We’ve seen a lot of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 so far but have seen comparatively little of its larger sibling that is rumored to release a little later in the fall. That might be about to change, however, because Nowhereelse.fr has obtained pictures of a new smartphone case that was purportedly designed specifically for the 5.5-inch iPhone 6. And based on the case, Nowhereelse.fr estimates that Apple’s biggest smartphone ever will have dimensions of 81 millimeters wide, 157 millimeters long and 7 millimeters thick.

In contrast, earlier leaks have claimed that the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will measure in at 67 millimeters wide, 138 millimeters long and 6 millimeters thick and we already know that the iPhone 5s features a frame that is 123.8 millimeters long, 58.6 millimeters wide and 7.6 millimeters thick. So while the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 will be a full millimeter thicker than the 4.7-inch version, it looks like it will still be slimmer than the iPhone 5s.

Nowhereelse.fr can’t vouch for the authenticity of the supposed 5.5-inch iPhone 6 case but if accessory manufacturers really are getting dummies of the larger iPhone already then we can expect a stream of leaks showing 5.5-inch iPhone mockups to follow pretty closely afterward, just as leaked 4.7-inch iPhone 6 mockups have been leaking out in droves over the last month.

Nowhereelse.fr’s picture of the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 case follows below.

Read more here: Boy Genius Report

Category: mobile, Apple, iPhone 6

Just as BlackBerry appeared doomed to fade into irrelevancy, the company’s popular chat application BlackBerry Messenger stormed back on to the scene, making its way to the iOS and Android app stores. Pitting a well known brand against relative newcomers such as Kik, LINE and recent Facebook acquisition WhatsApp, BBM managed to quickly steal a huge segment of the audience for itself. In case you still haven’t given it a try, James Richardson makes a strong case for BBM in a recent article at CrackBerry, so we decided to share his favorite features to see if this list is enough to convert you.

1. Know when your messages are delivered and read: Like it or not, our chat applications now hold us accountable for timely responses. Whether you’re on Facebook, iChat or WhatsApp, you and your friends can see when your message has arrived and when it’s been read, but some apps are more reliable than others. For example, WhatsApp uses a check mark and a double check mark, but the double check mark only means that the message has reached the server, not the recipient’s phone. On BBM, ‘D’ means delivered and ‘R’ means read. It’s simple and clean, the way a chat app should be.
2. Share files with friends: Most mobile messaging apps contain some degree of file sharing, but it’s a crapshoot whether or not the interface will be at all intuitive. Fortunately, BBM’s file sharing menu is about as straightforward as they come. Tap the paperclip to the left of the chat, select the share icon and six buttons will pop up on the bottom of the screen. You’ll be able to access media, appointments, contacts, location, files and even your Dropbox account.
3. Never leave friends or family hanging: Have you ever been patiently waiting in a restaurant for a friend, scrolling through old photos or bookmarked websites to pass the time? With BBM’s Glympse integration, your friends can share their location in real-time for up to four hours, allowing you to keep track of them as they make their delayed approach.
4. Keep your contact list manageable: Chat apps such as Kik and WhatsApp are infamous for their ability to fill up with every contact on your phone before you’ve had a chance to sort through the list, but BBM is much more understanding. The only way you’re ever going to receive a message on BBM is if you decide to share your PIN with a friend or vice versa.
5. Additional features: All in all, BBM isn’t terribly different from its competition. Although it manages to do many things better than other apps on the market, many of the features are identical to those of Kik, LINE and WhatsApp. In order to differentiate itself, BlackBerry has included some extra content within BBM, most notably BBM Channels. Channels allow BBM users to subscribe to their favorite content creators directly from the app, further condensing the mobile experience and keeping users engaged.

With well over 100 million registered users, BBM has staked its claim in the chat market. BlackBerry might not be drawing in quite as many monthly active users as WhatsApp, but as the company continues to double down on updates and new features, don’t expect BBM to disappear any time soon.

Read more here: Boy Genius Report

Category: mobile, Android, BBM, BlackBerry, iPhone

Some early details surrounding Apple’s upcoming iOS 8 update began leaking last month, and we can likely expect many of the remaining holes to be filled in now that Apple’s annual WWDC event is just a few weeks away. The latest news comes from reliable Apple reporter Mark Gurman, who also happens to be the source of just about everything we know thus far about iOS 8.

According to Gurman, Apple will introduce an exciting new split-screen multitasking feature in iOS 8 that will be made available only on iPad tablets. The feature will allow iPad users to run two applications side by side, which is a feature that many iPad users have been asking for since the tablet first debuted in 2010.

Apple’s WWDC keynote will take place at 1:00 p.m. EDT on June 2nd, and Apple is expected to unveil iOS 8 at that time. Apple is also expected to show off a huge OS X update and other new products as well.

Read more here: Boy Genius Report

Category: Tablets, Apple, iOS 8

It looks like Microsoft is about to make another very welcome change to the Xbox One. Unnamed sources tell Ars Technica that Microsoft is planning to drop its requirement that Xbox users have a paid Live Gold subscription to access Netflix and Hulu on their consoles.

That said, Ars’s sources say that Microsoft is considering putting other services behind its paywall to make up for the loss of Netflix and Hulu as major incentives for users to sign up for Live Gold.

Microsoft has come under pressure to lift the paywall for popular video streaming apps since rival Sony doesn’t require any subscriptions for users to watch them on the PS4 and other set-top boxes such as Roku and Apple TV similarly offer access to Netflix and Hulu without any additional fees.

Read more here: Boy Genius Report

Category: TV, microsoft, Xbox One

In addition to unveiling its most affordable Android smartphone yet, Motorola on Tuesday also announced a new Moto G model, the Moto G 4G LTE, which will offer users faster data speeds. The LTE version of the Moto G does not have any other new features, except for 4G and microSD support. As expected, the Moto G 4G LTE model is more expensive than the 3G-only version, and will cost $219 without a contract.

Unfortunately for users who want more built-in storage, the Moto G 4G LTE will only be available with 8GB of memory, although unlike the 3G model, the 4G model does have microSD support. Motorola will also continue to sell the 3G version of the Moto G for $179 (the 8GB version) or $199 (the 16GB model).

The company was rumored to unveil other Moto G versions at London, with a Moto G Cinema having been spotted online in the days preceding the event. However, the company did not launch any other Moto G models other than the 4G-enabled new version.

The Moto G 4G LTE can already be pre-ordered in the U.S., and it will likely hit other regions where the Moto G is already available.

Read more here: Boy Genius Report

Category: mobile, Moto G 4G LTE, Motorola

Nokia has launched some more than affordable Android handsets at MWC 2014 in February, but they’re not exactly running an operating system that’s infused with all the Google services Android users expect to find on board. That’s why the Moto E can be considered the cheapest true Android handset, now that it’s official.

Motorola on Tuesday took the wraps of its newest addition to the Moto family of Android smartphones, the Moto E, which was already seen in various reports preceding the event. The Moto E is also the first handset announced after Google sold Motorola to Lenovo.

The phone isn’t a flagship device, and it’s not a mid-range device either. But it’s a handset that’s meant to make it even easier for first-time smartphone buyers to buy one such device and get accustomed to what it can do.

The Moto E packs a 4.3-inch qHD Gorilla Glass 3 display (960 x 540 resolution and 256 pixel per inch ratio), 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, Adreno 302 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of storage, microSD support, 5-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, FM radio, dual-SIM option 1980mAh battery and Android 4.4.2 KitKat.

Interestingly, Motorola notes that the phone will receive at least one software update to the current KitKat version in the future.

The Moto E measures 124.38 x 64.8 x 12.3 mm, weighs 142g, and will offer users the ability of personalizing the look of the handset with different Motorola Shells, or interchangeable backs. More than 20 colors will be available, with each one priced at $14.99.

As for price, the Moto E is priced at $129 without a contract, and will be available in more than 40 countries, through more than 80 carrier partners in the following weeks. As Motorola puts it, the Moto E is supposed “made to last,” and “priced for all.”

The phone can already be ordered in the U.S., complete with extra Shells.

A video and an image gallery showing the Moto E follow below.

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Category: mobile, Moto E, Motorola

Although “Apple is doomed” stories are overblown and ridiculous, that doesn’t mean there aren’t areas where Apple has significantly fallen behind the competition. One of these areas is in the realm of online services, where Apple has failed to develop anything close in scope or quality to Microsoft’s Office 365 or Google’s Google Maps.

ZDNet’s Ed Bott shows us that it didn’t have to be this way — in 2010, then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs sent out an email explaining how significant cloud computing would become in the coming years and urged Apple to get out in front of this trend to “further lock customers into our ecosystem.” More than three years later, however, Apple’s cloud-based offerings are still trailing far behind those of its rivals.

For instance, Bott says that even though iCloud is perfectly fine for backing up iOS devices’ files, it isn’t a comprehensive online storage service along the lines of Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Apple still doesn’t have anything remotely close to the email clout that Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have, and its online chat services such as FaceTime are still only available to iOS users. In other words, Apple has developed an ecosystem of services that are fine for iOS users but that don’t branch out to other platforms in the way that Google’s and Microsoft’s do.

On top of all this, Apple’s one major cross-platform success when it comes to online services — the iTunes Store — is now being undercut by music streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify. This is one reason that Apple decided to buy up Beats so that it could finally offer its own music streaming service that will let users listen to whatever they want on demand.

So what does all this mean? Bott speculates that we might see closer ties between Microsoft and Apple, which are both interested in making sure Google doesn’t completely rule the tech world. In this scenario, Apple would use more of Microsoft’s cloud services as defaults on its own devices to make sure its users don’t download Google applications while Microsoft would get its cloud services onto more mobile devices.

“Google, largely on the strength of its Android OS, remains public enemy #1 for Apple,” Bott concludes. “Under those circumstances, especially with the Mac-PC wars mostly in the rearview mirror, it’s easy to see Apple developing tighter ties with Microsoft’s cloud.”

Bott’s full analysis is worth reading and can be found by clicking the source link below.

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Category: Services, Apple, iCloud

Let’s say that you want to buy an HTC One (M8) but you aren’t too keen on the device’s standard silver or grey — well, it looks like you’re going to get another option. @evleaks has just posted a press render of a blue version of HTC’s latest flagship smartphone and as you can see, the device looks pretty sweet with an aqua blue tint.We have no idea when the blue version of the HTC One (M8) will release but @evleaks doesn’t typically acquire press renders unless a device’s launch is imminent, which suggests HTC will release it sooner rather than later.

Read more here: Boy Genius Report

Category: mobile, HTC, HTC One M8

Marissa Mayer has been Yahoo’s CEO for nearly two years and in that time she has revamped many of Yahoo’s websites and apps, and has made some major purchases. Most notably, Yahoo bought Tumblr a little over a year ago for $1.1 billion. Now, however, this purchase isn’t looking so good. According to a ComScore report in the Wall Street Journal, traffic to Tumblr has dropped from a peak of 49 million visitors in December to only 42 million in March. If these numbers are accurate, this loss of 7 million visitors would represent a 15% drop. There’s no obvious reason for this big decline, either: Since the acquisition, Yahoo hasn’t done much to change Tumblr, staying true to its promise to not ruin Tumblr. Yahoo has tried to monetize Tumblr and has been struggling to attract advertisers, and this decrease in traffic will not help their efforts.

Read more here: Boy Genius Report

Category: Internet, Tumblr, Yahoo

Apple is about to expand the availability of the new 8GB version of its iPhone 5c to India, according to a report from BGR sister site BGR India. Apple’s 8GB iPhone 5c debuted less than two months ago and it is currently available only in in Germany, France, the UK, Australia and China. The move has two pretty obvious purposes: To increase sales of the iPhone 5c, whose sales appear to be slow compared to other iPhone models, and to improve iPhone sales in India. Apple CEO Tim Cook has put a lot of focus on India in the past couple of years, and in Apple’s most recent earnings call, he said the efforts are paying off.

“The iPhone also continued to perform exceptionally well in many developing markets,” he said. “In Greater China, Brazil, Indonesia, Poland, and Turkey, iPhone sales grew by strong double-digits year-over-year, and in India and Vietnam, sales more than doubled.”

The 8GB iPhone 5c is expected to cost between Rs 35,000 and Rs 37,000, with a buyback program that would push the price down to about Rs 30,000. That price would be about Rs 2,000, or $33, cheaper than the 16GB iPhone 5c.

Apple has been experimenting with its iPhone lineup in India for the past year. In January, it reintroduced the iPhone 4 in India but then discontinued the handset just three months later.

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Category: mobile, Apple, India, iPhone 5c