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Apple’s loose-lipped overseas partners are exchanging whispers about the next-generation iPad, claiming it will come in three different versions, one of which would work with Verizon’s network.

The iPad 2 will support three different wireless configurations: UMTS, CDMA and Wi-Fi only, according to “industry sources” citing component makers. That’s up from the two versions Apple currently offers: UMTS plus Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi only.

To explicate the alphabet soup, UMTS is the standard used by major 3G carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile, while CDMA is compatible with Verizon and Sprint networks.

Currently the 3G iPad ships with a MicroSIM card slot, and in the United States, the only carrier that uses MicroSIM is AT&T. Customers who want to connect to non-AT&T 3G networks must either buy an external wireless hotspot device such as the Verizon MiFi (Verizon even sells a MiFi plus iPad package already) or trim a standard SIM card down to MicroSIM size, like Wired.com’s Charlie Sorrel.

The current 3G model of the iPad is not tied to a contract; customers pay a flat rate monthly for data and can opt out whenever they please.

So if this rumor is true, what this means is when the iPad 2 ships, you’ll have to pick a 3G model based on your carrier preference. If you don’t plan to be on the road a lot, there’s still the Wi-Fi option.

Support for both major wireless standards in the U.S. will make the iPad 2 available to a much larger potential audience, whereas before it was only available from AT&T here in the states.

Whether Apple hammers out sales agreements with Verizon or Sprint remains to be seen, however.

Recent rumors suggestion that the iPad 2 will hit stores April 2011, one year after the original iPad’s release. Some third-party protective cases for a purported “iPad 2″ have been cropping up in Asia, hinting at the possibility of a bigger speaker and a rear-facing camera.

Persistent rumors — so far unsubstantiated — have also pointed to a Verizon-compatible iPhone to be released in early 2011. If Verizon got the iPhone and the iPad, it would greatly expand Apple’s potential market, and would also likely deal a severe blow to AT&T, which has been roundly criticized for the inability of its 3G network to keep up with iPhone-induced demand.

Photo of the current iPad: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Over in the UK, something is happening that will bring cheer to the miserable, heavily-drinking denizens of that gray, cold land: Competition. To be precise, competition in iPad plans.

3G operator “3″ has entered the iPad subsidy game, going squarely up against Orange, which announced its own plans earlier this week. The prices for the iPad itself are the same as Orange is asking – 200, 250 and 350 for the 16, 32 and 64GB models. The difference is in the data plans. 3 offers a massive 15GB per month, or around 500MB per day. To get these prices, you’ll need to sign a two-year contract.

When I’m not trapped in my elevator-free apartment, my iPad is in constant use on my own 3G data plan. Even then, I have never come close to hitting the 2GB cap. So unless you watch a lot of streamed video, 15GB may as well be unlimited.

This is what happens when you have a lot of equally good operators all chasing the same customers. In the US, a Verizon iPhone can’t come fast enough.

iPad Plans on 3 [3 via Pocket Lint]

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Google Instant on a PC browser has always been a clever idea in search of a use case. With the new mobile beta for Android and iOS, the search giant has found its first.

“Wouldnt it be great to have Google Instant on mobile devices, where each keystroke and page load is much slower and you frequently have just a moment to find the information you need?” writes Google engineer Steve Kanefsky.

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Skype released its long-awaited app for Android. It’s free and available for download now at Skype’s website or the Android Marketplace for devices running Android OS 2.1 and above. But US users will have to wait for Skype calls over 3G.

Outside the US, the new Skype app for Android works over both Wi-Fi and 3G, features free Skype-to-Skype calls and group IMs, and paid US or international calls to any mobile or landline number using Skype credits or a subscription plan.

If you use a carrier inside the US, however, 3G calling is disabled, as was initially the case with Skype for iPhone. Video calling, which is supported on Skype’s desktop apps, is not available for mobile. It also doesn’t appear that you can receive calls on Skype for Android — only IMs.

Skype for Android works using the same Skype account as your desktop and autoloads your contact list. You can also search for and add new contacts within the application.

Unfortunately, some users have already had difficulty using the new app. Currently, Skype doesn’t work on Samsung’s Galaxy S, although a fix is promised for the near future. According to Skype, the app has been tested only on HTC and Motorola phones running Android 2.1 and above. The app also doesn’t work on Android phones with screen resolutions below 480×320 pixels, including the HTC Wildfire.

Some Android users on Verizon have already been able to access to a mobile Skype application through Verizon’s media store. However, Verizon’s Skype app worked only over the 3G network, and calls to mobile and landline phones in the US counted towards a user’s wireless minutes. In the new Android app, all Skype calls to non-Skype numbers use Skype credit.

Skype has an application for iPhone with similar functionality over Wi-Fi and 3G; Blackberry users are currently limited to Verizon’s mobile Skype application.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

iPad 4.2b2 tethering preferences by Paul Grave on Twitter

If you install the latest iOS 4.2 beta 2 on your iPad 3G and visit the “Cellular Data” section of the settings app, then you may be in for a rather nice surprise. Right there, underneath the familiar APN settings is a new option: to tether the iPad’s internet connection.

Both of the screenshots here come from the UK, one on the T-Mobile network and the other on 3. A complete lack of reports of this option in the US indicates that tethering on the iPad will follow tethering on the iPhone, and be available only in select markets where the carriers approve. This is far from the first time that an iOS beta has switched on tethering, and it may disappear later.

Why would you want to do this? After all, sharing the data connection from your iPhone to you iPad would seem more sensible, right? I can think of several uses: Sharing a connection with friends (I actually needed this when I was reading in a bar, and the Lady was working on her MacBook with no internet connection). Or perhaps letting you update an iPod Touch’s email and Instapaper before heading out and leaving your iPad in the hotel.

The most useful, though, would not be the sharing of 3G data itself. If tethering lets you set up an ad-hoc network with the iPad, then you could beam photos to it from a Wi-Fi camera in the field. Then my waste-of-money Eye-Fi card might finally become useful.

iPad 4.2b2 tethering preferences [Paul Grave / Twitter]

Internet Tethering coming to iPad? [9to5 Mac]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Image via SonyStyle.com

Are you intrigued by touchscreen, tablet-style media players, but don’t want to give up anything — and I mean anything — from your desktop PC? The refreshed high-end Sony Vaio L is pricey and heavy, but it’s packed to the gills.

Yesterday, Sony announced its holiday-season refresh of the Vaio line of notebook computers (barring the 8″ notebook-not-a-netbook Vaio P, which was updated in May).

The 24″ let’s-call-it-an-all-in-one-notebook-’cause-even-my-lap-isn’t-that-big Vaio L is packing a quad-core Intel processor, a 2TB hard drive, a capacitative touchscreen with true HD resolution, a webcam (well, yeah), an NVidia graphics card with 1GB video-dedicated RAM (on top of the 8GB of regular memory), and (most significantly) a Blu-ray read/write drive.

It’s got Sony’s own touch-friendly media management and editing suite, and also comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, a wireless keyboard and mouse, and a remote control. The whole thing costs $2200 (already on backorder), and the part with the screen weighs 27.6 lbs — about the same as an old 24″ iMac.

So it’s a portable computer, in the sense that you can pick it up and move it from one part of the house to another, but you can’t exactly hold it in your hands. But if your complaint about Apple, Android, or Windows 7 touchscreen tablets has been that “they don’t even have ____,” this Sony is your answer.

If you don’t want all that, you can also get an entry-level Vaio L with “only” a half-TB of storage and no Blu-Ray on clearance for less than $1300. But that might feel a little like driving a Lexus without power windows.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The Gadget Lab crew kicks off this week’s podcast with a look at Dylan Tweney’s ugly new kicks, a pair of surf shoes made of recycled soda bottles. They cost $70. Seriously.

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Moving on from cheesy hippy apparel, Brian X. Chen shares the news of an upcoming Apple press conference, where we can expect new iPods, a major iTunes upgrade (streaming!) and maybe a do-over of the Apple TV.

Apple’s competitors haven’t been so quiet, either. A “leaked” video emerged this week demonstrating Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch, Android-powered touchscreen tablet that looks to be a worthy rival to Apple’s iPad.

Speaking of the iPad Tweney shares a hack for his iPad to gain 3G service at no additional cost with the help of his iPhone. If you jailbreak your iPhone at the site JailbreakMe.com, you can download an app called MyWi to turn the iPhone into a wireless hot spot. Select the hot spot on your iPad et voila 3G-surfing privileges on the tablet without any monthly bills. That’s sweet.

Still, it’s too bad 3G coverage in general is spotty at best (especially here in San Francisco). Dissatisfied customers are in luck: We’ve heard Sprint may give you a free femtocell to boost your service if it’s proving unreliable. Also, an unhappy AT&T customer on Wired.com staff complained loudly enough to score a free femtocell to fix the crappy reception on his iPhone. Who said whining doesn’t pay off?

Like the show? You can also get theGadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you dont want to be distracted by our smiling faces, check out theGadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Labvideo oraudio podcast feeds

Or listen to the audio here:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #86

Source:wired.com

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The iPad is an almost perfect travel computer. It’s easy to carry, works as a guide, a map, a book and it’s crazy-long battery life will let you sit back and watch another movie while your laptop-toting companions search for a power outlet. But as convenient as it is, a little preparation will make things even smoother. Here are some things you should do before you leave the house.

Go Offline

A 3G iPad is a wonderfully useful machine, but outside of your home country, unless you’re willing to pay extra for roaming or a new, local micro-SIM, you’ll be back on Wi-Fi. Get ready for this by preparing a few apps.

OffMaps

OffMaps is an iPad (and iPhone) app which lets you download city maps for offline use. This lets you use the GPS (or Wi-Fi triangulation) on your iPad without an internet connection. City-specific versions of OffMaps are free, but a master version costs just $2 and lets you grab any map, for free, from within the app.

Maps are organized by country and then city, and are sourced from OpenStreetMaps, the crowd-sourced map project. There are also city guides which can be downloaded, and these not only give tourist hints and tips, but add a user-built database of restaurant, hotels, tourist-spots and so on. This makes searching the map double-useful. The guides cost around 30-cents each, and are paid for by buying tokens from within the app. Three free guides are included with the purchase.

A Wi-Fi Hotspot Directory

One way to get online in a foreign city is to find some free Wi-Fi. But if you don’t have an internet connection, you can’t download a hotspot database. Do this before you leave. There are several free and paid apps in the store, although I couldn’t find anything good for the iPad, so I just picked the free Wi-Fi Finder for iPhone and use it pixel-doubled.

Weather

If you’re spending your days outside, a weather app is pretty essential. You’ll need a connection to use it, but a once-a-day update should be enough. I use Weather Pro for iPad, which costs $5. It’s uncannily accurate and easy to read, and yet offers an embarrassment of detail, from animated weather-radar charts to an hour-by-hour breakdown of rainfall predictions. It also works worldwide, unlike some rather short-sighted U.S-only apps.

Language Guides

Which one you choose depends on where you are going, and quality is astonishingly variable. For vacations, though, you should opt for a travel-guide app rather than a full-on dictionary, as these will have useful phrases grouped together. Try learning the numbers one to ten by looking them up individually in a dictionary instead of together on a page and you’ll see why.

Why bother? Because if you are like most native English-speakers, you are an arrogant traveler, and you assume that you can just start talking English at somebody and they’ll understand. They probably will, as these foreigners are smart enough to learn another language, but they’ll hate you. You’d be amazed how far the local words for “hello”, “please”, “thank you”, and “do you speak English?” will get you. I tried it in jaw-crunching Polish this past weekend and the helpful, warm smiles I got betrayed just how few people bother. This happened despite my truly dreadful pronunciation.

PDFs

Wherever you store them, you should put your useful travel information in PDF-format for your travels. Well known guides are available as apps for some cities, but some of you may have illegitimate copies of the paper versions, or even saved Wikipedia articles. Convert to PDF and store on the iPad for fast, offline retrieval.

Technical Tips

Stealth and Cases

You don’t want to stand out as a tourist, and in some areas you won’t even want to pull out your iPad. To help, you’ll need a case. It should be quick-access, as you’ll likely be consulting the various guides and maps pretty often. The best kind is probably the flip-open type which makes your iPad look like a book. Failing this, a slim slip-cover will work, although you’ll have to hold it as you read. Avoid anything big or bulky, and above all don’t use something that looks like a computer bag.

If you’re really not comfortable pulling out your iPad, or you just must consult the paper guide-book, cover that book in something. Do not wander the streets with a Lonely Planet book in hand. It screams “mug me” and makes you look like a dork. Best of all, try the little Moleskine City Guides, the most covert maps you can buy.

Power

As you won’t be using 3G, you should switch it off. The same goes for Wi-Fi, most of the time. The iPad has a great battery life, but you can extend it further by switching off unnecessary radios, especially if you are in an area with no 3G coverage (the constant search for a network will drain juice double-quick).

Don’t do it right away, though: The GPS will grab its initial location much faster if it can use local cell-towers and Wi-Fi signals to give it a rough idea first. After initial acquisition, you can turn them off. Don’t use airplane mode, though, as this also kills the GPS.

Plan to Share

You can load the iPad up with the Lord of the Rings trilogy (books and movies) and the latest RPGs from Square, but won’t you please think about the children? Or at least consider your non-nerd fellow travelers. Before you leave, download some multi-player and family-friendly games (Labyrinth 2 HD is a great choice, and has a free lite version). Also, consider short, throwaway TV-shows that everyone will like, and that can be watched in half-hour chunks. Think less “The Wire” and more “30 Rock”. And don;t forget a cheap, two-way headphone splitter for shared movie-watching.

And if you’re sharing, there will come a point when you’re left staring out the train window, bored to death. This is where you pull out your secret weapon: Your iPhone or iPod Touch, loaded up with all the same goodies. And one more thing: Put all the above apps on your first home screen. You’ll thank me for it.

There must be plenty more great ways you can use your iPad when traveling, especially the online services I haven’t covered here. Got any apps, accessories or general tips? Leave them, as ever, in the comments.

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Virgin Mobile has just upended the entire US mobile internet market. While other carriers continue to limit data and charge per Gigabyte, Virgin has just revealed a new unlimited plan for $40-per-month.

Revealed on Virgin’s Facebook page, the new “Broadband2Go” plans will be condensed down to just two options from the current four: $10 for 100MB (lasts ten days) and $40 for unlimited use for a month. the new tariffs should be available tomorrow, August 24th.

Virgin already has a few unlimited options available on its “Beyond Talk” plans, but these also include voice and SMS and are aimed more at cellphone users. The new unlimited plans are geared towards users of USB 3G dongles and MiFis.

The biggest problem will be the fact that Virgin uses the Sprint network, and therefore CDMA and not GSM. This rules out the iPad, although at these prices you might find it a good idea to pair a Wi-Fi-only iPad with a MiFi.

Still, hold onto this snippet for if and when a Verizon iPad becomes available, whence you shall be able to swap to Virgin if you live in a Sprint coverage area.

Broadband2Go plans [Virgin/Facebook]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Want a reason to jailbreak your iPhone 4? How about FaceTime calls over 3G?

If you’re comfortable jailbreaking your iPhone by letting a website execute unknown code on it via a browser exploit, then you too could make normally Wi-Fi-only FaceTime video calls over the 3G network. The video above comes from the fine folks at 9to5Mac, and shows the hack in action. As you can see, everything behaves just like a regular Wi-Fi call.

9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman writes that “[the caller] couldn’t tell the difference between the 3G FaceTime call and a WiFi FaceTime call; the quality is that good.” It certainly looks better than previous efforts to route calls over 3G using standalone MiFi routers, but given the state of the AT&T network in the US, and the fact that these high-res video-calls will burn through your precious 2GB data-allowance, it’s hard to see why you’d bother, except for quick chats.

To activate 3G FaceTime, you’ll need to pop into Cydia, the jailbreak app store that is installed when you hack your iPhone. Add a new repository (essentially, you add URL to a new app store section. In this case, the url is http://apt.modmyi.com) and install an app called My3G. After a quick setup, you’re done: just leave My3G running in the background and FaceTime should just work.

Due to briefly rendering my iPad unconscious yesterday in a failed jailbreak attempt, and not having an iPhone 4 with FaceTime, I haven’t tested any of this. If you do, be careful, and leave any tips in the comments.

FaceTime over 3G [9to5Mac]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

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Some Apple 3G phone owners who upgraded to the new iOS4 operating system are facing buyer’s remorse. The upgrade has left their devices slow and struggling for breath, according to complaints on Apple’s users forum.

“My iPhone 8Gb 3G is soooo slow after ‘upgrading’ to OS4,” says a user registered as George Stark on the Apple forum. “Unlocking the phone sometimes takes 5-10 seconds and the home screen icons literally stop converging halfway through and then 2 seconds later, finish off. Other things are ridiculously slow, such as opening and replying to texts. Good one Apple, maybe you want us all to upgrade to the iPhone 4 so that OS4 actually runs at a manageable speed?”

Apple is looking into the complaints.

“We are aware of these reports and we are investigating,” a company spokeswoman told Wired.com

Apple rolled out iOS4 in June as a new version of the operating system that would introduce features such as multitasking, a unified inbox for e-mail and the ability to group apps into folders. iPhone users who had bough their devices in 2007, when the phone was first introduced, cannot run iOS 4 at all. But iPhone 3G users can upgrade to iOS4 though multitasking is not supported for these devices. iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 are completely compatible with iOS 4.

But Apple’s decision to make older iPhone models seems to have backfired. When Apple moved from iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS, it introduced a faster processor in the latter. Remember all those company statement saying the ‘S’ in the 3GS stands for ’speed.’

The iPhone 3G has a 412 MHz ARM 11 chip, while the 3GS model uses a 600MHz ARM 11 processor. Clearly, the difference computing power seems to have an impact on how well the device can handle iOS4. The thread relating to iPhone 3G’s slow performance on the iOS4 is 38 pages now and has more than 560 messages.

Those stuck with iPhone 3Gs running at glacial speeds, downgrading the OS to the iOS 3.1.3 may be an option. But as this tutorial shows it’s not an easy process. The alternative is to do a factory reset on the device.

For Apple, the iOS4 woes on the iPhone 3G comes on the heel of ‘Antennagate‘–a widely publicized problem with the iPhone 4. Many iPhone 4 users have noticed that the device loses signal strength when gripped at a specific spot at the bottom left of the phone. Apple has responded to those complaints by offering its iPhone 4 users a free case.

Photo: (twenty5pics/Flickr)

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Fring, the app that managed to bring somewhat awkward video-calling to previous iPhones, has updated to provide proper video-calling over 3G for the iPhone 4.

Apple’s FaceTime app for the iPhone has one huge advantage over every other video-calling app: it is built in to every iPhone 4. Any other application requires not just you, the nerd of the family, to download it, but the person on the other end, too. And trust me, they won’t.

If your friends are all geeks, though, then Fring is worth a shot: It not only allows two-way video chat over 3G, it also supports Skype and now, with iOS4, it will listen for incoming calls in the background. It also plays nice with Fring on other platforms, so you can make video calls to Android and S60 phones, too.

Somewhat oddly, Fring also adds a social media stream in the form of Facebook and Twitter updates, but its the 3G video-calling that is the killer app here if you can convince your Mom to install it (and go through the mind-bogglingly frustrating sign-up process).

Fring gets one thing dead right, though: it’s free. Available now.

2-Way Video Calls to All Mobile Phones [Fring]

Fring [iTunes]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews