

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT.

Well it's much like Listen and Car Tunes Music, it's an alternative Music player. Based around gesture controls and attractive visuals.

As covered in previous posts. The default app is strong but it lacks limitations to power users and music lovers.

HOW IT WORKS.

It utilises Gestures to control your music and the app. These are as follows and are introduced to you on a wonderful little tutorial when you first load the app.

Tap with one finger to play and pause.
Swipe right to left to skip to next track.
Swipe left to right to skip to previous track.
Tap and hold with Two fingers to fast forward.
Tap and hold with Three fingers to rewind.
Slide up to increase volume.
Slide down to decrease.
Swipe up with two fingers to toggle repeat mode.
Swipe down with two fingers to toggle shuffle mode.
Tap and hold with one finger to reveal social options & sleep timer.
Tap the time label to reveal the scrubber/Status bar.
Pie chart in corner, scrobbles to last.fm and updates profile.
Touch top left corner to visit music library.
Touch top right corner to go to settings.
To make a playlist slide and flick individual tracks, albums or playlists to add them to your playlist. Play your playlist by tapping on last track to add.
When browsing music library you can tap the artwork in top left to shuffle that selection.

Now it seems like a lot of information however it's produced in an easy to understand tutorial that can be reloaded at anytime. Plus it covers every feature you need and many more only a few might use.

This app is so accessible that it's as easy to use as the default app and a million times as functional and a billion times more beautiful.

Much like the App showdown I feel it's only right to review it based on same criteria as the other 4 apps. UI (Visuals), Audio, Usability and quality. It will also be covered in every scenario you would need your music player for such as in Car, Dock, speakers and via AirPlay.

HISTORY.

App was born just over a year ago and is the hard work of lone developer Shad Deen. I personally love lone developers because of the effort and passion that they drive into the apps they produce.

VISUALS.

Visuals are a massive part of these sorts of Apps this is a testament of how attractive the default app is. The previously reviewed apps also have some very beautiful parts of their apps, however Smart Player has a beautiful App. The whole thing. The now playing screen is crisp and beautiful. It hides a lot of things that don't need to be on show all the time. The fact it's controlled by gestures mean the music player controls are hidden, the status bar/scrubber are hidden with the time, track data and album art only things that are on display.

The music library screens are simplistic and crisp, the font that is utilised is large enough to be seen when its required but not bold enough to be over powering. The developer has also stuck close with iTunes and iOS music app colours but with a strong use of album art work.

AUDIO.

The audio quality in this app is not enhanced or adjusted to improve the quality, however it's as strong as the default app, it also uses the same data as the default app so if you adjust the EQ in the music settings this app will utilise that data. I personally don't feel the EQ or any app that adjusts music sound actually improves the quality. So this app ticks the audio quality box for myself.

USABILITY.

Gesture control apps can take a large amount of time to adjust and "learn" features and how to get best out of it. However the well produced tutorial and the fact it's very similar to other music player apps gesture controls assists this app in bringing Apple levels of usability to a professional 3rd party app. It also has a subtle amount of customisation and personalisation, with adjustment of visuals and social integrations.

It's also got lots of usability options to assist playing options. It has a disable auto lock which will keep the screen on for when using app either in car or dock however you could keep this setting on even when using headphones as it also utilises the Proximity sensor so if you placed your iDevice in your pocket the screen would switch off, once you removed it then it would light back up. Really useful features that allow this app to support all types of scenario you would use it for. AirPlay is supported however to switch devices you have to use the Apple default of the multitasking bar. The app developer does point this out on the Q&A that is in the settings. If you get stuck or have development ideas you can also get in touch with dev via the links in the app.

QUALITY.

It's a faultless app. I've been using for 24 hours and have found no bugs or glitches, general feedback from other users seems to be requesting a search bar which the developer has promised to work on. You can tell the app is well developed and that the developer is listening and trying to improve end user experience.

iJoe View

Smart player for me is the best of All the music player apps that I've reviewed. The other apps are easily 8/10 contenders however Smart player is a full 9/10. It isn't missing anything as far as I'm concerned as could easy be a 10/10 however with so many strong contenders I can not be sure that something can't come along within a few more weeks and blow my socks off.

This sums up the quality of Apple devices and the ecosystem that the App Store is. Everyone is aiming to be top of the charts and that drives people to improve and in the end "WE" the end users are the people who benefit. Thank you developers.

Download Smart Player

iJoe

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